“How can shebreathe?” asked Mini.
Sparky had one up on Brynne, though. Not only didhe keep up the pace of his eating, but he could talk through it, too.
“No one devours as much as me. One time, I ate fifteen hundred dosas in less than five minutes.”
Brynne ignored him and kept gobbling things down. Aru, Aiden, and Mini ran back and forth down the picnic table, replacing her empty dishes with full ones, tossing the dirty plates on the ground, wiping her mouth (and occasionallyher nose if there was something really spicy), and holding the glass of water for her to sip. Sparky had to do everything by himself, but it didn’t seem to be slowing him down any.
At one point, Brynne let out a particularly epic burp. Aiden was so impressed, he high-fived her.
Mini shook her head. “That can’t be good for your esophagus.”
Then Sparky followed suit. Only whenheburped, he letout a belch of … fire. Flames scorched the middle of the picnic table.
They all froze for a few seconds, costing Brynne some valuable time.
“Is that normal asura behavior?” asked Mini nervously.
“Now, on to the desserts!” announced Sparky. The table magically filled with all-new dishes, and he surveyed them with delight, his eyes gleaming as hungrily as ever.
Aru wasn’t sure, but she thoughtshe heard Brynne groan softly.
“Ready to give up?” Sparky asked her. He dug his spoon into a bowl of creamy rasmalai. It was one of Aru’s favorite desserts, nice and cold and with the perfect texture of a sponge cake.Nommmm.
“No?” said Brynne, but she was starting to sway.
“Are you sure about that?” asked Sparky, laughing. He drained the entire bowl of rasmalai, then popped the metal dishitself into his mouth and crunched down. “Once, I had such a bad stomachache that no one in the world could cure it. Not even sages. I had to go straight to the gods.”
Brynne forced down a mouthful of carrot halwa.
“Once, I—” she began to brag. Then she stopped, too full to speak. She shook her head, then made ago-aheadgesture to Sparky.
Sparky looked very smug as he inhaled the rest of thedesserts, talking all the while. “I had to eat ghee foryears, all because some king wanted to conduct a great ritual….Twelve years of clarified butter!Even Paula Deen would have run in the opposite direction.”
Aru eyed Sparky. Over the course of the contest, he had grown even taller. His skin, which had always been a bit ruddy, now reminded her of embers. Even his hair, once a rust color,like a bad dye job, had changed. Now it looked multicolored—blue at the roots, orange in the middle, and yellow at the tips. Like a flame.
“One time I ate a forest. Nothing can sate my hunger,” moaned Sparky. “Nothing at all!”
By now, he had snarfed down all the desserts. Instead of getting up from the table, he set upon it. The red-checked cloth disappeared into his mouth and when he burped,cinders fell on the tabletop.
Brynne groaned and rolled over onto her side on the bench. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but … I’m full.”
Sparkydidn’t answer—he just stared into space, as if all concern about the competition had disappeared and he was thinking deeply about something else.
Behind him stood the archway, now clear of any obstacle. All they had to do was make a run for it …but Brynne couldn’t move. And they didn’t have their weapons, either. They couldn’t go in to the Ocean of Milk without their armaments.
“The world became bleak when I started losing my luster,” said Sparky. His voice got louder as his body grew bigger. No longer able to fit on the picnic bench, he stood up, as tall as the archway. “After all, I am the spark inside all living beings. I make thingsbright. I make things burn. It is my nature.”
The sunglasses fell from Sparky’s eyes, which didn’t look human or even demonic. They glowed like twin fiery rubies.
“He’s … definitely not … an asura …” said Aiden slowly.
“YA THINK?” demanded Aru.
“But the problem is,” continued Sparky, “once I start, it’s very hard to stop….”
HisLITshirt ripped in half down the middle, revealing a brightred suit edged in flames. Sparky wasn’t done eating. He was devouring everything within reach by setting it alight. Soon, the whole picnic table would be reduced to ash. The reeds around them burst into flame.
“We’re going to be trapped!” cried Mini.
From behind Aru came a weak chuckle. Brynne, who still had not recovered from the competition, clutched her stomach and said, “I don’t feel sobad about losing now.” She pointed at Sparky. “At least I lost to a god.”
A god?
Itclicked then. The fire. The insatiable appetite that could devour a forest whole …
Sparky wasn’t some kid with ugly sunglasses and an appetite that could destroy a city. He wasAgni, the god of fire. And he was on the verge of consuming them.
