ru and Mini clambered into the vimana, which was a lot bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. The backseat was a generous seven-seater, with each chair fashioned like a small velvet throne, so the effect was more like sitting in a fancy lobby than in a car. Large windows flanked the thrones. A pair of speakers hung from the corners of the vimana, and tiny shelves jutted out from the partition between the backseats and the front ones, along with glass goblets in cup holders and little jars of hoof-socks, horn polish, fang floss, talon trimmers…and an iPhone charger. Aiden, Rudy, and Brynne already had their seats. Rudy’s obnoxious jacket stood in stark contrast to Aiden’s usual somber getup of a dark long-sleeved shirt and darker pants.

The cousins were engaged in an argument.

“The whole point is to be subtle,” said Aiden. “It’s an undercover mission.”

“I was born to stand out,” said Rudy.

“Well, you’re going to die that way too, apparently.”

Rudy shrugged. “Haters gonna hate.”

Aiden grumbled to himself and reached for his camera.

Brynne dug through her backpack, handing out food wrapped in aluminum.

“I got breakfast covered,” she said. “Berries reduced in sugar and acid, fused with a blended nut butter and spread on toasted wheat.”

“So…a PB and J?” asked Aiden.

“Yup!” said Brynne. She rapped on the ceiling of the car. “Drive on!”

The flying chariot yelped, then zoomed into the air so fast that Aru got flattened against her seat. When she looked up, she noticed a screen on the ceiling. Someone had muted the Otherworld television, but the headlines still flashed by:

BREAKING NEWS: SECURITY CONCERNS FOR THIS YEAR’S HOLI CELEBRATION! IS WAR COMING?

ARE THE DEVAS COVERING UP A PANDAVA PROPHECY?

AND NEXT UP…

ARE SOME OF YOUR LIMBS TURNING RANDOMLY TO STONE? YOU MIGHT BE CURSED! OUR EXPERTS WEIGH IN!

Aru tried to push all thoughts of the prophecy from her mind as she righted herself in the chair.

“Please tell me this isn’t a stolen flying car…” said Mini nervously.

“Of course not!” said Brynne. “And this isn’t a flying car. It’s a vimana—more like a flying chariot. This model is actually based on the super-luxurious version that Ravana used to ride in back in the day.”

“Ravana?” asked Mini. “As in…the demon king Ravana?”

Brynne nodded. “Gunky’s the head architect at VPD, so he gets flying-chariot service from our apartment to work every day.”

“VPD?” asked Aru.

“Vishwakarma, Prajapati, and Daksha,” said Brynne. “It’s one of the best celestial architecture firms.”

“So, what’s the plan here?” Aiden asked. “We’re going to show up at this firm, say ‘Make me a key!’ and that’s it?”

Brynne nodded. “I mean…yeah? Vishwakarma is literally the god of architects. But he only works on projects he likes, so we’ll have to pitch it to him.”

Aru raised her eyebrows. “With what, a PowerPoint presentation?”

“Ew, no,” said Brynne. “We just have to tell him who we are, and that’ll be enough.”

Mini cleared her throat. “But…according to Boo, we’re supposed to do this whole thing undercover.”

Brynne’s face fell. “I forgot about that.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Rudy.

He was tinkering with the sound system, holding real gemstones up to the speakers.

“Sound modifiers,” he explained. “Can’t go questing without a proper playlist.”

He picked up another gem from the orange messenger bag at his feet and rotated the tuning dial below the speakers. The music skipped from nineties hip-hop to Latin pop before he finally settled on a song Aru had never heard before. With its strong beat, it sounded like a fight song. When Rudy placed the gemstone by the speaker, the sound didn’t just get louder—it felt alive. The music seemed to sink through Aru’s skin and make her very soul bristle. She had the weirdest urge to throw a pair of boxing gloves dramatically on the ground.

“Music makes all the difference,” said Rudy.

Brynne crossed her arms. “Neat trick,” she said grudgingly. “But can we talk about VPD?”

Rudy bobbed his head to the rhythm. “I’m a prince, remember? You guys can pose as my lackeys while I ask Vishwakarma to make me a key,” he said. “Boom.”

“Boom?” repeated Aiden, rolling his eyes.

“Lackeys?” echoed Brynne angrily.

Suddenly, the chariot tipped forward, and the five passengers slammed against the partition. For the first time, Rudy’s calm splintered a bit.

“What’s going on with this thing?” he asked, panicked. “I thought it was safe!”

“It is safe!” retorted Brynne. “Well, mostly safe, as long as the chariot doesn’t see any birds. It can get jealous of them. Or want to eat them…Gunky’s not really sure which. But don’t worry, it’s too early in spring for many birds to—”

“Brynne…” said Aiden, his voice full of warning.

He was sitting closest to the window and had been leaning out to snap photos, as usual, but now he pressed himself hard against the seat. “I’m really hoping I’m wrong, but I just saw—”

HONK!

“Oh no,” whimpered Mini. “Not—”

As if in response, the chariot stopped short and hovered in the air. A ripple went through its velvet cushions, like the muscles of a cat on the verge of getting deeply annoyed.

HONK!!!

A swarm of at least a dozen geese zoomed through the air around them. The vimana started to buck violently, and the small glass cups trembled in their holders.

“Bad car!” said Brynne. “Very bad car!”

“Who’s driving this thing?” demanded Mini, gripping her armrest.

“It’s self-driving!” said Brynne.

Aiden reached forward, slid open the partition, and clambered through to the driver’s seat. “I’ll get us back en route!”

“You can’t drive!” said Brynne.

“I’ve handled a go-kart!”

“That’s not the same thing!”

But Aiden had already slid into the driver’s chair. Rudy, however, sat on the floor, clutching his seat, all suaveness totally gone.

Outside, the geese started to batter the chariot. It tilted right and left. Aru fell back against the window and got a horrible view: The vimana had climbed through the sky, and they were above the patchy clouds. Pieces of downtown Atlanta loomed hundreds of feet below.

“I really do not like heights,” whimpered Rudy.

“At least the windows aren’t—” started Brynne.

The windows dropped down, opening and closing like gnashing teeth. Mini held tight to one of the overhead handholds. “I think the vimana’s trying to bite the birds!”

A goose poked its head inside the window, squawked, and grabbed Brynne’s sandwich.

“I think NOT!” yelled Brynne.

She aimed Gogo and blasted the goose with a wind vortex. It got flung out of the car, spiraling into the sky. The geese paused for a moment. And then, as one, they barreled toward the vimana.

“Can’t you do something to make the car ignore the birds?” asked Aru.

“I’m trying!” hollered Aiden.

And he was. His hands gripped the wheel, turning it this way and that, but the chariot continued to swerve in circles like a dog chasing its tail. Or, in this case, a goose. The car lurched again. This time, Aru didn’t fall against the window…she went through it! Wind tossed her hair as she gripped the edge of the door, her feet dangling in the air.

“Vajra!” she screamed.

Her lightning bolt crackled to life, and Aru caught hold of it with one hand. She aimed Vajra, and electricity spangled the air. The geese drew back….

But the sound must’ve frightened the vimana. It veered sharply, and Aru’s one-handed grip loosened.

Don’t look down don’t look down….

She looked at the ground hundreds of feet below, and a wave of nausea hit her. Vajra zoomed beneath her feet as a hoverboard and hurtled her back through the window.

“You made it worse!” said Rudy, now flat on the floor of the chariot.

Brynne couldn’t get a good hold on her wind mace in the commotion. There was no way Aru was going to use Vajra on the geese again. But then Mini stepped up. She didn’t love heights, either, but she staggered to her feet and pointed her Death Danda out the window. With one muttered word she made a huge mirror appear on the back side of the vimana.

“Nothing to see here,” she said quietly. “Just clouds. Only clouds.”

It must have looked that way to the geese. The mirror reflected the sky and disguised the vehicle. The birds fell back. The seesawing motion of the vimana slowed, and Brynne was finally able to use her wind mace. She whisked it through the air to create a cyclone that blocked out the honking of the geese.

Aiden swerved the vimana higher into the clouds, quickly adjusting the autopilot setting so it rode smoothly. And then he promptly collapsed in the backseat.

As they left the birds behind and Mini withdrew the mirror, Aru peered out the window at one last fowl straggler.

“Never feeding you again,” she said darkly.

“There it is,” called Brynne. “VPD headquarters!”

When Aru had heard that VPD had its own skyscraper, she assumed it would look like any of the other tall buildings that made up the New York City skyline. It did not. It was wedged between two huge buildings and seemed, for all intents and purposes, completely invisible to ordinary humans. And it was literally a skyscraper. The building looked like a giant arm made of molten gold, and on top it had fingers that held clouds and swayed back and forth as if it were scratching at an itchy spot on the sky.

The vimana flew toward the slanted golden palm, which had a large dark hole in its center. Brynne explained that it was the opening to a chute that went directly down into the building.

Rudy swallowed hard, clutching the outer edge of the chariot. “Can we take the stairs?”

Beside him, Mini beamed, which made Rudy recoil a bit.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I like that you get scared.”

“That makes you happy?” asked Rudy, inching farther away.

“So, what happens now?” cut in Aru.

“We jump,” confirmed Brynne. “Gunky says all the employees at VPD enter this way. It’s supposed to signify a leap of faith and inspiration or something. I dunno. Architects can be a little weird.”

Brynne pulled Gunky’s employee-ID card out of the front pocket of her backpack. She waved it over the dark opening and a faint light beamed from inside. “Let’s link hands and go.”

She took Aiden’s hand, and he offered his other one to Aru. She hesitated, then started reaching toward him. She knew it was just for the jump, but time seemed to slow as she thought of a thousand terrible scenarios: What if her palm was sweaty? If it was, Aiden could slip out of her grip and tumble to the ground. What if it wasn’t sweaty but weirdly callus-y and he was so grossed out he let go and fell to the sidewalk?

Oh my gods, I’m turning into Mini.

Aiden grabbed her hand.

“Sorry if I’m sweaty and callus-y?” blurted out Aru.

Aiden looked deeply confused. “Good to know?”

With her other hand, Aru grabbed Mini, who was linked to Rudy. Aru noticed that Mini was smiling, but Rudy looked downright terrified. Rudy was linked to Brynne.

“On the count of three,” Brynne said. “One, two—”

Brynne leaped out, and as they tumbled through the dark, Mini hollered, “WHAT ABOUT THREEEEE?”