Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,49

of Milk. In the long line of asuras tugging the snake-rope with all their might, Aru recognized Rahuketu, a dragon with a slick head and wingless serpent body.

“I was so thirsty,” said Ketu with a sigh.

“We were in an ocean of milk!” said Rahu. “You could’ve just had me lap some up!”

“And pollute my body? My temple? With milk that people had sweated into and stepped in?”

“Get on with it, Ketu,” grumbled Rahu.

The flashback in Ketu’s flames changed, showing the devas and asuras separated into two lines. When it came time to divvy up the nectar of immortality, the god of preservation, Vishnu, took on a new avatar and transformed into the beautiful enchantress Mohini. She was so enchantingly lovely that everyone agreed to let her pour out the nectar. Mohini walked to the devas first, but she kept her head turned toward the asuras…smiling all the while so that none of the asuras even noticed she was giving away all their nectar.

None except Rahuketu.

In the scene playing out in the flames, Rahuketu disguised himself as a deva and switched sides, quietly slipping in between Surya and Chandra, the gods of the sun and the moon. Mohini stopped in front of Rahuketu, not looking at him, just tipping a bright gold jar of what looked like liquid sunshine toward his mouth. Rahuketu closed his eyes, parted his lips, and drank. A glow radiated from within him, bursting through the pores of his skin, and then…

Thwhip-thwhip-thwhip-thwhip-thwhip!

A razor-sharp silver disc spun straight toward him and chopped off his head.

“That was so rude!” said Ketu.

Rahu closed his eyes, shaking his head at the memory. That gave Rudy and Aiden a chance to slip Aru the two ends of the magic rope, which she quickly tied together.

Aru tsked sympathetically, and Rahu opened his eyes again. By now, she and her friends had formed a circle around the head and torso, holding the cord behind their backs. Following Brynne’s lead, they all took tiny steps forward, gradually herding the celestials closer to the column.

“But we’d swallowed the nectar of immortality,” said Ketu, “so we became separate entities with separate responsibilities as the ascending and descending lunar nodes, and we take that responsibility very seriously—”

“Except when one of us gets mad and tries to devour the moon,” added Rahu.

“To be fair, it does look like a cookie,” said Ketu defensively.

“See?” said Rahu. “You’re not so high and mighty after all!”

Rahu and Ketu launched into a new argument, this time over which was the more popular eclipse: Solar? Lunar? The third Twilight book? They were close enough to each other that Rahu could’ve poked Ketu with his nose.

It was time.

Aru nodded to her friends and they let go of the rope. She held on to it and walked slowly backward until it was stretched taut. One by one, the others ducked under it and stepped away.

When Aru lifted the cord over her head so she could hold it out in front of her, Rahu turned toward her, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry about this!” she yelled.

Aru let go of the sticky line. Snap! It contracted like a rubber band, binding Rahu and Ketu to the pillar.

Rahu roared. Steam hissed out of his nostrils, clouding the chamber.

“I can’t see!” yelled Ketu.

“When can you ever see?” snapped Rahu.

Aru swiveled around, lost in the mist, until she felt Brynne’s hand around her wrist.

“Run for it!” yelled Brynne.

Together the group raced to the Door of Shadows.

“Come back here, children,” bellowed Rahu, “and let me eat you!”

That’s a Nice, Creepy, Destructive God You’ve Got There

Rahu’s screams chased them through the Door of Shadows, but the moment they tumbled into the crypt, there was only silence.

Aru shook herself. She was sprawled on the ground, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark. Overhead, the ceiling seemed to be wreathed in a thin, hazy light. It reminded her of how the last eclipse had looked through the special sunglasses her mom had ordered: a black blot radiating wispy rays. The crypt’s floor was cold and hard-packed, but with an odd texture. Like scales. Specifically, Rahu and Ketu’s scales. Gross, thought Aru. It was like they had said, Nah, who needs a carpet when I’ve got dead skin!

“Those must be the vaults over there!” whispered Brynne.

Aru looked to where her sister was pointing. After a while, she could recognize doors along both sides of the space. They weren’t ordinary doors with locks or knobs or handles.