“Where do we go?” asked Aru, squinting as she tried to see through the blur.
“This way!” said Brynne, taking a step forward before doubling back. “No, I mean, this way!”
Aru reached out, one hand locked tight with Brynne’s, the other grabbing hold of Mini, who reached for Rudy, who clasped Aiden’s shoulder.
“Here!” said Brynne.
The light threw open a door. Aru couldn’t see the surface. Everything was utter darkness, as if a jaw had unhinged around them.
“This way!” said Brynne, as they tumbled into the void. “I think?”
“This is weird,” said a familiar voice.
Aru opened her eyes. She felt weightless, like she was in a dream, but her surroundings didn’t look anything like a dream. She, Mini, and Brynne were standing on a white disk. All around, prismatic lights flashed past, as if the Potatoes were barreling through a tunnel.
Floating in front of them were Sheela and Nikita, but they weren’t totally there. For one thing, the twins had only emerged halfway through the tunnel wall, and for another, they were translucent. When Aru reached out to touch them, her fingers went through empty air. Aru jerked back her hand.
“What’s going on?” asked Brynne, turning around. “Where are we?”
Sheela licked her finger, then held it up like a sailor trying to feel the direction of the wind. “Tastes like daydreams,” she announced.
Nikita sniffed the air, frowning. “You’re definitely moving, but you’re not unconscious. This isn’t a normal dream. My guess is that one of the places you’re passing through is the realm of sleep. Or maybe an astral plane?”
“How are we able to talk to you guys?” asked Aru.
“Well, we always have access to the astral plane,” said Nikita haughtily.
“I thought we were going to the labyrinth entrance,” said Brynne, looking around the tunnel of prismatic light. “This doesn’t feel right.”
Sheela licked the air, shutting her eyes tightly. “No. This tunnel is kinda near the labyrinth, but…backward? I don’t know how to explain it.”
Mini whimpered. She was staring at her hands, huge tears welling in her eyes. “We opened the wrong door, didn’t we? It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to get distracted.”
“It’s okay, Mini,” said Aru. “Those doors were creepy. I almost got sucked into one—”
“Almost,” echoed Mini. “But you didn’t. I did. What if I do it again? It’s like my instincts are all turning against me.”
Aru shot a pointed look at Brynne.
“That’s not true, Mini,” said Brynne, but her tone was unconvincing.
“Tell us something good,” said Aru pleadingly to the twins. “We got all three pieces of the jewel together, at least!”
Sheela and Nikita exchanged awkward glances, and Aru’s heart plummeted.
“What is it?” asked Aru.
“There’s been news,” said Nikita, her eyes darting around the light-filled tunnel as if something was about to jump out at them.
“The Sleeper has almost gotten through the labyrinth,” said Sheela. “Soon, he’ll start burrowing pathways out to where his soldiers can meet them.”
“How is that possible?” asked Aru. “I thought you can only enter with a celestial weapon?”
“True, but you don’t need one to exit it,” said Nikita. “That’s how he’ll get his army inside.”
“Well, then, what are we doing here? Why don’t we just stalk his soldiers and enter the labyrinth that way?” asked Brynne.
Nikita shook her head. “If you do that, it will only lead you straight to his camp. Hanuman and Urvashi are already searching for those entrances and trying to block them off. Besides…”
“It won’t do us much good unless we have something to fight him with,” said Aru glumly.
“The good news is that the Sun Jewel lantern won’t just get you through the labyrinth, it’ll also break all the barriers at once!” said Sheela. “So once you get inside, we’ll be able to meet you! To fight with you!”
Aru’s ears were ringing. A tightness wrapped around her chest. What if that never happened?
Nikita looked her in the eyes, and it didn’t matter that she was nearly translucent—Aru felt the intensity of her stare like a slap. “He’s telling people he’s already won, Aru.”
“And do they believe him?”
“If you guys don’t come back soon,” said Sheela, her fading eyes acquiring that frosty look of prophecy, “they will.”
“How do we get out of this place?” asked Brynne. She tried to take a step off the platform, but some kind of invisible barrier threw her backward.
Nikita raised her head as if she’d caught sight of something in the distance. But to Aru it just looked like a never-ending tunnel of multicolored lights.
“Any minute now,” Nikita said. She closed her eyes, made a fist, and then opened her fingers. Five vivid—and solid—petals lay in her hand. “Place these on your clothes. They’ll act like camouflage stickers and keep you hidden.”
“How did you—” started Aru.
“Do it!” said Nikita.
Aru grabbed them.
“Now what?” asked Mini.
“Now, I guess, it’s up to you,” said Sheela. “I can’t see clearly anymore. You have to move fast, or else—”
“Ouch,” said Aru, stumbling forward while massaging her temple.
“Hey!” shouted someone far behind her. “No cutting! We were in line first!”
Line? thought Aru.
She blinked, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. She tapped her foot and felt sand beneath her. Something huge, winged, and fanged moved across her sight and she jumped back to see a ginormous bright-green headdress swaying a couple of feet away from her. The person wearing it swung around. They had the narrow, flat head of a lizard, pink skin, and a pair of bulbous eyes that did a quick head-to-foot scan of Aru, followed by a dismissive flick of their forked tongue.
FIRST OF ALL, RUDE…thought Aru.
“Ugh, my head,” said Mini, beside her.
All the Potatoes, except Aiden, swayed and blinked, clutching their heads as if they’d just survived the World’s Worst Migraine. For some reason, Aiden looked completely normal. By the time Aru’s vision had fully returned, he’d already grabbed the Sun Jewel lantern and stuffed it into his oh-so-precious-no-one-can-touch-it backpack. He was still staring into the bag, looking deeply concerned.
“Here,” said Aru groggily, holding out the camouflage petals from Nikita. “Stick them to your clothes.”
With an equally groggy grunt, each of them took a petal and stuck it to the front of their shirt.
As her head slowly cleared, Aru realized that they had stumbled out of a low mirrored wall and into a line that stretched at least a mile in either direction. People were appearing right and left, stepping out of the same wall with a bright pop!, which meant that the mirror was some kind of gateway.
But to where? Judging by the half day/half night sky above them, they were somewhere in the Otherworld. But it wasn’t terrain Aru had ever visited before. It was a black-sand desert formed of ever-shifting, glittering dunes that reminded Aru of a great creature’s ridges rippling.