rynne, as strong and sturdy as ever, didn’t even blink.

“Don’t look back! Just go!” she ordered the Potatoes.

Aiden sprinted ahead, holding on to Nikita’s feet as he ran. One jump, then two, and he’d made it to the threshold of the Door of New Day. The door sparkled, and Aru could almost imagine the sensation of its strange, cool metal beneath her palms, like a pond that wasn’t frozen but whose surface she couldn’t breach.

“Come on, Shah!” called Aiden.

The ground shook under Aru’s feet, tripping her forward. Aru risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that Shani had flung the beetle off his forehead and was now scrubbing furiously at his face. He blinked once, and a smoking line of fire shot straight out of his eyes. The glare of it sent spots blinking through her own vision. His burning gaze fell on a birdbath, which, two seconds later, split down the middle like a banana.

“So revolting!” shouted Shani. “Where’d it go? Someone kill it!”

“It’s gone!” called Mini. “Just keep your eyes closed!”

But Shani wasn’t listening. He kept blinking, searing a new hole in the land each time. Rudy darted past him, clutching his messenger bag to his chest, and caught up with Aru.

“Well, there goes the garage!” howled Shani. “Manda will be furious with me!”

Aru could see the Door of New Day shining brightly not ten feet away, along with Aiden’s outstretched hand. She tried to take a step forward, but the ground opened right in front of her, plunging into a fifty-foot-long chasm that separated her, Brynne, Mini, and Rudy from the door.

Brynne hollered at them to move, and Shani loudly squealed, “I CAN STILL FEEL ITS TINY LEGS ON MY NOSE!” A burst of fire lit up the air behind Aru, and she felt as if a thin line of flames had started to nip at her heels. Shani was turning his gaze toward her and she needed to jump. Now.

Aru squeezed her eyes shut, preparing to leap forward, when someone yanked her sharply to the right.

“He almost looked at you!” said Mini.

Aru blinked. In the spot where she’d stood just seconds ago there were now plumes of smoke and a fathomless hole that promised an infinite drop.

“Over here!” shouted Brynne.

Shani whirled to where Brynne stood, nearly ten feet back. Before his flames could reach her, Brynne transformed into a giant eagle and grasped Rudy in one talon. With her other talon she pushed two huge boulders near Aru and Mini. They hunkered down behind the rocks. If Shani looked in their direction, at least the boulders would take the hit first.

And then they’d be out of places to hide.

Brynne said, “I’ll come back for you two!” As she flew Rudy over the chasm, Aru heard him moaning. “I can’t die now! I haven’t seen enough of the world! I don’t know what Florida is!”

Mini cast a force field around her and Aru, but Shani was a planet, and the cursed power of his vision could likely pierce anything.

“Aru, this would be a good time to come up with something sneaky,” said Mini.

Why didn’t they teach emergency tactics in Otherworld school? Aru wondered. Hanuman’s tutoring was all about thinking like the opponent, but this opponent was only thinking of himself. Urvashi’s lessons about etiquette and grace were useless in this situation, too. Boo hadn’t ever mentioned what to do in the event a planet with laser vision focused on them. She’d never even heard of something like this outside of X-Men. The Cyclops character also had laser vision…but when his let loose, there really wasn’t much to do except hope he looked somewhere else.

Aru paused.

Look somewhere else.

This whole time, they’d been telling Shani that the bug was gone, but he wasn’t listening, convinced it was still somewhere close by. What if this time they agreed with him?

Aru turned to her sister. “Mini, can you make an illusion of a beetle?”

She nodded and set to work fashioning a small light that flickered to life between her two palms. Judging by the sound of more things being incinerated, Shani seemed to be getting closer.

“If I can just find it and be rid of it, then it’ll be fine!” said Shani, his voice half-crazed.

Mini whimpered.

“What was that?” shouted Shani.

“The beetle!” called Aru, standing up slowly. “It’s right behind your feet!”

Shani whipped around. In the same second, Mini whispered something to her Death Danda and a plume of violet light wound its way toward him, scuttling forward in the shape of a beetle.

“Take my arm!” Aru said to Mini.

Shani swung his head, searching for the beetle. His gaze seemed to be everywhere at once. One glance, and a palm tree hissed as it went up in flames. One blink, and the pit of broken musical instruments burst into flames, filling the air with the twanging of popped guitar strings.

“I’ll stomp you out of existence in every universe!” roared Shani.

He turned about in wild circles. Aru flicked her wrist and Vajra sprang to life as a hoverboard.

“Children!” he called out. “Children, do you see it?”

“Watch out, Shah!” yelled Brynne from the other side of the chasm.

Aru jumped onto Vajra and pulled up Mini, who clung tightly to her as they soared over the chasm. Aru didn’t blame her. It was like staring into the vast abyss of space. There was nothing but endless stars and the light of dying planets, sketches of universes yet to be made….

Deadly heat snaked toward them.

Shani was lifting his gaze….

Up ahead, Aiden raised his camera to his face and yelled, “Close your eyes!”

Aru did as she was told and sensed the flash of Aiden’s enchanted camera against her closed eyelids.

Shani yelped. “Ah! Too bright! I can’t see!”

Aru and Mini tumbled onto the ground right before the Door of New Day. Quickly, Aru reached out, grabbed hold of the knob, and turned it as hard as she could. When she flung the door open, a cold voice asked, “Where do you wish to go?”

In the reflection in the silver door, Aru watched as Shani’s white-hot laser vision burned a thin path from the edge of his property, across the chasm, and…Right. Toward. Them.

“Don’t you dare say Home Depot, Shah!” hollered Brynne.

But now it was in her head! And it seemed the door heard, because the light around it rippled. The next instant, they were toppling through the ether with the faint sound of Shani’s voice trailing them:

“So sorry about that! Do visit again! Would love to hear more about your adventures