Page 121 of Aru Shah and the End of Time

“Besides you, I mean.”

“What about changing shape?” asked Hanuman. “Always consider how you mightadaptto your surroundings rather than forcing your surroundings to adapt toyou.”

“But…we can’t change shape?” said Mini.

“Use your tail!” said Hanuman. His tail curled over his shoulder.

“We don’t have tails.” She stuck out her butt so he could see.

“Oh,” said Hanuman. His tail went limp.

At that moment, an alarm went off. Hanuman tensed. Before, he’d been the height and build of an average man. At the sound of the alarm, he shot up in size, snatching up Aru and Mini in the process so that they could stand on his open hands.

“I’m gonna throw up,” said Mini, crouching on Hanuman’s palm.

“Whoa,” said Aru. It took her a moment to get her bearings, but she had an incredible view of the entire Night Bazaar. It looked like thousands of cities were attached to it. From here, Aru could see the entrance line, which stretched into a bank of clouds. At security, the bull-headed raksha had been replaced by a raksha with the shell of a tortoise. She could even spot the brilliant jewel that was the Court of the Seasons.

The alarm blared once more.

The sky changed from the split colors of daytime and nighttime. Now it was a uniform black.

“Something has been stolen,” said Hanuman, sniffing the air. “You must go to your homes immediately. I’ll send word by Monday.”

“Wait, what’s been stolen?” asked Aru. She craned her neck over the side of Hanuman’s hand, as if she could catch sight of a runaway thief. She felt bad for whoever had lost whatever it was. But at least she wasn’t the only one who’d had the Worst Day Ever.

“It’s something even the gods fear,” said Hanuman darkly.

It took only three steps for Hanuman to cross from one end of the Night Bazaar to the other. He let Aru and Mini down near the stone door carved with elephants. The door had been created just for them when their moms had decided it was high time the girls started their training.

“Be safe,” said Hanuman. He patted their heads with the tip of his pinky (which was still big enough to almost crush them) and then strode off in the other direction.

“At least we have some free time?” said Mini.

“Yeah,” said Aru.

But at what cost?

Woof

Mini was lying upside down on Aru’s bed.

It was a Saturday, the day after the entire Night Bazaar had panicked about something being stolen. Aru had checked the stone elephant’s mouth every hour, but there hadn’t been any news from Hanuman yet.

Boo was acting particularly nervous. He was probably still mad because the neighbor’s cat had snuck up on him and stolen two of his tail feathers. Aru had watched him chase the poor feline down the sidewalk, shouting, “I AM A MIGHTY KING! YOU HAVE INSULTED MY HONOR!” But even his “vengeance” (he nipped the cat’s tail and hid her food bowl) hadn’t been enough to calm him down.

“Are you coming over tonight? My dad is makingpancit!” said Mini excitedly. “It’s my favorite.”

Aru wanted to, but it was the last night before her mom was leaving to go on another archaeological dig. They still hadn’t talked about what had happened between her and Aru’s dad. Sometimes Aru could feel her mom attempting to get the words out before her shoulders slumped. It meant a lot that at least she was trying. Aru still didn’t like it when her mom went away, but now they both tried harder to enjoy the time that they did have together.

“I’ll call every day, and you’ll have Sherrilyn, too,” her mom had promised. “But you have to understand that I’m doing this for you.”

“I know,” Aru had said.

And she’d meant it. Her mom was insistent that somewhere out there, just waiting to be found, was an ancient object that might help them defeat the Sleeper once and for all.

“How do you know he won’t come after you?” Aru had asked.

“Trust me,chuckloo,” her mother had said, sighing. “I’m the last person he wants to see.”