Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1)(46)

“Urgent need,” it clarified.

“Wait. What’s your name?”

“Uchchaihshravas,” it replied.

“Uchcha…Um, maybe I could just whistle?”

The horse huffed.

“So that’s a no on the whistling,” said Aru.

“Declare your name to the sky. We shall hear and answer.”

The horse bowed its seven heads, then took off the way it came. Aru didn’t stay to watch it disappear. She crawled under the planks, covering her nose with her hand. This place stank. Mini would probably be concerned that the whole room was full of toxic fumes.

She found herself in a narrow alley. When it opened into a cave, Aru knew where the strange smell was coming from….

In the center of the space stood a cauldron the size of a claw-footed bathtub. But the cauldron wasn’t made of iron or steel…it was made of vapors. It was transparent enough that Aru could see blue liquid sloshing angrily inside it. Trying to contain a liquid with only vapors seemed like a really bad idea…and judging from the way the whole thing kept quivering, it looked like it was ready to burst at any moment.

But there was also something solid inside, about the size of her shoe, floating on top of the blue liquid. The mehndi design on her fingers pulsed gently. Was that shoe the third key?

If so, how was she supposed to get it out?

Just behind the cauldron crouched a huge statue of Shiva, the Lord of Destruction. He bent over the cauldron, his mouth wide open, as if shocked by its contents. Aru couldn’t see the rest of the statue. It disappeared behind the ledge on which the cauldron bubbled.

“Aru?” called a familiar voice.

There, standing off to the side with a notebook in her hand and a pen in the other, was Mini.

The two of them regarded each other warily. Aru wasn’t sure what to say. She had already apologized. But it never hurt to say I’m sorry again. And the truth was that Aru hadn’t come here just to save her own skin. She had come because Mini was her friend. Plus, she’d made a promise not to leave her behind. She might fib a little, but she never broke her promises.

“Mini, I’m sorry—” she started.

At the very same time, Mini said, “I may have overreacted.”

“Ack! You go first!” they both said. Again at the same time.

Now they glared.

“Nose goes!” declared Aru, quickly smacking her nose. (Did it hurt a bit? Yes. Would she do it again to avoid having to discuss her feelings first? One hundred percent yes.)

Mini, who had not reached for her nose, grumbled. “Fine!” she said. “All I was going to say was that maybe I shouldn’t have left you like that. I hate when people do that to me. And I know you didn’t meant to hurt anyone when you lit the—”

“Apology accepted!” said Aru, feeling immensely relieved. “Now—”

“I just want you to know that…that I understand how you feel,” continued Mini. “My parents, they, well, I love them. And they love me. My family is great. Honestly. But they didn’t think I’d be a Pandava. They thought it was a mistake. I guess it just meant a lot that you believed…in me. And I get that maybe you felt like that, too—like an impostor—and probably that’s why you lit the lamp.”

Aru didn’t say anything for a moment. She wasn’t mad or embarrassed. She was grateful. She’d found someone she could breathe easier around, and it hurt. In a good way.

“I do believe in you, Mini,” she said. “I think you’re really smart. Definitely a bit on the neurotic side, but totally smart. And brave, too.”

She meant it. With all her heart. Maybe Mini could see that, because she smiled and stuck out her elbow. Aru bumped it and she knew they were good.

“Did you see that thing floating in the cauldron?” asked Aru.

“Yup. I’m guessing it’s the third key, but I don’t know how to get it out. Do we have to sip from the cauldron?”

Sip from that bubbling vat of gross blue liquid?

“Ew…” said Aru. “Well, I already bit a book, so if anyone’s going to be sipping whatever that is, it’s not me.”

“That is poison. Specifically, halahala poison.”

“Okay, definitely not drinking it.”

“It’s the same poison that was released when the gods churned the Ocean of Milk. It will kill us. Please tell me you read the sign.” She pointed to a poster off to the side.

Aru skimmed it briefly. Once she read LIKELIHOOD OF DISMEMBERMENT, she stopped.

“Nope.”

“According to the warnings, if you touch the cauldron, the whole thing will explode,” said Mini. “It happens once a year, kinda like a volcano, which is why this place is blocked off. We’d both die.”

Then Aru had an idea. “Maybe I can call in a favor.”

She told Mini about the cage full of godly mounts. When she was finished, Mini looked impressed and even a little envious.

“A seven-headed horse?” she asked. “Can you imagine all of its neural pathways? That would be fascinating to study!”

“Focus, Mini!”

“Okay, okay. Well, you can’t even call in that favor. The rules specify that no animals may drain the poison. Apparently, it can turn them into huge monsters that eat everything around them.”