Brynne turned red, and Aru remembered how Takshaka had treated her in the Council of Guardians. As if her lineage made her dangerous. Anger spiked through her, but Brynne defended herself:
“Just because I’ve got asura blood doesn’t mean I’m lying.”
“I have reason to doubt you, and that’s all I require,” he said with a sneer. He confiscatedthe salt. Next, he picked up what looked like a photo album. “And this?”
Brynne clenched her jaw. “That’s personal.”
The naga man leafed through it. From what Aru could see, it was just a bunch of pictures of Brynne. Brynne with her #1 medals and trophies before they’d been turned into bracelets. Aru rolled her eyes. Self-confidence was great and all, but what kind of person needed to carryaround proof of their successes? It was just weird.
The security officer carelessly tossed the album back to Brynne. Then he turned to Aru. “Your turn.”
Okay,you got this, Shah.
She felt a zing of reassuring warmth from Vajra, which was now in Ping-Pong-ball form in her pocket. Aru placed her backpack onto the conveyer belt and put Vajra into a separate bin. She walked through the scanneronly to meet the naga man’s upheld palm.
“Miss, please wait.”
“’Kay,” said Aru.
One minute passed … then two….
She could spot the others well ahead of her. Mini was purchasing tickets near a vast glowing pod. Passengers were lined up to enter. First they had to give a sea-glass ticket to a naga lady in a green uniform. She would scan the chips over a coral tube and then, one by one, the travelerswould walk in and find their seats.
Brynne had finished repacking her stuff and was now at a kiosk ordering food. Aiden was talking to the owner of a stall markedMESSAGE DELIVERY SERVICE, and pointing to a bouquet of flowers. Wow, he was really going through a lot of trouble for someone, thought Aru. First he secretly wanted a love arrow from Kamadeva, and now he was sendingflowers?
Aru feltthe slightest twinge of envy. It wasn’t that she wanted to be the girl on the receiving end of Aiden’s flowers—or, heaven forbid, the god of love’s arrow…. She just wished she could inspire that kind of attention.
Her mom certainly did. Over the years, Aru had had to sign for lots of deliveries of elaborate bouquets from different men who were smitten with her beautiful, brilliant archaeologistmom. Usually her mother tossed the flowers straight in the trash, and that’s where they stayed … except on Valentine’s Day. Every February fourteenth, Aru would fish a bouquet outofthe trash and bring it to school (never mind if the blooms were slightly crushed and had a bit of eggshell on them) and tell everyone that they’d been delivered to her house (which, technically, was not a lie).
Oh well, thought Aru.At least I have Vajra.
The naga security guard coughed. “Your lightning bolt keeps transforming and I cannot properly scan it.”
Aru sighed. Sometimes Vajra got skittish. It would change from Ping-Pong ball to sword to rope and whatever else, refusing to settle down.
“Sorry …”
The scanner whirred impatiently. Aru started to panic. The last thing she wanted was to have todemonstrate Vajra’s full capacity, which was something a security rakshasa had required on her last quest. It had takenliterallya thousand years.
Or at least twenty minutes.
Whatever.
They didn’t have twenty minutes to spare. Already, the ray of light on the sand-dollar clock was about to hitDUSK, and the pod to the naga realm was losing its glow. The green-uniformed passenger-service agenttapped her serpent tail impatiently. From the ticket kiosk, Mini mouthed to Aru,HURRY UP!
Time to turn on the charm, Shah.
“I keep thinking I’ll see Luca Brasi here,” she joked to the security guard.
“Who?”
“You know, fromThe Godfather? ‘Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes’? It’s, like, a famous quote about this guy who—”
“Miss, if you know of any Luca Brasi who is trying to find lodgingwith fishes and has been reported missing, it is your civicdutyto notify the authorities per Otherworld Transportation Security Guidelines—”
“Oh my god, it’s ajoke!”
“Jokes are prohibited in the security area,” said the naga man. “Also, sleeping among fishes is no laughing matter. Theyneverblink! Do you know how disturbing that is?”
