I Don’t Trust Nobody and Nobody Trusts Me
“Give it to me,” said Takshaka.
Aru stiffened. Her grip on the soul song tightened even more. “Give you what?”
“I know what you have,” he said.
“Oh, and what might that be?” she asked. “There’s all kinds of treasure in this room.” She wondered if he knew that she had Uloopi’s heart jewel, too.
“Hand over the thief’s soul song.”
“So you let it happen!You let the bow and arrow be stolen!” said Aru.
Takshaka laughed. “Who do you think let her in here in the first place?”
Letherin …
The arrow thief was a woman. Was she a nagini? A rakshasi?
Aru didn’t exactly like Uloopi—shehadthreatened to exile them, after all—but now she felt bad for the naga queen. Clearly, she trusted Takshaka. Maybe she even thought of him as family. And he’d betrayedher. He’d kept her heart from being returned. He made her weak. Aru’s jaw clenched.
“How could you do that to Queen Uloopi?”
Takshaka reared back as if struck. “This is beyond you, little Pandava. Give me the song. You cannot protect that which we seek. After all, your very heartbeat will betray you.”
Your very heartbeat.
What did thatmean?
But there was no time to think about it. The serpentking lunged and Aru barely had a moment to react. She zoomed away on Vajra, narrowly escaping his fangs. Seconds later, she dropped down on the opposite side of the room from Brynne and Aiden. Quickly, Aru looped the soul-song necklace around Vajra and shot it over to Aiden and Brynne. Aiden leaped up, catching it in his fist.
“Missed me!” Takshaka gloated.
He didn’t need to know that Aru hadn’tbeen aiming for him. To keep Aiden and Brynne safe, she needed Takshaka to be focused on her and to believe that she still had the song.
The great serpent snapped forward. His fangs sank into the shelves above Aru’s head. She swerved out of the way, narrowly missing a blow from a heavy book as it toppled down.
Vajra returned to Aru’s hands in the shape of a discus. Aru hadn’t had much practiceusing it in this form. The few times she’d tried it, she had thrown it like a celestial Frisbee, which she wasn’t great at. Merely flinging it at Takshaka would be pointless. He was ridiculously fast. She had to aim not where he was movingnow, but where he was movingnext.
Aru tapped into the Pandava mind link.Get his attention, Brynne.
You got it, she messaged back.
Brynne motioned to Aiden,who began banging his scimitarsagainstthe shelves. Takshaka twitched and whirled toward Aiden and Brynne. As he started to move forward, Aru aimed her lightning-bolt discus just ahead of him.
Bang!
The discus hit Takshaka right in the forehead. A net of electricity fell down on the snake. He thrashed his way out of it and said with a cackle, “No weapon of Indra can harm me, Pandava! Your fatherwas my friend once, after all. And a boon is a boon, no matter how long ago it was given. I am immune.”
He zigged and zagged, his great coils winding way up the shelves and blocking the entrance in the ceiling above.
“Aru!” shouted Brynne.
She turned just in time to see Vajra’s lightning net coming at her. Usually Vajra just spun back into her hand. But making contact with Takshaka had weakenedit. It did not change form, and it did not aim for her hand. Aru tried to leap out of the way, but the net caught her around the foot and tripped her.
“This is the end,” said Takshaka when he heard Aru hit the floor. He looped back over himself and down toward her. “I hope to bring you as much pain as you caused me. You are no hero. You are a pawn in a game beyond your understanding. You arenothing.”
Takshaka’s fangs lengthened. They were stained yellow, and one was chipped. Venom dripped onto the ground, hitting the floor with a steaminghiss. Aru squeezed her eyes shut. Aiden and Brynne were too far away to help her. And even if they’d wanted to, if they rushed over, it would only lead to all three of them getting killed.This is it, thought Aru.
