Excerpt:

In Fortune's Marketplace, our stall was a squat ugly mushroom in a flower-strewn meadow. No one who had a penny to spend wanted to know when they would die. They traded their silver for a golden stream of secrets, a cup of foamy pink love or a candy-striped stick of luck.

I cast my practice bones and watched with envy as a group of girls younger than I strolled past. In my smock, I was a cobweb to their kaleidoscope; a ghost, a shadow, a shade. I wanted to slip between them and disappear into the music and lantern-light. I wanted to watch the fireworks, get a taste of spicy food and freedom.

"Poor Kasei. Too bad you can't come with us. Too bad your dress is so old and your eyes so far apart." The Luckteller's apprentice, all in red, crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me.

"It's not nice to tease her, Mieko." The Loveteller's apprentice shook her head. She didn't say anything more, but I could hear her thoughts twist between us.

So much bad luck, that one. No family, no honor. If not for the Deathteller, she would have starved in the streets.