Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1)(87)

“Still recording?” asked Aru.

“Yup,” said Burton.

The three of them snickered.

“Good,” said Aru. She started reading: “‘On September twenty-eighth, Poppy Lopez went to Mrs. Garcia’s office and told her that she thought she saw someone taking a baseball bat to her car. When Mrs. Garcia ran out of the room, Poppy pulled the pop quiz out of the file cabinet and snapped a picture with her phone. She got an A-plus on the quiz.’”

Poppy turned pale.

“‘On Tuesday, October second, Burton Prater ate his boogers, then handed Arielle a chocolate chip cookie that he had dropped on the ground. He did not wash his hands. Or the cookie.’” Aru looked up with a frown. “Seriously? Dude, that’s gross. Pretty sure that’s how you catch the plague.”

Arielle looked like she was going to vomit. “Is that for real?”

“‘And yesterday, Arielle wore her mom’s first engagement ring and lost it at recess. She told her mom that she saw the housekeeper holding it.’”

Arielle turned red.

Aru folded up the paper. Then she tapped the blinking red light of Burton’s phone. “Got all that?”

“How—how—how…how did you—” stuttered Poppy.

“I’ve got friends all over the place,” said Aru.

This was one of those times when she wished she were sitting in a big black leather armchair with a weird-looking cat and an unlit cigar. She wanted to swivel around and say, Feelin’ lucky? Instead, she settled for a shrug. “Still want to show it to the school?”

Burton held up his phone, scrolled to the video, and deleted it.

As a show of good faith, Aru handed them the piece of paper. “Now we’re even.”

The three of them stared at her. Aru grinned.

“Let’s get outta here,” said Poppy.

“Have a nice weekend—” started Burton, but Poppy smacked him.

“You’re such a suck-up.”

When they left, there was a new note in her pocket:

Consider that the first and last time! Naughty child.

PS: The palace sends its love and says hello.



Aru smiled. “Hello, palace.”

Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought she felt the faintest bit of warmth coming from the tile of home in her pocket.





Word Vomit


When the end bell of sixth period rang, Aru could barely stop herself from jumping onto her desk. She wasn’t the only one who was excited. It was the day when school got out for winter break.

Even though Atlanta was just cold instead of snowy, the whole world felt like almost-Christmas. Which was the best. Fairy lights and paper snowflakes covered the ceilings. The Christmas songs that had been playing since November hadn’t started to drive her crazy yet, either. And in that day’s chemistry class, their teacher had taught them how to make fake snow with baking soda and water, so most of the tables were covered with tiny snowmen.

Aru started to pack up her things. Her lab partner, Arielle, smiled at Aru, but it was a slightly wary are-you-a-witch? grin.

“So…where are you going for Christmas?” Arielle asked.

As usual, Aru lied. But this time, it had a far different purpose. “Nowhere,” she said. “You?”

“Maldives,” said Arielle. “We’ve got a timeshare on a private island.”

“I hope you have fun.”

Arielle looked a bit surprised at that. But then she smiled more genuinely. “Thanks. Um, by the way, my parents are throwing a New Year’s party at the Fox Theatre downtown. I don’t know if you got the invite already, but you and your mom are invited if you want.”

“Thanks!” said Aru. This time she didn’t lie. “But we’ve got family plans.”

She’d never said the words family plans before, and she didn’t think she’d ever get tired of saying it.

“Oh. Well, have fun.”

“I’ll try!” called Aru. “Have a good break!”

And with that, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and stepped into the cold. While most of her classmates were on their way to their private jets or chauffeurs, Aru was on her way to her training session in the Otherworld.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for three hours, Aru and Mini learned war strategy from Hanuman, dancing and etiquette from Urvashi, and folklore from Boo. They were supposed to get more teachers starting next week, and even join the other Otherworldly kids who were training (although none of them were the offspring of gods).

“Other kids? Like us?” Mini had asked.

“Yup,” said Aru. “Maybe that snake boy from Costco will be there.”

“I don’t think he’d remember me….”

“You walked into a telephone pole, Mini. I’d say that’s pretty memorable.”

Mini thwacked her on the head with Dee Dee.

But before they could join the other students, their parents had wanted to make sure they had mastered the basics and caught up. It was essentially, said Boo, “remedial classes for divine dunces.” Rude.

Aru wasn’t thrilled about having to take Dance, but as Urvashi had explained, “When Arjuna was cursed to lose his manhood for one year, he became a wonderful dance instructor, and it made him that much more graceful in combat. I should know—I’m the one who cursed him, after all.”