“Doors?” echoed Aru.
Jambavan pinched the mirror with his thumb and index finger, as if he were zooming in on a screen. There, through the trees and almost invisible thanks to the silver mist, appeared the beginning of a white staircase.
“Take those stairs up to the platform right beside the elephants’ knees, and the Sun Jewel will lead you to the door, which shall take you to the labyrinth,” said Jambavan.
Aru stared at him. “Elephants?”
“Why of course, child!” said Jambavan. “What else did you think those were?”
He pointed to the huge gray pillars, then looked back at Potatoes. When Jambavan saw their expressions, he slowly zoomed out…andout…andout…past the silver mist on the crescent of land, past the white staircase winding through the dark space, past the cloud bank that had cut off the tops of thesurprise,-it’s-actually-an-animal!pillars until Aru found herself staring at outer space. Frosty planets and distant stars moved in a slow cosmic dance. Rivers of dust and light wound through the dark, linking it all together. In a way, it was too vast to comprehend, but one thing was certain….
All of it was balancing on the backs of four gigantic elephants, each of whom faced one of the four cardinal directions. Aru couldn’t imagine what would happen if one of them sneezed. Or, heavens forbid, caught a sudden, uncontrollable case of the itchies.
“Right beside their knees is a platform with revolving doors that will take you anywhere you need to go,” said Jambavan. “Just…be careful when you’re near them. The doors can be, well…” He paused, thoughtfully scratching his muzzle.
“Kinda hard to open?” suggested Aru.
She knew firsthand how some doors went out of their way to mock you. After all, Aru had lost many minutes of her existence pushing on doors that were clearly markedPULL. She did not like to talk about this.
“No,” said Jambavan, lowering his paw and not meeting their eyes. “The doors can get…hungry.”
Rudy’s eyes went wide. “Say what now?”
“The doors go everywhere, into any time,” explained Jambavan. “They are sustained by the daydreams and nightmares of humanity. The doors rarely meet individuals in the flesh. Whatever thoughts you have will, I imagine, deeply intrigue them.”
“Naturally,” said Rudy, puffing out his chest.
Aiden sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe we’re related.”
“So what do we do when we get there?” asked Mini.
Jambavan nodded to the lantern beside Brynne, which held the Sun Jewel’s three fragments. Its brightness was now a pleasant glow, as if it were sleeping. “Now that the three pieces have been reunited, the gem will act as a compass and guide you to the correct door. But you must move quickly. Try to focus on only one thing, so as not to draw the doors’ attention. When the correct one appears, open it, and go through.”
That sounded easy enough, thought Aru, relaxing. All they had to do was follow the Sun Jewel. It was bright enough, so at least that wouldn’t be a problem.
“One last thing,” said Jambavan. “Whatever you do, don’t touch the elephants’ legs. They’ll panic.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t,” said Brynne, patting the lantern.
Just then, wind began to howl through the arches of Jambavan’s cave. The shrill, swooping sound raised goose bumps on Aru’s arms.
It sounded like someone shrieking.
The wind may have been howling, the clock may have been ticking down, and the Potatoes may have been growing more anxious about catching up with the Sleeper, but at least they had the Sun Jewel.
“How much do you think this thing is worth?” asked Brynne, weighing the lantern.
“I dunno,” said Mini. “But you could probably feed a whole country with it.”
“Orbuya country,” said Brynne. “Or, like, several private islands.”
“I vote for that last one,” said Aru, pointing at her.
Mini sighed, sharing an aggrievedwhy-are-they-like-thislook with Aiden. He only laughed, while Rudy mused about the cost of various objects in the human world that had caught his attention.
“I bet you could buy at leastfivethumbtacks with the Syamantaka Gem,” he said as they prepared to leave Jambavan’s kingdom. “Or awholecase of paper clips…”
Rudy was under the impression that thumbtacks were the most advanced weapons humanity had to offer. Nobody had bothered to tell him otherwise. As for paper clips, he just liked putting them on the tips of his fingers and pretending they were claws.
