Summary

Chapter 16, "Skin," opens seven years later with Nori attending a concert in which Will is the pianist. She narrowly avoids being seen by him and returns to her small, rented room. She reflects on how she had wandered, "Vienna first, then Rome, then Malta. She'd spent a few months in Switzerland before coming to Paris" (333). She is twenty-three and used to the itinerant life. After seeing Will though, Nori decides to go to London to see Alice.

The point of view then switches to Alice's. Nori's old friend is now married to a Duke's son, has two daughters, and is pregnant again. Her day is disrupted when Will visits, to tell her that he had seen Nori at a concert. Alice does not believe him and retreats for a rest after his visit. When she awakens, she answers the door, "and somehow I...