Did Your Parents Really Name You Sparky?
The asura snapped his fingers.
Now, standing right in front of them, at the threshold of the Ocean of Milk, was another, taller figure wearing a black sweatshirt. Aru couldn’t tell if he was an asura or not. He wore obnoxious sunglasses with white stripes across the lenses, and a red T-shirt with a ram on it that saidLIT. Aru rolled her eyes so hardshe thought they’d fall out of her head.
Someone in the asura’s posse laughed, and their leader growled at them. Then, to Aru and her friends, he said menacingly, “Meet Sparky.No one gets past Sparky.”
“Your parents named you Sparky?” Brynne said.
Sparky lifted one corner of his mouth. He seemed … amused. Not angry like the leader.
“Move out of our way,” said Brynne. “We have business toattend to.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” said the leader.
Aru frowned. Where was this guy getting his lines from? Very slowly, she pulled Vajra from her pocket. Out the cornerofher eye, she saw the others doing the same—Mini holding Dee Dee in its mirror compact form, Brynne tapping her choker, Aiden rubbing his thumb along his enchanted leather bracelets.
The leader braced his legs widerapart, like he was some kind of club bouncer. “No one is allowed into the Ocean of Milk, because—”
“YEAH! WE’VE GOT ORDERS FROM LADY M!” shouted a member of the group behind him.
Aru’s ears pricked.Lady M?Was that the alias Surpanakha was working under?
“Dude, I was getting to that!” the leader said, his voice no longer sounding deep and raspy, but younger, and a little whiny.
Aru lookedcloser at the leader. At first glance, she’d thought he was way older than Aiden. But she saw now that his sweatshirt hung loosely, like he’d borrowed it from someone bigger and taller. And his sneakers were platformed to give him a couple extra inches.
“Look,” said Aru, stepping forward. “I don’t know what Lady M has told you, but we’ve been sent by the Council of Guardians to retrieve somethingthat was stolen. You don’t want to find yourself on the wrong side of the gods, do you?”
The leader grinned smugly. “That’s exactly what she said you’d say.”
“Did she tell you that you’d be stopping the Pandavas?” asked Brynne, crossing her arms.
One of the hooded figures in the back gasped, and his neighbor elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
“You’rePandavas?” repeated the leader. “Oh snap!”But then he started laughing. “Dude, whocares?” he asked. “Look at you.You’reall freaking pathetic. She told us why you got kicked out of the Otherworld—”
Aiden spoke up. “They weren’t kicked out. You’ve been lied to.”
“Awww, and you’ve got a lackey,” said the leader. “That’s cute.”
Brynne growled, nearly lurching forward, but Aiden caught her by the wrist.
“It’s not worth it,” he toldher.
“Aiden’s right,” said Mini loudly. “How could you even trust someone like Lady M? She’s amonster.”
“You got that all wrong,” the leader said. He gestured to a member of the posse behind him. “Yo, Hira. Show ’em what she looks like.”
A guy was pushed forward and his hood yanked back to reveal that he wasn’t a guy at all, but a young girl with bright hazel eyes and light brown skin. Therewas something shy and skittish about her, as if her own shadow could take her by surprise.
“I don’t want to—” she started.
“Do it or I’ll get you thrown out, Hira,” said the leader. “Then what are you going to do? Go back to your family? Oh wait, you don’thaveone.”
When Aru saw Hira’s lips trembling, she wanted to punch that dude. But then the girl transformed.
The moment Hira took a deepbreath, light rippled down her body. She turned into a beautiful adult woman with shining black hair, long red nails polished to a high gloss, and golden skin that practically shimmered.
