Kara could see the confusion, anger, and love in their eyes. This was good. From what she remembered, she was terrified that she had come all this way just to find out her sisters hated her. She knew that her story sounded fishy and they were reasonable to doubt her, but it still hurt when Brynne accused her of bringing horrible stuff upon them for just seeing them. She could do better, she just knew it. She'd do anything to earn back their trust. After finally knowing these people she loved like her own family were real, Kara vowed she wouldn't lose them again.

"Please," she begged, "just let me prove to you that you can keep me around. I won't make any more mistakes."

Aru locked eyes with her. Kara just needed her to believe her. If her actual sister rejected her, she didn't think she'd be able to take that.

"I believe her," Aru said after a tense moment.

Mini shook her head. "Kara, you should go back to your family. Aren't they worried about you?"

Aren't they worried about you?

Kara didn't know. And honestly, she didn't want to. After all, she had her real family right here. So why would she waste time thinking about her adoptive mom who loved her and was probably frantically searching for her? Or her adoptive dad who made lame jokes all the time that never failed to make Kara smile? She was here, and that was all that mattered. Thinking about her other family could cause her to change her mind and turn back. One thing was for though. Kara was not going to turn back.

"Look, Kara, if Aru believes you, then I believe you," Brynne told her gently. "But you betrayed us once. With another one that could pose a serious threat to us, I don't like the thought that it could be you who is the traitor. The best way to prevent it is for you to not be here in the first place."

Kara took a deep breath to maintain her composure. "What will it take you to believe that I won't double cross you guys? You're my family. I'd never do it twice since you mean too much to me. Have you ever stopped to consider that it might be one of you who betrays someone?" They looked around at each other in shame, embarrassed by Kara's words. "That's what I thought. I might have helped the enemy once, but it doesn't mean I'd do it again."

Tears welled up in Kara's eyes. They were on the verge of falling when a heavenly voice interrupted the emotion filled silence. "Hey? I got the camp t-shirts for y'all, but it seems like I need more."

They all turned to see a pretty girl standing there, holding 4 orange shirts that seemed to match the one she was wearing. Kara noticed Aiden smiling at her, and a spark of jealousy shot through her heart. She knew he liked Aru after he kissed her right after rejecting Kara which she found a little rude, but she seemed to still have a crush on him. Love was never fair to her.

"Fantine, hey!" Brynne greeted, jogging over to take the shirts. She also seemed relieved at her interruption. "How'd you know our shirt sizes?"

"That is a closely guarded secret," she replied secretively. "I guessed," she explained at everyone's bewildered expression. "I can switch them out if they don't fit."

"What do I do with the leftover one?" Brynne asked.

"I'm going to deliver that to Jemisha next," Fantine responded. "Anything else?"

Mini gave her shirt back. "I need a size XS."

"I can help if you want," Kara offered.

Fantine's face lit up. "Great! I can even show you around camp while we're at it!"

~

"You don't have to worry about me stealing that guy you like," Fantine said once they were out of earshot of the others.

Kara felt her face heat up. "W-what?"

"I saw the way you looked at him," she explained simply. "It's too bad he's totally in love with Aru. There's other fish in the sea though. I'm sure you'll find one that's just as handsome and nice." Kara shook her head. "What about beautiful?"

"What? No, I'm not gay!" Kara objected. Her face had to have been the reddest it had ever been.

Fantine laughed. "Chill, it was just a question. But no matter what gender you like, I'm positive you'll find someone for you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm the daughter of the goddess of love," she explained. "It's kind of in my genes to believe in stuff like everyone has someone destined for them."

Well, that explains why she's so attractive, Kara thought. Where did that come from? "Do you have any really cool powers that are also in your genes?" she asked instead of thinking of her thoughts. Fantine probably just seemed that way to everyone. Nope, nothing to make Kara start worrying her sexuality about.

Fantine shook her head. "I don't have any, but children of Aphrodite occasionally have this thing called charm speak. Basically, they can convince someone to do whatever they want. I heard a rumor a while ago that a girl used it to steal a Mercedes. Or maybe it was a BMW. I can't remember. What about you?"

"That's really cool. All I can do is wield Sunny, my trident/ring around."

"All you can do?" Fantine asked in amazement. "You don't give yourself enough credit. That's pretty awesome!"

Not when you used it to kill your sister's dad that she finally got to reunite with after years of him being evil.

Kara slowed as they approached a building that looked like it had been drenched in black paint. She prayed it wasn't their destination, but of course they had to stop at the creepy building. Fantine knocked on the door that was also black. Seriously, did they just chuck a bucket of colorful paint out a window and say, "Why use color when we can use perfectly depressing, scary black?"

A face appeared in the doorway. She squinted in the harsh sunlight and stepped out to close the door behind her. "Hey, Fantine, person I've never met."

"I'm Kara," she introduced. The girl seemed to fit right in with the spooky theme of the building with her violet eyes and dark skin, hair, and clothes. It was like everything was made to match the building. Even the flowers were dark colors.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jemisha." She turned to Fantine. "Is this about the camp shirts? I don't need one. Cynthia insists on us making our own because the orange is too bright for their whole thing or whatever. It's actually pretty cool though."

Fantine groaned. "Since when was this job so hard? Come on, it's time to go exchange one shirt and put another back."

"See you around!" Kara told Jemisha. She hadn't realized she was tense before, but she thought she saw Jemisha's body relaxed as she retreated into the darkness of the building.

Shrieks of fear echoed around camp. "Just a prank," Fantine reassured. "It's nothing to worry about."

"What was that place?" Kara asked when they headed back to the main camp. She saw some blond haired kids running away from one of the cabins. That was probably where the screams were from.

"That was Nyx's cabin. Her children stay there. Jemisha just got here a day earlier, so she's still trying to get situated. It's hard, especially with that new prophecy," Fantine explained.

"New prophecy?"

"When the queen of darkness arrives,
Only a few shall strive.

Look for the thief, the queen,
The children with souls unforeseen.

Beware the traitor
And the choices that await her. 

Bring back the light
Or be plunged in endless night."

"I don't get it," Kara admitted.

Fantine shrugged. "No one else does either, but part of it might be due to the horrible rhyming."

"Is it normally that bad?" Kara asked.

They laughed and walked in silence for a bit before Fantine asked her the question she'd been dreading. "So how'd you get here?"

Kara felt the sob in her throat begin to form again. She didn't want to think about it; it was too painful.

~

The moonlight bathed Kara's room in a gentle glow as she got ready for bed. Her teeth were brushed, her hair had been braided, she had changed into her pjs, her mother had already told her good night, and all that was left was to get into bed. She turned on her nightlight and crawled under the covers, watching the stars that danced across the ceiling from her nightlight. She hugged her teddy bear and closed her eyes.

Kara dreamed of clouds covering up the moon. Shadows extinguished the stars on her ceiling. And then she was back in the Sleeper's cave watching Aru sleep.

Then it seemed to fast forward to when she met Brynne, Mini, and Aiden who she immediately had a crush on.

She remembered going on a quest to Lanka and everything that happened.

She remembered telling Aru they couldn't cross the ocean, and convincing everyone to believe her and not Aru.

She remembered how Aru proved her wrong and the small tinge of jealousy.

She remembered finding out who she really was and betraying her friends to join the Sleeper.

She remembered helping him navigate the maze and break the shield to get to the amrita.

She remembered Sheela trying to tell her that she was on the wrong side.

She remembered betraying the Sleeper.

She remembered the battle that ensued afterwards.

She remembered murdering Suyodhana.

Kara woke up in front of the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. She didn't know how she got there. She recognized it from her dreams though, so she walked in.

When she pushed open the doors, she saw Rudy trying to put stuff in his backpack. When he saw her, his eyes widened.

"You're not supposed to be here," he said. He closed his backpack, forgetting to grab an Oreo from the box that was right next to him for Boo who was perched on his head. "Come with me. Your sisters are going to want to see you."

~

"Are you okay?" Fantine asked.

Kara nodded, the forming in her eyes. "I'm fine," she responded weakly.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Kara started telling her about what happened that night, her dream, suddenly appearing in front of the museum, and everything else. Once she started, she couldn't stop. It was like trying to hold back water with an old dam that could collapse at any moment. Soon, it broke and wave after wave came.

Once she was done, Fantine just hugged her until Kara stopped crying. She noticed the snot stains on Fantine's shirt after she had calmed down. "Sorry about ruining your shirt," she apologized.

Fantine gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't be. I can always get a new one. In fact, we still need to exchange the shirts, remember?"

Kara nodded and sniffled. They continued on to finish their job without anymore problems.

Just a side note, someone pointed out to be that Nidra was already a character in Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality, so the Nidra in here has been renamed to Reverie unless anyone has a better name idea.