Well, that attempt failed. So much for “chatting about the neighborhood.” That was fine. But soon Shizuka had to find a way to relate to the girl and gain her trust. No matter how brilliant Katrina proved to be, she would need to be trained.

Even Paganini had to practice. In fact, the more remarkable the student, the more relentless and difficult the process. One does not cut a diamond by being gentle, and Katrina, with her uncultivated skills and history of abuse, had a uniquely difficult path ahead. The girl would be pressured, hammered, honed, and polished.

Simply put, the girl would not survive if she flinched every time her teacher rattled a coffee mug.

Her other students had been easy—they were vain, angry, jealous, ambitious. Such feelings lend a perverse, obsessive resilience. All Shizuka had to do was play to their emotions, and they would follow and endure without question. But this one? This frightened runaway?

How could Shizuka start forging a bond with her? And how would Katrina weather the training ahead?

“Miss Satomi?”

The girl’s voice shook her from her thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Thank you,” Katrina said quietly. “For back there. For telling them I was a girl.”

“Of course.”

What was this about? Of all the obvious things …

“Miss Satomi, don’t you care? About me being trans?”

“Katrina. In my business, one does not care about bodies. One is only concerned with souls.”

For a long time, the girl said nothing.

“When I was seven,” she finally said, “I took group lessons with the neighbors. My mother thought I could make friends. The teacher was very nice. She never yelled. She told my family I was the best player in her class.

“But my father … he’d yell at me. Hit me, like I told you. And one day, I was practicing, and my father threw a bottle at me. I turned to protect my violin, and I think the bottle hit me in the head, and right after, I started to shake, and my hands grew warm, as if they were on fire.

“Suddenly, I could hear my violin singing to me, singing to my soul, promising if I believed in her, I could fly away and she would fly away with me, too.”

“Is that the violin we’re repairing now?” Shizuka finally asked.

“No. It was the one my father smashed.”

11

Lucy waited until evening, when there was no chance of being disturbed, to work on the Chinese violin. She needed to be careful. Regardless of its value or origin, her client was the Queen of Hell. And there was also the matter of this glued-on bridge …

She took out her magnifier and looked more closely.

Superglue.

Just. Great.

Some of it had also dripped and run onto the faceplate. Which meant the violin would need to be at least partially refinished.

But first, the bridge.