“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’twantto remember—what she had felt the moment the Sleeper disappeared.
“Yeah,” said Aru weakly.
“But evenwiththe 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 amillionyears.
“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.Onlyher. 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 ofschool? 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!Severalcenturies, 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, buttwice. 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 atroth! Not abetrothal!” 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.”
Mini and Aru looked at each other.What now?Mini grabbed the Death Danda and tried to knight Boo, saying “Rise, Sir—” but Boo hissed and fluttered off to a different part of the museum.
Aru’s face hurt from grinning. She gazed out of the window panel on the left side of the door. Even though it wasn’t quite nighttime yet, the stars had begun to shoulder their way into the sky. Usually, she wasn’t able to see them so clearly, because of all the city smog and light pollution. But tonight the stars seemed close and bright. Twinkling, almost. A flash of lightning spidered across the sky, followed by a powerful bang of thunder. Mini jumped, but to Aru it was like the sound of applause. And she knew Indra was watching out for her.
“Everything’s going to be different now, isn’t it?” asked Mini, staring out of the window panel on the right side. “And it isn’t over. The Sleeper’s going to come back one day.”
