No, not just a statue: it was Mysore’s protector, always waiting, always watching, ready to wake when the city most needed it.

None of us talked about Ashwini. Her betrayal had crushed me, but I’d only known her a few days, so I knew that the others, who had loved and depended on her for years, felt much worse. And I didn’t want to think about her being all by herself, either, somewhere out there in this kingdom of ink, monsters, and magic. Was she sorry? Did she wish she could come home? Was she okay? I didn’t know if I would ever be able to forgive her, but I did know that, even now, I cared too much about her not to worry about where she was and whether she would ever be happy.

I had no reason to stay in Mysore anymore, but I didn’t want to leave. Not yet. Not until I got to see it get its happy ending.

I knew I couldn’t make all the pain and fear disappear just because the monsters were gone, and I knew it would take time for the people of the city to recover and build new, better lives, but there were a few things I could do.

So I went out into the city with pencils and the Good Witch’s spells. I fixed broken houses, painting them over with whatever bright new colors the people living inside them wanted. I rebuilt the train. I wiped away the scorched earth where Mahishasura had burned the farms and redrew new ones, with new crops and new orchards, so that there would always be food for everyone. I drew the circus back into the city.

And bit by bit, noise and joy and magic came back to one small pocket universe, tucked safely inside a little girl’s sketchbook.

As for the Crows, I drew gifts for them. New figures and cards for their Giants & Gargoyles game, a grand library for Samara, a greenhouse for Suki, a sewing machine for Jojo, an enormous teacup for Simha so that he wouldn’t have to drink out of tiny human ones anymore, and, for Lej, a pair of his very own rainbow unicorn pajamas.

He made a spluttering sound when he opened the present I’d neatly wrapped and tied up with a bow. And then a smile crept across his face.

“They’re great,” he said.

“I know,” I said, and grinned back.

“I still don’t like you,” he warned. “Well, not all that much, anyway.”

“Don’t worry, I feel the same way.”

From across the square, where she was exploring her sunny new greenhouse with giddy delight, Suki shouted, “You know, you didn’t have to give us presents! You did save us, after all.”

“I couldn’t have done any of it without you,” I said. “All of you. And if you don’t believe me, let me tell you how I got to the top of Mysore Palace . . .”

So I told them, about Jojo’s glamour jacket, Samara’s apple, Suki’s freezing potion, and Pip’s stink bomb.