But she no longer remembered whether she’d made a wish on it. When she pushed herself, all her mind could conjure was a vision of snow.
It made no sense.
Aru shook her head. She could worry about it later. Right now, she needed to find out what happened to Brynne and Mini, Sheela and Nikita, Rudy and Aiden. Were they safe? Had they gotten away? Or had the Sleeper abducted them, too?
“What am I doing here?” demanded Aru.
“He wants you to be safe,” said Kara, before adding nervously, “I hope you don’t mind me prying, but I know lots about you, Aru. Dad told me your mom kept you away from him.”
Your mom. So Aru and Kara weren’t twins. Had the Sleeper cheated on Krithika? Aru wondered. It made her stomach turn. Was that the real reason Aru’s mom had put him in the lamp?
“He brought you back here so we could be a family,” continued Kara.
Family. Aru flinched at the word. If her father really wanted them to be a family, he wouldn’t have become a monster. But even as she thought it, an oily voice in her head whispered,But you saw how he was forced to give up his memories, Aru Shah. You know that perhaps he could not have helped becoming what he is….
“Where is he?” asked Aru. “Where are the others?”
“He only brought you,” said Kara quickly. “And then he left again. But…he made plans before he left. His army is planning to march on Lanka by the end of the week.”
Lanka? Aru knew that name. It was the city of gold ruled over by Lord Kubera, the god of wealth and treasures. The wordsmarch onlit a panic inside her. An invasion? So soon? The devas weren’t expecting that. She needed to warn the Otherworld. And her Pandava sisters. Herrealsisters.
Aru glanced at her wrist. What she thought had been a chain connecting her to the rock turned out to be nothing more than an illusion on a thin ribbon. Aru jerked her hand and the ribbon tore, setting her free. On her other wrist, dangling from a braided string bracelet, was a glass sphere containing Vajra in Ping-Pong–ball form. Aru slammed the sphere on the ground, and the glass shattered.
Vajra bounced up and Aru caught it one-handed. A gentle, delicious electricity immediately laced up her arms, and Aru felt the familiar static energy lift her hair a little. She jumped to her feet, eyes scanning the room.
“You can’t leave!” said Kara, panicked.
“Watch me,” growled Aru, hurtling Vajra against the library shelves.
Electricity spangled across the hundred-foot-high wall of bookshelves. The air boomed with thunder, and a couple of volumes went up in flames. But the wall remained intact.
“It’s reinforced with enchanted rubber,” said Kara. “You could burn down the whole place, but that still wouldn’t get you out. Only…OnlyIcan do that.”
Aru whirled around. She thought Kara would look haughty as she said those words, but instead she just seemed uncomfortable, as if she wasn’t used to talking to anyone. She twisted the ring around her index finger.
“If…If you want to be free,” said Kara, lifting her chin, “then…then you have to make me a promise.”
“What do you want?”
Kara swallowed hard. “I want you to take me with you.”
Aru stared at the other girl. “Take youwithme? Um…no? First off, I don’t know you—”
“But…I’m your sister!” said Kara. “I know you grew up alone, and you’re a reincarnated Pandava, and—”
“Look. We’ve never met! I know mymailboxbetter than you. Second, you’ll probably turn us in. I heard what you called him, and it’s not exactly like he’s keepingyouprisoner here,” said Aru, gesturing angrily at all the toys and books.
“It’s…It’s not what you think,” said Kara. “I’ve only been here for the past two years.”
Aru frowned. “Where were you before that?”
“Somewhere…bad,” said Kara. Her face looked pained. “All I know is that the people who were supposed to treat me like their daughter didn’t. Dad told me that he’d been locked away for twelve years—otherwise he would’ve found me sooner and raised me himself.”
“You don’t remember where you were?” asked Aru, mentally calculating Kara’s age. If she was fourteen, that meant she and Aru must have been born to different mothers and the same father in the same year. It was possible—not to mention super gross—but it didn’t seem believable. Aru had seen the Sleeper’s memories. He had loved Krithika Shah. All he’d wanted was to come home to her…and Aru. It didn’t make any sense.
“Dad said that he didn’t want me to be in pain anymore, so he erased my memories of that life. He wanted me to be happy…and Iwasfor a while.” Kara took a deep breath. “But then I started wondering why he never lets me leave this place. And he was never home, either. I started snooping around, and I found where he keeps his memories. It’s like this glowing library hidden in the caverns, totally different from this place, and the more I saw, the more I realized he was lying to me. When he brought you here, that’s when I really knew. All those times he said he was on a trip, he was secretly gathering his armies and—”
“Literally trying to end Time?” added Aru. “And steal the nectar of immortality? Oh, and kill me?”
