We paused, necks craned to look up at the statue. Above the tallest arch, inscribed in Sanskrit around a miniature gandaberunda, was the motto of the Kingdom of Mysore:

NEVER TERRIFIED

I read those words over and over. I wanted them to make me braver.

I was so busy inside my own head that I didn’t notice Lej taking a step forward until it was too late.

Between the arches and the huge front doors of the palace was a covered porch of pale terra-cotta tiles. There were faint patterns embossed on the tiles: lotus flowers, mandalas, and diamonds. They looked like they were just for decoration, so Lej must have assumed they were just for decoration, and he stepped beneath the arch and onto the porch.

He didn’t know that only the tiles with the lotus flowers on them were safe to step on. He didn’t know because I didn’t tell him in time.

“Wait!” I cried out, but his foot was already firmly planted on a tile with a diamond on it.

There was a shudder in the earth beneath us. I grabbed Lej’s arm and yanked him backward, just as the entire terra-cotta porch crumbled into nothing.

Lej shook himself free and stared, shocked, into the chasm that had opened up between the arches and the palace doors. There was no bottom, just yawning darkness.

“Can we get a ladder across it?” Ashwini asked, immediately trying to solve the problem. She raised a hand and squinted, like she was measuring the distance. “No, it’s too wide. What about other doors? Kiki?”

“All sealed,” I said softly, my stomach knotted up with guilt. All I’d had to do was find my way across a palace I had created and break a jewel. How could I have already made such a mess of something so simple?

“All of them?”

“The doors at the end of the botanical garden might be open, but we can’t get past the maze.” I swallowed. “I can’t get past the maze.”

For a moment, no one spoke. Then, taking a deep breath, Ashwini made a valiant attempt at a smile and said, “Okay, I guess that’s that.”

I expected Lej to be furious, but he didn’t say anything. In fact, when I glanced at him, I could have sworn he looked relieved.

“We’ll find another way to stop him,” he said to Ashwini.

She kept that smile on her face, but it wobbled. She had pinned all her hopes on this, on me doing this one simple thing, and I knew she didn’t believe there was another way to beat Mahishasura.

“Let’s go,” she said. “The Asuras haven’t spotted us yet, but let’s not push our luck. Lej, you’d better go check the others haven’t gotten themselves into some kind of trouble. Kiki, I’ll make sure you get safely back.”

“Back where?”

“London, of course. Don’t you want to go home?”

I looked at her in disbelief. “That’s it?”

“What else did you expect to happen?” Lej asked. “You’re the only one who can break the eye, but apparently you can’t even do that. So what’s the point in you sticking around?”