The jewels embedded in the caves screamed EMERGENCY! EVACUATE! EMERGENCY! EVACUATE!
Aru teetered backward, her arms pinwheeling as she scrambled for secure footing. Someone caught hold of her wrist.
“I’ve got you, Shah,” said Aiden fiercely.
It was the last thing she heard before something thudded against her head and the whole world went dark.
When Aru opened her eyes, she found herself in the only place in the world that made her feel like she could breathe a bit easier, a place where broken things could be fixed, where all the answers lay in plain sight, where the aisles held the rare perfume of possibility tinged ever so slightly with the sweetness of mulch and wood chips….
“Aru, you really need to get over your Home Depot obsession,” said Nikita, staring down with her hands firmly planted on her hips. “Can’t you dream about someplace else?”
“Nope,” said Aru.
Of course, in the dream, Home Depot didn’t really look the same. First, Aru was sitting in an armchair that seemed to be made of cotton candy for no apparent reason. For another, the aisle banner over her head said FLOORING, but instead of the shelves being filled with things like wood laminate or vinyl plank, she was staring at a rotating row of moon jellyfish and miniature thunderclouds. At the end of the aisle, which somehow seemed as if it were hundreds of feet away and yet close enough to touch, stood a huge podium where an endless supply of doors rotated. Staring at it made Aru’s heart race faster.
“We took a wrong turn and ended up in your subconscious,” said Nikita, pointing at the doors. “You’ve got a lot of stuff rattling around in there.”
“Everyone does!” said Sheela, materializing beside her twin and beaming at Aru. “Although yours is a little…different.”
Aru peeked at the podium of rotating doors. Each, unfortunately, was labeled.
A pink one read WHO AM I IF NOT A DEMIGOD?
A black one read “LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER” AND OTHER PARENT-RELATED HORRORS.
A white one read DO I QUOTE MOVIES BECAUSE I DON’T TRUST MY OWN THOUGHTS?
A door in a garish shade of red was labeled THE THING THAT HAPPENED WITH AIDEN/FEELINGS ARE INCONVENIENT.
“What’s that one?” asked Nikita, raising an eyebrow.
“OKAY, THAT’S IT! OUT!” said Aru, clapping once. The dream Home Depot vanished and was replaced with a fuzzy rendering of the lobby of the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. “Why can’t you be like normal little sisters and raid my closet or something? Why do you have to poke around in my brain?”
“I like your brain,” said Sheela. “It’s funny.”
“And I would rather wear an actual sack of potatoes than the clothes in your closet,” said Nikita flatly.
Aru glared at her.
“I’ll get the others!” said Sheela brightly, before vanishing once more.
Nikita tapped her foot on the dream floor. Today she was wearing a long red velvet sorcerer-esque robe with gold trim on the cuffs and a matching sleeping turban. She flicked her wrist and thorny green vines twisted up her arm, sprouting bloodred flowers.
“I got worried,” said Nikita, not looking at Aru. “I hate that. It messes with my designs.”
“I love you, too,” said Aru.
Nikita grunted, but a slight smile touched her lips. “Things aren’t looking so good in the Otherworld, Aru. People are nervous.”
“I know.”
The thorny vines climbed down Nikita’s hand and tumbled onto the dream floor. Their vivid green had been replaced with a ghostly pallor. Aru knew her sister well enough to understand that sometimes her creations spoke what she couldn’t bear to say out loud.
“Everything will be okay,” said Aru, but her tone didn’t sound very convincing.
“You can’t promise that,” said Nikita. “And what about Sheela’s dreams?” Nikita stared into her eyes. “Aru, what about the battle? What happens if we lose?”
Aru was saved from answering by a loud pop! In a flash, Brynne, Mini, and Sheela appeared.
“Aru!” said Mini, hugging her.
“Glad to see you’re okay,” said Aru.
“Apparently I’m still unconscious,” said Mini, wrinkling her nose. “Acute inhalation injury is serious. Any more exposure to the poison and we could have, well, you know.”
“Rudy brought us back to his place, and we’re recovering now,” said Brynne. “It was really close….We almost didn’t make it out in time.”
Panic spiked in Aru’s chest, and she remembered Aiden’s hand reaching for hers. “Is everyone okay? What about the Sun Jewel?”
“It’s inside that lantern the poison maiden gave us,” said Brynne grimly. “But we still have to get the last piece.”
“How much time do you have left?” asked Nikita.
“Five days now according to Aiden’s watch,” said Brynne.
To Aru, that sounded like a lot, but she knew it wasn’t. Time in the Otherworld was slippery at best. But at least they had the second piece of the Sun Jewel. That had to count for something….
“I hate this, Shah,” said Brynne, staring at her hands as if they were strange things she’d never seen before. “I…I can’t do anything. Without Gogo, I’m just…weak. And useless.”
“Brynne, that’s not true,” said Mini, putting her arm around her. “You were great back there!”
“How do you know? You were unconscious the whole time!” said Brynne, shaking off her touch.
Mini looked stung.
“Brynne, we’re all struggling,” said Aru.
“I’m not,” muttered Nikita.
“Okay, well, most of us are,” said Aru, shooting a frown at the twin.
“What if this whole thing fails on us?” asked Brynne. “Sheela told us about her vision, the one where she literally saw nothing? You kept that from us, Shah. That’s messed up.”
“I’m sure Aru had a reason,” said Mini carefully. “You did have a reason…didn’t you, Aru?”
“I didn’t like that vision,” said Sheela.
Nikita crossed her arms. “Me neither.”
Aru felt the weight of her sisters’ expectant gazes like a great wave threatening to break over her. She hadn’t told them because she wasn’t sure what it meant and she didn’t want to scare them. The truth was, she was still unsure. And yet, something about their encounter with Vasuki needled at her thoughts….
I am amused by the possibility that you will do something different with it. Let us see whether you succeed in surprising me….
Something different. Something other than the choice of destroy or be destroyed?
Aru was reminded of the vishakanyas—how there was so much more to them than what was on the surface. War was just as complicated. People fought for many different reasons. Up until now, Aru hadn’t considered the fact that there might be a third option. Maybe she had to get to the battlefield before she could see the whole situation properly.
“Well, Shah?” asked Brynne. “Why didn’t you tell us the truth?”
Aru took a deep breath. “Because I didn’t understand what it meant…until now.”