“That’s the door to the Otherworld,” said Aiden. “It recognizes who can access the other side.”
The Pandavas made their way closer. In front of the door was a low glass platform roughly the size of a dining room table. One by one, the people seeking to go through the door would step onto the rectangle. It would glow red, and the person would walk off, looking more dejected than before.
Aiden frowned. “The door knows they’re exiles.”
Off to the side of the platform, a light-skinned man dressed in a bone-white suit held up a roll of parchment and shouted to the crowd: “Step right up, hopefuls, and add your name to the contract! You’ve heard the rumors—war is coming! The devas need you!” He made a sweeping gesture at the line of people standing in front of the door. “Just one year of your life! Think about it! Fight for the devas and we may all earn the chance to return home!”
Beside Aru, Aiden scowled. “What a scam,” he muttered. “These people don’t need false promises.”
“You can get kicked out of the Otherworld?” asked Nikita, alarmed. “For what?”
“Some break the laws of secrecy. Some get involved with the wrong crowd.” Aiden took a breath, glancing down at his feet for a moment. “Some just fall in love with the wrong people.”
Aru looked at him sharply. He was talking about his mom, Malini. Once, she’d been a famous apsara, but when she chose to marry a mortal, she was forced to give up any claim to the magical world. Last year, she and Aiden’s dad had gotten divorced, and Aru remembered how he hated that his mom had been forced to sacrifice everything for a love that hadn’t lasted.
Beside him, Brynne wrapped her arm around his shoulder and squeezed so tight that Aiden wheezed a little. “C’mon,” she said, firm but gentle. “We gotta go back and get in line.”
Aru hesitated a moment, staring at the growing number of people waiting for their turn. “If they know they can’t get in,” she asked, “why do they bother trying?”
A corner of Aiden’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “Everyone needs hope.”
They scooted back across the market as quickly as they could with the conked-out rakshasas in tow. It wasn’t easy to lug them over the uneven dirt floor, especially among so many people. At least no one was paying attention to their strange parade. Everybody had their own baggage—physical and psychological—to deal with.
At last the five Pandava sisters and Aiden reached the end of the line. As they stood there, Sheela swayed nervously, her irises flickering from ice blue to the color of frost. The back of Aru’s neck prickled as she sensed a sudden rush of magic coiling through the air around them. How could that be, in a magical dead zone? She knew the prophecy inside Sheela was powerful, but this felt like something else—like standing beside a pent-up tempest.
“Sheela!” cried Nikita, shaking her sister.
The powerful draft of magic disappeared, as if someone had stuffed it in a jar and shoved a lid on top. Aru looked around nervously. The once-empty eyes of the exiled Otherworld members were now alert, turned on Sheela and narrowing in suspicion.
“We need to get out of here soon,” hissed Aru. The line was moving quickly, but definitely not fast enough for her taste.
Mini checked her rakshasa’s pulse. “Still out cold, but not dead,” she announced.
What if the demons wake up before the door opens? Aru wondered, panicking.
While they waited, Aiden snapped photos of the people in line and the dead zone around them.
“Do you mind?” asked an annoyed couple a few paces ahead. “What’re you doing?”
Aiden lowered his camera, fiddling with the settings. “I’m working on a portrait series capturing universal injustice.”
The couple stared at him, then adjusted their posture.
“Well, in that case…”
“I’m definitely injusticed!” shouted another person in line. “Take my picture!”
Someone else hollered: “Will this go on Instagram?”
As Aiden quickly managed his small crowd, Sheela slumped against her twin.
“Hold on. We’re almost there…” Nikita coaxed her.
Soon, there was only one person ahead of them. Like all who had gone before him, he too was denied entry.
Now it was the Pandavas’ turn. Aru yanked on her pull rope only to hear a rrrrip. She looked back to see that the vine binding the rakshasa had gone slack.
“The plants are losing their magic!” said Mini.
At once, all the dandelion wheels went flat. Brynne gave up on her cart and started rolling her unconscious rakshasa’s body forward.
“We just have to get them onto the platform,” urged Aiden.
“All of them at once?” asked Aru. “They won’t fit!”
Brynne pushed her prisoner over and lifted him onto the low surface. “I’ll…pretend…they’re…demon…pancakes!” she said between heaves.
She and Aiden managed to stack the other three rakshasas on top of the first and wrap them all with the strongest remaining vines. They looked like the most terrible Christmas present ever.
“We’ll have to be careful when we pull them through the door, but the vines should hold,” said Brynne. Then she climbed the demon pile and put her hands on her hips.
Aru really wished she’d yell out ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Alas, not the time.
The other Pandavas and Aiden moved back, and a yellow glow lit up the glass beneath the demons. A golden walkway shot out from the platform to the steel door not twenty feet away. Then a green light started to blink over the entrance to the Otherworld, inviting them to open the door and go through.
“Us next!” yelled Aiden. “Hurry!”
Brynne jumped off and hauled the vines, inching the pile of demons down the path while the rest of the crew hopped onto the platform. The dais glowed yellow again, granting them entrance. They leaped onto the walkway. Mini, Aru, and Aiden grabbed one vine while Brynne took hold of the other. The twins followed, Nikita propping up her nearly catatonic sister.
“Pull!” said Aiden, tugging with all his might.
Aru saw that their vine was starting to fray. She thought that maybe, if they just moved faster, they’d be safe.
A loud shout from behind caught her attention.
“The door!” yelled someone in the crowd. “It’s going to open!”
A knot of exiles, their eyes huge, rushed toward the Pandavas. The desperate hopefuls tried to step onto the walkway; electric shocks burst from its sides, keeping the trespassers at bay.
But that didn’t stop the crowd from grabbing at whatever they could. Aru was yanked back as someone caught hold of her shirtsleeve. She jerked up her elbow, throwing off the stranger, only for the movement to snap the vine she was holding in half.
Aiden dropped his own plant and ran behind the demons to push them instead. “The door isn’t going to let you in!” Brynne shouted to the crowd. “Stay back!”
“How do you know?” demanded a pale-skinned woman with catlike eyes. “Don’t we deserve a chance to return home?”
Another exile snatched at Aru’s pant leg, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Aru’s head thudded on the path. She turned to the right and came face-to-face with an unconscious rakshasa.