But it soon becomes clear the governor’s son did not suffer an accidental fall as Myra has been told. Among the “ancient wealth and finery,” Myra sets to her grim work. Spirited to Rose Manor in the dead of night, Myra has four days to complete her work before the body decays beyond help. If Myra fails, the governor’s wife will expose Myra as a Prodigy and her life could well be forfeit. If Myra can use her Prodigy gift to resurrect the governor’s dead son, she could earn enough for a proper home, tuition to attend the conservatory, and even a real doctor to treat Lucy. When Myra’s magic is discovered by the worst person possible, she forges an uneasy bargain with the governor’s wife. She can manipulate a person’s sevren threads to alter their appearance and heal injuries, but she can’t dictate when or how her magic will work instead having to paint through it while her magic buzzes “like a swarm of bees inside head.” With finances dwindling in the wake of her parents’ disappearances, Myra desperately needs work to earn enough for rent, food, and for the nurse Lucy needs to help manage the symptoms of her chronic illness. Lacking in proper training and control, Myra’s magic is even more dangerous. Scriptures are very clear that Prodigies are “a defilement of the power of our god, the Great Artist.” With magic that “gives a painter the ability to alter human and animal bodies with their paintings,” Prodigies have long been seen as “even more of an abomination than normal portrait work.” Their powerful ability also means that Prodigies “have been persecuted by the pious and captured by the greedy since the dawn of time.” With her mother–another Prodigy and talented artist–among the missing, Myra Whitlock knows she has to hide her own magical gift if she wants to keep herself and her younger sister, Lucy, safe.
Conservatives including the governor fear the growing popularity in portraiture the presence of Prodigy magic in Lalverton makes the taboo artform seem like even more of a threat. Painters are disappearing throughout Lalverton with many devout citizens say this is just treatment for those who choose to paint–a creative outlet seen as holy and solely as the domain of the Great Artist.
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books:
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