“Is it true, Petra?” Tomas Stakan asked. “David’s been to town and he’s telling a strange story about your father. Is it true?” Master Stakan was as serious as stone as he listened to Petra explain what had happened.
“It’s too much!” His fist slammed against the worktable. Bottles tinkled and one jumped over the edge of the table, smashing on the floor below. “Too much! One day the prince will regret the way he has treated his people! Even when he was a little boy he would send people to the gallows as easily as he would wipe his nose! One day he will—”
His thundering stopped almost as soon as it had begun. He glanced behind him nervously, as if someone might be watching him or hearing his rebellious words. He exhaled one long breath, and seemed to regain his calm.
“Maybe there’s a way you can help my father,” Petra said, and described the idea she had in mind. As she spoke, Master Stakan nodded occasionally.
When she finished, Tomik began to say, “I think that—”
His father held up a flat hand.
“I’ll start working on it,” Master Stakan said. “But it will take some time, and probably a lot of trial and error. What you’re asking for isn’t simple.”
But it was possible. Petra felt hopeful, so she didn’t really mind when Master Stakan shooed them away as if they were little children tugging at his work apron. “Now you two go find something to do with yourselves.” He flapped his hands at them. “I have enough to do without worrying about you breaking something in the shop with your games.”
“If you didn’t notice, we didn’t break anything!” Tomik protested.
Before Master Stakan could respond, Petra tugged Tomik up the stairs. He followed her, grumpily stamping on the worn steps. “Apprentice? Me, his apprentice? Bellows-blower, is more like it. Pot-scrubber. Window-washer. Floor-sweeper. What does he need me as his apprentice for if he won’t let me do anything!”
They entered his room in the attic. Tomik slammed the door shut behind them. The ceiling was low and the day was hot, so they sat with crossed legs on the floor.
“He’s never even thought about the things I can do.” In a low, eager voice he added, “Do you want to see my latest invention?”
“Of course,” Petra said. Curious, Astrophil stood on his tiptoes.
Tomik leaned back on his elbow and dragged a beat-up box out from under his bed. He opened it, revealing dice made from pig knucklebones, a set of stubby charcoal pencils, and countless marbles. But as Petra looked more closely, she saw that two marbles were different from the rest. They were slightly larger, and something flickered inside each one. Tomik plucked the two glass balls from the box and held them out to Petra. She took one and discovered it was light and hollow. A star of bright light pulsed inside. “What is it?”
“A bit of lightning. It wasn’t easy to get inside the glass, but easier than you might think.”
“What do you mean?” Petra asked.
“It’s pretty simple to manipulate lightning with magic. You see,” he explained confidently, “lightning and magic are kind of similar. Like cousins.”
Petra studied him. “How do you know this? It sounds as if … as if you’ve been taking lessons.”
“Hardly,” he scoffed. “Who’d teach me? No, that stuff about the lightning was something your father said.”
“My father? To you?”
“Something I heard him say. Overheard,” he clarified. “You know how distracted he gets when he’s working on something. Before he left for Prague, I went to the Sign of the Compass one day on an errand for my father. Master Kronos was staring into space, talking to himself. He said something like, ‘I’ll start with the lightning. That will be the easiest step. The kinship between magic and energy. The kinship between kinds of raw power.’ I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, Petra.” He searched her face to see if she disapproved. “It’s just … I haven’t been getting any help about how to use magic from my father. So I’ve been paying attention to yours.”
Petra was unsure how to respond. Tomik’s words immediately made her wonder if she had been paying enough attention to her own father. All she remembered of their conversations before Master Kronos had left for Prague was cogs, gears, dials, and pendulums. But lightning and magic? What did that have to do with making a clock?
“Anyway,” Tomik continued, “hearing Master Kronos gave me the idea to try my experiment with lightning first. And I did it! But designing this sphere was nothing compared to trapping that fellow.” He lifted the second ball. Inside, a wasp darted back and forth and rapped its stinger against the glass: ping ping ping. “I thought I could use them for a prank on Mistress Jugo. The idea is that when you break the glass, whatever is inside the ball will multiply a hundred times.”
“Do they work?” Astrophil asked.
“Well, the one with lightning does. This is the second one I’ve made of that model. I tested the first one in a clearing in the forest and was really lucky I didn’t burn down any trees. There was also an aftereffect of thunder, which I didn’t think would happen. But I’m not sure whether this one works.” He carefully lifted the wasp marble. “I’m not even sure I want to know. I’d have to break it to make sure it works and … well, the wasps are supposed to attack whoever’s closest to the broken ball. But after making it I realized there was no one I disliked that much that I would send one hundred wasps after him. Kind of excessive, isn’t it? I mean”—he paused and listened to the wasp ping ping ping—“one is enough. Plus, this wasp might remember me and decide I’m a more interesting target than whoever’s closest by.”
“Remember you?” Petra scoffed. “Don’t be silly. Wasps don’t have brains to remember with.”
He grimaced. “It’s not its brains I’m worried about.”
Petra took the ball from him. The thin glass buzzed under her grip, which tightened as she peered at the insect’s stinger. “Not a pretty sight,” she agreed, and passed both spheres to Tomik, who tucked them back into the box.
“I thought of it because Lucie kept pestering me to make earrings for her in the shape of butterflies. Father told Lucie and Pavel that they could make the trip to Prague this year to sell our wares. Lucie wants to impress the city-folk. And Pavel.” He rolled his eyes.