Asha smiled then. “I am cccccertain,” she hissed, releasing Tanvi and rising up on her coils, “that you do know. You wish to see your sister, and I wish to see Sameer. Ergo, we are going to go to garba and dance with them.”

Urvashi, who’d been unabashedly eavesdropping, smiled, too. “I happen to know a purveyor of fine garments right here in the Market. . . .”

Venkat and Tanvi stood outside the mandir in their newly purchased enchanted outfits. Tanvi wore a set of rich orange-pink chaniya choli whose fabric had been snipped from a sunset and embellished with satiny cloth-of-sky ribbon and matching cerulean sequins. Her gold tika and earrings complemented the nose ring she already had.

In the yellow light splashing out from the mandir’s entrance, she looked prettier than Asha and even Urvashi, who was renowned for her charms. Venkat arranged and rearranged his dupatta so he wouldn’t give in to the urge to hug Tanvi some more. Or try to kiss her. Or maybe run off into the night with her.

The vendor had dressed him in matching colors: an indigo kurta with the same design and trim, and that same sunset fabric lining his jacket. None of the people milling around the entrance could begin to compare to either his or Tanvi’s sartorial splendor, but that didn’t make him feel any more confident.

He was starting to think this detour had been a mistake. The longer they were on Earth, the more likely somebody back in the palace might notice they were gone.

Plus, if Tanvi was right about Madhu, they were in more trouble than he’d realized.

But Asha had already disappeared inside to search for Sameer. At least she’d glamoured Tanvi first so no one but Nitya and the two of them would recognize her.

Even so, with her entire backlog of memories settling in her head like sediment, Tanvi claimed she wasn’t ready to go in. “I feel drunk? But totally aware at the same time,” she said. “It’s really weird.”

“Sounds fun?” Venkat joked. “You can wait for Nitya out here, you know.”

Tanvi clutched his arm so hard it hurt. “Don’t go anywhere. Promise you won’t.”

As antsy as he felt, he didn’t have to force his smile. “I’m right here, as long as you need me.”

She let go, darting a glance at him before looking down. “I like that blue on you,” she mumbled.

He stepped toward her. “Tanvi, you—”

Nitya appeared at his elbow, and Venkat swallowed the rest of his sentence in a frustrated gulp. She was the reason they’d come here—well, and Sameer—but he still wished she’d waited one more minute to show up. Just one. Was that so much to ask?