“I am afraid that there are no exceptions to the rules. All who pass through my Halls must pay.”
Aru was sure that one of them had spoken. Maybe Rudy had yelled. Or Brynne had made a retort. Maybe she herself had gasped when she saw those great big eyes in the sky….
But all the sounds were swallowed up in a sudden roar.
The Halls of Nidra quivered. The remaining trees shook. The sound flattened the grasses in an instant, and a crack appeared in the sky.
Nidra’s eyes rolled to the left, as if sensing something just out of sight. “My realm is waking.”
Oh, thought Aru, her stomach sinking. It was not a roar at all….
It was a yawn.
Kumbhakarna’s hand twitched, and the golden glow of the portal door flickered. Nikita’s warning rose sharply in her thoughts—the realm of sleep was not built to last in one place forever.
“What do you want from us?” demanded Brynne.
“Bee…” said Mini warningly.
Mini was the first to press her hands together in pranama before touching the glittering ground. Aru and the others quickly followed suit. When Brynne straightened up, she looked a little ashamed. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“What can we give you, goddess?” asked Mini, one hand on Loose Teeth’s flank.
“I’ve got lots of rocks!” said Rudy, thrusting his backpack at the sky.
The pair of eyes regarded them mildly.
“They’re very shiny?” added Rudy.
“It is your sleep I want. I need your dreams to build the borders of my world. You must give them to me if you wish to pass. Even demigods grant me what I am owed.”
Aru thought back to Urmila, the way she’d fallen into a sleep and lost years that no one remembered.
“I can’t do that,” said Brynne.
“I have already selected one among you. I want dreams rich with wonder, tinged with sadness, and flavored with hope that will sweeten my land like the rarest of nectars.”
Don’t let it be me, don’t let it be me, don’t let it be me, prayed Aru. But even as she did, she had a sinking sensation that it was.
And indeed, the pair of eyes focused on Aru. A pale violet light hovered in front of her. It was soft and inviting, and when Aru looked at it, she tasted dust on her tongue.
“You, child. I can feel your exhaustion….”
Oh, well. Maybe it was all for the best, thought Aru, swaying on her feet. Better her than someone else.
“Let me take it from you….”
“No,” said a firm voice behind Aru. “Not her.”
Aru turned. The light washed over Aiden. He stood tall, his eyes hard and glittering.
“Take me instead,” he said.
“What?” said Aru. “No way. I can’t let you do that.”
“I always knew this was going to happen,” said Aiden. “I’m not scared, Shah.”
His eyes skipped over Aru’s and met Brynne’s. Aru saw that Brynne looked horrified…but not surprised. Her mouth was a grim line, as if she’d been steeling herself for this moment.
Did you also know this would happen? Aru asked her through their mind link.
Aru could feel Brynne’s hesitation like a wall of debris slowly growing up between them. She lashed out, screaming through the barrier. DID YOU KNOW?!
Brynne and Mini winced at the same time. Aru didn’t apologize.
It’s the prophecy he heard, said Brynne. Remember? I wanted to say something, but it wasn’t my secret to tell. He made me promise not to.
The prophecy. Aru cast back in her mind for words that were uttered what felt like eons ago.
The girl you love will be the death of you.
But that would mean…
Aru’s mind stopped short of comprehension. She swung around to face Aiden. He looked achingly handsome. His emerald-green jacket stretched across his broadening shoulders. The violet light of the dreaming world tinted the tops of his cheekbones, the glimmer in his eyes, and the glossy curls of his hair. His apsara bloodline shone through as if he were partially made of starlight, and if he had looked at her face just then, Aiden would have seen all the things Aru refused to say.
But he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was fixed on Nidra’s eyes in the sky.
“Do you understand what you are doing?” asked the goddess.
Aiden didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“You understand that my realm is its own form of death.”
Death. The word shuddered through Aru. Aiden didn’t flinch, but Aru watched—frozen in horror—as his jaw clenched. He nodded. “I know.”
Nidra blinked and then closed her eyes in assent. “You have always known, haven’t you?”
Aiden said nothing, but he looked straight at the goddess and didn’t move away.
Aru felt as if something inside her was pulling taut to the point of breaking. She kept trying to speak, but the words stuck in her throat.
He was sacrificing himself for her.
“You understand that you will not be returned to the waking world if there is no world to wake up to.”
“I understand.”
“What does that mean?” asked Brynne, frantic. “He’s going to die?”
Beside her, Mini and Rudy looked stricken. Even Loose Teeth pawed at the ground, dismayed. Baby Boo made a soft, inquisitive chirp, and looked up at Aiden. The blue flame crest on his head wilted.
“What is the point of returning him if there is no chance of a world worth returning to?” asked Nidra. “Whether he dies or not depends on you, daughters of the gods, for it is your world to save, is it not? And if he does die, that in itself will be a blessing. To die in one’s sleep is the hope of all mortals. You should be thanking me.”
Thirty yards away, Kumbhakarna’s fingers curled. His hand flipped over and his palm pressed into the dreaming world as if it were a mattress he was pushing himself out of.
“You are running out of time. Make your choice now or be thrown from my world.”
The choice was an impossible one. Aru knew that she was the one who had to confront Kara and the Sleeper, but Aiden was…
Before Aru could protest, or Brynne could lunge forward, or Rudy could raise his hand, or Mini could plead for a different request, Aiden spoke.
“I accept.”
The words thundered through the Halls of Nidra, and Aru knew in her bones that his offer had been accepted. The violet light slipped sideways, abandoning Aru and drifting toward Aiden. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but that same instinct told her that the moment he touched the light, he would vanish.
Forever, whispered a dark voice in her thoughts.
“Aru.”
She looked up, startled by the sound of her name.
“I can’t let you do this!” she said.
“It wasn’t your choice to make, though,” said Aiden, smiling sadly. “It was mine. You’ll find a way out of this, I know it. Watch BB for me, okay?”
Aiden set down his backpack and the firebird. BB nestled into the bag, cooing and chirping at Aiden.
Hot tears slid down Aru’s cheeks. “What if I can’t?”
“You will,” said Aiden. “You always do.”
The violet light turned brighter. It was suspended right next to Aiden now. He and Aru were less than a foot apart, but it might as well have been miles. The growing illumination threw the rest of the world into shadows, transforming Mini, Brynne, Rudy, and Nidra’s great, wide eyes into nothing more than blips of darkness.