“Mini, what are you doing?” asked Brynne.
Mini reached for Loose Teeth’s reins and looked out. She could see a trail of blue light winding through the dark toward the dimming portal.
“There’s a path,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” asked Brynne.
“Thepath,” said Mini, pointing at the snaking blue line.
Brynne followed Mini’s finger and shrugged. “I don’t see anything.”
“Me either,” said Rudy.
Brynne looked up at her. “Why can only you see it?”
Mini paused. “I…I don’t know.”
It was like what had happened in the stable with Loose Teeth. For some reason, she wasn’t scared. Mini flinched, remembering Urmila’s indifference when Aru had said that Mini was brave.
Either that or she’s all too familiar with fear.
Urmila had said it like it was a bad thing, but Mini’s fear had alchemized into something precious—something that, apparently, was letting her see what no one else could.
Are you often scared, child?
“Yes,” said Mini softly. “But that’s not going to stop me.”
“What?” asked Brynne.
Mini realized that she’d spoken out loud. “Nothing,” she said. “C’mon. I’ll—” She took a deep breath and tried out words that felt spicy and strange on her tongue: “I’ll lead us.”
Aru held Brynne’s hand, and Brynne held Rudy’s, and Rudy clutched a strap on Loose Teeth’s saddle. The mare had grumbled at first, her head swinging dangerously close to Rudy’s, but she stopped short of biting when Mini, sitting astride the saddle, had shushed her.
“Quiet,” she hissed. “He could be anywhere.”
Mini searched the clouds as she followed the path of blue light in the darkness. The ground yielded like thick mud beneath her. Once or twice she slid in her seat, and yet with every step, Mini found herself sitting up a little straighter. They were moving forward. They were making their way.
I don’t know how you’re doing this, Mini, butKEEP DOING IT, said Brynne through the mind link.
Mini grinned. Up ahead, the portal was nearly hidden beneath a cloud of fear, but Mini could still see it clearly enough.
“WHERE ARE YOU, SWEET MORSELS?” asked Kumbhakarna.
His voice came from behind, and it was edged with irritation. So far, he hadn’t been able to find them. Mini smiled and urged Loose Teeth forward. For the first time in days, she felt as if some of her panic had receded. And yet she was still empty-handed. Stripped of her celestial power. So why did she feel that way? There was a tingling sensation at the back of her skull, as if she were on the verge of understanding something.
I see the portal!said Brynne.Twenty feet away! Keep going, Mini!
Mini urged Loose Teeth forward.
Brynne ran ahead. The Sun Jewel lantern tucked inside her jacket pocket emitted a faint glow, and the portal door loomed larger.
It’s opening!said Brynne.
Up close, the door was the size of six cars stacked on top of one another. It was made of molten gold, like sunlit water rushing over a mirror. Mini saw herself in its reflection. In the past, Mini had always looked away from her reflection, uncomfortable with the sight of herself, as if more was supposed to meet her eye and just hadn’t.
But this time she reallylookedat herself. She was sitting astride Loose Teeth. The glow of the portal picked out the glossy shine of her chin-length hair. It bounced off her glasses, and when Mini tilted her head to the side, she saw her wide brown eyes staring back at her. She thought she would look owlish and scared, but she didn’t.
She lookedpowerful.
