Ligaya sits down beside her, close enough to offer comfort without touching her. Our Paheli is affectionate, but she doesn’t like touching people. Ligaya studies her bejeweled fingernails for a moment before asking, “Why do you think Baarish showed up like that? He had to have known that he wouldn’t be able to capture Taraana once Taraana slipped into the Between.”

“We’re only safe in the Between if they use magic against us,” Valentina counters. “Perhaps he thought to use violence.”

“But they didn’t follow us into the Between,” Areum says. Her hair has dried in a cloud of blue curls around her head, so she looks particularly interesting at the moment. She glares at us. “Stop laughing at me.”

“Are we not safe in the Between, either?” Kamboja suddenly asks, and we all battle horror.

“I don’t know about that. No one has ever attacked us successfully in the Between. When Taraana was being pursued, didn’t you feel the tension in the Between? I reckon the Between would have acted if we hadn’t showed up,” Paheli says.

“That’s just speculation,” Talei replies.

“It’s not like I’m saying that we test it out,” Paheli says. “I’m just saying there is a lot we don’t know. A lot that we haven’t questioned. We move from one city to another, living nomadic lives because this isn’t our—no, your—ever after. It might be mine. What I’m saying is there is more to the Between and to the middle world than we know, and it is best we don’t pretend there isn’t.”

“Baarish didn’t intend to catch us,” Ghufran says, breaking the silence following Paheli’s little speech. “He wanted to terrorize us. Scare us with his power. His might. He wants to corner us so we lose hope. Why else would he take over the sky?”

“He must be really confident of his allies if he’s making such big shows of his power,” Daraja muses. While human beings are generally blind to all magical acts, the denizens of the middle world usually try to avoid doing magic that will attract human attention. Middle worlders who continuously do conspicuous magic often find themselves at odds with the regional authority.

“Did you find anything?” Taraana says, speaking for the first time and bringing the subject back to Paheli’s mission at the library. Hope thickens his voice.

“Mm, maybe.” Paheli shrugs vaguely. “I don’t want to speak about it yet. Don’t get me wrong.… Actually, now that I have said that, you most probably will.” She bites her lip. “Maybe listening to the stories of the other keepers isn’t a good idea. Especially not for you.”

“Do you think I am not strong enough?” Taraana demands, two spots of color high in his cheeks.