Aru Shah: Demigod and Hamster Impersonator
Aru woke up floating among the clouds in a gigantic glass bubble. A hole opened up beneath her, and Aru’s stomach lurched. Hundreds of feet below, she saw the colorful (though torn-up) tents of the Night Bazaar and the last wisps of smoke from the epic fire. She scuttled backward in her bubble before looking up. Nothing but clear sky. Hanuman had droppedher in there as if she were a misbehaving hamster.
Fine,thought Aru,I’ll be a hamster.
She started running, trying to get the sphere to move. In the distance, a thunderstorm let loose a low growl. Aru couldn’t help but think it was the tiniest bit of scolding from her divine dad.
“She started it!” protested Aru.
The thunder growled again. It sounded like it was sayingOh, really?
A duskycloud unraveled in the wind, allowing Aru to catch sight of two other giant bubbles floating just a couple feet away from her. One of them carried Mini, who was sittingcross-legged and reading a book. When she saw Aru looking at her, she gave a small, sad wave. In the bubble next to her was Brynne.
“Let me out!” shouted Brynne, but it sounded muffled. She beat her fist against the glass, andspiderweb cracks bloomed on the surface.
Well, if she can do that, I definitely can, too, thought Aru. She slammed a fist against the bubble. Pain shot through her arm. “OW, OW, OW, OW!” she shrieked, clutching her hand.
In the other bubble, Mini raised her eyebrows.
Aru tapped into their telepathic Pandava link. Usually, she only felt a connection to Mini’s brain. This time, though, she sensedthe presence of a second pathway. If Mini’s link felt like velvet, this other path was thorned. It had to belong to the other girl, and there wasno wayAru would tap into that link.
Did you see that?
Did I see you almost break your hand? Yep.
HOW DID SHE DO THAT?
I think she’s the reincarnation of Bhima the Strong? She could probably bite through a steel beam. But she shouldn’t try. Mightbe dangerous without a tetanus shot….
Aru’s mind went elsewhere. Bhima the Strong was the second-oldest Pandava and the son of Lord Vayu. That meant she was Hanuman’s half sister. Which explained why Hanuman had saidFather will not be pleased.
Aru recalled that Brynne hadn’t been the least bit surprised when her soul dad swept her up into the air. She’d looked so … graceful. Like a real Pandava.And Aru hadn’t forgotten how she’d fought. Like a fully trained hero.
A pang of jealousy shot through Aru, followed by a strangememory.Just before she’d gone unconscious, she’d felt a cold, smooth hand against her forehead and the unsettling sensation of someone rifling through her memories like files in a desk drawer.
Who’d done that?
She plopped down in the middle of the hamster ball. Itcouldn’t have been Mini. Though they shared a Pandava mind link, she could block her friend’s entry if she wanted to. This person had rudely barged in and made themselves right at home, and Aru had been powerless against them. Maybe it wasBrynne, Aru thought with a flash of fury.
Aru gazed over at Mini now and saw her urgently pointing and mouthingLook down!
About fifty feet below them, theCouncil of Guardians was gathered in its elaborate Court of the Sky, a flat plane of marbled clouds where a semicircle of golden thrones and a round table floated in eerie splendor. Aru hamster-jogged until her glass bubble drifted nearer to them—close enough so she could get the gist of what they were saying.
As usual, not all the Guardians were in attendance. There was the beautiful Urvashi.She took an angry swig from her water bottle, and Aru saw through the semitransparent plastic that it didn’t contain water, but sunshine. Beside Urvashi, Boo was perched at the top of his throne, squawking loudly. Hanuman was there, too, dressed in an all-white tuxedo. A fourth seat was occupied by King Jambavan, the giant bear, whose crown, Aru could now see, looked like small constellations knittedaround his forehead.
All of them were arguing with whoever was seated in the fifth throne. Aru couldn’t see who it was, because a cloud wasinthe way. She pushed one end of the glass bubble, trying to steer it as best as she could, until the person came into view: the ancientnagawoman.
Most Otherworld beings appeared eternally young or at least agedsuperslow. The nagini’s bronze skin wasshriveled. Her mouth had a hard set to it, as if she’d forgotten how to smile. The lower half of her was obscured by the table, but Aru knew that somewhere mid-torso, the woman’s human body melded with that of a serpent. On her head, the naga woman wore a tiara of moonstones and aquamarines. It made sense that she had so many jewels. Nagas were treasure guardians, after all. But it was strange thatshe didn’t have the customary jewel in the middle of her forehead.
“—aseriousssoffense!” the nagini was saying. “They stole the bow and arrow from the naga treasury! None can do that save for someone with extraordinary power. Someone like aPandava.No one else can get past Takshaka. Trust me. He does not need his sight to sense everything around him.”
The naga woman gestured to a male nagawho was standing at her side. He looked immortally youthful, but he had an ancient and powerful aura. Serious burn marks roped across his brown chest and face. His eyes were milky white with blindness. A dark blue jewel gleamed at the center of his forehead. Supposedly, each naga’s jewel was tied to their heart or something. That made it all the weirder, thought Aru, that the nagini had no jewelon her forehead. All Aru saw there was a hollow dent, marked with a white scar.
“The girl was holding the bow and arrow of Kamadeva,” the naga woman continued. “She must be held accountable.”
Kamadeva.Aru knew the worddevameant god. So that meantthebow and arrow was a celestial weapon. No wonder Vajra and Dee Dee hadn’t worked. Celestial weapons couldn’t battle one another. Aru fought theurge to point at Brynne and go:You are in serious trouble. HA!
“Aru had nothing to do with it!” exclaimed Boo.
