Aru Shah and the End of Time

Madame Bee chases the girls, intending to catch and kill them, proclaiming she has been collecting beauty for years. The girls call for Boo, and Madame Bee reveals she knows who they are, and that Boo cannot enter her world. Aru is struck with an idea and shows Madame Bee her reflection in the mirror, which leaves her distraught. Aru then throws the golden orb in Madame Bee’s face, which blinds her with a heavenly light that fills the room. When Aru retrieves the ball, Mini unintentionally conjures up an illusion of it, and the girls learn the mirror cannot just reveal, but also create illusions.

Aru looks at the room through the mirror again and sees ashy handprints all over the walls. She realizes the burning smell is coming from Madame Bee herself; she is “Brahmasura,” an asura who can turn everything she touches to ash. The girls use the mirror to create an illusion of the sprig of youth, tricking Madame Bee into touching her head while Mini blows the real one out of her hair using a blow-dryer. Madame Bee promptly burns to ash.

The girls celebrate slaying their first demon. When they step outside, however, something feels wrong. Boo is relieved to see them alive but disturbed to hear that Madame Bee recognized them; it means the Sleeper has been visiting and collecting allies. He looks at the map and locates the second key in the Night Bazaar. Boo hopes they can convince the Seasons, who reside there, to provide the girls with some armor.

As the trio debates a plan to escape the Sleeper, Aru notices a frozen woman in the parking lot and realizes the Sleeper has already arrived. Boo and the girls rush to access the Otherworld, but before they can run through the portal, a black shape emerges from the concrete and catches hold of Aru. It calls her “slippery” and “deceitful,” just like her mother. Boo attacks it, and Aru grabs the golden orb for help, which bursts into light and forces the Sleeper to let go of her. Boo and the girls escape just in time.

They land in the wilderness, as Boo changed the portal location at the last minute to mask their whereabouts. He suggests they follow the ants, who will lead them to someone who can help them: Valmiki, the sage of learning and author of the other great Indian epic, the Ramayana. He started out life as a murderer before reforming later in life. Aru is wary of this, but Boo insists people can change. The group follows the ants, which leads them to a giant anthill. The ants spell out instructions that they are now to speak only in verse.

Mini speaks to the anthill in verse, asking for help finding the keys, and Valmiki emerges and agrees to help in exchange for one day of their lives, as he wants to write their stories. Boo insists it must be one “mundane” and mortal day, which only lasts 24 hours. Valmiki agrees and gives them a mantra to repeat: “Don’t look, don’t see, there’s no such thing as me” (110), which should prevent the Sleeper from finding them.

As the group travels through the Otherworld portals, something touches Aru, and she sees the Sleeper’s black tail; she repeats the mantra and is able to pass safely. The group arrives at a parking lot of a giant Costco, which Boo explains houses the Night Bazaar; it only looks like a Costco to ordinary mortals. The symbol on the girls’ palms now reads “six,” and Boo explains that time passes differently in the Otherworld than in mortal realms. They discuss how the Sleeper almost caught them again while they were traveling, and Aru wonders aloud about how the Sleeper knows her mother. Boo appears to know something about this but denies it.

Mini reveals that her mother is one of the panchakanya, the sisterhood of five legendary queens, whose reincarnations are tasked with raising and protecting the Pandavas. Aru asks if Mini knows any others, and Mini divines that Aru wishes she had met a different sibling. Mini has always been picked last for everything in her life, and people avoid her all the time; they call her a tattletale because she can’t help speaking out when she sees something unjust taking place. Mini worries that at some point Aru, too, will leave her behind. Although Aru knows this feeling, she doesn’t tell Mini this but consoles Mini and promises her she won’t ever leave her.

As the girls enter the Costco, they see other people crossing its threshold, upon which their true forms are revealed. Different kinds of beings are present inside, as well as people of different races and ethnicities. Boo explains that everyone who comes here has a connection to their own version of the Otherworld; multiple gods can coexist in the same space. He also tells the girls to stop looking so hard, in order for the true Night Bazaar to reveal itself to them.

The trio heads over to the frozen foods aisle, and on Boo’s instruction, Mini begins to list the items aloud. As she drones on, her focus drifts, and the surroundings change: A huge, ancient marketplace is now squished inside the store, and the trio is in a long line in front of the entrance. They overhear people discussing how the gods have lost their vehicles and how different places across the United States are coming to a standstill.

The group eventually reaches the front, where a raksha (a type of demon) is serving as security and instructs them to empty their pockets and bags onto a conveyor belt. Mini reveals her brother has been here before; her parents had assumed him to be the Pandava for a long time: Pandava children can sense danger and react accordingly even before they are aware of their abilities. All the times Mini has done this, her brother, too, was around, and everyone assumed it was him; only when she lifted a car in a panic did they discover that she was the Pandava.

Past the entrance, the group sees three signs that read “THINGS YOU WANT,” “THINGS YOU NEED,” and “THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO NEED” (129). They catch hold of the second, which opens up a tunnel in the ground.

The group descends through the tunnel into a forest, which is sliced into six sections around them; each section has weather corresponding to a different season. Boo explains that have arrived at the Court of the Ritus, the seasons. Winter, Summer, Monsoon, and Spring approach the group from their respective sections. They are ateliers who dress the whole world; their other two siblings, Autumn and Pre-Winter, are currently busy in the outside world.

The seasons are rude and condescending toward Boo and the girls, reminding Aru of the mean, popular girls at her school. Just then, a plan forms in her head; she grabs Mini and Boo and pretends to leave, stating that the seasons are not good enough for the Pandavas. The seasons immediately apologize for their earlier rudeness and offer to make them some armor.

Winter gives Mini a bracelet, which, when thrown on anything, can freeze it in its tracks. Spring conjures a box of petit fours that give rest and rejuvenation when consumed. Monsoon gifts Aru a gray pendant, which will hit any target it is thrown at, no matter how far away; however, he warns that regret will always follow. Summer offers Mini a gold headband, which, when worn by anyone but a Pandava, will make them forget something important. The girls haughtily accept the gifts and exit into a tunnel with Boo.

The tunnel leads into a grand library. Mini is thrilled, as it contains books on everyone and everything and is sure to have the key. Aru feels uncertain, as the space gives her a strange, prickly feeling. As the girls begin to look for a book titled Adulthood, Boo grows increasingly agitated. He suddenly yells at them to run, but as they head toward the exit, the Sleeper appears before them in the form of a man: Tall and thin, with one blue and one brown eye, he seems familiar to Aru. He is also carrying a seemingly empty birdcage.

The Sleeper reveals that Krithika is the one who locked him in the lamp and accuses Aru of being a liar and coward like her mother, having lit the lamp only to impress her friends. He drops the birdcage, and Aru notices it contains tiny clay figurines of animals. The Sleeper demands the first key, and as the girls inch backward, Boo points to the book of adulthood right next to him. Aru talks to and distracts the Sleeper while Mini manages to throw Winter’s bracelet at him.

With the Sleeper frozen, Aru grabs the book of adulthood and takes a bite out of it; the wad of paper transforms into a silver coin just as the Sleeper manages to unfreeze. Boo launches himself at the Sleeper to protect the girls, who catches the bird, recognizes him, and laughingly asks, “What has happened to you, old friend?” (150).

The Sleeper reveals that Boo is actually Shakhuni, the king of Subala. Aru remembers him from stories in the Mahabharata; he is the one who tricked the Pandavas into losing their kingdom through a cursed game of dice, which eventually led to the war. The Sleeper accuses Boo of going soft and asks if his penance is to help the Pandavas, but Boo insists that it is his honor. The Sleeper offers Boo one last chance to join him, but Boo refuses; at this, the Sleeper throws Boo across the room and approaches the girls.

Mini throws Summer’s headband at the Sleeper; it catches his ear, and his expression goes blank for a minute. He recovers and scoffs that the girls cannot do anything to him. Instead of killing them and taking just one key, he decides to let them collect the remaining ones and summon him themselves, warning that he will hurt their loved ones if they don’t. The Sleeper disappears, taking an unconscious Boo with him.

Mini confronts Aru about lying about the lamp. She doesn’t trust Aru anymore and leaves with the coin to finish the quest alone. A new number appears on Aru’s palm, but she cannot decipher it. As she paces the room wondering what to do, she catches sight of a book titled Aru. Flipping through it, she finds pictures detailing her past, but the pages at the end are glued together. Aru wonders if her gift is imagination, which can be used for both good and bad.

Aru notices the Sleeper has left the birdcage behind. On examining the clay figurines inside, she realizes they are the animals used by the gods as mounts. She uses her golden orb to look at them more closely, and the chamber begins to quake. All the animals grow in size and take on their real forms; the Sleeper forgot to take them along, thanks to Mini’s headband. The celestial mounts thank Aru for freeing them, and a seven-headed horse, which is Indra’s mount, offers to take Aru where she needs to go next.