Page 12 - My FlipBook

Lily considered who this rhyme could be from and

what it could possibly mean. One line gave her particular
pause for thought:
What it is that makes you tick.

The phrase made her ill at ease. It felt a little too
close to the bone. As if whoever’d sent the card was aware
of her mechanical heart…and yet nobody knew of
that save for Papa, Malkin, Robert, and the house-

mechanicals…Oh, and Anna and Tolly. But surely none
of them had sent this, had they?
And anyway, why such a cryptic riddle, with all its

hints and winks? Because what else could “tick” mean in
this context but the sound her heart made? The question
was not only about who she was, it was about what she
was… Unless she was reading too much into it? Could it

be an accidental turn of phrase? Perhaps she’d become
too paranoid about the Cogheart, too worried about
its discovery…

The mystery was made more absurd by the fact that
this was the first and only gift Lily had received today.
She undid the ribbon, lifted the lid of the hatbox, and
peered inside.

A sliver of vermilion flashed in the sunlight.
Lily took the lid off completely.
Inside was not a hat or any item one might reasonably

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