I stirred my tea, letting the dented silver spoon clink against the plain china. Ingolstadt was not a large city, but it was by no means small. It had an impressive student population. There would be no shortage of housing for young men, if Victor had taken up a new residence in a house like his previous one.

“This is a mystery.” I grinned conspiratorially at Justine. “Just like the ones I tell you.”

Her attention was tugged back from where it doubtless hovered over William and Ernest back at Frankenstein Manor. “Will there be a jewel thief and a daring midnight ambush?”

I dropped two cubes of sugar into Justine’s tea. She liked things as sweet as possible, though she would never take more sugar than anyone else at the table unless pushed. “Well, since we are hunting a scholar, I think jewels are out of the question. And our landlady would have us on the streets if we were caught out at midnight. But I promise at some point we will unmask a villain.”

Justine laughed prettily, and now I knew every eye in the café was on us. I could feel them. It was like wearing an extra layer of clothing. Just a touch heavier, just a touch more constricting.

I resisted the urge to tug at my high lace collar. My eyes closed and I twitched once, imperceptibly, against the confines of my pristine and expensive clothing.

—

It was both a relief and an agony when Victor was deemed socialized enough to begin attending the local school instead of staying home for private tutoring. I had more hours to myself during the day during which I did not have to be anything to anyone, so long as I kept up my language lessons and my art. Yet I was bitterly jealous of Victor. Every morning he was rowed across the lake to other children and other minds, to learn and to grow, while I was left behind. I always stood at the dock until he disappeared, every muscle tense, wanting to be with him but also longing to run.

I used the time to wander. Though I had been half feral during my years before the Frankensteins, here my explorations had always been at Victor’s side and therefore entailed a certain amount of wariness. I had to be accountable to him always, in my emotions, my reactions, my expressions.

Alone, I discovered the raw natural beauty of his home in a new way. The snowcapped mountains loomed along the skyline, watching all I did. I nicknamed them Judge and Madame Frankenstein. The lake, placid and beautiful and mysterious, I nicknamed Victor. But the trees—the trees were mine.