Aru Shah and the Song of Death

by Roshani Chokshi

  There were two exit tunnels. Above the one on the right, a sign read BAGGAGE AND SCALES CLAIM. The sign above the left tunnel said: CUSTOMS FOR NON-NAGA RESIDENTS.

  “That’s us,” said Aiden, heading to the CUSTOMS sign.

  “Kamadeva didn’t say anything about having to go through customs,” said Mini. “Do you think that’s safe?”

  “Too late to worry about that now,” said Brynne. “The last whale just departed.”

  Aru had been to the Otherworld plenty of times by now. She was used to the sensation of being surrounded by magic. But the feeling here…this was different. Her skin prickled. Sea mist surrounded her and left her thoughts sticky with fear. Even Aiden, who was always documenting the world around him, hadn’t raised his camera.

  Aru glanced down and quickly wished she hadn’t. Flat black tiles cut into the shapes of snakes formed the floor. In the dim, flickering light, they kinda looked…alive.

  At the customs checkpoint a tired-looking nagini official sat inside a glass booth.

  “Identify yourselves,” she intoned, bored.

  Mini blanched.

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Aiden said, nodding encouragingly to her. “Just go with the flow.”

  The four of them held up their celestial weapons.

  “We are the Pandavas,” said Brynne, lifting her chin.

  “But not me,” said Aiden quickly.

  The customs officer scowled at them. “No Pandavas, including their associates, are welcome in Naga-Loka, the illustrious”—the naga said it like illustriousss—“capital of the naga kingdom, by the order of Queen Uloopi.”

  “But we’re trying to help Queen Uloopi,” protested Aru. “She’s the one who sent us on this trip to find the bow and arrow, and—”

  “Ah. You must be the daughter of the Lord of the Heavens,” said the officer. “Lord Takshaka, guardian of the treasure room, left special instructions for you.”

  Aru remembered the scornful naga man who had sat next to Queen Uloopi high above the clouds. What was that guy’s problem?

  Just then, the floor opened beneath Aru, plunging her into frigid pitch-black water. Vajra immediately changed from a bolt to a bracelet, leaving her hands free. Her head came back up to the surface quickly, but as she tried to keep herself afloat, she accidentally swallowed a mouthful of the seawater and started coughing.

  “ARU!” screamed Mini and Brynne.

  Aiden scrambled forward, trying to grab her hand, but the nagini officer’s tail whipped out and sent her friend flying backward. As Mini bonked the guard with Dee Dee, Brynne extended her mace to Aru. She tried to grasp it, but her fingers kept slipping. Finally, she got a hold….

  But apparently she wasn’t alone in the water.

  A cold tendril wrapped around her ankle and dragged her under.

  Aru Shah Is a Piece of Sushi

  Cold, dark water closed over Aru’s head, pulling her deep into the ocean until she lost all sense of direction. She started to panic. Were there sharks in this water? Because they terrified her. Aru kicked out, shaking off the tendril that had grabbed her, and swam forward.

  Light, she commanded.

  Vajra, in bracelet form, sent out a beam. Aru had that painful, tight feeling in her chest that only comes from holding one’s breath for far too long. Any second now, she’d run out of air. She looked up, but even with Vajra’s light, she could no longer see the surface. She was far beneath the waves. She’d probably drown here….

  Something zipped past her—something that felt pointy and sharp. Aru gasped.

  And then…she gasped again. Which, technically, she shouldn’t be able to do unless…

  Cautiously, Aru inhaled. No cold water rushed into her nose and mouth. Air filled her lungs. She could breathe. She could breathe underwater! COOL! Wait, since when had she been able to do that?

  By now, her eyes had adjusted to her surroundings. As she swam over the seabed, phosphorescent seashells lit it up like a motion-activated sidewalk. Shadows carved out a sunken, ruined city. Aru dove down to investigate, and when she reached the bottom, she discovered that she could stand and walk upright. She could even hear everything around her as if she were on land. Being under the ocean sounded like there was a never-ending thunderstorm in the distance. Seaweed-choked statues of nagas stuck up out of the sandy bottom. Fish darted in and out among them, flashing iridescently.

  Aru looked up at the surface again, but it was far out of sight. If Brynne, Aiden, or Mini had fallen in here, too, she couldn’t see them. She also didn’t know if they could breathe underwater, like her.

  Aru took a moment to process this. She could breathe underwater. Think of all the pranks she could pull! She could strap on a dorsal fin, pretend to be a shark, and clear the beach to have it all to herself.

  But that depended, of course, on her getting out of here.

  Takshaka didn’t like her—that was made obvious when Aru was dropped through a trapdoor. Rude. But that wasn’t going to stop her from getting to the treasury and finding the thief’s soul song.

  How was she going to get there, though? It wasn’t like she could ask someone for directions. She might as well find a coconut, name him Wilson, and grow a beard.

  A blue fish swam past her.

  “Got any coconuts?” she asked wearily.

  The usual answer from a fish would have been: bubble gape bubble disappear

  But this fish said, “I believe there’s some Indonesian kopyor dwarf coconuts being sold in the upstream naga market. Or, if you’re interested in the Philippine variety, a ship has just sunk southeast of here.”

  Aru screamed.

  The fish looked highly affronted. “If you don’t want the answer, then don’t ask! You’re the one asking about coconuts in the off-season!” it huffed. “Foolish girl!”

  Aru glared. “Well, you swim in your own toilet!”

  The fish did not have an eyebrow to raise villainously. But its tone managed the effect well enough. “And you’ll never know when I use the ocean as a toilet. Enjoy the mystery.”

  It flapped its tail and swam off.

  Why was everything so rude?

  And why did the fish have a British accent?

  One thing at a time, Shah. So far, she had discovered that she could breathe underwater, walk underwater, talk underwater, and also argue with a fish. She wondered if anything else could understand her down here.

  Aru tapped into the mind link she shared with Mini, but only static ran through her thoughts. She hoped her friends were okay. Maybe they were still stuck in customs.

  She turned Vajra full-size and held it tightly. Dad?

  The lightning bolt glowed.

  Encouraged, Aru asked, Could I get some help? I’m not popular with snakes—surprise. Also, I can talk to fish? Is that normal?

  Up ahead, something emerged from the sand. Naga statues fell left and right as a huge, speckled eel lifted off the ground. The words SEA LINE were written across its dorsal fin. The eel opened its mouth, and passengers—fish, people, fish-people, and…Was that Tilda Swinton?—streamed out of its jaws. The human passengers wore clear bubble helmets. Most of the nagas were wearing headphones and had canvas bags slung over their shoulders. Only now did Aru notice that there were little trails stretching across the ocean floor. In the distance, she could see the colorful lights of what might have been a naga market.

  So this was an underwater subway stop?

  Was this a subtle sign from Takshaka to get the heck outta here, or had he hoped she’d just drown? Aru didn’t want to think too deeply about that….

  The eel coughed up some sand and then said in a monotonous voice, “Next stop, the Will of the Sea. All who enter waive their right to submit a complaint, per Otherworld Transportation Security Guidelines. You hereby acknowledge that if you end up in the mouth of a larger sea creature, or if I get hungry, or if you are lost to the Bermuda Triangle, you brought it upon yourself and that’s that.”

  Vajra glowed brigh
ter.

  “You’re kidding,” said Aru. “Dad, you really want me to board that?”

  While riding on a whale had been fun, riding inside a sea monster didn’t seem that great. That thing had teeth, and lots of ’em!

  Vajra continued to glow.

  Aru crossed her arms. “N. O. I am not going in there. I’m not interested in becoming monster snack.”

  Vajra turned back into a bracelet.

  Aru relaxed. “See? You agree with—”

  A long, thin tail stretched out from the bracelet.

  “Uh, what’re you doing?”

  The tail stretched out farther, growing thicker, winding its way to the eel.

  “Vajra, why do you look like a rope?”

  Vajra yanked, and Aru zoomed through the water like a piece of bait on a fishing line.

  “BETRAYAL!” she hollered.

  Vajra whipped Aru into the eel’s mouth and then changed back into a Ping-Pong ball, retracting its tail and sliding into Aru’s pocket. She felt like she was on an invisible Slide of Death. Down, down, down she went into the belly of the beast. It was empty except for benches on either side covered with moldy upholstery. A rank subway scent wafted from them as she took a seat, and Aru wrinkled her nose. Elevator music boomed from the eel’s sharp teeth, still visible even from far away:

  Tall and tan and young and lovelyyyyy, the girl from Ipanema goes walking and—

  A belt of seaweed wound across her lap. Aru tried to wrestle herself out of it, but the belt just got tighter.

  “All passengers must wear some manner of protection, per Otherworld Transportation Security Guidelines,” said the eel. “The presence of a seat belt may not, however, prevent some passengers on the Will of the Sea route from being digested.”

  Hysterical laughter bubbled through Aru. She plucked at the seaweed belt. “I’m sushi.”

  The eel snapped its jaws shut, plunging her into darkness. It surged forward, causing a whoosh to hit Aru’s stomach. She took the Vajra ball back out for some light, but all it did was make the eel’s pointy teeth glow at the front of the train.

  “Where’s it going?” muttered Aru under her breath.

  Once more she attempted to reach Mini and Brynne telepathically, but only static filled her head.

  She tried to ignore the panicked racing of her heart, but it was impossible. Where were they? Did they think she had drowned? Had they just accepted her death as Uloopi’s judgment and continued on the quest? Or maybe they were planning to retrieve the bow and arrow before trying to rescue her. And then what? If the others returned the weapon without her, would she be the only Pandava cast out of the Otherworld?

  The eel stopped. The seaweed seat belt retracted. Aru held her breath. This was it—either digestion or destination.

  I Mean, Technically, We’re Family….

  Thankfully, the jaws opened.

  “Arrival,” said the eel. “The Palace of Varuna. Please exit to your left and mind the gap in my teeth.”

  Varuna?

  Varuna was the god of the waters, and he was known for being as fickle as the sea itself. In all the paintings of him Aru had seen, he rode a gigantic makara, a creature that looked like a crocodile-lion. The last time she’d met a makara, it had asked if she was a rodent. At least it hadn’t taken a bite to find out for itself….

  Aru stepped carefully along the slippery ridges of the eel’s gums, trying to avoid getting impaled on its rows of needle-sharp teeth. A couple of moments later, she jumped out of the creature’s jaws and onto a rocky pedestal. Just when she was beginning to wonder where she was supposed to go next, a current caught her and pulled her through the ocean until she was dropped onto a pathway made of polished mother-of-pearl.

  “Whoa,” breathed Aru, when she looked up.

  The word palace didn’t even begin to cover it. It was the most beautiful (in a slightly bizarre way) place Aru had ever seen. On the one hand, it looked a bit traditional. The path wound through a sea garden of blooming anemone, stately coral columns, and topiaries of kelp in neat, organized plots. But there was other stuff tucked in among the domed spirals. One section of Varuna’s palace was hauled-together parts of shipwrecks. A neon Jimmy Buffett MARGARITAVILLE sign beamed above a spire. The front steps were patterned with spare change that had fallen to the bottom of the sea. At the open entrance stood a huge blue lotus flower, its petals waving gently in the water. Each petal bore the name of a different ocean: ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, INDIAN, and ARCTIC, and also one Aru hadn’t expected to see: THE OCEAN OF MILK.

  Its Sanskrit name appeared beneath it: KṢĪRA SĀGARA.

  When Aru first heard about the Ocean of Milk, her initial thought had been: That must have taken a lot of cows. Her mother had told her the story all the time when she was little. After being cursed by an angry sage, the gods began to grow weak. The only thing that would cure them was amrita, the elixir of immortality, which was hidden somewhere deep in the cosmic Ocean of Milk. In order to find it, the gods would have to stir up the entire ocean. They couldn’t accomplish this task alone, so they turned to the asuras—semidivine beings who were sometimes good and sometimes straight-up demonic—for help. The gods promised the asuras that they would be rewarded with some of the nectar. In the end, though, the gods tricked the asuras and drank all the amrita themselves.

  Some asuras had been waging war with them ever since.

  Unfortunately, those resentful asuras cast a shadow on all the others, which Aru thought was ridiculous. You can’t look at a part and judge the whole. No wonder Brynne acted so defensive all the time.

  Aru’s favorite detail about the Ocean of Milk story was all the stuff that came out of the waters when it got churned. Like the moon! And a tree that granted wishes! The ocean even unleashed goddesses.

  Goddesses like the one who suddenly materialized in the middle of the entrance and glared ferociously at Aru.

  Aru almost squeaked. “Uh…hi?”

  The goddess towered over Aru. At first, her skin was a deep garnet color. But when she took another step toward Aru, it changed. Now it was…sparkling. And golden. It reminded Aru of champagne. Which was disgusting. The one time she’d sneaked a sip from her mom’s New Year’s Eve glass, it had tasted like rotten soda. However, it was pretty.

  The goddess’s black hair swept the floor and looked like the ocean at night—the waves rippled, and every now and then Aru saw miniature glittering fish dart through her dark ringlets. Aru thought back to the paintings she had seen in her mother’s collection…. If she was in the Palace of Varuna, the god of the sea, then that meant this goddess was his wife, Varuni. The goddess of wine.

  Varuni crossed two of her arms, but she had two others. Her third hand held a blue lotus flower. In her fourth hand, she gently swirled a glass of red wine.

  Must be enchanted red wine, thought Aru, because it completely defied physics that the liquid should stay in its glass underwater.

  “Mortals are not allowed here,” said Varuni.

  “I—”

  At that second, Vajra began to glow brightly in Aru’s hand. Varuni’s eyes zipped straight to it, lingering for just a moment before her gaze snapped back to Aru’s face. “Oh, I see. Very well then,” the goddess said. “Come with me.”

  Pretty much every instinct in Aru was screaming Don’t do it! But when a goddess gives a direct command, there’s no way to say no. They walked (well, Aru walked, Varuni glided) past the open entrance and into the glittering caverns of the Palace of Varuna. The whole time Varuni didn’t say a word.

  “You have a beautiful home?” Aru attempted, padding after her. It was weird not swimming underwater, but whenever she tried to paddle instead of walk, she tripped. Magic could be very annoying.

  “I know,” said Varuni, with a flick of her wrist.

  The wine goblet in her hand changed to a tall glass of iced liquid with a sprig of mint sticking out of the top.

  Varuni led her into a vast atrium. Chandeliers of jellyfish and moonstone
floated above. A giant crocodile was curled up in a corner on a rug inscribed with the words DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL. When it saw Varuni, its tail thumped happily. In the middle of the room was a large velveteen lotus flower that looked a lot like an armchair. Aru couldn’t see anyone in it, but from the other side came a loud yell.

  Aru went still. Vajra lengthened into a sword, but Varuni continued on, unfazed. She stopped at the large lotus, two of her hands on her hips.

  “Jaani, we have company.”

  Jaani was like saying dear or honey. Mini’s parents called each other that all the time…which meant that Varuni was talking to her husband, the god of the sea. Humbly, Vajra folded back into a demure Ping-Pong ball. Varuna yelled something incomprehensible again, and Aru braced herself. He had to be yelling about her. Was he furious that a mortal was inside their palace? And she hadn’t even brought a host gift! She should’ve grabbed a coconut, at least….

  “THE MATCH REFEREE IS NOT DOING HIS JOB!” shouted Varuna.

  “It can wait!” said Varuni. “Our guest is far more important!”

  “But the game is on, jaani,” wheedled the man. “I’m watching Virat Kohli….”

  Kohli? The cricket player? Aru only knew that name because Boo was a huge fan of the game.

  With an irritated sigh, Varuni spun the lotus chair around, and Aru got her first glance at the god of the waters. He looked just as shocked as Aru felt. Varuna’s skin was the color of cut sapphires. His four hands waved around him. In one hand he held an iPad, where a cricket match was playing on the screen. In another he had a conch shell. A noose dangled from his third hand. And in his fourth hand was a bottle of Thums Up, a soda from India. Her mom loved it, but Aru thought it was too sweet. Besides, it always struck Aru as deeply weird, because the logo was a bright red thumb and yet the name wasn’t spelled right.

  Varuna dropped his iPad and gestured toward Aru. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” he asked his wife.

  “Obviously,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Well, sometimes I’m not sure,” said Varuna, with a pointed glance at her drink.