“It’s Paheli,” Ahmad said again, looking into Winnie’s worried brown eyes. “Not entirely the way I’ve always pictured it, with all this high-tech stuff and the flying cars. But it’s here. And I don’t know why.”

Winnie was silent for a moment. “Isn’t this amazing, though?”

Ahmad looked up in surprise. Winnie’s brown face glowed, that familiar smile stretching from ear to ear.

“It’s your dream world, brought to life!” She spread out her arms and spun, teetering dangerously close to the doorway.

Ahmad tossed out a hand. “Be careful! Gosh, Winnie.”

“Relax. Okay, maybe ‘relax’ isn’t the right word,” she said. “Yes, things are terrible right now. But did you ever think you’d see your city—your Paheli—alive like this? It’s amazing! And it’s yours!”

This was the last reaction Ahmad possibly expected from Winnie Williamson. She reached out and pressed down on his shoulders, turning him back to face Paheli.

“Look at it,” she said, and Ahmad tried to see it through her eyes.

Maybe she was right, a little.

Yes, the domes were shot through with pulsing electric veins and the palaces tugged at their roots and floated up in the air. But it was still familiar.

More alien and weird was the fact that Winnie Williamson was holding his shoulder and he didn’t feel squirmy and awkward and wrong-footed. He felt comforted. He felt like he wasn’t alone.

Was this what it felt like to have a friend? He still wasn’t sure, but he was glad Winnie was with him. For now, that was enough.

“Yeah,” Ahmad said softly. “Yeah, it really is awesome.”

They stared together in silence for a moment. Ahmad cleared his throat. “So, uh, any ideas on what we should do now?”

“Well, we need to play whatever this game is,” Winnie said thoughtfully. “And we can’t do that by just standing here and staring at Paheli from a distance.”

She hummed to herself for a moment, watching as a train slithered through the air beneath them like a serpentine dragon. When she looked back up, there was a glimmer in her eye that made Ahmad suddenly uneasy.

“What?” He backed up slightly. “Winnie, what are you planning?”

“It’s not really a plan. It’s more like following an instinct, and a rule of the universe.” Winnie reached out and grabbed up his hand.

“Winnie, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“What goes up, must come down!” Winnie giddily cried.

Someone else cried out with her. At the moment, Ahmad was sure it was his brain. It was too quick and too far to tell, anything but the one word shouted.

“Wait!”

And she jumped.

Down Ahmad went with her, shrieking.

Tumbling into the lyrical lights and foreboding shadows.