Unknown 9 by Layton Green (each kindness read aloud txt) 📕

votive offerings at their sides. A swarm of guards and priests and aggressive touts added to the mayhem, along with the dissonant chords of sitars along the edges of the crowd.

Andie saw it right away, as did Cal. Both of them craned their necks to observe the enormous red-and-green Kali yantra looming above the hall in the center of the ceiling. The bright colors had been painted or dyed onto the large stone blocks.

Up ahead, along the left side of the hall, Andie saw a more orderly line, with a sign pointing to the garbhagriha, or inner sanctum. From reading online, she knew the main attraction of the temple was the Kalika murti, or Kali idol, on the level below. The idol could be glimpsed from the other end of the natmandir—where all the people were heading—but a closer look could be garnered in the inner sanctum, if the guards let you enter.

Andie dug into her pocket for the Star Phone, but Cal grabbed her hand.

“Don’t stare,” he said in a low voice as they shambled forward with the crowd, “but look to your left, along the wall. Guy with the glasses.”

The sides of the hall were reserved for guards and priests keeping an eye on the mob. Near the beginning of the line to the inner sanctum, she noticed a tall Indian man with a knotted gold cord draped across his embroidered red shirt. His hair was cropped close to his scalp, and a pair of glasses sat lightly on his fine-boned nose.

“The guy who kind of looks like a professor?” she asked.

“That’s the one. I caught him looking right at me.”

“You do sort of stand out. There’s not another Westerner in sight.”

“If he’s looking for us . . .”

“Then he’s found us.” She pulled out the Star Phone. “I’m not leaving without a look.”

The man didn’t seem to be paying attention to them now. Andie let the crowd shield her actions as she pressed the camera of the Star Phone to her eye and aimed it right at the Kali yantra.

This time, she thought she would be ready when the room morphed and the stone blocks on the ceiling expanded into three dimensions, but her nausea from the walk and the crowds and the heat made her clench her stomach muscles to control the dizziness. Again she feared her disorientation would make her slip into an altered state.

No no no. Not here. Not now.

She felt Cal’s strong arm around her waist, propping her up. “Stay with me,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve got you. Is there something there?”

Andie swallowed, nodded, and focused on what she was seeing. She knew she couldn’t stand there all day and stare at the ceiling. Photography was supposed to be prohibited, but people were taking selfies all over the hall. She had read that as long as the Kali altar wasn’t targeted, the guards wouldn’t enforce the rule.

She hoped that was the case.

Disappointed there was not an alphanumeric cipher leading to the next location, she gritted her teeth and absorbed the image. It was confusing. The stone blocks overhead had kept their gray color, but they had expanded in size and were fewer in number. The Kali yantra had disappeared, and every single block either contained a single silver star or a pattern of connected stars she realized were constellations. She recognized Leo the lion, Centaurus, Sagittarius, Corvus the crow, and Cassiopeia. Those five constellations were the only ones represented, though they repeated on various blocks across the ceiling.

As the crowd jostled around them, she lowered the Star Phone and described what she had seen.

Cal frowned. “Any ideas? First impressions?”

“We don’t have time for first impressions. We need a solution.”

“I didn’t want to have to say it.”

Andie’s gaze slid to the wall of guards and priests, but none of them seemed to be paying any special attention to them.

“Do you need to take another look?” Cal asked.

She shook her head, trying to think it through. “I’ve got the image. But those constellations . . . why those particular ones? The enlarged ceiling with the reduced number of blocks makes me think it’s a math or astronomy problem of some sort, but there’s no pattern I could see. Also, instead of using the Indian constellations—every culture has their own interpretation of the night sky—the constellations are all Greek except for Corvus, which is Latin. I guess some or all of them might have older origins. I’d have to check.”

“Why not use the Indian constellations? Is that a sign?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Keep it in mind.”

“Should we leave now?”

She scanned the crowd. “I’ve got a feeling this is something we’re supposed to solve right here. The way the image takes up the entire ceiling, fitting the room perfectly . . . I think it’s a physical puzzle of some sort.”

They were halfway to the front of the room. Even if the Ascendants didn’t know about the Kali yantra, she knew they had eyes in the city. It could be one of the priests or guards, or an angry tout, or a worshipper in disguise.

Anyone.

She wanted to scream. The answer was looming right above their heads, taunting them, daring them to figure it out.

“You said Dr. Corwin loves games and puzzles,” Cal said, “but what kind?”

“All sorts, really. Every now and then he’d have a few of us over to his house for snacks and nerdy parlor games. He played cards online, and he and Dr. Rickman kept a constant game of—”

Her eyes grew very wide, and she spun to face Cal. “Oh my God, you’re a genius.”

“I am? I mean, you’re just now realizing?”

She whipped out the Star Phone again. She had to have an exact count. After another look at the ceiling, she lowered her voice and said, “Eight by eight, sixty-four squares—it’s a chessboard!”

He took a look with the device and said, “But the colors don’t alternate.”

“True. Maybe that’s meant to throw us off. Think about it: there are