From the Marseilles deck she draws a single card. She knows which it will be before she turns it over. The angel emblazoned on the front is only a confirmation of what she already suspects. She does not return it to the deck.

The light on the other side is blinding.

he went on about pushing the boundaries of what theater can be, inventing something more extraordinary.

Their secret (which they will also discuss if properly intoxicated) is their highly developed skill of observation. They see every detail, notice the tiniest nuances.

Isobel hesitates, glancing around at the clientele, a mostly bohemian crowd sipping absinthe and arguing about art.

But the competition is clear, so much so that everything else is tied to it, past and future.

Chandresh’s guests remain there until just before dawn, and when they do finally depart there are three times the number of diagrams and plans and notes than there had been when they arrived, strewn and pinned around the study like maps to an unknown treasure.

ETHEREAL ENIGMAS,

The circus functions in approximations more than exacting details. But the notification and location is often enough.