“THE MATCH REFEREE IS NOT DOING HIS JOB!” shouted Varuna.
“It can wait!” said Varuni. “Our guest is far more important!”
“But thegameis on, jaani,” wheedled the man. “I’m watching Virat Kohli….”
Kohli? The cricket player? Aru only knew that name because Boo was a huge fan of the game.
With an irritated sigh, Varuni spun the lotus chair around, and Aru got her first glance at the god of the waters. He looked just as shocked as Aru felt. Varuna’s skin was the color of cut sapphires. His four hands waved around him. In one handhe held an iPad, where a cricket match was playing on the screen. In another he had a conch shell. A noose dangled from his third hand. And in his fourth hand was a bottle of Thums Up, a soda from India. Her mom loved it, but Aru thought it was too sweet. Besides, it always struck Aru as deeply weird, because the logo was a bright red thumb and yet the name wasn’t spelled right.
Varuna droppedhis iPad and gestured toward Aru. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” he asked his wife.
“Obviously,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, sometimes I’m not sure,” said Varuna, with a pointed glance at her drink.
“I’m Aru Shah?” said Aru, hating that her voice went up at the end. It wasn’t like she didn’t know who she was, but she felt cowed by the presence of the ancient gods.
“A Pandava, tobe exact,” said Varuni.
“But why is she here?”
Aru was getting a little tired of being referred to as if she wasn’t in the room. “Honestly, it’s a bit of a misunderstanding,” she said. “I was trying to get to the naga treasury with my friends, the other Pandavas. Well, except Aiden isn’t one—that’s another story. Anyway, I’m looking for the bow and arrow of Kamadeva and—”
Varuni interruptedher by taking a loud slurp from a large wide-brimmed goblet that had a tiny umbrella in it.
Varuna groaned, his chin dropping in his palm. “Must you make thatsound?”
“Yes, I must,” said his wife primly. When she looked up at Aru, her eyes were glowing. In a very different, more solemn voice she said, “Isee.”
Just then, Aru remembered that Varuni wasn’t just the goddess of wine…. She was alsothe goddess of transcendent wisdom.
“What is it? What do you see?” demanded Varuna. He sat up straight, dropping everything else he was holding. “I want to know, too! Wives shouldn’t keep secrets from their husbands.”
“Husbands shouldn’t keep conch shells on the floor where wives can trip on them.”
“And maybe wives shouldn’t drink and walk at the same time!”
“Ha!Youtry being around you fora couple millennia and see ifyoudon’t do the same!”
“What’s that supposed to mean—?”
“Uh, is this a bad time?” asked Aru.
“Time has no inclination toward evil or good,” Varuni announced.
“Here she goes …” muttered Varuna, massaging his temples with all four hands.
“I see what you don’t see,” said Varuni. Her speech slurred just a tad as she waved her glass and pronounced:
“The girl witheyes like a fish and a heart snapped in two
will be met in battle by a girl named Aru.
But take care what you do with a heart so broken,
for uglier truths will soon be spoken.
You, daughter of Indra, have a tongue like a whip,
