Brynne and Mini must have realized it, too. Mini’s violet shield flickered, as if her shock had temporarily arrested her power. The cloud that Brynne had started summoning stopped. All of Aru’s concentration honed in on Kara, and it was as if the past had peeled off the present for this one moment, leaving behind a simple truth:
Kara needed help.
But what could Aru do?
Just then, Nikita’s voice rang out in her head.So. We’re going to need one last piece of help.
What kind? asked Aru.
A distraction, said Nikita.We need everyone’s eyes on one person.
Aru grinned. She looked at Kara.
I can do that, said Aru.
Aru had imagined a thousand different ways to enter the battlefield. Shrouded in celestial light, perhaps. Or on the back of a war elephant. Preferably one that could trumpet in time with each step.
But alas, it was not to be.
There was no time for her to make a plan. The moment Aru set down Baby Boo, everything changed within seconds. Mini opened a space in the veil and Brynne gave Aru a helpful boost with a small gust to her back. Unfortunately, that “small gust” ended up being a tiny hurricane that sent Aru tumbling head over heels across the rock to land facedown in the dirt ten feet away from the Sleeper.
As Aru scrambled up, she uttered a word that she probably shouldn’t have said in front of a parental figure.
That elegant landing really inspired confidence, said Nikita through the mind link.
Aru ignored her.
It was an easy thing to do because the next moment Aru found herself staring down the three glowing prongs of Kara’s trident. Her sister glowered at her with flinty eyes. Aru looked past her at the Sleeper’s shocked face.
“Yeah, see?” said Aru. “She’s definitelynoton our side.”
Aru smiled.
In her head, she heard Nikita through the mind link.Keep their eyes on you, Aru. I need five minutes for the troops.
Aru stared up into the Sleeper’s slack-jawed expression. “Aren’t you going to ask me how I did it?”
He seemed to recover himself. He snapped his fingers and the nectar of immortality vanished…but not quite. The air where it had been looked wrinkled, as if someone had merely pulled a curtain in front of it. Aru could still smell its immortal fragrance.
He may have hidden it for now, but she’d find it.
“Kara, where are your manners?” asked the Sleeper. “Say hello to your sister.”
“Hi,” she mumbled. Kara swallowed hard, hoisting the trident a little higher. The glower had gone out of her eyes, replaced with something searching. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“Well,” said Aru, “it is.”
“Have you come to join us?” asked the Sleeper, his gaze sweeping over the empty terrain. “Perhaps you’ve seen the error of your ways? Already there are those who call me a liberator, for I will free them from the ugliness of this world. I will release them from the silence it inflicts, from the shadows it wraps around those who deserve better….I will remake Time, child. Tell me, have you finally seen reason?”
“Reason?” said Aru, grinning. “Nope. Never met her.”
The Sleeper frowned. “I have searched the perimeter. You are alone. You have no army.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Was it Aru’s imagination, or did Kara’s trident drop by a fraction? Her eyebrows furrowed in question.
“You don’t even have a weapon, child,” said the Sleeper, with a rueful smile. “What can you possibly do?”
