Aru Shah and the Song of Death

by Roshani Chokshi

  “Did you hit me with a lightning bolt?” he asked.

  “Yup.”

  “Did I deserve it?”

  “I mean, you were trying to attack me.”

  “You’d gone Heartless,” added Mini.

  “In that case, I guess we can still be friends.” He palmed his chest as if making sure everything was still intact. Then he held out his hands, and Aru and Mini hauled him upright. “Where’s—?” he started to say, but then his eyes went straight to Brynne.

  She was kneeling beside the fallen Lady M. Hira stood behind her, hands shoved deep in her pockets. Lady M was glowing. Her monstrous appearance had been replaced by her former beautiful self. Her breathing was shallow, and from the wound where the arrow had pierced her, a bright light shone.

  “You are worthy adversaries,” she said when they had all gathered around.

  Aru knelt beside her. She wasn’t sure what to say…or do. She’d taken the advice of the gods—to see well. But it hadn’t made her feel well.

  “I will fade from here, and my tale will be what it will be,” Lady M said with a sigh. “Will you remember all of it, at least?”

  Aiden nodded, his jaw tight. Brynne and Mini and Hira did the same. Aru hesitated…not because she wouldn’t remember, but because no one should fade from the world like this. She reached out and held Lady M’s hand in hers.

  And when she did, a name sprang to her lips. “We’ll remember…Meenakshi.”

  Lady M smiled wide, and she disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the golden arrow.

  Shadowfax Saves the Day

  There’s a reason movies don’t always show what happens immediately after a battle ends.

  Because it’s really boring.

  The cured Heartless collected themselves, shouting things like “DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE MY OTHER SHOE WENT?” as they lined up to be whisked back home by the celestial mounts. Ever since one of the men had mentioned a burrito, all Aru could think of and all Brynne could talk about was food.

  Mini had fished out hand sanitizer from the depths of her backpack and was doling it out to the men. “Just because you were undead doesn’t mean you should be unclean,” she said.

  Aiden held up his camera, and all four girls shrieked at him.

  Aru: “No! Look at my hair!”

  Brynne: “Do not document my hunger or I will eat you.”

  Mini: “I’ll get a headache from the flash!”

  Hira: “If anyone finds out I was here, I’ll be in big trouble….”

  Aiden rolled his eyes. “I’m not taking a picture of any of you.”

  Brynne put her hands on her hips. “Wait, why not?”

  “Rude,” said Aru.

  “Then why do you even have it out?” asked Mini.

  “Just in case,” said Aiden cryptically. He looked around the ocean. “I bet that two-faced serpent king will come back any second now.”

  Right on schedule, a portal opened in the middle of the sand, and up through it slithered Takshaka, dressed in the full regalia of the naga court and acting as if he hadn’t been at the Ocean of Milk mere minutes ago. Behind him came Uloopi. And that wasn’t all. Urvashi danced out of the portal, her silks waving behind her, and Hanuman jumped into view. Today he was wearing a faded Nirvana T-shirt under a velvet tuxedo jacket.

  “The bow and arrow!” said Uloopi, gliding forward.

  Brynne held the weapon out to her. Since Meenakshi’s disappearance, the arrow had changed. The celestial weapon’s former luster had been replaced with a dull sheen.

  Urvashi surveyed the torn-up seabed and the great golden tank protecting the nectar of immortality. “But where is the thief?” she demanded.

  “You should ask Takshaka,” said Aru coldly.

  Uloopi’s cobra hood flared behind her. “What are you presuming to tell me, girl?”

  “Takshaka was just here!” said Brynne.

  “And he and Lady M—but everyone called her Surpanakha—were trying to get the amrita, because they thought they’d been dissed by the gods,” said Mini, crossing her arms. “Which I think is kinda true, but that doesn’t mean they—”

  “Enough of this tripe!” interrupted Takshaka.

  “I would like to hear them out,” said Hanuman. He eyed Takshaka, his fur bristling slightly. “It is when we stop listening that we commit the greatest wrongs.”

  The serpent king’s tail lashed angrily.

  “The Pandavas are acquitted of the charges against them,” pronounced Urvashi.

  Aru’s heart soared, but then it crashed with the next words:

  “That,” snapped Uloopi, “requires a unanimous vote. Don’t forget that they had ten days to complete their task. They failed to meet the deadline.”

  “But we saved the Heartless!” said Aru. “And we were never guilty in the first place—we were forced to do all this because you didn’t believe us.”

  “And what about Boo?” asked Mini. “Are you just going to keep him imprisoned?”

  “No,” said Hanuman. “Boo will be freed.”

  “But not us?” asked Brynne. “How does that make any sense?”

  Uloopi held out her hand. “Our rules are in place for good reason. The accused will be heard in the Court of the Sky.”

  Takshaka smiled smugly.

  Aru snuck a glance at Aiden. He had always been more of an observer, but she was surprised he hadn’t said a word in their defense. He was supposed to be their witness, after all.

  But, wait…Where was Shadowfax?

  She scanned the space around them, but there was no sign of Aiden’s camera. What had he done with it? Aiden caught her looking and winked.

  “Come, Pandavas,” said Urvashi, gesturing to the portal. “State your case before us.”

  Hira tried to come with them, but Hanuman gently told her no. “Only the accused or apsaras can go to the Court of the Sky,” he said, opening a different portal for her and Aiden to use. “You two wait in the Night Bazaar, and we’ll send word to your families—”

  “Just my mom,” said Aiden. “My dad won’t notice.”

  “Very well.”

  And with that, Aiden and Hira disappeared through the portal.

  “Come on, Shah,” said Brynne, jerking her chin at the other portal. “Let’s go prove them wrong.”

  The Court of the Sky felt like an actual courtroom. The dusky purple clouds looked solemn and serious. A half ring of golden thrones surrounded the square of flat clouds where Aru, Brynne, and Mini stood in their cloud slippers, their hands clasped respectfully behind their backs. Far below them, the Night Bazaar twinkled, and Aru felt her heart lurch a little…wondering if this might be the last time she ever saw it.

  In a blink, many members of the Council of Guardians—those tasked with overseeing heroes’ quests and keeping the world in balance—appeared in their thrones. But not Boo.

  “Begin your account,” said Queen Uloopi.

  Beside her, Aru noticed, Takshaka squirmed a little.

  The Pandavas related all that had happened since they left the Night Bazaar. They told them about the terrible swan that Kamadeva kept as a guard pet. They described the monstrous blue crab that couldn’t sing. But when they got to the part where they’d fought Takshaka, the serpent king interrupted.

  “You lie!” he declared, laughing. “I understand these children are known for ly—”

  “I never lie!” said Mini. “I actually don’t think I can…. It makes me nauseated, and then my skin gets all hot—”

  “Take back your foolish tale, and we might consider our options,” said Takshaka smoothly. “But persist in this fantasy, and you will force our hand, Pandavas. The Council will be unable to reverse your sssentence.”

  Brynne looked angry enough to tear a hole in the cloud carpet beneath them.

  Easy, Brynne, thought Aru to her sisters. We’ve got a secret weapon.

  They revealed everything except the fact that Uloopi’s heart jewel lay at the bottom of Aru’s backpack. Aru pl
anned on returning it to the queen, but she couldn’t just toss it at her like, HERE YA GO! HAVE A NICE LIFE! She couldn’t wait much longer, though, since she was secretly hoping that once Uloopi saw the jewel that Takshaka had kept from her, the queen would know they were telling the truth about him. Letting the naga go on and on about how innocent he was would only make him look worse in the end. Aru grinned.

  “They must cast the final votesss,” said Takshaka.

  Now can we show them the heart jewel? thought Brynne impatiently.

  Aru reached around for her backpack and Hanuman launched out of his seat, ready to argue, when the sight of a portal opening overhead made everyone look up at the same time. Out of a thin beam of light, a boy stumbled into the middle of the court. He had been reunited with his camera, Aru was glad to see.

  “Aiden!” said Urvashi, shocked. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

  “How did he get in?” demanded Uloopi.

  “Apsara blood,” said Aiden, looking at Urvashi. “There’s something you need to see, Masi. Please. And you, too, Queen Uloopi.”

  “Get this boy out of here!” snarled Takshaka.

  Urvashi drew herself up, her face imperious and full of deadly beauty.

  “You do not talk to my nephew like that,” she said coldly. “Share what you must, Aiden. But don’t think you’re getting out of trouble.”

  Aiden looked over at Aru, Mini, and Brynne. A weak smile flickered on his face before he handed his camera to Uloopi. The moment she touched it, images and sounds burst forth, and a hologram appeared in the middle of the Council of Guardians. It showed Takshaka in the Ocean of Milk, scowling at the Pandavas. The perspective was low, as if someone was looking up at him.

  “Shadowfax!” whispered Brynne excitedly.

  “What cause? You swore to protect Queen Uloopi, and instead you went behind her back and betrayed her,” said hologram-Aiden. “Didn’t you?”

  “I am not ashamed to admit it,” said Takshaka. “I had my reasons. I thought Uloopi was wise, but her judgment became compromised once she fell in love with Arjuna. It was pathetic.”

  “You hid her heart jewel,” said Aiden. “You took her eternal youth. You made her weak on purpose.”

  “She couldn’t be trusted,” said Takshaka.

  “That wasn’t your choice to make,” said Aiden darkly.

  Aru wanted to high-five the whole sky. She had to hand it to Aiden—he was as sneaky as she was, waiting for the moment when Takshaka was surrounded by the Guardians in a place where he couldn’t destroy the evidence.

  “Is this true?” asked Uloopi quietly. She seemed even more menacing at this volume.

  Takshaka paled. He started to stammer, but then Aru reached into her backpack and drew out the heart jewel. She walked up to Uloopi.

  Only then did Aru realize she didn’t know very much about the naga queen. She knew that she’d loved Arjuna and…that was it. Just like how Aru had only known that Surpanakha—Meenakshi—was scorned and had her nose cut off. It wasn’t a complete picture. It would be like if someone only recorded the moments when Aru was fast asleep and then called it a documentary of her whole life.

  “This belongs to you,” said Aru, laying the jewel at her feet. “And…I really hope that you let us stay in the Otherworld. If you do, maybe sometime you can tell us what happened to you after the great war. Because we’d like to know.”

  Uloopi stared at the heart jewel. She picked it up in her withered hands. A bright light washed over her, and Uloopi was transformed…. Her wrinkled skin glowed, and the gray in her hair shone like silver. Her eyes sparkled. Uloopi took a deep breath, and the air shimmered around her. When Uloopi closed her eyes, Aru could still see them moving back and forth beneath her eyelids, as if she were catching up on all the things she hadn’t properly seen. When she opened her eyes again, her mouth curled down in shame.

  “Thank you, Pandavas,” Uloopi said. She pressed the jewel to her heart, then touched her forehead. When she removed her hand, the emerald was securely centered there. “I owe you my deepest apologies.”

  Then she turned to Takshaka. “As for you, snake, you have dishonored your house and your name.” Her voice trembled with fury and pain. “You broke the vows of friendship and loyalty sworn to me. And this I will never forgive.” She shook her head. “How could you?”

  At the snap of her fingers, a retinue of naga guards appeared and dragged the serpent king away even as he hissed and thrashed against their hold.

  For the first time in days, Aru felt like she could breathe easy. Aiden took back his camera and walked over to them. Brynne was beaming. Mini had tears in her eyes. Aru wanted to shout with joy, but then her gaze fell on an empty golden throne, the one marked SUBALA. Mini caught her looking, and she was about to say something when her eyes flew to the sky beyond the Guardians. A wide grin spread across her face. Aru turned just in time to see a blur of gray feathers diving toward them.

  “Boo!” she screamed.

  He landed on her hair and immediately pecked her. “You look pale! You have to take vitamin D! Pandavas always take vitamin D. And what is this scratch on your arm? Who scratched you? And what took you so long?”

  Aru just laughed. Boo huffed and fluttered over to Mini. He huddled under her ear, as if it were an umbrella and he was trying to stay out of the rain. “Do you know how worried I was? Do you have any idea what that does to my plumage?”

  He raised a wing, which, to Aru, looked exactly the same. Not that she said anything to him.

  “Stress shortens one’s life span,” he said.

  Brynne frowned. “But aren’t you immortal?”

  Boo jerked up his head, just now bothering to notice Aiden and Brynne.

  “Ugh,” he groaned, flopping into Mini’s hands. “More of you? I can’t. I just can’t.”

  “I’m not?” said Aiden, raising his hand.

  Boo gave him a beady look, then placed his wing over his eyes.

  “We missed you, too,” said Mini, smiling.

  Well, This Is Awkward

  Boo sat on a stack of books piled on top of Aru’s head.

  “Balaaaaance!” he shrieked. “A Pandava always has immaculate form. A Pandava should be so precise that he—”

  “Or she,” added Aru.

  “Or they!” chimed in Brynne from a distance.

  “Whatever pronoun you so choose!” snapped Boo. Even though she couldn’t see him, Aru could imagine him ruffling his feathers.

  Aru and her soul sisters were standing on a floor of gold, surrounded by different weapons, various illusion dummies, and posters of demons taped awkwardly to the transparent walls of Boo’s floating-bubble classroom.

  A warm and fuzzy learning environment it was not.

  “A Pandava must be so precise and so skilled that they can separate a shadow from its host! They can grab the wind! They are as swift as—”

  “A river!” shouted Aru.

  Mini hollered, “With all the force of a great typhoon!”

  “With all the strength of a raging fiiiiiire—” sang Brynne.

  “STOP SINGING MULAN!” shouted Boo.

  Aru laughed so hard that the books fell from her head and toppled to the ground.

  Boo squawked and pecked her ear. “Concentrate!”

  “I am,” said Aru.

  But that was a bit of a lie. Two weeks had passed since they’d been cleared of stealing the bow and arrow of Kamadeva, and yet they hadn’t been able to return the weapon to the god of love until today. It was going to happen in exactly one hour. Which meant that everything still felt strangely up in the air, even as life calmed down.

  When Boo had been released from his holding cell, he’d been so shocked and skittish that the three of them had all chipped in part of their weekly allowance to get him a family-size box of Oreos from Costco. But after that, he’d only gotten more vigilant about training the three of them. Aiden joined in sometimes, but he and Hira took most of their magical classes with the kids
who had Otherworldly ancestry. Mini’s family had asked to foster Hira, and now she lived in their spare bedroom. Even though it’d only been a few days, Aru thought she noticed a huge difference in Hira already. She smiled a lot more…and she finally had clothes that fit.

  “What happened under the Ocean of Milk was only the beginning,” said Boo. He started marching back and forth. He did that a lot when he got nervous. “There’s going to be an uprising! A war! You have to be ready to face the Sleeper again. Don’t forget that misguided intentions are often the most dangerous.”

  He quieted down when he said that. A week ago, after the girls had told him about Surpanakha, he’d confided that he, too, had once gone down a dark path.

  “Way back when, everything I did was to avenge what I thought was an insult to my sister,” he’d said. “I was wrong.”

  Mini had comforted him. “It’s okay, Boo.”

  Boo sniffed. “I thought that by only teaching you the good stories about the Pandavas, you’d feel more inspired.”

  Aru shook her head. “We deserve to know the bad stuff too, Boo.”

  “It’s not balanced otherwise,” pointed out Brynne.

  Boo had agreed. From then on, when he told them his daily stories, he didn’t shy away from the ugly parts…but that also made him that much more anxious when it came to talks about the great war ahead.

  “If you’re not ready, you’ll die!” he said, squawking at them. “And I will kill you if you die! How dare you!”

  “Cheer up, Boo,” said Aru. “We’re working on our own moves!”

  Brynne frowned. “We are?”

  “Yeah! We can improvise. Check it out.” Aru pointed at Mini and yelled, “Shield!”

  Mini looked confused but dutifully created a shield.

  “All right, Brynne, blast me forward!”

  “Uh…okay…”

  Brynne hit Aru with a wind gust just as she ran toward Mini’s shield and jumped on it. In her head, Aru had envisioned this epic leap where she soared through the air on the shield and pinned someone with her lightning bolt. In reality, she just slid forward and crashed into the back wall with a loud thud. Mini dropped her shield and Brynne ran to her.