“We asked him when we stopped by in his dream,” said Sheela.
“I needed his address so I could send over a cold-weather wardrobe,” added Nikita.
“I like Rudy’s dreams,” said Sheela, clapping her hands. “They’re so loud and fun!”
“And full of mirrors so he can look at himself,” grumbled Nikita.
“Aiden’s dreams are a lot sadder…” said Sheela. “We tried to talk to him, but he got mad when he saw us. He was in the museum. Actually, you were there, too, Aru….”
“What?” asked Aru.
Nikita shushed her twin. “Astral projecting is serious stuff. We’re not supposed to share what we see.”
“But you just shared the thing about Rudy and the mirrors!” said Aru.
“That was different,” said Nikita primly.
For some reason, Brynne now looked very guilty. That was weird. Aru made a note to ask her about it later.
“Time to go,” said Nikita, glancing up. A thunderstorm was coming. Lightning flashed across the sky.
Sheela shivered, her blue eyes flashing icily the way they always did when she caught a vision.“I see such sorrow and such cold. I see what greatness weakness holds.”
“Rise and shine, your hero has arrived!” announced Rudy.
Aru blinked and found herself staring into the eyes of Rudy’s favorite mortal celebrity: Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock. Dozens of posters of him lined the walls of Rudy’s private living room. Everywhere Aru looked, she was met with either a fierce or a smiling image of the celebrity fixing the room with an eyebrow so arched that, according to Rudy, it deserved to be a national monument.
“He’sthe best,” Rudy had once explained during one of the Potatoes’ epic movie nights. “I mean, the guy used to be arock. And then someone with special powers came along and was so impressed with howcoolhe lookedasa rock that he turned him into ahumanrock!”
Everyone had stared at Rudy. Eventually, Aiden had said, “Dude, that is not why he’s called that.” But Rudy had refused to listen.
Aru sat up on the couch. Mini, Brynne, and Aiden were gone. Rudy tossed her a parcel. Only now did she notice that he was dressed in a tie-dyed faux-fur getup. With velour. It was so transcendently awful that it looked almost…cool?
“Nikita sent over a cold-weather wardrobe a couple of hours ago,” said Rudy. He did a little spin. “Mine isobviouslybefitting of my new status as savior of worlds, et cetera, et cetera, you’re welcome. Now I’m kinda mad my family isn’t home and I can’t tell them about it, but these are the sacrifices that a real hero—like myself—makes.”
Rudy beamed, and Aru cracked a smile. “Thanks, Rudy. You did save us.”
“I know,” said Rudy, lifting his chin. “Everybody else came to before you did, so get dressed! We’re leaving in ten.”
According to Rudy, his parents and brothers had gone to secure their vaults while he’d been left behind after playing his Sad Boi Rocks™. News coming out of the Otherworld was only getting worse. There were reports of escalating violence and stories of people throwing their support behind the Sleeper and his vision of a world remade….
Sheela’s prophecy might have kept people from looking for the Pandavas, but it didn’t stop the rumors. Some were beginning to whisper that the Pandavas had recognized the war as a lost cause and had abandoned the effort altogether. Aru tried not to think about all that as she walked the lonely, stately halls of Rudy’s palace.
She felt curiously weightless without her ball of lightning warming her pocket or Boo’s talons lightly digging into her shoulder. She thought of BB snoozing in his nest of vines. The firebird might have had Boo’s soul, but he seemed very different. At peace, and perhaps a little wilder. A little freer.
Would she ever feel that way? Or would she always feel like she’d folded away her fears and tried to make them as small as possible so she could keep going?
Aru stepped over the threshold to the elevator bank and stopped short. No one else was here…except Aiden. Unlike Rudy in his riotously colorful outfit, Aiden wore a dark green ski jacket and matching pants. The moment he saw her, he shoved aside his backpack, a guilty look on his face. But that look—the downcast eyes, his chin tilted to his chest, hands shoved into his pockets—hit Aru like a kick. It was way too close to pity. And more than anything, Aru did not want to be pitied.
She straightened her shoulders and—without even ahintof wobbliness—proudly strode into the chamber and plopped onto the ground, where she leaned against one of the glass elevators. She looked calmly at Aiden, who was, once more, staring at the floor as if it were a long-lost friend. If he couldn’t stand to look at her or talk to her, that washisproblem, because Aru Shah did not give a—
“You were great back there,” said Aiden suddenly.
“Say what now?”
“With the poison maidens,” he said. “The way you realized what they wanted most—it was brilliant.”
Aru stared at him. Was this a trick?
