Paheli licks her lips at the question and turns to look at Taraana. He meets her eyes, and his face becomes blank for a second before a steely resolve fills it. He nods.

Areum is the first to comprehend what that wordless exchange means. “How can you ask him to do something like that?” Her protest is a wail.

Paheli considers the question for a moment. “You know as well as I do that you have to save yourself. No one else can do it for you.”

“I don’t want anyone else to do it for me,” Taraana says. “I have to save myself.”

“I think we should talk to Eulalie about this plan. Maybe she can come over,” Daraja says. She’s the most troubled by the current course of actions.

“Okay,” Paheli agrees easily. “I will ask her.”

“You’re not going to New Orleans!” Ligaya exclaims.

“No, I’m going to call her.”

“How?” Ligaya again.

“I’m going to use the telephone?”

“Oh.”

“All right,” Valentina says. “This is a plan I can live with.”

“You’re going to have to do more than just live with it, Tina,” Paheli says, leaning against Taraana.

“What do you mean by that?” Valentina angles a narrow look her way.

“You will need to go and make friends with Tabassum Naaz,” Paheli replies. “Don’t give me that look. I know you don’t mind getting to know her.”

A blush deepens Valentina’s dark skin. “Pray tell why I need to do that?”

“We need to prepare a trap for Baarish. It’s not like we’re really going to let him take Taraana.”

“So, you’ll have her play double agent?” Valentina replies.

“Yeah,” Paheli says. “Ask her if she’d be okay with that. If she isn’t… we’ll do something else.”

Valentina nods.

Eulalie arrives on the same day Valentina leaves for Istanbul. She is out of breath and wheezing by the time she reaches our house, the lack of magic in the area affecting her as much as the stairs in Gamcheon Culture Village. We give her a Between diamond with which to sustain herself. She wraps her fingers around the diamond and absorbs half the magic in it before putting it away.

Her face glows after her intake of magic and she breathes out, relaxing.

“All right, tell me what you are up to now,” she says to Paheli, a wealth of suffering in her tone.

Talei is the one who ends up narrating all that has transpired since we left New Orleans. Eulalie listens quietly, her gaze often on Paheli.

“Let me see this pendant,” Eulalie says after a measured silence.

“Look at it from here,” Paheli tells her. “Be careful.”

“Oh, I might think you love me.” Eulalie grins.

“I do,” Paheli replies softly.