Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1)(85)

Boo circled the museum. As he did, all the rubble and chaos sorted itself, the dust and debris jumping and wriggling. The front wall of the Hall of the Gods rose from the floor. Even the chandelier in the lobby gathered its crystal shards and took its place on the ceiling.

The front door to the museum had fallen into the street. Aru peeked out and heard familiar, beautiful sounds.

Cars honked. Tires screeched against the asphalt. People shouted to one another:

“Is there an eclipse? Why’s it nighttime?”

“My car battery is dead!”

Aru couldn’t believe it.

“See?” Mini said quietly from behind her. “We did something.”

The girls stepped inside, and the front door zoomed back into place. Aru leaned against it, completely worn-out. “What’s happening?”

Boo flew down and landed in front of them. “Only if the Sleeper reached the Kingdom of Death by the new moon could his curse of frozen sleep become permanent.”

“But I didn’t defeat him…” said Aru.

“But the two of you managed to distract and delay him,” said Boo kindly. “And you did it without me. Which is, frankly, mind-boggling.”

“What about the Council of Guardians?” asked Mini. “Do you think what we did was enough to impress them?”

“Ugh. Them. Are they going to want to train us after I…” Aru paused, not wanting to say the word even though it hung over her head: failed. “At the last minute, I…I let him get away.”

“It was that curse,” said Mini gently. “Remember?”

On the Bridge of Forgetting, Shukra had told her that when it mattered most, she would forget. But had that really been the fulfillment of the curse? Aru couldn’t remember—or perhaps she didn’t want to remember—what she had felt the moment the Sleeper disappeared.

“Yeah,” said Aru weakly.

“But even with the curse, you stopped him,” said Mini.

Aru didn’t point out that he’d stopped himself, and only because he thought she would join him. Never in a million years.

“And on top of that, we prevented the end of Time,” said Mini. “What more do you want?”

Aru jolted upright. “My mom! I should—”

From the top of the staircase, Aru heard a door open and close, and then feet racing down the steps. Even without turning, she could feel her mother in the room. The burst of warmth. And the smell of her hair, which always reminded Aru of night-blooming jasmine.

When Aru spun around, her mother looked at her. Only her. Then she opened her arms, and Aru ran in for the hug of her life.





Got All That?


Boo, Mini, and Aru were sitting in the kitchen. Behind them, Aru’s mom was making hot cocoa and talking on the phone to Mini’s parents. Every time she walked past Aru, she dropped a kiss on her head.

“Do you think they’re awake yet?” asked Aru.

Poppy, Burton, and Arielle still hadn’t woken up yet. According to Boo, their proximity to the lamp when it was lit meant that they were going to be stuck in place for just a little bit longer than everyone else.

“I’d give it another twenty minutes,” said Boo. “Don’t worry, they’ll be fine and won’t remember a thing. Now, as to the question of training, it is natural that the Council of Guardians will want to train you. You’re the Pandavas, after all. And this fight is not done. The Sleeper will be adding to his army, and now we must do the same.”

Mini scowled. “Training classes…on top of school? Will that affect my normal extracurricular activities?”

“That’s like saying, Clean your room so you can do extra homework,” added Aru.

“Ungrateful children!” harrumphed Boo. “It’s an honor of the century! Several centuries, in fact!”

“But you’ll be right there with us, won’t you, Boo?”

At this, Boo bowed, his wings dragging on the floor. “It would be a privilege to train you, Pandavas,” he said. He raised his head but did not look at them. “You will still accept my tutelage knowing who I once was?”

Aru and Mini exchanged glances. They didn’t need to use their Pandava bond to know what the other was thinking. Aru thought about the version of the Sleeper she’d seen in her mom’s secrets. The kind-eyed man who thought he’d never become evil. Then she recalled who Boo had been in the stories. Once, Shakhuni had been evil and bent on revenge. He’d gotten himself cursed. But maybe curses weren’t all that terrible, because he’d saved their lives not only once, but twice. Maybe he wasn’t all bad or even all good. He was just…human. In pigeon form.

“People change,” said Aru.

It could have been her imagination, but Boo’s eyes looked particularly shiny, as if he were about to cry. He needled through his feathers with his beak. Nestled in all that boring gray was a single golden feather, which he extended to them.

“My troth,” he said solemnly.

“Troth?” repeated Mini. “Gross! Isn’t that what people do when they get married?”

“Ew!” said Boo.

“I’m a catch,” gasped Aru when she was done laughing.

“It’s a troth! Not a betrothal!” said Boo, looking thoroughly disgusted. “It’s a promise—of trueness. Of loyalty. I hereby pledge my troth to serve the cause of the Pandavas.”