sister,” said Nikita. “And then…then I’ll help you find the tree.”
“Come and get her,” said the Sleeper.
His voice seemed to come from everywhere—the ground, the rocks, the trees themselves.
Nikita took one step forward.
To Aru’s left, just beyond the weeping willow, there came a low growl that made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She swung out Vajra….
The shadows twisted anxiously. Invisible hooves dug into the earth. Brynne jumped, smacking the back of her neck as if a bug had landed there. Her mace whipped the air beside her, which made Aiden slash out his scimitars. Rudy reared up on his tail, adjusting his grip on the short dagger Aiden had given him.
“Now, now,” said the Sleeper. “None of that. We have a deal, don’t we?”
Aru faltered, wanting to grab Nikita and pull her back to safety, but the youngest Pandava stepped outside her grasp.
Nikita squared her shoulders. The crown of flowers around her head glittered like jewels. Her daisy-patterned dress suddenly seemed like a child’s Halloween costume, and Aru almost couldn’t bring herself to watch as Nikita took one step…then two…then five…until she had reached her twin.
Sheela trembled as the fog writhed around her ankles like chains.
The twins stared at each other wordlessly, and then reached out. They touched fingers for barely an instant before Nikita whirled and dropped to the ground, plunging her fist into the dirt.
“NOW!” she shouted.
The fog twitched beneath Sheela, but Nikita was stronger and faster. A mesh of white thorns knitted itself around both twins, forming a spiked spherical cocoon. A green glow lit it up from the inside as tufts of cotton blossoms poked through, cushioning them. As one, the Pandavas launched fruit from the nearby tree into the air. Brynne swung her mace like a baseball bat, and the produce arced in the air, landing with heavy splats.
Colors burst from the fruit and dribbled down invisible forms, exposing various enemies. Not ten feet away, they saw the furred haunch of a rakshasa with the body of a wolf. Brynne blasted him backward with a powerful swing from Gogo. Paint splatter from the impact revealed a row of horns marching toward them. Aru threw Vajra like a javelin, and the demons fell to the ground. A pink pod splashed the face of a naga, and Mini took him out with a sharp twist of her shield. Aru reached for another paint fruit and pitched it forward. It burst in midair, coating a knot of demons. Green dripped down the horns of an asura, who bellowed in fury. Aiden dashed forward, knocking the sword from the asura’s hand and jabbing him in the forehead with the hilt of his scimitar.
“Keep throwing!” yelled Aru. She looked around frantically for the Sleeper but didn’t see him anywhere. What was he up to?
More fruit volleyed through the air….
Soon the army, which seemed to fill the whole grove, was dotted with color, as though the soldiers had been playing a game of paintball.
A wash of white from a giant apple splattered on the ground before the Potatoes, catching the tails of a pair of nagas who were trying to snake toward the group.
“For shame!” said Rudy.
He borrowed one of Aiden’s scimitars and skewered the ends of their tails to the ground. They screamed and hissed, coiling back on themselves.
Rudy dumped out the contents of his messenger bag and began tossing darkly gleaming gemstones into the horde. Howls and moans filled the air as the troops scattered.
“Nightmare stones,” Rudy explained.
It was something.
But it wasn’t enough.
The writhing mass of the Sleeper’s army recovered and they marched and slunk, ran and dove toward them. There had to be dozens of the Sleeper’s soldiers, whereas there were only six on Aru’s team. There was no way they could win. The words of Sheela’s prophecy set fire to Aru’s nerves.
No war can be won without finding that root….
In five days the treasure will bloom and fade,
And all that was won could soon be unmade.
Only Kalpavriksha could bring an end to this fight. And Aru knew she couldn’t find the tree by herself. With Vajra, she blasted back another stretch of foggy shadows. Once the air had cleared, the thorny cocoon holding the twins rolled toward them.
Mini forged a protective shield over the twins. While Brynne, Aiden, and Rudy handled the enemy, the cocoon broke open. Sheela and Nikita stood inside, with one tiny difference:
They’d switched clothes.
“I know where the Tree of Wishes is,” Nikita whispered breathlessly to Aru. “I heard it