Aru went numb as she watched the Sleeper’s troops lurch toward them, shoving aside chunks of gold in their path.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aru could see Hanuman and Aiden struggling—and failing—to beat back the swarming army. Rudy was still launching jewels into the sea, and though they erupted into noise that made many of the soldiers stagger backward, it wasn’t enough. Above them, floating gold dust disrupted Urvashi’s enchantments and illusions.
Aru could see all this, but she couldn’t make herself move. Grief had frozen her in place.
Boo wasgone.
When Aru thought of the last words she’d screamed at him, all she wanted to do was disappear.
A yaksha with an evil grin stood over her. “There’s nowhere for you to hide,” he said. “You thought your golden army could protect you, but the Sleeper has a plan for everything…evenyou.”
Around them, the Nairrata army struggled to remove the gold nuggets that had gotten trapped in their joints.
“You thought your army was indestructible, and they are…to everything except Lanka gold,” sneered a rakshasa. “The Sleeper knew that Kubera wouldn’t be able to resist getting involved in a fight.”
A group of about forty soldiers closed in on Kara, Brynne, Mini, and Aru. Mini kept her Death Danda raised high, but Aru noticed a sheen of sweat breaking out across her forehead. Even with her enhanced powers, Mini wouldn’t be able to shield them forever.
What are we going to do?asked Brynne via the mind link.
Aru’s thoughts raced through the possibilities. Without the Nairrata army, it was just them against the Sleeper’s troops. True, they’d brought down many of them, but definitely not enough to make it a fair fight.
Aru was still thinking when one of the asuras started laughing and spat out, “Not even that stupid, feathery traitor could help you, and he died trying to do it!”
Aru went cold.
Boo wasn’t some “stupid, feathery traitor.” He was their teacher. He was their protector…for better or for worse. And they were his Pandavas.
The answer came to her in a frosty fury. “We show themexactlywho we are…Pandavas.”
Aru could sense energy rippling through Mini and Brynne. Even Kara, who hadn’t known Boo, picked up on their rage. Ice crept across Mini’s shield. Kara’s trident flushed blue at the bottom of the tines, like a flame. Brynne’s fur looked tinged with silver as she transformed into a huge boar. And Aru?
Her lightning bolt turned iridescent, flashing with all the colors of a rainbow.
Three, two…
Mini lowered the shield, and the Pandavas plunged forward through the water. Brynne charged into the ranks of the Sleeper’s army, tossing soldiers into the air with her tusks. Kara spun around, loosing her trident and catching enemies across their guts. Brynne transformed back into a human and rotated her mace so sharply that a savage wind whipped a dozen foes into a cyclone that left them spinning in midair. Then she slammed down her weapon and they crashed onto the jagged golden shards sticking out of the sea.
As a group of warriors rushed Mini, she flashed an eerie smile. One moment she was there, and the next, she had winked out. She reappeared behind the line of soldiers and tapped one on the shoulder. When he turned around, she waved, then knocked out three of them with an expert swipe of her Death Danda.
Aru blasted through the horde, darting and weaving while swinging Vajra like a scythe. Her movements were cold and precise, her rhythm in perfect tandem with her sisters. Every thought in her head narrowed down to one command:
Fight.
Fight.
Fight!
Eventually, Mini’s voice reached her:Aru…Aru, it’s done. It’s finished.
Aru bent over, trying to catch her breath. Her hair fell in damp hanks around her face. Her lungs ached.
At last she’d recovered enough to peek around her. The Sleeper’s army had dispersed. Some were floating unconscious in the swells; others were clinging to pieces of broken floor.
The Potatoes came together slowly. They looked as battered and exhausted as Aru felt. Their skin was sunburned and their hair encrusted with sea salt.
Hanuman let out a roar that shook the waves: “VICTORY FOR THE DEVAS!”
Urvashi floated down toward them and hovered over the water.
