Burton held up his phone. The red light started blinking. It was recording. “Wanna say that again?” he asked smugly.
“Sure,” said Aru, walking forward. “I lied. Sometimes I do that. I’ve got a big imagination. I try not to lie about important things, though. Here’s the truth: I just saved your lives. I even walked through the Kingdom of Death to do it.”
“Get help, Aru,” said Arielle.
“Can’t wait to show this to the whole school,” said Burton.
“I can prove it,” said Aru.
She felt in her pocket for the pen from Chitrigupta. She used it to write a message in the air.Help me out of this, Uncle.
Immediately, something sharp poked her in the pocket. She fished it out—a piece of paper that hadn’t been there before. She scanned it quickly, fighting back a smile.
“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 thatfor 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.”
