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orangey metal was the image of a woman in flowing clothes, her hair falling past her knees.
    “This is Venus-in-beauty, the aspect most appropriate to your need. At her feet is the symbol of Venus, which no doubt you recognize. The metal is copper, which she rules. The stone is lapis lazuli, which she also rules.”
    Giulia didn’t know what she had expected—a spectral glow? A vibration of the air? Somehow, she had thought it would be possible to recognize the spirit’s presence. But the talisman seemed completely ordinary—lovely, to be sure, but just a pendant.
    “The spirit is inside?”
    “It is.”
    “Is it…can it ever get out?”
    “It’s securely bound. It cannot escape until you set it free.”
    “Why would I set it free?”
    “Because it is a free being. Such creatures do not feel as humans do, but it will suffer if you hold it beyond the time of your need. When you no longer require its help, break the stone into pieces. That willrelease it back to the heavens.”
    “And it won’t be angry? At being imprisoned?”
    “I told you, such beings don’t feel as humans do.” For the first time, the sorcerer showed a trace of impatience. “In any case, it is bound to your heart’s desire. Your desire is its desire now.” He looked at her. “Be very sure you know what that is, or you may find yourself surprised by what you receive.”
    “I’m sure.”
    “Then all will be well.” He drew the wrappings over the stone again. “It’s sleeping now. To wake it, and let it know it’s you it serves, give it something of yourself—a drop of blood, some spittle, anything will do as long as it comes from within you—and speak its name aloud. Anasurymboriel.”
    “Ana—”
    “—surymboriel. Thereafter, keep it on your person. Next to your skin is best.”
    He placed the little package in her hand. It was heavier than she expected, as if it were made of something denser than stone.
    “Have you any other questions for me?”
    “Sir…” Giulia hesitated.
    “Yes?”
    “Why do you wear a metal cap?”
    “Ah.” The sorcerer raised his hand to touch it. “According to my natal horoscope, I’m at risk of death from falling objects. I carry a talisman, but I also believe in taking practical measures.” He smiled a little. Now at last the long night showed in his face—or maybe it was just the rising light of day,revealing the lines around his mouth and eyes. “We are all trying to cheat the stars, one way or another. Good-bye, Giulia. Remember me to your master.”

C HAPTER 4
Anasurymboriel
    Giulia saw no one, not even the crone who had let her in, as she left the sorcerer’s house. She ran through the garden, where the trees held the last of night tangled in their branches, and slipped out the gates. All the while she repeated to herself the strange name the sorcerer had given her, fixing it in her mind so she would not forget:
Anasurymboriel. Anasurymboriel. Anasurymboriel
.
    She felt the weight of the talisman in her belt pouch, and the emptiness at her throat where her mother’s necklace had been.
    It was still early when she arrived at the palazzo.The doorman grinned as he let her in.
    “Out all night, eh? You won’t be doing much of that where you’re going.”
    She could hear him chortling as she ran across the
cortile
.
    She went directly to the attic, where she pulled her mother’s cedar box from its hiding place beneath one of the dust cloth-shrouded tables. In addition to the ruined trousseau, it held pretty stones and bright feathers she’d collected over the years, a sash she’d made out of leftover silk, a silver chain she’d found in the gutter, and the thick sheaf of her drawings.
    She didn’t know where it came from, her need to draw. She only knew she had always had it, even as a tiny child. No one ever taught her; it was just something she understood how to do, an instinct familiar as her own body. Any surface would serve—a smooth rock, a patch of sand, a spare bit