Jaya nodded, feeling oddly happy. “Good. Now let’s just enjoy the warm water, shall we?”

As the water frothed around them, she lay her head back, let her eyes slip closed, and took deep, calming breaths. Outwardly, she knew she appeared calm and in control, ever poised. Inside, she felt like a shipwreck survivor, on uncharted land she had no idea how to navigate.

The next afternoon, Jaya had just come in from the gardens, book in hand, when Penelope caught up with her on the stairs, going the other way. “Hello, Penny,” she said, smiling.

“I’ve been looking for you! Has Caterina talked to you yet?” Penelope asked, her eyes bright.

“No… why?”

“Oh, I just saw her a few minutes ago and she says she has a surprise for you.” Penelope’s cheeks were pink with glee. “I’m not sure what, though. She said to tell you to go to her room.”

Jaya’s heart hammered. Unlike the innocent Penelope, she knew a surprise from Caterina was not a thing to celebrate. “Okay, thanks, Penny,” she said, quickening her steps.

“Ta!” Penelope continued blithely running down the stairs.

Jaya walked quickly through the common room, noting in passing the smell of cooking popcorn, down the hallway with the dorm rooms, passing other students and smiling at them, though her mouth was rather dry. She clutched her book to her chest.

Perhaps Caterina wanted to apologize to Jaya. Well, maybe not to apologize—she doubted Caterina ever apologized for anything—but certainly to smooth things over. Maybe she’d thought about it and realized Jaya was only doing what any reasonable person would—that Caterina had put her in an uncomfortable position, asking her to rat on Daph. They’d talk about it, Jaya would say bygones were bygones, and that would be it.

She took a deep breath, smoothed down her sweater, and knocked on Caterina’s door.

“Come in!”

Jaya turned the doorknob, walked in, and stopped, staring.

Caterina, dressed in a plum-colored sweaterdress and tan boots, sat at her desk. On the screen of the laptop in front of her were two familiar faces. “Jaya,” Caterina said, smiling her most lovely, most carved-from-ice smile. “I believe you know my friends Sri Devi and Kiran? We were just catching up on Skype.”

Sri Devi Nair, the daughter of one of the royal families in Kerala, the one Caterina had brought up again in Aspen. And Kiran Hegde, who naturally, Jaya knew well. Quite well. “What…,” Jaya began, not knowing what she was going to say. Her pulse hammered in her temples; her palms were suddenly very damp.

“Hi, Jaya,” Sri Devi said while Kiran watched Jaya, unsmiling.

“H-hi,” Jaya said, feeling more discombobulated than she had in her entire life. What would Amma do in a situation like this? She walked closer to the screen, to Caterina. “How are you, Sri Devi?”

“I’m well!” Sri Devi said. “Caterina was just telling us how well you’re fitting in there. Sounds like you’ve met lots of interesting people.”