Below him, Ravana looked up sharply. Aru didn’t think she’d ever be able to sympathize with a demon king, but she recognized his expression immediately. It saidBro, that wasNOTpart of the plan. What are you doing?
The Lady laughed softly. “And he was also supposed to ask for the annihilation of the gods, ornirdevatvam.”
“AND I DEMAND…I DEMAND…NIDRAVATVAM!”
To Aru’s ears, the words slurring from Kumbhakarna’s mouth sounded almost identical.
Almost.
In the image, Ravana’s face fell. He stood up and darted out of the way as his huge brother fell into the earth beside him and promptly began to…snore.
The vision faded, and once more the Pandavas were back in the forest with The Lady, who was laughing to herself.
“Ah, the fool,” she said, delighted. “A goddess tied his tongue so that when he meant to ask for the seat of Indra, he asked for abed, and when he asked for the annihilation of the gods, he asked instead forsleep.”
Maybe Aru would’ve laughed, too, but the trees looked different now. When she turned in her seat, she could no longer see the path they’d taken. Impossibly, the forest was even thicker and darker, and no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t catch sight of either Kumbhakarna’s outstretched hand or the final portal that had set it aglow.
“Where are we?” asked Aru.
“I told you,” said The Lady, “we’re taking a shortcut. And anyway, we’ve arrived. Time to dismount from your steeds.”
The night mares stopped. Mini bent over her horse, frowning. Loose Teeth swiveled her head to look at her rider, and in the blue infernos of her eyes Aru detected something likesorrow.
Something feels off, said Aru through the mind link.
Loose Teeth looked forward again and whinnied, trotting sideways. She bucked slightly.
“Whoa, what’s wrong?” asked Mini, rubbing Loose Teeth’s neck, but the mare wouldn’t calm down.
“I saiddismount,” said The Lady.
All the horses except Loose Teeth began to roar. Creepy Party Clown slowly turned her head toward Aru. The horse’s lips pulled into another terrifying grin. Aru scrambled out of her saddle, nearly tumbling headfirst to the black forest floor below.
Rudy slipped sideways off his horse, hollering, “HOW DARE YOU!”
Mini dropped gracefully from her saddle, and while the other horses backed away, Loose Teeth stayed with her, nuzzling her shoulder, her tail flicking nervously like a cat’s.
“What’s going on?” demanded Brynne. “You said you’d show us a shortcut out of here!”
“And this is, in a way,” said The Lady.
Aiden hopped down from Inexplicable Natural Disaster and walked straight over to Aru. He stood in front of her, and Aru could feel the heat coming off him as he raised his scimitars defensively. Brynne’s hand moved to the choker at her throat. Aru’s gaze whipped around the forest. She hated this feeling, that she was trapped and couldn’t do anything to help her friends. She watched, horror climbing through her, as fallen leaves and pine needles on the forest floor swirled into the unmistakable shapes of five little beds.
The Lady, now hovering twenty feet off the ground, turned to face them. “You want a shortcut out of all this mess? Out of all thispain? Oh, don’t try to tell me otherwise, children. My horses relayed your sweet fears as they quietly feasted upon them.”
Aru glanced over her shoulder. Ten feet away, Creepy Party Clown met her gaze and licked his nose with a tongue the color of dried blood. She felt sick.
“The horses told me that you’re just so…tired,” said The Lady. “I’m doing you a favor, really. You’ll see that it’s better this way. Besides, the goddess Nidra would consider herself robbed if you didn’t visit her realm of sleep. All your fancy enchantments and wake-me-up amulets meannothinghere. It is time to pay your debts in another manner.”
The leaves and needles rose up, swirling around The Lady and choking off the forest around them. “It’s time, sweet heroes…torest.”
The debris churning around The Lady exploded.
The horses scattered, whinnying loudly as they fled the forest. The pine needles hurtled toward the Potatoes like tiny darts.
“Ow!” said Mini when they hit her skin. “They’re drawing blood!”
“Get together!” shouted Aru.
