"Aru, wake up. We have to go."
Aru groggily blinked her eyes open to see Aiden shaking her gently. She sat up quickly, remembering the events that occurred only a couple hours ago. After the kiss, they had remained with each other for a while, eventually falling asleep side by side. Strangely enough, Aru slept better than she had in these past few days.
"Right," she muttered, swinging her legs off the bed. She stretched, her joints popping and cracking. Then, she frowned. "Wait, where exactly are we going?"
Aiden pointed to a note that was plastered on the door. Scrawled with huge, loopy cursive letters, read: Pandavas, I have located the door. Come to the throne room when you wake. Lots of love, the Palace.
"Why does the Palace have better handwriting than I do?" she asked, mostly to herself.
Aiden smirked. "It's not exactly a competition."
Aru swatted him. "Just who's side are you on?"
"I thought I told you already? I'm always on your side, Shah. Though, I never said anything about your handwriting."
She huffed and crossed her arms. "Rude."
Aiden didn't respond. Instead, he watched her closely until she began to feel herself redden.
"What?" she asked, trying to hide her blush.
Aiden shook his head. "It's nothing...just...are you okay now?"
She smiled. In fact, she never felt better. "Yep," she said, mustering up all the cheer she could. "Thanks to you." Aru crossed to the other side of the bed in two huge steps and hugged him. They had definitely gotten over the very awkward stage. Now, it was just awkward, but it wasn't weird anymore. She just felt warm and fuzzy, like she had just dipped herself in a warm bath.
Aiden didn't reply, but he hugged her back fiercely and wouldn't let go until Aru gently untangled herself.
"Come on," she urged, after making sure she had her things. The SSS buzzed on her finger, as if it were waking up after a long nap. She grabbed Gandalf and transformed it into a small dagger, sticking it in her waist belt. "We should get going. I bet the Sleeper's army is nearly there."
Aiden's features turned serious. "You're right."
Aru and Aiden crossed the hall to reach the throne room. She gasped when she entered. It was beautiful. A long, red carpet patterned with golden swirls was laid out on top of the tiles. At the back of the room stood six golden thrones of equal size, except one was more noticeably smaller than the rest. The smaller one must have been for Draupadi, Aru realized with a start. She hid a smile as she imagined her and her sisters on the larger thrones and Aiden on the smaller one. He would probably have tons of complaints about that.
A loud snapping noise shook her from her thoughts, and she looked to her right. Aru was surprised to see her sisters and Rudy already waiting for them.
"You two lovebirds sure took your own sweet time," remarked Brynne.
"We came as fast as we could," argued Aiden, a red tint splashing over his cheeks.
He didn't deny it, said Mini through the mind-link.
Aru didn't answer; she just blushed. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Brynne and Mini exchange looks with each other.
Did something happen between the two of you? asked Brynne, grinning from ear to ear.
Well...we are kinda together now officially...I guess, answered Aru, looking at her feet.
Mini squealed out loud, surprising Rudy and Aiden.
Rudy groaned. "You guys were having another mind conversation, right? Can you not do that in front of us?"
Aiden looked at her. "You told them?" he guessed.
Aru shrugged. "I mean, they would have figured it out on their own anyways."
"True."
"Am I the only one who doesn't know what's happening?" complained Rudy. "Why does no one tell me anything?"
Aiden put his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. "We're together now."
Rudy deflated. "Oh. Was that all? I thought you two were already a thing."
"Pandavas!" a voice crooned, before Aru was able to respond to Rudy. "Have you all rested?"
Flames suddenly flickered on top of the huge torches placed on both sides of the room, right in front of the thrones. An indentation of a face appeared on the ceiling to form a mildly-disturbing smiley face.
"Yes! The rooms were great, Palace!" Mini responded, a huge smile breaking across her face.
Aru could imagine the Palace beaming.
"My pleasure, Pandavas!"
"You said you found the door?" asked Aiden, getting straight to the topic.
The ceiling rose a little higher. "Yes, I have located the door. However...there's just a tiny problem."
"How tiny?" asked Aru.
"As in, I am unable to unlock it." The Palace drooped. "I'm sorry, Pandavas, but it was out of my capabilities."
"That's okay," said Brynne. "Can you take us to it, though?"
The ceiling rose up and down, as if it were nodding, and when Aru blinked again, her feet weren't touching the floor anymore. She was...floating!
She looked around and saw the same thing occur to her friends.
"Woah," murmured Rudy, looking impressed as he nodded. "This is cool."
He circled his arms in the air and kicked, as if he were swimming, and moved closer to Aiden, clutching his arm. "I'm holding onto you," he decided.
Brynne and Mini linked arms with Aru, and suddenly, she felt a rush of wind blast in her face, forcing her to shut her eyes. When Aru opened them again, she wasn't in the throne room anymore.
They had arrived at a creepy-looking cellar of some sort. Aru felt her feet touch the ground, and she let go of her sisters as she walked around. A musty smell filled the air and numerous shelves surrounded them.
Aru strode over to a shelf, filled with several jars, holding strange things such as the "Eye of a Newt" or "Toe of Frog."
Mini shuddered as she read the labels. "This is giving me Macbeth vibes."
Aru nodded. "I thought it seemed familiar."
"Over here, Pandavas!" a cheerful voice called from all the way across the room.
"Not a Pandava," she heard Aiden and Rudy mutter as they followed. The tiles beneath them rippled in a path, as if the Palace were guiding them.
Eventually, they came across a long, old, red curtain, which was torn and somewhat patched up. The curtain fell away, revealing a rusty door, engraved with weird markings.
Brynne came forward and fingered the rough engravings. "Is this Hindi?"
Mini peered at it. "No, it's...Sanskrit."
"What does it say?" Aru asked.
Mini squinted. "It's too dark to make it out. Mind giving me some light?"
Aru snapped her fingers. "Gandalf? Some light would be great."
Her uncooperative glaive-turned-knife had changed back into a glaive without her knowing. "Gandalf?"
She shook it once. Twice. But no response. Aru frowned. That was strange. She would have at least received a burn or an electric shock. "Gandalf's not responding."
Mini glanced at Medy, which stayed still, like a normal spear. "Medy's not listening to my commands either."
"Magic doesn't work down here," explained the Palace.
"So it's a magic dead zone," summed up Aiden. "How do we get in? Is there a key or something?"
"But there's no keyhole," added Aru, upon a closer inspection.
The curtain lifted up on its own and swung towards the door. The moment the fabric touched the rusty door, however, a bright light burst out and nearly burned the curtain, but the Palace retrieved it quickly.
"As you can see, I am unable to open it for you," the Palace explained sadly. "I fear that you are the only ones able to unlock it."
Brynne rolled up her sleeves. "All right," she said, punching her fist into her palm. "Don't worry," she said confidently, a steely glint in her eyes. "I can handle this. How hard can it be?"