Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,59
head, a faraway look in her eyes. “Not all.”
“I’m sure Wifey won’t feel too left out,” Mini said with a laugh.
The dream started to fade at the edges.
“Time to go back,” said Nikita sadly.
“Keep up those drills,” said Brynne. “Nikita, I want you to practice conjuring more thorns. Sheela, you need to work on being in the present. Your homework is to watch every Jason Statham movie.”
Nikita scowled.
“Wait!” called out Sheela, even as the dream world turned pale and started to dissolve. “I see something!”
Her eyes glowed: “Two trials before you; two friends will return. One you will welcome, the other you’ll spurn.”
By then, the tall silver trees looked like no more than twigs. The river of stars had dried up. Nikita blew them a kiss and then winked away. Sheela stayed longer, her eyes, bright as frost, pinned to Aru. Her voice had that prophetic layer to it, so she sounded both ancient and young. It raised the hairs on the back of Aru’s neck.
She awoke with Sheela’s voice ringing in her head: “Be careful what you wish for, Aru.”
“You weren’t kidding…. She really drools when she’s asleep.”
Aru frowned as consciousness slowly returned. She threw an arm over her face. The light was so bright, she could feel it through her eyelids. Who was talking? Sounded like Kara.
“At least she’s not snoring.”
That was Mini.
“Wait a couple more minutes.”
That was Aiden.
“But Kubera gave us three days, and we’re on day two! We gotta keep it moving, team!”
Definitely Brynne.
An eerily upbeat Brynne.
A different voice said, “Come now, child. It is time to wake up.”
The next second, Aru was hauled upright. She felt like there were cobwebs in her skull.
“That’s it,” said a soft, soothing voice. “You took quite a fall once you left the holding cell. More so than the others, I suspect.”
Aru opened her eyes and found that she was staring into the face of a beautiful woman. She had large liquid-black eyes that reminded her of a cow’s serene gaze. Her lips were wide, her nose long, and her skin a rich brown. There was an unusual scent to her—it reminded Aru of milk cakes and sweet hay.
When the woman pulled back, Aru scuttled away on her hands and feet and bumped into a low shelf. The woman’s face was human, but the rest of her was a milk-white cow. Aru looked around her. The run-down convenience store was gone, replaced with a glittering Otherworld shop beneath a vaulted ceiling. It offered jars labeled WINNING LOTTERY NUMBERS and boxes of incense sticks for “cleansing rotten luck.” She saw bowls full of gold coins, and tall crystal jars filled with milk. It was a place full of abundance and good fortune.
“You’re…You’re Kamadhenu,” Aru said, bowing her head respectfully.
“I am,” said the cow goddess. “And you have successfully completed your first trial.”
Beside Kamadhenu stood Kara, Aiden, Mini, and Brynne. Kubera’s golden eye, hovering nearby, blinked at her.
“We did?” asked Aru, surprised. “But we, I mean, Brynne, no offense—”
“Stole from me?” asked Kamadhenu. She laughed. “You will discover that when the Lord of Wealth is involved, he is testing how you handle loss as much as victory, for his Nairrata army is very dear to him.”
What victory? thought Aru. She remembered the exact wording he’d used: To start, the land shall test your heart….
At first, that didn’t make sense, but Aru had a sneaking suspicion that Brynne had gotten them past the first trial, even if Aru didn’t understand exactly how. She looked at Brynne and smiled at her with new appreciation. Her sister grinned back.
“For your strength, daughter of the god of the wind, I have a gift for you,” said Kamadhenu. “When all other kinds of payment fail, never forget that a drop of kindness has far more weight more than gold.”
On the marble floor before them appeared a small carton of milk, the kind of thing Aru would get in the school cafeteria. Brynne looked a little confused, but she still smiled when she picked it up. She bowed to the cow goddess, then handed the carton to Mini, who placed it in her backpack.
The cow goddess walked toward the open barn door, which glowed softly, the outside obscured completely by warm golden light. When she stepped over the threshold, she disappeared. Kubera’s eye floated in the same direction, beckoning the rest of them.
As they followed it, Brynne cleared her throat. “I’ve decided that tables are not to be trusted,” she declared.