When the first snow fell, Tilli decided to submit her picture of her aunt and uncle's town in the Taend forest, rather than one of her pictures of Faraday, to the art show. Faraday was nothing new in Kporo. Neely was submitting her painting of the Singing Sea.
The next week, Tilli went to Providence House to use one of the typewriters. The application didn't have to be typed, but Tilli thought it wouldn't hurt. The Providence students had converted one of the bedrooms into a typing room putting in several tables and chairs. At this point, Tilli wasn't surprised to see that the typewriters in the room used at least three different scripts between them.
Neely directed her to one that used the Shugbo script and Tilli slid the application in. She added the titles of the pieces she would be submitting and paused when she reached the name section.
"Is something wrong?"
Tilli imagined telling Neely why she didn't want to use her name. My brother and sister might see it and know who I am and my parents would tell me I'm wasting my life. It just sounded silly. "I... I don't want to use my name, in case they accept me just because I'm Melody Nightwind's daughter, you know?"
To Tilli's relief, Neely accepted this answer. "What about your middle name?"
"Shining Moon."
"That's a sprite name, right? Is there a common sprite last name you could use?"
"Well, sprites usually combine parts of their names, so maybe..." Tilli returned her attention to the typewriter and wrote Shining Moon Starwind. That way, she could honor her favorite cousin and biggest fan. Neely looked over the application and nodded approvingly. Tilli attached the form to her drawing and brought it to Mr. Teershik.
As Tilli waited to hear the results, she tried to focus on her plan with Miriam. They had been unable to find evidence that Antony had set Mat up, but her friend had nevertheless come up with a plan to get revenge on the older boy. It hinged on his rocky relationship with Jo. Since it involved Miriam forging a letter from her cousin, they also had to ensure Jo was out of the way. And as the end of term drew closer and closer, they were starting to suspect they wouldn't be able to enact one.
At the end of two weeks, Mr. Teershik posted the list of the pieces that the committee had selected to include in the art show. Neely's was on it. Tilli's was not. She tried to tell herself this was a good thing. That if her piece had gotten in, her family surely would have figured out it was her. Still, she couldn't help but feel like a failure.
"Maybe next time?" Neely said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder, and Tilli nodded in agreement. "You want to come with me and Jo?"
"Um... I'll think about it," Tilli said as an idea began to take shape in her mind. She was sure that Neely would assume Tilli didn't want to go because she was upset her piece wasn't accepted. In reality, she had to catch Miriam before dinner.
Tilli didn't even bother to stow her art roll as she found the smaller girl. "The thirty-second," she hissed.
Miriam had clearly not noticed Tilli right away and jumped when she saw her. "What?"
"We've been trying to find a day to give Antony the letter. Next Wintday, Jo will be at the art show with Neely."
"So he won't accidentally run into her and ask about it." Now she had Miriam's full attention. "How do we know he's not going with them?"
"Neely and Antony can't stand each other. Trust me. He's not going."
A smile slowly spread across Miriam's face. "I think it's going to work."
"Oh, it's definitely going to work."
"What's going to work?" Ayan had come up to them.
"Tilli's helping me with a project for my truth magic class." Tilli had never heard Miriam lie before--at least not that she knew of--but now she knew why they said truth wizards made good liars. If she hadn't known Miriam's intentions already, she never would have.
