A Furry Face on the Windowsill
- Darius pops into Meggie's room to test her gift by having her read something, and they get to chatting—apparently Capricorn used to starve and threaten Darius when his reading skills weren't up to par.
- Anyway, Darius has brought the Collected Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen for Meggie to read from. He suggests reading out the tin soldier, since maybe he wouldn't be too unhappy outside the world of the book (not as unhappy as Tinker Bell, anyway).
- Fenoglio is on board with this idea, and he tells Meggie to ask for pen and paper too, because she's got to read for an audience: Mortola (the Magpie).
- Meggie reads the tin soldier out successfully, and Mortola grabs him to bring to Capricorn as proof. Meggie asks to have him back, and Mortola says maybe. Meggie forgets to ask for paper.
- Meggie stares out the window, thinking… the woman's name is Resa… and her mother's name was Teresa.
- Suddenly there's a furry face at the window. It's Gwin, and he's got the note from Mo under his collars. Meggie writes one in response, saying that she can read characters out of books and that she's supposed to summon the Shadow for an execution tomorrow night. She doesn't mention that Resa might be her mom though.
- They let Gwin go again, and all Meggie can think about is how Mo is out there—Fenoglio, however, is saying something about playing on Basta's superstitions.