Keeping Up with the Pandavas
“Isn’t that … you?” said Mini, the tiniest amount of uncertainty flickering in her voice.
Real Aru pointed at Fake Aru, who was currently unleashing a powerful uppercut against the other Pandava girl. The bow and arrow were on the ground behind them.
“Would Ieverwear denim on denim?!” demanded Aru.
“Good point,” said Mini. She pushed her glasses up on her nose.
The Pandava girl, Aru realized begrudgingly, had some serious moves. She darted ridiculously fast, dodging blows and kicking up dirt. At one point, she transformed into a massive blue jaguar (which wassounfair) and attacked Fake Aru, but Fake Aru held her own. With a final powerful blow, Fake Aru sent the Pandava girl–jaguar flying back against a wall, where she slid to the floor, unconscious.In a flash of blue light, the big cat turned back into a girl.
Fake Aru dragged her arm over her mouth, breathing heavily, and picked up the bow and arrow. Then she snapped herfingers.The zombies, who had continued running rampant through the Night Market, immediately went still.
Aru’s eyes widened. Fake Aru wascontrollingthe zombies. But how?
“She has to be a rakshasi,” whispered Mini.
Aru recalled from Pandava class that some rakshasas, beings with animal heads, could take on the appearance of gods, demons, and humans. Including, it would seem, Arus. But why would a rakshasi decide to look like her?
“She must be an evil one,” said Aru, brandishing Vajra. “That outfit says it all.”
The lightning bolt flared to life. Dee Dee turned into a violet spear. But just as the two ofthem rushed toward Fake Aru, a burst of white light threw them back. Fake Aru turned to face Real Aru and Mini.
The rakshasi wiggled her fingers in a hello, which was not only reallyrude, but seemed to cause the zombies to perk up and lurch into attack mode again. In a flash, Fake Aru disappeared with the bow and arrow … but not without leaving something behind:
A massive fire.
Searing flameserupted in a circle all around Mini and Aru. Black smoke choked off any sight of the zombies.
“Boo!” shouted Mini. “Help us!”
Aru looked up. The skies were empty. Their pigeon mentor was gone. The other Pandava girl was still slumped on the ground.
Right above her head, Aru heard wind ripping through the air and felt thewhumpof vast wings. She shielded her eyes, squinting up as several Guardians—thecelestial beings whoprotectedeach generation’s Pandavas—started to descend from the sky. Aru felt relief and annoyance twinned inside her. Why couldn’t they have shown up thirty seconds earlier?
There was Hanuman, the monkey demigod, who appeared as a giant version of himself. His cheeks looked strangely full. Beside him was Urvashi, the stunningapsara, wearing a black tank top that readDANCE IS MY SUPERPOWER. Behind them, Aru could see two other figures from the Council of Guardians: a gigantic bear wearing a crown, and an old, scowling woman with the lower body of a snake.
Something about her was even scarier than the zombies.
“SHIELD EACH OTHER!” shouted Boo, swooping overhead.
Aru cast a wide net over herself, Mini, and—though she probably didn’t deserve it—the unconsciousPandava girl. Then Mini blasted a force field of violet light around them—successfully this time. The magical shields had barely materialized before jets of water, as if from a bunch of fire hoses, hit the flames. Aru glanced up to see Hanuman shooting water from his mouth. He must have slurped up a whole lake. The fire died, steam hissing in the air.
Once the smoke cleared, Aru expected to seean army of soggy zombies. But instead, all she saw was the wreckage of the Night Bazaar: Stalls overturned. Strips of night sky dangling down in the air. A couple of shopkeepers shouting about insurance. Aru ignored all that.
The zombies had disappeared completely. Not a single trace of them was left.
Mini coughed. “That was awful!”
“I know,” said Aru. “All those zombies—”
“And thesmoke!”Mini reached for her backpack and took out her inhaler. “It almost gave me an asthma attack.”
“How?” asked Aru.
“Well, there’re these small airways in your lungs called bronchioles, and if you have asthma, the airways become inflamed, which—”
“No! Not the asthma! Thezombies! Where did they go? There were, like, hundreds! Can zombies disappear?”
