Free Luthier's Apprentice, The by Mayra Calvani

violins? Not only are the men gone, but their violins as well.”
    “He mentions it in the notebook, but he doesn’t offer any explanation.”
    “This is turning creepy.” Annika hugged herself.
    “Are you cold?” Corey asked her. “Here.” Ignoring Annika’s weak protests, he took off his aviator jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
    “Thanks,” Annika mumbled. “But what about you?”
    “I’m fine,” he said. “My sweater is warm enough.”
    Great , Emma thought. Now Annika will be impossible for the next few days . To her surprise, she felt a pang of jealousy.
    “There are references about pacts with the dark forces,” Corey said. “There are also references to Paganini. Actually, Monsieur Dupriez wrote three whole pages on Paganini alone.”
    “There were many rumors of witchcraft around Paganini during his lifetime,” Emma said dismissively. “But it was mostly nonsense thought up by superstitious people, or mean propaganda by other musicians who were jealous of him.”
    Annika waved her hand in front of them. “Hey, guys, can you fill me in? I’m the only non-violinist here. Emma, I’ve heard you talk before about Paganini—he’s the one who was double jointed, right? Who was he, exactly?”
    “Niccolò Paganini is considered by some to be the greatest violinist who ever lived,” Emma said. “He began playing when he was, like, about five, and his father used to starve him unless he played without making any mistakes, so Paganini used to practice from morning till night. It soon became obvious that he was a virtuoso. Later on, he would play with such unbelievable skill that people thought him, in some way, supernatural.”
    “He was the only violinist of his time who could move up and down the fingerboard at lightning speed,” Corey said. “His fingers were long and thin, and, more importantly, double-jointed, so he could execute all kind of crazy things on the strings. He could do left-hand pizzicatos. He could place his four fingers on four different strings at the same time. It was freaky, the acrobatics he could achieve with his fingers. He was a, well, a genius.”
    “To add to his mystery, he had a magnetic personality, a charisma, he was tall and thin, and always wore dark clothes,” Emma added. “There were a lot of rumors… that he had made a pact with the devil, that he had given up his soul in exchange for musical skill. When he died, he wasn’t given a Christian burial.”
    “Some people even claimed to have seen tiny demons floating around him as he played on stage,” Corey said.
    There was a moment of silence.
    “Wow,” Annika said. “This is, like, very dark stuff. You’re double-jointed, aren’t you, Emma?” She took Emma’s hands in hers and examined them. “Wow, it seems weird. No wonder you play so well.”
    Corey examined her fingers. In spite of the cold, his hands were comfortingly warm. He looked at Emma. She thought she saw a glint of awe in his eyes.
    Emma avoided his glance. A jolt of heat rose to her cheeks. She drew back her hands.
    “Is anyone else in your family double-jointed?” he asked. “That’s an inherited trait.”
    Emma nodded. “Grandpa.”
    “Not your mom?”
    “No. That’s not unusual. Traits like that may skip a generation or two,” Emma said.
    “Do you guys think Paganini is somehow connected with this case?” Annika asked.
    “I’m not sure,” Corey said. “Monsieur Dupriez obviously thought it was important, otherwise he wouldn’t have wasted his time writing all those notes.”
    “He might have been brainstorming. When you brainstorm, you think up all kinds of crazy possibilities,” Emma said.
    “But how can Paganini be connected?” Annika wondered. “He died hundreds of years ago.”
    “No, thousands,” Emma scoffed. “He died in the mid 1800s, Annika.”
    “Whatever. A long time ago,” Annika said.
    They remained quiet for a moment, as if pondering the possibilities.
    “Did you know Paganini owned