Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,35

women. The drawings magically peeled themselves off the black surface and sauntered down the middle of the room as if it were a runway.

Sheela and Nikita sat across from Aru at a worktable. Nikita was sitting in a bizarre flower throne, and Sheela perched on a high stool covered with star stickers. Sheela waved happily, then went back to tracing letters in the air. At every gesture of her hand, a trail of tiny stars lit up the space and hovered there.

“Told ya we’d see you in your dreams!” said Sheela.

Aru blinked, and Brynne and Mini were standing beside her wearing identical expressions of confusion.

Brynne looked at Aru, shocked. “I was literally just in the middle of winning a cooking competition! Why am I now in your dream?”

“If you were in Aru’s dream, we’d be in Home Depot,” said Mini.

“It’s a great place!” said Aru a little defensively. “You can—”

Nikita clapped twice, and the three girls snapped to attention. She was dressed, as usual, in a completely new outfit: white pants, white blazer, white scarf to pull the braids back from her face, and a delicate choker of vines.

“Nice outfit?” tried Aru.

“Obviously!” snapped Nikita. “It’s my spring ensemble.”

“Doesn’t really look spring-y to me. Don’t you need flowers or something?”

Nikita’s eyes narrowed. “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.”

Rude! thought Aru.

Aru couldn’t decide if she was annoyed or impressed. Was this common little-sister behavior? If so, they were the worst.

“Boo told us the Crypt of Eclipses is inside a super-swanky place,” said Nikita. “To get into the House of Months, you guys’ll need a change of clothes.”

Aru crossed her arms. “Between now and dawn—not a whole lot of time to go shopping.”

“And that’s where I come in,” said Nikita. “I’ll whip something up. We’ve got access to all the plants in the heavens, which can easily become outfits with a bit of magic. Boo said he could arrange for a celestial messenger to get them to you by tomorrow morning.”

“His exact words were ‘I’ll do anything if you stop treating me like an avian mannequin—get that silk hat off my head this instant, you abominable child!’” quoted Sheela.

Nikita snapped her fingers and a yellow tape measure ribbon appeared in the air. It snaked around, then darted toward Mini, its metal tip quivering as if it were a predator snuffling out prey. The next few minutes were a chaotic blur as Nikita sent an army of measuring tapes after them. The tapes wriggled like eels, circling the Pandavas’ waists and legs. Brynne tried to rip them off, but they held fast. Aru found herself floating as several different pairs of shoes took turns wedging themselves onto her feet before scuttling off like angry mice. All the while, Nikita was shouting random fashion remarks like: “A-line cuts are too boring!” and “MORE DANDELION FAUX FUR!” and the occasional “I’m thinking rich, luxe tones. A color that screams WATCH OUT, DEMONS! Maybe aubergine…”

Eventually, Aru was released from the tiny cyclone of measuring ribbons, and she stumbled toward Sheela, who was still perched on the same stool, quietly staring at a picture in her lap. The small stars still drifted around her, and Aru caught one in her hand.

“Nikita really likes clothes, huh?” said Aru.

“They’re hers,” said Sheela simply. She didn’t look up. “When you move a lot, you don’t get to keep many things. So she learned to make her own outfits. Nikki calls them armor. She thinks there’s no reason armor shouldn’t be pretty, too.”

Aru’s lungs felt squeezed. She moved closer and saw that Sheela was staring at a picture of two people who could only be the twins’ mom and dad. The woman, who had large brown eyes and a gap-toothed smile, had her arms wrapped around a large black-skinned man who was laughing so hard that his eyes were shut.

Aru had no idea what she’d do if she couldn’t see her mom, but she knew every family was different. Brynne, for example, was used to it. Then again, her mother, Anila, wasn’t really interested in being around in the first place.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?” asked Aru gently.

“One thousand one hundred and seventeen days,” said Sheela, her voice tight. “I thought we’d be able to see them in our dreams, but every time we try to get to them, the nightmares come…. I can’t stop them. Because of the Otherworld’s rules, our parents won’t be able to find us until we turn thirteen. We thought getting Claimed would change