Just then, she heard Brynne’s voice in her head:
We found something up ahead.Something…strange.
“Time to hustle,” said Aru. She flicked her wrist, and Vajra finally lengthened into a spear.
Aru expected to find the ruins of a train station at the end of the tunnel: iron nails, rusty tracks, and plasticware from someone who had dropped their lunch during a commute.
Instead, she was met with…the ghost of an underwater garden.
Aru let Vajra slip a little in her hands.
Maybe calling the place agardenwas a bit of a stretch. It was the size of her cramped bedroom. The floor was made of polished seashells and the walls were blocks of cement draped in glowing kelp and sea lichen the color of shining pearls. Far above, the ocean water looked like swirling ink. The only light came from the glowing anemone and fluorescent moss that bloomed in between the cracks of cement. Maybe it used to have tons of plants on display, but now there was just one: a blue lotus. It hovered, suspended in a thin column of light. Even though its pale roots weren’t in soil or water, the flower looked perfectly healthy, with petals like slices of sapphire.
Yup. Definitely strange.
“This is the last place I saw Kubera’s eye,” said Brynne. “I think it disappeared into the lotus.”
“Or maybe the lotus ate it,” said Aru. “Are lotuses carnivorous?”
“Carnivorous plants tend to sprout in places that are low in nutrients, like bogs,” said Aiden, snapping a picture of the flower. “This lotus doesn’t even havedirt.”
“Let me guess,” said Aru. “You know this because of a nature documentary.”
Aiden sighed. “Some of us prefer informative cinema.”
Before Aru could mock him, Kara spoke.
“How do we know it’s really a lotus?” she asked. “What if it’s only enchanted to look like that?”
They crowded around the entrance of the not-a-garden, scanning the space. Aiden experimentally tossed a pebble into the room. Aru tensed, half expecting the lotus to sprout fangs and chase them, but the blue flower didn’t move.
It was, honestly…
“Creepy,”said Aru. “But it also low-key reminds me of the enchanted rose inBeauty and the Beast.” Aru placed one hand on her heart.
Mini groaned. “Aru, no—”
“Really, Shah?” asked Aiden.
Aru ignored them.“‘If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.’”She ended her speech by dramatically lifting Vajra in the air.
It was supposed to be a small, silly, useless movement. But it didn’t stay that way.
Maybe Vajra got caught up in the performance and sparks of electricity shot off without Aru noticing. Or maybe Aru stepped over the thresholdjustfar enough. Whatever the case, Aru heard the lotus flower sigh. It sounded like the first stirring of someone waking from a long nap.
Aru turned slowly. The once-dormant lotus flower had begun to open and close its petals like a hand slowly flexing its fingers. With a grinding sound, the cement blocks shifted. They slid backward and expanded. The floor stretched until the chamber was the size of an arena.
“Now would be a good time for an enchanted prince to show up?” squeaked Mini.
The lotus emitted a puff of blue smoke.
“Cover your mouth and nose!” yelled Brynne.
She spun her wind mace into action, trying to beat back the…pollen? Creepy flower mist?…stuffwith a gust of air, but the blue fumes just snaked around it. Aru tugged the collar of her T-shirt up over her mouth and nose.
“Get back!” Mini yelled. Her violet shield blasted up, but the smoke wafted through it.
Aru spun around, ready to race back down the tunnel they’d come from, but it had disappeared. A new wall had sprung up in its place, locking them into the chamber.
