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Back The Wild Ones Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. PRAISE FOR The Wild Ones
  3. Title Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. The Beginning, or How Paheli Became the First Wild One; With a Cameo by Taraana, the Boy Made of Stars.
  7. An Introduction; Hold On to Your Hats.
  8. The Sweetness in the Sugarcane, or The Impractical Nature of Immortality
  9. Paheli: The Vagrant Experiences of a Mango Addict
  10. Cotton Candy Sugar Screams
  11. From the Book of MEMORIES
  12. “Will You Walk into My Parlor?” Said the Spider to the Fly.
  13. The Best Ice Cream in the World, Teddy Bears, and a Tree Creature.
  14. From the Book of MEMORIES
  15. I.
  16. The Reappearance of the Boy Made of Stars and the Plight of the Girl by the Oleander Lane.
  17. Paheli: An Interlude in Blue
  18. Besieged in the Between
  19. Tea, the City of Stairs, and the Story of a Boy
  20. From the Book of MEMORIES
  21. Heartbreak, Stone Buildings, and Tandoori
  22. Observations, Conversations, and Hot Parantha
  23. Paheli: The Spies Who Came In from the Between
  24. From the Book of MEMORIES
  25. The French Quarter, the Spanish Half, and Eulalie
  26. Paheli: The Eggplant Overture
  27. Sunny Jelly Beans, Po’Boys, and “Alouette”
  28. From the Book of MEMORIES
  29. The Keeper of the Green and the Mysteries of Magic
  30. Blood and the Between
  31. The Library of the Lost and the Stories of the Silenced
  32. Walking in Wicked Ways or The Importance of Balık Ekmek
  33. From the Book of MEMORIES
  34. Looking for the Needle in the Haystack
  35. Paheli: The Peculiar Crackle in the Electricity
  36. Ten Degrees Past Despair
  37. The Fault in the Stars
  38. The Blue City in the Mountains
  39. Paheli: Disharmony in the Attics
  40. From the Book of MEMORIES
  41. Paheli: Continued
  42. The Politics of a Body, the Politics of Pleasure
  43. The Medina, the Riad, and the Red City
  44. Paheli: The Atlas Mountains, the Cozy Rooftop, and the Confession, Possibly of Love
  45. From the Book of MEMORIES
  46. Souks, Spices, and Survival: A Guide into Chaos
  47. Jemaa el-Fna: The Mosque at the End of the World
  48. Paheli: A Moment in Chartreuse
  49. From the Book of MEMORIES
  50. Paheli: On the Frailties of the Heart
  51. Sonagi, or A Sudden Rain
  52. Paheli: The Cheese in the Trap
  53. Paheli: The Maze and the Minotaur
  54. A New Era, a New Dar; the River Sings
  55. The Burning Door, the Fallen City, and Taraana 2.0
  56. Paheli: The Beginning of Forever
  57. From the Book of MEMORIES
  58. Moving One Rock at a Time Will Eventually Move a Mountain, aka Goodbye
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. More from the Author
  61. About the Author

“Whoa,” Taraana says, and turns around to face us. He might be the master of understatement.

We observe him carefully. His appearance has changed, but we cannot say how. His face remains the same. His body is the same. Everything is the same, but somehow, he is completely different. The stars in his eyes burn brighter. His smile is surer. The way he moves is so much more graceful. It is as though his broken pieces have come together to create Taraana 2.0.

We look at Paheli. She is staring at him; the look on her face is inexplicable.

“I can feel the Between,” Taraana says to us, his eyes excited. “I can feel all the doors, all the twists and turns. There are seven other doors burning at this moment. Five are in danger of burning. Three doors are being born.” He shakes his head and laughs out loud. The sound is catching, and all of us, except for Paheli, are infected by Taraana’s happiness.

“Let’s go back home,” she says, more quietly than we’ve ever heard her. “Eulalie is waiting for us.”

And she is. She’s standing in the front parlor, a serious look on her face, and a cream-colored envelope in her hands.

“What is it, Lalie?” Paheli asks.

“Was Taraana successful in bonding to the Between?” Eulalie asks first.

Taraana replies in the affirmative, and only then does Eulalie relax slightly.

“What is the matter?” Paheli asks again.

“ ‘The Magic Council of the Middle World has summoned Taraana and the Wild Ones to explain themselves regarding their actions against the previous Dar of Uttar Pradesh,’ ” Eulalie reads off the letter she’s holding.

Well then.

Paheli: The Beginning of Forever

I wish I could say I am surprised by the summons, but I am not. Not even remotely. What I am surprised by is how fast they moved and the fact that they knew to send the letter to Eulalie. I guess we aren’t as circumspect in our movements as I thought.

“When?” Valentina asks.

“A week. In Tokyo,” Eulalie replies, preempting my question.

“Okay. I will care about it again in three days,” I announce to everyone listening, and excuse myself. The girls are gathered around Taraana, and when he is distracted, I slip away. Surely, no one will begrudge me a few minutes to myself.

I am tired.