Page 64 of Aru Shah and the End of Time

“About what?” asked Aru.

“About the door and where it was going.”

“It’s going to the Kingdom of Death. That’s all.”

“Yes, but this is the door to my—” Mini stopped and stuttered. “I mean, I guess he really isn’t my…my…”

“Dad?”

Mini flinched. “Yeah. That. But I don’t know him. And he doesn’t know me. I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter. Boo and my parents said he’s my soul dad, not my home dad, but I guess I hoped he’d do something other than give me a mirror, you know?”

No. She didn’t know. Aru knew it was a little mean, but she didn’t feel that bad for Mini. Aru was in the same boat, and she didn’t have a home dad to comfort her. Yeah, Indra might have made her soul, but where was her real father? He could still be out there…somewhere. And whoever he was, he hadn’t wanted her.

She pushed down that surge of envy. It wasn’t Mini’s fault.

“What’re you going to do if you meet the Dharma Raja?”

“I’ll just thank him for letting me exist, I guess? I dunno. It’s weird.” Mini took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready now.”

Aru reached for the doorknob, but it shocked her hand. She pulled back, stung. “I think you should do it.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because you’re the Daughter of Death. It’s like going into your house.”

“What if it shocks me, too?”

Aru shrugged. “Maybe say your name first?”

Mini looked doubtful, but she squared her shoulders. “My name is Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez, and this is…” She turned to Aru and hissed, “I don’t know your last name!”

Aru was tempted to say that her name was Bond. James Bond.

“Aru Shah.”

“No middle name?”

She shrugged again. “If I have one, no one ever told me what it was.”

Mini nodded, apparently satisfied, then continued talking to the door. “Aru Shah. We are entering the Kingdom of Death because we have been sent on a quest to awaken the celestial weapons so that, uh, so that Time doesn’t end and also to find out how to stop this really awful demon by looking for answers in the Pool of the…Last?”

“Pool of thePast,” whispered Aru.

“Pool of the Past!” finished Mini. “Please and thank you.”

The door didn’t budge. Then again, Mini hadn’t pushed it.

“Why aren’t you even trying to open it?” demanded Aru.

“It’s not polite to force things.”

With that, the door gave way with a sigh and a groan.

From the side, the door to the Kingdom of Death was as slim as a closed laptop. And yet, the moment Mini stepped inside, she disappeared. It was as if she had stepped into a slice in the air.

After a few seconds, Mini poked her head out. “Are you coming or not?”

Aru’s stomach turned. She couldn’t remember any stories about the Halls of the Dead. But just the idea of them was enough to scare her. She kept imagining faceless ghosts behind the door. Fires that never went out. A sky devoid of stars.