Princess! You made it! Snowy exclaimed when we walked into the stable.
“So did you!” I hugged the horse around his neck. “Was it a long flight?”
Neel looked at me curiously. “Are you talking to the horse?”
“Yeah.” I crossed my arms across my chest. “You got a problem with it?”
“Is that supposed to be an imitation of me or something?”
I laughed. Even if it wasn’t home, it felt good to be back.
In the morning, we ran down to the forest to see what had happened and found a beautiful sight. Lal and Mati, sitting up in a shimmering, silvery tree that had sprouted from the ground overnight. Although most of the branches were silver, it was the long glittering branch of gold on which the best friends were sitting. With them was Tuntuni. Lal and Mati were swinging their legs to his music, and looking pretty happy to be back in human form.
“Brother!” Lal exclaimed, jumping down from the branch.
The two princes bro-hugged. They didn’t, however, cry.
“Cousin!” Mati ran over to throw her arms around me. Unfortunately, she did cry. A lot. Which made me kind of tear up too. Oh, the heck with it, I totally boo-hooed like a baby in her arms. It was awesome to find out I had a cool horse-wench for a cousin.
We left them there then—they didn’t seem to need us anyway. At the stables, I turned right, toward my uncle Rahul’s apartments, where my parents were waiting, while Neel turned left, toward the palace.
“Kind of what it’s always been like for Lal and Mati, I guess,” I said.
“Only, you’re a princess, and she’s the stable master’s daughter.”
“Well, for all intents and purposes, I’m the stable master’s niece, the daughter of Quickie Mart owners,” I corrected.
“That’s not entirely true …”
“It is true.” I kicked a clod of dirt with my toe. “Look, it’s not like I don’t know who I am. But in the end, they’re not the parents I choose. I mean, which would you rather be, a snake princess in a dark cave with a bunch of homicidal relatives you don’t even want to know—or part of the nice, warm, non-royal family that brought you up?”
Neel bit his lip, squinting into the distance. “You’re lucky, you know.”
“I can’t believe I used to always get bugged about how weird my parents were. How different they were from everyone else’s parents in New Jersey. They only ever wanted me to be proud of who I am.”
“That,” said Neel, “and to get enough fiber in your diet.”
I gave Neel a smack on the arm even as I laughed.
“Hey, I’ve got one for you. Why couldn’t anyone see the bird?”
“I don’t know.” Neel grinned. “But I suspect you’re going to tell me.”
“It was in da-skies!” I whooped.
Neel frowned. “Is that supposed to be funny?”
“Da-skies? Da-skies?” I insisted. “What does that sound like?”
“Look, seriously, it’s all right. It’s the thought that counts.”
“Disguise! It was in disguise!” I said, waving my arms. “Get it? It was in disguise!”
“That’s okay, Kiran.” Neel patted my arm. “Not everybody has to have a good sense of humor. You have other qualities that are really nice.”
But he was laughing, and I was laughing, and everything felt right and good.
* * *
Later, when we came back to the palace, everybody’s happiness was a teensy bit squelched by the Raja totally jacking up and refusing to remember his promise.
“We said no such thing,” he insisted.
“Sire, do you want your son and heir to return to his other form?” Tuntuni snapped.
And so, despite the queens wailing and beating their not-inconsequential bosoms and smashing their bangles against the floor, the Raja officially promised not to stand in the way of any friendship between Lal and Mati. Tuntuni actually produced a document from somewhere called a “Treaty of Royal-to-Non-Royal Friendship Noninterference” and made the Raja sign it, there and then. The handsome human prince and his loyal stable maid couldn’t seem happier at this. It was strange, but I could swear they still hummed and vibrated in each other’s presence.
As for Neel, he was still acting pretty mysterious. Finally, he admitted what it was. “I’ll have to go soon and fulfill my word to the shadow merchant.”
We were standing in a quiet corner of the throne room, where the festivities for Lal’s return were going on full blast. I’d dressed in my mother’s red wedding sari, with the same jewels I’d once hated wearing. Ma had styled my hair so that it swept off my neck, and the scar on my arm was completely visible too. I didn’t care. They were a part of who I was. Anyway, I looked—and felt—like a total princess.
Mati stuck by Lal’s side through the whole party, as the people of the kingdom showered their crown prince with love and affection. It was strange to see how easy it was for Neel to slip away unnoticed. Because he was a half demon, it was as if he didn’t count, that people seemed to think he was hardly worth counting.
Of course, what I was realizing was that Neel counted to me. He counted very much. I remembered that ominous promise he made to the seller of shadows and how upset Lal was to hear his brother make it.
“How could you promise to give her your soul?” The thought made me sick. “Of all the insane, irresponsible things to do—”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Neel cut me off. “Why do you think that? I didn’t promise Chhaya Devi my soul.” He had a little smile on his lips. “But it’s nice to know you worry.”
“You didn’t promise her your soul? Then what is it?”
“Chhaya Devi used to be our nanny, a long time ago, before she got into the shady world of shadow selling.”
“Very punny.”
“Seriously, she’s not as young as she used to be, and she’s always trying to convince us to stay with her for a couple of months and help her catch shadows.”
“Then why was your brother so upset when you promised?”
“Really?” Neel pointed at Lal and Mati, who were gazing at each other all glowy like. “He didn’t want to be separated again from Mati.”
“Oh.” I looked down at the purple boots that I’d worn under my sari, which had made me feel all sorts of awesome and rebellious when I’d put them on. Now I just felt seriously stupid.
“So …” Neel stared at my shoes too, like I had the secrets of the universe written on them. “I guess, after all this is done, you’re going to go back, huh?”
“To Jersey?” I nodded. “I think my parents always thought they’d move back here some day, but now that we’re here, it’s not at all the way they remember it. More demons, I guess,” I laughed. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know if the place has changed or they’ve changed, but Ma says she can’t bear to think of her house as a disaster zone, and Baba gets seriously choked up at the thought of all the spoiling store inventory.”
“Your parents want to go back, but what about you?” Neel said in a lower voice.