Kara sighed, slumping forward. A slit appeared in the middle of her chest, leaking a silver liquid. It dripped onto the tabletop and formed a thin stream that ran up the side of the cauldron.
“What’s happening to her?” asked Aiden, panicking. “Aru, Brynne—”
But whatever else he was going to say was choked off in a scream as a slit materialized in his own chest. Aru looked at Mini and saw an identical line forming.
Across the table, Aru’s eyes met Brynne’s, and she said, “We’ll figure it out, it’s going to be—”
Then Aru groaned, crumpling forward. She would have grabbed the bottom of her neck if she weren’t restrained. It felt like someone had taken a hot knife to her skin, and yet this pain was different…it seemed to go deeper. As if her soul had been covered in paper cuts.
“Aru!” cried Brynne.
She thrashed. Gogo glowed bright blue at her throat, but her wind mace could not save her.
A woman’s voice echoed in the space around them.
My poor thief, you must pay the price for trying to steal from me. Your heart was not strong enough. Look at the cost of what you have done, daughter of the god of the wind.
“Help!” yelled Brynne. “Please!”
What shall you do?
Aru tried to respond, but she felt herself…dissolving. Being erased. Her very soul was flowing out of her in a thin stream of silver that hit the metal table. Her consciousness slipped away…. She was…
Huh.
That was strange.
She was seated at a table with people she did not know. There was a girl with chin-length black hair and glasses, her head lolling to the side. A slumped-over girl with polished curls. A boy with wavy hair, his dimples flashing even as he grimaced. And last, a girl with wide shoulders and a grim-set mouth that was roaring at someone.
Who was she?
It didn’t seem to matter anymore.
Aru was the silver liquid on the table. She was in the cauldron, mixing with the silver soul-streams of the others. And then…
Darkness.
Brynne Tvarika Lakshmi Balamuralikrishna Rao was a lot of things.
She was an amazing cook, and a fierce wrestler. She had an awful temper and once tried to crack a cinder block just by barreling into it headfirst. Granted, she got knocked out for an hour, but the cinder blockdefinitelyhad a line through it, so that was pretty much a win. Brynne was even fairly decent at playing the harp, though she hated admitting that her uncles, Gunky and Funky, had signed her up for lessons onthatinstrument.
But if there was one thing she was known for, it was never giving up. She absolutely, flat-out refused.
It wasn’t even a thought worth entertaining up until this very second. Because, for the first time, Brynne was completely alone.
Her arms were shackled to the armrests of her chair, and a spoon was stuck in her right hand. Her best friend couldn’t raise his head. Her sisters were slumped over in their seats. Even Kara, whom Brynne had grudgingly started to like, was passed out, and it was all Brynne’s fault.
Around her, the air was hot and cloying, steamed up by the shrieks and howls of the other thieves, chained to their own seats. Guilt filled Brynne like the worst kind of syrup—thick and sticky and suffocating.
Ever since their visit to Kubera, Brynne hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Boo.
He hadleftthem. He’d left them despite everything he’d promised.
Learning that had made the world tilt around Brynne. What if Aiden and her sisters left her, too?
She couldn’t let that happen.
Shehadto prove she was strong enough to protect them, that she could get them through these trials faster than anyone. If only she could move her arms! She would overturn this stupid table, gather up the others, and climb a thousand steps to get them out of here.
