The Chaos Curse by Sayantani DasGupta

Author:Sayantani DasGupta [DasGupta, Sayantani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2019-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

“That is against intergalactic table tennis regulations!” sputtered K. P. Das. “No player on either doubles team may eat the Ping-Pong ball while in play! Your team forfeits the point! It’s my game, set, and match!”

“Wait a minute, don’t be such a stickler!” protested Sadie, who seemed very upset at the possibility of losing. “Those regulations are only applicable on Sundays during an intergalactic apocalypse!”

“We very well might be in the middle of an intergalactic apocalypse!” said K. P. Babu triumphantly.

“Ha ha, the joke’s on you, then!” crowed Sadie. “Because it’s Monday!”

I decided to ignore the bickering players and turned back to Neel, happy to be able to hear myself. “Seriously, what are you doing here?” Then I turned to Tuni. “And how did you and Bunty make it here? I thought for sure you were back on the other side of the wormhole and we’d lost you!”

Since Tuni couldn’t exactly reply with a giant Ping-Pong ball in his beak, he shot it out at me with a ptu sound. I caught the little missive in midair.

“Say, Princess!” squawked my birdie friend. “Why was Cinderella kicked off the soccer team?”

“Tuni, seriously?” Neel was helping his limping brother into a chair, playfully messing with Lal’s hair as he did. I felt bad for being so snippy before with Neel. He was obviously super happy to see his brother again. And I guess he couldn’t have known I would be battling a Gorgon and a dragon right here in Parsippany.

“Who is this Cinderella?” Lal heavily sat down, wincing as Neel helped him prop up his injured foot.

“She’s a 2-D-story princess,” I explained. Then, to make up for my bad mood before, I guessed, “Um … Cinderella got kicked off the soccer team because her glass slippers weren’t cleats?”

Tuntuni landed on my shoulder, squawking, “No! Because she kept running away from the ball!”

I laughed at the bird’s silly joke, then realized Shady Sadie was waving her hands maniacally, gesturing for me to throw her the Ping-Pong ball. Ugh, I couldn’t stand them starting up again.

“It’s time for a Ping-Pong intervention!” said Bunty. I tossed the plastic ball at the tiger, who promptly crunched down on it and ate it in one gulp.

“Aw! That’s not fair!” protested Shady Sadie.

When Bunty responded with a loud roar, both players looked a little sheepish. “Okay, maybe it’s a little fair,” amended the television scientist.

“I’ll dock your grade for this, Prince Neel!” grumbled K. P. Das. “You too, Prince Lal! And no hope of extra credit!”

Lal looked a little worried, but Neel rolled his eyes. “We’re not even in your class anymore, Professor. And we’ve got more important things to worry about right now. Could we stay on topic?”

Both scientists seemed to get their acts together at the scolding. “Sorry, perhaps we got a little carried away,” said Shady Sadie.

“Ping-Pong always brings out the worst in the scientific community,” agreed K. P. Babu.

Finally realizing who was in the room, Shady Sadie came over to me and started shaking my hand so hard I thought it would fall off.

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