home…only to be trapped in a lamp.
Aru still couldn’t believe her mom could do such a thing.
Neither of her parents were who she thought they were.
In her shock, Aru lost her balance and nearly slipped off the hoverboard. She fumbled with her footing, frantically trying to right herself, when she lost hold of the mechanical bird.
“ARU!”
“Don’t let the bird hit the ground!” she called down.
Time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. Brynne lunged forward, careful not to touch the green tiles that would summon the yalis. She angled her wind mace upward, directing a stream of air at the wooden bird and steering it toward the others. Aiden and Mini were focused on protecting the threshold, but without Brynne’s silencing wind, the yalis would be able to hear everything.
“Rudy!” ordered Brynne. “Grab it!”
The naga boy hesitated, glancing down at the ground and then up at the wooden bird coming right at him. Just as his hand snatched it, his foot crossed the boundary of light, slamming onto a green tile.
A loud blaring echoed throughout the chamber, ringing in Aru’s ears. Reflexively, she turned Vajra back into a bolt, falling the rest of the way.
She crashed down next to Brynne and Aiden, only for the floor beneath all five of them to give way, plunging them into darkness.
You Poor, Unfortunate Souls
What most people don’t realize about plummeting headfirst toward impending death is that it’s kind of hard to yell at the same time. Air is rushing down your throat, and everything is literally the worst, and when you try to holler, you sound like a cat with laryngitis. Aru had this particular thought as she fell, choking on a scream while she tried to see out of the corners of her eyes. She could just barely make out the four fuzzy shapes of her companions falling alongside her. Every time Aru reached for her lightning bolt, the wind ripped it away from her.
“Light up!” commanded Aru.
Vajra responded, flickering brightly. For the first time, Aru could see the ground….
Just as it rose to meet her.
“No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!” she cried, her arms pinwheeling wildly.
She was all set to become Aru paté when another gust of air caught her tight in a wind funnel. Aru froze, blinking slowly. The ground was a good four inches away from her nose, and her hair trailed on the paved floor of what looked like a giant courtyard.
“I’ve got you, Shah,” called Brynne, parachuting down in the fluffy jacket Nikita had enchanted. “Ready, everyone?”
Aru turned her head a fraction to see that Brynne’s wind had managed to catch not only her, but also Aiden, Rudy, and Mini right before they would’ve cracked open their skulls.
Aru tried to curl into a ball. “Give me a second, I—”
Fwomp. She was dumped on the ground.
“OW!” she yelled, rolling over and clutching her face. “My nose!”
Mini ran over and examined her.
Aru whimpered, and Vajra curled protectively around her wrist.
Mini prodded at Aru’s nose. “Does this hurt?”
“WHAT THE—?”
“Going to take that as a yes,” said Mini in her calmest trust-me-I’m-a-medical-professional voice. “So, there’s good news and bad news.”
“Good news,” moaned Aru.
“It’s not broken!”
“Yay.”
“But it is bruised…and swelling up…” said Mini.
“So basically my face looks like it’s trying to become a melon.”
“I mean…”
Aru wished Mini could lie sometimes. Brynne marched over, hauled Aru to her feet, and inspected her nose.
“Looks the same to me?” said Brynne.
“Spectacular.”
“We can ice it as soon as we get out of here,” said Mini. “That’ll bring down the swelling.”
“We don’t even know how to get out!” said Brynne. “We’re stuck in this…whatever this is. Thanks a lot, Rudy.”
“I didn’t mean to trip the alarm,” he protested. “I…”
Aiden drew his thumb and index finger over his closed lips in a zip-it gesture.
Aru held Vajra aloft, but the air was so murky not even her celestial weapon could provide enough light to illuminate their surroundings fully. Aiden held out his scimitars, Aru electrified them, and together they raised their weapons high like torches. Then they could see that walls of smooth rock stretched nearly three hundred feet above them toward a slice of silver-purple twilit sky that was just barely visible. The ground beneath them was gray marble. It would’ve been kind of pretty if it hadn’t been for one detail.
The bones.
Broken skulls and jumbled skeletons dotted the courtyard in haphazard piles. Here and there treasure glinted in the heaps: bright coins or gems. A handful of charred swords lay still, many of them bearing a final dusty handprint.
Aru