Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,74
don’t you fight with us?”
Shikhandi eyed her solemnly. “As I have learned over my many lives, sometimes the best way to win is to walk away. My fighting days are over. It is your battle, Pandavas, but it will not be mine.”
The back wall of the small concrete room melted into a glass tunnel lined with glowing silver filaments. The passage stretched far across the dark seafloor. Aru turned to say good-bye to Shikhandi, but the prince had disappeared.
In the place where he had stood lay a single blue petal. Aru picked it up carefully, remembering both the stiff-silk sensation of the lotus and the way it had felt to let go of her anger. She didn’t know when she’d need to summon that feeling again, but she wanted to keep the petal close just in case.
The Pandavas stood at the tunnel entrance, Kara floating a few feet away from them.
“What’s next?” asked Brynne.
Aru looked at Kara guiltily. The other girl had dove in front of Aru to protect her. “We can’t just leave Kara like this.”
“Shikhandi said that light will heal her,” said Mini. “What about our light? Or even Kara’s? Sunny is literally a beam of sunlight.”
The trident lay across Kara’s chest, its glow softly flickering with the rise and fall of her breathing. Brynne tried to tug on the handle so she could shine the weapon’s light more directly on Kara, but it wouldn’t budge. Maybe no one but Kara could touch it, Aru thought.
Aru called to Vajra and it coiled down her arm, stretching toward Kara’s hand. Gently, said Aru. Her lightning bolt gave a little sizzle, like the sound that came from walking over a carpet in socks and then touching a doorknob.
But that bolt of electricity didn’t affect Kara in the slightest.
“My turn!” said Mini, touching the tip of Kara’s nose with her Death Danda. A faint violet pop! lit up the air, but Kara still didn’t move.
“Should I try a little fire?” asked Brynne, hoisting her wind mace.
Mini leaped in front of Kara, her arms out wide. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea!”
“The whole point is to revive her,” said Aru. “Not accidentally burn her to a crisp.”
“I was just trying to help!” grumbled Brynne.
“Maybe we’ll find the right light in the third trial?” said Aiden. “I mean, it is literally in the sky.”
Aru hadn’t thought of that. She replayed Kubera’s rhyme in her head:
Three trials I grant you, one for each day!
To start, the land shall test your heart!
Next, the sea shall try your might!
Last, the sky shall judge your sight!
All three things you need to wield such power.
Wisdom must prevail for peace to flower.
“There’s something wrong with the eye,” said Mini, cutting through her thoughts.
“Huh?” asked Aru, looking down.
The eye, which previously had glowed brightly when serving as a portal from one trial to the next, looked noticeably dimmer.
“Is it broken?” asked Mini, moving closer.
“It doesn’t look broken…” said Aru, holding it up.
“Maybe it’s getting bad questing reception in here,” suggested Brynne, “and we need to move to the end of the tunnel?”
“Or maybe it’s just going to sit back and see what happens next,” said Aiden. “Kubera wasn’t sure he was going to let us use it as a portal the whole time.”
“So what, he’s just watching us fail?” asked Aru. She waved her hand in front of the eye. “Helloooo?”
It blinked lazily.
“What are we going to do?” asked Brynne. “We need to get to the next trial and find some way to bring Kara back.”
“Maybe there’s a portal at the end of the tunnel?” suggested Mini.
They continued walking, each lost in their own thoughts. Aru kept glancing at the eye floating serenely beside them. Was it just her imagination, or did one of its faster blinks look a whole lot like a wink?
As they walked, a strand of hair blew across Kara’s face. Aiden reached forward and brushed it off her forehead. It was a tiny movement. It hardly lasted a second….
So why did it make Aru feel it as if a rug had been ripped out from beneath her?
Aiden had never touched her hair. On the one hand, Aru was grateful for that. If he ever did, she’d probably end up electrocuting him by accident. But still…it would’ve been nice if he’d tried? It would’ve meant something. The thought made Aru go cold inside. Did Aiden like Kara?
“Stop,” called out Brynne, throwing out her arm. “There’s someone at the other end.”