Aru laughed, and desperately wished she’d chosen a different fake nickname.“Oh, Mini, you kill me. Duh, I’m talking to you. You’re WebMD.”
Minifrowned. “Since when—?”
But Brynne cut her off. She glanced at the vial in Aru’s hand. “In need of a lot of bright ideas, Shah?”
“You never know,” Aru said defensively.
“I know that something sharp works better than a bottle full of nothing,” said Brynne. Her mace had taken the form of a blue choker around her throat. Itglowed ever so slightly.
“A bottle full of nothing works better than a head full of nothing,” Aru shot back. Despite her pledge to not hold a grudge, she blurted out, “I can’t believe you got us involved in all this! If you didn’t steal the bow and arrow, then how did you end up with them, anyway?”
Brynne sniffed. “You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me,” said Aru.
“I found them on the sidewalkoutside my house,” she said.
“Oh, sure. A celestial weapon just happened to—”
“See? I knew you wouldn’t believe me! You think just because I’ve got asura blood that I’m a liar—”
“Trust me, it’s got nothing to do with your blood,” said Aru.
That seemed to confuse Brynne, but before she could say anything more, Mini stepped between them, her arms extended to keep them a safe distance apart. “Ibelieve you,” she said to Brynne, then she shot a glare at Aru.
“Maybe the bow and arrow were planted there,” said Aiden. “I mean, that’s a pretty obvious place for someone to leave them….”
“Yeah,” said Mini. “You could’ve been framed?”
“Exactly!” Brynne said. “Someone knew I would bring them to the Otherworld to find the rightful owner and—”
“And somehow that released an army of Heartless…” Aru added, somewhat reluctantly. Her mind was spinning. Who was Fake Aru? And what did she want with the bow and arrow?
Aiden tapped his fingers against his camera. “It’s like this massive conspiracy,” he said excitedly. “Imagine breaking that story on the news. It’d be epic.”
“Look!” said Mini happily. “We’re all on the same side!”
Aru and Brynne just glowered at each other.
“So … sincewe’re going to be working together,” said Aiden, “I think we should put everything behind us…. For the sake of the mission?”
Aru was beginning to see why Brynne called him Ammamma.
“I’m ready to move on,” Aru said. “But it would be nice ifsome peopleat leastpretendedto be grateful that we’re trying to clear her name.”
“Grateful?” scoffed Brynne. “What, you want another fan just becauseyou went on a big Pandava quest?”
“What fans?” said Aru. She gestured at the empty space around them. “There’s no one here but us and a bunch of weapons. What’s your problem? And in case you haven’t noticed,you’re a Pandava, too.”
At this, Brynne turned her head away. “Not really.”
Aru ticked off two points on her fingers. “You got claimed by your soul father. And you got a cool weapon. Bam!Pandava.”
“Is that all this means to you?” When Brynne looked back at Aru, her eyes were glossy.
Aru looked down. Of course that wasn’t all this meant. For the first time, she felt like she belonged. That wasn’t something she would give up for anything. When she thought about never being able to come back to the Night Bazaar, never againholdingmagic in her hands, her stomach dropped. But itwasn’t like she was going to tell all that to this girl.
Mini cleared her throat. “We have just as much to lose as you do,” she said quietly to Brynne.
