curse?” said Mini.
“I don’t plan to die here!” said Brynne.
Rudy raised his hand. “Make that two!”
“It’s your call, Shah,” said Aiden.
Aru turned to him. Dirt smudged his face and his clothes were torn. Exhaustion shot through her. They couldn’t win this battle. And they couldn’t save the Otherworld if they ended up dead.
Aru faced the yalis once more. “We’ll free you from this place. In return, you get us out of here safely—or I’ll blow you up.”
The first yali grunted three times, which Aru took to mean You have a deal, puny demigod rather than Come closer so I can eat you.
The second yali took a step forward and said, “We promise to deliver you and your friends from this courtyard.”
“And we always keep our promises,” said the third, bowing its head.
Aru raised her hand, and Vajra zoomed from the first yali’s mouth, hooking Dee Dee along the way. Mini caught her danda in midair and immediately spritzed it with hand sanitizer.
After shaking monster saliva from her own weapon, Aru said, “I release you,” in as authoritative a tone as she could muster.
For the first time, a ghostly collar could be seen around each of the three yalis’ throats, connected to chains that snaked down their backs and wrapped around their torsos.
Aru used Vajra to zap the collar and chain off the monster she’d nearly roasted.
The other two yalis waited expectantly before Mini and Brynne. The glare never left Brynne’s face as she aimed her mace at the second yali’s collar. One blast and the restraints shattered off its hide. The other yali hissed in Mini’s direction. With pursed lips, Mini jabbed her Death Danda at the chain around the monster’s rib cage.
Once freed, the three yalis rose before them, as tall as bears standing on their hind legs. They stared with grateful glowing eyes and panted, showing teeth that were yellow and pocked.
Behind the Pandavas, the pillar finally cracked all the way open. A deafening roar shook the courtyard.
“Climb onto our backs or die,” said the first yali.
“Well, when you put it like that…” said Aru, hurriedly grabbing some spikes on the creature’s back for handles and swinging her leg over its wide body.
Brynne and Rudy took the second yali, while Mini and Aiden clambered onto the third.
Giant feet stomped toward them, shaking the marble floor. The yalis reared back, and Aru held on tight as her beast launched itself upward and wriggled through the air toward the grate covering the twilight courtyard. She flattened herself against its scales as it snaked through the iron bars. Behind them, Narasimha howled, swiping at them with huge bloodied claws….
Aru squeezed her eyes shut as they broke past the clouds, climbing steadily higher and higher. The yali’s hide was uncomfortably hot; it felt like sitting on the hood of a car in summertime. Every now and then it whipped its head around, jaws wide and tongue lolling, as if reconsidering what it had done to gain its freedom.
Where should we ask them to take us? asked Mini.
My place? offered Brynne.
Aru nodded and said, in her most imperious voice, “Yali, we wish you to return us to New York City. The address is—”
As one, the three yalis dived toward the earth.
“Whoa! Hold up!” said Aru. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping…”
“Our…”
“Promise…”
The yalis zoomed down so fast, Aru couldn’t catch enough breath to speak. They burst through the clouds again, and the air turned from cool to humid and heavy. Aru spotted a mountain range—beautiful rolling greenery ribboned with silvery mists. But it was coming up at her way too fast.
“AHHHH!” she screamed.
Because of the wind, it was a lot more like:
“Ahhh”—spits out bug…gasps for air…chokes a bit—“ahhhhh!”
She reached for Vajra. Maybe she could manage to turn her lightning bolt into a hoverboard and dive off in time. But what about the others? Aru tried to sneak a glance back at them, but clouds obscured her view. The only thing she could hear was Rudy yelling, “BUT I’M A PRINCE!”
Aru’s stomach swooped as they descended altogether too fast and finally came to a bumpy landing on a grassy patch on the top of a hill. She tumbled off her yali, and probably would’ve kept rolling down the hill if a huge log hadn’t stopped her. The others dropped to the ground moments later. Brynne and Aiden dismounted immediately, their weapons blazing. Mini took a minute longer to get up, her face looking kind of green. Rudy stayed sprawled on the ground, his hands still clutching the