Hello, New Friend!
Hira looked like she was drowning in her sweatshirt and jeans. They must have been borrowed. Aru remembered what Navdeep had said to her … that she had no family to go home to.
“I’m sorry I followed you,” Hira said. The magical hand-cuffs she had conjured disappeared from their wrists. “I just wanted to get away from those guys for a while…. I thought maybe I could be helpful… and then you’d let me stay?”
Brynne took a step toward her, her mace out to the side. For a moment, Aru thought she was going to blast the rakshasi back to the Great Swamp. But instead, she switched her mace to her left hand and held out her right one.
“Thanks, Hira,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about those pigs anymore. You’re safe with us.”
Hira’s smile totally transformed her face.
“Although,statistically, it’s probably not true that you’re safe with us,” said Mini. “We get attacked all the time. But you can totally hang with us!”
Hira’ssmile faltered only a little. “Okay?”
Wow, thought Aru,her old friends must have really sucked.
“Wait a second,” said Aiden. He looked at Hira closely. Aru saw that one of his hands was on his scimitar bracelet. “Thanks for everythingyou did back there, but why were you even with those guys in the first place? Why should we trust you?”
Vajra buzzed sharply in her pocket, and Aru imagined the lightning bolt was grumbling,Why is Aiden such a momma bear?
“I didn’t really have a choice,” said Hira. “I’m part of the Otherworld Foster Care System.”
Aru didn’t even know that the Otherworld had such a thing, but it made sense.
When Hira spoke, Brynne’s face paled, and Aru wondered if she was thinking of her own mother, who had given her up. Aru knew that not all parents stick around—not all can, for whatever reason. It isn’t the kid’s fault, and sometimes it isn’t even the parent’s, either. As her own mom always said, there are two sides of every tale, and no decision like that could ever come easy….
Still, that didn’ttake away the pain of being left behind.
“Navdeep is my foster brother—his family took me in. He’s not that bad,” said Hira, looking at her feet. “He just acts like that whenever he’s with a group of his friends. Sometimes he’s really nice—he lets me have the bigger piece of dessert and stuff.”
Aiden’s suspicions seemed to have melted away, because he uncrossed his arms.
“Stick with us, andwe’ll make sure you’re always treated right. I’ll tell my uncles, and we’ll set something up for you,” Brynne said loftily.
“How—?”
“My uncles know everyone,” said Brynne.
Aru, having spent enough time around elite prep-school kids, knew that was code forI’m ridiculously rich. Which, of course, Brynne was.
“Ever heard of the architect Mayasura?” asked Brynne. “That’s my great-great-great—like,a lot of greats—grandfather on my mother’s side. My uncle inherited his talent and runs a firm in New York City. He’s got tons of connections in the human and Otherworld.”
Mayasura … Aru remembered that name! He was the architect who had built the Palace of Illusions for the Pandavas. Aru and Mini had briefly visited it on their last quest, and they’d become friends. Aru hoped the palace wasn’tlonely. She often thought of visiting it, but things got in the way, like the fact that it was located in the realm of the dead.
Out the corner of her eye, Aru saw Mini touch her heart as if she were remembering and thinking of the palace, too.
Hira smiled, then looked over at the utterly still and silent horde of Heartless fanned out around the golden dome. They hadn’t moved.
“It’s like they’reasleep,” whispered Hira.
Aiden tapped his camera. “I zoomed in on their faces earlier…. Their eyes are totally blank—no pupils, even.”
“They’re under Surpanakha’s control,” said Brynne.
“We have to find her and finish this thing,” said Aiden. “We only have a few hours left.” He turned to Hira. “Do you know where she is?”
Hira blanched. “What do you want with Lady M? It’s best to stay far awayfrom—”
