“What about Hanuman and Urvashi?” asked Brynne. “Are they worth protecting?”
“Of course!” said Kubera. “That’s why they’re in a comfy little jail cell under my palace! It’s perfectly ventilated, and packed withFriendsDVDs. What more could you want? Now, are we done? Don’t you want to start your quest? Three days is all you get before the Sleeper’s army arrives, you know. His ambassador showed me this wonderfully menacing depiction of the Sleeper’s forces when he last visited.”
He snapped his fingers, and a 3-D illusion of a sprawling army rose around them. Asuras and yakshas and beings with feathered arms and horned heads stormed past Aru with a flat, determined look in their eyes.
“Impressive, no?” said Kubera. “I take it the Sleeper’s rallying cry has been quite inspiring. ‘Change your fate! Remake the world!’ Et cetera, et cetera.”
At the front of the army, dressed in a dark robe that ended in curling wisps of smoke, marched the Sleeper. His face looked gaunt, and his mismatched blue and brown eyes were fixed on some far-off destination. His collar was open just far enough to allow Aru to see that something glinted around his neck: the necklace holding all the memories he’d given up in an effort to change his destiny.
A lump rose in her throat. She remembered the picture book with its smudged inscription to her:Love, Dad.
Kara had said that he’d left the two of them behind to keep them safe. What would he do when he found out that Kara and Aru had lefthimbehind? Had the necklace of memories changed anything for the Sleeper, or, when they were standing on opposite sides of the battlefield, would he still attack Aru? If the latter was the case, nothing they were trying to do mattered. She was, after all, just a “blip of mortality.”
In that second, fury scorched Aru’s veins. Vajra prickled on her wrist, sparking with electricity to match her anger.
Aru was tired. She was sick of always trying to prove herself to people who thought the worst of her. She wanted to stop avoiding battle andfightalready. She wanted to fight Boo for not believing in them. She wanted to fight Kubera for mocking her. And, most of all, she wanted to fight the Sleeper for failing her in every way.
If she could, Aru Shah would take on the whole world.
“Ooh…you’vegot a feisty look in your eyes, little demigod!” said Kubera.
Through the mind link, Aru heard Brynne say,Uh-oh…Did he just call Shah “feisty”?
Mini warned,Aru, I know you hate that word, but—
“Do I look like a taco sauce to you?” Aru blurted, taking a step toward Kubera. Ropes of lightning spiderwebbed up her arms.
Kubera clapped. “Is this a plot twist? Are you going to attackme? Fun!”
“We’ll do your trials, and we’ll earn your army, but you’re going to give us more than that. We want Hanuman and Urvashi returned to us, and we want the antima astra, too.”
At her mention of the weapon’s name, the sky rippled with thunder, and a powerful wind gusted through the chamber, carrying with it the unmistakable whiff of rot and death.
The smile fell from Kubera’s face. “Do not utter that weapon’s name in my presence. You may call itthe astraand nothing else.” His voice was so powerful that the gold surface of the walls began to melt and drip down.
Then he relaxed into his throne with a deep chuckle. “You want more, Pandavas? You may have anything I control. How’s that for generous?”
“What’s the catch?” asked Aru.
“Shah…” said Aiden warningly.
Aru ignored him, and Kubera’s smile widened.
“The catch is, well,me. My throne is the seat of my power. You want something that’s in my power to give? Well, then you must reach my throne in three steps. That’s all you get.”
Kubera snapped his fingers and his throne zoomed backward. The golden chamber expanded so that it seemed as if Kubera and his throne were practically a mile away.
Brynne glared. “Even if I turned into a cheetah and took three giant leaps, I wouldn’t be able to get to him.”
Aru crossed her arms. “Yeah, but if you were a dinosaur—”
“We’ve been through this, Shah,” said Brynne. “I can’t turn into anything that’s extinct! And Kubera is too far away!”
Aru scowled, staring at the ginormous room. She hated how she felt: small and powerless.
“Aru, are you okay?” asked Mini.
“No,” said Aru. “I’mannoyed. Kubera doesn’t care about the war,no onecares that we’re trying to help, and honestly, I wish I could just stomp on this whole stupid palace and be done with it!”
