“Bee, do not say harp,” said Mini.
Brynne closed her mouth. The three sisters glared at one another.
“If you don’t have talent, they’re going to throw us off the audition platform and we’ll never get to the Final Stage!” said Rudy.
“Don’t you think we know that?” demanded Aru. “Maybe we can do something else, like…interpretive dance?”
“No,” said Rudy, Mini, and Brynne at the same time.
“Well, there goes my first, last, and only idea,” said Aru. “It’s not like we can magically summon up some talent.”
“Actually, we can,” said Aiden.
They turned to face him. He was quiet. Something glowed in his hands. Aru recognized it from earlier—a single note of music torn from the air by Malini herself.
It will let you call upon my family.
Aru remembered how a look of disgust had stolen across Aiden’s face when his mom had said that.
The note glowed in Aiden’s hand, releasing a perfume of song. It made Aru feel drowsy and delighted, like she’d spent the whole afternoon in the pool and was unwrapping a Popsicle to eat in the shade before she returned to the water.
“This will take us to my mother’s family,” said Aiden darkly. “The celestial musicians and dancers are known to give out blessings from time to time….We can ask them for help. Twelve hours should be plenty of—”
Rudy let out a whoop. “First we started a band, and now we get to meet apsaras! I love quests. I’m gonna go fix my hair. The rest of you Potatoes should, too. Except Mini.” He turned and beamed at her. “You don’t need fixing.”
Mini turned her head away from him.
Ouch, thought Aru. But Rudy hadn’t seemed to notice.
Brynne put her hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “They’re your family.”
Aiden snorted. “Not by choice.”
“She wouldn’t have given that gift to you if she didn’t think they’d help,” said Brynne softly.
She, as in Malini. Once she made the decision to marry a mortal man, Malini had to give up her place in the celestial court, and her exile from the Otherworld was permanent.
“Urvashi is your aunt, and she’s nice enough,” said Mini.
“She’s actually my mom’s cousin—it’s different,” said Aiden gruffly. “Not like the person my mom wants me to see.”
“A terrible aunt?” asked Aru.
“Worse,” said Aiden. He took a deep breath. “My grandmother.”
Aiden closed his eyes. He curled his fingers around the musical note and the inside of the tent changed. Light slashed out between his knuckles, turning into bright ribbons that began to weave a staircase in midair. The stairs ended just before the tent’s ceiling and dissolved into a golden pool. Far above, Aru could hear the distant sound of music.
Aiden stood up. For a few seconds, he just stared at the first step. Then he started to climb. Without looking back at them, he spoke in a toneless voice. “Let’s go.”
In Aru’s imagination, the divine halls where the celestial dancers and musicians lived was like a constant party in the clouds. All the stories made it out to be a place bursting with joy and beauty and raucous songs, an endless heavenly revel. It was not supposed to be boring, she thought as she emerged from the sunny portal into a room that was utterly pristine, empty…and silent.
The apsara halls looked and felt a lot like a fancy spa.
The moment they stepped off the staircase, the Potatoes found themselves in a great hall. In the distance were slender reflecting pools and a gently gurgling fountain set into marble. Beyond that was a closed pair of ornate silver doors. The floor was solid marble. The walls were frosted sheets of glass on which hung dozens of plaques and framed headlines and ads:
MENAKA’S SPA EARNS FIVE-STAR RATING ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE
“A NEW AGE FOR A NEW APSARA,” PROCLAIMS SPA DIRECTOR MENAKA.
