The Chaos Curse (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #3) - Sayantani DasGupta Page 0,18
was frozen the whole time you were taking to your moon mommy. It’s not like I heard anything she said.” Tiktiki One slithered out its tongue and swiveled its eyes in agreement.
“She said I should click them together three times,” I mumbled, feeling totally foolish as I did so. I felt even more foolish when, after the third click of my heels, absolutely nothing happened.
“That was undoubtedly, unquestioningly, indubitably … underwhelming,” drawled Bunty, lazily picking their teeth with a long claw. “If this was a professional plenary session, I would definitely recommend they not invite you back.”
I wished I had my silver boots so I could chuck them at the know-it-all tiger’s head.
“Do these shoes have a button or a hidden compartment or something?” clucked Tuntuni, flying around my feet.
“Ouch!” I kicked out as he pecked at my ankle by mistake with his sharp beak.
“When in scholarly doubt, go back to the original text,” said Bunty.
“The original text?” I repeated, not understanding what the tiger could mean.
That’s when my up-till-now-useless gecko totally came through for me. It made a clickety-clackety noise with its mouth, but as it did, I could swear it said, “Noplacelikehome!”
“Of course!” It was so silly of me not to realize! “Tiktiki One, you’re a genius!”
The lizard blinked rapidly, then hit itself in the eyeball with its long, rubbery tongue.
My moon mother had said I had to remember the magic words. And as it was in that tornado story, so too was home a magical word for me. Unlike my moon mother and Sesha, my adoptive parents, Ma and Baba, were completely ordinary and human. Yet they had a magic that came from always being there for me. They weren’t royal, or mystical, or special in any way—except in all the ways that counted. They, not my biological parents, were the ones who raised me, fed me, washed my clothes, made sure I studied, cared for me when I was sick, and tucked me in at night. And there was no place like the home they created for me with their support and love. I just had to get home to them, and they would help me figure out everything. They would help me rescue Lal. They would help me stop Sesha. Suddenly, I wanted to see them, to be with them, so desperately, it made my whole body ache. So this time, when I clicked my heels together, with each click, I said the magic phrase, believing every word.
Click. “There’s no place like home.”
Click. “There’s no place like home.”
Click. “There’s no place like home.”
And with that, everything got misty and wild, and there appeared in front of us the magical shape of …
“A clothes dryer?” shrieked Tuntuni, doubling over with laughter. “You sure you weren’t actually saying ‘There’s no place like a laundromat’?”
“ ‘There’s no place like a clothes hamper’?” chuckled Bunty, and then actually high-fived Tuni. Only Tiktiki One didn’t laugh, bless his buggy-eyed clueless lizard heart.
“I don’t understand.” Had I made this home appliance appear simply by thinking about my parents washing my clothes? What was going on here? I was totally confused until I decided to open the industrial-sized dryer’s giant door.
“Whoa! Check it!” I stared in amazement.
Instead of mismatched socks or white T-shirts dyed pink by a leaky red blouse, a whole universe of colors and shapes swirled inside the machine. Some multicolor galaxies tumbled by at top speed, as did some stars and planets. There were squeaking clouds and shapes, as well as giant forks, spoons, and knives that seemed to be making weird musical noises. I was pretty sure I saw a couple dinosaurs swim by, but they weren’t made of flesh, or even bones, but blocks and flowers and what seemed like origami paper too. Then a worried-looking rabbit ran by, scowling at his pocket watch, and also a little terrier barking at a green-faced witch. A giant polar bear dressed in armor gnashed his teeth at us, before transforming into an exploding bouquet of blue butterflies. There were flying keys and a pen that looked like a sword, and a mouse sailing by in a teapot. This wormhole looked like someone’s dreams after they’d fallen asleep in a library, all different stories jumbled up in their head. Was this because of that story-tangling stuff? And again with those darned blue butterflies! But I couldn’t worry about all that right now; I had to rescue Lal and get him home to his brother. Then, with the help of all