Everyone stared at Aiden after he'd spoken. 

"She's your what now?" Mini asked.

"I knew I recognized her from somewhere!" Aiden said. "She's my cousin, on my dad's side."

Everyone continued to stare blankly.

Aiden sighed. "Aru, I told you about my cousin that knew Ancient Greek?"

"Yeah?" Aru managed.

"That's her. The last time I saw her was when we were like, eight, at family Thanksgiving. I don't remember it very clearly. We were playing with a bag of dominoes and chatting while the adults did... adult stuff. Anyway, she was super excited to go to the Otherworld School of Dance the next year, since she was descended from Urvashi, but she wasn't accepted like all our other relatives who applied. Her family lives up in Delaware, so I didn't see her all that much aside from holidays, but I remember my mom on the phone with her mom, and one day when I was ten, my mom told me that she'd gone missing. The search for her turned up nothing, and she was presumed dead, and after that... I tried not to think about her too much. I almost forgot her name. Mom and Dad never mentioned her again."

Aru's mind was reeling from all the information. "So, if she came into Kalivana when she was ten, then she's been stuck here for four years."

Brynne sucked in a breath. "No wonder she's crazy and controlling an army of hot air."

"You've got another cousin?" Rudy asked. "Rude."

Rudy was ignored, once again.

"So, how do we beat her?" Mini asked.

Aiden threw his hands up. "How should I know?"

"Let's go with Aru's idea," Mini said. "We'll split up. One group distracts the army, while the other knocks Mist Girl out."

"Maybe we don't have to knock her out," Aru said. "Maybe we can just talk her down. We could convince her to help us."

"You said that she said she was on our side," Brynne pointed out. "And now she's trying to kill us."

"She's bound to the service of her Mistress, whoever that is," Aru said. "Maybe she can lead us to her."

"I don't like all these maybes." Rudy said.

"I'd rather talk to her than fight her," Aiden said. "Aru, you and I can try to convince her to stand down while you three hold off the army."

"Why do I have to hold off the army?" Rudy whined.

"Because you can turn into a giant whip-butt snake," Brynne deadpanned.

That seemed to settle it.

"Okay Bee, can you get us out of here?" Aiden asked.

Brynne grunted, turning into a blue elephant too big for the small cave's space. The Potatoes were all squished against a wall to avoid being stomped on. She pushed against the biggest boulder, rolling it out of the way. A few more rocks she removed with her trunk. Soon enough, the entrance was cleared enough for them to fit through.

The Potatoes braced themselves for an onslaught of demons, but there was no one outside.

"They must've thought we'd been crushed," Mini said.

Brynne turned back to human and pointed into the mist. "That way."

Once again, the mist thickened as they made their way to the center of Kalivana. But this time, when the demons sprang at them, they were ready.

Sanemi still stood at the top of the same hill. Her eyes widened in surprise at seeing the Potatoes.

"Leave here while you still can," she said, but it didn't sound threatening. Instead, it sounded bored, like she'd said those same words over and over a thousand times and had gotten tired of them.

The two sides had a brief staring battle. When the Potatoes didn't move, Sanemi snapped her fingers, and the demons attacked them.

Aiden slashed a clear path through the first wave of nasties. "Shah!" He called.

Aru ran over to him, and together the two ran through the army of demons, cutting down any who stood in their way.

Aru risked a glance behind her as they neared the hill. "We're being chased!"

A violet glow surrounded them as Mini raised Dee Dee. The demons chasing Aru and Aiden were stopped dead in their tracks, and from there, Brynne charged through them as a giant blue rhinoceros, flinging them into the air.

Aru didn't notice she was staring until Aiden grabbed her wrist. "Come on!"

Soon enough, they passed the rest of the demonic horde and climbed the hill. Sanemi's two giant guards had disappeared, presumably caught up in the fighting.

The mist spirit crossed her arms upon seeing them. She managed a laugh, but it wasn't one of the villainous laughs. Instead, it sounded scared. Aru almost wanted to roll her eyes. A girl who couldn't even sound evil was sent to stop them?

"So," Sanemi said evenly. "It's Aru. And-" her sharp grey eyes zeroed in on Aiden. "Aiden Acharya. Is that right?"

"Oh good," Aiden said dryly. "You haven't forgotten me."

"And nor you me," Sanemi said, taking a few steps towards them. "Good to see you again, cousin."

"Sani," Aiden said. "What happened?"

Sanemi laughed again, only this time it wasn't weak and scared. It was bitter, which was ten times worse. "You know very well what happened to me. I sought a refuge, somewhere where my failure wouldn't weigh down on me."

"When I first saw you," Aru cut in. "You wanted to help us. And now you want to stop us?"

"Only half of me wants to stop you," Sanemi said. "The half loyal to my Mistress. Normally, that wouldn't be enough to get me to do something. I didn't want to lead this army at first. But the Mistress has promised me something if I stop you. She promised me my freedom. And I will fight on whichever side will grant me that."

"We will!" Aru promised. "Just call off your demons!"

Sanemi shook her head. "It would be more merciful for you to die here than to face the challenges which lie beyond this place."

Aru had to admit, that was a pretty good line. But apparently, Aiden didn't think so.

The same whistling sound Aru had heard their first night here sounded again. For some reason, she itched to draw Vajra.

"Oh yeah?" Aiden asked, brandishing his scimitars. "What kind of challenges?"

"Challenges in which mortals would drop dead from the mere sight," Sanemi answered. "A challenge only Shiva, the Lord of Destruction himself, could overcome."

An idea of what this challenge was started forming in Aru's mind. And boy, did she not like it.

Aiden glanced at her. "What do you say, Shah? We get Sani outta the way?"

Aru nodded and raised Vajra, in spear form.

Sanemi flicked her wrists, and two wisps of smoke curled towards her open hands, solidifying into twin short swords. They weren't curved like Aiden's scimitars, but they still looked plenty sharp.

Aiden wasted no time in attacking the spirit, but she simply disappeared with a poof! and his swords went through thin air.

Sanemi reappeared behind him and slashed at his back. Aru didn't even have time to call out a warning, but Aiden whirled around and blocked the strike in the nick of time.

The mist spirit smiled and disappeared again. "Really, Ace-Cakes? Was I really that annoying as a child that when we first see each other after four years, the first thing you try to do is kill me?"

"No," Aiden said, slashing at where her voice had come from, to no effect. "We need to get to that stone, and we can't do that with your army trying to kill us! Now stop hiding and face me!"

Sanemi obliged, appearing in a puff of mist a few feet away from Aiden. Meanwhile, a few monsters that had managed to get past Mini, Brynne, and Rudy charged up the hill. Aru threw Vajra and knocked them back, but others kept coming.

Aiden swung his sword at Sanemi, but the weapon simply went through her, the mist bending to allow the blade to pass without any damage.

"I have no physical body, cousin," Sanemi said calmly. "You cannot hurt me."

Aru had changed Vajra from a spear to a javelin, sweeping enemies aside.

"Maybe I can't..." Aiden said. "But I know someone who can."

He raced towards Aru. Sanemi appeared in front of him and slashed at his arm, and unlike the rest of her body, her swords were plenty solid. A gash opened right above Aiden's elbow, and his attempts to parry were futile.

"Shah!" He shouted once he reached Aru's position, still fending off demons.

Aru could barely spare a glance at him as Vajra knocked back a few more monsters.

A blue eagle swooped down from the treetops, smashing into the demons. As Brynne neared the ground, she turned into an elephant and trampled a few flat, knocking others away with her trunk and tusks.

We got this, she sent Aru.

"I think only Vajra or some other celestial weapon can hurt her," Aiden said.

"You're bleeding!" Aru said.

"Never mind that! You have to take her down!"

"Right..." Aru said. "Where is she?"

Just then, Sanemi materialized and knocked Aiden to the ground. She could've killed him instantly with her swords, but she hesitated.

A fatal mistake. Aru transformed Vajra back into a spear and ran it through Sanemi's gut. Electricity crackled across the mist spirit's body, and as soon as Aru pulled the spear out, Sanemi collapsed. Her swords clattered out of her hands and disintegrated once they left her grasp.

Aiden got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Whoa," he said, looking down at the spirit's unmoving form.

If she wasn't about to kill her friend, Aru would've had qualms about gutting someone she knew. She nudged Sanemi with her foot, half expecting her to get back up, but her shoe went right through the spirit. She braced herself, half expecting Sanemi to get back up, but instead, tendrils of dark mist extended from the stab wound and wrapped around the spirit's form, until the smoke had covered every inch of her, and in a gust of wind, Sanemi was gone.

"Guys!" Rudy shouted. He ran up the hill to meet them, Brynne and Mini right behind him.

Aru thought they'd be chased by dozens of demons, but there was no one. Brynne was grinning manically.

"We got 'em!" Mini shouted. "There's no more!"

Brynne stopped and looked around. "You guys took care of Mist Girl?"

Aru nodded mutely. Took care was one way of putting it. Vajra turned back into a bracelet.

Aiden's scimitars transformed back into leather wristbands. He tried to smile, but a grimace of pain overtook to the expression.

"Cuz, you're bleeding," Rudy noted.

Aiden wiped away a few drops of blood from his arm. "Yes, I know. Mini, you got-"

"Bandages?" Mini finished. "You betcha."

"Wait," Aru said, digging the magical vanilla extract bottle out from her pocket. "Maybe this will work better than a few bandages."

Aiden frowned. "Vanilla extract? How will that-"

"It's magic," Aru said. "It's what healed you from the dragon venom."

"Oh," Aiden said. "Okay."

Aru decided not to add that they'd gotten it from the spirit they'd just killed. Mini gave her a cotton ball (why she had those, Aru had no clue), and Aru dabbed a few drops onto Aiden's cut. He winced a little, but the wound closed cleanly.

"Would ya look at that," Brynne said. "It worked."

"Thanks, Shah," Aiden said, smiling at her.

Aru blushed slightly. "Welcome."

If Aiden noticed her flustered, he didn't let on.

"Sanemi said that what lies ahead is much worse than what we've just beaten," he said.

Brynne cracked her knuckles. "Well, let's see if they can stop the Pandavas."

"And Pandava-adjacent," Aiden added.

"And Pandava-adjacent-adjacent," Rudy added on to Aiden's addition.

Aru rolled her eyes. "The Potatoes, in case you've forgotten."

"Nope," Mini said, looking at the lightening mist as if daring it to come at her. "Let's finish this."