A jolt shot through Pêro’s body, ejecting the tile from the tongs’ grip. It shattered on the floor. He dropped the iron-tongs, which clattered upon the shards. Barrels of chalky glazes shook, their thick soups boiling over their rims, mixing paddles churning. The viscous substances ebbed and flowed: manganese-browns, copper-greens, cobalt-blues, iron-oxide oranges, creating a chaos of colors on the ground.
Rolling pins fell off counters, and ricocheted end-over-end before congregating in a pile next to the vats. Dried goat balls the size of peaches filled with liquid glaze vaulted to the floor, paints squirting out their nozzle ends. Buckets of paintbrushes careened, brushes scattering like plucked feathers. Work pedestals spun. Small glass jars of pigments vibrated across tabletops; othe
