“The daisies,” Tanvi tried again. “On the driveway.” But Nitya only looked more confused.

Tanvi had made a mistake coming here. There was nothing for her in this house, no solutions to her problem, no matter what her dreams had to say about it.

This wasn’t her world. It never would be. If anything, it would be better for this family if they didn’t know she’d come back. “You’re right, it is a dream. Just forget you ever saw me.”

Mom, she thought, her stupid heart pinching. Dad. She turned to her sister. Nitya. I’m sorry.

Then she headed for the door.

Nitya was faster. She stepped directly into Tanvi’s path. “Where are you going?”

“Leaving, obviously.” Tanvi glanced past her, but when Nitya wouldn’t move, she faced her sister head-on.

All Nitya’s coldness had thawed, and she looked like a scared kid. Not the person who always did everything right or even the one who had been so frosty just a minute ago. “You can’t,” she pleaded, and suddenly Tanvi’s hands were in hers so tightly that bones were being crushed again. “You can’t. I don’t care if this isn’t real.”

“It’s not,” Tanvi said. “I told you, it’s just a dream.” Except the missing recliner still bothered her. “Where’re Mom and Dad, anyway?”

Nitya looked ill. “You don’t know, do you?”

Alarm bells clanged in Tanvi’s mind. Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’tdon’tdon’t. “Know what?”

“Dad.” Nitya, who had been gaping at her ever since she’d gotten here, couldn’t meet her eyes. “After you . . . left, Dad— Well, he couldn’t handle it. Mom and he kept fighting all the time, and then they split up.”

Tanvi felt dizzy. The soles of her feet tingled like she was standing on a cliff.

“They got a divorce. Dad moved back to Winnipeg.”

Things Tanvi shouldn’t know how to feel overwhelmed her now, an endless ocean of feeling. It had been so long since she’d had to deal with human emotion and contradictions, and there was nothing to hold on to as the riptide pulled her into its depths.

She was going under.

“Ow!” Nitya yelped. “Your bangle bit me!”

Tanvi took advantage of Nitya’s shock to pull away, but like before, her traitorous feet stayed right where they were. She couldn’t make her mouth say anything, either.

The world had moved on—her family had moved on—and she didn’t know what to do with that.

“Lazy,” Nitya asked, her words hushed, “what happened to you?”

Auntie Busy and Auntie Lazy. The reference to their childhood skit dissolved a lump deep within Tanvi. They’d been a team. Sisters and adventurers. The specifics were a blur, but she felt them.

Auntie Clover and Auntie Daisy.