ike all the other planetary palaces, the House of Saturn was opulent and grand. This one was crafted from sturdy onyx shot through with veins of silver. But it was oddly dilapidated, like the scene of one of those garage sales where you’d find a broken bathtub next to a collection of drinking glasses featuring obscure Star Wars characters. From where Aru stood, she could spot a blasted television set, a broken pool table with snapped sticks, one half-incinerated Etch A Sketch, and a smoldering BUILD YOUR OWN PLANT TERRARIUM! kit, all of which lay at the base of a great archway, plumes of smoke wafting from it.

At the far end of the lawn loomed the gleaming Door of New Day. As they got closer, Aru saw that it was as big and unadorned as a school cafeteria door, except that it seemed to be made of quicksilver. It quivered and vibrated, as if in a constant state of flux.

“Yeah…none of this stuff bodes well,” said Aru, toeing one of the broken things on the ground.

“Is this what Rohini meant by ‘baleful gaze’?” asked Mini. “Does Shani just look at stuff and it breaks?”

Rudy nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Then we have to move as quietly as possible,” said Brynne.

Aiden hoisted Nikita higher across his back. “Be careful, Bee.”

Earlier, they’d taken some of the camping materials from Aiden’s satchel and fashioned a human backpack that strapped Nikita to him. It was probably a good thing Nikita was knocked out. Aru could imagine the fashionista twin hating everything about this.

In a flash of light, Brynne transformed into a blue snake, slithering easily and silently over the crowded lawn. Rudy rummaged silently around in his messenger bag, pulling out a violet jewel and whispering to it. At once, a low sound crept over the lawn…the sound of indifferent things, like someone clacking on a keyboard in an office, the occasional thud of a book falling over on a library’s bookshelf, cicadas in summer.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Nothing to notice.

Aiden brought out his scimitars slowly, casting his gaze about, while Aru followed Brynne’s footsteps. Even with Rudy’s enchanted music, Aru felt a low prickle gathering at the base of her spine. Two minutes passed…then three…and the Door of New Day got closer and larger with every step.

“So far so good,” whispered Mini, carefully stepping over what looked to be a smashed xylophone.

“A xylophone?” asked Aru, glancing down. “I bet he owns an electric triangle—”

Brynne the snake turned her head sharply and hissed.

Aru felt a low buzzing in her skull, as if Brynne was trying to get a message to her, but something about the House of Saturn confused it.

“I—I can’t send mind messages,” said Aru.

She concentrated her energy, trying to push words toward Mini and Brynne, but it was as if something had built a wall between them.

“What’s happening?” asked Mini, rubbing at her temples.

Brynne hissed again.

“In snake, that means Shut up,” said Rudy helpfully.

Aru rolled her eyes. “We’re being quiet!”

Aiden fixed Aru with a pointed look, and she went back to tiptoeing over a pit of broken crochet needles, a candle-making kit, three record players, and a paint-by-numbers set. She hoped the mind-message problem would clear up the moment they got back to the human world.

“What a dump,” said Aru, grimacing as she shook a bit of dried paint off her sneakers. “Has he never heard of recycling?”

Just then, a silver beetle scuttled over her foot. “Bug!” she whisper-yelped.

“What’d you expect with this mess?” asked Mini. But she shuddered too when the silver beetle moved closer to her.

By now, the door was within sprinting distance. Brynne slithered faster. Aru felt a reckless hysteria bubbling up inside her chest. This was it. Once they were back in the mortal world, everything would be fixed. Nikita would wake up and help them. Aru cast a sidelong glance at the twin. In sleep, the girl was still frowning, but her crown of flowers had been restored.

A loud Honk! Honk! broke the silence of Saturn’s realm.

“Someone’s here!” said Aiden.

Brynne slithered under a magazine for cover. Mini cast an invisibility shield over the rest of them just as Rudy’s song abruptly went quiet.

They held their breath as they looked out over the littered lawn, trying to figure out where their attacker was coming from…but everything remained still. Maybe it had just been a sound from one of the broken instruments? Maybe a battery was dying out?

Mini lowered the shield. Brynne transformed back to normal. Aru’s heart pounded in relief.

Rudy sighed. “Well, that was close—”

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

To the left of the Door of New Day, at a jet-black gate that marked the edge of Saturn’s mansion, a pale-skinned yaksha wearing a bowler hat rang the doorbell three times. He dropped a takeout box and, without bothering to wait, hopped back into his small silver chariot and sped away as fast as he could.

The ground began to shake beneath them. Brynne motioned frantically for them to run toward the Door of New Day, but the ground was bouncing too wildly and it knocked them off their feet. From inside the palace, a friendly voice rang out.

“Wow! I’m amazed! You know, I’d heard you guys were fast, but two seconds is pretty quick even for Uber Eats’ Celestial Division.”

Shani, Lord of Saturn, chuckled to himself as he emerged from his halls. Aru had never considered what it would be like to meet a planet…and in all her imaginings of Saturn, she’d always thought of it possessing a giant ring like a frozen Hula-Hoop.

Shani did not have a Hula-Hoop.

Instead, he was dressed in a plaid silk nightgown with house slippers shaped like ducks with little mirrors affixed to their foreheads. His skin was a deep violet flecked with stars. But it was his head that threw her off.

Whereas most people would raise their heads to meet you straight in the eye. Shani looked only at the ground. He seemed to frown at his feet, and Aru realized he must be looking at their reflections in his duck slippers.

“Wait…you’re not the delivery guys, are you?” he asked. He waved a bag of coins. “Otherwise, I don’t have enough for the tip.”