The slow song ended, and they both looked relieved to hear an upbeat one beginning. Seth took his hands out of his pockets and seemed more comfortable. Aaron and Kaylee stayed together, talking earnestly and quietly as if the slow song were still playing. Florence and Talon started dancing faster, doing some swing-type moves that Fifer knew from Claire Morning’s teaching sessions. But there was no way she was going to do those moves with Seth if it wasn’t required for the class. She glanced at Thisbe to see if her sister would be interested in being her partner, but Thisbe was busy with Sky and Daniel, dancing and laughing with them.

It was good to see Sky laughing again. And Thisbe, for that matter. With a start, Fifer realized Thisbe had hardly laughed since they’d found her. Again she noted how much Thisbe had changed during her captivity and as a fugitive. Fifer felt like she barely knew her anymore. A sharp pain speared through Fifer’s chest as she realized that Thisbe had become like a stranger. It was troubling, and the distance between them was growing, not lessening. It felt like an emergency that nobody else could see—as if Fifer alone had to fix it, but she had no idea how to do it.

That Thisbe didn’t seem to think there was any problem at all was probably what hurt the worst. Fifer didn’t like any of it, but she didn’t know what to do about it. She and her identical twin, who used to be practically the same person, didn’t think the same way anymore. She teared up unexpectedly and turned away.

Fifer also felt unsettled about what had just happened with Seth, who had sort of taken Thisbe’s place in her life. He’d just been easier to be around lately. And now that they were home and safe, she could actually care about him again instead of worrying every second that he was going to die. But not if he was going to think she wanted to dance with him like that.

The whole dancing thing made Fifer wonder if she was supposed to like anybody enough to touch their shoulders now that she was thirteen. She definitely hadn’t ever thought about it and didn’t want to. But Thisbe had seemed very close to Rohan. Fifer had caught them gazing into each other’s eyes seriously back before they parted ways, and they’d held hands, too. Fifer didn’t feel that way for anybody in Artimé, least of all Seth. After thinking about it, she concluded that she didn’t have to, either. It was perfectly fine for her to like herself most of all.

Fifer managed a small smile at the thought.

“What are you grinning about?” asked Seth, who was growing bored. After all the planning Fifer had made him help with, this party wasn’t very exciting.