“What is it?” asked Surpanakha sharply. She didn’t sound so sweet and melodious now.
“I merely came to celebrate with you,” said Takshaka smoothly. “We’ve almost gained access to the labyrinth. Once we have that, the amrita will be ours, and we can leave this miserable place.”
Withthat, the soul song’s vision ended and the mirror rolled back up into a pendant-size orb.
“It is a dangerous thing to cast off a part of one’s soul,” said Durvasa. “She’s exchanged it for power, and there is another bargain in the making.” Warily, he picked up the orb and stowed it in a small bag at his side.
“They’re after amrita?” asked Mini, shocked.
Honestly, Aru had forgotten what amritawas. The only Amrita she knew was a girl in the grade below her, who stuck a marble up her nose on a dare and had to be taken to the emergency room. Aru was pretty sure she wasnotwhat Surpanakha and Takshaka were after.
“Isn’t that … a drink of some kind?” asked Aiden. “I can’t remember.”
“It’s impossible,” the sage muttered to himself.
“What is?”
“They can’t be after amrita. It cannot bedone.”
“But whatisit?” pressed Aru.
Durvasa waved his hand. In the middle of the astral plane floor, a new image appeared: a large golden cauldron tipped forward ever so slightly to reveal a glowing liquid.
“The nectar of immortality,” said Durvasa. “Once, long ago, someone caused the gods to lose their immortality—”
“Someone?Don’t you mean …you?” asked Aru.
Durvasa glared at her. “Letme tell the story! Ahem. Anyway, the gods needed amrita to restore their immortality. They would have to churn the Ocean of Milk in order to find it. The gods convinced the asuras to help by promising them a sip of the amrita.”
“But then the gods reneged on their promise,” said Brynne.
“It had to be done,” said Durvasa. “Asuras, though semi-divine and gifted with magic, were never meant to beimmortal.”
“Well, no wonder they’re after it now,” said Brynne. “It’s kinda unfair….”
Aru understood why Brynne felt that way. After all, shewasof asura descent, but Aru was surprised to find that she sided with her. The gods hadn’t kept their promise. The fact that a god could be a villain made Aru’s head spin. As a Pandava, she was expected to fight on their side … but how could she do thatwhen she wasn’t sure she could trust them?
“Just because something is not fair does not mean it is without reason or even compassion,” said Durvasa serenely. Heclosedhis eyes and pronounced: “Fairness is like a multifaceted gem. Its appearance can vary, depending on the angle of the beholder.”
He cracked one eye open. “WRITE THAT DOWN!” he scolded. “That was free wisdom I just dispensed!”
“Whoops! Sorry!” said Mini, grabbing her Post-it pad and pen from her backpack.
“Sage Durvasa, you said it was impossible for someone to get the amrita,” said Aiden. “Why?”
“What an inane question,” huffed Durvasa. “The amrita is hidden deep beneath the Ocean of Milk, inside a golden dome that can only be opened with a magic spell. The dome covers a labyrinth that is not only impossible to navigatebut also is guarded by fire serpents that will incinerate anything with a heartbeat. It’s foolproof.”
Mini frowned. “But it’s not.” She started jotting something on her notepad.
“Pish!”scoffed the sage. “You might as well wait for Surpanakha to fail, then just return the bow and arrow to Uloopi. Done. Quest finished.” He wiped his hands together. “Now it’s time for you all to get out of here.I detest this much socialization.”
“You said the fire serpents will ‘incinerate anything with a heartbeat,’” Mini pressed. She held up a sketch that looked like: ?♥. “By using Kamadeva’s arrow, that’s exactly what you get rid of—a heartbeat.”
Aru caught on immediately. “The Heartless! They can get through the labyrinth and grab the nectar of immortality.”
“She’s building an army!” said Brynne.
“And she’s hiding them in the Ocean of Milk,” added Aiden.
For a moment, Durvasa said nothing. And then the sage did what he did best.
He cursed.
