“I’m sorry,” said Kara. Her eyes shone with tears. “I bet he even made up all that stuff about being locked away—”
“Actually, that part is true,” said Aru quietly. “I know that for a fact.”
Aru looked carefully at Kara. The girl didn’t seem to be trying to trick her…. There wasn’t anything sneaky about her. Just somethinglonely. Aru realized she pitied Kara, which only annoyed her more.
“How do you know that?” Kara asked.
Aru took a deep breath. “Because I’m the one who let him out. He was trapped in a lamp.”
Aru waited for Kara to yell. Or sneer. But, instead, she nodded. “I’m grateful to you.”
Grateful? No one had ever been grateful that Aru had freed the Sleeper. If anything, it was one of her biggest sources of guilt. And yet it was the reason she now had Brynne and Mini as her best friends and sisters, and Nikita and Sheela as the little sisters she hadn’t realized she’d always wanted. It was the terrible event that had brought magic and the Otherworld into her life, and now Aru was learning it had led to Kara being taken out of a bad situation and given a better home.
Aru’s mom always saidEverything happens for a reason, but thinking that way only left Aru more confused. What was the reason for the Sleeper turning into a monster? Or Boo betraying them? But she couldn’t afford to let her mind wander there. Right now, she needed to get back home and warn the others about the Sleeper’s growing battle.
“Why do you even want to come with me?” asked Aru. “You’re his…his daughter. He’d come looking for you, and then he’d find us.”
“He wouldn’t be able to findme,” said Kara. She turned around, lifting her long hair and revealing a white circle the size of a dime on the back of her neck. “To protect me, he gave me this enchantment, which works like both a ward and a beacon. It prevents me from being tracked by gods and demons. Even Dad can’t trace me when I wear it. But when he’s near, it lets me know, and I can call to him if I need to. I guess he figures he doesn’t have to worry about losing me…. It’s not like I’ve ever left.”
Aru stared around the giant library, with its false sunshine and lack of doors.
“So, what, you just stay in here all day and night?” asked Aru.
Kara shrugged, gesturing at the screen on the wall. “Tutors call every morning to give me lessons…. And, when he’s here, Dad and I explore the caverns.” Kara smiled. “Sometimes he’ll create a forest illusion and come up with a scavenger hunt for me. It’s fun…but, you know, quiet.”
And even lonelier than Aru had first imagined. All locked up without the chance to go outside?No thanks.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I have to go, and I can’t take you with me,” said Aru. “It’s just too big a risk—”
“Wait!” said Kara, grabbing Aru’s wrist. “What if…What if I told you that it’s even a bigger risk to leave me behind?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Dad calls me his ‘secret weapon,’” said Kara, her words coming out in a rush. “And lately, he keeps talking about how the right time is coming soon…. I’m scared, Aru. I don’t know what it means.”
“Secret weapon?” Aru nervously took a step back.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” said Kara. “I can’t do anything. Honest. I mean, he trained me to fight, but I don’t really have any special powers.”
Aru’s mind snagged on the wordreally. That meant she probably hadsomething, but what?
“Since you came, I’ve accessed even more of his memories. I saw his battles…all those ruined cities…all those scared people…” said Kara softly. “I don’t want any part of that—it’s wrong. But he’s my family, and I don’t want to hurt him. I just need to stop him. But I…I don’t know what else to do.”
Tears ran down Kara’s cheeks, and Aru felt a sharp jab in her heart.
She understood what Kara was going through. It was the ugly, swooping sensation of missing the last step on a staircase, waiting for your foot to land…and falling flat on your face instead.
Aru had felt it when she realized how much her mom had kept hidden from her. She’d felt it when she learned that her teachers, Hanuman and Urvashi, had been part of the reason her mom had trapped the Sleeper in a lamp. She’d felt it when Boo—Aru’s greatest mentor, the person who’d made her think he believed in the Pandavas the most—had turned them over to the Sleeper. Shestillfelt like she was falling and her feet would never touch the ground.
“Youhaveto take me with you,” said Kara, scrubbing away her tears with a fist. “I know what he’s looking for, Aru. I’ll tell you what it is if you let me go with you.” A fierceness spread across Kara’s face, and she kind of looked like Brynne before a fight. On Kara’s hand, her white-gold ring flashed like a sunbeam. Vajra sparked in response.
Aru was dying to find out what the Sleeper was after, but she hid her eagerness from Kara.The moment someone knows what you want, it becomes a weapon in their hands, Hanuman had taught them.
Aru made her expression go blank. “How do I know you’re not gonna go berserk on me?”
“Berserk?”repeated Kara. Her gaze brightened. It was like glimpsing the person Kara must be when she wasn’t scared and nervous. A curious person…It made Aru think of Mini.
“Did you know that word comes from Nordic legend?” Kara went on. “Berserkerswere warriors who wore bearskin shirts and then went kinda crazy right before charging into battle!Berserkcomes fromberforbearandserkforshirt! Isn’t that cool?”
