Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,76

said Mini with a little edge to her voice.

Aru snickered.

“Also, that is a hair,” said Aiden.

“That’s because I had to shave the rest! It was getting unruly!” Rudy scowled. “And my mom was using my DJ name then….”

“DJ Baby Snekky-Snake?” asked Aiden.

“The music industry is crowded—I need to distinguish myself,” grumbled Rudy.

“How far is your place?” asked Brynne. “I could use a break.”

“C’mon. I’ll take you back to the palace, and you guys can shower.” Rudy paused, sniffing the air and frowning. “On second thought, you have to shower. You smell like rancid potatoes. And you look—”

One glare from Aiden and Rudy coughed loudly. “Tired,” he continued. “I’ll feed you and you can rest and change and whatever.”

“Food?” Brynne perked up. “What kind of food?”

“Whatever you want!” said Rudy. “Then we can figure out what to do next. Fair warning: It’s my parents’ summer shack, so it’s tiny.”

Tiny the palace was not.

It was roughly the size of a celebrity compound, its mother-of-pearl exterior sprawling across the ocean bed. Inside, the walls were made of enchanted aquamarine stone, and floating moon-jellyfish chandeliers patiently bobbed in the water. Everywhere Aru looked, piles of treasures met her eye—huge statues, odds and ends from shipwrecks, rubies and emeralds the size of her head.

As Rudy led them through the opulent halls of his “summer shack,” the Potatoes filled him in on Kubera’s trials, the doppelgängers’ attack, and now, Kubera’s weirdly defunct eye, which had gone dim instead of transporting them to their next trial. On top of that, the only thing that would cure Kara was light, and they were thousands of miles beneath an enchanted sea.

“Makes sense,” said Rudy. “Lord Kubera happens to be pretty good friends with my parents, and I know for a fact, he loves his games. My mom doesn’t actually like going to dinner at his palace because one party lasts almost a week, and she gets bored. But as for the light situation…My parents have this one treasure that might work, but I dunno how to use it.”

“But why is Kubera playing games with us?” demanded Aru. “We’ve only got one day left before the Sleeper’s army is supposed to attack!”

“I know,” said Rudy quietly.

It was only then that Aru realized the palace was empty, which was strange, because Rudy came from a big family. “Where is everyone?”

“Off training the troops,” said Rudy. For the first time, his confident smile faltered. “No one really knows what’s going on with Lanka, and if Lord Kubera withholds his Nairrata army, then the rest of us have to be prepared to fight.”

Aru felt a cold knot rising in her throat. She and her sisters were all that stood between the Otherworld and the Sleeper’s approaching army. They had to win the Nairrata.

“But no worries!” said Rudy, grinning at Aru. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah,” said Aru weakly. “No pressure.”

An hour later, the cleaned-up Potatoes sat around a giant feast Brynne had casually whipped up. There were fluffy scrambled eggs—Rudy had assured her that they were from chickens and not snakes—custardy French toast drenched in cinnamon and powdered sugar, fresh fruit carved into elaborate animal shapes, a stack of blueberry pancakes, and miniature quiches.

“I call it BRYNNER time,” said Brynne. “Breakfast for dinner, made by moi.”

Aru dug in, occasionally looking over at the nearby couch on which Kara lay. Even though Shikhandi had said Kara wasn’t in any pain, Aru still felt a twinge of guilt looking at her. It was her fault Kara had ended up like this.

“What if Kubera won’t let us continue with the trials until Kara is back to normal?” Aru wondered aloud.

Brynne, who was midway through her second stack of pancakes, paused. “Why would he care about that? She’s not a Pandava.”

“True…” said Aru. “But she is a Potato.”

“And she’s been with us every step of the way,” said Mini. “We need to bring her out of this coma. It can’t be good for her.”

“I’m with Mini,” said Aiden, glancing at Kara. “We need her. Kara seems…special.”

Special.

The word reverberated through Aru’s skull.

“I think I’ve got something that might help…. Come with me.” Rudy pushed away from the dining table.

The Potatoes followed him to a chamber that was the size of a two-car garage. Unlike the other rooms they’d seen, which had aquamarine walls with glass windows that looked out into the sea, this one reminded her of a sunken pirate ship. On the wood-plank walls, driftwood shelves were crammed with an array of odd treasures: jars full