“What’s wrong?” asked Mini.“Upset stomach?”
“Do you feel a song coming on?” asked Aiden.
The crab swayed. Aru, Mini, and Aiden braced themselves. This was supposed to be the easier part, the part when the weakened crab, with Brynne stomping around in its stomach, started to lose focus. But if anything, the opposite happened. It rushed at them with terrible force.
“WHAT DID YOU DO, PANDAVAS?”
Aru had always assumed thatif something was beginning to feel pain, then that something would keel over and squirmonthe ground. That’s whatshewould do, anyway. But this crab was not living up to expectations.
Its claws started spinning like manic drills, and it thrust them far into the ground. Black sand flew everywhere. Mini tried to create a shield, but she wasn’t fast enough. Aiden dropped his scimitars, his handsgoing straight to his eyes. Sandy grit sprayed Aru’s face. She fumbled for the lightning bolt, but without being able to see it, she couldn’t channel it properly. She might hit Mini or Aiden by accident.
Vibrations rattled through the sand, then they stopped.
“Coming to get youuuuu,”sang the crab, coming closer.
The crab was right. It could not carry a tune worth its life.
“Jeez, that’s awful,”Aru muttered.
Arufeltthe crab looming over her. Blearily, she saw Vajra’s light pulsing. The crab stabbed its pincers into the ground again. Aru braced herself, ready to thrust up the lightning bolt…. Then the crab’s stomach gurgled loudly.
“Mother?” The crab groaned. “I don’t feel so good….”
Aru’s vision finally cleared. She opened her eyes to see the crab’s mouth widening, a blue lightfilling its jaws.
It took Aru less than a second to realize that she needed to get out of the way.
Unfortunately, that was still too late.
Brynne had taken the form of an elephant. She trumpeted victoriously, standing at the lip of the crab’s mouth. The crab swayed and started gagging, and then something spewed out of it. That spewed-out something started to yell.
“CANNONBALL!” Brynne trumpeted.
“Wait! NO! Brynne—” Aru started.
Just before Brynne landed on Aru, she transformed backintoher human girl self. That said, her human girl self wasn’t exactly light.
Aru got flattened.
And doused with crab puke.
“That can’t be hygienic,” said Mini.
The crab pulled its legs into its shell and moaned in pain.
Brynne got off Aru and summoned a bubble bath with her mace to clean them up. Herface shone with triumph. “How’d I do?”
Aiden and Mini rushed over, grinning.
Aru continued to lie on her back, Vajra glowing weakly beside her. “Can I borrow your spine?” she croaked. “I think I broke mine.”
The others hauled her up, and the four of them faced the monstrous crab. It looked less like a monster now. The only thing that stuck out of its shell were its two eyes, slanted in fury.
“That,” it said, “wastricksy. As soon as I have the energy, I will eat you—”
“I don’t think so,” said Aru. “I held up my part of the bargain.”
“You did no such thing!” said the crab. “You were supposed to feed me. Am I fed? No. Am I thoroughly disgusted? Yes. Notice how those are two entirely different things.”
