“I lied, Aru,” said Aiden, reaching for her face. His fingers slipped into her hair, and he drew her closer. “I don’t regret anything.”
“Wait—” she tried to say, but the rest of her words were stopped by a kiss.
A first kiss…and now a last kiss? In some secret part of her heart, Aru held the hope that they would have a thousand more. She closed her eyes. It was only for a blink or two, but when she opened them a moment later, Aiden was gone.
Nidra’s silken, starry voice echoed in the sky. “No time for dreaming, Pandavas. Kumbhakarna is already rising.”
Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez was used to being scared.
While other people were trailed by their shadows, Mini was convinced that it was fear that followed her, constantly dogging her steps and whispering Are you sure? Is this right? Is this safe?
Dimly, she heard Brynne’s heartbroken cry and she watched in shock as Aru sank to her knees, her face pale. She saw Rudy’s face crumple in grief. In the aftermath of Aiden’s disappearance, he had picked up his cousin’s backpack and now held the small firebird in the crook of his arm, supported by a fireproof blanket.
“But…But that wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said dully. He turned to Mini as if she knew all the answers. “Aiden’s coming back, right? Right?”
I don’t know, thought Mini, feeling hollow.
They should have been staring at Aru and Aiden in the aftermath of a kiss. They should have been breaking into awkward laughter. Brynne should have been rolling her eyes and saying something about how it was about time and how any more pining would’ve ruined her appetite for good. Mini should have been trying not to tell them about the number of bacteria that lived in the human mouth.
Everything felt wrong.
Loose Teeth snorted and pushed Mini’s shoulder with her cold nose, her damp breath ruffling Mini’s hair. She was looking to Mini for direction. Rudy was, too.
“My stomach hurts, and my heart is doing this rhythm thing that might be cool as a bass beat, but it doesn’t feel so good,” said Rudy. His breaths were coming fast and shallow. “What’s happening to me?”
“You’re having a panic attack,” said Mini.
“How do I make it go away?” asked Rudy.
Before, Mini thought she knew the answer to that question. With her Death Danda in her hands and power flowing through her veins, fear couldn’t touch her. But all that had changed in an instant. Aru’s birthday party at the museum had turned into a battle, and the shadows Mini summoned began to pop and bubble. But much worse was the moment she realized Dee Dee was melting into the floor tiles and she was left scrabbling uselessly at the marble.
Without her weapon, her fear had returned with a vengeance. Maybe that was why it couldn’t take her by surprise anymore. After all, it was the condition in which she always existed.
So, when Kumbhakarna sat upright in the distance, Mini didn’t bat an eye. Neither did she shriek when the dream world around them shook and the stars trembled overhead. Mini was always braced for the worst. Thus, when the worst happened, time didn’t speed up for her…it slowed down.
“I SMELL STRANGERS,” said Kumbhakarna.
Even at a whisper, his voice covered miles.
Rudy whimpered.
“WHERE ARE YOU, LITTLE STRANGERS? ARE YOUR DREAMS SWEET? HAS YOUR HOPE SOURED? COME TO ME SO I MIGHT TASTE IT FOR MYSELF.”
“We have to get out of here,” said Mini, her hand on the night mare’s warm flank.
Loose Teeth snorted. The Halls of Nidra grew darker, and the stars winked out one by one. The only remaining brightness came from the glowing portal door about a hundred feet away. But the terrain had changed—it was no longer covered in soft grass or rolling clouds but pitted all over with the glass shards from Baby Boo’s fire blast.
Kumbhakarna stood. The only way Mini knew was because the Halls of Nidra tilted and the remaining stars were momentarily blocked out. Otherwise he was nothing more than a silhouette set against the dimness.
“I can barely see anything,” said Rudy, turning around in the dark.
Mini pushed her glasses a little higher on the bridge of her nose. It didn’t help her see any better, but it gave her hands something to do as her mind began to turn.
“I’ve got it,” said Brynne flatly.
Aru still hadn’t said a word. She was just staring at the spot where Aiden had disappeared. Mini wasn’t even sure she’d noticed that it had grown darker around them.
“Got what?” asked Rudy.
“The Sun Jewel,” said Brynne. “I bet—”
Loose Teeth whinnied loudly.
“Wait,” said Mini, holding up her hand. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We won’t be able to see where we’re going without some light!” said Brynne.
“And if we bring out a light like the Sun Jewel, then Kumbhakarna will be able to see us,” said Mini.
As if he’d heard them, the giant’s whisper stretched over the desolate dream plains once more.
“ARE YOU SCARED?” he asked. “GOOD. MEAT TASTES SWEETER WHEN THE PREY IS STARTLED, YOU KNOW. FEAR IS SUCH A SUBTLE FLAVOR.”
He inhaled and then exhaled with a loud ahh. “ALREADY IT BUILDS AROUND YOU LIKE THE SWEETEST OF PERFUMES.”
Fear. That was what was swallowing the dreamscape. Its darkness was slowly rolling over the portal, eating away its light.
“IS THAT A SPARK I SEE IN THE DISTANCE?” asked Kumbhakarna.
Adrenaline shot through Mini. “Rudy, hide BB! Now!”
“Sorry, buddy,” said Rudy, lowering the firebird into Aiden’s backpack.
Immediately the Potatoes were shrouded from sight.
Kumbhakarna laughed. “WELL, YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM ME FOREVER.”
“How are we going to get out of here?” asked Brynne, her voice barely above a whisper.
Instinctively, both Brynne and Mini looked to Aru. She was the one who always had the ideas—Aru, whose imagination was so slippery that it could sneak its way through any problem. But she was still as a statue.
Brynne, the strongest of all of them, cowered a little.
The sight jolted something loose inside Mini.
She wasn’t sure what made her act, but now she found herself reaching for Loose Teeth’s bridle. She swung her leg over the saddle. The night mare’s ears pricked and swiveled.
“Mini, what are you doing?” asked Brynne.
Mini reached for Loose Teeth’s reins and looked out. She could see a trail of blue light winding through the dark toward the dimming portal.
“There’s a path,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” asked Brynne.
“The path,” said Mini, pointing at the snaking blue line.
Brynne followed Mini’s finger and shrugged. “I don’t see anything.”
“Me either,” said Rudy.
Brynne looked up at her. “Why can only you see it?”
Mini paused. “I…I don’t know.”
It was like what had happened in the stable with Loose Teeth. For some reason, she wasn’t scared. Mini flinched, remembering Urmila’s indifference when Aru had said that Mini was brave.
Either that or she’s all too familiar with fear.