A Tangle of Knots

As Marigold practices the oboe, she is distracted by thoughts of her missing red Talent-finding bracelet. V is drawn to the music, and Marigold kindly shows her how to play the instrument. Mrs. Asher asks Marigold to pack a care package for Mr. Asher, who is working in New Jersey. Marigold wants Zane to take care of the chore because she knows that he isn’t watching Will the way he’s supposed to watch him. She thinks that her life would be easier if she were more like her older brother, “a pain in the neck who didn’t care what anybody thought of him” (80).

Will crawls through the emporium’s air vents in search of his missing ferret. Through a grate, he sees the Owner “banging objects about on the bookshelf” (83) and notes with some confusion that the man is not floating as per usual.

The Owner keeps the Talents he’s stolen in a collection of empty peanut butter jars on his bookshelf. As he transfers the Talent he took from the man in the gray suit into a jar, some of it dissipates into the air vent. The Owner hears a faint sniffle but tells himself that no one is there.