Aaina 1993 -

The mirror went dark. Meera fell backward, her palm stinging. When she looked, a small, red burn in the exact shape of a peacock’s beak was blooming on her skin.

It was taller than Meera. The frame was dark, weathered teak, carved with peacocks whose beaks had chipped into vague, smiling beaks. The glass itself was not silver but a deep, murky green, like looking into a forest pool at dusk. aaina 1993

Behind him, wrapped in a mustard-yellow bedsheet, was the aaina . The mirror went dark