hen Aru arrived back home to get ready, Atlanta’s Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture was already closed for the evening. She glanced at the giant clock positioned over the entrance to the Hall of the Gods. How was it already nine o’clock? She stifled a yawn, patted the stone trunk of Greg the elephant statue, and trudged into the main atrium, pausing only to launch herself over the turnstile.

“Aru?”

She looked up to see her mom walking down the staircase from their apartment.

“It’s late. I was getting worried,” her mom said.

“I have a note for you from Boo,” Aru said, digging it out of her pants pocket and handing it over. “I have to go on another mission, but you can’t tell anyone.”

Her mom read the message, frowned, and sighed in resignation. Then she opened her arms for a hug, and Aru fell into them, inhaling deeply. No matter how many miraculous fragrances filled the Night Bazaar, this was her favorite scent: her mother’s jasmine shampoo combined with the trace smells of paper and straw from her work as an archaeologist and historian.

“This ‘vital sacred object’ you’re trying to find,” said her mom quietly. “I think I may know what it is.”

“Don’t say it out loud!” said Aru, eyeing the shadows.

“Someone else went looking for it long ago…” her mom continued.

Aru drew back and saw that there were tears in her mom’s eyes.

“Your f—” Her mom stopped herself and took a deep breath.

So I guessed right, thought Aru. Her dad had been the “wrong person” who tried wishing on the tree.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you,” her mom said. “I’ve been carrying it around with me for a while, not knowing when would be the right time, but now seems as good as any.”

She stepped back, and from her jacket pocket she pulled out a delicately folded paper bird no bigger than Aru’s thumb. It woke in her mom’s hand, shook its parchment feathers, cocked its head to one side, and warbled a charming tune. The edges of its beak and tail were worn, as if it had been held many times.

“Your father made this for me,” she said, not looking at Aru. “He was of partial gandharva descent, and he loved music. I was so nervous when I found out I was going to have you, Aru. He told me to write each fear on a piece of paper. Then he turned them into songbirds, to remind me that the things that scare us can also give us joy. We just have to learn how to see them in a different light.” She paused, smiling to herself. “Once, he was wise and funny, thoughtful and determined. We knew the prophecy about him…that somehow he would become a force of destruction, the terror of the gods. More than anything, he wanted to change his future. And so he went looking for Kalpavriksha.”

Dr. K. P. Shah took a deep breath, then tucked the bird back into her jacket pocket. “He came home an entirely different person, like something was missing from him. I never knew if he found the tree. He refused to speak about it, and by that time, I had other things to worry about.” Her hand moved to her belly.

Aru remembered the image she’d seen of her father in the Pool of the Past, back when she and Mini had ventured into the Kingdom of Death. In the vision he was cradling a baby in his arms, looking down at her with such joy it had made Aru’s heart hurt in the present.

“When I saw how much he had changed, I didn’t know what to do,” said her mom. “I had to protect you, no matter what. I trapped him in the lamp, thinking I’d find a solution one day, but I—” Her words choked off and Aru grasped her hands, holding tight.

Aru couldn’t imagine what her mom must have felt. All that panic and love fusing into the impossible choice to trap the man she loved for eleven years…all for Aru’s sake.

“I don’t know what happened when he went looking for Kalpavriksha,” her mom went on. “Whatever it was, it made him lose himself. I don’t want that to happen to you, my Aru.”

As her mother kissed the top of her head, Aru felt something slide around her neck. It was the necklace her mom always wore: a small sapphire pendant hanging from a delicate silver chain. Aru loved the sapphire, which was set above a row of three small holes. She’d never seen a jewel quite the same color—as if it weren’t just the blue of a stone, but the blue of oceans and horizons.

“Mom, what’s this for?” asked Aru, touching the jewel lightly.

“Protection,” said her mom. “Years ago, a yaksha gave this to me. He promised me it was for guardianship and for finding lost things. I hope this will protect you from whatever danger Suyodhana found on his journey. Be safe, okay, my Aru? I love you.”

A nameless fear flew into her chest. What had happened to her father? And would it happen to her, too? Would something she encountered in this quest change her so much that she’d end up becoming the “untrue” sister from the prophecy? No, she told herself. She couldn’t start thinking that way or she’d never leave. Besides, her father had traveled alone.

Aru wasn’t alone.

The pendant felt cold against Aru’s skin. Even though it was small, it seemed heavy. But it wasn’t uncomfortable. Instead, it felt like a talisman. Aru touched it once more and felt a little braver.

“I love you, too, Mom,” she said.

Before dawn the next morning, the clock in the museum’s lobby chimed five times. Mini, Brynne, and Aiden would be arriving soon, and Aru hadn’t quite finished packing. Vajra, who was supposed to be acting like a flashlight, kept bouncing around the walls.

“Could you be a little helpful?” asked Aru.

Vajra paused, as if considering this.

Then the lightning bolt continued to bounce around.

Aru rolled her eyes. She was in the middle of deciding which shoes to wear when a strange shadow rose on the walls. It stretched itself huge, the head bizarre and misshapen…. Was that a tail? A cold wind drifted through the atrium.

Had she left the front door unlocked and someone had opened it without her noticing?

“Psssst—”

DEMON! thought Aru.

“Vajra!” she called, holding out her hand.

The lightning bolt flew into her grasp, and Aru spun on her heel and flung Vajra like a javelin. It glowed brightly, drenching the demon in light and almost blinding Aru. When the light faded, Aru blinked to see Vajra splayed on the wall as a net, the demon pinned underneath.

Only…

It wasn’t a demon.

“Well,” said the not-demon, grinning, “you’re definitely not boring.”