Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1)(80)

One of the divine vehicles, the golden tiger with startlingly long claws, walked up to the door and pawed it. The entrance swung open, and all of them flooded inside.

Aru’s heart pinched when she reached the Hall of the Gods. She was fully expecting to find what she saw there, but that didn’t make it any easier. Her mother hadn’t moved from her frozen spot. Her hair still fanned around her face. Her eyes remained wide with panic.

But even though she looked the same as before, Aru couldn’t help but see her differently. She kept picturing the woman from the Pool of the Past, the woman who had given up so much just to keep Aru safe.

Aru ran up to her and threw her arms around her waist. She refused to cry, but she may have sniffled a couple times. She thought of what her mom had said to the Sleeper: I’ll find an answer. I’ll examine every ancient site, read every treatise. And I will find a way to free both you and Aru. I promise.

Every time her mom had left…it was because she loved her.

“I love you, too,” Aru said.

And then she pulled away, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

“Do you want a tissue? Er, never mind…” said Mini.

The mounts stood around them, looking like a terrifying bunch. The lion bared its teeth. The tiger sharpened its claws on the stone elephant. Rude!

“We await your command, Pandava,” said the horse.

Command? Aru stuffed her hands into her pockets. She took a deep breath. Like her, Arjuna had seen the world differently than most. If there was one thing that had survived all those reincarnation cycles, it was the imagination they shared. And now it was time to use it.

“Mini, can the Death Danda make an illusion that looks like a human being?”

Mini nodded. “I think so.”

“Okay, good. Because we’re going to do something a little strange….”

Half an hour later, the only thing outside that proved not to be frozen was the sun. It had sunk completely. The museum was pitch-black except for the bits of light Aru had been able to convince Vajra to spit out. Now those lights hovered in the air.

The mounts were either pacing or playing. The crocodile was posing next to the stone makara, glancing at the statue and grinning as if to say Hey guys! Look! Look! It’s me! And, as it turned out, all cats—even celestial ones—were highly intrigued by boxes. The tiger kept sticking its head in one of the wooden crates before awkwardly trying to cram its whole body into the space. Whenever it saw Aru looking, it would stop and lick its front paw self-consciously. Aru was grateful to it; earlier, the tiger had gently picked up her frozen mother in his mouth and placed her in her bedroom, so she was out of harm’s way. Two mounts had gone into the Hall of the Gods solely to protect the frozen forms of Poppy, Arielle, and Burton.

For the umpteenth time that evening, Aru glanced at her palm, watching the symbol fade….

“It’s time to summon him,” said Aru. “Ready?”

The mounts molded back into the shadows, disappearing completely. Just as Aru had planned.

Mini gripped the danda. “Ready.”

Aru faced the closed museum doors and said loudly into the dark:

“Sleeper, we, the daughters of Lord Indra and the Dharma Raja, summon you!”

For emphasis, Mini hit the floor with the danda. A couple moments passed. Then a full minute. Mini’s shoulders dropped.

“How are we going to know when he’s here? Is there going to be a sign or something? Like maybe the earth will split down the middle and he’ll pop up?”

“He’s a demon, Mini, not a mole.”

“What if we’re wrong and we’re stuck here waiting all night? There’s got to be a sign, something—”

The door to the hall, which had been closed tightly, was flung open. It smacked into the wall. If this were a movie, there would have been a loud clap of thunder outside, too. But it was real life, and real life doesn’t always sound like it should.

Aru thought the Sleeper would be standing in the doorway.

But it wasn’t him. It was something far worse. A dozen or so demons with blood-spattered jaws peered through the entrance. The horns on top of their heads looked like they’d just been sharpened. They sniffed the air, licking their lips. The whole front wall of the hall fell down like a domino.

“There’s your sign,” said Aru.

She refused to let herself be scared. But her hands shook, and her mouth felt suddenly dry.

“I warned you,” called a voice.

The Sleeper stepped through the crowd of demons.

He looked like a man, and also not like one. His eyes were no longer round and dark like in the vision from the Pool of the Past. Instead, they were slitted and gem-bright, like a cat’s eyes gone narrow with fury. When he smiled, small tusks curled out from his bottom lip.

“Strange choice of location,” sneered the Sleeper. “Although perhaps predictable for a little girl who needs her mommy. If you thought coming back here would dissuade me, you were wrong.”

A small birdcage swung from his hands. The pigeon inside began to shout and hop. Boo! He was okay!

“What are you two doing?” shouted Boo the moment he saw Aru and Mini. “Get out! Go!”

Mini locked her legs, swinging the Death Danda over her shoulder as if it were a baseball bat.

“Oh gods,” moaned Boo. He flapped in his cage. “I can’t look.”