Page 109 of Aru Shah and the End of Time

“There’s your sign,” said Aru.

She refused to let herself be scared. But her hands shook, and her mouth felt suddenly dry.

“I warned you,” called a voice.

The Sleeper stepped through the crowd of demons.

He looked like a man, and also not like one. His eyes were no longer round and dark like in the vision from the Pool of the Past. Instead, they were slitted and gem-bright, like a cat’s eyes gone narrow with fury. When he smiled, small tusks curled out from his bottom lip.

“Strange choice of location,” sneered the Sleeper. “Although perhaps predictable for a little girl who needs her mommy. If you thought coming back here would dissuade me, you were wrong.”

A small birdcage swung from his hands. The pigeon inside began to shout and hop. Boo! He was okay!

“What are you two doing?” shouted Boo the moment he saw Aru and Mini. “Get out! Go!”

Mini locked her legs, swinging the Death Danda over her shoulder as if it were a baseball bat.

“Oh gods,” moaned Boo. He flapped in his cage. “I can’t look.”

“Sleeper! We’re not going to let you go through with this,” warned Mini.

“I’m bored already,” the Sleeper yawned.

Then he opened his hand. From his palm, a ribbon of black spilled out, snaking across the floor and seeping into the walls. It was the same horribly familiar starry black that had nearly strangled Aru. She tried to dodge it, but the enchanted muck yanked her back, flinging her and Mini to the wall so that they were like bugs trapped on flypaper.Keep calm, Shah. Aru had expected this. In fact, she’d banked on him acting like this.

“Don’t you understand, little ones?” asked the Sleeper. “You’re not worthy opponents for me. You would be far too easy to defeat. In fact, you’re not worthy of noticing at all. You might think you’re clever for freeing those vehicles, but I’ll have them back in a cage in no time.”

There it was. Those words.Little ones. Not worthy.

But Aru was beginning to think that, maybe, being overlooked or considered different wasn’t always a bad thing. In social studies class, she had learned that it was a good thing for warriors to be left-handed. In ancient Rome, the gladiators who won the most were the ones who were left-handed. They had the element of surprise on their side, because people only defended themselves from a right-handed attack.

I hope you like surprises, thought Aru.

She and Mini had rehearsed what they would do. Now it was time to put it into action.

Mini held her gaze. Her face looked pale, but she was still smiling hopefully. Aru felt that strange humming buzz once more, the same thrum she’d experienced when they’d fought together in the library. They were connected to one another’s thoughts when they were in combat.

The Sleeper hadn’t bothered to tie up their hands. Why? Because he didn’t think they could do anything that would harm him.

He stepped over the threshold of the front door. The demons spread out around him, taking up all the space in the museum lobby. Aru could feel an invisible wind stirring against the back of her neck.Just a few steps farther,she said silently. He stepped farther.

Aru gave the signal to Mini. Her sister nodded.

Mini opened her compact, and a bit of light seeped out. From there, an illusion of Aru’s mother stepped out into the Hall of the Gods. She was still beautiful, Aru thought, as she stared at the vision. The Sleeper stopped walking. His face became pinched, haunted.

“I know the truth about you,” said the illusion.

The Sleeper dropped the cage holding Boo, and the door opened. The pigeon flew out, rushing straight to Aru and Mini. He started pecking at the shadows that had them pinned to the wall. Aru pried herself loose.

“Krithika?” asked the Sleeper, his voice hoarse. “How…? I thought—”

“I just want to talk,” said the vision of her mother.

“Talk?”repeated the Sleeper. “After all this time, you just want totalk? That’s simply not good enough.”

He lunged forward.

And stepped right into the trap that Aru and Mini had laid.