Aru Shah and the Forest of Shadows [COMPLETED]

Escape

Aru woke up with a pounding headache in a blindingly bright room. The bare walls were painted pale blue, and fluorescent lights flared at her from overhead. There were no windows, only a single solid brown door.

It was also cold. Aru shivered, then discovered that she couldn't move her hands. They were tied behind her back to a metal loop sticking out of the wall.

She'd been shoved into the corner of the room. Halfway across the room was Mini, and in the other corner was Brynne. Both were similarly bound.

Mini was still unconscious, her chin slumped onto her chest. Brynne was awake and struggling.

Aru wriggled in the ropes, and two things fell out of her pocket. The first was the glowing bottle of vanilla extract. The second was Vajra, in ping-pong form. The lightning bolt didn't buzz with energy like it usually did. It looked... like a regular unmagical ping-pong ball.

"They didn't search us or confiscate weapons," Brynne said from across the room. "But these ropes have got like, an anti-enchantment enchantment on them or something. I can't shape-shift or summon Gogo. And, I'm cold."

Brynne's mace was in choker form around her neck.

Aru panicked. How long had they been here? Aiden could already be dead by now, and Rudy... who knew where he could've gone if he'd gotten spooked? What if the rakshashas had found them?

Just then, Mini jerked awake, falling over in the process. Dee Dee, in compact mirror form, stuck out of her vest pocket.

"Mini!" Aru said. "We have to get out of here!"

Mini blinked in confusion, struggling to sit back up. "Where is here?"

"Dunno," Brynne said. "But there's gotta be a way out."

"What about the antidote?" Mini asked, panic apparent in her voice.

Aru prodded the bottle with her knee. "Got it. What we don't have is a way out of here-"

The door opened, and the stag-headed rakshasha walked in. He twirled his blowgun around his fingers. Following him was another rakshasha with the head of a badger.

Stag Head crossed his arms in front of him. "Pandava thieves... what are we going to do with you?"

"How about... let us go?" Aru said hopefully.

She imagined what Aiden would say. Rein in the optimism, Shah, it's too much.

The thought made her chest hurt.

But Stag Head only laughed. "No. We'll take you to the Mistress. She'll pass judgement."

Brynne struggled some more. "How long will that take?"

"Eh, two or three days," the Stag Head said.

They didn't have that kind of time! They had to get back to Aiden in half an hour, tops, by Aru's guess. Of course, she didn't know how long they've been sitting in this room.

Stag Head turned to Badger Head. "Watch the prisoners. We'll be ready to move by tomorrow."

Badger Head nodded, and Stag Head left the room.

What do we do? Mini asked over the link.

I got this, Brynne sent back.

"Hey!" She shouted at the rakshasha guarding them.

He scowled. "Be quiet."