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J ulia stood in front of the Sforza family castle, Castello Sforzesco, a gargantuan walled fortress spanning ten city blocks, with red brick walls that soared into the late afternoon sky.

Huge turrets with conical roofs anchored its corners, and a covered battlement ran the endless length of its walls.

It was inconceivable to Julia that she could be related to such world-class wealth and power.

Meanwhile she began to feel more and more nervous in the crowd, which she’d underestimated.

Tourists teemed around the castle’s arched entrances and exits, filling its open spaces.

Noise, motion, sight, and sound surrounded her.

People of all ages and races talked and shouted, drinking, smoking, and jostling each other.

Vendors hawked souvenirs, waving Pinocchio marionettes and fake gold crowns.

Julia broke into a sweat. She had to get back to the car, which waited for her at a nearby traffic circle.

She left the castle grounds and white-knuckled through the crowd heading to the rendezvous point.

She looked ahead but didn’t see the Mercedes.

It had been parked in a line of other hired cars, and all were gone, evidently shooed away by the traffic cop. She didn’t know what to do.

Her heart thundered. It was beginning to get dark. The crowd behind her pressed her forward, almost into the street. Traffic lurched around the rotary. Teenage boys crossed against the light, dodging cars and laughing. A bus driver leaned on his horn, startling her.

Julia took off. The hotel was twenty minutes away. She hurried down Via Dante, a main drag for pedestrians, lined with bustling shops, restaurants, and cafés, and kiosks vending kebabs, pizza, and gelato.

Panic tightened her chest. The moving throng was thick with noise, language, laughter, cigarette smoke, vapes, and weed. She picked up the pace. Evening was coming on, and the sky was deepening to periwinkle. Stars shone through a transparent film of darkness.

Julia hurried ahead. Fear twisted her gut.

She willed herself to keep it together. The street curved, and ahead was the Cathedral of Milan, its illuminated facade of white marble bright as bones against the blackening sky.

Its ornate facade came to a majestic point, its spiky Gothic towers stabbing the night.

She reached the massive piazza in front of the Cathedral, lined with lighted shops and restaurants. People surrounded her, talking, laughing, and partying. She wedged her way through.

“ Mi scusi! ” a man shouted, bumping into her.

Suddenly Julia lost her sense of direction.

She didn’t know which way the hotel was.

She was too short to see above the heads.

She turned right, then left, whirling around.

Everywhere around her were shadows silhouetted against the Cathedral.

She looked up to see its marble gargoyles glaring down at her.

“Move!” Julia barreled ahead, broke into a jog, then started running. She elbowed people out of the way, feeling like she was running for her life. Some got angry. Others pushed back.

Julia kept running.

From what, she didn’t know.