The ground rumbled. With a huge roar, a ginormous blue bear charged forward, scattering the troops. A rash of soldiers surged toward her. Bear Brynne shook her head, tossing the soldiers left and right with swipes of her massive paws. Aru polished them off with a neat whip of her lightning bolt, and for the next few moments, their section of the battleground was clear.
And yet, thought Aru as she looked around, the fighting was far from over. The sprawl of enemy soldiers covered more than half the wasteland. The vanaras and Maruts, rakshasas and asuras on their side fought valiantly, but they hadn’t closed ranks on the Sleeper’s army. They were holding them in a sort of limbo.
Brynne shifted back to human form and cast her gaze upward. “Should we call them in?”
Aru knew who she meant. The Nairrata army. The golden militia they had won from Lord Kubera in his gladiatorial contest.
“We can summon them now that we have our celestial weapons back,” said Brynne.
“But so can Kara,” said Aru, scanning the area. “They wouldn’t know which side to fight on.”
“I guess you’re right…” said Mini from above.
“Take the lantern! It should still guide you to the nectar,” said Brynne, preparing to toss it to Aru. “Once we’ve got the amrita—”
“We’ll finish this war,” said Aru.
As she caught the glowing Sun Jewel lantern, Aru felt a prickle of unease. She was going to try her best, but a solution that felt right still hadn’t made itself clear in her mind. If she got her hands on the amrita, the devas would expect her to declare the nectar of immortality for them on the spot. But somehow…somehow Aru felt as if she’d missed a step.
“You got this, Shah,” said Brynne.
“Let’s hope so,” muttered Aru.
Brynne didn’t seem to hear her doubts. In a flash of blue, she transformed into a massive crocodile. With a wicked grin, she charged straight into the melee.
I’ll cover you, said Mini through the mind link as Aru hopped back onto her hoverboard.
Aru had only just begun to speed through the ranks of the soldiers when a thick column of shadows appeared in the middle of the battlefield. The inky cloud was so dark it looked like a hole had been blasted through the earth. The column expanded to the width of a house and grew in height until it touched the sky.
In Aru’s hand, the Sun Jewel lantern glowed like a beacon, tugging her toward the darkness. Aru’s pulse ratcheted higher. Of course, she thought. This was where the Sleeper had concealed the nectar of immortality.
That he’d done it so obviously could only mean he was growing panicked, but then why hadn’t he just consumed it already? What was he waiting for?
Aru moved closer and closer. His army had surrounded the tower of shadows, but Aru moved unseen through their ranks, cloaked as she was by Mini’s shield.
That’s as far as I can extend my power, Aru, said Mini through the mind link.
Aru knew she couldn’t fly into that darkness. She needed to dismount, to get her bearings….
At that moment, the soldiers beneath her screamed.
“Get it off!” yelled one. “GET IT OFF ME!”
Aru looked down. Bugs surged out of the ground. Spiders the size of shoe boxes clambered up and over the two dozen soldiers on the north side of the shadow tower. The arachnids scuttled up their legs, hung from their arms, and began tapping on their shields and visors. Aru felt a little nauseated as she watched the soldiers flee, screaming and shouting.
“They’re poisonous!”
“Flesh-eating bugs!”
The moment the soldiers left the area, the spiders slipped back into the ground. Even so, Aru shivered a little as she hopped down from her hoverboard. Where had they come from?
Me! said Sheela, in her head. I thought you’d need us to cause a distraction.
Wait, said Aru, stunned. This is your magic?
Uh-huh! said Sheela in her sweet, high-pitched voice. Looks like I can get into the heads of lots of things, and if I ask nicely, they’ll even do what I say.
That’s…that’s not creepy at all.
Sheela went quiet.
Sheela? asked Aru.
I’m sorry, she said.
Huh? For what?
“ARU!” shouted a familiar voice. “WAIT!”
Aru turned around, and her heart dropped. Krithika Shah was running toward her. Enchanted armor glinted on her shoulders, but her head was unprotected and her long black hair streamed wildly around her face.
“Mom,” said Aru, softly at first, and then loud. “MOM! What are you doing here? It’s not safe! Go!”
“I couldn’t!” said Krithika, catching Aru in a fierce hug as sobs racked her body. “I couldn’t stay back and not know if something had happened to you. Or to Kara. Or even to…to him.”
“This is what I’ve been training for, Mom. You shouldn’t be here. You don’t have any weapons.”
Krithika pulled back, her eyes flicking hungrily over Aru’s face. She stroked Aru’s cheek, her hair. “I am so sorry,” she said, before her eyes swept toward the tower. “You can’t go in there.”
“But”—Aru held up the lantern—“the nectar of immortality is in there….”
“And so is he,” said Krithika. “There has to be another way.”
Aru’s head started spinning. She thought of Sheela’s wispy words: I’m sorry.
For what? thought Aru, panic racing through her veins. Sorry for what?
“Oh gods,” said Krithika, her eyes widening.
Aru followed her gaze to where the shadows had begun to peel away from the column, revealing something in its depths, something backlit by the glow of the nectar that was tucked far into its interior. A tower of rocks stretched nearly fifty feet into the air, its pieces sliding in and out of place, making it teeter dangerously.
It was going to fall.
On them.
Now Aru understood Sheela’s apology. If Aru struck the tower with her lightning bolt, the rocks would fly in all directions and still hurt them. Mini was too far away to cast a shield, and for all Krithika’s armor, her head was unprotected. Aru could turn Vajra into a hoverboard for a quick escape…but it would not hold both of them. Aru could cast a net of electricity, but it wouldn’t be able to contain that many rocks.
The shadows cinched around them. Outside the circle, the growls and chattering of the Sleeper’s soldiers returned. There was nowhere for Aru and Krithika to run.
“Aru,” said her mom, her eyes wide, brimming with tears. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. But you have to get out of here. You have to leave. Now.”
Aru went numb. She was about to watch her mother die. She knew it in her bones.
No.
No.
No.
Aru grabbed her mom’s hand. Overhead, the rocks slid and started thundering into the ground. A wave of dirt rushed up, and Aru couldn’t find enough air to pull into her lungs. Pebbles slashed her face and dirt sprayed into her eyes. Vajra flashed wildly, sparks of lightning breaking against the sudden dimness.
Aru felt a sudden pressure in her ribs and the sensation of flying backward only for Vajra to catch her, suspending her in a net of light.
“Mom,” croaked Aru, blinking rapidly.
But her mother was fine.