Her sisters cleared the path before her.
“You got this, Aru!” screamed Brynne.
Brynne transformed into a massive blue elephant. She trumpeted loudly and trampled a band of rakshasas who were tunneling up through the ground. Loose rocks rolled under Aru’s feet as she ran, and though she could’ve sped forward faster on her lightning hoverboard, she chose to take her time. She needed to rid the space of all her demons, not just outrun them.
Mini threw a protective shield around them as Nikita caught up, climbing the air as if it were a staircase. Her ball gown flowed around her. She stretched out her fingers. At her command, roots tore out of the earth. The roots clambered over the Sleeper’s army and shrill screams tore through the battlefield.
Aru took a deep breath. The world stank of things left out to rot. Above, light shimmered and shifted. Rainbows arced from the armor of the Nairrata soldiers. Mini’s shield turned iridescent, like a beetle’s wing, deflecting arrows and spears, javelins and swords.
Aru staggered forward. She’d been running for so long that it wasn’t until the bright glow of the amrita was right in front of her that she finally stopped. The kalash was inches from her grasp. Weapons lay scattered all around it. Small flames sputtered on the ground and smoke choked the air.
Aru could hear her sisters battling in the background, making sure no one could touch her. But still, Aru felt so alone.
Now what? she thought.
Vajra sizzled, abruptly condensing to the size of a Ping-Pong ball. The sudden loss of light made Aru feel as if a spotlight had been turned off over her head. She breathed deeply.
The smell of the nectar was intoxicating. The liquid rippled in the great metal pot.
Grab it! Declare it a victory for the devas! For the Otherworld! shouted a corner of her mind.
Aru’s eyes fluttered shut. She reached for the pot when a loud clanging echoed nearby, followed by a rakshasa’s furious growl. Aru lurched back to see a scimitar barely a foot above her head…held by a hand she knew too well.
“Don’t worry,” said Aiden, beaming down at her. “I’ve got you, Shah.”
Aru’s jaw dropped. How had he…?
And did that mean…?
Aru cast back in her memory for Nidra’s warning. What is the point of returning him if there is no chance of a world worth returning to?
A world worth returning to. That had to mean they were on the verge of success….
“I’ll explain later,” said Aiden, smiling widely.
Near them, the rakshasa who had so silently stalked Aru wasn’t done. The demon had the head of an ibex, with cruelly pointed horns and flat black eyes. It roared, revealing ugly, flat teeth.
“Could you do the honors?” Aiden asked Aru, holding out his twin scimitars.
Aru touched Vajra to his weapons, and electricity happily spangled up the metal, casting light across Aiden’s face.
“I’ll take care of this guy, and any others,” Aiden said. “You take care of the nectar.”
Aiden leaped off into his battles, and despite her joy at seeing him returned, Aru felt a clawing sense of helplessness.
What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do?
The time was now.
ARU, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? yelled Brynne through the mind link.
Aru didn’t so much as reach for the nectar of immortality as collapse against it. The kalash was halfway sunk into the ground, the size of a witch’s cauldron, and when Aru tried to lift it, she fell, her shoulder thudding painfully against the god-smelted metal.
I just need a moment, she thought, sitting on the ground. She kept the thought all to herself, blocking it from the mental communication channels between her and her sisters. Just a second to myself. I need to catch my breath. I—
I was wondering when you’d ask, said a voice.
The war around her disappeared.
When Aru opened her eyes, she found herself sitting at the end of a formal dining table in a wing chair inside a kitchen. Well, many kitchens—at least fifteen—that had been stitched together so that it was like one large amphitheater…of kitchens. There were granite, marble, and maple countertops. Light fixtures ranging from Edison bulbs to bright spheres and modern-looking pendants. Wooden chairs, backless chairs, barstools, and velvet settees. All the differently shaped windows looked out into blankness, and there were lots—perhaps an excess—of subway tiles crawling up the walls that disappeared ten feet up to become a blurry, bright expanse of space.
“Do you like the renovations?! I have been watching lots of HGTV! I am going to grow a breakfast nook!”
Aru smiled and knew immediately where she was. The Palace of Illusions.
“Hello, palace,” she said.
“Hello, Aru,” said the palace. Its voice rose up from the ground, warming the kitchen. The smell of just-baked cookies and fall candles wafted through the air, and Aru curled her feet beneath her.
“What am I doing here?” she asked, and then paused. “I’m not…dead…right?”
“I promised to provide you with rest and shelter when you were in need,” said the palace. “And you are clearly in need.”
“Oh.”
“Want some ice cream?” asked the palace excitedly.
Before Aru could answer, dozens of bowls of ice cream popped up on the table—mint chocolate chip, chocolate swirled with fudge, delicate rose falooda, and lemon curd.
“Yes? Wait, no! No, this is not the time for ice cream!” said Aru. She almost regretted that when she saw a flavor called the Milk at the End of a Bowl of Cereal but with Fudge. “I was…I was in the middle of a war! I just grabbed—well, kinda fell on the nectar of immortality…”
Aru’s stomach dropped in horror. What was going on with everyone she’d left behind? Were they okay? Who had ended up with the amrita? Did this mean the war was over—?
“Don’t worry,” said the palace. “It’s only for a moment.”
“What?” asked Aru, looking around. “What do you mean?”
“The time you are here will not even be half a blink,” said the palace proudly. “Are you sure you don’t want some ice cream?”
Aru wanted to say yes, but even the delicious temptation couldn’t distract her. All she’d wanted was a moment to herself, and now that she had it, she found herself shaking. She thought she’d cry, but she must have run out of tears hours ago.
Her mind turned to everything that had happened—the light going out in her father’s eyes, Kara’s trident glowing sunset red. Last, her mother’s trembling hand hovering over the Sleeper’s still heart. The heart that, up to the end, had never stopped belonging to them.
Aru sank farther into the armchair and winced. Something sharp poked into the top of her leg.
“Check your pockets,” said the palace.
One by one, Aru brought out Aleesa’s bangle, Jambavan’s claw, Menaka’s earring, and Urmila’s anklet. In her other pocket she’d stashed—and forgotten in the rush to get to the nectar of immortality—her father’s necklace.
Aru held them all in her lap, a heaviness settling just behind her ribs.
“You can stay for as long as you like,” said the palace hopefully. “I can make us some board games! We can build pillow forts! We could stretch a moment into a whole year, if you’d like, Aru….”