Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, page 16
“Camouflage o’clock,” said Mini.
She whirled Dee Dee around her, rendering herself invisible. A moment later, Mini suddenly appeared between Brynne and Aru, standing directly in front of Aiden, who had his sparking scimitars raised to eye level.
“Over here!” Aiden taunted the yali.
The second beast loped toward the pillar. Mini stood her ground. The monster leaped, its huge claws swiping at her body….
Which disappeared immediately.
On the other side of the pillar, the real Mini had turned off her projected illusion. The yali fell onto its belly.
Aiden dashed forward, brandishing his scimitars, and brought them down on the creature’s thick skull. The steel didn’t make a scratch.
The yali hissed as it slunk a few feet away.
Rudy ran to the front side of the pillar, holding out a gemstone that screeched horribly. The first yali flinched but stood its ground.
The third yali emerged from the marble floor. “You cannot hurt us, little demigods,” it scoffed. “Our skin is impenetrable. Now we shall awaken the god’s wrath, and you shall be finished.”
“But our freedom…” said the first yali. The third one hissed at it.
The five kids drew closer to the pillar. By now, another, larger crack had appeared.
Aru spun Vajra in front of her, and the lightning bolt changed from a spear into a glowing lasso. She swung it around her head—briefly imagining she was Wonder Woman minus the cool outfit, great hair, and, well, never mind—and threw it at the third yali. But the creature was too fast. It loped up a wall, out of reach.
Brynne directed all her powerful gusts at the second yali, but the moment it was blown back, the first one returned.
“Come now, surely you must be tired of this game…” said the first yali.
“Let us do our job…” said the second.
Too late, Aru realized they didn’t have visuals on the third yali—it had disappeared into the wall.
On her right, the missing yali zoomed up from the ground, arced across the pillar, and smashed its huge tail against the stone. A huge fissure spiderwebbed down the column. Aru heard the scritching and scratching of claws on rock, and a new odor invaded the air. It was the old-penny smell of blood.
“He is hungry…” said the first yali.
“His bloodthirst must be slaked….”
“And thieves make such sweet morsels….”
The yalis slunk into the marble—in anticipation of Narasimha’s arrival, Aru guessed.
She and her friends were trapped.
If they backed away from the pillar, the yalis could pick them off one by one. If they stayed close to the column, Narasimha would finish them in five quick bites as soon as he broke out. Aru tossed Vajra between her hands as she tried to come up with a solution.
“We’re going to die here, aren’t we?” asked Rudy, collapsing against Aiden. “I can’t die like this! There’s things I haven’t seen! Music I haven’t listened to! I still don’t know what a microwave does!”
Aiden smacked him upside the head. “Rudy. Shut. Up.”
The naga prince whimpered.
“Well, Shah?” asked Aiden.
“The yalis’ skin is impenetrable,” she mused. “If we can’t hurt them on the outside…we need to go inside.”
“What, like prop open their jaws and toss in a grenade?” asked Brynne sullenly.
Mini looked at Aru, then looked down at her plum sweater and skirt, which were secretly armored. “I think I know what you’re going to ask me to do,” she said with a sigh. “And I don’t like that I’m going to agree.”
Aru called to the yalis, “All right! Kill us! This is boring anyway, and I could use some reincarnation!”
A chasm opened in the floor not ten feet from her. The first yali emerged from it and fixed its glowing eyes on Aru.
“Is that so?”
Aru nodded. Behind the yali, the floor rippled as the other two rose to gaze at her.
“Then allow me to honor your request,” said the first yali.
Aru adjusted her grip on Vajra. Behind her, Brynne stood at the ready. Aiden slashed the air with his scimitars, startling the second yali, who had gotten way too close. Rudy gathered up stones and flung them at the third yali, who laughed and laughed.
The first yali dove toward Aru, its huge jaws unhinged.
“Now!” commanded Aru.
Brynne directed strong winds at something right in front of Aru. Mini’s invisibility glamour melted off as she was lifted and thrown sideways right into the yali’s maw.
“I—HATE—THIS!” yelled Mini. She summoned Dee Dee in stick form.
The yali, confused, fell to the floor. It tried to shut its mouth, to shake Mini out of its teeth, but she didn’t budge. It growled and clamped down harder, but Mini’s armored clothes protected her. She thrust up the Death Danda and wedged the stick between the yali’s jaws, opening them further. Then she slid out of the mouth.
“Do it, Aru!” she yelled.
“Sorry, Vajra,” said Aru, hurling the lightning bolt deep into the yali’s throat.
The monster thrashed angrily as its insides lit up.
The other two wriggled backward, alarmed. The second one said, “How dare you try to kill us?”
“I can show you if you’d like,” said Aru coldly. “All I’d have to do is explode my lightning bolt.”
All three yalis growled.
“But I won’t turn your friend into monster sushi…as long as you play by my rules.”
Behind her, more and more chunks of rock rolled off the shattering pillar as sharp talons tore at it from the inside. In just a few more minutes, Narasimha would be free.
And they’d be goners.
“Get us out of here,” she commanded the yalis.
“We are but humble prisoners,” said the third yali. “Cursed to stay within these walls….”
“Didn’t I hear one of you say something about freedom?” asked Aru.
The first yali grunted twice, as if saying Me! Me!
“Yes!” the second said hurriedly. “It has been foretold. Godly beings will free us….”
“It is only a rumor,” said the third yali. “The curse cannot be broken.”
Aru wondered if the monsters were trying to trick her somehow. But they were nearly out of time—the pillar was breaking. Mini blasted a force field above them, and rocks bounced off the violet shield.
“Maybe we shouldn’t mess with a curse?” said Mini.
“I don’t plan to die here!” said Brynne.
Rudy raised his hand. “Make that two!”
“It’s your call, Shah,” said Aiden.
Aru turned to him. Dirt smudged his face and his clothes were torn. Exhaustion shot through her. They couldn’t win this battle. And they couldn’t save the Otherworld if they ended up dead.
Aru faced the yalis once more. “We’ll free you from this place. In return, you get us out of here safely—or I’ll blow you up.”
The first yali grunted three times, which Aru took to mean You have a deal, puny demigod rather than Come closer so I can eat you.
The second yali took a step forward and said, “We promise to deliver you and your friends from this courtyard.”
“And we always keep our promises,” said the third, bowing its head.
Aru raised her hand, and Vajra zoomed from the first yali’s mouth, hooking Dee Dee along the way. Mini caught her danda in midair and immediately spritzed it with hand sanitizer.
After shaking monster saliva from her own weapon, Aru said, “I release you,” in as authoritative a tone as she could muster.
For the first time, a ghostly collar could be seen around each of the three yalis’ throats, connected to chains that snaked down their backs and wrapped around their torsos.
Aru used Vajra to zap the collar and chain off the monster she’d nearly roasted.
The other two yalis waited expectantly before Mini and Brynne. The glare never left Brynne’s face as she aimed her mace at the second yali’s collar. One blast and the restraints shattered off its hide. The other yali hissed in Mini’s direction. With pursed lips, Mini jabbed her Death Danda at the chain around the monster’s rib cage.
Once freed, the three yalis rose before them, as tall as bears standing on their hind legs. They stared with grateful glowing eyes and panted, showing teeth that were yellow and pocked.
Behind the Pandavas, the pillar finally cracked all the way open. A deafening roar shook the courtyard.
“Climb onto our backs or die,” said the first yali.
“Well, when you put it like that…” said Aru, hurriedly grabbing some spikes on the creature’s back for handles and swinging her leg over its wide body.
Brynne and Rudy took the second yali, while Mini and Aiden clambered onto the third.
Giant feet stomped toward them, shaking the marble floor. The yalis reared back, and Aru held on tight as her beast launched itself upward and wriggled through the air toward the grate covering the twilight courtyard. She flattened herself against its scales as it snaked through the iron bars. Behind them, Narasimha howled, swiping at them with huge bloodied claws….
Aru squeezed her eyes shut as they broke past the clouds, climbing steadily higher and higher. The yali’s hide was uncomfortably hot; it felt like sitting on the hood of a car in summertime. Every now and then it whipped its head around, jaws wide and tongue lolling, as if reconsidering what it had done to gain its freedom.
Where should we ask them to take us? asked Mini.
My place? offered Brynne.
Aru nodded and said, in her most imperious voice, “Yali, we wish you to return us to New York City. The address is—”
As one, the three yalis dived toward the earth.
“Whoa! Hold up!” said Aru. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping…”
“Our…”
“Promise…”
The yalis zoomed down so fast, Aru couldn’t catch enough breath to speak. They burst through the clouds again, and the air turned from cool to humid and heavy. Aru spotted a mountain range—beautiful rolling greenery ribboned with silvery mists. But it was coming up at her way too fast.
“AHHHH!” she screamed.
Because of the wind, it was a lot more like:
“Ahhh”—spits out bug…gasps for air…chokes a bit—“ahhhhh!”
She reached for Vajra. Maybe she could manage to turn her lightning bolt into a hoverboard and dive off in time. But what about the others? Aru tried to sneak a glance back at them, but clouds obscured her view. The only thing she could hear was Rudy yelling, “BUT I’M A PRINCE!”
Aru’s stomach swooped as they descended altogether too fast and finally came to a bumpy landing on a grassy patch on the top of a hill. She tumbled off her yali, and probably would’ve kept rolling down the hill if a huge log hadn’t stopped her. The others dropped to the ground moments later. Brynne and Aiden dismounted immediately, their weapons blazing. Mini took a minute longer to get up, her face looking kind of green. Rudy stayed sprawled on the ground, his hands still clutching the wooden bird they’d found in the vault.
The yalis turned away from them and bent their short legs, preparing to spring into the air.
“Wait a minute!” said Aru, her lightning bolt falling to her side. “You’re not leaving us here, are you? You said you’d bring us to safety!”
The third yali looked back at her. “We promised to deliver you from the courtyard,” the creature said, its lips curling in a snarl. “And we did.”
“Why would we want you to know our whereabouts?” said the second yali. “This is far safer.”
And then, as one, they flew off, disappearing into the clouds.
“Well,” huffed Aru. She opened her mouth, closed it. Then she crossed her arms. “That’s just rude.”
Is a Platypus a Bird?
Aru stared around at the soft, rolling mountains cloaked in gray.
“Okay, where the heck are we?” she asked.
Brynne raised a finger to the air. “We’re 35.6532 degrees north and 83.5070 degrees west.”
Rudy stared at her. “What?”
“We’re in Tennessee,” said Brynne. “Or more precisely, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”
Aiden plopped down on a fallen tree branch. “At least the lighting is great.” He took out his camera and snapped some photos.
“Aren’t there bears in Tennessee?” asked Mini, holding Dee Dee close.
“Of course not,” said Aru. There definitely are, she thought privately.
Aiden caught her eye, raising an eyebrow, and Aru made a shh-ing gesture.
“Okay, good,” said Mini. “My inhaler is almost out of juice, this mountain air is really thin, and I could become acutely hypoxic and—”
“Die?” asked Brynne, Aiden, and Aru at the same time.
Mini looked highly affronted. “It’s not a joke! I could lose consciousness, which is really serious!”
“The big thing we’re losing is time,” said Brynne. “We’re down to three days to find Kalpavriksha, the vault was a bust, and we’re trapped in the mountains with no camping supplies—”
Aiden reached into his backpack and pulled out a coin. He flipped it onto the ground, and three tents sprouted up immediately.
Brynne scowled. “Okay, well, definitely no food—”
Aiden dug out five protein bars and tossed them in front of the tents.
Rudy stared at him. “Dude, what is in that bag?”
“Precautionary stuff,” said Aiden simply. “And an ice pack for your nose.”
Aru gratefully placed the cold bag on her nose and then shivered. “Any chance there’s a campfire in one of those pockets?”
“Allow me,” said Brynne. She whispered something to her mace, and warm flames flickered out from the top. “Courtesy of Uncle Agni.”
Last year, Agni, the god of fire, had given each of them a present after they’d cured his awful stomachache. Except for Aru. She got an “IO(F)U” and the promise that when she needed it, he’d have weapons ready for her.
“The whole crypt mission was totally pointless,” groaned Brynne. “All we got was that bird thing. Where’d the wishing tree go?”
Rudy pulled out the wooden eagle, and its soft, broken tune floated through the air. Aru saw the bright bead caught in its beak. The longer she stared at it, the more she remembered the ache that had taken root in her heart the moment she’d placed the key in the vault door. Her father’s voice rang in her ears: You don’t understand—I have a daughter on the way….
Aru turned to Rudy and held out her hand. “Can I see that?”
The bird was the size of a tennis ball, and it struggled in her grasp like a living thing. Whoever had crafted it had done a beautiful job. The pale wood feathered out like real wings, and its lacquered eyes gleamed. Its small chest rose and fell as it chirped out the same hoarse tune.
“Sounds broken,” said Rudy.
Aru agreed that something about the tune seemed off. “What if it’s trying to say something, though? Like a message, or a riddle,” she said. “There has to be a reason the fake tree in Nandana sent us to that crypt.”
Plus, she still wondered whether the jewel in its beak held a part of her father. How else could she have seen one of his memories? She gripped the bird tightly, but no vision came forth. She couldn’t decide if she was relieved or disappointed.
“Sadly, none of us speak bird,” said Brynne.
“I hate birds,” said Rudy. “Smell weird. Beady eyes. And they hate snakes. In fact—”
But Mini cut him off. “Hey, Brynne, would you be able to understand it if you turned into a bird?”
“Whenever I’ve shape-shifted, I’ve never understood the animal’s language,” said Brynne.
“But did you ever try?” asked Aru.
“Well, no, not exactly…”
“Shah has a point,” said Aiden. “Give it a try, Bee.”
“Ooh, can you turn yourself into something extinct?” asked Aru. “Like a dodo bird?”
“Or an emu!” said Mini.
“Emus aren’t extinct,” said Brynne.
“Platypus?” asked Aru.
“Is a platypus even a bird?” asked Brynne.
“Actually, it’s a semiaquatic egg-laying mammal that’s similar to the echidna,” said Aiden, fussing with his camera. “They’ve got venomous ankle spurs.”
Rudy wrinkled his nose. “What kind of terrible animals exist in the human world?”
The girls ignored him and stared at Aiden.
“What?” Aiden asked. “I like nature documentaries. The cinematography is unparalleled.”
“Snob,” said Aru.
“Troll,” said Aiden, not even bothering to look up at her. But Aru noticed that a corner of his mouth lifted. Almost like a smile.
Brynne sighed. With a snap of her fingers, she transformed into a scowling swan with cobalt-blue feathers. Rudy held up the bird to her, and Swan-Brynne craned her neck around it. A second later, she changed back.
“Still can’t speak bird,” she declared.
Just then, an idea struck Aru.
“But Boo does!” she said. “I once saw him arguing with a falcon in Atlanta! I think it was during the Super Bowl….”
“If he’s with the twins, maybe they can bring him a message? We could send it in a dream,” Mini suggested.
Aru nodded, then ran her thumb along the bird’s wing. What are you trying to tell us? she wondered. Her thumb brushed aside one of its wooden plumes, and underneath, a dark curly symbol caught her eye.
“There’s a weird marking on this bird,” she said. “It looks like the letter G.”
“G?” repeated Rudy. He sat up straight, panic in his eyes. “Is he around?”
“Who is he?”
“Uh, the king of the birds? Sworn enemy of all snakes?” he said, swiveling his head. “Garuda?”
“You think he knows where the wish-granting tree went?” asked Aru.
“He might, but I’m not sticking around to find out. That guy hates my whole family.”
“I’m sure you did nothing to deserve it,” said Brynne drily. “And speaking of deserve, once we figure out where we’re going next, I’m not so sure you should come with us.”
