It was horrifying, and Thisbe couldn’t stop feeling disturbed by it. What kind of woman would say such a thing to anyone? She ran up to her room, and from that point she became more elusive, staying in her room whenever she wasn’t training. And trying to slip past people so she wouldn’t get stopped so often and have to retell things that were, frankly, horrible to have to relive.

But she had to eat, and it was lonely taking all of her meals via tube in her room. After a few days ruminating over Frieda Stubbs, Thisbe decided she didn’t want to hide from anyone, bully or not. So she abandoned that practice and reluctantly met up with her sister for lunch and dinner most days, even though Fifer seemed uncomfortable about discussing their return to the land of the dragons. It just didn’t seem important to her now that they had left that conflict behind.

Others joined them for meals. Thisbe tried to tell herself that things would be back to normal again soon. She, Fifer, Seth, Ibrahim, and Clementi often had lunch together in the mansion’s dining room. Usually Fifer and Seth dominated the conversation, which centered around their party-planning progress. Ibrahim and Clementi, who hadn’t experienced any kind of celebratory tradition, listened with the kind of awe that most new Unwanteds had in common. Despite having lived in the glorious mansion in Artimé for nearly a year, the lavishness of this world was hard to get used to after growing up in Quill.

Thisbe sat mostly silent and withdrawn, eating quickly so she could get back to her lessons with Florence. Hopefully soon she would earn her component vest, though Florence hadn’t mentioned it lately.

“What are you going to dress up as?” Seth asked Thisbe.

“What’s that?” said Thisbe, startled out of her thoughts.

“I asked what you were going to wear to the costume ball.”

“Oh,” said Thisbe. “I have no idea. I haven’t even thought about it.” She paused. “Maybe I’ll go as me.”

Fifer rolled her eyes, frustration boiling up. Thisbe wasn’t even pretending to be interested in Fifer’s party. “She’s been a bit difficult lately,” she explained to the others in a teasing voice, “being part dragon and all. You’d think such a dramatic actor like her would be more excited about costumes.”

Thisbe stared at her sister. “Fifer, seriously. Leave me alone about it.”

“There’s not much time before you’ll have to come up with something,” Fifer pointed out.

“There’s also not much time before I need to go and save our people in Grimere.”

Fifer looked away uneasily. “I just . . . I’ve been thinking about that,” she said, “and I feel like we all need a longer break from fighting for a while.”

“What. About. Dev?” Thisbe said icily.