The neon sign flashed in the dark, suspended by back teeth that seemed to be growing longer by the second. Maybethatwas where the uvula thing was. But when they got there, Aru couldn’t see anything that looked like a punching bag. Instead, the tongue sloped down into the whale’s throat. Aru could hear water sloshing angrily below. Worse, it wasrising.
“There’s no uvula!” said Aru.
Mini groaned. “Finding Nemowas a lie!”
“Wait. You made a life-and-death choice based onFinding Nemo?”
“Well, uh…”
“MINI!”
“I was just trying to help!”
“And I’m just trying not to push you down this throat right now!”
The teeth pressed a little closer. At first, Aru had only seen rows upon rows of pale, crowded teeth. Now she saw something else. Something that glinted.
The heck are those? Behind-the-teeth braces?
Wait.Weapons!
Thiswas where thedevashad hidden them. Aru could now make out long swords, axes, maces, and arrows with strung bows, all jutting from the tangle of teeth.
“The weapons,” breathed Aru. “We have to find the right ones for us! That’s how we get out.”
“I don’t want to kill the whale….”
“We’re not going to kill the whale,” said Aru. “We’re just going to poke it a bit, so that it keeps its mouth open long enough for us to escape.”
Mini didn’t look convinced. “How do we know which ones are the right weapons for us?”
Aru started sprinting back toward the front of the whale’s mouth. “Whichever ones we can grab fastest!”
If Mini rolled her eyes or said something snarky, Aru didn’t notice. She measured the distance to the giant weapons above them. Maybe if she jumped, she could reach one of them. A sword with an emerald hilt glittered temptingly.
The whale’s jaws continued to close. Aru had no idea whether the sword was the right choice. She’d thought she’d find something based on her divine parent, but she didn’t see anything like Lord Indra’s thunderbolt in this collection. So a sword it was….
“Mini, give me a lift?”
“We’re never gonna get out of here,” moaned Mini.
Aru struggled for balance as she climbed up, but she refused to believe they weren’t getting out of here. They hadn’t gotten this far just to be killed by whale halitosis. That would be so embarrassing on a Wikipedia page.
Mini layered her palms, boosting Aru higher.
Aru reached for the hilt of the sword hanging above her. “Just…a little farther—”
A gust of hot air knocked her to the ground. Or tongue. Whatever it was.
Aru scrambled to her feet, but she kept getting thrown off-balance. The rotting wind turned fiercer.
“Aru!” called Mini behind her.
Aru spun around to see Mini trying to hold on to the floor. But the whale’s lungs were too strong. Her legs kicked out behind her, lifting into the air.
“It’s trying toinhaleus!”
“Hold on!” called Aru. She crawled toward Mini, but it was like crawling over ice. Her palms slipped, causing her elbows to jam into the tongue-floor. The whale’s breath sucked at her. “I’m coming,” she croaked.
