Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1)(27)

She was frozen.

“Um, Mini? Boo?”

“What?” snapped Boo. “We need to come up with a plan in case he finds you!”

“I—I think he already did.”

Aru watched in horror as a black line broke the sky, as if someone had unzipped twilight to show nighttime lurking just beneath its skin.

“We have to get out of here!” she screamed.

Mini shoved the sprig of youth into her backpack and grabbed Boo out of the air.

“Remember how to access the Otherworld!” hissed Boo. “Reach for the light, look but not look, and touch the second—”

But the rest of his words were drowned out as a gust of wind blew them backward. Aru would’ve slammed against the salon door if Mini hadn’t caught her arm.

Together, they touched the second key symbol on the side of their hands. The wind howled. Aru could feel that familiar strand of light just out of sight, but something else caught her attention.

A dark shape started emerging from the concrete of the parking lot, a massive form of twisted ink and ice. And with it came laughter. The hairs on the back of Aru’s neck rose. She knew that laugh. It was the same one she’d heard when she lit the lamp. A slick of ice spread from the places the Sleeper had stepped, crusting everything in his wake.

A powerful ache went through Aru. Every frozen thing—leaf, rock, and human—reminded her of one person: Mom. Hanuman had assured her that her mother wasn’t in any pain. But how much longer would it stay that way? On the center of Aru’s palm, the number eight was already beginning to change form….She was running out of time.

And now the Sleeper had found them.

“Aru!” shouted Mini. “Hurry!”

Mini was a couple feet away from her and standing half in, half out of a cut of light. She extended her hand, and Aru raced to grab it. Her fingers brushed Mini’s, and that familiar pull of the Otherworld tugged at Aru.

But then it snapped.

Something had caught her. She couldn’t step forward.

“Come on, Aru!” screeched Boo.

Aru heaved. Something was squeezing her. She gasped and choked. Darkness squiggled at the corners of her vision. A black snake tail encircled her waist. She was trapped.

“I—I can’t,” she spat out.

Mini tugged her arm, trying to pull her into the portal.

As Aru heaved and strained, she heard a voice at her ear:

“Just like your mother, aren’t you, Aru? Slippery and deceitful—”

Wings flapped against her face.

“Get off! Off! Off!” shouted Boo. He pecked violently at the Sleeper’s coils until they shuddered, loosening just enough to let Aru grab the golden ball from her pocket. It was now a dull gold, not blindingly shining like it had been against Brahmasura.

“DO SOMETHING!” she roared at the orb, all her panic focused like a laser. She imagined it lighting up, becoming a sword, turning into a snake made of light, anything that would get her out of here….

Light exploded, and the snake coils fell away from her.

Aru leaped for the portal. The Sleeper’s angry screams chased her as she fell through. Finally, she landed on her butt (which hurt way more than it should have, because she didn’t have a lot of built-in cushioning) in the middle of a forest.

Through the still-open seam, a man’s arm reached out, swiping left and right as his hand grabbed for them.

Mini started beating the hand with the sprig of youth and shouting, “I”—smack—“do”—smack—“not”—smack—“like”—smack—“you!”

This didn’t sound like very fierce smack talk to Aru, but considering that it was coming from Mini, it was about as violent as it would get.

With a final smack, the arm reared back. Boo flew through the gap of the portal, pecking at the line of light as if he were zipping it back up. After a final flash, the portal—and the hand—disappeared completely. When Aru opened her palm, the ball returned.

Boo fluttered to the ground, his wings drooping in exhaustion.

Aru scooped him up and hugged him. “Thank you,” she said.

“No touchie!” huffed Boo. But he didn’t move away from her.

“That was the Sleeper, right?” asked Aru.

There was no mistaking that voice, or that laugh. Guilt needled her. She had let him out into the world.

“He knew where we were,” said Mini, clutching her backpack. “And now he knows where the second key is!”

Boo fluttered away from Aru. “No. He doesn’t. I changed the portal location at the last minute to hide our whereabouts.”

They were surrounded by wilderness. Aru didn’t see a single other person. Wherever Boo had taken them was not in the same time zone as the salon, because it was still daytime. Not that there was much sunlight. Overhead, solemn oak trees drank up most of it, so that little was left to illuminate the cocoa-dark forest floor.

“You are safe, but not for long,” said Boo. “The Sleeper will be watching for any signs of magic. We need additional protection to get you to the Night Bazaar, where the second key lies.”

“Protection? Like travel insurance?” asked Mini.

“What is that?” asked Boo. “You know what? Forget I asked.”

“We could ask the gods for some help?” suggested Aru. “They weren’t just going to leave us with a ball and a mirror, right?”