Aru Shah 3.5 (DISCONTINUED)

In the House of the Sleeper

A/N Small time skip from the epilogue of TOW.

ARU'S POV

Aru Shah awoke, shivering.

She was cold, even with her lightning bolt sending arrows of warmth throughout her body. Water dripped from some parts of the ceiling, freezing into a crust of ice on the stone floor. Suddenly, footsteps echoed through the cavern. Her hands, still attached to the wall by a steel chain, curled into fists. Kara was coming to deliver food. She suspected it had been drugged so she couldn't have dreams with her friends. How did the Sleeper know about their astral travels?

Aru raised her head as someone walked into the room. It wasn't Kara.

The Sleeper wore a charcoal-colored sherwani that enhanced his sharp, rather angular features. Although his shape was human, he retained some of his devilishness in his mismatched blue and brown eyes. Shadows peeled apart behind him, revealing a group of silhouettes.

"Dad," she managed.

"Aru," he countered. His voice had the same mocking tone it had when she'd first lit the lamp. Oh, Aru, Aru, Aru...what have you done?

"What are you here for?"

"I've come to make a proposition."

She snorted. "What, you want me to join you? I know you like to emulate the villain stereotype, but you should subvert it. Makes it more interesting."

He raised an eyebrow. "Be careful to whom you serve lip, daughter."

She said nothing, raising her chin and letting her defiance show itself.

"For," he continued, stepping aside and allowing the group behind him to move forward, "I think you have something to say to your friends."

Her heart stuttered as Mini, Aiden, and Brynne walked forward out of coalescing shadows. All of them looked untouched, but stared at her with curiously blank gazes.

"They are unharmed...for now," the Sleeper said, smirking at her. "I will leave you to your conversation."

He swept out of the cavern, smoke trailing his footsteps.

"Mini," Aru breathed, looking at her sister. "I--I'm so sorry." A tear slipped down her cheek. "It was my fault, wasn't it?"

"Your fault?" echoed Aiden, looking confused.

Aru stared at him, wondering if he'd hit his head. "You were captured because of me."

Beside him, Brynne snorted quietly. "No," she said hastily when Aru looked at her. "We--" she coughed-- "we were trying to rescue you. It was our fault we got caught."

"I know I can't ask you to trust me again," Aru said, gazing at the stone ceiling. "But I would like to ask you to forgive me."

"You can have it," Aiden said, idly inspecting his fingernails.

Aru frowned at his careless reply but didn't question it. "Did the Sleeper give you guys something? Like a drug?"

"No," Brynne snorted. "We're--he knows we're valuable."

Aru looked at Mini, who'd been unusually quiet. "Mini, where's your backpack?"

"Oh--" she said, looking rather surprised. "I didn't bring it."

Aru chewed her lip. "Why not?"

"I didn't think--it was too much to carry."

"But it's for emergencies!"

"I didn't think we'd run into any," Mini snapped. "And we wouldn't have." Until now. The unspoken words floated in the air.

Aru flinched. Something nagged at her, more persistent this time. "You guys are acting weird. Are you all right?"

"Fine," Brynne cut in.

Aru's gaze roved over them. And then she realized something. "Aiden, where's Shadowfax?" The camera was missing from its usual position around his neck.

"Sorry?" He looked genuinely confused.

"Your camera! Did they take it from you?"

"Yeah, of course." He scowled.

Aru narrowed her eyes. Aiden would never act so calmly about Shadowfax's absence. The camera was an extension of him, the way he saw the world. She looked at Brynne and noticed something else different. Her wind mace wasn't in her hand, or in choker form around her neck. "You don't have Gogo!"

"Go-go?" Brynne asked, scrunching her face up. "Duh. We can't leave."

Aru stared at her skeptically. Cold doubt sank in her stomach. Her friends might not truly be here. They might be illusions or shape-shifters. There was a way to test it, though. "Brynne," she said suddenly, "are you able to turn into a rakshasi? Like Hira?"

Brynne stiffened. "I guess...why?"

"I know Hira isn't here, but I'd really like to see her again, even if you won't really be her." She didn't have to fake the tears that came to her eyes.

Brynne looked torn. She glanced at Aiden, who, after a long hesitation, gave a slight nod. She took a deep breath and her features melted into a girl who did not resemble Hira in the slightest. She was now a little shorter than Brynne, a great difference from Hira's short stature. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black and her hair was in a long braid down her back.

That settled it. Aru smiled as if nothing were wrong. "Thank you, Brynne. You can change back now." Mini breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"I think I'd like to speak to the Sleeper again," she said casually. "Could you tell him, Aiden?"

"I'll go with you," Mini and Brynne blurted at the same time. They nearly tripped over themselves in their haste to leave.

- - -

The Sleeper swept back into the room, shoes clicking on the stone. Her friends followed like they were tethered to him. "I assume you have made your decision?" he asked idly.

"I will not join you."

"Why?"

"These are not my friends," she said.

He smiled. "Ah, good. You passed your test."

"Passed my--"

He snapped his fingers and her friends appeared at his side. "You have failed your duties," he said, not bothering to give them more than a passing glance. He wrenched his hand and the shadows squeezed and suffocated them. They choked, unable to form words, and slumped to the ground. The shadows crawled away like snakes and rejoined the dark aura around Suyodhana.

Aru's head spun. The Sleeper had all but confirmed they weren't her friends. Still, she had to take deep breaths to keep from blacking out. She would never forget the way their bodies looked in death.

The Sleeper smiled at her, a dark expression. "Your next assignment will not be so easy." He turned his back on her and left her friends twisted on the ground in front of her.

Once the confusion and grief passed, Aru was filled with rage. She'd been manipulated more times than she could count. She was so tired. So tired of betrayals and misplaced trust. So tired of second-guessing her allies. She didn't remember crying, but her cheeks were wet. Closing her eyes, she gladly let sleep take her into a world of fury-filled dreams.