Like the India I knew in the real world, there was a sense of order and rhythm in what seemed at first glance to be chaos. There were merchants with carts selling old books, ripe mangoes, coconuts, and buttered corn scraped off the cob and wrapped up in a cone of newspaper. I could hear low voices and haggling. I could smell the butter, the mangoes, the dust.

And I remembered creating it. Creating this exact scene. I remembered drawing a few faces glancing anxiously up into the sky, just like the two little boys down the street were doing at that moment. I remembered drawing the lady cooking hot dosas on a skillet. I remembered sketching the lines and shadows of that old man with the cart of coconuts, expertly cracking open a hole in one of them before sticking a straw in it and taking a sip. I remembered sketching in the texture and details of the road, tightly packed cobblestones flanked by unexpectedly modern streetlights. (It wasn’t like I had followed any rules. I had made this world for me, not for anyone else, and excellent plumbing and electricity had been essential additions to my version of an ancient magical kingdom. And considering I would need to use the bathroom sooner or later, was I now grateful for this? Yes, yes, I was.)

It was so quiet. That part was not at all like the real India. People here moved quickly, but quietly. I could hear voices, but they were soft and clipped. Like the people around me were trying to get on with their lives, sell their wares and buy their food, but also didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.

Like they were scared.

Of course they were scared. Their city had been taken over by monsters.

And I had made those monsters.

“Come on.” Ashwini tugged gently on my arm. “We can’t stop. The moment Mahishasura finds out you’re here, he’s going to come after you.”

“Too late,” Lej said grimly.

Ashwini’s hand tightened painfully around my wrist. I followed her gaze up, up, to the rooftop of the white house we had just walked out of.

There were two silhouettes hunched over on the edge of the roof, the sun so bright behind them that it was impossible to make out anything but shapes. Horns on the head of one shadow, six bulky arms on the other.

Asuras.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the shapes, my breath coming fast and shallow, but Ashwini gave me a sharp tug. “Run,” she hissed. “Follow Lej.”

I turned to run, and my bare feet recoiled from the hard, uneven surface of the cobbled street. Why, oh why hadn’t I stopped to put shoes on?

I heard a scream behind me and couldn’t stop myself looking back over my shoulder, just in time to see the Asuras leap off the roof and land in the street, kicking up clouds of dust. People scattered, terrified.

Before I could take another step, Lej’s arm shot out and stopped me. I froze as another creature, huge and fearsome, landed in front of us. We were trapped.