Aru Shah and the Song of Death

by Roshani Chokshi

  Pandava no more…

  Banished forever…

  If they failed, all those men turned Heartless would stay zombies! It seemed like a fate worse than death. Plus, if this generation’s Pandavas were exiled, who would stop the Sleeper?

  She glanced over at Mini, who looked like Aru felt: stricken. And then she realized that, if they failed, she wouldn’t even remember Mini. This whole life would be erased. This tiny claim to magic, this sense that, for the first time, she could breathe easy because she had found her home…It would all be taken from her. Simply because Queen Uloopi refused to believe the truth.

  Aru couldn’t let that happen.

  Vajra, now shaped like a humble bracelet, crackled against her wrist. She could feel her temper seething inside her chest, a hot pressure on her lungs that made it difficult to breathe. From his throne—which had transformed into a single golden tree branch suspended in the air—Boo made tiny don’t-do-it! gestures with his whole body. Aru ignored him. She opened her mouth to speak….

  But someone beat her to it.

  “Are you serious?” demanded Brynne.

  Aru looked over at her. There were tears in the other girl’s eyes. All the color had drained from her face.

  “Tasked as I am with maintaining law and order in the Otherworld, I find no reason to joke about these matters,” said Uloopi coldly.

  The rest of the Council looked grave and solemn. Even through her own fury, Aru could sense that Uloopi took no pleasure in this. But the person beside her—Takshaka—didn’t seem to mind at all. The corner of his mouth twitched.

  “Do the Pandavas find Queen Uloopi unmerciful?” he asked with a sneer. “Hersss was the deciding vote in allowing you to prove your innocence. The witness’s photo didn’t fool me.” He flicked his tongue in Brynne’s direction. “I know firsthand how manipulative anyone of asura lineage can be, even if she isss a Pandava.”

  Brynne’s lower lip trembled for just an instant, but she quickly set her jaw and glared at the serpent king.

  So Brynne was part asura. That would explain why she could shape-shift—only asuras and rakshasas had that ability. While being an asura or rakshasa didn’t automatically make someone demonic, it did make them harder to trust. Aru had seen Otherworld people act suspicious—even cruel—toward them.

  But if Brynne really was the thief, she wouldn’t look so upset. And Aru had to admit that Fake Aru had been convincing. It was…possible…that Brynne really had been trying to catch the true culprit.

  Aru quickly shared her thoughts with Mini, whose response was brief: I don’t think she’s the thief.

  “Don’t worry, Pandavas. If you fail, a new batch of warriors will come along,” Takshaka said. “It doesn’t matter.”

  It doesn’t matter. Aru felt those words clang through her. She didn’t matter.

  “You’re wrong,” she said quietly.

  Mini sniffled, nodding fiercely. “We’ll prove it.”

  Uloopi looked at Aru, Brynne, and Mini as if she were seeing them for the first time. Finally she said, “What a strange vessel for such a soul,” eyeing Aru. She sighed, sounding as if she had needed a nap for the past five thousand years. “I have a great-grandson your age.”

  Aru’s eyebrows skated up her forehead. What?

  That was not what she had expected Uloopi to say.

  But maybe raising her eyebrows was the completely wrong thing to do, because Uloopi’s face darkened.

  “What?” she spat viciously. “Did you think that because my son with Arjuna died in battle I was supposed to mourn for the rest of my days? No! I had a kingdom to rule! People who looked up to me! I was not just someone’s wife.”

  Aru glanced between Brynne and Mini. Mini shook her head like I have no idea what is happening.

  “Um, I never said that you—”

  “I have had as many consorts”—it took Aru a second to remember that consort was just a fancy word for spouse—“as there are days in a year. And as many children as there are flowers in the world!”

  “That’s…a lot?” offered Aru.

  “Can you lay eggs?” asked Mini. “I’m just thinking how, statistically, that would work. A wax scale insect can lay more than ten thousand eggs in one sitting! Ow! Aru, why are you elbowing me?”

  Something about Uloopi’s face told Aru that the naga queen did not appreciate being asked if she could lay eggs.

  Boo flew in front of their faces, flapping wildly. “Your Majesty, the girls mean no disrespect. They are very, very, very young. Eons younger than you and—”

  Uloopi raised her eyebrows. “Eons?”

  Boo’s feathers poufed in embarrassment. “Which is not to say that you’re ancient, except you are, but not in a way that—”

  “This wearies me,” said Uloopi, rising up on her coils. “I have issued my proclamation. You have ten days, Pandavas. Return what was stolen to restore the Heartless to their former selves. Or be banished.”

  Beside her, Takshaka made a slit in the cloud floor, creating an opening that was probably a portal back to the naga realm. Without another word or glance, Uloopi slipped through and disappeared. Takshaka, though, took his time. He swung his head in their direction. And even though Aru knew he couldn’t see her, she felt the weight of his attention. It made her shudder, and she instinctively called Vajra into her hand as a lightning bolt.

  “Good luck,” he said.

  It didn’t sound like he meant it.

  And then both of them were gone, leaving Aru and Mini alone with a new quest…and a new sister.

  The other Council members bent their heads, whispering together.

  Brynne tossed her wind mace over her shoulder. “Right,” she said, all businesslike. “I would be honored to clear our names. You two stay here—”

  “No way!” said Aru. “Me and Mini have done this before.” She summoned Vajra to her hand. “We’re the professionals. You stay here.”

  “‘Professionals’ is kind of a stretch,” Mini mumbled.

  From her throne, Urvashi snapped her fingers and pointed at Brynne. “You are not going alone.”

  “Why? Just because I wasn’t on some quest where these two got lucky?” demanded Brynne. “I could’ve gotten it done faster. I’ve been training in the Otherworld for years. Have you?”

  Aru decided not to point out that she and Mini were in the middle of remedial classes.

  “So what if you’ve had training?” shot back Aru. “As far as I remember, you weren’t with us.”

  Brynne turned red. “I would have if…” She stopped herself, her hand turning to a fist at her side. “Whatever.”

  “Why don’t we start over,” said Mini, putting herself between Aru and Brynne. “Three heads are better than two! Unless it’s like craniopagus parasiticus, which wouldn’t be good, but that only happens in four cases out of ten million—”

  Boo interrupted by fluttering down and alighting on Aru’s shoulder. Aru reached up to pat his head, and the pigeon pecked her hand. “Not just the three of you,” he said.

  Aru smacked her forehead. “Oh, duh! And you, too, of course. What would we do without you, Boo?”

  “I am afraid my presence will not be allowed,” he said heavily. He looked back at the remaining Council of Guardians members. Urvashi had tears in her eyes. Hanuman looked stony. “It would seem that I am to be held in custody until such time as my allegiance against the Sleeper is proven.”

  Aru’s ears burned. Fury shot through her veins.

  “They can’t do that,” she said loudly. “You haven’t done anything wrong!”

  Boo sadly ruffled his feathers.

  “Do not worry,” he said. “I am permitted to send someone in my place. I have chosen the Council’s witness, someone who has proven himself committed to the truth. It is thanks to him that some Council members doubted that you stole the bow and arrow.”

  “I mean, good job and all, witness dude, but we don’t want him,” said Aru. “We want you.”


  “We don’t even know who he is,” pointed out Mini.

  Boo held up a wing. “I am getting to that. He is a brilliant student: exceptional with a sword, familiar with the Otherworld—thanks to his semidivine lineage—and quite knowledgeable. As a student of ours, it is his duty to fight on behalf of the devas alongside this generation’s Pandavas. Therefore, he has been granted temporary Pandava security clearance.”

  Right on cue, a door opened in the sky, and the clouds parted. Sunrays illuminated the court.

  Aru considered herself something of a “film buff” (a phrase she only recently learned did not mean that watching movies gave you muscles). She knew a lot about Bollywood movies in particular. There was a formula to them: Someone always got slapped. Someone always cried. The movies almost always ended with a wedding. And, oh right, everyone knows when the love interest shows up, because the wind starts magically blowing their hair.

  At that moment, wind started blowing. But that was because Brynne had dropped her mace. Aru literally started choking on the rush of air. Then Mini panicked and started clapping her on the back, which didn’t help. In the middle of a coughing spell, Aru lost hold of Vajra.

  “Uh-oh,” said Brynne.

  Aru looked up in time for Vajra to bonk her on the head, knocking her to the ground. “Ughhhhh,” she said, rubbing her crown. “Today is not my day.”

  In the midst of all this chaos, a boy walked up to them. He was tall, with sandy brown skin. A shock of black hair fell over his forehead, and he wore a dark green long-sleeved hoodie, faded jeans, and bright red sneakers. Slung against his hip was a serious-looking camera.

  “Girls,” said Boo, “allow me to introduce your companion, Aiden Acharya.”

  Aiden? As in the dimpled, curly-haired new boy at school? The person she accidentally word-vomited to and told him she knew where he lived? He made eye contact with Aru for a split second before quickly looking away.

  Aru pinched Vajra, and the lightning bolt sent a shock through her skin. Well, she was definitely awake. Aru could forget about today not being her day.

  Nope, thought Aru. Today is cancelled.

  This Is Fine. Really

  Aru did not have a crush. That was for certain. What she had was a desire not to look like someone who combed their hair with a fork and thought eggs grew on trees or something equally ridiculous. That was all. She especially didn’t want to look like that to someone who smelled nice and had dark eyes and who had only been in school for, like, a second and was already more popular than Aru could ever dream of becoming, even if she brought an actual elephant to class and cookie cake to homeroom for the rest of the year.

  “Called it!” shrieked Brynne happily, punching Aiden in the arm. “Knew you’d come through.”

  He winced before grinning back. “Always.” He held up a picture on his phone. “Managed to get a shot of you and the thief who shape-shifted into Aru, and then the real Aru in the background.”

  In the picture, Brynne and Fake Aru looked like they were in the middle of an epic battle. In the background, Real Aru looked like she was in the middle of an epic sneeze. Great.

  “I thought this would be enough to prove it, but the Council didn’t believe me,” he said unhappily. “Do I still get lasagna as a reward?”

  Brynne laughed. “Depends on whether Gunky has any left over.”

  Aru and Mini glanced at each other and shrugged. It seemed Brynne and Aiden were friends. Good enough friends, apparently, to share lasagna and know someone named Gunky. What?

  Brynne paused, looking between Aru and Aiden. “But…how’d you know her name?”

  Aiden looked over at her. His expression got a little strange. “She, um, goes to school with me and lives across from my house.”

  “Wait,” said Brynne. A slow smile spread across her face as she spun one of the dozens of gold bracelets on her wrist. “The girl across from you?” She turned to Aru, her eyes sparkling. “Are you the one who said ‘I know where you live’? The creepy stalker girl?” Then she started to laugh.

  Aru really wished her cloud slippers would fail so she could fall through the sky. Bright red spots appeared on Aiden’s cheeks. But he didn’t deny talking about her with Brynne. In that second, whatever scrap of something she might have almost felt for him died on the spot.

  Aiden Acharya was officially cancelled. Along with today.

  “I was tired,” said Aru. “I said something weird. Get over it.”

  “Yeah!” added Mini. “That’s nothing! Aru says lots of weird things. You get used to it.”

  “Awesome. Thanks, Mini.”

  Mini beamed.

  Boo looked between Aru, Aiden, Brynne, and Mini and mumbled something that sounded like Why is this my lot?

  “It is time,” said Urvashi, appearing at Boo’s side.

  Hanuman popped up, too. “Say your good-byes.”

  “Now that we have survived introductions,” Boo said to them, “I must go.”

  Aru’s heart lurched. She had to get back that bow and arrow. She couldn’t lose her Pandava life, and she wouldn’t let Boo pay for a crime he didn’t commit. Boo might have done bad things in his past, but that was then…. Now he was like family. When he was in a good mood, he sometimes told her bedtime stories—except he called them evening lectures and flat-out refused to say once upon a time.

  Urvashi waved her hand and a dainty golden bar appeared in the air.

  “What is that?” asked Mini warily.

  Urvashi gently lifted Boo from Aru’s shoulder. The golden bar floated over to him and settled across the back of his neck. He hung his head. Then each end of the bar folded down and clamped his wings.

  “You can’t do that to him!” said Aru and Mini at the same time.

  Urvashi looked away. “We do not have a choice. It is the law that all possible accomplices are held in custody until they are proven innocent.”

  “What about ‘innocent until proven guilty’?” asked Aru. “You didn’t even read him his Miranda rights!”

  Boo whispered to Mini, “Who’s Miranda?”

  Aru felt proud that her Law & Order marathons had finally come to good use, but Hanuman and Urvashi did not seem impressed.

  “The four of you can change his fate,” said Hanuman, placing a large hand on Aru’s shoulder. “Find the bow and arrow to reverse the state of the Heartless. Because you are suspects, there is little we can do to help. The law is the law.”

  Aru felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach.

  “Wait—” said Mini, rummaging through her backpack. “One for the road.” She held up a cookie.

  “An Oreo!” said Boo, brightening. “Sweet girl. Thank you.”

  Mini stuck it in his beak.

  Urvashi murmured a few words, and Boo dissolved into the ether.

  “Where did you send him?” Aru demanded.

  “Don’t worry. He will be comfortable,” assured Hanuman.

  Aru said nothing. Mini clutched her backpack tight to her chest. Beside them, Aiden fiddled with the strap of his camera. Aru rarely saw him without that camera in school. Even though Aiden was only one year above her, in eighth grade, apparently his photographs were so good that the high school newspaper, the Vorpal Blade, often used them. Aru scowled. If he was such an important witness, he should’ve taken better photos of the fight between Brynne and Fake Aru. Then Boo wouldn’t be locked up, and she and Mini wouldn’t be at risk of banishment from the Otherworld.

  Hanuman let out a long exhale, his gaze falling on Brynne. The moment he looked at her, Brynne went from smug to serious. She slipped her mace off her shoulder and held it respectfully by her side.

  “Brynne.”

  “Bhai,” said Brynne in a small voice.

  Bhai meant brother.

  “You have a great task ahead of you,” said Hanuman.

  Brynne gripped her mace tighter. “I know.”

  Mini nodded. “We all know.”

  “Remember,” Hanuman said in a tone tha
t Aru had come to recognize as trust-me-I’m-super-wise, “nobody wins when the family feuds.”

  Aru frowned. “Did you just quote Jay-Z?”

  Aiden started snickering, but he stopped short when Brynne glared at him.

  Hanuman’s tail switched, and he scowled. “What? No. Okay, maybe. Listen, I don’t know where I hear everything. I’ve been around a while, kid. Now, my advice is to go home and pack what you need. Afterward, report immediately to Urvashi in the Warehouse of Quest Materials.”

  Warehouse? Aru had never heard of a place like that….

  Urvashi waved her hand, and a portal appeared in the sky. “Aiden, I’ve already spoken with your mother. She sent some belongings ahead to Brynne’s house. It’ll be easier for you to travel from there.”

  “It’s technically a penthouse,” corrected Brynne.

  Aru rolled her eyes.

  “Thanks, Masi,” Aiden said to Urvashi.

  Okay, now Aru had many questions. First, it didn’t seem like Aiden was shocked by the idea of going to Brynne’s penthouse (chill, Brynne), so he must go there a lot. Second, Urvashi was his aunt? He’d called her masi, which is a way of addressing your mom’s sister, but Aiden couldn’t possibly be her nephew. Urvashi and her three sisters were ultra-elite apsaras, and as such weren’t allowed to marry mortals. But Boo had said Aiden was only semidivine.

  “C’mon,” said Brynne excitedly. “If we pack fast enough, there might be time for my uncles to feed us lasagna. I’m starving.” Without a single word to Aru or Mini, she disappeared through the portal.

  Aiden hesitated. Then he said to Urvashi, “Did my mom say anything else? I don’t mind stopping by home first if she needs me….”

  Urvashi’s face softened. “I wouldn’t do that, child. You know how hard things are for her right now. Just know she sends her love.”

  “Fine,” said Aiden, but his jaw seemed tight. He barely looked at Aru and Mini. “See you soon.”

  Aru stepped out of the stone elephant’s mouth and onto the floor of the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. It was 7:00 p.m., so all the visitors had left and Aru could take a moment to breathe deep, closing her eyes. She smelled the polished bronze of the statues, the ink that the museum’s head of security, Sherrilyn, used to stamp guests’ hands as they entered, and even the candied fennel seeds in brass bowls that her mom had left out for visitors. It smelled like home.