I yanked my thumbnail away from my mouth and reached instead for the pencil in the pocket of my pajamas. It helped, a little.

Ashwini put her hands on my shoulders, obviously certain I was about to chicken out. “Kiki, I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important. We need you. No one else can do this.”

She still hadn’t told me what this was.

I clenched my fist around the pencil and forced myself to take a deep, slow breath. “Okay,” I blurted, before I could talk myself out of it. “Okay, I’ll go.”

“Good,” she beamed.

Then she shoved me into my sketchbook.

I didn’t even have time to yelp. One minute I was about to face-plant into a book, the next I was on my hands and knees in the hot sun.

My brain stuttered to a stop there: the hot sun.

I had been in London, on an October night. I’d practically forgotten what the hot sun felt like.

I took slow, shaky breaths. Squeezed my eyes shut. I could feel stone under my hands, smooth stone that had been baked by the sun. A courtyard? I could hear the trickle of water close by. A fountain?

I got unsteadily to my feet. Someone was beside me.

“Kiki.” It was Ashwini’s voice, electric with excitement. “Open your eyes.”

I opened them. The light was ferocious. I blinked, dazzled, and waited for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I saw it.

My golden kingdom.

At which point, I fainted.

5

“Kiki? Kiki?”

“This is the girl who’s supposed to save us all? Really?”

“Give her a break. She’s a kid and she’s had a shock.”

“I’m a kid. So are you.”

“She’s not like us.”

“Clearly. Also, her clothes are ridiculous.”

“They’re pajamas. She wears them to sleep in.”

“They have rainbow unicorns all over them.”

“Go away if you’re not going to be helpful. Kiki? Can you hear me?”

I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. All I could see was vivid blue sky and impossibly bright, hot sunshine. I threw an arm over my face to shade my eyes. “What happened?”

“You fainted,” Ashwini reminded me.

Heat rushed into my cheeks. “Oh.”

“Don’t worry,” she said kindly, helping me sit up. “No one blames you.”

“I kind of do,” said the other voice.

I squinted at the owner. A boy, around twelve years old, with dark golden skin, brown eyes, black hair cut close to his head, and an annoyed look on his face. “What’s wrong with rainbow unicorns?” I asked him.

“Don’t mind him,” said Ashwini. “That’s Lej. He’s rude to everyone.”

“Hi. I’m Kiki.”

“I know,” said Lej, still annoyed. It seemed a pretty safe bet that I was the source of his annoyance. He turned to Ashwini. “Can we go inside now? We’re exposed out here.”

As I stood up, I got my first real look at what he meant by out here.