Mistakes Have Been Made….
Aru, Brynne, and Aiden fled down the night path toward the silver bridge.
Behind them they heard growls and the thumping of galloping paws. Brynne aimed her wind mace at the hellhounds, but the powerful gust didn’t even slow them down.
“Keep running!” yelled Brynne. “I’ve got this!”
A second later, she transformed into a blue jaguar as big as one of the hellhounds.Aru looked back to see Jaguar-Brynne hissing and clawing at the hounds, but they leaped straightthroughher. Brynne changed into an eagle and flew straight for Aru and Aiden.
“Never mind!” cawed Bird-Brynne. “I donotgot this!”
Aru cast out Vajra like a net, but the net slipped off them, bouncing back into her palms.
“They’re nightmares!” said Aiden, out of breath. “They’re not real!”
Arushuddered at the thought of the hounds’ long teethandthe terrible visions in their eyes. “Yeah, I’m not testing out that theory.”
Time slowed, and Aru felt that they reallywerestuck in a nightmare. No matter how hard they tried to reach the silvery Bridge of Dawn and Dusk, it kept getting farther away from them. The only part of the landscape that changed was the grove of night trees. Theygrew thicker, crowding the path before them, until it was a forest ripe with shadows.
Brynne jumped behind one of the biggest trunks, pulling Aru and Aiden with her. The hounds slowed down … and started sniffing the ground.
“We can’t even get to the bridge!” Brynne whispered. “And what are they going to do when they find us?”
Aiden shushed her. The three of them huddled together. The soundof snuffling got louder and louder … and then it stopped. Brynne changed into a blue snake, slithering up the tree to get a better look.
“They’re gone!” she reported when she changed back into her human self.
“Have you ever tried doing that in a zoo?” Aru asked her. “Like, just pop up behind the glass and scare the kids?”
Brynne crossed her arms. “No, because I’m not a troll.”
“I’m not a troll,either. It’s calledgenius.”
Aiden stuck his head around the trunk. “So where did those dogs go?”
Brynne shrugged. “Who knows? But Ineverwant to see them—or those eyes—again.”
“Me neither,” said Aru. “It was like they knew everything.”
Now that they’d stopped running, Aru realized she was stillholdingthe silver fruit. It was cold in her hands. Curious, she raised it to her face and inhaleddeeply. Aru had never smelled a fruit like this…. It didn’t give off a scent as much as a feeling. It felt like a moment on the verge of passing. Hot cocoa on the brink of turning cold. The end of a good book. The prickling sense of waking up that always cuts a good nap short. It made her happy and sad all at once. She lost herself in it.
“Guys, did you—?” Aru broke off.
When did it get so quiet?
“Guys … ?”
Aru turned around, and staggered backward. Brynne and Aiden were both curled up on the ground. A nightmare hound loomed over each of them, staring at them with eyes now as big as television screens.
The fruit dropped from Aru’s hand as she ran over to Brynne and pulled on her arm. “Brynne! Get up!” she screamed.
Aru tried to push the hounds away, but her arms went right through them.Brynne had her eyes squeezed shut, but in the closest creature’s eyes, Aru saw an image of a beautiful college-aged girl and an angry middle-aged woman.
The girl—Aru now recognized her as an older version of Brynne—held up her photo album.
“What is this?” asked the woman.
“Mom …” started Brynne.
