In November, Astrid turns fourteen. Starr throws her a party, and she receives a present from everyone. Ray's gift is a wooden jewelry box, in the pattern of an art nouveau moonflower, the cover motif of her mother's first book. He must have done it late at night. She merely says thanks, afraid to show how much she loves it.
One day Ray asks her about her father. She only knows his name, Klaus Anders, which she learned through her birth certificate. Her mother told her that she sprang from her, fully formed, like Athena. In a picture of her parents, he smiles fully, unlike Astrid or her mother. Ray muses about his son, Seth, but he thinks Seth's mother influences him and Ray hates him for it. Astrid talks about meeting her father.....
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