words. Being a monster or a hero wasn’t about who you were, or what you looked like, or where you were from. Being a monster or a hero was about what you chose to do with every minute of your life.
I looked at that little girl’s sweet face and made my decision. I didn’t understand everything about why Mati was working with the rakkhosh, but I trusted my cousin. I didn’t understand how Ai-Ma could be both the kind soul she was and a monster, but I trusted her grandmotherly love. And I didn’t understand why Naya had lied to me about being a rakkhoshi, but she’d proved herself loyal, and I was at least starting to trust her friendship. Most importantly, I trusted my own instincts. And right now, my instincts were telling me that this horrible scene was so, so wrong.
In the end, I didn’t answer the little girl’s question in words, but in action. The captain of the guard was right next to me. In a swift gesture, I aimed an arrow right at his waist. “Princess Demon Slayer?” the man asked in alarm. But he was too late. “Ai-Ma, catch!”
My arrow traveled, straight and true, hooking his key ring and then heading on toward the rakkhosh cage. It flew between the bars, where Ai-Ma caught it between her teeth.
“Fly, Naya!” I yelled. “Fly to the Honey-Gold Ocean! That’s where Neel is!”
Naya opened the cage with the keys, but she hesitated. The crowd was already turning on me. “I’m not going to leave you!” she yelled.
But Raat had understood my words. Fly, he repeated, fly to my boy. Fly. He was already unfurling his powerful black wings, taking a few steps backward from Lal so that he could explode into flight.
“Hey, stop!” Lal yelled, but I couldn’t tell if he was talking to Naya and Ai-Ma or me. “Stop them!” he said again, pointing at the now-flying rakkhoshi and the old crone on her back. That little loss of concentration was all I needed. I jerked Raat’s reins out of Lal’s hands, danced the pakkhiraj this way and that to avoid a bunch of soldiers, and finally let the horse soar into the evening sky above the palace complex.
“Wait, no! Come back! Kiran!” Lal yelled as his brother’s pakkhiraj horse took off into the sky, narrowly missing his head. The crowd screamed and some of them applauded, probably thinking this was all a part of the spectacle of Who Wants to Be a Demon Slayer?
I felt a surge of power like I’d never felt before. Neel was right. I didn’t need to play by anyone else’s rules. No one else but me could shape my legend.
As I flew higher into the sky, the crowd started to get a sense that all wasn’t right. Maybe it was the angry exclamations of the soldiers, or Suman Rahaman shouting into the cameras, “She’s gone AWOL! The Princess Demon Slayer is no hero—she’s siding with the rakkhosh!”
Some people now were starting to boo and shout at me, but I didn’t care.
And then we were flying hard, Naya with Ai-Ma piggyback and me on Raat’s strong back. The midnight horse’s mane flew in the wind. For the first time since all of this mess began, I knew for sure I was doing the right thing, on the right side.
“Oh, my delicious snotty candy cane!” Ai-Ma crooned. “You saved us!” I noticed that she was holding Naya’s phone and was clicking shots of us escaping. Except that her finger seemed to be over part of the camera lens, but I wasn’t going to tell her that now. The old crone looked way too happy as she snapped away. “Look, boo-boo! I’m taking pictures for the demon-net!”
“Thank you, Your Princessness! Oh, thank you!” Naya burbled. “Promise me you’ll let me post about this as an Instagreat story! It’ll go viral for sure!”
The soldiers sent a storm of arrows after us, but Naya and Raat did some impressive evasive maneuvers. They’d be behind us at some point, but for now, we had the advantage and that felt pretty good.
“Are you both all right?” I asked. “I’m so sorry that happened to you!”
“Monsters!” sniffed Ai-Ma, and I was afraid I had to agree.
“Let us go and save my grandson!” cried Ai-Ma, and Raat bucked and neighed happily.
We’re coming, boy. We’re coming. We’re coming!
I flew with Naya and Ai-Ma to the Honey-Gold Ocean of Souls. On the way, I tried to talk to the two rakkhoshis about