The Library of Fates(66)

“He knows more people than Zeus himself,” yet another boy told us.

But Sikander was nowhere to be found.

“Well, his reputation precedes him.” Thala shrugged. She turned to me then, whispering under her breath. “Do you know that girl over there?”

I discreetly turned to look. It was the girl with the green eyes who had smiled at me.

“Why would I know her? Need I remind you of the circumstances that got us here?” I sarcastically quipped.

Thala shrugged. “Just . . . she looks familiar.”

“Maybe she knows Sikander.” I pulled Thala along with me until we were just behind the girl. I tapped her on her shoulder, and when she turned, I did a double take. Something about the shape of her jaw, the way she tilted her head and regarded me, was startlingly familiar.

She met my silence with a warm graciousness. “Hello,” she said, gently extending her hand. “I’m Thea. What’s your name?” Her wrists were small and bony, like mine. Her fingernails were the same shape as my own. Even her build, slight but strong, was so much like mine that I had to fight everything in me to stop looking at her. It was an instinctive knowledge, so clear that I couldn’t shake it. I was holding my mother’s hand.

“Amrita,” I told her, even though it took a minute for me to get my name out of my mouth.

“Pretty name. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She smiled, casually adjusted the bag on her shoulder, and tied her hair into a bun atop her head. I followed her gaze and realized that Chandradev had followed us too. He was standing behind me, watching Thea with curiosity in his eyes. I turned back to Thea. She was nervous, fidgeting—waiting to be introduced, I realized.

“This is Thala.” I gestured to her, and Thea politely said hello. “And this is my . . . Chandradev.” I caught myself.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Chandradev said to her, reaching out his hand. They both stood for a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes. Neither of them said anything. They just continued to grin at each other, their eyes locked.

I turned to Thala and shrugged, but she was determined to keep things moving. She raised an eyebrow at me before she lost her patience.

“Do you know a . . . Sikander?” she asked Thea, who quickly let go of Chandradev’s hand and turned back to us, emerging from her trance.

“Of course I know Sik! We’ve been in school together since we were five years old. He should be here,” she said, furrowing her brow. “Then again, Sik is always late. Maybe we’ll see him at the dormitory. They put all the first-years in a residential hall together. So we’ll be together quite a bit. But, yes, Sikander will show up when he wants. It’s his way.”

“He can just do that?” Chandradev asked.

“I guess you can do anything if you’re the son of an emperor.” She rolled her eyes.

“He’s the son of an emperor too.” Thala gestured to Chandradev.

My parents began to talk then and were so engrossed in each other that it was impossible to get a word in edgewise. I gestured to Thala and slowly walked away from them, looking around the stadium. It wasn’t that I was losing my nerve, it was more that I hadn’t actually considered how I was going to do this. Corner him and stab him? Find him in the dormitory and get him while he was sleeping?

Could I do this?

I turned back and saw my parents talking as though they had known each other their entire lives. Even Thala had the good sense to step away and find me.

“Look at them. They’re completely enmeshed in each other,” she said.

I nodded. “They seem so happy,” I agreed, “and they’ve only just met. What happens to make it all fall apart, Thala?”

“Your mother has always had a soft spot for Sikander. The three of them will become inseparable. And Sikander will adore your father, because everyone does. They’ll be roommates, best friends, till it’s clear to Sikander that he’s in love with a woman who doesn’t love him back. A woman he’s been in love with his whole life,” Thala added, “who is in love with his best friend.”

“That’s how it all starts?” I could hardly believe that the source of the world’s problems was a love triangle.

“That’s how it all starts,” Thala confirmed. “I suppose it’s how all human drama starts. It’s not overnight. It takes years and years. It takes . . . a recognition that you’ll never be the hero of the story.”

“So you choose to be the monster.”

We were close to the edge of the stadium now, and I turned to look back at my father and Thea, animatedly gesticulating as they spoke to one another. Thea was laughing, and my father looked delighted at her laugh. I had to smile.

“Let’s split up,” Thala said. “We’ll find him. He’s close by. I can sense it,” she said before she approached a tall boy who seemed pleased when she began speaking to him.

I sighed in frustration, sitting down on one of the benches at the edge of the stadium. Even though I knew what I had to do, my nerves were rattling me. A boy with shaggy hair and a rumpled tunic sat down beside me, lighting up a cillo.

“Want one?”

I turned and looked at him. “No thanks,” I said, but I continued to stare at him.

He brushed his hair out of his eyes and grinned at me. “Yeah, I don’t much want to be here either,” he said as though I had asked him a question. “I can’t wait till I graduate from this holding pen,” he said.