Twelve-year-old Arundhati “Aru” Shah has lived in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta, Georgia, for as long as she can remember. Her mother, Krithika P. Shah, is a renowned museum curator and archaeologist, and Aru helps out in the museum as well. The museum contains a cursed lamp, displayed in the Hall of Gods. The Hall is the museum’s most popular exhibit, filled with statues of the numerous Hindu gods. The lamp stands at one end, a diya housed in a glass case.

Monday afternoons are usually quiet at the museum. One Monday, during Aru’s autumn break, the visitor alarm rings, and she opens the door to find three students from her school. They accuse Aru of lying that she is going to France during the break. Krithika had indeed promised Aru this some time ago, and Aru had told everyone at school. The children at her school all come from wealthy families with holiday homes and yachts, and a trip to Paris had been Aru’s way of fitting in. However, the Paris trip ended up falling through.

Aru now lies that her mother is on a work trip and didn’t take her along, but the children don’t believe her.