I spotted the banyan tree up ahead. Relieved, I headed toward it.

Then something grabbed my sleeve.

I shrieked. A human hand closed over my mouth, silencing me.

“Don’t scream! It’s just me!”

Pip?

I spun around. There was cold sweat all over my skin. “You scared me half to death!”

“Sorry,” he said with that quick, mischievous grin.

“Why are you out here?”

“After last night, I knew it was only a matter of time before you’d try to find out whether Mahishasura has your stuff or not,” he replied, sounding rather pleased with himself. “So I asked the house to tell me if you snuck out. It did. Ta-da!”

“Well, go back,” I said. “It’s not safe out here.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I know. That’s why I’m not going back.”

“Pip,” I protested.

“Kiki.”

“Pip.”

“Kiki.”

“I don’t have time to fight with you about this!”

“Good, because I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he chirped. “Shall we go?”

I stared at him for a moment, a lump in my throat. I didn’t know how to tell him that I wished he would go back, but I was also glad he hadn’t. So I nodded and ducked under the branches of the banyan tree. He fell into step beside me.

“I have to know,” I said after a moment. “I have to know if they’re coming, and if they’re not, I have to make sure they can’t.”

“I know,” said Pip cheerfully. I waited, but not one word of criticism came out of his mouth.

We crossed a street and hurried past the open fairground. It was empty, the circus gone, the plants overgrown, stray bits of paper fluttering sadly in the dirt. My heart ached as I remembered my sketches of the circus before Mahishasura, the bright tents, the cotton candy, the joy.

Soon, we were back at Pretty Corner Market, the street where Ashwini, Lej, and I had been ambushed by Mahishasura and his two minions just a few days before. The exact spot where the tear had opened up was a little farther ahead, on the balcony of a house at the end of the street. Like last time, the street was fairly busy. I could even see the old man with the cart of coconuts—he was okay!

Someone stepped away from a stall a few feet ahead, the glitter on her hair and skin sparkling in the sun. Chamundeshwari marched toward us. “What do you think you are doing out here?” she demanded.

“I know I shouldn’t be here,” I said quickly. “It’s not the cleverest thing I’ve ever done, but I had to—”

“It is unquestionably unwise,” she agreed, and Pip snorted a laugh. “Even more unwise when you take into account the fact that you cannot get near that tear, Kiki. I know that is why you have come, and I told you already. That house and its balcony are heavily guarded.”

“But maybe we could distract the Asuras and—”