Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,68

in!” she shouted.

The Potatoes gathered into a knot and leaped shoulder to shoulder.

“They can’t fight us if they can’t see us,” said Aru.

Brynne grinned savagely. She aimed her wind mace at the cement walls, and clouds of dust whipped up, obscuring the clones’ view. Mini’s violet shield snapped around them.

“Light ’em up, Shah,” said Aiden.

Aru touched her lightning bolt to his scimitars, and Mini retracted the shield.

“Kara, keep them away from us!” hollered Brynne.

She nodded, fixing her stance and slashing out with her trident.

One of their enemies yelped—it sounded like Other Mini—and Aru grinned.

The duplicates swarmed forward only for a huge gust of air to shove them back. Other Mini formed her own shield, and the doppelgängers fanned out defensively around the blue lotus.

“CHARGE!” yelled Aru.

Both lines—doppelgängers and Potatoes—stormed forward.

Brynne and Other Brynne unleashed identical cyclones. Dust flew around them. Aru caught occasional flashes of blue light before the wind died down enough to reveal two blue wolves snarling and snapping at each other. Aru spun around, blocking a lightning javelin flung in her direction. As she turned, she caught sight of Mini and Other Mini. They were staring each other down, their Death Dandas raised to eye level as violet light shimmered around them. A sudden crash drew Aru’s attention, and she turned to see Aiden and Other Aiden clanging their scimitars together. They parried each other’s blows….

One jab at the throat, blocked.

One jab at the knees, blocked.

This was, Aru realized with a sinking sensation, pointless. The doppelgängers knew their foes’ every move and every weakness. How could either side win?

Beside her, Kara had focused all her concentration on Kubera’s eye still floating above the blue lotus. Over and over, she cast out her weapon, as if she was trying to catch the eye in the tines of her trident. Aru spun around, scanning the arena.

Everyone’s doppelgänger had found their counterpart….

So where was Kara’s?

“Watch out, Aru!” screamed Kara.

Almost too late, Aru saw Other Aru’s lightning spear careening toward her. Aru sidestepped it neatly, then flung out Vajra like a net. It caught Other Aru around the ankles, knocking her to the ground. Aru almost smiled before she heard something whistling in the air just behind her. Other Aru’s lightning bolt had flattened into a discus and slammed into her back, sending her sprawling across the stone floor.

Aru rolled to her side, glancing up just as Other Aru’s lightning bolt transformed into a spear aimed straight for her heart. Aru scrambled for her own Vajra, but then violet light burst around her. Mini had cast a shield, and Other Aru’s lightning bolt had bounced off it.

“I got you, Aru—” Mini started to say.

But the battle changed then. It was as if the moment Mini decided to protect someone other than herself, a switch was flipped inside the doppelgängers’ heads. Until that second, they had only attacked their own counterparts. Brynne and Other Brynne had stood locked in their own hurricane. Aiden and Other Aiden were still meeting blade with blade.

Now they exchanged looks with their comrades, and chaos reigned.

Other Brynne transformed into a panther and lunged toward Mini’s throat. Violet light shimmered around Mini, who went invisible on the spot. Other Brynne skidded to a halt before—BAM!—Mini’s force field bounced her backward.

Brynne whooped out, “YEAH! GET ME, MINI!”

But her grin quickly fell when Other Mini winked out of sight.

“Uh-oh,” Brynne said.

Brynne threw up her cyclones. Blue and purple sparks clashed together, enveloping the fighting Brynnes and Minis. Aru grabbed Kara’s hand and swung her around until they were back-to-back.

“I got your back, if you got mine,” she said.

Kara beamed.

Not ten feet away, Aiden shoved Other Aiden backward, then sprinted toward them. “Okay, what now?” he asked.

Other Aiden and Other Aru prowled closer. Kara threw her trident, knocking Other Aiden’s scimitar to the floor. Aru expected that he and Other Aru would lunge or strike again, but instead, the two doppelgängers stood still. Aru, Kara, and Aiden moved closer together, their weapons out and shining.

Slowly, Other Aiden reached for his fallen scimitar and then started to laugh. “Oh, Aiden. You know the worst thing about being you?”

Aiden adjusted his grip on his scimitars. “The fact that I’m not a morning person?”

Other Aiden smiled, straightened up, then looked between Aru and Kara.

“No, it’s the fact that you’re haunted,” said Other Aiden. “You know you’re going to end up like Mom or Dad. You’ll either be sad and left behind, or realize you made the wrong choice and set your life on fire.