As Venkat hurried toward the dream runners’ quarters, he wasn’t sure what he’d find waiting for him. He hadn’t told Nayan about dissecting the “boons”—only repaired them when he was through investigating. All but Tanvi’s, that was.

Tanvi had been able to fully wake up, but what of the others? Or would he hurt them even more without knowing it?

Venkat could only hope that if he showed them their original objects, they would wake up and recover, too.

And, of course, he still had to pinpoint where Nitya was. Somewhere in the palace? Surely heavily under guard.

Nayan clearly thought his public acknowledgment of Venkat as his son would fix everything. That it would give Venkat what he’d been searching for since he’d lost his own family on Prithvi. And before, even a few short months ago, that would have been true.

It wasn’t anymore.

If Nayan couldn’t see that, then his acceptance of Venkat didn’t mean much at all. Maybe the runners were only ever meant to be tools, maybe erasing their sense of self was meant to be a mercy, but Venkat didn’t believe that. He couldn’t, especially now that he’d gotten to know Tanvi, to see her alive and alert, the way she should have been all along.

If she’d truly known what lay ahead for her, would she have gone with Asha? Would any of them have?

They weren’t tools. They were innocent kids who had been tricked out of their childhoods, even out of their basic personalities. They deserved so much more than these dingy halls and sterile rooms and brief lives that inevitably ended in burnout. Venkat couldn’t undo the past, but at least he could give them some kind of dignity now.

He started with Bharat’s room. He knocked, then reached for the key protruding from the lock.

It had already been turned. The attendant must have forgotten to lock the door after delivering Bharat’s breakfast.

No one was inside, though the fireflies had clustered by the ceiling, blinking on and off.

A black hole opened in Venkat’s stomach. He checked inside the closet, then under the bed. “Bharat!”

No answer came.

He thought of how Tanvi had tried to help Indu. Had Madhu done something to the runners to punish her? Or had Nayan played some trick? He’d just granted Venkat permission to give back all the toys. . . .

Venkat dumped all the trinkets on the neatly made bed and rushed out. With each room he tried, his heart sickened more. They were all unlocked, all empty.

Finally he reached Indu’s room.

His mouth foul with dread, Venkat pushed open the door.

36