Page 120 of Aru Shah and the End of Time

“Mini!” said Aru.

“Sorry,” she said, blushing.

“You know, in my day, you could just swoop in and take the person you liked,” said Boo. “It’s far more efficient than talking.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s called kidnapping,” said Mini.

“It was romantic.”

“It’s still kidnapping.”

Hanuman clapped. “Come, Pandavas, it’s time for strategy lessons.”

Pandavas. The word still sounded strange in Aru’s head, especially because she knew that it wasn’t going to stop with just her and Mini. The Sleeper was still out there, and as the danger grew, more Pandavas would be required. She had even gotten a glimpse of them in her vision. All girls….So where were they?

Sighing, Aru took off the bells around her ankles and handed them to Urvashi.

Urvashi patted Aru’s head. “Don’t worry, my dear. When I’m done with you, you will fell men with a laugh.”

Aru didn’t want tokillthe guy. Just maybe talk to him?

Why was everything the worst?

As Aru and Mini left Urvashi, the Night Bazaar dance studio closed up behind them. Urvashi refused to rent space anywhere, becauseI have an image to maintain, and I’m not going to put my feet on a floor that’s been stained by other people’s shadows. Which meant that, three times a week, the sky of the Night Bazaar opened up to allow Urvashi to descend in a celestial blue lotus as big as the museum. When the girls finished their lesson, the petals of the lotus closed over Urvashi and she floated back to the heavens.

Hanuman’s lessons were a lot more…rugged.

“This way,” said the monkey-faced demigod, bounding ahead of them.

Aru and Mini trudged dutifully after him. Hanuman liked to use the terrain of the Night Bazaar. Today, he took them around the orchard of Dream Fruit and beneath an archway of gleaming silver feathers.

“Those feathers come fromchakora,or moon birds,” said Hanuman. “A feather plucked from a moon bird will glow brightly, but only for a moment. If you wait until the feather is shed naturally, it will forever bring you light.”

Sure enough, the feathered archway never seemed to dim.

On the other side of it, the landscape was steep and more treacherous. They peered down into a deep canyon with a wide river rushing through it. Far below, on the opposite bank, a shiny crown hovered in the air.

“Pandavas!” called Hanuman over the roar of the river.

Mini turned white. Aru remembered that her sister had a horrible fear of heights. Not of spiders, though she wasn’t wild about spiders, either…

“Imagine that it’s your duty to retrieve the crown,” said Hanuman. “How would you get to it?”

“Find another way?” offered Mini.

“Trick the other side into bringing it over here?” suggested Aru.

Hanuman frowned. “Always choose the simplest route! Aru, you have a tendency to choose…complication over simplification.”

“Or maybe I just don’t want to drown?”

Mini nodded vigorously.

“In my day, I built a bridge. I called on my friends to help. We gathered rocks and threw them into the ocean so I could get across,” said Hanuman.

“I don’t have any friends like that,” said Aru.

“Hey!” said Mini.