Dream Sheela shrugged. “I dunno. That’s probably what you want to believe, but deep down, I think you know the truth.”
Kara hung her head. “I don’t know anything anymore.”
Dream Sheela reached out her hand. “I’ve seen your dreams, Kara.”
Kara shrank from her. “So? What about them?”
“It’s scary to love people,” said Dream Sheela. “Nikki says it’s like walking off a cliff on purpose.”
Kara almost laughed because it was so true. It took a lot to trust someone, and once you did, you gave them the chance to hurt you.
“Yeah. I guess you could say that.”
“But you’re wrong, you know,” said Dream Sheela. “Theydolove you. Even Krithika. I saw it in her dreams. I stole them, one by one. The Sleeper’s, too. I can show them to you if you’d like, and then you’ll know the truth.” She gestured behind her to the blurred-out windows, and Kara held her breath.
“None of this is real,” said Kara.
“Then I guess it doesn’t hurt to look,” said Dream Sheela. “But I think…um, actually, Iknowthere will come a moment when you have another chance. I can’t see what you’ll do with it. But at least this way, you can decide for yourself.”
Kara stilled, glancing up at the windows. She saw the slender silhouette of a woman moving behind one of the windowpanes, and Kara felt a painful urge to see her face. She caught the scent of the neroli perfume that Aru’s mom—theirmom—wore on her neck and wrists. Kara remembered walking through Krithika Shah’s bedroom before she’d known they were mother and daughter. Kara imagined Krithika now, sitting on the edge of her bed, checking the clock and waiting for her daughter Aru to come home. The image made her ache with envy. She so desperately wanted a mom who would worry about where she was and when she’d be back, a mom who would let her borrow her perfume and try on her shoes until, eventually, they fit.
“So…will you look?” asked Sheela.
Kara couldn’t recall if she answered. All she knew was that one moment she was standing in the dark and the next she was holding the little girl’s hand as together they walked into the light.
Aru blinked. Once more she was back in that curious void between realms. Only this time she seemed to be in a tunnel filled with purple smoke. The walls around her moved, but she stayed still. Looming ever closer was a door that looked as if it had been made of the darkness between stars. Aru patted her own head, bemused. Her helmet was gone, and so was—she realized with a surprised pang—her tambourine.
The longer Aru looked at the door, the more unease she felt creeping into her heart. Her eyelids were heavy. If she closed them, she imagined she’d sleep for years.
But she sensed it was not a good sleep that lay ahead. Frost grew over her skin. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as if bad dreams were lurking just out of sight.
“So…that was kinda weird,” said Mini.
Aru startled and her drowsiness burned away. Unlike Aru, Mini seemed perfectly content in the space between the portals. She looked graceful and at ease. Her toes were pointed as if she were mid-flight, and her chin-length hair flowed in the wind.
“What’s weird?” asked Aru.
Mini opened one of her eyes. “Aiden’s song?”
Aru’s face burned. When she’d heard it, she’d thought that…well, that maybe it was for her. But that was ridiculous….Wasn’t it?
A loud snore interrupted her thoughts. Rudy was fast asleep with his knees curled to his chest and his hands tucked under his head.
“Oh good, you’re back!” shouted a familiar voice.
To her right, Sheela and Nikita partly manifested in the void, their features translucent again. Nevertheless, Nikita had dressed for the occasion and was sporting a turban of stars and a robe embroidered with constellations. Sheela wore a comfortable-looking silver sweat suit. She grinned at Aru and Mini, waving vigorously.
“How’d you find us?” asked Aru.
“We’ve been taking turns sleeping in case you showed up in the astral plane,” said Nikita, yawning. “It’s very tiring. I couldn’t stay awake for my last shift.”
Aru crossed her arms. “I’m so sorrynappinghas been difficult for you while we run around trying to avoid death and all that.”
“Apology accepted,” said Nikita.
Aru rolled her eyes.
“Brynne and Aiden are on their way,” said Sheela, looking beyond them. “You’ll have to tell them.”
