A blister of memory rose up and burst, patchy and dim: Nitya fighting with her in the kitchen over the last piece of good Halloween candy. Nobody wanted the fake Twizzlers—so gross.

Then another, all faded panic and fear: Nitya tattling on Tanvi for watching a horror movie on TV.

Tanvi squeezed her cup until her palm went numb. She really needed to sleep, but if this was happening now, when she was awake, who knew what she might dream?

A third blister erupted: s’mores melting in a campfire in the woods.

Tanvi pummeled it back down. No sleep, then. She pinched herself as hard as she could all along her arm. She’d stay up no matter how much it hurt. Remembering hurt more.

Another memory: Sameer’s pet rock collection, adorned with Sharpie mustaches.

The panic flared again, red and hot, scalding her stupid heart. She really was breaking.

Pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, Tanvi concentrated on her cabinet. Her harvest still sat there, waiting. She just had to make it until Venkat returned.

She pinched herself and pinched herself. Soon, finally, she’d get her boon and buy her bracelet, and everything would go back to normal.

Tanvi pinched herself. . . .

Nitya and Sameer sat in front of the giant TV in his family room, playing video games. “I miss her,” Nitya said, tears trickling down her cheeks. “How could she leave like that?”

“I miss her, too.” Sameer punched a button on his controller. His character, a mage, shot green fireballs at a shopkeeper, who turned to ashes. “Maybe she got lost. Maybe one day, you’ll come home, and she’ll be back.”

“I’m right here!” Tanvi shouted, but no one heard. Her skin felt creepy, like no one could see her, either.

Nitya grinned wickedly. “Want to know a secret?” Sameer nodded. “I don’t really miss her at all. I hope she never comes back.”

Her character, a burly warrior, chopped down a bush with her sword and collected fifty coins. Ding, ding, ding!

Sameer laughed. “Me, too. Nobody liked her.”

“Especially not Mom and Dad!”

The two of them cackled like cartoon witches.

“Mom’s ordering pizza,” Sameer said. “Let’s go!”

He and Nitya skipped into the kitchen, and Tanvi realized she’d never existed at all.

Tanvi woke, crying out, to the afternoon sunlight slanting through the window. Had that actually happened? Or was it a dream?

Her room, so small and dismal, pressed in on her, and she couldn’t get comfortable no matter how she turned. Dream or memory—it made no difference. She wanted to delete it from her brain.

She clutched her sweat-damp pillow tight as if it could anchor her. She wouldn’t wind up like Jai, she swore. She wouldn’t.

The slimy residue stuck to her like scum on the surface of a pond. If only she could harvest her own dreams, just bottle them up in a vial . . .