Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, page 23
But when the mist thinned out…
There was Nikita, asleep on the ground.
Bent over, with her hands braced on her legs and heaving with every breath, Brynne grinned at Chandra.
“We win,” she said.
Gods Don’t Nap. Ew.
“You won by trickery!” said Chandra. “I do not accept defeat!”
“Then stop us!” yelled Brynne.
Aru looked back to see Chandra take a step toward them and falter. It was as if his own palace knew that the Pandavas had won fair and square and wouldn’t let him get any closer. He tried using his whip, but it refused to lift off the mirrored floor.
Aru knelt beside Nikita. She was wearing a dress made of blue flowers, all the blossoms closed up as if they were taking a nap.
“Nikita?” asked Aru, shaking her shoulder.
But she wouldn’t move. Mini checked Nikita’s temperature, then held her wrist and looked at her watch to take her pulse.
“I don’t understand,” said Mini. “She seems fine?”
“Let’s just get her out of here,” said Brynne, scooping up the twin.
Nikita’s head drooped, and Aiden rushed to tuck it more securely in the crook of Brynne’s elbow.
“Watch her head,” he scolded.
Rudy stood guard at the threshold. A couple of Chandra’s wives poked their heads in to see before drawing back to let the Pandavas exit.
The rest of the constellations had surrounded Chandra. Their twenty-some-odd faces now looked completely different from one another. Some of them scowled. One of them walked off, throwing up her hands and declaring, “That’s it! I need a bubble bath.” Still more took one look at the Pandavas, bowed their heads in acknowledgment—or was it apology?—and vanished on the spot.
A handful stayed behind to berate their husband.
“You did not tell us we would be rooted to the spot,” spat one of the wives.
“We are the constellations, husband,” huffed another. “Do you think you can pin down a star goddess just because you married one?”
“Do not forget that your power waxes and wanes because of us,” said another.
Chandra wilted a little, and he seemed to shrink—literally—beneath his wives’ angry gazes.
“Now, now, my loves,” he said. “It was merely a precaution! I didn’t actually think—”
“What a novelty,” said another wife, yawning.
“And making them all identical to me?” demanded Rohini. “Tacky!”
“If you ever bothered to look at the rest of us, maybe you could’ve been more creative,” added another star goddess, tears shining in her eyes.
“But, my dearest…” said Chandra, reaching out to Rohini.
She shushed him and turned to face Aru and the others. “My sisters and I grant you full leave of the House of the Moon, with our blessings,” she said, raising her hand.
The green heart in Nikita’s neck grew dim. Rohini had fulfilled Chandra’s promise to deactivate the tracking device.
“I just wanted one of their weapons,” grumbled Chandra. “Make them give me one of their toys!”
“Alas, your hour of power is up, my dear,” said another star goddess.
All of a sudden, Chandra looked different. He seemed younger and smaller, like a teenager. His once-muscular arms now appeared thin and scrawny. There were even some pimples on his chin and across his forehead, and his voice broke when he complained.
One of his wives laughed and patted his head. “Come now, little husband,” she said. “The moon in the sky is no longer full, and you know your strength diminishes with it. It’s time for you to get to bed.”
Chandra pouted. “I hate bedtime! I am a god.”
“Yes, yes,” said another wife, holding his hand. “Now, how about some milk and cookies? Or just milk?”
“Milk and cookies.”
“If you are very good, I will let you sit with me as I review the lunar reports,” said another star goddess.
“But I was going to have all their weapons,” he whined, flailing a hand at Aru, Mini, and Brynne.
Chandra’s antelope vahana trotted beside him, occasionally nudging its lord with its muzzle. The moon god did not turn to say good-bye to the Pandavas, which was just as well.
“I must apologize for Chandra,” Rohini said when he and all the other constellation queens were gone. “Our husband is not usually like the person you just encountered. One might even say that our father’s curse was the best thing that ever happened to him. It made him kinder. He can be thoughtful and secretive, illuminating and inspiring. But for four days of the month, we must handle him when he’s at his worst. The whole house is flipped upside down, all the decor changes, and it can be quite annoying. But we manage.”
“You have to deal with that four days out of every month?” asked Rudy, shuddering.
“Many women are accustomed to such monthly inconveniences,” said Rohini, lifting an eyebrow.
She gestured widely, and the room from which they had retrieved Nikita transformed into a corridor that led them back out to the grand boulevard that linked all the planetary mansions.
“Quickly now,” she said. “There’s only one day left before the Holi celebrations, and this is the path you must take.” She pointed down the avenue.
Aru narrowed her eyes. “Do you know something we don’t?” she asked, then immediately regretted how she’d phrased the question.
“Inevitably,” said the goddess. “But that is for me and my sisters to know, and for you to discover. Now, to exit this place, you must pass by the House of Saturn. Beware the baleful gaze of the god Shani, or you will never make it to the Door of New Day.”
Mini raised her hand shyly. “Um, excuse me…but what’s wrong with Nikita? Why won’t she wake up?”
Rohini frowned. “My husband might have given her a draught to lull her to sleep, for she was in such poor spirits about her sister. A couple of loud noises should do the trick, but I wouldn’t risk it in this place. Wait till you are in the mortal realm.”
The mortal realm? Aru mused. They had to go back there to save the Otherworld? They still had to find the tree, and Nikita was their only hope….
Aru paused on the palace’s front steps before following her friends. In many stories she’d read, there were terrible consequences for looking over one’s shoulder when you were supposed to move on. Someone’s wife would turn into a pillar of salt. Or the wife would become a ghost and float back to the Underworld. Or the wife would—
Why was it always the wives? Rude. Good thing she didn’t have a wife. She stole a glance at Aiden just ahead, gilded in moonlight. He turned to her, his lips quirked in a smile, and Aru quickly looked away. Nope. Definitely no wife.
Rohini’s eyes met hers. “Yes, daughter of Indra?”
“I was just wondering if…Well…you said all this stuff about the path we must take and all that, and I was hoping you could tell me if…um…”
The star goddess seemed to know the question Aru couldn’t bring herself to ask.
“You’re wondering, perhaps, if you are on the right path?” Rohini guessed.
Aru nodded.
“Right is a word invented by humans, little one,” said the star goddess. “We are all stitches in a fabric too vast to comprehend. But perhaps that is a good thing, for it means we are always exactly where we need to be.”
Rohini stretched her hand over the night-dark Boulevard of Stars. For a moment, the world slipped away and Aru saw only the vast shimmering cosmos, and within it, each object, place, and feeling wrought of the myriad decisions of millions of people. It made her head ache just to look at it. Honestly, she could barely comprehend even a corner of what Rohini showed her.
“No matter what happens to us, we have choices,” said Rohini. “We choose how to look at our lives. We choose what we can live with, and what we cannot, and only you can decide.”
Rohini snapped her fingers, and the images faded immediately.
“Now go, Arundhati, named for the morning star,” she said warmly. “For your father has caught wind of the Pandavas’ hunt…and there is much left to be done.”
Someone’s Got a Burning Gaze. Literally.
Like all the other planetary palaces, the House of Saturn was opulent and grand. This one was crafted from sturdy onyx shot through with veins of silver. But it was oddly dilapidated, like the scene of one of those garage sales where you’d find a broken bathtub next to a collection of drinking glasses featuring obscure Star Wars characters. From where Aru stood, she could spot a blasted television set, a broken pool table with snapped sticks, one half-incinerated Etch A Sketch, and a smoldering BUILD YOUR OWN PLANT TERRARIUM! kit, all of which lay at the base of a great archway, plumes of smoke wafting from it.
At the far end of the lawn loomed the gleaming Door of New Day. As they got closer, Aru saw that it was as big and unadorned as a school cafeteria door, except that it seemed to be made of quicksilver. It quivered and vibrated, as if in a constant state of flux.
“Yeah…none of this stuff bodes well,” said Aru, toeing one of the broken things on the ground.
“Is this what Rohini meant by ‘baleful gaze’?” asked Mini. “Does Shani just look at stuff and it breaks?”
Rudy nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard.”
“Then we have to move as quietly as possible,” said Brynne.
Aiden hoisted Nikita higher across his back. “Be careful, Bee.”
Earlier, they’d taken some of the camping materials from Aiden’s satchel and fashioned a human backpack that strapped Nikita to him. It was probably a good thing Nikita was knocked out. Aru could imagine the fashionista twin hating everything about this.
In a flash of light, Brynne transformed into a blue snake, slithering easily and silently over the crowded lawn. Rudy rummaged silently around in his messenger bag, pulling out a violet jewel and whispering to it. At once, a low sound crept over the lawn…the sound of indifferent things, like someone clacking on a keyboard in an office, the occasional thud of a book falling over on a library’s bookshelf, cicadas in summer.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Nothing to notice.
Aiden brought out his scimitars slowly, casting his gaze about, while Aru followed Brynne’s footsteps. Even with Rudy’s enchanted music, Aru felt a low prickle gathering at the base of her spine. Two minutes passed…then three…and the Door of New Day got closer and larger with every step.
“So far so good,” whispered Mini, carefully stepping over what looked to be a smashed xylophone.
“A xylophone?” asked Aru, glancing down. “I bet he owns an electric triangle—”
Brynne the snake turned her head sharply and hissed.
Aru felt a low buzzing in her skull, as if Brynne was trying to get a message to her, but something about the House of Saturn confused it.
“I—I can’t send mind messages,” said Aru.
She concentrated her energy, trying to push words toward Mini and Brynne, but it was as if something had built a wall between them.
“What’s happening?” asked Mini, rubbing at her temples.
Brynne hissed again.
“In snake, that means Shut up,” said Rudy helpfully.
Aru rolled her eyes. “We’re being quiet!”
Aiden fixed Aru with a pointed look, and she went back to tiptoeing over a pit of broken crochet needles, a candle-making kit, three record players, and a paint-by-numbers set. She hoped the mind-message problem would clear up the moment they got back to the human world.
“What a dump,” said Aru, grimacing as she shook a bit of dried paint off her sneakers. “Has he never heard of recycling?”
Just then, a silver beetle scuttled over her foot. “Bug!” she whisper-yelped.
“What’d you expect with this mess?” asked Mini. But she shuddered too when the silver beetle moved closer to her.
By now, the door was within sprinting distance. Brynne slithered faster. Aru felt a reckless hysteria bubbling up inside her chest. This was it. Once they were back in the mortal world, everything would be fixed. Nikita would wake up and help them. Aru cast a sidelong glance at the twin. In sleep, the girl was still frowning, but her crown of flowers had been restored.
A loud Honk! Honk! broke the silence of Saturn’s realm.
“Someone’s here!” said Aiden.
Brynne slithered under a magazine for cover. Mini cast an invisibility shield over the rest of them just as Rudy’s song abruptly went quiet.
They held their breath as they looked out over the littered lawn, trying to figure out where their attacker was coming from…but everything remained still. Maybe it had just been a sound from one of the broken instruments? Maybe a battery was dying out?
Mini lowered the shield. Brynne transformed back to normal. Aru’s heart pounded in relief.
Rudy sighed. “Well, that was close—”
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
To the left of the Door of New Day, at a jet-black gate that marked the edge of Saturn’s mansion, a pale-skinned yaksha wearing a bowler hat rang the doorbell three times. He dropped a takeout box and, without bothering to wait, hopped back into his small silver chariot and sped away as fast as he could.
The ground began to shake beneath them. Brynne motioned frantically for them to run toward the Door of New Day, but the ground was bouncing too wildly and it knocked them off their feet. From inside the palace, a friendly voice rang out.
“Wow! I’m amazed! You know, I’d heard you guys were fast, but two seconds is pretty quick even for Uber Eats’ Celestial Division.”
Shani, Lord of Saturn, chuckled to himself as he emerged from his halls. Aru had never considered what it would be like to meet a planet…and in all her imaginings of Saturn, she’d always thought of it possessing a giant ring like a frozen Hula-Hoop.
Shani did not have a Hula-Hoop.
Instead, he was dressed in a plaid silk nightgown with house slippers shaped like ducks with little mirrors affixed to their foreheads. His skin was a deep violet flecked with stars. But it was his head that threw her off.
Whereas most people would raise their heads to meet you straight in the eye. Shani looked only at the ground. He seemed to frown at his feet, and Aru realized he must be looking at their reflections in his duck slippers.
“Wait…you’re not the delivery guys, are you?” he asked. He waved a bag of coins. “Otherwise, I don’t have enough for the tip.”
And I— Oop!
“We’re definitely not the delivery guys,” said Aru.
“Good!” said Shani, pocketing the coins. “So what are you doing here? Have you come to fix the sink?”
“What’s wrong with it?” asked Mini.
“Well, it’s making this strange growling noise—”
“We’re not here about the sink,” cut in Brynne. “We’re trying to get to the Door of New Day. We’re on urgent business on behalf of the heavens.”
“Urgent business?” asked Shani, perking up. “Do tell! I’ve been a bit out of the loop, unfortunately.”
“We’re in somewhat of a rush, sorry,” said Aru.
Shani paused. “Wait a moment. Young, female, high-pitched voices…access to the Otherworld and the heavens…urgent business…Are you…Are you the Pandavas?”
Brynne lifted her chin. “We are.”
“And there’s also me?” added Rudy resentfully. “A naga prince.”
“And me,” said Aiden, raising his hand. “Not a prince. Or a Pandava. Well, kinda, but it’s more of an ‘adjacent’ thing….” He trailed off, his face suddenly red.
Brynne took another step closer to the Door of New Day. “So perhaps you might let us pass?”
“Wow!” said Shani, clapping his hands excitedly and kicking out his duck-slippered feet. “Pandavas! Real Pandavas! How thrilling! Tell me, what news is there in the worlds below? I’d take a look myself, but that doesn’t tend to go very well.” He mournfully patted the top of his head.
“Apologies if this is rude, but…why can’t you look up?” asked Mini.
Shani’s eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head. “I got in a bit of a spat with my wife some time ago. One must never offend one’s wife. Especially if one’s wife happens to be a goddess of the arts exceptionally skilled in cursing.” He sighed. “I was consumed one day with reading a new book. It is, I believe, an ancient human tome called Twilight. I liked it very much. Anyway, my lady queen asked if she looked better wearing a gown with roses or a gown with stars, and I replied that I didn’t care, because I was learning about vampires. Since I could not take the time to look at her and thus ruined her day, she set a curse upon me that whatsoever I looked at would be blighted by my gaze.”
Mini looked appalled. “Always?”
Shani rubbed his temples. “Well, no, not always. She eventually relented and gave me a pair of glasses that allowed me to look at things, but I had to be very careful not to look outside the periphery of the lenses. One day I was reading in bed, and the glasses slipped down my nose and I incinerated our new duvet! It had a two-thousand-star thread count and was so comfy. Very unfortunate, and I was right in the middle of a new romantic thriller, too.”
“What happened to your glasses?” asked Brynne, taking another step toward the Door of New Day.
Shani followed. “Well, you might’ve noticed that there’s an awful lot of beetles running about.” He scowled. “It’s all because of Ratri! She refuses to use pesticides, going on and on about organic dreams in her grove.”
As he spoke, Aru noticed another silver beetle scuttling toward them. She elbowed Brynne in the ribs.
“I hate those bugs,” muttered Shani. “They’re vicious killers. They caused me to destroy my own purple roses!” He flailed a hand in the direction of an incinerated archway.
Aru elbowed Brynne again, keeping an eye on the silver beetle inching toward them, but Brynne didn’t notice. Aru tried to grab Mini’s attention next, but she was mournfully listening to Shani’s tale. Aru’s mind messages were still not working, either.
