You’ll find a way out of this, I know it.
“But I didn’t,” she said quietly.
No one heard her. They were all too busy checking for messages. Now that the Potatoes were back in the human world and within range of the normal Otherworld portals, their devices were syncing and gathering all the texts and emails they had received over the past few days. Aru couldn’t even do that. Her phone had shattered somewhere outside Jambavan’s cave.
Aping! came from Rudy’s back pocket. He pulled out a thin geode.
“What is that?” asked Brynne.
“Emergency stone,” said Rudy, sliding his finger down the front of the geode. Words flashed across it like a screen. His eyes widened. “Whoa.Tonsof people are willing to show up for you guys. They’re just waiting for you to shatter the boundaries to the labyrinth and let them in.”
Brynne’s chest puffed out a bit. “As they should.”
Mini smiled. “Nikita and Sheela must have been hard at work in people’s dreams.”
Rudy nodded before swiping the screen one more time. “Nagas, too…Looks like I need to get back home. They think once you all shatter the boundary, other entrances will open. There’s one in the sea that the underwater kingdoms are gathering around, which means…I gotta go. There’s no way I’m getting in this way.” He held up his palms. “No godly weapon.”
“So, you’ll meet us on the battlefield?” asked Mini.
Rudy winked. “You know I’ll find you.”
Faint color touched Mini’s cheeks.
Beside her, Brynne let out a whoop. “Gunky and Funky texted me yesterday, but I only just got service,” she said, holding up her phone. She glanced at Aru, grinning. “Your mom is the one who found the other access points to the labyrinth. She’s been rallying everyone to gather there and wait.”
“Well, that sucks,” said Aru. “Who am I supposed to stay home and watch the war with?”
The glowing mood vanished. Aru watched them, a quiet fury vibrating through her bones. They hadn’t even looked at her. Hadn’t evenconsideredthat she couldn’t access the Lullwater Park portal without her celestial weapon.
Understanding dawned on Mini first. Guilt flashed across her face. “Oh, Aru…” she started to say. “I’m so sorry—”
“For what?” asked Aru calmly. “Honestly, this is for the best. It’s not like I can fight without Vajra anyway.”
“You can come with me!” said Rudy. “We can go the naga route!”
“And after that?” asked Aru, sneering. “What am I going to do, stand on the sidelines and cheer? I don’t even have pom-poms. Or are we picking some up on the way?”
“Aru…” said Brynne. “We can’t fight without you.”
“If I’m there, I’ll just be in the way. You’ll be worried about protecting me. I’ll be a risk.”
Brynne looked away. Mini frowned, biting her lip like she was trying to think of some way to make that statement less true. But there was nothing they could say, and their silence was all the answer Aru needed.
She adjusted her backpack. Her arms were still full of Aiden’s bag, now a makeshift cradle for Baby Boo, who slumbered away. When she peered inside, the firebird looked even bigger than before. His tail feathers curled around him in a burning spiral.
“BB is too young to fight,” Aru said. “I’ll watch him.”
She turned and made to walk off, when Mini grabbed her shoulder. “You can’t go, Aru!”
Aru spun, her voice hot and sharp. “And I can’tfight, either!”
“But—”
“This is all I have, Mini,”said Aru, setting down Baby Boo and opening her own backpack.
There was hardly anything useful inside it. Nothing but some candy wrappers, the smashed remains of her phone, a key to the museum, the bangle from the poison maiden Aleesa, an extra change of clothes, Menaka’s earring, Jambavan’s bear claw, the anklet she’d snatched from Urmila, and a shard of porcelain tile that had once been in the Palace of Illusions. Not exactly the most advanced arsenal in the multiverse.
Brynne’s phone began topingloudly. Her face paled as she glanced toward the gate. “Reports are coming in that the Sleeper’s army…That th-they…” she stammered, looking up from her phone, her eyes going straight to Aru’s in what was both an apology and an explanation. “They have the nectar of immortality.”
