Aru jolted upright. “My mom! I should—”
From the top of the staircase, Aru heard a door open and close, and then feet racing down the steps. Even without turning, she could feel her mother in the room. The burst of warmth. And the smell of her hair, which always reminded Aru of night-blooming jasmine.
When Aru spun around, her mother looked at her. Only her. Then she opened her arms, and Aru ran in for the hug of her life.
Got All That?
Boo, Mini, and Aru were sitting in the kitchen. Behind them, Aru’s mom was making hot cocoa and talking on the phone to Mini’s parents. Every time she walked past Aru, she dropped a kiss on her head.
“Do you think they’re awake yet?” asked Aru.
Poppy, Burton, and Arielle still hadn’t woken up yet. According to Boo, their proximity to the lamp when it was lit meant that they were going to be stuck in place for just a little bit longer than everyone else.
“I’d give it another twenty minutes,” said Boo. “Don’t worry, they’ll be fine and won’t remember a thing. Now, as to the question of training, it is natural that the Council of Guardians will want to train you. You’re the Pandavas, after all. And this fight is not done. The Sleeper will be adding to his army, and now we must do the same.”
Mini scowled. “Training classes…on top of school? Will that affect my normal extracurricular activities?”
“That’s like saying, Clean your room so you can do extra homework,” added Aru.
“Ungrateful children!” harrumphed Boo. “It’s an honor of the century! Several centuries, in fact!”
“But you’ll be right there with us, won’t you, Boo?”
At this, Boo bowed, his wings dragging on the floor. “It would be a privilege to train you, Pandavas,” he said. He raised his head but did not look at them. “You will still accept my tutelage knowing who I once was?”
Aru and Mini exchanged glances. They didn’t need to use their Pandava bond to know what the other was thinking. Aru thought about the version of the Sleeper she’d seen in her mom’s secrets. The kind-eyed man who thought he’d never become evil. Then she recalled who Boo had been in the stories. Once, Shakhuni had been evil and bent on revenge. He’d gotten himself cursed. But maybe curses weren’t all that terrible, because he’d saved their lives not only once, but twice. Maybe he wasn’t all bad or even all good. He was just…human. In pigeon form.
“People change,” said Aru.
It could have been her imagination, but Boo’s eyes looked particularly shiny, as if he were about to cry. He needled through his feathers with his beak. Nestled in all that boring gray was a single golden feather, which he extended to them.
“My troth,” he said solemnly.
“Troth?” repeated Mini. “Gross! Isn’t that what people do when they get married?”
“Ew!” said Boo.
“I’m a catch,” gasped Aru when she was done laughing.
“It’s a troth! Not a betrothal!” said Boo, looking thoroughly disgusted. “It’s a promise—of trueness. Of loyalty. I hereby pledge my troth to serve the cause of the Pandavas.”
Mini and Aru looked at each other. What now? Mini grabbed the Death Danda and tried to knight Boo, saying “Rise, Sir—” but Boo hissed and fluttered off to a different part of the museum.
Aru’s face hurt from grinning. She gazed out of the window panel on the left side of the door. Even though it wasn’t quite nighttime yet, the stars had begun to shoulder their way into the sky. Usually, she wasn’t able to see them so clearly, because of all the city smog and light pollution. But tonight the stars seemed close and bright. Twinkling, almost. A flash of lightning spidered across the sky, followed by a powerful bang of thunder. Mini jumped, but to Aru it was like the sound of applause. And she knew Indra was watching out for her.
“Everything’s going to be different now, isn’t it?” asked Mini, staring out of the window panel on the right side. “And it isn’t over. The Sleeper’s going to come back one day.”
“We’ll be ready,” said Aru fiercely.
I’ll be ready, she thought.
An hour later, Mini hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders. In her hands, the Death Danda had shrunk to the size of a purple compact. She stuffed it into her pocket.
“Do you want me to come with you?” asked Aru’s mom.
The stone elephant had once more knelt to the ground, lifted its trunk, and opened its mouth, offering Mini a way back home. The barest trace of magic stirred the air.
“No, that’s okay,” said Mini. “Thanks, Auntie.”
Some people might find it strange that Mini was already calling her Auntie when they’d only just met (although Mini did know a lot about Aru’s mom by now). But that’s how the girls had been raised. Anyone who was a friend of your parents was automatically called “auntie” or “uncle.”
“Your mother and I will talk again soon,” said Aru’s mom. “It’s…it’s been some time.”
“I know,” said Mini. And then she turned bright red. “I mean, I don’t know because I’ve, like, seen your deepest, darkest secrets or anything.”
Boo, who had only recently been filled in on everything, squawked loudly. It very clearly meant Shut up while you’re still ahead.
Mini threw her arms around Aru for one last hug. “See you soon,” she said.
And with that, she climbed through the elephant door. Boo watched her go, shouting, “Don’t forget to hydrate at home! Pandavas are always hydrated!”
Boo flew to the tip of the elephant’s trunk to address Aru’s mom. It’s not exactly intimidating when a pigeon speaks to you from the ground. Then again, a pigeon talking at all doesn’t conjure a portrait of solemn respectability.
“Krithika,” he said gently. “Perhaps we should have a few words.”
Aru’s mother sighed. She pulled her arm away from Aru’s shoulder, and Aru felt a rush of cold. Then she tilted Aru’s face and smoothed the hair away from her forehead. She looked at Aru hungrily. As if she had never looked at her long enough.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” she said to Aru. “I will answer them. All of them. But Boo is right, there are some things he and I need to discuss.”
“Can Boo live with us?”
“I’m not some stray you found on the side of the road!” huffed the pigeon.
“I’ll get you a nice cage?”
“I am not a pet!”
“I’ll hug you and squeeze you, and name you George—”
“I am an all-powerful sorcerer—”
“And I’ll get you the softest pillow.”
Boo cocked his head. “Pillow, you say? Well, I could use a nap—”
Before her mother could object, Aru said, “Yay! Thanks, Mom!”
Then she ran into the Hall of the Gods. If her mom and the rest of the world had recovered, then surely by now…
Aru flipped on the light switch. There, huddled in a corner with the broken remnants of the lamp’s glass case, stood Burton, Poppy, and Arielle. They were staring around the Hall of the Gods, utterly confused. They glanced at the smashed glass, then up at the window.
Arielle frowned. “I thought…I thought we got here in the afternoon?”
But all confusion disappeared when Poppy caught sight of Aru. “Knew it,” she said gleefully. “What a liar! You couldn’t even admit the truth, so you had to break the lamp? That’s pathetic.”
“I didn’t lie,” said Aru casually. “That lamp was totally cursed. I just got back from fighting an ancient demon in the lobby.”
Burton held up his phone. The red light started blinking. It was recording. “Wanna say that again?” he asked smugly.
“Sure,” said Aru, walking forward. “I lied. Sometimes I do that. I’ve got a big imagination. I try not to lie about important things, though. Here’s the truth: I just saved your lives. I even walked through the Kingdom of Death to do it.”
“Get help, Aru,” said Arielle.
“Can’t wait to show this to the whole school,” said Burton.
“I can prove it,” said Aru.