Aru Shah and the Song of Death

by Roshani Chokshi

  Its claws started spinning like manic drills, and it thrust them far into the ground. Black sand flew everywhere. Mini tried to create a shield, but she wasn’t fast enough. Aiden dropped his scimitars, his hands going straight to his eyes. Sandy grit sprayed Aru’s face. She fumbled for the lightning bolt, but without being able to see it, she couldn’t channel it properly. She might hit Mini or Aiden by accident.

  Vibrations rattled through the sand, then they stopped.

  “Coming to get youuuuu,” sang the crab, coming closer.

  The crab was right. It could not carry a tune worth its life.

  “Jeez, that’s awful,” Aru muttered.

  Aru felt the crab looming over her. Blearily, she saw Vajra’s light pulsing. The crab stabbed its pincers into the ground again. Aru braced herself, ready to thrust up the lightning bolt…. Then the crab’s stomach gurgled loudly.

  “Mother?” The crab groaned. “I don’t feel so good….”

  Aru’s vision finally cleared. She opened her eyes to see the crab’s mouth widening, a blue light filling its jaws.

  It took Aru less than a second to realize that she needed to get out of the way.

  Unfortunately, that was still too late.

  Brynne had taken the form of an elephant. She trumpeted victoriously, standing at the lip of the crab’s mouth. The crab swayed and started gagging, and then something spewed out of it. That spewed-out something started to yell.

  “CANNONBALL!” Brynne trumpeted.

  “Wait! NO! Brynne—” Aru started.

  Just before Brynne landed on Aru, she transformed back into her human girl self. That said, her human girl self wasn’t exactly light.

  Aru got flattened.

  And doused with crab puke.

  “That can’t be hygienic,” said Mini.

  The crab pulled its legs into its shell and moaned in pain.

  Brynne got off Aru and summoned a bubble bath with her mace to clean them up. Her face shone with triumph. “How’d I do?”

  Aiden and Mini rushed over, grinning.

  Aru continued to lie on her back, Vajra glowing weakly beside her. “Can I borrow your spine?” she croaked. “I think I broke mine.”

  The others hauled her up, and the four of them faced the monstrous crab. It looked less like a monster now. The only thing that stuck out of its shell were its two eyes, slanted in fury.

  “That,” it said, “was tricksy. As soon as I have the energy, I will eat you—”

  “I don’t think so,” said Aru. “I held up my part of the bargain.”

  “You did no such thing!” said the crab. “You were supposed to feed me. Am I fed? No. Am I thoroughly disgusted? Yes. Notice how those are two entirely different things.”

  Aru hated it when people spoke in rhetorical questions. Her computer science teacher did that all the time. Is teaching you kids how to use Microsoft Excel the highlight of my day? No, it is not. And am I excited about today’s “funky mushroom” lunch special? No, I am not.

  “Actually, the command from Lord Varuna and Lady Varuni was to fill your belly.”

  Brynne took a bow. “Consider your belly filled.”

  “But it didn’t stay full…” protested the crab.

  “The gods never specified how long your stomach was supposed to stay full. You should always read the tiny print,” said Aiden. “That’s what my dad says. He’s a lawyer.”

  “Go easy on your stomach for a while,” suggested Mini. “You shouldn’t eat anything after you vomit up an elephant.”

  “Mother will hear about this,” said the crab darkly.

  It dug a hole in the sand, and disappeared into it.

  An exit light blinked into existence at the other end of the arena.

  “That was sick,” said Aiden, grinning. “Literally.”

  Brynne strode over and raised her hand in a high five. “We did it!”

  Mini squeaked out, “Gross! Elbows only!”

  Her elbow-bumps with Mini and Aiden were fine, but Aru was pretty sure Brynne’s damaged her funny bone.

  “Ow,” said Aru, rubbing her arm even as she smiled. “Easy, Brynne. We get it, you’re a beast.”

  Brynne dropped her arm, her face stricken. “I’m a what?”

  Aru looked from Mini to Aiden. Had she said something wrong? Mini looked just as confused, but Aiden’s face crumpled with sympathy. Maybe beast meant something totally different to Brynne than it did to Aru. Too late, Aru remembered how Brynne had expected them to make fun of her after she’d turned into a swan near Kamadeva’s abode.

  “A beast,” said Aru, trying for lightness. “You know, like superstrong! It’s a good thing. Honest.”

  Brynne looked to Aiden, and he nodded in confirmation.

  “Okay,” said Brynne uncertainly. “Sometimes people don’t say that like it’s a good thing. Especially when you’re part asura.”

  Aru made a pish sound. “They’re just jealous.”

  “Of me?”

  “Duh.”

  Brynne’s smile was shy and quick but then turned into a smug grin. “I mean, obviously. Now let’s go, I’ll lead the way.”

  And with that, she strode to the exit with her shoulders thrown back and her head held high.

  “Wait,” said Mini. “Where do you think that exit leads?”

  “I don’t know,” said Aru. “It could open into the ocean….”

  “Maybe there’s a transportation pod waiting for us outside?” Mini asked hopefully.

  Brynne stopped and turned around. “Well, I’m not staying in here any longer. Aiden?”

  “Just a sec,” said Aiden. He pulled the kit of “unidentified necessities” from his camera bag. “I’ve got us covered. With these inflatable air-bubble helmets, we’ll be able to breathe underwater. Just in case.”

  He handed one to each of them, but Aru waved hers away. “Don’t need it,” she said.

  The others looked at her in a combination of shock and disbelief.

  “Honest,” said Aru. “How do you think I got here? Somehow I can walk, breathe, and even talk to fish underwater.” She tried to say it like it was no big deal, but Brynne still scowled at her.

  “What?” said Aru. “I guess we both have friends in high places.” She remembered how Vajra had been stronger than the other celestial weapons in the crab’s arena. Why is that? she wondered.

  Brynne shrugged, still frowning. She inflated her air bubble and put it on over her head. The helmet automatically tightened around her neck in a perfect fit. Mini followed suit, and they started toward the door.

  Before putting on his own helmet, Aiden fell into step beside Aru. “I can tell that Brynne does like you guys. Honest.”

  Aru almost snorted. “How do you know?”

  He shrugged. “I just know.”

  “How’d you two even become friends?” asked Aru.

  Aiden got quiet. “Brynne has always been bullied because she’s part asura. One time, when some of the Otherworldly kids were trying to make her change shape by accident, I kinda, um, cursed them.”

  “What? You can do that?”

  “My mom is an apsara,” he said haughtily. “I’ve got some abilities.”

  “I thought your mom is a biologist?”

  “She is now,” said Aiden, his face turning red. “She was an elite apsara once, but to marry my dad, she had to give up her place in the heavens.”

  Give up her place? Considering how famous she once was, Aru thought, she must have given up a lot….

  “So what other kinds of abilities do you have?”

  “Not important,” said Aiden quickly. “Long story short: I had Brynne’s back, and she’s had mine ever since.”

  Oh, thought Aru, feeling somewhat…lopsided. It made sense that he and Brynne would be so close. What didn’t make sense was the stab of jealousy she felt. It wasn’t like she’d known Aiden very long.

  “Good for you,” she said stiffly.

  Aiden gave her a weird look but she ignored it,
jogging ahead to Brynne and Mini and shouting, “What’s Aiden’s secret apsara power?”

  Brynne started laughing. “It’s actually kinda great, Aiden can—”

  “Nope!” hollered Aiden. “I am invoking the best-friend rule, Brynne! Don’t!”

  Brynne sighed. “Fine.”

  Okay, now Aru had to find out.

  “Why don’t we have best-friend rules?” Mini asked Aru.

  “Because we defy rules, dude.”

  Mini hung her head. “But I don’t like defying rules.”

  Even with their helmets (or Pandava power, in Aru’s case) on, they each took a deep breath before Brynne pulled the door open. But it wasn’t necessary. The corridor on the other side was dry.

  Varuna and Varuni stood there arguing.

  “I told you so!” said Varuni primly. She sipped on something that looked like tomato juice and had a piece of celery sticking out of it.

  “Well, you have divine knowledge!” huffed Varuna. “You already knew they’d be fine!”

  “I knew no such thing,” she insisted. “You lost the bet, my love, which means…”

  Varuna sighed. “No iPad for a month.”

  “Think of all the quality time we can spend together!”

  Varuna grumbled something that sounded a lot like I hate quality time.

  Aiden, Mini, and Brynne removed their helmets and paid their respects to the water gods.

  “I kept up my end of the deal,” said Aru. “Please grant us passage to the naga treasury.”

  “Okay, fine,” said Varuna. “The tunnel on the right will lead you there. We’ll remove the water so you can traverse it. But keep in mind, I said nothing about this tunnel being safe. It hasn’t been accessed in thousands of years. Who knows what surprises might lie in your path.”

  “And remember to keep my words close, daughter of Indra,” said Varuni, tapping her drink. “A tongue like a whip…”

  “Oh, and one more thing, Pandavas,” said the Lord of the Waters, ignoring Aiden’s usual protest about being lumped in with them. “The sea gives. But it also takes.”

  Mini Gets a (Spooky) New Power

  “Go into ancient tunnel. Check.”

  Aru held out Vajra as a lantern, which revealed a ceiling of dark kelp waving above them like the tangles of a sea giant’s beard.

  Mini squeaked. “This is creepy.”

  “Says the girl in the goth outfit,” teased Aru.

  “I’m going to get eaten!”

  “They’d probably use you as a toothpick,” said Brynne. “I, on the other hand, would be an entrée.”

  Aru rubbed her temples. “I can’t believe you’re bragging about being eaten first. Who does that?”

  “Brynne does,” said Aiden. He clutched his camera protectively to his chest.

  “I’m just pointing out that I make a better meal,” said Brynne, twirling one of her dozens of trophy bracelets. “Than anyone.”

  They walked down the damp passage slowly. Mini had charmed Dee Dee into a spherical mirror that cast light and illuminated corners, but it still wasn’t enough to remove the undeniable essence of creepy that lurked there.

  “At least it’s mostly dry,” Aiden said cheerily. “I thought we were going to have to swim.”

  “Piece of cake for Aru. The rest of us? Not so much,” said Brynne. “How come you can do so much underwater? It makes no sense. Indra is the sky god, not the sea god.”

  Aru shrugged. “I dunno.”

  “Maybe your mom’s part nagini?” suggested Aiden.

  “Nope,” said Aru.

  “What about your real dad—?” Brynne tried, but Mini cut her off with a swift shake of her head.

  Aru pretended she hadn’t seen Mini’s gesture, but she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t heard the question. Her real dad. It sounded simple, but it wasn’t. The Sleeper might be her biological father, but he was also their enemy…the reason behind the demonic mischief, the shadow of fear that had fallen over the Otherworld, even their quest to find the thief of the god of love’s bow and arrow. When Aru thought of him, she didn’t picture the person who had cradled her as a baby…. She saw a puppet master pulling strings behind a dark curtain.

  “Well, that’s the only explanation I can think of,” said Aiden awkwardly. “Otherworld kids always inherit their parents’ traits.”

  “Does that mean you dance really well, Aiden?” asked Mini. “Like an apsara?”

  “I. Don’t. Dance.”

  “Um, yeah you do!” said Brynne, laughing. “One time, Aiden didn’t know I was there, and—”

  He clapped his hands over his ears. “La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la—”

  “I’d ask my soul dad where I got the underwater skills, but it’s not like he talks to me,” said Aru, mostly to herself, before adding, “ever.”

  Vajra glowed, and the light seemed sorrowful to her. Mini touched her shoulder briefly.

  After a time, Brynne said, “No Pandava’s soul dad is allowed to speak to them directly.”

  “Yours does,” Aru pointed out.

  Brynne’s shoulders fell. “Not…exactly. He keeps to the rules and doesn’t interfere, but he did sometimes send messages before I was officially claimed, through my half brother Hanuman. Not often, though. When I got my first Otherworld trophy, Vayu sent a tiny whirlwind of daisies to my room. And there’s other ways I know he cares…. Like, I never have to wait for my baking to cool. I just ask the air to blow on the food, and voilà! Room temperature. Pretty useful for cooking.”

  “Not to pry,” said Aru, totally prying, “but how long have you known you’re a Pandava?”

  Brynne shoved her hands deep into her pockets. “Since last autumn.”

  Autumn…Right around when Aru and Mini had gone on their first quest and into the Kingdom of Death.

  “I’ve always been really strong and stuff, but one day a car was heading straight for my uncle and I pushed it out of the way. The second I did it, I felt wind rushing through my blood. I know that sounds weird, but that’s what it felt like.” Brynne shrugged. “My uncles told me the soul of Bhima had awoken in me. They thought I was going to be summoned to go on the quest to stop the Sleeper. It made sense—Bhima was the second-oldest Pandava brother. But then”—she paused, swallowing hard—“but then no one came to get me. I figured the gods didn’t want an asura Pandava. I dunno.”

  Aru could picture it…. Brynne and her two uncles excited, waiting for her to go with Aru and Mini, because why wouldn’t she? Brynne was the kind of heroine people expected. Aru wasn’t. Brynne must have waited and waited…for nothing. Aru knew that feeling. It was the sinking sensation she got every time she was chosen last for a team during PE. Or when she wasn’t invited to a party. It sucked. And she was beginning to see why Brynne was so…well, Brynne. Part of her even felt guilty that she and Mini had been summoned first, and not her.

  “The gods just had you in reserve,” Aru said firmly. “They were saving you until they needed your specific skills, and that’s right now.”

  “I bet your uncles and parents are really happy you’re on this quest?” tried Mini.

  “My uncles are,” said Brynne, pulling at one of her bracelets. “I dunno about my parents. Never met my dad. My mom said he was a musician. As for Mom…she doesn’t really visit me. But I know she worries about me. I know she cares.”

  Aiden moved closer to Brynne, suddenly protective. Aru knew why. The last two things Brynne had said sounded jumbled together and flimsy, like unpracticed lies. Aru could detect those on the spot. She even recognized how Brynne held herself, shoulders up around her ears, gaze shifty. Like she was waiting for someone to call her bluff.

  “I’m sure she does,” agreed Aru.

  Brynne lowered her shoulders. When she looked at Aru, it wasn’t with snootiness or nastiness like before…. Instead, she looked relieved.

  The tunnel opened up into a courtyard.

  Perhaps, long ago, it had been part of a sea kingdom. But it was mostly dry now,
with just a few tidal pools scattered around the ruins—serpentine pillars and crumbled walls studded with sapphires and emeralds. The courtyard might have once been the site of glamorous parties. Fish spines crunched underfoot as they made their way across it, toward a massive black rock in the distance. The whole place felt…sad. Shriveled, somehow, like all the life had been sucked out of it.

  “I bet this was a grand naga palace once,” said Mini. She crouched down, plucking a piece of kelp off a broken coral-and-pearl chandelier.

  “It’s…it’s Uloopi’s old palace,” said Aiden. He had brushed aside some seaweed to read the writing on a collapsed wall. “It says her name…. ‘This palace was built in honor of Queen Uloopi and…and her consort, Prince Arjuna.’”

  That felt deeply weird to Aru, who carried his soul.

  “Um…say what now?” she asked.

  The others were looking at her as if she was supposed to know something about this place, but it was from—literally—lifetimes ago. It’s like when your parents show you a baby picture and say Remember when… and it’s physically impossible to remember that because you had like five brain cells at the time.

  “How’d Uloopi and Arjuna meet?” asked Aiden.

  “According to the stories, she saw him by the riverbank, thought he was cute, and took him into the ocean,” said Mini.

  Brynne nodded. “Aggressive. I like it.”

  “Nothing says romance like casually stalking someone and then dragging them underwater,” said Aru.

  “Well, when you say it like that…” said Brynne.

  Mini continued. “And then they got married, but he had to go back and fight in the great war against his cousins, the Kauravas, so he left. And then…I can’t remember, honestly. I think at one point she saved his life? With a magic jewel?”

  “But then what?” asked Aiden.

  Mini shrugged. “She lived with his wives in the palace after the great war, I guess.”

  “How many wives did you have?” Aiden asked Aru.

  She rolled her eyes. In the stories, it seemed like Arjuna collected wives as if it were a hobby. Get other hobbies! Aru always thought. Why couldn’t he have taken up stamp-collecting? Or fly-fishing?

  “Can we not use the word you?” said Aru. “Arjuna and I are completely different people. That’s like expecting Brynne to have the power of ten thousand elephants just because she’s Bhima reincarnated! Or asking Mini to rule a country now just because she’s got Yudhistira’s soul! I’m not Arjuna!”