“What a quaint notion, child,” said Time. “But I am just one part of Time. I am Past Time. You see, there are all kinds of Time running around. Future Time, who is invisible, and Present Time, who can’t hold any one shape. Pacific Standard Time is currently swimming around near Malibu. And I think Eastern Standard Time is annoying stockbrokers on Wall Street. We’re all quite wibbly-wobbly. If what you say is true, I am merely one part of what you must save.”
Aru tried to sidestep them. “Well, umm, then we better get to it?”
It was impossible to see what lay beyond the two creatures. It seemed like a tunnel, but every time she looked away from it, she couldn’t remember what she’d seen. It made Aru think she wasn’tsupposedto see it.
“Not so fast!” said Time. “Can’t let you out without your giving us something! You must pay!”
“Pay?” repeated Mini. She patted her pockets. “I—I don’t have anything.”
Aru scowled. First, nobody had appreciated her Batman joke. Second, why did they have to keep paying for things?Theywere the ones going to all the trouble to save everyone else, after all!Rude. Her hands formed fists at her sides.
“Why should we give you anything, anyway?” she demanded. “You do realize we’re doing all this to saveyou.”
Time rose up a little higher on its insect legs.
Oh.
Time could be a lot…biggerthan she imagined. It just kept growing until it was the size of one of the pillars from the museum. She had to tilt her head up just to see its featureless face regarding her.
“Did I just detect a trace of impertinence?”
Mini stepped in front of her. “No! Not at all! That’s just how she talks! She’s got a medical condition. Um, Type One Insufferable-ness. She can’t help it.”
Thanks, Mini.Thanks a lot.
“You must leave behind something of yours in order to get out,” insisted Time.
The spider creature grew even taller. It was clicking its front legs together, steepling them like hands grown impatient from waiting.
“Sorry,” said Wish, daintily licking one of its paws. “Rules are rules, although…good karma can let you out, if you have any.”
“What, like good deeds?” asked Aru.
She took a careful step back, and Mini followed her example. Time was looming vast and terrifying before them.Click, click, clickwent its slender legs on the marble floor.
“Er, I take my neighbor’s dog on walks?” started Aru.
“I floss my teeth twice a day!” said Mini.
“Prove it,” said Time.
Mini hooked her fingers into her cheeks and pulled. “Rike zish?”
“Not good enough…” said Time.
Mini started laughing hysterically.
Can wefightour way out of Death?wondered Aru. Her hand slipped into her pocket, reaching for Vajra, but something else met her fingers. She fished it out:
An ivory-colored token.
The same one Chitrigupta had handed to her what felt like a lifetime ago. She turned it this way and that, watching the little good deeds she had done throughout her life shimmer on the surface.
“Wait!” shouted Aru, holding up the token. “We’ve got proof!”
Mini dug into her backpack and pulled out hers. “It’ll show you I flossed. I swear!”
Wish padded forward, took the token between its teeth, and bit down on it. Then it did the same to Mini’s. It turned to Time and said, “It rings true.”
