Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,50

caught her balance.

“THAT IS SO COOL!” Brynne yelled up to her.

Aru knew it had to be a yell, but from where she stood, it sounded like a faraway squeak. She bent down and held out her palm so her sisters could step onto it. Mini, looking faintly queasy because she hated heights, clambered on first. Then Brynne. Off to the side, Aiden snapped some photos.

Close your ears, Aru said through the mind link.

Her sisters clamped their hands over their heads.

“First step!” said Aru, lifting her foot.

The golden floor blurred beneath her. In one step, Aru was fifteen feet away from Kubera’s throne. He had stopped laughing, and his one eye was wide. Biju the mongoose had reappeared, and when its jaw dropped open in surprise, a chunky sapphire tumbled to the floor.

Brynne?

On Aru’s palm, Brynne hunched down and Mini climbed onto her back as if she were about to take a piggyback ride. In a flash of blue light that looked from Aru’s height like nothing more than a match catching fire, Brynne transformed into an elephant. Aru lowered her to the ground, and Brynne took one lumbering step forward.

“Second step!” Brynne trumpeted.

Now Kubera’s throne was less than three feet away. Mini balanced on top of Brynne’s back, swaying a bit.

“Step three!” she yelled, springing forward. Mini’s fingers caught the edge of the god’s throne and she pulled herself up to stand on the armrest. She raised her Death Danda high in the air.

“We took our three steps.” Aru’s voice boomed, shaking the golden walls of the palace. “And in those three steps, we reached your throne. So we can claim whatever we want that you control,” she said. “Here’s what we want…”

“You’ll return Hanuman to us,” said Brynne.

“And Urvashi!” said Mini.

Aru leaned over to stare Kubera in the eye. His throne looked like something she could pinch into a coin.

“And when we finish your trials, you will give us the astra, along with your golden army.”

“That was…delightful!” said Kubera, clapping.

Delightful?

Aru deflated, both emotionally and physically. Within seconds, Tara’s blessing melted away, and Aru felt as if someone were slowly reeling her in like a kite. Her bones shrank and the floor rose to meet her as she returned to her below-average height of five foot one.

“Handing over the multiverse’s most powerful weapon to adolescents with undeveloped prefrontal cortices?” mused Kubera. “Chaos. I love it. Yes, yes, you can have it…. But only if you get through my trials, of course, so—”

Biju chirped loudly. A topaz fell to the ground, followed by an amethyst.

“Oh, right, right. Here.” Kubera snapped his fingers.

A golden eye, roughly the size of a tennis ball, appeared in front of Aru. It blinked, and its pupil roved up and narrowed, as if it didn’t care for what it saw.

“This will work like a portal and transport you to your next trial. Or maybe not, depending on how I feel,” said Kubera. “Just know that, whatever happens, I’ll be watching and judging. In each trial I give you, you must find and take my eye.” He grinned and tapped his eye patch. “And if you don’t, then”—the god shrugged—“I’ll just continue my negotiations with the Sleeper. But I have to say, the Ooh, I’m a giant now! thing was most exciting. Subala was right—you are a clever little bunch.”

Subala…That was Boo.

Aru froze.

“How did you talk to Boo?” demanded Brynne. “Did you trap him along with Hanuman and Urvashi?”

“Trap him?” asked Kubera, leaning out of his throne with a wide grin. “Why would I want to trap the Sleeper’s ambassador?”

Aru’s mouth went dry. Ambassador?

The god waved his hand through the air, and an image of Boo sitting on the armrest of Kubera’s throne flickered before them. Aru didn’t want to notice how thin his plumage looked or remember that he hated perching on metal because it was always too cold or too hot for his claws and that’s why he preferred Aru’s head.

“We have no quarrel with you, Lord of Wealth,” said Boo. “You cannot wield your army anyway, and we are not asking for it. We’re merely asking you to step aside.”

“Perhaps I cannot wield it, but what of the little demigods?” Kubera mused. “I must give them a chance, I suppose. It would be entertaining, at least. I do love a good show.”

Boo’s feathers ruffled slightly. “Don’t bother with them!” the pigeon said quickly. “In fact, if you see them, lock them up! Don’t be fooled by their cleverness. They’re nothing more than weak children, not