Aru Shah 3.5 (DISCONTINUED)

Surprises

Someone shook Aru's shoulder. She refused to look until a familiar voice hissed, "Hey. Wake up."

Kara? Aru opened her eyes. Sure enough, her sister knelt next to her. Her shoulder-length black hair framed her face. Her catlike eyes darted around the room. "I can't be here long. So I'll make this quick."

"What?"

"I don't believe we have any purpose keeping you here." She shrugged. The dying torch on the wall behind her scattered light on her slender features. "Dad just wants the Pandavas to come."

"And you?" Aru asked. "What do you want?"

"I'm...deciding. But I think sisters should have a little leeway."

"Why should you care about me?"

Kara shrugged. "Well, you can ask questions, or you can listen."

Aru narrowed her eyes, but fell silent.

"I know that there's someone working against your dreams. Don't look so surprised."

"How do you know I have dreams?"

Kara shook her head. "All you need to know is that I will try to delay them tonight. Make of that time what you will." She held up a plate of dry-looking naan bread. "In the meantime, though, you need to eat."

- - -

Aru felt more hopeful as she walked down the aisles of Home Depot in her dream. At last she came to one of her most-frequented areas: the door frames. She immediately started running through them, laughing as she recalled all the times she'd played pranks on the poor unsuspecting shopper. She hadn't done this in months.

"ARU!" someone screamed. She nearly tripped.

Running toward her were Brynne and Sheela. Aru was nearly thrown backward by the strength of her sister's hug. "Glad to see you too," she said, swallowing past the lump in her throat. "I've missed you guys."

"We're going to get you back very soon," Brynne said.

Aru winced. "About that...I have no idea where I am."

"But we do," Sheela piped up, a smile spreading across her face. "With the tracking ability."

"The what?"

Brynne waved a hand. "Not important right now. If you want to learn, you can when you come back."

"Can you tell me what's been going on at home?"

"Well...we told your mom we're going to rescue you."

"Can you tell her I'm...fine?"

Brynne studied Aru's face. "Yeah. I can." But her own eyes looked a little troubled.

"We're also planning another quest," Sheela added. "But Nikki and I can't go."

"Uh...an unsanctioned quest?"

"No, they assigned us one."

"Oh. Well, how are you guys doing?"

"Well...it's not the same without you." Brynne shrugged. "Mini's really stepping up as our leader."

Aru felt a rush of affection for her sisters. "That's great. What about you, Sheela?"

Sheela sighed. "I'm okay. I've been receiving bits and pieces of prophecy. But not enough to know anything."

"And before you ask, Aiden's good," Brynne added, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "But I think he misses you."

Aru blushed despite herself. "I wasn't...whatever. Anyway--"

Sheela held up a hand, alarm entering her eyes. "It's happening again. The dream's being disrupted."

"Well, Kara did say she'd only delay them..." Aru trailed off.

"Who?" Brynne asked.

Just then, the aisle next to them toppled over, sending piles of lumber and metal crashing to the floor.

Aru looked wildly around. "This way!" She ran past the door frames. From what she remembered of the layout, six more aisles and they'd be at the exit. Six aisles to survive.

Brynne grabbed Aru's arm and yanked her back just as a rack of paint cans fell in front of them, splattering the ground with colors reminiscent of the fruits in Aranyani's Grove. Aru shook her head to rid herself of the thought and skidded to a halt, glancing at her friends. 

Brynne was breathing heavily, but her eyes were hard. Sheela was half-bent, hands braced on her knees. She coughed. "I'm fine. Let's keep going."

Aru nodded and dashed to the right, avoiding the puddles of paint. They dodged some metal fencing and ran past two more aisles. The fluorescent lights above them flickered.

"Three more," Aru gasped, sprinting past clattering rakes. Soon it was only two...and then one...and then they were approaching the doors. Her lungs felt like someone had started a fire inside them. You can do this, she told herself, gritting her teeth.

Her foot crossed the metal plating, but the doors didn't slide open. She started to stop, but something caught her foot and she tripped, hitting her head on the metal.

Aru's head immediately exploded with pain. All she could do was hold her hands on either side of her head and lie there as the darkness dragged her down, down, down...

Some time later, she became aware that she was awake. Unfortunately. Her head still throbbed, but she strangely didn't feel any new lump on her head. Could you even get injured in a dream? She took a few deep breaths to clear her vision and nearly gasped aloud at who she saw. 

Suyodhana stood in front of her, mismatched eyes narrowed. Angry shadows swirled around his shape. "Your sister has your best interests at heart, doesn't she?"

Aru didn't reply.

The Sleeper waved a hand. Tendrils of darkness broke from the cloud at his feet and zipped over to Aru. They stopped just over her arms and fell in tiny raindrops that stung. She flinched, but they had already absorbed into her skin.

A bone-chilling cold set into her skin and she started to shiver uncontrollably. She wrapped her arms around herself, but she might as well have been trying to wear socks and walk through a frozen pond. She had to grit her teeth so they wouldn't chip against each other. She could already feel her mind fogging. Make it stop, she pleaded silently, squeezing her eyes shut. Make it stop. But no one could. She was completely alone.

"I regret it," her father said coldly, walking from the room.