Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,47
frozen in place, forcing her to face front. Her tailbone seemed glued to the chair, too. Do you have any idea what’s going on?
No, came Brynne’s message. It’s like he’s forcing us to watch a show or—
The curtains dramatically flew open with a loud rustle, revealing a large floating eye that looked like it was made of hammered sheets of gold. The eye blinked at them. Overhead, a voice boomed.
“YOU HAVE ANSWERED MY SUMMONS, O PANDAVAS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?”
We get to leave? wondered Aru, trying to pull her arm from the armrest. It didn’t budge.
The eye on the stage quivered.
“YOU!”
The spotlight suddenly swiveled to Aru. She felt the slightest loosening in her neck muscles and realized she could now turn her head. Aru glanced at Mini and saw a violet light beam down on her next.
“GET!”
Brynne was bathed in blue light, while a hot-pink spot glared down at Aiden. He glared back.
“A!”
The eye burst into a thousand pieces, and golden confetti rained down on them.
“QUEST!”
Dozens of golden mongooses took to the stage wearing cancan dresses. Music blasted around them. “You get a quest! And you get a quest! And everybody gets a quest—HEY!”
In the balconies, formally dressed mongooses clapped politely. Beside Aru, Mini spat out bits of golden confetti.
The music died down as the voice of Kubera rang out through the theater once more:
“THREE TRIALS I GRANT YOU, ONE FOR EACH DAY!”
All at once, the spotlights swiveled away from the Potatoes and back onto the stage. The dancing mongooses were replaced with five in new costumes, complete with wigs this time. One of them had a camera, one wore a chef’s hat, the third wore glasses, the fourth carried a book, and the fifth…the fifth carried a paper lightning bolt and was wearing what looked like…red-and-blue pajamas?
Aru’s jaw dropped. “Is that supposed to be me?”
Overhead, Kubera’s voice continued:
“TO START, THE LAND SHALL TEST YOUR HEART!”
A trapdoor opened in the stage near the Mongoose-Potatoes’ feet, and they reared back and chittered in terror. The Brynne Mongoose swatted the Aru Mongoose.
“Accurate,” admitted Aru.
“NEXT, THE SEA SHALL TRY YOUR MIGHT!”
A bucket of water was tossed up from the trapdoor, and the Mongoose-Potatoes pretended to sputter and drown. The eyeglasses flew off the Mini Mongoose’s face.
“Oh no, its glasses!” said Mini.
“LAST, THE SKY SHALL JUDGE YOUR SIGHT!”
The Aiden Mongoose dropped his camera. It tumbled off the stage and exploded like a toy-car prop in an action movie.
“Really?” asked Aiden.
Aru jerked in her seat as firecrackers started going off onstage. The Mongoose-Potatoes squealed and swooned, running in circles and falling over one another. Gold smoke bombs went off around the actors, clearing quickly to reveal a line of paper-doll soldiers, each no taller than a pencil. Was that supposed to be the Nairrata army?
“ALL THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO WIELD SUCH POWER. WISDOM MUST PREVAIL FOR PEACE TO FLOWER!”
The little golden army rotated around the Mongoose-Pandavas to a trumpet march as a painted backdrop of dawn sprang up behind them.
“DO YOU ACCEPT?”
The spotlights swiveled back to the Pandavas. The glare was so bright that Aru immediately squinted and threw her arm over her eyes. “Ah!”
“GOOD ENOUGH!” boomed the voice. “And fin!”
The red curtains came down. The mongooses in the balconies stood and applauded.
Mini turned to Aru. “Why are you clapping?”
“What? It wasn’t a bad performance.”
“Were those supposed to be our trials?” asked Brynne. “We only have three days for all that?”
“What is it with everything having to be done in exactly three days?” asked Aiden.
Aru slowly lowered her hands. “Because the Sleeper is coming. And if we haven’t proven by then that we deserve the Nairrata army, we’ve failed.”
Around them, the room started to change. The stage melted into the floor. The theater trappings—the balconies and painted ceiling, the curtains and chairs—disappeared. The Potatoes fell on their butts, and when Aru looked up, the room’s transformation was complete.
Now it was a large chamber that looked strangely empty. There was no decoration aside from a few mongoose carvings on the walls. The floor was pure gold, but scratched and pitted. The “ceiling” was an expanse of open sky, and the only furniture in the room was a tall throne, on which Kubera sat and grinned at them expectantly.
Mini elbowed Aru sharply, whispering, “Pranama!”
Aru immediately touched the floor in front of her, then tapped her heart, keeping her eyes lowered as they all respectfully greeted the god. Only when they were done did Aru get a good look at Kubera. He was wearing a