He groaned loudly.
“Aiden canwhat?” asked Aru excitedly. “Ooh! Can hesummona flash mob? Will we all start dancing in perfect choreography? Like everyone does ‘Thriller’ at the same time, and then we take the ticket and run?”
“Aiden cansmolder,” explainedBrynne. “It’s temporary, obviously, but the effects should last for at least an hour, which is long enough for S. Durvasa to see us.”
Aru was very confused. First, becausesmolderingsounded like a talent only the Rock could pull off. Second, did that mean Aiden was going to burst into flames? Because, sure, that’d be a pretty decent distraction while she and Brynne took the ticket.
“You knowhow apsaras were always sent to distract sages?” said Brynne.
Aru nodded. In stories, apsaras were the ultimate temptation, because they were unnaturally beautiful and magical. Between spending time with a celestial Miss Universe or meditating in a forest, there’s clearly a winning choice.
“Well, apsaras have a kind of hypnotic power. They can render themselves impossible to look away from,and even make people follow them,” said Aiden. Then, without looking at either of them, he added,“AndIcandothattooandthatwayyoucanstealtheticket.”
Aru bit back a cackle. “So … when you do this whole smolder thing, does it look like a Bollywood movie? Will someone burst into song? Invisible wind and all that?”
Brynne elbowed her, but a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.
“I’m only doingthis for Mini,” he said, and stomped off.
That sobered Aru immediately. She and Brynne watched as Aiden approached the yakshini at the desk.
“Be careful not to look at Aiden’s face, okay?” whisperedBrynne.“It sounds like a dumb power, but it’s dangerous. Even more dangerous if you’re into him.”
Aru snorted. “Good thing I’m not.”
Brynne looked like she was about to say something, but insteadshe nodded and gestured Aru forward. “Okay, let’s go.”
When Aru looked up, Aiden was still standing there. Enchantment radiated off him, pulling the light differently so that he appeared as if in a beam of sunshine. The yakshini girl was standing too, staring at him as if he’d told her she’d a) won the lottery b) gotten her letter from Hogwarts and c) soon be receiving a lifetime supply of Oreos.That’s some smolder, thought Aru, as she and Brynne crept to the desk.
“Watch the entrance,” said Brynne.
Aru did. But even though she avoided looking at Aiden, she could still hear him. His voice changed, and not in that sudden broken way of the guys in her grade. He sounded the same, but it was like someone had lined his voice with velvet.
“Hey!Aru!” Brynne waved the green ticket in herface. “Let’s go! Aiden!”
“I’m here,” said Aiden.
Aru was very glad his voice had returned to normal.
“I wishIhad smolder power,” she said.
“I don’t,” said Aiden, shuddering as if he felt bugs crawling on his skin. “I only use it in case of emergencies.”
“Why?”
He turned his camera in his hands before pressing a button that once more concealed it, and his bag, inside a magical watch. “I’veseen my aunts and uncles take it too far…. It doesn’t seem right to do that to someone when they didn’t agree to it.”
Bynow, the three of them had turned the corner from the yakshini’s desk and come to a great spiral staircase. At the bottom of the steps stretched a wide room filled with a hundred or so rickety wooden seats facing a row of empty glass-framed booths. It reminded Aru of the lobbyof a dentist’s office. Some of the Otherworld members were slumped over, fast asleep. Others were wide-awake, yelling at their laptops while they waited. The lights overhead were white moths, fluttering around aimlessly and spreading a strange luminescence that reminded Aru of cafeteria lighting. In the corner sat a dark-skinnedgandharva, a celestial musician with bright golden wings. At firsthe didn’t see them, because he was listening to an ancient-looking stereo with huge headphones. He took them off when the group got closer.
“Good luck to you, dudes,” said the gandharva. “They’ve all been on the longest lunch break.”
“Who has?” asked Aru.
“The sages …duh.”
Above the booths were little neon signs bearing the names of various sages:BHRIGU,KINDAMA,NARADA—andDURVASA!
“They’reprobably meditating or something,” said the gandharva, irritated. “We’ve no choice but to wait for them to be done. A few minutes ago, Sage Narada stopped by, but I couldn’t talk to him, because I was in the middle of listening to thissicksolo. So he cursed me to keep waiting, and to lose all sense of time.” The musician laughed. “But don’t worry—that’s just talk. It’s still 1972!”
