Star Daughter(23)

“So what are we waiting for?” Minal looked expectantly at Sheetal, the clouds in her hair now a dove gray.

“Not we,” Sheetal corrected. “Just me. If it wasn’t safe for my mom down here, who says it’s any better for you up there?”

“I can take care of myself.” Minal sounded insulted. “Besides, you promised not to take off without me, remember?”

Sheetal hesitated. She really, really didn’t want to do this by herself. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t even go if it wasn’t for Dad.”

Yikes, that scathing quirk of Minal’s eyebrow could shame whole armies into submission. “You wouldn’t, huh? You’d just keep pretending there wasn’t a magical Night Market in our town? Or that you’re not dying to see your mom’s court for yourself?”

She definitely had Sheetal there. “Okay, what about your parents? You can’t just disappear, and I’m going to guess phones don’t work up in the heavens.”

Minal smiled smugly and rested her head on Sheetal’s shoulder. “Radhika Auntie will tell them I’m at your house, comforting you.” She grew solemn. “I’m not going to let you do this alone, so deal with it. Plus, you know, magic.”

The hole in Sheetal’s heart shrank a little. Even if everything and everyone else was falling to pieces, she still had her best friend.

She laid her own head on top of Minal’s, careful to avoid the mercurial barrettes. “Fine, you can come. Twist my arm off, jeez.”

Radhikafoi eyed them with open doubt. “And just how will Minal go with you?”

“I fold up small,” Minal said, right as Sheetal said, “She’ll fit in my bag.”

Radhikafoi clicked her tongue, but whether it was in exasperation or just plain defeat, Sheetal couldn’t say. “You’d better pack your things, then.”





7


Radhikafoi turned the car right onto Oak Tree Road, and Little India came into view. A golden mist had replaced the mortal stores and restaurants, a gauzy mantle behind which a carnival of stalls glittered, beguiling against the darkness.

The Night Market. It had been here all along. How many times had they come to Little India as a family to go shopping for desi groceries and clothes or for a vegetarian thali or chaat at their favorite spots? And no one had ever thought to inform Sheetal that there was magic for sale, too?

They’d been arguing the whole drive about exactly that. “There was no need for you to know,” Radhikafoi reiterated.

From the back seat, Minal poked Sheetal hard in the shoulder, but she ignored the signal to shut up. “No need?”

“You and your questions!” Radhikafoi sucked her teeth. “Let’s just do what we came here to do.” Her face was impassive, even disapproving, but her hands shook as she parked on the vacant street.

As soon as the engine turned off, Sheetal stomped out of the car. She felt as limp and wrung-out as an old dish towel, and what she wanted more than anything was a hot bath and spiced drinking chocolate and, oh, to wake up from the nightmare that she’d put her own father in a hospital bed. Did the Market sell that?

Radhikafoi quickly caught up, Minal beside her. “These people are not trustworthy. Stay close to me.”

As they drew near, the Market shimmered into solidity. An arch in the shape of a peacock’s fan appeared before the entrance. Its feathers were composed of segments of glass in teal, green, cobalt, and violet, all of which glowed from within. Forgetting her exhaustion, Sheetal drank in the light, letting it slide down her throat and into her bloodstream, but froze when the peacock lowered its house-sized head to study her with living eyes. It let out a catlike cry.

Radhikafoi tensed as if to run, her own eyes wide as a cartoon character’s. “Beta, get back! Both of you!”

Sheetal didn’t. Meeting the peacock’s disturbing stare straight on, she said, “We’re here for the Night Market.”

“It’s not going to eat us, right?” Minal whispered.

“If it does, it was nice knowing you,” Sheetal whispered back. It felt nice to joke for a minute, when everything else was awful and unpredictable. To know she didn’t have to do this alone.

She did hope it wouldn’t eat them, though.

The peacock blinked once, twice, then opened its beak until the entire archway shone through it. Just beyond, figures moved, tinkling laughter merged with baritone chuckles, and out wafted scents so fine they could only have come from the heavenly realm.

Dad, Sheetal told him, praying he could hear it somehow, this is for you.

Then she linked arms with Minal, and they stepped into the peacock’s mouth. Behind them, Radhikafoi made a choking noise.

Before Sheetal knew it, she stood inside the Market, its sinuous allure slinking into her bones and her blood. Music swirled invitingly through her as she gazed at the glimmering horizon. Her thoughts bloomed with wonder, all jewel tones and reinvigorating hope.

If there was a way to save Dad, it would be here.

All around them, intricately decorated stalls overflowed with impossible goods, and the patrons who browsed them were just as odd. A family of kinnaras, their equine heads fusing seamlessly with their human lower bodies, examined a carved copper lantern encrusted with gems in colors Sheetal had never seen before. Nearby, an apsara who might have been sculpted from marble, she was so enticing, haggled over a selection of black-and-silver bottles shaped like birds in flight. “But I want green,” she said, her perfect mouth set in a pout.