Aru woke up with a pounding headache in a blindingly bright room. The bare walls were painted pale blue, and fluorescent lights flared at her from overhead. There were no windows, only a single solid brown door.

It was also cold. Aru shivered, then discovered that she couldn't move her hands. They were tied behind her back to a metal loop sticking out of the wall.

She'd been shoved into the corner of the room. Halfway across the room was Mini, and in the other corner was Brynne. Both were similarly bound.

Mini was still unconscious, her chin slumped onto her chest. Brynne was awake and struggling.

Aru wriggled in the ropes, and two things fell out of her pocket. The first was the glowing bottle of vanilla extract. The second was Vajra, in ping-pong form. The lightning bolt didn't buzz with energy like it usually did. It looked... like a regular unmagical ping-pong ball.

"They didn't search us or confiscate weapons," Brynne said from across the room. "But these ropes have got like, an anti-enchantment enchantment on them or something. I can't shape-shift or summon Gogo. And, I'm cold."

Brynne's mace was in choker form around her neck.

Aru panicked. How long had they been here? Aiden could already be dead by now, and Rudy... who knew where he could've gone if he'd gotten spooked? What if the rakshashas had found them?

Just then, Mini jerked awake, falling over in the process. Dee Dee, in compact mirror form, stuck out of her vest pocket.

"Mini!" Aru said. "We have to get out of here!"

Mini blinked in confusion, struggling to sit back up. "Where is here?"

"Dunno," Brynne said. "But there's gotta be a way out."

"What about the antidote?" Mini asked, panic apparent in her voice.

Aru prodded the bottle with her knee. "Got it. What we don't have is a way out of here-"

The door opened, and the stag-headed rakshasha walked in. He twirled his blowgun around his fingers. Following him was another rakshasha with the head of a badger.

Stag Head crossed his arms in front of him. "Pandava thieves... what are we going to do with you?"

"How about... let us go?" Aru said hopefully.

She imagined what Aiden would say. Rein in the optimism, Shah, it's too much.

The thought made her chest hurt.

But Stag Head only laughed. "No. We'll take you to the Mistress. She'll pass judgement."

Brynne struggled some more. "How long will that take?"

"Eh, two or three days," the Stag Head said.

They didn't have that kind of time! They had to get back to Aiden in half an hour, tops, by Aru's guess. Of course, she didn't know how long they've been sitting in this room.

Stag Head turned to Badger Head. "Watch the prisoners. We'll be ready to move by tomorrow."

Badger Head nodded, and Stag Head left the room.

What do we do? Mini asked over the link.

I got this, Brynne sent back.

"Hey!" She shouted at the rakshasha guarding them.

He scowled. "Be quiet."

But, of course, Brynne didn't shut up. "You know, you're working for the wrong side. Once the devas find out you've apprehended us, they'll kill you. Or, like, kill your family. Your wife, especially. Or torture you."

Aru thought that was a bit harsh, but then again, desperate times call for desperate measures. And also, it was always the wives.

Badger Head tilted his badger head, as if considering. Then he laughed. "The devas have no control over here. We thrive here, and they wouldn't dare stick their noses into our business."

"But they would if it was their business," Brynne said. "And we are their business! We're Pandavas!"

The demon looked them over. "Three little girls tied up with no powers. Pandavas."

"That's right!" Brynne said, sticking her chin up defiantly. "Pandavas! That o'er there is Arjuna, that's Yudhistira, and I'm Bhima. And you can bet that Nakula and Sahadeva are about to bust down that dumb door and kick your furry behind!"

Brave words, but mostly bluffs. Badger Head didn't seem convinced. He raised his hands, and they morphed into badger paws with long sharp-looking claws.

"They are welcome to try," he said, then the claws disappeared, replaced by his normal human hands.

Aru's mind started racing. If they could somehow trick him into using his claws to cut their bonds...

Try making him angry, she sent to Brynne.

Why would I do that?

Trust me, Aru said.

Okay... but if I get mauled, I'm blaming you.

"Those claws are bogus," Brynne said, tossing her head in a manner that proclaimed I'm-too-cool-sit-down-peasant. "I mean, have you ever seen real claws? I have, and I can tell you, those ain't it."

Badger Head snarled. "These can cut through anything. I'll bet you that your flimsy so-called claws would snap on first contact with enchanted weapons and armor.

"Oh, so you're like Wolverine," Brynne said, nodding a bit thoughtfully. "Y'know, I'd take Hugh Jackman over a little demon any day."

Badger Head's eyes flashed red. "Who are you calling little?"

"Badgers are little," Brynne said matter-of-factly. "Plus, they're ugly as heck."

The demon's claws reappeared. Aru had to give it to Brynne. She was very good at being obnoxious. And demons were very good at having no chill.

"These claws could kill you in one slash," Badger Head said.

"Oh yeah?" Brynne challenged. "Try it then."

Brynne, what are you doing? Mini sent.

Aru sent her sisters the rest of the plan.

Ohhhhhh, Mini said. Well, keep doing what you're doing, then.

"Well?" Brynne demanded. "Get in with it! This is boring!"

The demon snarled and lunged, but at the last moment, Brynne twisted around. There was enough slack in her ropes for her to bring her wrists around to block Badger Head's attack. His claws sliced right through the rope, and miraculously, Brynne avoid being turned into ground beef.

She jumped up triumphantly, Gogo instantly appearing in her now-free and disenchanted hands. With one big swing, Badger Head was kaput!

Brynne smirked and got to work freeing Mini and Aru. As soon as her hands were freed, Aru scooped up the bottle and Vajra, now back to its normal power-crackling form, flew onto her wrist. Warmth from her enchanted sweater flowed back into her bones.

"You think there are guards behind this door?" Mini whispered, pressing her ear to the crack. "What if they heard us?"

"If they heard us, we'd be surrounded by demons right now," Brynne said. "Either there's no one out there, or this is soundproof."

"I don't think they'd leave us with only one guard," Aru said.

"I'll turn us invisible again," Mini decided. "I just need to not get junpscared by a rakshasha."

"That would be good," Brynne agreed.

With a wave of Dee Dee, the three girls were made invisible again. Aru grabbed Brynne's and Mini's hands.

Let's go, she sent. And quietly!

Brynne scoffed. You know nothing about quiet, Shah.

Well, neither do you, Aru retorted.

Guys! Mini cut in. Let's go! We need to find Aiden and Rudy.

Aru's heart sank in her chest. It had to have been over two hours since he'd been poisoned by now.

The three girls ran out the door. Sure enough, there was a veritable entourage of demon guards outside, but they managed to distract them by Aru flinging invisible Vajra through the door as it closed and exploding against the far wall. All the demons ran into the room, and Vajra boomeranged back to her.

They ran silently up the stairs, which were the only visible exit, and found themselves back in the Safeway. The lights were still off and it was still empty, but all the stuff that Mini and Aru had pushed off the shelves had been cleaned up like nothing had happened.

Where's the door? Brynne asked.

Aru scanned the store. There!

They ran towards the door, pushing it open. Thankfully, Rudy was still there, with a still-unconscious Aiden. Aiden's lips, nose, and fingertips had started to become a sickly-looking green, and his normally golden-brown skin had paled several shades.

Mini dispelled the invisibility illusion.

Rudy looked extremely worried, which was something he never looked like. "You got the antidote?"

Aru held up the small dark bottle.

Rudy frowned. "Vanilla extract? What is vanilla extract?"

Brynne facepalmed, but then the Potatoes heard the pounding of footsteps coming closer.

"Tell you outside," Brynne said, hoisting Aiden up and once more throwing him over her shoulder. "We've got to get out of here!"

The four hurried down the stairs to the garage. Mini hit the button, and the metal door slowly began to creak open.

"No time!" Aru said, ducking under the door when it was halfway up. The others followed suit (Brynne had a little trouble), but they managed to run out into the parking lot.

A strong gust of wind whipped up as soon as they were back under the cloudy sky. Rudy stopped, panting.

Mini momentarily paused. "Come on! We have to keep-"

She trailed off, and Aru turned around to see what was wrong.

The air shimmered again, and the building they had just run out of disappeared into thin air.

"What-" Aru breathed. "Where'd it go?"

"Don't know," Brynne said. "But hopefully, no more Safeway means no more demons trying to eat us."

"Don't jinx it," Aru muttered.

But no demons came running at them trying to kill them. Brynne flashed Aru a smug glance, then put Aiden down onto the soft earth.

Aru hated seeing him like this, like someone too close to death. "Are we too late?"

Rudy shrugged. "You guys took a while, but I don't think it was longer than two hours."

"Dumb tranquilizers," Brynne said, kneeling next to Aiden.

"Aru, give him the antidote," Mini said, crossing her fingers.

Aru hoped that the nagini/mist spirit hadn't been lying. She carefully unscrewed the bottle and poured some of the liquid into Aiden's mouth.

Nothing happened.

Mini grabbed Aiden's wrist and checked for his pulse. Her face grew pale.

"No no no-"

Brynne gasped, burying her head in her arms. Rudy stared silently, disbelief and grief warring in his expression. And Aru couldn't help it- she started crying.

The tiny part of her mind that she hated most reminded her: Draupadi was the first to fall because of her partiality to Arjuna over her other husbands.

Horrible, burning guilt spread through her veins. Aiden had sacrificed his life to save hers.

Quick A/N:

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