Autumn … Right around when Aru and Mini had gone on their first quest and into the Kingdom of Death.
“I’ve always been really strong and stuff, but one day a car was heading straight for my uncle and I pushed it out of the way. The second I did it, I felt wind rushing throughmy blood. I know that sounds weird, but that’s what it felt like.” Brynne shrugged. “My uncles told me the soul of Bhima had awoken in me. They thought I was going to be summoned to go on the quest to stop the Sleeper. It made sense—Bhimawasthe second-oldest Pandava brother. But then”—she paused, swallowinghard—“but then no one came to get me. I figured the gods didn’t want an asura Pandava.I dunno.”
Aru could picture it…. Brynne and her two uncles excited, waiting for her to go with Aru and Mini, because why wouldn’t she? Brynne was the kind of heroine people expected. Aru wasn’t. Brynne must have waited and waited … for nothing. Aru knew that feeling. It was the sinking sensation she got every time she was chosen last for a team during PE. Or when she wasn’t invited to a party.It sucked. And she was beginning to see why Brynne was so … well, Brynne. Part of her even felt guilty that she and Mini had been summoned first, and not her.
“The gods just had you in reserve,” Aru said firmly. “They were saving you until they needed your specific skills, and that’s right now.”
“I bet your uncles and parents are really happy you’re on this quest?” tried Mini.
“My uncles are,”said Brynne, pulling at one of her bracelets. “I dunno about my parents. Never met my dad. My mom said he was a musician. As for Mom … she doesn’t really visit me. But I know she worries about me. I know she cares.”
Aiden moved closer to Brynne, suddenly protective. Aru knew why. The last two things Brynne had said sounded jumbled together and flimsy, like unpracticed lies. Aru could detect thoseon the spot. She even recognized how Brynne held herself, shoulders up around her ears, gaze shifty. Like she was waiting for someone to call her bluff.
“I’m sure she does,” agreed Aru.
Brynne lowered her shoulders. When she looked at Aru, it wasn’t with snootiness or nastiness like before…. Instead, she looked relieved.
Thetunnel opened up into a courtyard.
Perhaps, long ago, it had beenpart of a sea kingdom. But it was mostly dry now, with just a few tidal pools scattered around the ruins—serpentine pillars and crumbled walls studded with sapphires and emeralds. The courtyard might have once been the site of glamorous parties. Fish spines crunched underfoot as they made their way across it, toward a massive black rock in the distance. The whole place felt … sad. Shriveled, somehow,like all the life had been sucked out of it.
“I bet this was a grand naga palace once,” said Mini. She crouched down, plucking a piece of kelp off a broken coral-and-pearl chandelier.
“It’s … it’sUloopi’sold palace,” said Aiden. He had brushed aside some seaweed to read the writing on a collapsed wall. “It says her name…. ‘This palace was built in honor of Queen Uloopi and … and her consort,Prince Arjuna.’”
That feltdeeplyweird to Aru, who carried his soul.
“Um … say what now?” she asked.
The others were looking at her as if she was supposed to know something about this place, but it was from—literally—lifetimesago. It’s like when your parents show you a baby picture and sayRemember when …and it’s physically impossible to remember that because you had like five brain cellsat the time.
“How’d Uloopi and Arjuna meet?” asked Aiden.
“According to the stories, she saw him by the riverbank, thought he was cute, and took him into the ocean,” said Mini.
Brynne nodded. “Aggressive. I like it.”
“Nothing says romance like casually stalking someone and then dragging them underwater,” said Aru.
“Well, when you say it likethat…” said Brynne.
Minicontinued. “And thenthey got married, but he had to go back and fight in the great war against his cousins, the Kauravas, so he left. And then … I can’t remember, honestly. I think at one point she saved his life? With a magic jewel?”
“But then what?” asked Aiden.
Mini shrugged. “She lived with his wives in the palace after the great war, I guess.”
“How many wives did you have?” Aiden asked Aru.
She rolled hereyes. In the stories, it seemed like Arjuna collected wives as if it were a hobby.Get other hobbies!Aru always thought. Why couldn’t he have taken up stamp-collecting? Or fly-fishing?
“Can we not use the wordyou?” said Aru. “Arjuna and I are completely different people. That’s like expecting Brynne to have the power of ten thousand elephants just because she’s Bhima reincarnated! Or askingMini to rule a country now just because she’s got Yudhistira’s soul! I’mnotArjuna!”
The others stared at her. Only then did Aru realize she’d raised her voice. Her face flushed. The truth was, Aru didn’t recognize even a sliver of herself in the tales of Arjuna. Sometimes she thought that was a good thing. It meant that she was her own person. But other times, it felt horrible. Maybe, in adifferent person, Arjuna’s soul could make someone a legendary hero. But in her? In her, it seemed just average.
“Dude, don’t worry. We’ve seen you in action,” said Aiden. “We know you’re not Arjuna.”
Aru didn’t know if she wanted to thank him or strangle him. Maybe both.
