Beyond the grocery carts, the Pandava thief slipped away before Aru could try to ensnare her.
A low growl erupted behind them. Aru turned slowly, willing Vajra to turn back into a lightning bolt. For the first time, she could take a good look at the zombie. He was tall and wore a white coat open over a bare chest, and there was a strange pale scarright above his heart. Not so much a wound as the center of a spiderweb, which looked like frost creeping out over the skin. And then she noticed something even more bizarre. The coat’s buttons were enamel pins in the shape of teeth. Embroidered words next to the left lapel read:
DR.ERNST WARREN,DDS
OPEN WIDE!
“The zombie is a dentist?” said Aru.
“My aunt’s a dentist,” said Mini. “She saidit’s soul-crushing.”
“Makes sense.”
As if highly affronted, the zombie let out a guttural cry and charged at them.
Weeksof training kicked in immediately. In a split second, both girls stood back-to-back, their weapons out before them. The zombie roared and raised his hands. Mini swung Dee Dee at his ankles, knocking him over. Aru spun Vajra in her hands until it became a rope. Then she threwit at the zombie, binding his wrists and ankles.
Mini beamed at Aru, but a second later her smile fell.
“Don’t panic,” said Aru. “Two against one worked fine!”
“What about two against twodozen?”
Aru followed Mini’s gaze. Panic zipped through her heart as she watched twenty zombies step out from behind the wreckage of storefronts. All of them wore the same slack-faced expression and rippedshirts that revealed identical frostlike wounds right over their hearts. Froyo Zombie shucked off the lightning rope a moment later, and Vajra whipped back into Aru’s hands. Beside her, Mini cast another force field, but it blinked and fizzled out.
“Our weapons aren’t working …” said Mini.
Aru didn’t want to admit it, but Mini was right. It should’ve been impossible. Celestial weapons usuallyovercame everything except, well,othercelestial weapons.
Just then, a shadow crossed over them. Both girls looked up in time to see Boo careening their way. He carried a small gray vial in his talons.
“Those aremyPandavas!” he squawked at the zombies.
He dove in front of the girls, smashing the vial on the ground. Plumes of smoke shot up, obscuring the zombies’ view. Flapping quickly, Boodid a U-turn and said, “No time to waste, girls. Go after your sister!”
Some sister, thought Aru. That other Pandava, whoever she was, had landed them in this mess.
“But what about you?” asked Mini worriedly.
“Iam a pigeon capable of mass annoyance.” Boo puffed out his chest. “Don’t worry about me. Just find her!”
Aru and Mini turned to face the crowd of angry grocery carts. The cart nearestto her gnashed its metal grate, then reared up on its hind wheels.
Aru swung Vajra the rope above her head and lassoed the cart. It bucked angrily, but the lightning lariat held tight. Aru clambered into the carriage and pulled Mini in after her.
“Giddyup!” yelled Aru, now using Vajra as reins.
The grocery cart snorted, reared back, and then charged through the rest of the herd and down thefrozen-food aisle. Mini leaned out of the cart, knocking hundreds of boxes onto the floor to stop the zombies in their tracks.
“I’ll be paying for this out of my allowance for years!” she cried.
Aru tugged the reins to the right, steering the cart toward the last place they’d seen the Pandava girl. At the end of the aisle, a dirt path led to an arena where she knew some students trained. Aruand Mini had never met any of the other kids who, because of their lineage, were entitled to study in the Otherworld. Aru liked to think that she and Mini were kept separate from them because, asPandavas, they neededexclusivelessons. But Mini suspected it was really because the two of them were in remedial classes….
Once they reached the arena, Aru spotted a pair of girls fighting for controlof a golden bow and arrow. One was the Pandava sister they had seen before—the shape-shifter. She had chestnut skin and brown hair with gold highlights. She was also ridiculously tall, and though she had long limbs, they weren’tganglylike Aru’s, but thick and sturdy, and covered in metal bracelets.
And the other girl? Aru felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her lungs.
“How is thatpossible?” whispered Mini.
Because the person the Pandava was fighting was …
Aru.
