veryone stayed put as thin glowing roots shot out from the earth, wrapped around their ankles like chains, and tugged them downward. Aru flinched, not knowing what to expect, but the next thing she knew they were standing in the middle of an enclosed grove the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Silvery rivulets of water streamed down the rock walls, and wisps of fog curled overhead, letting in a few rays of sunlight.

Before them towered trees unlike any Aru had ever imagined. They had gold and silver bark, silk leaves, and jewels instead of blossoms. Some trees were laden with musical notes like clusters of berries, and there were parchment oaks covered in fine print that grew book fruit beneath their inky branches. She even saw a tree that looked as if it were made of actual paint, with daubed apples and violet-smudged plums.

Aru stared around at the place, drinking in the smells, feeling the light warm her face. She nervously weighed the two beads inserted in her necklace. They were so close to completing their mission. So close to stopping the Sleeper from hurting their families and damaging their homes. When Aru closed her eyes, she pictured Boo staring up at a false wishing tree, hoping for freedom. The twins holding back tears and wishing to be back with their parents. The Otherworld she loved going up in flames…

And yet, there was still a hollowness inside her as she touched the necklace. Every piece they’d found told her that she’d been robbed of something she didn’t know how to miss, and it made her furious. Surely, Suyodhana hadn’t made it to this grove before he became the Sleeper. Because if he had, things would’ve been different.

Maybe Aru would never have had to grow up without a dad. Maybe they would’ve come to this little island of paradises not to stop the Otherworld from being ripped apart…but because they wanted to have a picnic.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

It was a cruel chant at the back of her thoughts.

“The tree’s not here,” said Nikita.

That snapped Aru out of her thoughts. “What?”

“But we’re out of time! Today is Holi!” said Brynne. “If we don’t find the wish-granting tree, the whole Otherworld—”

“It’s not in this grove,” said Nikita, holding up her hand. “But I can sense it nearby, the way I can sense Sheela.”

“But I thought your gift from your soul dad was deactivated,” said Mini, pointing to the little green heart.

Nikita waved away her concern. “I don’t need that to know when my twin is nearby.”

“She’s here?” asked Mini, whirling around.

“Close…She’s hidden somehow,” said Nikita.

Aru’s pulse raced, and she found it hard to breathe. If Sheela was here, then that meant the Sleeper was close, too.

“So let’s search the place,” said Rudy. “How hard can that be?”

Aiden frowned, squinting into the distance. He released his scimitars and turned in a slow circle.

Small rocks came tumbling down the walls, spraying up dirt when they hit the ground. Aiden raised his scimitars only for something to hurl him backward, slamming him against a boulder.

“Aiden!” yelled Rudy, running over to him.

The Pandavas instantly fell into battle formation.

A huge rrrrip sounded right behind them.

They whirled around to see the earth tearing open as though someone were rending cloth. Roots, dirt, and rocks flew up from the hole as shadows poured out of the ground, blanketing the grass. Something was coming for them, and they were too out in the open.

“Head to the back wall!” yelled Brynne.

They sprinted to the designated spot as Rudy half carried, half dragged Aiden after them. The rip in the earth chased him, as though a huge worm were burrowing under the dirt.

Aru felt the ground tremble. “Shields up!” she yelled.

Mini used Dee Dee to form a protective dome. Nikita plunged her hands into the earth, and pale roots as thick as iron bars sprang up, forming a fence around them. She whispered something, and thorns like white knives shot out from the roots, their sharp ends pointed outward.

But just as fast as the commotion had started, it stopped. The rip ended a mere five feet from where the Potatoes were huddled together. The shadows that had poured out of the ground were quickly sucked back into the tear, leaving nothing behind but trampled grass.

There were footprints…but no one was there.

A weighted silence fell over the grove, broken only by a soft groan from Aiden.

“You okay, Wifey?” whispered Mini.

Aiden managed a weak nod, dropping his arm from around Rudy’s shoulder. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You’re my lead singer,” said Rudy proudly. “Nothing is happening to you.”

“I’m also your cousin!”

“Second priority, honestly,” said Rudy, but he smiled like he’d just won a prize.

“What was that?” asked Brynne, staring out at the rip.

Mini’s force field started to waver. Sweat sheened on her forehead, and Aru could tell she was getting tired. Aru’s gaze darted from the rock walls to the trees on either side of them—one of them made of paint, the other a weeping willow from whose branches fat diamonds hung like tears.

Something had definitely tried to attack them….

So why had it stopped?

Nikita was still crouched, her fingers spread on the dirt. She pulled back her hands with a shudder.

“What is it?” asked Brynne anxiously.

Nikita turned to them slowly, her eyes wide. “Heartbeats,” she said. “The ground hears dozens of heartbeats.”

A chill ran down Aru’s spine. Heartbeats meant people. But there was no one here….

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

In front of them, Mini’s shield began to crack. Aru, pressed to the outside of the group, heard a low panting sound right by her ear. She whirled around, Vajra springing to life in her hand. Nothing. Her gaze fell to the ground.

The grass was flattened.

Someone had been standing there.

“I—can’t—maintain—this—much—longer,” said Mini, her arms trembling as she held up Dee Dee.

“Then we’ll fight them,” said Brynne, raising her wind mace.

“We can’t even see them!” said Aru.

“Get ready!” yelled Mini.

From there, everything happened at once. The shield snapped in half. Nikita spread out her arms, and the fence of roots and thorns exploded outward. Something yelped in pain. For a split second, one of Nikita’s thorns seemed stuck fast to the air. But whoever it had caught quickly ripped it out and flung it to the ground.

Brynne spun out her wind mace, zooming it back and forth. The far side of the rock wall trembled as bodies made contact, loosening stones. The grass was crushed by a sudden weight.

In Aru’s hands, Vajra quivered like a strung bow, prickling with energy. Why are you hiding, you cowards? she thought, her fingers tingling.

In front of her, Mini was casting force fields left and right. Sometimes no one was there, other times there was a loud thud, and saliva dribbled down the edge of the shield. Nikita pulled roots out of the earth and whipped them around like spiked snakes. Aru cast out a net and caught…

Nothing.

Vajra flew back into her hand just as a gust of warm breath stirred the hair behind her neck. Aru yelped, pivoted, then aimed Vajra like a javelin. Her lightning bolt hit the ground, then bounced back to her hand.

In the air around her, Aru heard a low cackle.

Aiden, now fully recovered, beat his scimitars together. He paused for a moment, then jabbed them up….

A metallic clang sounded. He must have made contact. Aiden almost grinned, but then fell flat on his face, groaning. Someone had hit him from behind.

Rudy caught one of the falling scimitars and slashed it in the air over Aiden. Rudy made a sharp hiss.

“All right, that’s it,” he said.

He looked down at his jeans, then let out a sigh, murmuring, “I can do this…I can do this.”

The scales on his wrist gleamed bright green. In a flash of light, he shot up to well over six feet. His legs fused and twisted into a red tail with bands of yellow.

His eyes glowed green as he slithered around Aiden, his powerful tail swiping the air. Something hit the wall, dislodging stones, and Rudy grinned.

Aru thought she caught a shadow on the ground, and she threw her lightning javelin at it. Before she could tell whether it landed, she doubled over in pain as an object caught her around the middle like a hook, snapping her backward. She fell to the ground, clawing at the earth, scrabbling to get back to her sisters. But whoever caught her was stronger. And faster.

“Aru!” screamed Nikita.

Aru was dragged back nearly twenty feet before the hook released her. She slumped to the ground as Vajra zoomed around her, surrounding her with a lightning net. She pushed herself to a standing position, her heart racing. Shadows poured out of the torn ground once more, but this time they blanketed the grove in a poisonous-looking fog. A low laugh filled the sanctuary, and the trees quivered.

Aru knew that laugh. She heard, even, the traces of what it had once been—the kind of deep belly laugh that warms the people who hear it.

Not anymore.

Aru jerked her head around but saw nothing.

The fog floated toward her. She had to act. Now.

Aru snapped her fingers, and Vajra flattened into a hoverboard beneath her feet. Something grazed her wrist, but she was quick. One leap and she zoomed over the fog, back to her family. She tumbled to the ground, and when she righted herself, Vajra was a powerful spear in her hand.

The Pandavas formed a tight circle. Rudy hissed, slapping the earth with his tail. Brynne whirled her mace. Mini held out her Death Danda. Nikita crouched on the ground, her fingers in the earth. Aiden had his scimitars at the ready.

But no fight came.

Nothing barreled toward them.

A low, dark voice spoke:

“You see what I can do? What I can take from you?”

Aru squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to recall Suyodhana’s memories. His pain. His love.

It’s not him anymore, she told herself.

But she hated the part of her that wished it was.

“It’s almost impressive how far incompetence can take you these days,” said the Sleeper.

“Thanks,” said Aru, steeling her voice. “We try.”

“And you will fail,” said the Sleeper, simply. “You see, children, this war is mine to win. It always has been. If I have to spill your blood, I will not hesitate. But I will give you an option to live a little longer. For I am—”

“Inevitable?” asked Aru.

The Sleeper paused. “What?”

“Please don’t tell me you were going to steal your villain line from Thanos.”

A different voice, off to the left, asked, “Do we know him—?”

“Quiet,” said the Sleeper.

There was a sharp smack! followed by a whimper.

Brynne pointed out a shadow to the left and some newly trampled grass. The walls surrounding them groaned, as if being pressed by hundreds of heavy shoulders. Aru’s gaze flicked to the tree of paint and the willow tree closest to them, looking for any signs of movement among the branches.

“The truth is I am inevitable, Aru Shah,” said the Sleeper. “I am war. And I am destiny. Now give me the girl.”

From behind her sisters, Nikita hollered, “There’s NO way I’m helping you!”

The air rippled. Sheela appeared, gagged with a shadow and bound with silvery ropes. Her eyes looked frantic, but she held up her chin.

“And what about her?” asked the Sleeper.

Nikita faltered. She looked to Aru and Brynne, torn. Aru set her jaw.

“Use your powers to bring me to the wishing tree, and I will return your sister to you,” said the Sleeper. “After all, you cannot win a fight against an army you cannot even see.”

Aru’s hands balled into fists as she stared at the ground, the Sleeper’s words running through her mind. Only one word caught hold: see.

The time for the prophecy had run out. Today was Holi. People would be celebrating. Feasting. Throwing colored powders at one another….

Aru’s eyes darted to the paint tree on her left. Brilliant colors dripped from its boughs. There was a smudgy quality to it, its bark made with daubs of paint. The branches were slender paintbrushes, and from their bristled ends hung wet fruit of every shade imaginable.

An idea took root.

Aru caught Aiden’s attention. He looked at her questioningly, his scimitars still raised in anticipation of a fight. She subtly pointed to the tree of paint, and then to him and Rudy. Their eyes went wide.

Next, Aru tapped into her sisters’ minds.

Get ready. We’re going to celebrate Holi.