Instead, I went to Pip’s room and grabbed one of his old satchels. I filled it with whatever I could think of that might come in handy, both from his room and mine, and then I ran down the stairs before I could chicken out.

I didn’t see any of the others on my way down. It was probably for the best; I didn’t know if I could bear to say goodbye.

In the front hallway, Ashwini strapped her sword to her back and grabbed a tightly coiled rope.

“Wait,” I said. “Put this on.”

I handed her a long, darkish-brown jacket, just like the one I’d put on before leaving my room. They were pretty ugly, but that didn’t matter as much as what they were made of. I had helped Jojo sew stardust into them.

“Glamour jackets,” I said, when Ashwini looked confused. “They’ll make it difficult for any Asuras out there to see us. Jojo says their eyes should slide right past us.”

“Huh,” she said proudly. “Good thinking.”

I followed her out of the front door, my stomach churning. I didn’t like this. In fact, I was terrified and I hated every part of it, but as the thunder crashed and rolled above us, I knew I had no choice. I had to do this. I couldn’t fail. Not this time.

Mysore was a ghost town as we ran across the square. Ashwini led the way, darting this way and that, never faltering in spite of the mist, the shadows, and the flashes of lightning. I didn’t know for sure if our glamour jackets were working or not, but the handful of Asuras we spotted prowling the streets didn’t come near us, so I liked to think Jojo’s work had done the trick.

High in the sky, my pastel castle was surrounded by thunder and electricity. I expected it to catch fire, shatter, or fall, but it didn’t. It was my whimsical, silly castle, the last piece of the whimsical sunshine girl I had once been, and it looked like it would survive. So would she. Girl and castle would both outlast the storm.

“There!” Ashwini shouted over the roar of the thunder.

Up ahead were the open gates of Mysore Palace, bent and creaking in the wind. I could see all the way down the brick drive, past the ashoka trees and mulberry bushes, to the great domes of the palace. I could even see the silhouette of the gandaberunda, dark against the flashing sky.

But there was a problem: two Asuras stood at the gates, their hulking forms looming across the opening. I couldn’t see much beyond their four-legged silhouettes, but I could definitely see sharp teeth in strong, canine muzzles.

“I don’t think the glamour jackets will get us past them,” I whispered, ducking back behind the line of houses we’d followed up to the palace. “We’d have to squeeze past them and I think they’d notice that.”

“It wouldn’t matter,” said Ashwini. “They’re wolf Asuras. Mahishasura likes to use wolves as guards because they have the best noses. Glamour or no glamour, they’d smell us if we got close.”