he maintenance entrance was no more than three feet wide and five feet high. Next to the tunnel opening, a little yellow sign read DO NOT DRINK THE WATER, which struck Aru as kinda weird. Who would want to drink river water anyway? Gross.

At first the group thought about entering in a single-file line, but that would be too risky if something went wrong and only one person could see ahead. So the plan became to send in a scout who could check things out and report back.

Rudy didn’t seem to have a clue about how long the passage was. Aru didn’t know much about the river herself other than it was named for a river goddess who once parted her waves to allow a baby god, Krishna, to escape when his evil uncle wanted to kill him. That sounded pretty dramatic, but Aru had learned that having one of your relatives want to put your head on a stake was par for the course in mythology.

“It must be short,” said Rudy, trying to feign casualness. “The House of Months isn’t far from here. Maybe it opens into a bridge—”

“Or maybe the tunnel ends suddenly,” cut in Aiden, “and you have to swim the rest of the way. Could be they only hire people from the aquatic parts of the Otherworld.”

Mini whimpered, and honestly, Aru wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of swimming through those dark waters either.

“Come on, guys,” said Brynne, rolling her eyes. “It probably just stretches over a stream.”

Aiden coughed lightly, which he’d started doing after Aru once threatened to electrocute him for beginning a sentence with Well, actually…

“What is it, Ammamma?” asked Brynne.

“The Yamuna River is the second-largest tributary that connects to the Ganges.”

“Meaning?” prompted Aru.

“Meaning it’s huge.”

“Well, one of us has to go in first to make sure it’s safe,” said Brynne.

“I agree completely,” said Rudy, taking a step back. “Be my guest—”

“Rudy,” said Brynne. “Since you’re the only one of us who actually has permission to be inside the House of Months, you have to go first. That way, if you get caught and sent back, we can troubleshoot what to do next.”

Rudy looked like he’d swallowed a bug. “But—”

“You’re a prince,” said Aiden. “I’m sure no one will mess with you.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m…a prince,” echoed Rudy sadly.

He looked from them to the entrance, then steeled himself. “Fine.”

He drew a gemstone out of his messenger bag. It looked like a chunk of quartz, but when Rudy held it tightly, it released the sound of raindrops gently hitting a windowpane. The white noise sanded down the sharp edges of Aru’s anxiety and slowed her shallow breathing. Without another glance, Rudy walked into the entrance, disappearing into the dark and humming to himself as he went.

Eventually, the sound of Rudy’s singing vanished, replaced with the rush of water.

“Rudy?” called Aiden.

No response.

The four of them exchanged worried glances.

“He should’ve been able to call back,” said Aiden nervously. “My mom is going to kill me if anything happens to him.”

“He’ll be fine,” said Brynne, crossing her arms.

But two minutes turned into three…then seven.

“I’m going in after him,” said Aiden finally. He touched the ends of his sleeves and his scimitars shot out. “Shah?”

Aru flicked her wrist and Vajra crackled to life. She brought it to Aiden’s weapons and electricity ribboned down his blades.

“You’ve got two minutes, then we’re going in after you,” said Brynne.

“I’m sure he just got distracted looking at his reflection,” said Aiden.

And in he went.

Once more they waited, and once more…nothing.

“I really don’t like this,” said Mini, holding Dee Dee close.

“I bet it’s a magical barrier, and they’re waiting for us on the other side,” said Brynne, but for the first time she didn’t sound so convinced. She looked at Aru and Mini. “I don’t want to leave you guys alone.”

“We’ll be fine,” said Aru even as Mini began to shake her head. “If anything happens, at least the two of us can go in together.”

Brynne sighed, still uncertain. “If I don’t come out in two minutes, come after me. Got it?”

“You got this,” said Aru, clapping her on the back.

“Brynne, be careful,” said Mini, holding her hand tightly for a moment. “Do you know what could be in the water? Huge fish. And riptides. Even a shark—”

“You really need to work on your pep talks,” said Aru.

But Brynne was the bravest out of all of them, and at first Aru really wasn’t worried when she entered the narrow passage.

At first.

The seconds trickled by, and Mini began to sing softly to herself. Then she stopped. “Something’s gone terribly wrong, I can feel it,” she insisted.

“We don’t know that,” said Aru. “It hasn’t been two minutes—”

Ding!

The timer on Mini’s watch went off, and the two girls stared at it. Aru felt a pressure building in her heart. They couldn’t ignore the dark waters of the river any longer.

“What happened to them?” asked Mini.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” assured Aru, but she could taste the lie on her tongue.

Rudy might’ve gotten distracted or lost or something, but Aiden and Brynne? They wouldn’t have gotten turned around that easily.

“All right. Let’s go,” said Mini.

That was Mini. She had a list of unpronounceable phobias, but still she somehow managed to be fearless when it mattered most.

Squeezing into the passage together wasn’t that hard. As the smallest of their group of four, Aru and Mini usually had to take turns being squished in the middle of the backseat whenever Aru’s or Mini’s mom drove them to the movies. Luckily for Aru, Mini was pretty slow at Nose Goes! and ended up in the middle seat way more often.

The moment after they stepped into the tunnel, shadows rushed in and sealed up the space behind them, hardening into a solid black wall. Darkness swallowed them, and all Aru could hear was the river roaring in her ears.

She looked down, holding Vajra in ball form for light. Rudy’s guess had been right. Instead of a glass floor, they were now standing on a slender bridge made out of iron grating. About a foot or so beneath them, the river flowed quickly. There weren’t any railings on the sides to keep them from falling in, so they clutched each other for dear life.

A sharp pang of thirst hit Aru in the back of her throat. She swallowed impulsively, hating how dry her mouth felt. She reached for her backpack, then let her hand drop. Aiden had all the water bottles, and who knew where he was? Aru would just have to wait. As soon as they got out of here, she could have all the ice-cold water in the world.

Her gaze traveled back to the rushing water below. It looked as dark as poured ink, but Aru found herself fantasizing about how the water would taste. Like bottled-up winter. Like her whole soul had shriveled up and a single drop would be enough to plump it once more. Like—

“What’s that above us?” asked Mini.

She pointed to the ceiling, and Aru became aware of her surroundings. In the air above the water shimmered a hundred reflections. The wavering images of temples and cities, grassy reeds and muddy banks, were all crammed together and reminded Aru of a collage of holograms.

“It must be every shore that the river touches,” said Mini, staring up in awe.

“Must be,” said Aru. She felt a little guilty about it, but she wasn’t really listening. All she could think about was how parched her throat felt, how the inside of her mouth kept sticking to her teeth. She needed to get them out of here. The faster she could do that, the sooner they could join the others and get a drink. Aru cast Vajra’s light farther out and saw an answering gleam from a small lantern not thirty feet away. It was affixed atop a little metal door.

“That has to be the exit,” said Aru. “But that means they didn’t even have to walk very far….”

Chills ran down her spine.

Mini looked to her left and right. “They’re not here. They must have gone through….”

Aru didn’t bother answering. She was too busy thinking about the water beneath them. Gods, she was thirsty. All she wanted was a glass of water. But not just any water. The rushing current of the Yamuna River called to her like a lullaby. It would be so easy to sink into it, let it soak through her clothes and drag her down to the bottom, and then she could gulp all the water she wanted—

“ARU!”

Aru felt Mini’s hands on her shoulders. She blinked. Vajra shimmered right before her eyes, as if the lightning bolt had been zigzagging frantically to get her attention. Aru looked down and her heart slammed into her throat. What was she doing? She was crouching on the bridge, her hands gripping the edge, her knees not far behind, and her whole upper body leaning toward the night-dark water.

“What’s gotten into you?” yelled Mini, pulling her backward. “I kept saying your name and you didn’t even hear me!”

Aru scrambled back from the edge of the bridge, then sat with her arms wrapped around her knees.

“I don’t know what’s going on with me,” she said, panicked. “I really want to drink the river water.”

“Ew!” said Mini. “I’m thirsty, too, but you saw the sign, and there’s no way I’m breaking that rule. The water could be contaminated! You could get some serious infectious diseases from river water, like shigellosis, norovirus, or even cryptosporidosis! And you know what happens if you—”

“Mini, I legit feel like I’m dying already, so please don’t remind me,” grumbled Aru. “I just want a little water.”

“No!” said Mini, stamping her foot. “Let me run the symptoms past you, because they’re truly horrific, and maybe then you won’t want dirty river water. First of all, every time you go to the bathroom—”

But whatever horrific factoid Mini wanted to spout was interrupted by a smooth feminine voice. Just the sound of it quickened Aru’s intense craving.

“Child, aren’t you thirsty?”

“Y-yes,” Aru croaked.

“Then drink your fill and be sated like the rest of your companions.”

The ceiling disappeared, revealing a steel-gray sky. Below them the Yamuna River churned, then parted in the middle. Mini screamed, pointing wildly into the deep. There, curled up on the riverbed with their eyes closed and their lips a dangerous shade of blue were Aiden, Brynne, and Rudy.