“I didn’t bother to read anything,” said Pip cheerfully. “I reckon we should take some of my stink bombs to the palace and—”

“No,” said Ashwini.

Simha’s voice rumbled from the corner. “While I, too, feel that books are usually the correct answer to any question, I cannot help but think that in this instance, we may have to widen our search.”

“The lion makes sense,” said Lej. He gave me a slightly scornful look. “Do you have any ideas yet?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” I said.

I had no ideas.

“Well?” said Lej.

I rapidly searched the room, determined to save my pride, and my eyes landed on the book in Suki’s lap.

“The Good Witch,” I blurted.

“Who?” Pip asked, perking up with interest.

“There’s a witch in Mysore,” I said. “The one who wrote the spellbook that Suki’s holding.”

“What’s her name?”

I winced. “The Good Witch.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Lej rolled his eyes. “After all, we are in the presence of a lion who is literally called Lion.”

“If you could resist making fun of my creative choices for two minutes,” I said somewhat testily, “maybe you’d realize that this is a good idea? The reason Mysore Palace became a maze of traps after the royal family died is because one of the kings from forever ago got a witch to put a protection spell on it. The Good Witch isn’t the same witch, but she may be able to undo the protection spell.”

“I suppose it’s worth a try,” Ashwini said a little doubtfully. “Do you know where she is?”

“No,” I admitted. “I only doodled her one time and then pretty much forgot about her until I saw the spellbook.”

Simha stretched and rose to his feet. He really was an enormous creature, with paws the size of my head and a yawn that could have swallowed me whole. “I will go into the city and talk to the people,” he said. “If this witch exists, someone will know where we can find her.”

“Shouldn’t we all go?” I asked. “We’ll find her faster if we split up.”

“Absolutely not,” Ashwini said at once. “The whole of Mahishasura’s army is out there looking for you, Kiki. You can’t risk being seen until we’re absolutely sure we can get to that statue.”

“And I would prefer to go alone, in any case,” said Simha. “I can travel much faster without you humans slowing me down.”

I wanted to do something to ease the scratchy, tireless anxiousness building and building inside me, but I knew she was right. So Simha bounded alone into the evening, leaving us behind.

“Right,” Ashwini said when he was gone. “While we wait for him to come back, we can get some practice in.”

Suki and Pip groaned, but their groans subsided the instant Ashwini scowled at them both.

I frowned. “Practice?”

“Battling Asuras,” said Samara. “Ashwini makes us practice every day.”

“I have a bump on my head the size of a small country to prove it,” Suki informed me.