“Watch me,” growled Aru, hurtling Vajra against the library shelves.
Electricity spangled across the hundred-foot-high wall of bookshelves. The air boomed with thunder, and a couple of volumes went up in flames. But the wall remained intact.
“It’s reinforced with enchanted rubber,” said Kara. “You could burn down the whole place, but that still wouldn’t get you out. Only…Only I can do that.”
Aru whirled around. She thought Kara would look haughty as she said those words, but instead she just seemed uncomfortable, as if she wasn’t used to talking to anyone. She twisted the ring around her index finger.
“If…If you want to be free,” said Kara, lifting her chin, “then…then you have to make me a promise.”
“What do you want?”
Kara swallowed hard. “I want you to take me with you.”
Aru stared at the other girl. “Take you with me? Um…no? First off, I don’t know you—”
“But…I’m your sister!” said Kara. “I know you grew up alone, and you’re a reincarnated Pandava, and—”
“Look. We’ve never met! I know my mailbox better than you. Second, you’ll probably turn us in. I heard what you called him, and it’s not exactly like he’s keeping you prisoner here,” said Aru, gesturing angrily at all the toys and books.
“It’s…It’s not what you think,” said Kara. “I’ve only been here for the past two years.”
Aru frowned. “Where were you before that?”
“Somewhere…bad,” said Kara. Her face looked pained. “All I know is that the people who were supposed to treat me like their daughter didn’t. Dad told me that he’d been locked away for twelve years—otherwise he would’ve found me sooner and raised me himself.”
“You don’t remember where you were?” asked Aru, mentally calculating Kara’s age. If she was fourteen, that meant she and Aru must have been born to different mothers and the same father in the same year. It was possible—not to mention super gross—but it didn’t seem believable. Aru had seen the Sleeper’s memories. He had loved Krithika Shah. All he’d wanted was to come home to her…and Aru. It didn’t make any sense.
“Dad said that he didn’t want me to be in pain anymore, so he erased my memories of that life. He wanted me to be happy…and I was for a while.” Kara took a deep breath. “But then I started wondering why he never lets me leave this place. And he was never home, either. I started snooping around, and I found where he keeps his memories. It’s like this glowing library hidden in the caverns, totally different from this place, and the more I saw, the more I realized he was lying to me. When he brought you here, that’s when I really knew. All those times he said he was on a trip, he was secretly gathering his armies and—”
“Literally trying to end Time?” added Aru. “And steal the nectar of immortality? Oh, and kill me?”
“I’m sorry,” said Kara. Her eyes shone with tears. “I bet he even made up all that stuff about being locked away—”
“Actually, that part is true,” said Aru quietly. “I know that for a fact.”
Aru looked carefully at Kara. The girl didn’t seem to be trying to trick her…. There wasn’t anything sneaky about her. Just something lonely. Aru realized she pitied Kara, which only annoyed her more.
“How do you know that?” Kara asked.
Aru took a deep breath. “Because I’m the one who let him out. He was trapped in a lamp.”
Aru waited for Kara to yell. Or sneer. But, instead, she nodded. “I’m grateful to you.”
Grateful? No one had ever been grateful that Aru had freed the Sleeper. If anything, it was one of her biggest sources of guilt. And yet it was the reason she now had Brynne and Mini as her best friends and sisters, and Nikita and Sheela as the little sisters she hadn’t realized she’d always wanted. It was the terrible event that had brought magic and the Otherworld into her life, and now Aru was learning it had led to Kara being taken out of a bad situation and given a better home.
Aru’s mom always said Everything happens for a reason, but thinking that way only left Aru more confused. What was the reason for the Sleeper turning into a monster? Or Boo betraying them? But she couldn’t afford to let her mind wander there. Right now, she needed to get back home and warn the others about the Sleeper’s growing battle.
“Why do you even want to come with me?” asked Aru. “You’re his…his daughter. He’d come looking for you, and then he’d find us.”
“He wouldn’t be able to find me,” said Kara. She turned around, lifting her long hair and revealing a white circle the size of a dime on the back of her neck. “To protect me, he gave me this enchantment, which works like both a ward and a beacon. It prevents me from being tracked by gods and demons. Even Dad can’t trace me when I wear it. But when he’s near, it lets me know, and I can call to him if I need to. I guess he figures he doesn’t have to worry about losing me…. It’s not like I’ve ever left.”
Aru stared around the giant library, with its false sunshine and lack of doors.
“So, what, you just stay in here all day and night?” asked Aru.
Kara shrugged, gesturing at the screen on the wall. “Tutors call every morning to give me lessons…. And, when he’s here, Dad and I explore the caverns.” Kara smiled. “Sometimes he’ll create a forest illusion and come up with a scavenger hunt for me. It’s fun…but, you know, quiet.”
And even lonelier than Aru had first imagined. All locked up without the chance to go outside? No thanks.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I have to go, and I can’t take you with me,” said Aru. “It’s just too big a risk—”
“Wait!” said Kara, grabbing Aru’s wrist. “What if…What if I told you that it’s even a bigger risk to leave me behind?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Dad calls me his ‘secret weapon,’” said Kara, her words coming out in a rush. “And lately, he keeps talking about how the right time is coming soon…. I’m scared, Aru. I don’t know what it means.”
“Secret weapon?” Aru nervously took a step back.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” said Kara. “I can’t do anything. Honest. I mean, he trained me to fight, but I don’t really have any special powers.”
Aru’s mind snagged on the word really. That meant she probably had something, but what?
“Since you came, I’ve accessed even more of his memories. I saw his battles…all those ruined cities…all those scared people…” said Kara softly. “I don’t want any part of that—it’s wrong. But he’s my family, and I don’t want to hurt him. I just need to stop him. But I…I don’t know what else to do.”
Tears ran down Kara’s cheeks, and Aru felt a sharp jab in her heart.
She understood what Kara was going through. It was the ugly, swooping sensation of missing the last step on a staircase, waiting for your foot to land…and falling flat on your face instead.