Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,220

under the dirt.

Aru felt the ground tremble. “Shields up!” she yelled.

Mini used Dee Dee to form a protective dome. Nikita plunged her hands into the earth, and pale roots as thick as iron bars sprang up, forming a fence around them. She whispered something, and thorns like white knives shot out from the roots, their sharp ends pointed outward.

But just as fast as the commotion had started, it stopped. The rip ended a mere five feet from where the Potatoes were huddled together. The shadows that had poured out of the ground were quickly sucked back into the tear, leaving nothing behind but trampled grass.

There were footprints…but no one was there.

A weighted silence fell over the grove, broken only by a soft groan from Aiden.

“You okay, Wifey?” whispered Mini.

Aiden managed a weak nod, dropping his arm from around Rudy’s shoulder. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You’re my lead singer,” said Rudy proudly. “Nothing is happening to you.”

“I’m also your cousin!”

“Second priority, honestly,” said Rudy, but he smiled like he’d just won a prize.

“What was that?” asked Brynne, staring out at the rip.

Mini’s force field started to waver. Sweat sheened on her forehead, and Aru could tell she was getting tired. Aru’s gaze darted from the rock walls to the trees on either side of them—one of them made of paint, the other a weeping willow from whose branches fat diamonds hung like tears.

Something had definitely tried to attack them….

So why had it stopped?

Nikita was still crouched, her fingers spread on the dirt. She pulled back her hands with a shudder.

“What is it?” asked Brynne anxiously.

Nikita turned to them slowly, her eyes wide. “Heartbeats,” she said. “The ground hears dozens of heartbeats.”

A chill ran down Aru’s spine. Heartbeats meant people. But there was no one here….

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

In front of them, Mini’s shield began to crack. Aru, pressed to the outside of the group, heard a low panting sound right by her ear. She whirled around, Vajra springing to life in her hand. Nothing. Her gaze fell to the ground.

The grass was flattened.

Someone had been standing there.

“I—can’t—maintain—this—much—longer,” said Mini, her arms trembling as she held up Dee Dee.

“Then we’ll fight them,” said Brynne, raising her wind mace.

“We can’t even see them!” said Aru.

“Get ready!” yelled Mini.

From there, everything happened at once. The shield snapped in half. Nikita spread out her arms, and the fence of roots and thorns exploded outward. Something yelped in pain. For a split second, one of Nikita’s thorns seemed stuck fast to the air. But whoever it had caught quickly ripped it out and flung it to the ground.

Brynne spun out her wind mace, zooming it back and forth. The far side of the rock wall trembled as bodies made contact, loosening stones. The grass was crushed by a sudden weight.

In Aru’s hands, Vajra quivered like a strung bow, prickling with energy. Why are you hiding, you cowards? she thought, her fingers tingling.

In front of her, Mini was casting force fields left and right. Sometimes no one was there, other times there was a loud thud, and saliva dribbled down the edge of the shield. Nikita pulled roots out of the earth and whipped them around like spiked snakes. Aru cast out a net and caught…

Nothing.

Vajra flew back into her hand just as a gust of warm breath stirred the hair behind her neck. Aru yelped, pivoted, then aimed Vajra like a javelin. Her lightning bolt hit the ground, then bounced back to her hand.

In the air around her, Aru heard a low cackle.

Aiden, now fully recovered, beat his scimitars together. He paused for a moment, then jabbed them up….

A metallic clang sounded. He must have made contact. Aiden almost grinned, but then fell flat on his face, groaning. Someone had hit him from behind.

Rudy caught one of the falling scimitars and slashed it in the air over Aiden. Rudy made a sharp hiss.

“All right, that’s it,” he said.

He looked down at his jeans, then let out a sigh, murmuring, “I can do this…I can do this.”

The scales on his wrist gleamed bright green. In a flash of light, he shot up to well over six feet. His legs fused and twisted into a red tail with bands of yellow.

His eyes glowed green as he slithered around Aiden, his powerful tail swiping the air. Something hit the wall, dislodging stones, and Rudy grinned.

Aru thought she caught a shadow on the ground, and she threw her lightning javelin at it. Before she could tell whether it landed, she doubled over in pain as