About them were the mangled remains of a hundred beautiful palaces. “Poor things,” Winnie whimpered, leaning down to touch one shattered tile. “I’m so sorry!”

“Poor palaces? What about us?” Lord Amari’s disgruntled voice called from what seemed a distance.

Ahmad was surprised to find a relieved smile tugging at his lips.

He fought it away and turned around to retort, “You guys make it through every time. Unfortunately.”

The MasterMind smirked back, looking no worse for wear in spite of the sand clinging to her hat, but the Architect groaned from behind her. “What do you mean, ‘unfortunately’? Don’t make me regret sparing your life.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Winnie groused. “Look, just be grateful we made it out alive and your so-called uncle didn’t . . . wait.” Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. “Um, Ahmad. Did we kill a jinn?”

Before Ahmad could answer, the MasterMind broke in cheerily. “Sure did.”

She kicked at what Ahmad now saw was a large scorch mark on the ground.

“Probably have the whole lot of his tribe plotting revenge as we speak,” the Architect added grimly. “Jinns are not the most . . . reasonable creatures.”

Winnie groaned. “Great. Just what I need.”

“But what about Madame Nasirah?” Ahmad broke in anxiously.

The Architect crossed his arms. “Don’t think I don’t take care of my own Gamekeeper. She’ll be back in her shop where she belongs, probably toddling along and crooning to her beloved teapots without any awareness of what happened.”

The MasterMind rolled her eyes. “He didn’t like my suggestion that we replace her with a bot.”

Ahmad sighed in relief—and then gasped as the ground shook beneath him.

“What was that?”

The MasterMind’s smile melted away and she looked grim. “That is our final timer. Paheli is eating away at itself. The jinn that kept it alive . . . well, we just established what happened to him. You freed Paheli but sealed its fate.”

“We need to get out!” Winnie gasped out, grasping Ahmad’s arm.

“Way ahead of you there,” the MasterMind responded, stepping back to reveal a glimmering doorway. Through it, Ahmad could make out the suggestion of skyscrapers, milling tourists on distant black asphalt, and the beautiful green expanse of Central Park.

New York City. Home.

It was that close now.

“You both need to go through,” the Architect said firmly. “We have minutes to spare.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Winnie said fervently, but Ahmad anxiously asked, “Wait, you guys aren’t coming too?”

The Architect opened his mouth, but the MasterMind jammed her elbow between his ribs. “Ow! . . . Well, after much discussion, we decided that staying here was the best solution,” he said grimly. “This . . . this is my world after all, the only world I’ve ever known. I will go down with the ship.”