Aru Shah and the End of Time

Official Cover

***Aru Shah and the End of Time*** is the first book in the Pandava Quintet, written by Roshani Chokshi. It was published March 27, 2018, and is the first book to be published under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. The book follows 12-year-old Aru Shah, who discovers she is the reincarnation of one of the legendary Pandava brothers from the *Mahabharata*.

This book is followed by *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*.

## Blurb

*Aru Shah is a smart and salty middle school girl who just wants to impress her snooty private school friends. She takes them on a tour of the Indian-American Museum her mom curates, where her friends dare her to do the one thing she is forbidden to do: light an ancient lamp that will supposedly start the end of the world…*

## The Sleeper's Plan

The Sleeper, after being released by Aru, intends to wake Lord Shiva, who will dance upon the world and bring an end to time.

## Chapters

### 1 - In Which Aru Regrets Opening The Door

It's the first day of autumn break. Aru is in her Spider-Man pajamas, trying to talk with her mother while she talks to someone on the phone. When the doorbell rings, her mother tells Aru to go downstairs and answer it. It's Poppy Lopez, Burton Prater, and Arielle Reddy, Aru's fellow classmates at Augustus Day who are upset with her for tricking them. Arielle brings up the cursed diya that Aru had mentioned, and says that if she lights it and proves that it was cursed, they wouldn't tell the school about her lies via the video Burton is shooting on his phone at that very moment of Aru. Aru says she'll light the diya.

### 2 - Oops

Aru takes Poppy, Arielle, and Burton to the Hall of the Gods where the cursed lamp is. Aru is hesitant to light the lamp, remembering her mother’s warnings, but her classmates dare her to light it. Aru deactivates the security system surrounding the lamp.  Poppy gives Aru a lighter, and Aru brings the flame closer to the lamp. As she does, the Hall of the Gods becomes darker and Aru hears someone calling her voice from the lamp. As soon as she lights it, a large nightmarish monster emerges from the lamp, calling to her, “*Oh, Aru, Aru, Aru…what have you done?”*

### 3 - Wake up

Aru wakes up and discovers her classmates and her mother frozen in time. The stone elephant standing in the museum suddenly opens its mouth, startling Aru. A large shadow emerges from the mouth of the elephant, which turns out to be a pigeon. The pigeon demands to know who lit the lamp, as it is its sacred duty to guide the Pandava brother who lit it. It says that only one of the five Pandava brothers could have lit the lamp. Aru says that she was the one who lit it, and the bird responds with, “Well, then, we might as well let the world end.”

### 4 - In-ep-tee-tood

Aru and the pigeon keep staring at each other until the bird finally takes a step backwards. The pigeon recalls how the last dormant Pandava reincarnations were so brilliant and great, then complains about how the new Pandava is a “girl child”. Aru asks the bird if it was sure that the next generation of one of the Pandava brothers was her, and it says that only a Pandava could have lit the lamp. The bird continues that they need to go through the Door of Many, and that the “other one” will know. The bird states that for the next 9 days, Time will freeze wherever the Sleeper walks, which is the monster Aru released from the lamp. After 9 days the Sleeper would reach Lord Shiva, who would perform the dance to end time. Aru asks who the “other one” is, and the bird reveals another Pandava sibling should have awakened. The pigeon says that his name is Subala, but Aru thinks his name is too long and tricks him into letting her call him Boo. As Aru leaves to find her other sibling, she promises her frozen mother she would make things right.

### 5 - The Other Sister

Aru and Boo walk into the stone elephant’s mouth and a door appears at the end of it, which Boo refers to as the Door of Many. Aru wonders how she can have a sibling, and Boo explains that she and the other person are considered siblings because they share divinity and are both children of the gods. Aru asks if she is considered a goddess, to which Boo says she is not. Boo says after Aru meets her sibling they will travel to the Otherworld and go to the Court of the Sky where the Council of Guardians are to ask about the details for their quest. Aru and Boo continue to bicker about gods and weapons until Aru accesses the Door of Many by telling it to take her to the other Pandava. A girl wearing a backpack and carrying an EpiPen appears in front of Aru. Aru wonders if this is really the other Pandava sibling, and Book faceplants on the ground in shock.

### 6 - Look, but Not Really

The girl says her family became frozen in time. Boo asks if the girl is a Pandava and she says yes. Aru introduces herself and Boo, and the girl says her name is Mini. Aru confirms that she and Mini are soul-related. Boo becomes exasperated and says they need to go to the Otherworld now that the two sisters have met.  Aru explains their quest to Mini, who says she has been to the Otherworld before. She becomes slightly confused when Aru says she hasn’t been before, but quickly covers it up. Boo says they can’t drive to the Otherworld since the Sleeper is looking for them, and must get to the Otherworld by finding and tugging on a string of hope. Aru finds a current of warmth and pulls, which creates a doorknob in her hand. On the other side of the door, a crocodile the size of a three story house greets them.

### 7 - The Council of Guardians

Mini begs the crocodile not to eat them. Boo calls the crocodile a makara, which Aru recognizes as a statue that guards temples. Boo tells the crocodile to make way for the Pandavas, which pleases him because he hadn’t received visitors in such a long time. The makara sees images of Aru and Mini in his eyes, and Mini discovers Aru was the one who lit the lamp, but quickly forgives her. Aru, Mini, and Boo are transported to the Court of the Sky, where they meet Urvashi and Hanuman. Aru and Boo quickly explain their situation to them. Urvashi doesn’t believe Aru and Mini are true Pandavas, and insists they must be Claimed first. Boo says they must Pranama before they are Claimed. Arrows suddenly appear in the sky, and Boo explains that they will know if the gods are claiming them based on whether they choose to let them live.

### 8 - Who's Your Daddy?

The arrows hover above Aru and Mini. Aru and Mini quickly touch the feet of each statue of the gods, and the arrows begin falling towards them. Aru and Mini try to dodge the arrows, while Boo yells at them to remain calm. As arrows fall straight towards Aru, she throws out her hands, and suddenly a net made out of electricity falls over her, protecting her. Aru notices she is floating and the statue of the god of thunder Indra is now facing her. Aru realizes based on this that Indra is her soul father.

### 9 - The Three Keys

Aru is shocked Indra is her father, and feels it is too much pressure that she is the reincarnation of Arjuna, the greatest warrior. The net of electricity vanishes and leaves Aru with a orb of light the size of a Ping-Pong ball. Mini discovers she is the daughter of the Dharma Raja, the god of death. Hanuman and Urvashi acknowledge that the girls are Pandavas. Hanuman says the Sleeper will need celestial weapons in order to wake Lord Shiva, and that Aru and Mini need to get to them first. Urvashi says that Aru's ball of light and Mini's compact will help them on their quest. She tells them that order to defeat the Sleeper, they must go to the Kingdom of Death to find the Pool of the Past, which will show them how to defeat the Sleeper. In order to get to the Kingdom of Death, they need three keys: a sprig of youth, a bite of adulthood, and a sip of old age. A mendhi map that appears on Aru’s and Mini’s hands tell them how many days they have left. They use it to travel to a strip mall where they can find the sprig of youth. Mini says they only have 8 days left, and Boo warns them that if the Sleeper finds them while questing, he would kill them.

### 10 - A Trip to the Beauty Salon

Aru and Mini experiment with the gifts from their soul fathers, and Aru discovers that the golden ball always comes back when she throws it, while Mini looks in the mirror of the compact and discovers a zit on her nose. Boo explains that these weapons will be useful somehow, and tells them that if they need new weapons, he'll take the girls to the Night Bazaar. They begin looking around the parking lot and notice a beauty salon, and the longer Aru looks at it, the more the mehnidi on her hand glows. As they approach the salon, Mini and Aru notice that the shop smells like something or someone was burned, and that they can't see through the door. On the door, the words *Madame Bee Asura, Head Stylist* are engraved. The words feel familiar to Aru, but she isn't sure why. After leaving Boo outside, the girls head into the salon, where they discover portraits of screaming women in front of salon chairs and meet the owner, Madame Bee. She's beautiful and Aru feels entranced by her, but Mini is frightened and helps Aru see reason. The girls decide they have to get the key before they run away, and while experimenting with what to do, Mini discovers that her compact sees through enchantments. When she holds it up to Madame Bee, they discover that she's an asura, or a demon, with coils of fire for hair and tusks rather than teeth. On top of her head, the mirror helps them spot the sprig of youth.

### 11 - Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Madame Bee asks the girls who she should cut first, and Mini and Aru run, trying to hide or reach the door. The door doesn't get any closer, and Madame Bee can teleport to wherever they hide. They realize that Madame Bee consumes people's beauty and knows that they are Pandavas. Aru quickly thinks of a plan, holding up the compact and showing the asura her true reflection. This scares her, and she writhes on the floor in fear and frustration. Aru blinds Madame Bee with the ball, which is made of heavenly light, and Mini accidentally makes a fake version of the ball using the compact, discovering that it can make illusions.. They look at the room in the compact again, and realize based on some handprints that Madame Bee Asura is Brahmasura, a strong asura with the power to turn anyone into ashes by touching them. As Brahmasura approaches, regaining her sight, Mini makes a fake version of the sprig of youth so Aru can taunt Brahmasura, pretending that they stole it. While Aru talks to her, Mini grabs a blow-dryer and manages to defeat Brahmasura, turning her to ashes, and the sprig of youth blows off her head.

### 12 - Bring On the Next Demon! Wait, Maybe Not...

After defeating Brahmasura, Aru and Mini celebrate with an elbow bump before returning outside to find Boo. As soon as they step out of the salon, they notice that it's gone from afternoon to nighttime, very quickly, and that there's no wind and a chill in the air. Boo is happy that the Pandavas found the first key, and tells them that based on the mehndi map, the second is in the Night Bazaar. Suddenly, the Sleeper finds them, telling Aru that she's 'just like her mother'. Aru is confused by this, but the trio manages to escape, changing their portal location so the Sleeper doesn't know where they're going. The new portal takes them to a line of ants, which they follow to Valmiki, the sage of learning, who has many sacred words that can help Aru and Mini on their quest.

### 13 - The Hipster in the Anthill

Valmiki arranges the ants into messages, telling the group that they must speak in rhymes, otherwise he won't help them. Boo sighs dramatically, saying that he hates poets, but Mini manages to come up with a few rhymes and communicates their problem to Valmiki, who splits the anthill he's under in half to speak to them in person. Once Aru and Mini agree to commit one human day of 24 hours in the future to Valmiki, so he can write down their stories, he gives them a mantra that will hide them from sight. They leave, touching the mehndi maps in order to travel to the Night Bazaar for the second key.

## Characters

* Aru Shah
* Mini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez
* Boo
* The Sleeper
* Poppy Lopez
* Burton Prater
* Arielle Reddy
* The Six Seasons