A Tangle of Knots: V–Epilogue

by Lisa Graff
Author Lisa Graff cooks up a plot with magical ingredients and just the right amount of sweetness as she tells this tale of an orphan with a talent for baking and a mysterious past. Will this list of words be a piece of cake for you?

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–V, The Owner–Marigold, V–Epilogue
40 words 47 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. fluid
    smooth and unconstrained in movement
    There was something about the expressive ups and downs of the music—the fluid emotion that escaped with every twitch of V’s fingers—that V couldn’t pull herself away from.
  2. reveal
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    V was curious to know what could possibly make a man so excited that he revealed his true self, a self he clearly wanted to keep hidden.
  3. frustrated
    disappointingly unsuccessful
    He was frustrated, but not worried.
  4. exist
    have a presence
    Now that he knew the Talent existed, he would find a way to get it.
  5. admire
    feel high regard for
    Whispers from admiring fans seemed to be echoing off the walls.
  6. arch
    form a curve
    Marigold tightened her bracelet more securely around her wrist and pressed on, stretching her toes to their tippy-tips and arching her arms above her head to figure out if her Talent was ballet dancing.
  7. compliment
    a remark expressing praise and admiration
    (The man was too engrossed in his book to notice her entrance, which V supposed she should take as a compliment.)
  8. fascinated
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    The squirrels seemed fascinated, digging their curious faces right down into the broken glass to sniff.
  9. peculiar
    beyond or deviating from the usual or expected
    But what seemed to happen (although it couldn’t be what really happened, because it was all too peculiar to be true) was that something in the Owner’s pocket let out a soft plunk!, like a pebble being tossed to the floor, and the Owner suddenly shrunk two inches.
  10. typical
    conforming to a standard or kind
    Marigold was typically the type of girl who refrained from whacking surly old men in the shins as hard as she could. But today was not a typical day.
  11. promptly
    with little or no delay
    The ice cube snaked down his arm and found its way to Marigold’s wrist, where it promptly wedged itself under her Talent bracelet.
  12. mesmerized
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    But the ice cube was trapped beneath the three shiny silver beads of Marigold’s bracelet, and she could only watch, mesmerized, as it quickly shrunk—tiny, tinier, tiniest—into her skin, the cold traveling through her veins, up her arm, and into her chest.
  13. overwhelming
    very intense
    Marigold wouldn’t have believed it for a second if she didn’t feel the overwhelming desire to hock a loogie right that very moment.
  14. extraordinary
    highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable
    Of all the startling things that had happened that afternoon, those two words were perhaps the most extraordinary.
  15. maneuver
    act in order to achieve a certain goal
    Zane had been watching the man work the balloon’s controls ever since they’d climbed inside the basket, and he was good at it. Skilled. The kind of man who should be able to maneuver himself and his hot air balloon out of any danger that came his way.
  16. wreck
    smash or break forcefully
    He’d wrecked the apartment with his stupid Talent. Worthless. He’d tried to fix it. Worthless.
  17. unfit
    below the required standards for a purpose
    It seems the school’s last principal was deemed—how was it phrased?—unfit to head the school.
  18. worthwhile
    sufficiently valuable to justify the investment of time
    “I have a feeling, in fact,” the man in the gray suit told him, leaning farther over the basket to talk to Zane in conspiratorial tones, “that you might just find it to be very .. . worthwhile.”
  19. unprecedented
    novel; having no earlier occurrence
    She had gotten to the convention center much later than she’d planned, due to an unprecedented traffic jam on the highway.
  20. influx
    the process of flowing in
    She’d tried to tune in to the radio to see what was causing the delay, but all she’d gotten was nonsense about an influx of Talented squirrels, stopping traffic with their amazing acrobatics and unnatural abilities.
  21. dogged
    stubbornly unyielding
    It was a strong one this time, assertive and dogged, the same heart-yanking tug she’d been ignoring all week.
  22. sensational
    commanding attention
    Now they stood between the teeming crowds of people and the increasingly sensational cakes on display, searching for some way they might possibly be needed.
  23. available
    obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service
    All her life, V had counted on having her words available to her whenever she needed to use them.
  24. scheme
    an elaborate and systematic plan of action
    If she could startle the chameleon just enough, he might show his real face, and V might be able to foil any chameleon-like schemes he’d been hatching.
  25. inspiration
    arousal of the mind to unusual activity or creativity
    She’d created the whole mess in a daze, hoping for some flicker of inspiration.
  26. elaborate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    The woman had a braid, a beautifully elaborate one, trailing down her shoulder.
  27. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    And the Owner, with the icy stone of Talent poised to melt into his skin, was grinning.
  28. arc
    something curved in shape
    The Owner didn't notice it as the first spray of the sprinklers hit his skin, but the arc of spit that flew from across the room was so perfectly aimed that there was no way it couldn’t have hit his hand.
  29. precious
    of high worth or cost
    It knocked the icy stone of precious Talent to the floor.
  30. masterpiece
    the most outstanding work of a creative artist or craftsman
    With Sally snuggled tightly around his neck, he made his way through the rain to the biggest cake he’d ever seen—a fifty-layer-high masterpiece of sugary wonder.
  31. management
    those in charge of running a business
    There were probably many reasons for the store’s success: its new management, for one thing.
  32. prosperity
    a state of growth with rising profits and full employment
    But Cady suspected that the credit for most of the business’s recent prosperity lay with Miss Mallory.
  33. extend
    broaden in scope or range or area
    It seemed Miss Mallory’s Talent for matching extended well beyond orphans (although there were orphans occasionally, too, at the Emporium; they came and went faster than Cady could blink).
  34. amazing
    inspiring awe or admiration or wonder
    It might not have been quite as good as the original Darlington stuff, but with Cady and Toby and Miss Mallory and V and the Ashers working together to create it, it was pretty amazing.
  35. patience
    good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
    Cady suspected that Marigold’s many years of Talent-hunting had taught her a thing or two about patience.
  36. development
    a recent event that has relevance for the present situation
    Cady plunked a handful of plastic forks into a polka-dot cup, while Mrs. Asher filled Toby in on recent developments at the museum—including her fifth authorship on the paper about the discovery of the infamous toe bone.
  37. strand
    a very slender natural or synthetic fiber
    And although they were three very different people, Cady couldn’t help thinking that when they were woven together, they fit exactly right, like the three strands of hair that Cady’s birth mother had once tied up so intricately.
  38. braid
    make by interlacing
    Cady’s Chocolate Almond-Cherry Cake
    a cake that perfectly braids together three very different flavors
  39. combine
    put or add together
    5. With the mixer on low speed, add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, combining well. Add about a half of the milk and combine. Then add another third of the flour mixture, the last of the milk, and then the last of the flour, combining well each time.
  40. thoroughly
    completely and absolutely
    8. Add the cherry extract and red food coloring to the batter in the third bowl, and combine thoroughly with a spoon or clean beaters.
Created on Fri May 27 17:31:34 EDT 2016 (updated Thu Sep 20 15:50:28 EDT 2018)

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