“Where was this taken?” her father asked.
“A desolate field outside the Otherworld,” said the lieutenant, pausing to consult a sheaf of papers in his hands. “The Final Stage? Some sort of…apocalyptic entertainment. It’s actually rather enjoyable—”
Her father snarled faintly, and the lieutenant cleared his throat. “Their faces are obscured by helmets, as you can see, but the likeness—height, size, number—to the Pandavas is indisputable. The singing boy is rumored to be the son of the apsara Malini, and he is often in their company.”
“I remember him,” said Suyodhana grouchily. “He has a soft spot for her.”
Aiden, thought Kara.They were talking about Aiden. Her cheeks turned hot. On Aru’s birthday, she’d worked up the courage to tell him that she liked him. What a mistake. She wished she’d never done that. When she recalled the pity in his eyes, or the realization minutes later that it was Aru he’d liked the whole time, she felt worse than a fool.
She’d been hoodwinked by hope.
Hoodwinked, Kara had discovered during her reading breaks, was a word that originated from the practice of falconry. When people used to train falcons to hunt prey, they’d calm the bird by putting a hood on its head. These days the word no longer meant to blindfold.
It meant to trick.
They tricked you, her father had said.They made you think things that weren’t true.
At first, in her anger, she’d clung to those words. But lately when she fell asleep she found herself trapped in a nightmare where Aru’s birthday party never ended. And each time Kara got stuck on the way Aru had pleaded with her, her eyes shining.
Welove you, Kara. You’re one of us.
Somewhere deep inside her, Kara felt that Aru’s words had the ring of truth to them, and she didn’t know what to make of that. Kara’s father’s assurances that he loved her and that he believed he was doing the right thing also rang true….So where did that leave her?
Kara took another step toward the entrance of the tent, and there she saw the video her father and his lieutenant were fiercely examining. In it, the Potatoes were onstage. Kara’s eyes widened. She didn’t have to see their faces to know immediately that it was Aru, Brynne, Mini, and Aiden. They were all dressed up in fancy suits and wearing gleaming helmets. They looked like rock stars! Even Rudy was there, she realized with a stab of envy. When they started performing, the sound wove its magic around her, and Kara realized she wasgrinning.
Since when did Mini play the piano? Or Brynne know what to do with drums?
Kara almost laughed thinking back to how all of them tried to sneak out of Brynne’s penthouse whenever she started “practicing the harp.”Torturing the harpwas probably the better word choice, as Kara had once said, making Aru snort with laughter. Only Hira would stick around, which Kara suspected was because she liked the player, not the playing.
In the video, a beam of purple light opened up from a source Kara couldn’t see. One by one, the Potatoes flew up and vanished into the glow.
Kara thought back to her own adventures with them, and without meaning to, she chuckled.
Her father spun around, catching her at the threshold of the tent. With an abrupt wave of his wrist, the images vanished. Kara froze.
“You should be resting, my dear,” said her father.
“What was that?” asked Kara.
“It’s nothing,” said Suyodhana in a strained voice.
“But—”
“You need your rest,” her father insisted. “Perhaps you are having trouble sleeping, child. I can fix that.”
“Wait, Dad. What happened to Aru—” Kara started to say, but her father had already raised his hand. He snapped his fingers and a ribbon of black shadow snaked out from his palm, wrapping around her eyes.
Hoodwinking me, thought Kara drowsily.
It was the last thing that crossed her mind as her eyes closed and her bed of shadows rose to steal her away from the world.
Kara had braced herself for nightmares, but instead she found herself standing inside what looked like a large warehouse. There was a wall of frosted windows on one side, and Kara sensed movement—memories—shifting behind them like sea creatures trapped under a layer of ice.
“There you are,” said a familiar voice.
Before her appeared Dream Sheela, wearing a pair of black pajamas patterned with tiny yellow ducks. “I kept trying to bring you here, but your dreams are kinda hard to get through.”
Kara blinked and rubbed her eyes. “This issucha weird dream. I know you’re not real. Well, I mean, I know you can’treallybe right here.”
