“Well, then let’s go!” said Rudy. He strolled toward the edge of the woods. “Honestly, I don’t know why we can’t play some music while we walk. It’s so boring otherwise—Ow!”
Rudy frowned. He tried to move forward, only to find himself blocked. He lifted his hand in the air and his fingers splayed out as if he’d hit a pane of glass.
“What the—”
Aru looked up to see a pair of eyes blinking open in the twilight sky. Nidra’s eyes. Large and slightly lifted at their corners, thickly lashed with shadows for eyeliner and irises the color of midnight. Two thin clouds suggested eyebrows angled downward, giving Aru the impression that the goddess was frowning at them sympathetically.
“I am afraid that there are no exceptions to the rules. All who pass through my Halls must pay.”
Aru was sure that one of them had spoken. Maybe Rudy had yelled. Or Brynne had made a retort. Maybe she herself had gasped when she saw those great big eyes in the sky….
But all the sounds were swallowed up in a sudden roar.
The Halls of Nidra quivered. The remaining trees shook. The sound flattened the grasses in an instant, and a crack appeared in the sky.
Nidra’s eyes rolled to the left, as if sensing something just out of sight.“My realm is waking.”
Oh, thought Aru, her stomach sinking. It was not a roar at all….
It was a yawn.
Kumbhakarna’s hand twitched, and the golden glow of the portal door flickered. Nikita’s warning rose sharply in her thoughts—the realm of sleep was not built to last in one place forever.
“What do you want from us?” demanded Brynne.
“Bee…” said Mini warningly.
Mini was the first to press her hands together in pranama before touching the glittering ground. Aru and the others quickly followed suit. When Brynne straightened up, she looked a little ashamed. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“What can we give you, goddess?” asked Mini, one hand on Loose Teeth’s flank.
“I’ve got lots of rocks!” said Rudy, thrusting his backpack at the sky.
The pair of eyes regarded them mildly.
“They’re very shiny?” added Rudy.
“It is your sleep I want. I need your dreams to build the borders of my world. You must give them to me if you wish to pass. Even demigods grant me what I am owed.”
Aru thought back to Urmila, the way she’d fallen into a sleep and lost years that no one remembered.
“I can’t do that,” said Brynne.
“I have already selected one among you. I want dreams rich with wonder, tinged with sadness, and flavored with hope that will sweeten my land like the rarest of nectars.”
Don’t let it be me, don’t let it be me, don’t let it be me, prayed Aru. But even as she did, she had a sinking sensation that it was.
And indeed, the pair of eyes focused on Aru. A pale violet light hovered in front of her. It was soft and inviting, and when Aru looked at it, she tasted dust on her tongue.
“You, child. I can feel your exhaustion….”
Oh, well. Maybe it was all for the best, thought Aru, swaying on her feet. Better her than someone else.
“Let me take it from you….”
“No,” said a firm voice behind Aru. “Not her.”
Aru turned. The light washed over Aiden. He stood tall, his eyes hard and glittering.
