Sameer and Asha settled at one of the tables, while Tanvi leaned back against a potted tree. The feeling of being in a nightmare had returned, and with it the sense of being spied on. “Asha,” she said, trying not to yell, “we really need to go.”

“You’re not Nitya.” Sameer frowned at her. “I know, because she texted me to meet her out here. Which means—”

Nitya burst into the courtyard. “Sameer, I said the east quad.” A cool mask had replaced her tornado of emotions from earlier, and when she addressed Tanvi, her voice was level, with just a hint of impatience. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?”

“You didn’t tell me your sister’s alive,” Sameer said, sounding like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

Nitya scowled. “I didn’t even know until two hours ago!”

The guilt bulldozed Tanvi all over again. She would give anything to forget this.

“Dude, what’s going on?” a boy with Vietnamese features interrupted. “I got your texts. Right before Ms. Kovner gave me a demerit and confiscated my phone.”

“See for yourself.” Sameer motioned from Nitya to Tanvi.

The boy glanced between them, then whistled. “Tanvi? I thought you were dead.”

“Binh.” Sameer sighed. “Come on, man.”

The other boy in Sameer’s dream. Tanvi remembered now. She shuddered.

“I can’t get over this,” Binh said. “Where were you?”

Sidestepping the question, Tanvi pointed to Asha. “She made me come here.” Asha waved. “We’re supposed to be back in Nagalok already, but she just had to see you first, Sameer.”

Nitya advanced on Asha. “Who are you? And what are you doing with my sister?”

“She’s the one who took me to Nagalok,” Tanvi said. An impression pierced the memory static in her mind, and her hands started trembling. A cake. Their cake.

“Wait, you kidnapped Tanvi?” Nitya repeated. Each word was as cold as an icicle. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Yet we are all here together, are we not?” Asha said proudly. “Now you may talk to each other as sisters do. Go on.”

Both Tanvi and Nitya shot her are you kidding looks.

“Stop it, Asha,” Sameer said. “This is so messed up.” His lip had curled in disgust. “How could you do this? And then act like you didn’t know?”

“But am I not amending that now?” Asha protested. Her chin quivered.

Nitya gave her a naga-level dark glare. “Do you even get what you did? You destroyed our family!”

No one spoke. Sameer avoided Asha’s stricken eyes, and when she tried to take his hand, he yanked it out of reach.

“Where did she take you, Tanvi?” Nitya pressed. “Tell me the truth.”

“I told you. Nagalok,” Tanvi said.

Nitya spoke gently, almost patronizingly. “Nagalok’s not real.”

“Yes, it is.”