Agnes couldn’t suppress her laugh. “At least yours aren’t dumb pointy things designed to make you teeter and fall. Those are very sturdy. Very practical.” Before he could protest further, she opened the door. “Now tell me what happened at the market and where we’re going for dinner.”

“Well, everyone was right about my face,” he said, taking a few cautious steps in his new footwear. “The woman who changed money for us didn’t doubt for a second that I was a Byrne. She asked me if Ambrosine had cut off all the passages to the Lost Islands. Our grandmother might be even more powerful than we realized.”

That made Agnes thrilled and queasy all at once. “But even if she’s cut off the passages, surely she would let us through,” she said.

“That’s not all,” Leo said as they started down the narrow corridor back toward the captain’s cabin. “We sort of ran into a princess. The Renalt’s daughter.”

“You ran into a princess? How?”

“Trying to avoid Misarros,” Leo said like it was obvious. “Anyway, she was buying a dress from a woman who turned out to be Eneas’s sister. She’s a big-deal dressmaker in Pelago. She recognized me immediately and helped us pick out all these clothes. She invited us back to her house tonight. So that’s where dinner is.”

“What?” Agnes yelped. “You found Eneas’s sister? What’s she like? Where is her house? Why didn’t you tell me all this right away?”

“Because I knew you would ask a million questions and it would take ages for you to get dressed and then we’d be late. You didn’t see the market, Agnes; it’s heavily patrolled by Misarros. We need to blend in or we’ll end up in jail or worse.”

Agnes’s heart skipped a beat. “But they wouldn’t arrest a Byrne, would they?”

“If Ambrosine has cut off the passages to the Lost Islands, I’m not sure being a Byrne is such a great thing at the moment. Besides, we’re half Kaolin. They’re arresting anyone who they suspect of having anything to do with Kaolins.”

He was right, Agnes knew, and she didn’t like it. They needed to find her grandmother. Once they were under Ambrosine’s protection, they would be safe. She was about to pepper him with a few more queries when the door to the captain’s cabin opened and Leo stopped so abruptly that Agnes crashed into him.

Sera stood in the doorway, her hair tied back in a bun, a smugly grinning Vada behind her, wearing an outfit similar to Agnes’s own but with a dark yellow vest.

“She is looking perfect, just like Phebe said,” Vada declared.