And then, from the bench, Brynne croaked, “Wecan ask?”
Aru and Mini looked at each other. Even without the Pandava mind link, they knew what Brynne was talking about. Asking their soul fathers for help.
“Do what you have to do,” said Aiden. “I’m going to try to lead Agni away from the entrance.”
He ran back toward the flames.
Aru took a deep breath. “Okay, time to make a few calls.”
Mini closed her eyes, clasping her hands together.Brynne whispered to the air. Aru looked to the sky.
“Hi, Dad …” she said. “So … hope you’re well. Um, if you can see me, you’ll notice the flames that are about to consume … us? I know you don’t like to interfere, but we’re really desperate. Could we get some help? Please?”
She closed her eyes tight, trying to ignore the heat coming from the trees burning nearby. Then Aru felt the slightesttugonher backpack. She turned around, expecting to see Mini. But Mini was still standing next to her, silently praying. Brynne was still on the bench. Aru closed her eyes again and once more felt a tug on her backpack.
She dropped it on the ground, then rifled through it.
“Did you get a sign?” asked Mini excitedly.
“Is your backpack enchanted?” asked Brynne, sitting up.
“I just felt a tug,but there’s got to be some mistake. There’s nothing here.”
The fire continued to move closer. Aiden raced back toward them. There were soot marks on his face and he was out of breath.
“I”—he coughed—“couldn’t … make him move….”
Mini ran over to Aiden. She searched her bag and found him a bottle of water.
In a panic, Aru dumped out the contents of her backpack.
Nothing but socks, a packageof Oreos—which prompted Brynne to say, “HEY! When I asked if you had any snacks, you said no!”—and the little vial from the Warehouse of Quest Materials labeledBRIGHT IDEA. The glowing blue jar was no bigger than one of her mom’s perfume bottles.
“Open it!” said Aiden.
Aru tried to pull out the cork in the top, but it wouldn’t budge. Everyone else also gave it a go, with no success. If theycouldn’t open it, how were they going to get to the idea inside?
“We’redoomed,” said Mini, tugging at her hair.
But Aru wasn’t ready to give up yet. What if the answer was the bottle itself? A person could use up material things, like trees and shrubs, food and cloth … but it was harder to exhaust an idea. And the moment an idea was used, it changed shape.
Anidea was impossible to burn.
“I think … I think I’ve got an idea,” said Aru.
Under any other circumstances, she would have laughed at the unintentional joke. But Aru was out of laughs. She gripped the bottle tightly, then turned to face her friends. This might be their last chance to reach the Ocean of Milk.
“I’m going to try to distract Agni with this,” she said. “When he turns, I want you all to run into the portal without—”
“No way, Shah,” said Aiden.
“We’re not going anywhere without you,” added Mini.
Aru would have argued with them, but then Brynne spoke up.
“I’m not abandoning family.”
That jolted Aru. Mini had been her soul sister for a while now, but Brynne and Aiden had only recently been shoved into her life without her consent. Since then, they’d made fun of one another and fought with one another andshared candy and battles and even awful road trips (with red cows). So, yeah, it was safe to say they were family.
