he vimana took them to Brynne’s penthouse, where she lived with her uncles, to have a home-cooked meal and get some sleep before the next day’s journey.

Rudy trailed Gunky and Funky around the apartment, asking them important questions like:

“What’s a microwave? Is it like a bottled-up part of the ocean?”

“Does this remote open a portal?”

“Could you make me some lasagna?”

After a dinner of awkward small talk with the uncles, because the Pandavas couldn’t reveal anything about their mission, Aru wanted nothing more than to crash in Brynne’s room. The pullout bed was already made up, and luckily she didn’t have to share it with Mini, who had promptly passed out on the living room couch after lamenting that she’d forgotten to pack floss. Aiden had made a beeline to the guest bedroom.

Rudy paused outside Brynne’s room, leaning against the doorway like he owned it.

“First thing in the morning, we’re heading to the Crypt of Eclipses,” he said excitedly. “But that’s inside the House of Months, and there’s no way I can be seen with you guys there if you don’t level-up your outfits. I’m thinking you could—”

Brynne slammed the door in his face, growling, “Good NIGHT, Rudy.”

Moments later, Aru was fast asleep.

This wasn’t one of Aru’s usual dreams.

She knew that because her dreams typically started with her wandering through Home Depot only for the aisle to end up looking like her math classroom. This time she was in a fashion designer’s studio. One wall had panels of different color swatches. Another wall was covered with racks holding bolts of fabric. A third was all windows, and the last wall was a giant chalkboard with sketches of fashionably dressed women. The drawings magically peeled themselves off the black surface and sauntered down the middle of the room as if it were a runway.

Sheela and Nikita sat across from Aru at a worktable. Nikita was sitting in a bizarre flower throne, and Sheela perched on a high stool covered with star stickers. Sheela waved happily, then went back to tracing letters in the air. At every gesture of her hand, a trail of tiny stars lit up the space and hovered there.

“Told ya we’d see you in your dreams!” said Sheela.

Aru blinked, and Brynne and Mini were standing beside her wearing identical expressions of confusion.

Brynne looked at Aru, shocked. “I was literally just in the middle of winning a cooking competition! Why am I now in your dream?”

“If you were in Aru’s dream, we’d be in Home Depot,” said Mini.

“It’s a great place!” said Aru a little defensively. “You can—”

Nikita clapped twice, and the three girls snapped to attention. She was dressed, as usual, in a completely new outfit: white pants, white blazer, white scarf to pull the braids back from her face, and a delicate choker of vines.

“Nice outfit?” tried Aru.

“Obviously!” snapped Nikita. “It’s my spring ensemble.”

“Doesn’t really look spring-y to me. Don’t you need flowers or something?”

Nikita’s eyes narrowed. “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.”

Rude! thought Aru.

Aru couldn’t decide if she was annoyed or impressed. Was this common little-sister behavior? If so, they were the worst.

“Boo told us the Crypt of Eclipses is inside a super-swanky place,” said Nikita. “To get into the House of Months, you guys’ll need a change of clothes.”

Aru crossed her arms. “Between now and dawn—not a whole lot of time to go shopping.”

“And that’s where I come in,” said Nikita. “I’ll whip something up. We’ve got access to all the plants in the heavens, which can easily become outfits with a bit of magic. Boo said he could arrange for a celestial messenger to get them to you by tomorrow morning.”

“His exact words were ‘I’ll do anything if you stop treating me like an avian mannequin—get that silk hat off my head this instant, you abominable child!’” quoted Sheela.

Nikita snapped her fingers and a yellow tape measure ribbon appeared in the air. It snaked around, then darted toward Mini, its metal tip quivering as if it were a predator snuffling out prey. The next few minutes were a chaotic blur as Nikita sent an army of measuring tapes after them. The tapes wriggled like eels, circling the Pandavas’ waists and legs. Brynne tried to rip them off, but they held fast. Aru found herself floating as several different pairs of shoes took turns wedging themselves onto her feet before scuttling off like angry mice. All the while, Nikita was shouting random fashion remarks like: “A-line cuts are too boring!” and “MORE DANDELION FAUX FUR!” and the occasional “I’m thinking rich, luxe tones. A color that screams WATCH OUT, DEMONS! Maybe aubergine…”

Eventually, Aru was released from the tiny cyclone of measuring ribbons, and she stumbled toward Sheela, who was still perched on the same stool, quietly staring at a picture in her lap. The small stars still drifted around her, and Aru caught one in her hand.

“Nikita really likes clothes, huh?” said Aru.

“They’re hers,” said Sheela simply. She didn’t look up. “When you move a lot, you don’t get to keep many things. So she learned to make her own outfits. Nikki calls them armor. She thinks there’s no reason armor shouldn’t be pretty, too.”

Aru’s lungs felt squeezed. She moved closer and saw that Sheela was staring at a picture of two people who could only be the twins’ mom and dad. The woman, who had large brown eyes and a gap-toothed smile, had her arms wrapped around a large black-skinned man who was laughing so hard that his eyes were shut.

Aru had no idea what she’d do if she couldn’t see her mom, but she knew every family was different. Brynne, for example, was used to it. Then again, her mother, Anila, wasn’t really interested in being around in the first place.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?” asked Aru gently.

“One thousand one hundred and seventeen days,” said Sheela, her voice tight. “I thought we’d be able to see them in our dreams, but every time we try to get to them, the nightmares come…. I can’t stop them. Because of the Otherworld’s rules, our parents won’t be able to find us until we turn thirteen. We thought getting Claimed would change things, but it hasn’t. And the wishing tree was a fake. What if nothing works?” The room began to darken. Sheela’s eyes started to go unfocused. “What if—?”

“Sheela!” barked Nikita.

Her design studio began to warp and shift.

A black sinkhole opened in the middle of the floor. It started sucking in the sketches that had come to life, the bolts of fabric, even the dream stars that swirled around Sheela.

“What’s happening?” asked Brynne.

“The nightmare!” choked out Nikita. “Sheela, wake up! Wake up! It’s okay!”

Mini ran over and to pull Sheela off the stool and away from danger, but the girl wouldn’t move. Maybe she couldn’t, thought Aru, as she too tugged uselessly on an arm.

“I miss them,” sobbed Sheela. “I miss them so much.”

This is a dream, Aru told herself. She tried to will things to change—to stop the sinkhole from spreading, to silence the sudden growl of thunder.

But it wasn’t her dream. It was Sheela and Nikita’s.

She balled her hands into fists and the tiny star she’d caught moments ago pricked her skin.

“Leave!” shouted Nikita. “Get out! You’re not supposed to be in our dream anymore!”

Aru looked at her. Now Nikita’s pantsuit was way too big on her, if she’d been playing dress-up with her mother’s clothes. She was just a kid stuck in a nightmare with everything unraveling around her.

Aru reached out, and Nikita stared at her outstretched hand.

“We’re not leaving you,” said Brynne fiercely.

“But—” started Nikita.

Sheela began to sob. Mini wrapped her arms around her, soothing and shushing, but it was as if Sheela couldn’t hear her anymore.

“Nikita, what do we do?” asked Aru.

But when she turned around, the dream changed. The twins, now three years younger, were crouched on the floor of a bedroom while Aru, Brynne, and Mini hovered above the room like ghosts. The twins’ mother stood at the closed door, holding a finger to her lips in a Shh gesture.

“Open up!” called a man’s voice. “We know you’re in there!”

The voice thundered through the house, shaking the photos off the wall.

“Mommy!” cried Nikita, stretching out her arms.

“No!” said their mom in a whisper-shout, her eyes wide and frantic. “Stay there, and stay quiet. Someone from the Otherworld will come and get you. Don’t try to follow us. I love you, my precious girls. We’ll find you again, I promise.”

“Don’t go!” shouted Sheela. “Please—”

Tears streamed down their mother’s face.

“I would do anything not to leave you,” she whispered. “I’ll see you in your dreams. Don’t worry, my babies. There is so much more to you than you know. I—”

The dream began to shift and twist again. One moment, the twins’ mother stood at the door. The next, the door stretched sideways and turned into a wave that crashed over her.

Aru, Brynne, and Mini were swept up in a dark flood that churned and swirled around the twins. Sheela and Nikita remained rooted to the spot, their arms wrapped around each other, and Aru knew they’d forgotten they were in a dream. The older Pandavas tried to swim toward the girls, but the nightmare held them back.

“Wake up!” screamed Brynne.

“Don’t yell!” said Mini. “They need comfort.”

Aru’s heart ached. She looked down at her hands and realized the tiny star was still in her grip, glowing brightly. An idea came to her.

“They need light,” she whispered.

Slowly, she opened her hand, and the wisp traveled outward.

“Wake up,” said Brynne, more gently now.

“We’ve got you,” said Mini softly.

Aru wished she could reach them, give them both a hug. She didn’t care if Nikita was snobby and cold. She understood what it meant to wake up from a nightmare only to find you were still caught in a real-life one. And so she reached for the words her mother always said when Aru had a bad dream.

“If you’re scared…just turn on the light.”