Light From Uncommon Stars(24)

The walls were covered in dark wood paneling, and the floor was carpeted in beige. The lamps were large ceramic decorative things that used incandescent bulbs. Everything was dusted, polished. But everything seemed to be sleeping. The drapes, the curtains, the furniture.

Katrina gripped her smartphone to remind herself what year this was.

“Miss Katrina, all clean are we?” said Astrid. “Wonderful. Please, sit. Would you like some tea? Earl Grey?”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

“Miss Satomi will be down soon. I think you’ll enjoy this. It is a most wonderful Earl Grey.”

“T-thank you.”

Katrina smiled. Or she hoped she smiled. Did she smile? Speaking to an older person, let alone an older person who was serving her, made Katrina uneasy, so she looked away and up at the wall.

Her eyes were drawn to a black-and-white photograph of a woman—no—a girl.

“The Paganini Competition,” Astrid said proudly. “Miss Satomi’s first major win. The picture next to it is from Warsaw—where she broke strings on two instruments and, finally, finished the concerto with a viola.”

“Amazing…”

Immediately she felt foolish at the sound of her voice. Who was she to speak of Paganini? Warsaw? She didn’t even know what a Paganini was. Instinctively, she looked toward the door.

“Miss Katrina?”

“Y-yes?”

“When you think of love, is it somewhere the colors are brighter and everything seems to glow?” Astrid said casually. “With no pain, like your heart is skipping and doing cartwheels?”

Katrina looked down. “No, ma’am.” As if someone like her could have a life like that.

“Good.”

“M-Miss Astrid?”

“Good. Because love is so much more than that, isn’t it?”

Katrina nodded. That much at least she knew.

“And so was the way Shizuka Satomi played. Now, sip your tea, dear, before it gets cold.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Miss Astrid smiled.

And so did she.

As she sipped, Katrina looked at more pictures, and then records, news articles. Shizuka Satomi. She was more than a teacher. Far more.

“Miss Astrid, shouldn’t there be more about her online? At least a few recordings?”

Astrid tilted her head and gave an expression Katrina could not read. “I believe that she’ll explain it to you herself.”

“Music industry stuff?” Katrina ventured.

“Yes. You might say that.” Astrid smiled as if Katrina had made a very clever joke. But before Katrina could respond, there came a voice from above: “What is this about the music industry?”

The entire room seemed to stop and stand at attention.

“Miss Katrina noticed your lack of available recordings,” Astrid explained.

“Ah. Well, we can talk about that later.”

“But, Miss Satomi, it just seems so unfair. What gives them the right—”

Astrid raised her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Katrina said automatically.

“No, don’t apologize. In fact … thank you.” Shizuka sat at the table, then looked at Katrina carefully.

“However, my music career is not the focus. What we must really concern ourselves with is yours.”





9


“Katrina, have some muesli.”

“Muesli?”

“I soaked it in yogurt overnight and added tangerine slices. And here’s some fresh tangerine juice.”

Shizuka smiled at the thought of Astrid triumphantly using the last of the Aguilar tangerines. And, even more importantly, the seventh student, the one she had been seeking for nearly a decade, was sitting in front of her, having breakfast at her table.

Yogurt? In cereal?

Katrina dipped her spoon into the muesli. She had never heard of such a thing. It looked a little like soggy oatmeal, but it was sweet, tart, nutty, with just a little chewy crunch. And the tangerine slices were like bits of sunshine.

It was almost too good to be true.

Katrina paused.

“What’s wrong, honey? Do you not like it?” Astrid asked anxiously. “If you have any favorite foods from home, perhaps I can learn to make them.”

Katrina shook her head. Her mother had always made what her father wanted. There was nothing there that she wanted to recall.

Besides, the muesli was wonderful. Miss Astrid had been wonderful. Miss Satomi had been beyond wonderful. But people like this weren’t supposed to be wonderful.

Not to people like her.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Why? Because you are Miss Satomi’s student.” Astrid glanced at Shizuka, then back at the girl.

“And she’s been searching a very long time for you.”

Shizuka watched her new student try to relax and fail. Of course she would be suspicious. Tremon would be suspicious. Even Astrid was having her doubts.

After all, Katrina Nguyen was most definitely not someone that Hell would have chosen.

Yes, Hell accepted that it could neither create talent nor control where it landed. Paganini had all the tools for immortality before he signed over his soul. As did Tartini, or anyone else who claimed the Devil came and made them great.