Dehhhh-Spah-CITO
Takshaka slithered down the shelves of treasure. As he moved, jewels clattered to the floor. He swung his head, tasting the air with his forked tongue. The end of his jet-black tail quivered, as if the sound of the falling treasure had disoriented him.
Something dug at Aru’s thoughts. Something she was supposed to know. Like a name dangling at the tip of her tongue.
“Don’t think that because I cannot see that you are invissssible,” he said softly. His face rippled as he transformed from his half-snake to full-snake form. He lifted his now scaled head. Ancient scars striped his diamond-shaped forehead. “There are three Pandavasss….”
Aiden opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. It’s best not to correct a gigantic, venomous serpent king.
Quietly, the three of them spread out across the treasure room. Aiden stood by the wall behind Aru. Brynne was off to her right, out of whispering distance. But then she saw Brynne mouthing a word.
The good thing was that Takshaka couldn’t read lips.
The bad thing was that neither could Aru.
It looked like Brynne was saying…Stalin? What? Like the dictator from history? Then Aru heard Brynne screaming through her mind link: STALL HIM!
Aru didn’t have to try to get Takshaka’s attention, because he was headed straight for her.
“You laid wassste to my lands, Pandava. You killed every living creature that tried to escape the fire. You killed my wife. I thought I had ended your line,” said Takshaka. “But you came back. Like a pestilence.”
Aru’s head was still ringing from Brynne’s command. Very slowly, she started to back away from the king. “That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” she asked him. “I mean, that was like a millennium ago. And I’m not Arjuna. We just have the same soul. It’s like getting someone’s hand-me-down socks, honest. Why don’t we just start over? Like this: Hi, I’m Aru. I like Swedish Fish. Now it’s your turn.”
Takshaka tested the air with his forked tongue, getting a bead on her. “I didn’t believe it at first. The great Arjuna’s soul harbored in the feeble body of a small girl.”
Vajra pulsed on her wrist, but Aru didn’t reach for her lightning bolt. Not yet.
“Surprise?” Aru said with false cheer.
“The gods are cruel,” said Takshaka. “Of course they would summon a uselessss girl. Of course they have no interest in protecting this world. Despite their immortality, despite their powersss, the gods never keep their word. Just like your father didn’t.”
Aru froze. The Sleeper? Her throat felt tight. She wondered whether Takshaka was going to tell her that she was just like him. Destined not to keep her promises, either.
But then Takshaka spat, “Indra failed me.”
Oh. Indra. Her soul dad. Not the Sleeper.
Takshaka’s tail whipped, agitated. He slithered farther down the shelves until he was barely twenty feet away. “Once, I lived in the great Khandava Forest with my family. Back then, Indra was my friend. But one day, Agni, the god of fire, grew hungry, and he decided that nothing would sate him except my forest. My home. And you helped him. You helped him burn it all down.”
Aru’s mouth went dry. Now she knew how he had gotten the scars on his face and chest. That was awful. And even though it had been Arjuna and not her, her heart ached with guilt.
“Your father was supposed to protect me,” hissed Takshaka. “He sent his favorite rain clouds to put out the fire. But it wasn’t enough to defeat you, O Arjuna the Great. You had Lord Krishna by your side, and it became too much work for Indra to fight against you.”
Aru faltered. She had never heard that story about Arjuna. Surely, it couldn’t be true…. Arjuna was supposed to be virtuous. He wouldn’t have burned down someone’s home…would he? Aru knew so little about him. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Aiden and Brynne circling their hands as if to say Keep stalling!
But, for the first time in a while, Aru didn’t know what to say.
“Now you have no gods whissspering in your ear,” continued the serpent king. “You are nothing. And you are alone.”
“Listen,” said Aru, gentling her voice. “I’m really sorry that happened to you. Honest. But maybe, uh, you can talk to Indra about it? Meet up for coffee? Work things out? You guys were friends once….”
“I have new friendsss now,” said Takshaka. He smiled then, slow and vicious. “I believe you know one of them very well.”
Aru felt nauseated. Now he was talking about the Sleeper. Of course he was behind this.
Takshaka reared back.
And then he struck.
Takshaka moved so fast that Aru almost didn’t see him coming. Almost. His jaws missed her face by an inch. As she pivoted out of the way, Vajra jumped into her hand, fully expanded. Aru threw the lightning bolt like a spear. Takshaka neatly dodged it. Vajra spun back to her, and this time Aru concentrated with all her effort, focusing on the serpent’s writhing tail, wanting to pin him in place like a butterfly in a display. Vajra shot forward like an arrow. But Takshaka was faster. His powerful tail whipped out and knocked the lightning bolt aside like it was a toy.
Aru looked to her friends for help. Brynne was snorting and stomping her feet like an angry bull, but Aiden was holding her back. Why?
“Hoverboard!” Aru shouted.
Vajra flattened, but Aru jumped on a second too late. Takshaka’s tail lashed through the air and caught her in the stomach. She crashed into the wall and slid down, shaking her head.
Takshaka started laughing. “It’s too easssy.”
Aru felt woozy, but she forced herself to stand. On the opposite wall Aiden was leaning casually and—Aru wanted to scream at him—checking his phone.
Brynne’s voice tapped into her thoughts:
We know something Takshaka doesn’t like.
Us? thought Aru.
Close your eyes. It’s going to get windy in here.
“Reveal yourssself, Pandava,” said Takshaka. “I shall make this quick.”
Aru was so tired of that line! Why were monsters always offering to make death go quickly? Why not offer no death at all?
As Takshaka edged closer, Aru shut her eyes and flattened herself against the wall. Wind blew against her face. She could hear the treasures rattling off their shelves and crashing to the ground with loud, indignant howls.
“You will pay for thisss,” said Takshaka.
A snippet of Aru’s dream floated back to her. Mini standing in Home Depot, shaking Aru by the shoulders and…imitating a cow? No. Aru did that. Mooooooo-zique.
Music.
Music!
Just then, Takshaka hissed. Even with her eyes closed, Aru could sense him rearing up. Dirt and grit whipped her skin. I’m totally going to die here, thought Aru.
Then a new sound joined in…a sound that suddenly explained why Aiden had been on his phone. Aru cracked open one eye. Aiden stood in the center of the room, holding his phone over his head like a gigantic beacon. Rising above the din, like one of those ancient warriors blowing a horn…
Dehhhhh-spaaaaa-cito!
Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito!
Takshaka roared, “NOOOOOOOO!” He writhed. “NOT THAT SONG! I’m sick of it! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!”
Aiden kept blasting the music. Now he was salsaing. Apsara kids always have an artistic talent. Dancing was not Aiden’s.
Brynne pointed her mace at Aiden’s phone and picked it up in a swirl of dust. Takshaka snapped, lunging for it, but every time he got close, the wind danced farther away. Takshaka quivered, now moving across the floor and shelves, oblivious to the screaming treasure.
Brynne sent Aru an urgent message: Any sign of the thief’s soul song?
I’m on it! Aru sent back.
Nothing on the bottom shelf. Nothing on the next row up, either. But when Aru scanned higher, a flash of red caught her eye. She zeroed in on a scarlet orb the size of a large pendant. It was huddled against the wall as if it were
frightened. As Aru’s gaze lingered on it, a feeling of terrible loss surged through her. Kamadeva had said that the song wouldn’t be like actual music, but a representation of the thief’s soul…and now that made sense. The soul song seemed to Aru like a piece of someone, a piece that had been abandoned.
I found it! Aru told Brynne through the mind link.
All Aru had to do was turn Vajra into a hoverboard, zoom over Takshaka’s weaving head, and grab the song from the shelf.
Vajra had just flattened when Aru heard it….
Deafening silence.
The music on Aiden’s phone had paused for a commercial.
“Unsatisfied with your car insurance?”
Takshaka grew still. His hooded face tilted, and the corners of his jaw turned up in a smile.
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Aiden mouthed as he shook his phone.
Brynne kept summoning tiny cyclones, trying to distract Takshaka, but the naga’s forked tongue tasted the air and caught the scent of blood. He darted toward Aiden. Aru had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.
Brynne whirled around, panic clear on her face, and as the mace turned with her, it sent Aiden’s phone soaring high into the air on a blast of wind.
“No!” he yelled.
Takshaka’s cobra hood flared. “Found you,” he hissed.
Aiden pulled out his scimitars. Wrong move. The sound echoed around the room. Takshaka’s mouth curved into a smug fanged grin. He reared to strike.
Aru didn’t think—she just reacted. Hopping onto Vajra, she leaned back on her lightning-bolt hoverboard and shot up toward the phone, which was spinning on top of a mini tornado. She stretched out her fingers, straining to reach it. Just…a little…farther. If the phone fell and broke, if they had no way to fill the chamber with music, they’d all die.
She thrust her hand into the column of wind and grabbed. Aru felt the cold weight of the phone in her palm just as a new song started. It was hard to hear it over the howling storm.
She glanced behind her.
Aiden had shoved one of his scimitars into Takshaka’s mouth, propping open his powerful cobra jaws. The serpent thrashed his head, dislodging the blade, and brought down his tail like a merciless whip. Aiden went sprawling, his remaining scimitar skidding across the treasury floor.
Aru cranked up the volume.
“TAYLOR SWIFT?” roared the naga king.
“What’s the matter? You a Katy Perry fan?” Brynne taunted, but her face was pure panic until Aiden rose blearily to his feet. She blasted some air in his direction so that his two scimitars were within grabbing distance.
Aru and the hoverboard rocketed higher.
Takshaka whirled around, slamming his tail onto the ground. More treasures rained down from their shelves, and this time he reacted to every sound.
Aru spotted the red orb. It was rolling toward the edge of a shelf. She grabbed it just before it fell off and found that it was on a neck chain. Instantly, a cold tingle went through her arm and she heard a piercing note in her thoughts: the sound of someone stifling a cry. It took Aru by surprise and a gasp slipped from her lips.
Takshaka heard it.
Down below, Brynne yelled and jumped, trying to distract him. But the serpent king paid her no mind. His tail slashed through the air, knocking Aru off her hoverboard. Brynne’s wind caught her just in time, and the hoverboard flew back under her feet. Aru wobbled, trying to get her balance. While her grip tightened on the soul song, the phone slipped out of her hand. Below, Aiden and Brynne ran to try to catch it. The phone seemed to fall slowly as it blasted music all the way down:
I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why?
Takshaka raised himself up to his full size, so large it seemed he could have blotted out the sun. The phone hit the treasure-littered floor with a crash. Its screen shattered. Takshaka slammed it with his tail again and again until the music cut off.
“Oh,” said Takshaka mockingly, “’cause she’s dead.”
I Don’t Trust Nobody and Nobody Trusts Me
“Give it to me,” said Takshaka.
Aru stiffened. Her grip on the soul song tightened even more. “Give you what?”
“I know what you have,” he said.
“Oh, and what might that be?” she asked. “There’s all kinds of treasure in this room.” She wondered if he knew that she had Uloopi’s heart jewel, too.
“Hand over the thief’s soul song.”
“So you let it happen! You let the bow and arrow be stolen!” said Aru.
Takshaka laughed. “Who do you think let her in here in the first place?”
Let her in…
The arrow thief was a woman. Was she a nagini? A rakshasi?
Aru didn’t exactly like Uloopi—she had threatened to exile them, after all—but now she felt bad for the naga queen. Clearly, she trusted Takshaka. Maybe she even thought of him as family. And he’d betrayed her. He’d kept her heart from being returned. He made her weak. Aru’s jaw clenched.
“How could you do that to Queen Uloopi?”
Takshaka reared back as if struck. “This is beyond you, little Pandava. Give me the song. You cannot protect that which we seek. After all, your very heartbeat will betray you.”
Your very heartbeat.
What did that mean?
But there was no time to think about it. The serpent king lunged and Aru barely had a moment to react. She zoomed away on Vajra, narrowly escaping his fangs. Seconds later, she dropped down on the opposite side of the room from Brynne and Aiden. Quickly, Aru looped the soul-song necklace around Vajra and shot it over to Aiden and Brynne. Aiden leaped up, catching it in his fist.
“Missed me!” Takshaka gloated.
He didn’t need to know that Aru hadn’t been aiming for him. To keep Aiden and Brynne safe, she needed Takshaka to be focused on her and to believe that she still had the song.
The great serpent snapped forward. His fangs sank into the shelves above Aru’s head. She swerved out of the way, narrowly missing a blow from a heavy book as it toppled down.
Vajra returned to Aru’s hands in the shape of a discus. Aru hadn’t had much practice using it in this form. The few times she’d tried it, she had thrown it like a celestial Frisbee, which she wasn’t great at. Merely flinging it at Takshaka would be pointless. He was ridiculously fast. She had to aim not where he was moving now, but where he was moving next.
Aru tapped into the Pandava mind link. Get his attention, Brynne.
You got it, she messaged back.
Brynne motioned to Aiden, who began banging his scimitars against the shelves. Takshaka twitched and whirled toward Aiden and Brynne. As he started to move forward, Aru aimed her lightning-bolt discus just ahead of him.
Bang!
The discus hit Takshaka right in the forehead. A net of electricity fell down on the snake. He thrashed his way out of it and said with a cackle, “No weapon of Indra can harm me, Pandava! Your father was my friend once, after all. And a boon is a boon, no matter how long ago it was given. I am immune.”
He zigged and zagged, his great coils winding way up the shelves and blocking the entrance in the ceiling above.
“Aru!” shouted Brynne.
She turned just in time to see Vajra’s lightning net coming at her. Usually Vajra just spun back into her hand. But making contact with Takshaka had weakened it. It did not change form, and it did not aim for her hand. Aru tried to leap out of the way, but the net caught her around the foot and tripped her.
“This is the end,” said Takshaka when he heard Aru hit the floor. He looped back over himself and down toward her. “I hope to bring you as much pain as you caused me. You are no hero. You are a pawn in a game beyond your understanding. You are nothing.”
Takshaka’s fangs lengthened. They were stained yellow, and one was chipped. Venom dripped onto the ground, hitting the floor with a steaming hiss. Aru squeezed her eyes shut. Aiden and Brynne were too far away to help her. And even if th
ey’d wanted to, if they rushed over, it would only lead to all three of them getting killed. This is it, thought Aru.
A rush of air hit Aru just as Takshaka lunged.
Brynne.
With her wind mace, Brynne had lifted a shelving unit into the air. She tilted it until it formed a barricade between Takshaka’s jaws and Aru’s body. Her face shone with sweat.
Where the shelves used to be, Aiden was scaling the wall, using his scimitars as grappling hooks. He climbed quickly, but he didn’t reach the exit fast enough. Brynne created a gust so strong that Takshaka was blown backward. He slammed into the wall Aiden was climbing, and the vibration sent the boy tumbling. He hit the floor with a nasty thud and didn’t move.
“Aiden!” shouted Aru, scrambling out of the lightning net.
He didn’t answer.
Aru and Brynne huddled close. Aru shut her eyes as wind lashed around them. Vajra, now back in bolt form, flickered weakly. Aru felt helpless. There was no way they could get out of here, which meant Boo and Mini and the Heartless would be imprisoned forever. And forget about being exiled from the Otherworld—she’d just die here instead.
And then…
Thump-a thump-thump. Thump-a thump-thump.
Rhythm shook the floor. More treasures quivered and fell off the shelves. Takshaka hissed, pulling back as the sound of drums filled the air.
Brynne lifted her head, frowning. “Is that…is that bhangra?”
Bhangra is a kind of upbeat music that is often played at Indian weddings. Aru had no idea how to dance to it, but then again, neither did any of the brown uncles at parties. Their favorite bhangra dance technique was to pretend to screw in a lightbulb and pet a dog at the same time. And then start jumping.
Brynne’s shoulders began to move up and down to the beat.
“Now is not the time!” said Aru.
Then again, it was almost impossible not to dance when it came to bhangra. Even Takshaka, who had recovered, started swaying. His tail thumped to the rhythm as Panjabi MC and Jay-Z started rapping. The Panjabi lyrics filled the room:
Mundiya to bach ke rahi
Nahi tu hun hun hui mutiyarrr
Aru Shah and the Song of Death Page 14