Up to now, Aru had never given much thought to how a word or sentence might taste. Sometimes when she said something mean, there was a bitter aftertaste. But when she spoke Valmiki’s mantra, she felt magic on her tongue, like fizzing Pop Rocks candy.
The last thing Aru saw before she touched the second key symbol on her mehndi map were some new words on the boulder. The poetry ants had spelled out what looked to be the very bad first draft of an epic poem (then again, all first drafts are miserable):
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT
WHEN GIRLS WITH PIGEON DID TAKE FLIGHT
TO STOP THE SLEEPER IN HIS QUEST
TO WAKE LORD SHIVA FROM HIS REST
A Trip to the Grocery Store
Something touched Aru as she was flung through the Otherworld. Claws scraping lightly against her. Aru didn’t feel safe. She had the prickly-neck sensation that someone was watching her. She looked down and saw something that nearly froze her blood:
The end coil of a thick black tail that was studded with stars.
It slithered over her feet. All the while she murmured, “Don’t look, don’t see, there’s no such thing as me.”
The whole thing lasted maybe a minute. All the while, Aru heard the Sleeper’s voice in her head. Just like your mother. Slippery and deceitful.
How could the Sleeper possibly have known her mom? Did that mean Mini’s mom was a hero, too? Not for the first (or last) time, Aru wondered why all this had been kept from her. How come Mini got to know and she didn’t?
Light broke over her. Aru looked around to see that she was standing in another parking lot. Mini and Boo were there, too. She couldn’t tell what city they were in, but it was a little warmer than the last place. Here, autumn gilded the world. The sky was bright, and the clouds seemed closer, as if they were weighed down by unspent rain.
“Why do we always end up in parking lots?” asked Mini.
“Better than in the middle of a road,” said Boo.
They were standing in front of a Costco. Bright red grocery carts were lined up next to bales of hay. The trees burned scarlet and saffron, so vivid they looked as if someone had covered each leaf with gold foil.
Aru’s palm itched. She glanced at her hand. The number eight had disappeared, replaced by a new, shining mark:
“What the heck does that mean?” asked Aru. “Please tell me the universe feels bad for us, and it’s Sanskrit for Treat yourself to a demonless day and not the number three, which it kinda looks like.”
Mini examined Aru’s hand. “It’s not the number three.”
“Yay!”
“It’s the number six.”
“WHAT?”
“Saat. Six,” read Mini. She frowned and turned to Boo. “But yesterday, our maps said we had eight days left! What happened?”
Boo shook out his wings. “Traveling through the Otherworld requires a cost. Time does not always adhere to mortal standards.”
“But that means…that means I’ve been awake for seventy-two hours,” squeaked Mini. “I should be dead! Am I dead?”
Aru pinched her.
“Ow!”
“Nope. Alive and kickin’.”
Mini rubbed her arm and glared.
“You’re Pandavas,” said Boo. “You need less sleep and food than mortals. But occasionally you do need something to keep your strength up. We’ll get some snacks inside.”
“Inside the Costco?” asked Aru.
Not that she had a problem with this. On the contrary, an industrial-size box of Oreos was just what she needed.
“That’s not an ordinary Costco,” said Boo proudly. “For Otherworld folks, it becomes a different store depending on who you are and what you need. For us, it will be the Night Bazaar. Inside, we’ll find the Seasons and ask them to design you some weaponry. After that, we’ll look for the second key.”
Aru dearly hoped the second key would be located next to an industrial-size box of Oreos. But all thoughts of Oreos quickly vanished with Mini’s next words.
“I’ll go anywhere as long as we don’t run into the Sleeper again. Did you see him when we left Valmiki?” she asked. “He was right next to me! I could’ve sworn he wanted something. He even touched me!” She shuddered. “At least I think it was him? It was just a giant snake tail. But it felt like him?”
“Did the Sleeper say anything to you?” asked Aru.
Mini frowned. “No. How ’bout to you?”
Aru stilled. “Earlier. The last time we tried to get to…wherever this is. He spoke in my mind and compared me to my mom. Called me deceitful like her. It was so weird.”
Boo looked as if he was trying to make himself smaller on top of Mini’s head.
“Do you know anything about this, Boo?” asked Aru.
“Me? No. Not a thing!” he squawked. “Come along!”
“If he figured out where we were last time, and he can find us when we’re traveling between places, he can probably do it again, even if we have the mantra to cover our tracks,” said Mini. “What do we do if the Sleeper catches up to us?”
“Run faster than the other person,” said Boo. And with that, he flew off toward the entrance to Costco.
Aru was about to make a joke to Mini, but she had turned on her heel and was jogging into the jungle of parked cars and abandoned shopping carts.
“Hey! Mini! There you are!” shouted Aru.
Aru had circled Costco Parking Lot Section A twice before she saw her. Mini was curled up on the hood of a minivan that boasted MY CHILD IS AN HONORS STUDENT.
When Aru walked up to her, Mini didn’t turn her head. She just kept tracing the Sanskrit symbol on her left palm.
“You’re going to leave me behind, aren’t you?” asked Mini softly.
“What? Why do you think that?”
“I’m not as good as you are at…at this….I wasn’t even supposed to be going on any quests or anything! The first time my mom ever took me to the Otherworld, I threw up. The threshold guardians didn’t even let me past.”
“That’s better than me,” said Aru. “My mom never even took me to the Otherworld. At least your mom told you about all this stuff.”
“She had to,” sniffed Mini. “She’s a panchakanya.”
“What’s that?” asked Aru. She could break down what the words meant, but it didn’t help her understand.
Panch. Five.
Kanya. Woman.
“It’s the sisterhood Mom’s always talking about. Five women who are reincarnations of legendary queens from the ancient stories. These days their job is to raise and protect us.”
“So my mom is part of this…sisterhood?” asked Aru.
“I guess,” said Mini a little rudely.
Aru knew why Mini’s tone had changed. They had started off talking about Mini’s feelings, and now they were back to talking about Aru. But Aru couldn’t help herself. There was so much she didn’t know…and so much she wanted to know.
“Do you know who the other women are? Do they talk on the phone? Have you met the other Pandavas? Are they all girls our age?”
Mini shook her head. “Sorry.” Then her eyes narrowed. “Why? Do you wish you had a different Pandava with you, instead of me?”
“I’m not saying that….”
“You’re not not saying that,” said Mini. “But it’s fine. I’m used to it. Second choice for everything. I’m always getting left behind.”
“Is this about what Boo said? That the slowest one of us is going to get caught by the Sleeper?”
She nodded, sniffling.
“Boo was just being Boo. He’s a pigeon.”
As if being a pigeon explained a lot of nasty behavior. But in Boo’s case, the observation rang true.
“I just…don’t want to be left behind.” Her eyes welled with tears. “It happens to me all the time, and I hate it.”
“Did you get chased by a monster with someone else?”
Mini laughed, but because she was crying, it sounded like a wet hiccup. Aru scooted away a little. The last thing she wanted on her was snot. She was already covered in monster ashes.