Chapter 24
Rome. Present day.
She was dreaming, and in her dream the night hung heavy and dark, like a pewter cloak glistening on the girl’s back as she wandered the empty, dusky streets. She was searching for her name everywhere, in Rome, in Florence, even in the lost Venetian waters; would climb into and out of the canals if she had to, and she would call out silently, because she did not know what she was calling to, or calling for.
She found herself, with no warning, in the arena of the Colosseum, but not like it was today. No, these were wooden planks under her feet, like in times of old, and surrounding her was no half-ruin, but the wall that had been called Podium. The night chilled her, and the only company to keep here were the hundreds of thousands who had had their lives torn
