Oh No! Oh No! Oh, Wait a Minute….
Cue the world’s worst five seconds.
Aru froze. Mini had her hands up trying to keep the shield strong. How could the guards have seen them? Were their helmets magic or something? Brynne and Aiden moved to the front of the shield, weapons out …
… and the guard lowered his trident, turning to the other guard to say, “See?Thatis how to sound menacing.” Hestepped back into the alcove.
The yellow-striped naga guard’s shoulders drooped. “I mean, whenyoudo it, it seems so easy, but I just can’t.”
“Hey,” said the red-striped guard gently. “Remember what you said yesterday?”
“Oh. About the yellow?”
“Yes.”
The naga with the yellow stripe gestured to his tail. “I was nervous it wouldn’t go with my complexion.”
“Exactly, and now look! The yellowbrings out the golden undertones of your skin! It’s effortlessly trendy.”
The other naga beamed.“Really?”
“Really,” said Red Stripe. “A pop of color always adds pizzazz.”
Yellow Stripe agreed, his tail whipping happily across the gray stone. Then they started discussing the new organic sea-farm-to-jellyfish-table restaurant in Naga-Loka.
Aru turned to Mini, expecting her sister to be justas confused as she was, but instead, she was looking at the underside of her wrist.
“Do you thinkIcould pull off yellow?” Mini asked.
Brynne crouched between the two of them and pointed to the glass doors. “They’re so distracted we could slip right past them,” she said.
“And yes, Mini, you can pull off yellow,” added Aiden.
Mini did a delighted preen.
“Are you guys going to be okay, though?”asked Aru. “Mini, you’re going to have to keep up your shield, and Brynne, that vortex you’re casting might make things tricky.”
Brynne squeezed her right shoulder, which was probably beginning to get tired from the weight of the mace. “I’ll be okay for a while longer.”
“Me too,” said Mini, even though her smile looked a little forced. “Let’s do this.”
Aru focused on changing Vajra into a brightsword. It wasn’t a flaming sword, like she’d been hoping for from Agni, but it was still ridiculously cool. Beside her, Aiden brought out his scimitars.
The four of them tiptoed down the passage. The closer they got to the doors, the larger the naga guards appeared. Their torsos were nearly seven feet tall,waybigger than a normal naga’s, and that wasn’t even counting the lengths of their coiledtails.
“Be honest,” said Yellow Stripe. “Does this helmet make my head look fat?”
“Fatis not bad,” said Red Stripe, rolling his eyes. “Stop looking at those magazine covers. They’re totally enchanted.”
Brynne paused to raise her left fist in solidarity and kept moving.
“I know, I know … but the covers are so shiny …” said Yellow Stripe.
By now, Aru and the others were less than five feetaway from the glass doors. There was a clear path before them, and just on the other side was the army of Heartless. All the zombies were standing still, facing the golden dome. The fact that they were outside instead of inside the labyrinth was probably a good sign—they were the only way Surpanakha could retrieve the nectar of immortality, because they couldn’t be incinerated. But wherewasSurpanakha?
Mini’s shield trembled. Aru could tell that the effort of keeping it up was beginning to strain her. Even Brynne, the strongest out of all of them, had a hard set to her mouth. Aiden wiped Brynne’s forehead with his sleeve, and she shot him a thankful smile. Aru offered her sleeve to Mini, only to see her careen backward. “Thegerms, Aru!” she hissed. “Get that plague-infested polyester away fromme!”
Aru shrugged and kept moving. Aiden got to the doors first. Carefully, he turned the knob.
