Summary

In Chapter 7, the author introduces Padmini, the avatar of Queens. She hears a commotion in her neighbor, Mrs. Yu’s, yard. Mrs. Yu’s children are playing Marco Polo in the pool and Padmini instinctively knows something is wrong. The boys are being drowned by an amoebic force that has replaced the pool water; they are being dragged under by white tendrils that grasp at their bodies. Padmini thinks of math and an equation “where f equals infinity” (179). The power of Padmini’s math strikes the tendrils and they release their hold.

When Manny and Brooklyn show up to Mrs. Yu’s yard, the pool has returned to normal. They discuss their new identities as avatars of the city with Padmini and decide it is safest if they stay together. When Padmini goes to collect her things she encounters other tenants in her...