Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,64

cover the forest floor.

“And what do we have here?” asked the raven, its beady eyes fixed on Rudy.

“Can I leave?” he mumbled to the Pandava crew. “This is not going to end well for me.”

“Is that a…? No!” said the raven, hopping onto Garuda’s head. It cocked its head to the side. “It’s a snake!”

The birds honked and screeched in displeasure.

“I’m not a snake!” said Rudy, puffing out his chest. “I’m a—”

Aiden smacked his palm over his cousin’s mouth. “Not the time, dude.”

“Ooh, I know I see me a snake!” the raven hooted with delight. “We hate snakes!”

Garuda nodded, scowling.

“Leathery ropes with faces,” the raven said with a shudder, before turning its attention to the Pandavas. “And some demigods. Aww, that’s cute. Folks, let’s give ’em a round of indifferent applause. Congrats, kids! You’ve got some shiny weapons! I like shiny. But none of those can even scratch our king! Ask Indra. He tried with that same lightning bolt.”

In response, Vajra gave an electrical shiver of displeasure.

“We have no desire to scratch Garuda—” started Mini.

“Who put glasses on top of this pair of living toothpicks?” cackled the raven.

Mini flushed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. At the same time, Aru and Brynne lifted their weapons.

“I’m surprised you’ve got so much to say,” said Aru. “Shouldn’t you be squawking from some old guy’s fireplace?”

“Yeah. Come back when it’s Halloween!” chimed in Brynne.

The raven froze. The birds fell silent. Slowly, the raven turned to her. “What did you say to me?”

“Go haunt a poet!” snapped Aru.

“Or do you not do that anymore?” asked Brynne.

“I think you mean nevermore,” said Aiden.

“THAT’S IT!” screeched the raven.

It launched itself off Garuda’s head, but the king of the birds caught him one-handed. He narrowed his amber eyes at the bird before putting it on his shoulder. The raven huffed, its feathers settling. Silent as ever, Garuda crossed his arms, his gaze falling to the mechanized eagle in Rudy’s grip.

The raven sighed and declared, “You are hereby charged with the theft of a precious object on loan from King Garuda to the goddess Aranyani. Following a thorough investigation of the crypt, it was found that four to five persons escaped after freeing the bound yalis. His Majesty, King Garuda, was able to track the stolen object to the whereabouts of the thieves.” The raven coughed, then leaned forward. “That means you.”

“You don’t understand—” started Brynne, but Aiden held her back.

“Furthermore, the fact that said stolen property was found in the hands of none other than a descendant of Garuda’s most vile aunt, Kadru—”

From the branches, the birds hissed. Garuda’s scowl merely deepened.

Aru swiveled around to face Rudy. “Garuda’s aunt?” she asked. “You guys are related?”

“I mean, yeah, but she’s literally my least-favorite relative,” mumbled Rudy. “She pinches my cheeks all the time—I hate it.”

“Confirms the treachery and wrongdoing of all persons present,” concluded the raven. “And finally, not only did you steal the property of Garuda, you broke it. You robbed it of its voice.”

“We didn’t know it belonged to anyone!” protested Aru. “And it was broken already!”

“Pah!” spat the raven. “You broke it because you knew it could tell the truth!”

Tell the truth? So it was a clue, Aru thought.

Rudy turned the bird over in his hands, understanding dawning on his face.

Aru felt frantic. The one thing that could save them was broken, and they had no idea how to fix it.

“Therefore, you shall be…”

The raven flailed his wing at the branches, and hundreds of birds hollered, “EXECUTED!”

They cheered and whooped, and Garuda himself clapped and nodded. Aru took a step back. Vajra began to shift and spark with electricity.

“That’s not fair!” Mini said. She stepped forward, holding up Dee Dee like a scepter. Behind her, Rudy’s eyebrows shot up. “You can’t just execute us because Rudy is a naga—”

“Prince,” whispered Rudy. Then he looked at them innocently. “What? It’s the truth.”

“He’s never done anything to you,” Mini said to Garuda.

“It’s true.” Rudy nodded.

“He can barely defend himself,” continued Mini.

“Very true,” said Brynne.

Rudy opened his mouth to protest. Aiden reached over and closed it.

“How could this boy threaten the king of the birds?” finished Mini. “We had no intention of stealing anything from you—we didn’t even know it was yours. We were looking for something else, found this, and thought it would lead us in the right direction.”

Aru had to hand it to Mini—she was becoming a smooth talker. And she’d kept everything vague. No reason for the whole world to know that