Once they were safely out of the creature’s mouth, they followed the stone path that wound around the cave that wasn’t a cave at all but a gigantic whale thing.
When Aru looked up, the top of the creature was concealed by clouds. Strange protrusions that Aru had thought were just rocks now looked a lot more like fins covered in sharp barnacles. Streams of water ran down the sides, like someone was continually pouring liquid over the monster.
“It’s a timingala, by the way,” said Mini, following her gaze. “At least, I think it is.”
“Never heard of those.”
“They’re basically giant whale sharks out of the stories.”
“I thought whale sharks were supposed to be friendly. And not have teeth!” said Aru. “That was the rudest one ever. It basically tried to kill us with halitosis.”
“It was just doing its job! Besides, it was a celestial guard whale shark,” Mini pointed out. “And it had all those weapons stuck in its mouth, poor thing. Imagine if you had to spend the rest of your life with sharp popcorn stuck in your teeth. Just thinking about it makes me want to floss more than twice a day.”
“You floss twice a day?”
“Of course,” said Mini. “Don’t you?”
“Um.”
“Aru…Do you even floss?”
Aru considered herself extremely lucky if she remembered to brush her teeth at night, much less floss. Sometimes, when she was running late for school, she’d just eat toothpaste. In fact, she wasn’t even sure they had floss in the house.
“Of course I do.” When I’ve got something stuck in my teeth.
Mini was skeptical. “If you don’t floss, that can lead to tooth decay. And if that happens, the tooth decay can spread into your sinuses, and then get behind your eyes, and then enter your brain, and then—”
“Mini, if you say You die, I will actually die just because you keep saying it.”
“You’re my sister. It’s my familial duty to make sure that you survive.”
Aru tried not to smile. You’re my sister. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get tired of hearing that.
“I’m doing fine so far. And I’ve got all my teeth. Death: zero. Aru: um, at least four.”
Mini just shook her head and kept walking. Everyone knew that the only way out of the Kingdom of Death was to enter a new life. Which meant that the only exit lay through the Pool of Reincarnation. But they didn’t have to be reincarnated, or so Chitrigupta had said. So that meant there must be another way out of the Kingdom of Death. At least, she hoped so.
Aru wanted nothing more than to get out of the Kingdom of Death. First of all, it stank. Second of all, she was starving. Third of all, she wouldn’t even be able to brag about going there. Final destination was not as impressive as a destination vacation. It was just flat-out terrifying.
But she had to admit that part of her was excited to see the Pool of Reincarnation.
How did the Kingdom of Death decide what people got to be next? Was there some kind of checklist? You met the minimum number of good deeds, so you get to avoid premature balding in your next life. Or Enjoy being a cockroach! On the upside, at least you’ll survive a nuclear disaster.
Yet that would have to wait.
Because there was another pool they had to visit first: the Pool of the Past. This was the only place where they could finally learn how to defeat the Sleeper.
Aru and Mini walked around the bend, only to end up in a hall of windows.
Thousands upon thousands of windows looked out onto worlds that Aru had never considered real. Lands where there were palaces of snow and palaces of sand. Places where sea creatures with rows of eyes blinked back at them from the other side of the glass. It made sense that every place should have a connection to death. Death had some claim everywhere. Death was in the wind coaxing a flower to blossom. Death hid in the wing of the bird folding itself to sleep. Death was in every breath she inhaled.
Aru had never given much thought to death before now. No one she knew had died. She’d never had to mourn anyone.
She assumed she’d be full of sadness on the day that happened. But walking through the Kingdom of Death, she felt a drowsy sort of peacefulness, like balancing on the border of sleeping and waking.
In the distance, Aru heard the sound of machinery. Wheels gnashed and ground. Around them, the atmosphere had changed. The walls had that iridescent quality of polished oyster shells. Stalactites made of paper spiraled down from the ceiling.
“These must be Chitrigupta’s archives,” said Mini. She reached for one of the papers and read aloud: “‘On May seventeenth, Ronald Taylor jumped into the Arctic Ocean yelling “Sea unicorn!” and he startled a narwhal. He did not apologize.’”
“So…these are just accounts of what people do every day?”
The papers spun slowly.
“I guess so?” said Mini. “I think we might be getting closer to the pools. He’d only keep all of his records here if they needed to consult them when they remake people’s bodies and all that.”
“I wonder what happens if you scare a narwhal. Maybe karma gives you a gigantic zit in the middle of your forehead and you get called an ugly unicorn for a month.”
Mini’s eyes widened. “Wait, I have a zit on the side of my nose—does that mean I did something to deserve it?”
“Did you?”
Mini frowned and was opening her mouth to say something when new ground loomed up ahead. The floor beneath them changed from rigid stone to something wet and slick, surrounding…
Pools of water.
Some were the size of rain puddles. Others were the size of ponds. There were at least fifty of them, spread out in concentric circles.
Large incense burners floated silently above each one. The walls hadn’t changed, though, so the shining water looked like a bunch of pearls hidden in an oyster. Beyond the Chamber of Pools, Aru spotted the dim light of an exit. She didn’t hear any voices. It didn’t seem like anyone else was around.
This place smelled weird. It smelled like…longing. Like an ice cream cone you were really excited about eating, but after one lick, it fell onto the sidewalk.
Unlike in the forest or the Otherworld Costco—or even the whale shark—there weren’t any signs here. Nothing indicated which pool was for what. Or who. Aru rubbed her neck, grimacing. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Mini carefully stepped between two of the pools. “Go slow,” she said. “It’s slippery. What would happen if we fell in?”
Aru shrugged. “Maybe we’d get instantly reincarnated?”
“What if we came back as animals?”
“Then I get dibs on being a horse.”
“Enjoy that.”
“I like horses….”
“I’d want to come back as a cow,” said Mini loftily. “Then I’d be worshipped.”
“Yeah, if you lived in India…Otherwise you’d just be a hamburger.”
The smile dropped off Mini’s face. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Aru was just about to say Mooooooo when her foot slipped.
Water skidded beneath her heel. Her arms pinwheeled. Seconds later, she was flat on the ground, her nose an inch away from a face in the water.
Not hers.
Her mother’s.
The Pool of the Past
Secrets are curious things. They are flimsy and easily broken. For this reason, they prefer to remain hidden.
A fact, on the other hand, is strong and powerful. It’s proven. Unlike a secret, it’s out there for everyone to see and know. And that can make it more terrifying than even the deepest, darkest secret.
In the pool, Aru saw a secret break and become a fact.
Secret: The Sleeper did know her mother.
Fact: He didn’t just know her.
For instance, Aru “knew” their mail carrier. He always acted like he understood her, just because he had changed his name to Krishna Blue at the age of seventeen. He was always listening to slightly eerie Indian
music in his earbuds, and he was constantly telling her that her “aura wasn’t vibrant enough” and she should drink more tea. She also “knew” P. Doggy, the poodle she walked during the summer. He liked to steal her sneakers and bury peanut butter sandwiches. But that wasn’t the way the Sleeper knew her mom.
When Aru looked into the pool, she saw a memory of her mother—a much younger version—walking hand in hand with the Sleeper. They were strolling along the banks of a river, laughing. And occasionally stopping to…kiss.
The Sleeper hadn’t just known her mother…he’d loved her. And she had loved him. In the memory, her mom was actually laughing and smiling, way more than she ever had with Aru. She tried not to be offended, but it was hard not to be. Who was this version of her mom? Aru leaned hungrily into the water, the tip of her nose almost grazing the surface.
The images changed…revealing her mom standing at the doorstop of a house Aru had never seen. There was her mother, Dr. Krithika Shah, thrumming her stomach. Aru was used to seeing her dressed like a shabby professor, in a blazer with scuffed elbows and a worn skirt with the hem coming undone. In this vision, she was wearing a black velvet salwar kameez. Her hair was done up in fanciful curls, and she wore a brilliant tiara.
The door opened, and an older man looked shocked at the sight of her.
“Krithika,” he breathed. “You’re early for the Diwali celebrations, my child. The other sisters are inside waiting for you.” When she didn’t step inside, his eyes went to her midsection. “Has it…has it happened?”
“Yes,” she said. Her voice sounded cold and wooden.
It took Aru an extra moment to guess what was in her mother’s womb.
Her.
“He’s not who you said he was,” she said, through tears. “And I can’t let this happen. You know as well as I do that the moment the child comes of age, Suyodhana is destined to become…to become…”
“The Sleeper,” finished the old man. “I know, daughter.”
“There has to be some other way! He is aware of his own prophecy and believes he won’t lose himself to it. She could have a father. We could be a family.” Her voice broke on the last word. “He can change his fate. I know it.”
“No one can change their fate.”
“Then what would you have me do, Father?”
Aru gasped. That was her grandfather. According to her mother, he had died when Aru was too young to remember him.
He shrugged. “You must choose. Your child, or your lover.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You will,” said her father. “You’ve already done your duty and stolen his heart. I assume he has told you the secret of how he might be defeated?”
Krithika looked away. “He told me out of trust. I would never betray it. I believe that the world could be different. I believe that our destinies aren’t chains around our necks, but wings that give us flight.”
Her father laughed gently. “Believe what you will. You’re a young woman, Krithika. Young, lovely, and smart. All I ask is that you don’t throw away your life.”
At this, Krithika’s eyes turned sharp. “Is it throwing away my life to do what I think is right?”
Her father stopped laughing. “If you insist on taking this path, you will jeopardize your family. You will defeat the purpose of the panchakanyas.”
“I believe we have more of a purpose than just breeding,” she whispered.
Her father’s face puckered. “And you will never be allowed to set foot inside this home again.”
At this, Aru’s mother flinched, but she still raised her chin. “It stopped being a home to me a long time ago.”
“Then on your own head be it,” said her father, slamming the door in her face.
The vision fast-forwarded. Her mother was wearing a hospital gown and cradling a baby: Aru. Slouched in a chair beside her was the Sleeper. He was wearing a T-shirt that said I’M A DAD! Across his lap lay a bouquet of flowers. Krithika watched him as he slept, looking between him and Aru.
Then she lifted her head toward the ceiling. “I love you both,” she whispered. “One day I hope you’ll understand that I’m doing what I must to free you. To free us all.”
The setting changed to the museum. It wasn’t as it looked now. The statues were different, except for the stone elephant, which had yet to be moved to the lobby. Everything was sparkling and new. A small sign on the door read: OPENING SOON TO THE PUBLIC! THE MUSEUM OF ANCIENT INDIAN ART AND CULTURE!
Krithika walked through the Hall of the Gods. White cloths covered all the statues, so it looked like a room filled with poorly dressed ghosts. In her hands, she carried something small and glowing. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
She stopped at the end of the hall, where the diya awaited. “I’m sorry,” she said. “So sorry. I never wanted this to happen. But know that I used your secrets not to destroy you, but to hold you. I bind you with my heart, the same heart that I gave to you willingly. I bind you with something that is not made of metal, wood, or stone. I bind you with something that is neither dry nor wet.”
She dropped the glowing thing—little more than a wispy ribbon—and Aru realized that it was the Sleeper she had just trapped in the lamp. Light burst and haloed around the antique before quickly fading away.
“I was supposed to destroy you, but I couldn’t. But I couldn’t risk Aru’s safety, either,” Krithika went on. “I’ll find an answer. I’ll examine every ancient site, read every treatise. And I will find a way to free both you and Aru. I promise.”
Mini yanked Aru and she drew back, sputtering and spitting. She sat up.
Mini clapped her on the back, hard. “Speak to me, Aru! If you’re dead, tell me! Just talk!”
Aru thought she was going to hack out her ribs, but finally she was able to take a deep breath.
“I’m alive,” she croaked.
“Oh, good,” said Mini. “I was going to do CPR.”
“You know how to do that?”
“Um, not really, but it looks pretty easy on TV.”
“Glad I dodged that one,” said Aru, laughing weakly.
She stared back at the pool. So much new information was racing through her head. Her mother had been the one to bind the Sleeper. And not because she hated him, but because she couldn’t bring herself to kill him.
Did he know that?
Aru didn’t think so, given that he’d called her mom a liar. Not that she blamed him. Being locked up with nothing and no one for eleven years had to be rough.
“Really, Mom?” she muttered. “You had to pick the demon dude?”
“I saw it all, too. The Sleeper was almost your home dad,” said Mini, pretending to gag.
Aru blinked. She remembered what the Sleeper had said to her in the Library: You and I might as well be family.
“Why couldn’t your mom have dated a nice doctor instead?”
“Why does it always have to be a doctor?”
“I dunno,” said Mini, shrugging. “That’s what my mom always says: ‘Go to school, study hard, then go to medical school, study even harder, and marry a nice doctor.’”
A minute of silence went by. For the first time in her life, Aru had nothing to say. What could she say after seeing those visions in the pool? It felt like her life had been completely readjusted.
Was this why she never saw her mom smile? Because she’d had to rebuild her whole life as if she were just some room in the Palace of Illusions? She’d done it not just for the Sleeper…but also for her?
Mini touched her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Not even a little bit.”
Mini gasped. “You didn’t even try to lie. Do you have a fever?” She smacked her hand against Aru’s forehead.
“Ow!”
“Sorry,” said Mini sheepishly. “My patient bedside manner needs some improvement….”
“I’m not your patient!” snapped Aru, batting at Mini’s hand. Then she sighed. “Sorry. I know this isn’t your fault.”
“And we did,” said Aru. “But it’s not exactly helpful. You heard my mom. She said that she’d used his secrets to bind him, not kill him.”
“Right, and she said he can’t be killed by anything made of metal, wood, or stone. Or anything dry or wet. Your mom bound him with her heart, but I feel like she meant that more metaphorically than literally. I have no idea how she did that, do you?”
Aru’s head was spinning. “Nope. And if we did know, what’re we going to do with a bunch of hearts? Throw them at his head?”
“So what does that leave?”
“We could pelt him with slightly undercooked pasta?”
Mini rolled her eyes. “What about animals?” she asked.
“It has to be us,” said Aru. “That’s what Urvashi said. Besides, he’s a demon. Even if we found a hungry man-eating tiger, it would probably turn on us—the humans—before it turned on him.”
“Maybe slightly undercooked pasta is the right call.”
“I could use a pasta sword.”
“Pasta mace.”
“Pasta club.”
“Pasta…pasta bow?”
“Weak.”
“Pasta lightning bolt?” joked Mini.
“Wait,” said Aru. “The lightning bolt. It’s not dry or wet—”
“Or metal or stone or wood!”
Aru’s grip around the ball form of Vajra became clawlike. When she blinked, she saw the Sleeper in the hospital room, wearing the I’M A DAD! T-shirt.
Her eyes burned. Her home dad hadn’t left them at all…he’d just been locked away. In a lamp. By her mom. This is so messed up, thought Aru.
He’d wanted to be her home dad.
Aru’s throat tightened, and tears pressed at her eyes. Then she forced herself to sit up straight. It didn’t matter what he used to be like. The truth was that the Sleeper from the Night Bazaar was no longer the man from her mother’s vision. Now he was cruel and cold. He was evil. He’d hurt Boo and threatened to kill their families and them if they didn’t bring him all three keys. He wasn’t her dad.
Aru Shah and the End of Time Page 22