The back of my neck tingled. The pause was unusual for her. Normally I was the one stuttering. Was it possible that I could have a similar effect on her?

“If my train had been a few minutes later,” she continued, “would you have shown me then?”

“No,” I said. “It’s not something that I’ve learned yet.” I could not just brush off the suggestion in her question. “But I do wish your train had been a bit later.”

“I do too. But tell me what you are learning.”

“Magic,” I said.

“Really?” There was true awe in her voice. “Your grandmother is going to teach you?”

“Yes, starting tomorrow. I—I don’t know. I’ve been wary of it. But I think you were right. That I would regret not learning. I’m so confused about so many things lately, and grandmother says Meng’s pencil might help me sort my thoughts.”

“Meng is very wise,” she said earnestly. “I mean, her accent is strong, so I could only understand every other word she said. But every other word was a banger, so I imagine she’s twice as wise as I think.”

“I am excited to hear from her. But I don’t know how it works. Will I hear her words in her accent and not be able to understand? Or will I only receive the written words and be able to understand even less?”

“I’m sure that’s what your grandmother will teach you. Damn. Wow. Please tell me all about it. If you’re allowed. I don’t know what secrets there are around magic and all that.”

“I will,” I promised. “I’ll tell you everything.”

She had to leave for practice. I rewatched Prof. Logan’s EMBRS pitch, the picture of Louise and Meng flashing on his PowerPoint in front of thousands of people, followed shortly by the one of me and grandmother. I scrubbed back to the picture of Louise and Meng, focusing on Meng this time.

She looked old and stern, like grandmother, really. She would have blended into any crowd in Asia. I’ve spent so long looking for her, and even now it feels like I’ve been circling around her. What did she do that grandmother apparently couldn’t? What does grandmother want me to learn from her? And what will I learn about grandmother in the process?

I’m dreading it all.

Chapter 24

From the Reforged pencil of Wong Yun

I began teaching Monica how to Reforge today. It was easier for me to learn than it has been for her. Back then, I would have done anything to be your equal. I was surrounded by pencils. Monica, meanwhile, has barely used one outside of math class, and not even a good one at that. But she seems motivated to learn.