“How’d you find us?” asked Aru.
“We’ve been taking turns sleeping in case you showed up in the astral plane,” said Nikita, yawning. “It’s very tiring. I couldn’t stay awake for my last shift.”
Aru crossed her arms. “I’m so sorry napping has been difficult for you while we run around trying to avoid death and all that.”
“Apology accepted,” said Nikita.
Aru rolled her eyes.
“Brynne and Aiden are on their way,” said Sheela, looking beyond them. “You’ll have to tell them.”
“Tell them what?” asked Mini.
“Where you’re going next, of course,” said Sheela, pointing to the door.
It was closer now. Aru didn’t like the look of it. There was something eerie and endless about what lay ahead.
“That’s the entrance to the labyrinth, right?” said Mini.
“Wrong,” said Sheila.
“WHAT?” asked Aru. “How many more strange doors do we have to—”
“It should look familiar, not strange,” said Nikita. “You’ve been here before.”
“I have?”
“Oh yes,” said Nikita. “But you might not remember it. You’re going to the Halls of Nidra.”
Aru paused. She knew that name. Nidra was the goddess of sleep. She recalled Jambavan and his great silver table. Above all, one must never shirk one’s rest, he’d said. Even the most powerful of beings do not neglect what they owe to Nidra….
Those words made her shiver now.
“Do we have time for this?” asked Mini. “The labyrinth will be closing soon, and we still don’t have our weapons back. What if we’re too late?”
Aru shared Mini’s concern but wanted to get as much intel as possible from the twins while she could, so she jumped over her questions. “What’s going on in the Otherworld?”
“Well…some people have gone into hiding,” said Nikita. “And others are trying to join the Sleeper.”
Aru’s heart sank.
“But there’s lots more who want to fight with us,” said Sheela.
Aru lifted her head. “Really?”
Nikita smiled. “Really.”
“They want to know how to help,” said Sheela. “We can see it in their dreams.”
Aru thought of all the people they’d met over the years…the Maruts, those thunderous warriors who lived in the immortal city of Amaravati; the monkey-faced vanaras of the Kishkinda Kingdom who had fought in the first war against Lanka….
All had said they would fight. Whenever you have need of me or my people, we will honor your call, Queen Tara had promised.
The Pandavas weren’t alone.
That realization knocked down walls Aru hadn’t realized were around her. It was as if she’d stepped into a bigger, brighter room and she could see more clearly than she had before.
“Well, if they want to help, then let’s send them a message,” said Aru.
Mini caught her eye and smiled.
“Fine,” said Nikita. “But I’m not making any more outfits. They just get blown up, incinerated, or thrown into washing machines instead of being treated like the priceless works of art they are.”
Aru groaned. “It was one time, Nikita! I’m sorry I ruined the dress!”
“The instructions very clearly said DRY-CLEAN ONLY!” retorted Nikita. “What monster doesn’t look at care instructions?”
Sheela tugged on her sister’s sleeve. “Time to go, Nikki. They’ve reached the door. And there’s someone else I need to talk to….Someone I’ve been visiting.”
Aru frowned. She was on the verge of asking Sheela who she was talking about when the door to the Halls of Nidra creaked open. Pale wisps of smoke uncoiled in the air like tentacles reaching out for them.
“Send word to our allies,” said Aru. “Tell them where the battle is….They won’t be able to get in unless we can use the Sun Jewel to blast apart the barriers, but at least tell them…Tell them we’d be honored if they fought….”
She almost said with us, but only Brynne had her celestial weapon back. Which meant that only Brynne could get through to the labyrinth right now. And anyway, without Vajra and Dee Dee, Aru and Mini would be useless in a battle against the Sleeper and his army. There were only two days left, and the gods hadn’t seemed to test her at all. What if they thought they had a better chance of winning without her?
The thought left her nearly breathless.
“Aru?” asked Mini. “Is something wrong?”
When she looked at Mini, Aru felt a stab of shame. She knew how much Mini was hurting without her weapon, too, but at the same time, Aru was glad. She was glad she wasn’t the only one who was powerless.
It didn’t change the fact, though, that Aru didn’t know what she would do if she regained her powers. And she didn’t know how to tell her sisters that she was still torn about the war. But now wasn’t the right moment to share these worries.
Will there ever be a right time? whispered a tired voice in her skull.
“Aru?” said Mini, snapping her fingers in front of her face.
“Sorry,” said Aru, shaking herself. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
She glanced at the twins. Nikita looked indifferent, but Sheela’s head was tilted to the side, and Aru wondered if she could see straight through her.
“I wish you could come with us,” Aru said to the twins.
“Me too,” said Sheela. “But we have work to do. Dreams to visit.”
“Be careful, okay?” Nikita told Aru and Mini. “Once you’re inside, you’ll have to move fast. Dreams don’t last forever, and neither do the Halls. And in the Halls of Nidra not all the dreams are nice.”
Aru tumbled through the door and found herself in a realm she knew she’d never visited. And yet…
“Doesn’t it feel like we’ve been here before?” asked Mini.
“Yeah,” said Aru.
Nikita had said they’d all passed through the realm of sleep and the Halls of Nidra, and Aru wished she’d remembered it simply because it was a landscape of wonder, like a meadow from a fairy tale—full of dozing poppy flowers and pale, graceful trees. Daydreams roosted in the trees’ branches, and when they took flight in the forms of finches and sparrows, peacocks and ravens, Aru felt the tiny moments of escape they carried in their beaks: floating in a pool, sudden superpowers, unexpected cake in the fridge.
“I like it here,” said Mini.
Rudy grunted. Of the three of them, he was the only one still bleary-eyed and disgruntled from waking up. “Where’s Aiden and Brynne?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
“They should be here soon,” said Mini, looking over her shoulder.
The door still glowed faintly behind them. It hovered above the ground, which was gray and pebbled like a rocky beach. A few feet ahead, the surface changed, blurring into night-darkened clouds that rose and fell like gentle waves. A few children—dreamers—swam through the clouds with their eyes closed. Others bobbed in the waves, their brows furrowed in sleep. A couple of them opened their eyes in Nidra’s realm and giggled with delight before vanishing.