Sheela turned to look at her with sad eyes. “You either will or you won’t, Kara.”
When Kara opened her eyes, her father was sitting beside her. He beamed at her, and Kara remembered walking through the memories that may or may not have belonged to him. She saw him in a hospital room, rocking a small bundle that could only be an infant Aru in the crook of his arm. She saw him waiting in front of the home where Kara had played happily in a backyard with jacarandas and lime trees before he stole her away and wiped her memories.
“What is it, child?” he asked now. “I have good news.”
“Nothing,” said Kara, but she was lying to herself.
As her mind readjusted to her surroundings, she heard shouts of joy near the makeshift tent of shadows. She glanced over her father’s shoulder at the entrance. His army had swarmed outside, a dull golden glow silhouetting their heads, horns, and the sharp tips of the weapons they thrust happily into the air.
Kara’s stomach sank. She predicted her father’s words before he said them.
“We did it,” he said. “The sphere around the amrita is broken. Your last efforts proved to be more than enough. An hour ago, it split down the middle.”
Kara took a deep breath. A curious sweetness, like nectar and honey, had entered the air, mingling with the stale sweat and rancid breath of her father’s soldiers. Beyond them, Kara imagined the fragrance rolling over the field surrounding the crater where they had located the nectar of immortality. She pictured the endless, bruise-colored sky, and her sister, a world away, stripped of her weapon. Her heart broke.
“Daughter,” said the Sleeper, folding her hand in his. If he felt the tremor in her fingers, he didn’t show it. He smiled with all his teeth. His one blue eye and one brown eye seemed to belong to two different people. And maybe, thought Kara, they did.
Kara opened her mouth, but she couldn’t make herself utter all her fears.Did you kidnap me? Did you promise me a family knowing I already had one?
She was a coward. The word came from the Latin wordcauda, which meanttail. It evoked an image of a frightened creature cringing with its tail between its legs. That was how Kara felt, like she couldn’t curl up small enough.
“I have good news, child,” the Sleeper repeated. “We have won.”
Aru Shah had lost.
It was plain and simple. The realization didn’t even hurt. Maybe it was even better this way. She’d been dreading the battle. She’d been terrified of the choice she’d make…whether she would somehow do the wrong thing in an attempt to do what was right.
Even now, Lord Agni’s words haunted her….
All the weapons in the world cannot help you if you do not know what you’ll do with them.What will you do, Aru Shah?
In the end, it was moot. The choice had been taken out of her hands. It was, she thought, the neatest solution to her problem.
You did it, Shah, she thought joylessly.
But then why couldn’t she be the one sleeping forever instead of Aiden?
She blinked. The chaos of the dream world had been replaced with the sound of rain and birdsong. Aru shuddered as a raindrop slid down the back of her shirt.
Brynne, Mini, Rudy, and Aru stood in front of Lullwater Park, the entrance to the labyrinth. The Sun Jewel lantern dangled from Brynne’s clenched hand, bright as hope. Around them joggers ran and dog walkers were pulled by their charges, oblivious to the four Potatoes peering through the iron gates.
“We got here right in time!” said Brynne, bringing a startled Mini into a hug. “You did it, Mini! I wanted to say that the moment you got your powers back, but then, y’know, demons and night mares and all that.”
When Brynne set Mini down, the Daughter of Death was smiling, tears shining in her eyes. Aru was standing right next to her, but she felt as if they were worlds apart.
Mini looked taller and stronger, as if she had become more wholly herself. But it had nothing to do with the glowing Death Danda in her hand. Dee Dee looked like an accessory, a symbolic scepter, secondary to the power that was Mini through and through. It made Aru feel enormously proud….
And incredibly lonely.
Her sisters had surpassed her.
“This is amazing,” said Brynne.
“Does this mean Aiden will come back now?” asked Rudy, excited.
“I think so!” said Brynne. “Nidra said that it depends on whether or not there’s a world to save, remember? And now Mini has her weapon back!”
When Aru heard Aiden’s name, her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. She touched her lips, remembering not only his kiss, but his words, too.I lied, Aruhad hit her like a lightning strike. And then there was his wrong, misplaced, foolish belief in her.
