Brynne stayed silent, her jaw clenched.
“How about a group elbow bump?” suggested Mini. “Handshakes are really unhygienic.”
“No,” said Brynne and Aru at the same time.
A flash of light went off.
“Ugh!” said Aru, holding up a hand to shieldher face. “No paparazzi!”
Aiden lowered his camera, frowning. “Notpaparazzi.”
“He hates that word,” said Brynne, teasingly. “He prefers to be known as a ‘photojournalist.’ He takes pictures of everything.”
“Including whatever dish Brynne experiments with in the kitchen,” said Aiden.
We get it. You’re BFFLs,Aru thought grumpily. But at least they’d broken the tension.
Brynne pointed at hershoes. “Okay, we’ve got the quest stuff. Where do we go from here?”
“Urvashi said we should speak to the owner—Kamadeva,” said Aiden. “But where do we find him?”
“Er, quick question,” said Aru. “WhoisKamadeva?”
“‘Who is Kamadeva?’”repeated Brynne. “Don’t you knowanything?”
Faint sparks shot out of Vajra, but once again Mini steered Aru away from a fight.
“Kamadeva is the god of love,”said Mini. “The bow and arrow belong to him—he uses them to shoot gods and mortalstomake them feel passion for someone. Although the weapon didn’t look anything like how I imagined … The legends say that the bow he uses is made out of sugarcane, and the string is made out of honeybees.” Mini shuddered. “Not that I’m disappointed. I’m allergic to bees.”
“Er, that’s all great information, Mini,”said Aiden. “But where does he live?”
“Somewhere in the Midwest, I think? That’s what Boo said in class.”
“Okay, so we’ll take a portal to Kamadeva,” said Aru.
“I’ve got a better—andfaster—idea,” said Brynne. She brought two fingers to her lips and whistled.
The domed ceiling of the warehouse slid open, and down came a rush of wind. The sound of bleating filled the air. Aru had to rememberto close her mouth when four gigantic gazelles the size of elephants burst through the clouds.
Whenever Aru thought of a gazelle, she pictured one of those nature documentaries where a British dude calmly announces,And now the gazelle is in the jaws of death as the mighty lioness drags its carcass through the Sahara. Nature is cruel, but magnificent.
These gazelles, on the other hand, lookedlike they snacked on lions for fun.
