Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,74

the battle. Aru thought she was going to yell, but her secret came out in a whisper. “I stole from Anila so she’d have to visit me again just to get her stuff back.”

Aru felt a burst of sympathy for her sister. Aiden grabbed Brynne’s hand and held it tight.

Mini turned bright red and blurted out, “When I didn’t think anyone was watching, I practiced using my dad’s stethoscope on my teddy bear. My brother saw it and laughed, so I put him in a force field bubble and recorded him running in it like a hamster.”

She sniffed loudly, tears glossing her eyes while everyone else broke into laughter. Even Brynne cracked a smile.

“How is that a secret?” said Brynne. “You should’ve told us ages ago!”

“It was so mean,” said Mini pitifully. “The guilt still makes my stomach ache.”

“Does it feel like a hamster is running around inside it?” asked Aru.

Mini glared at her.

The birds turned their beady eyes on Aru. Panic swept through her. After using the living key and having her whole soul unlocked, there was far too much of her that could be exposed. The others had funny stories or understandable pain. Normal secrets. Not her. What would they think if she ended up saying her deepest, darkest secret—that she didn’t know if she was fighting for the right side?

Not that the Sleeper was “right” by any stretch of the imagination…but the devas weren’t, either.

If she uttered something like that, her friends wouldn’t trust her anymore.

Or what if she said something horrifically mortifying? Like how she sometimes practiced make-believe conversations with Aiden?! Aru would rather set herself on fire.

Her mother’s necklace pulsed around her neck. And she remembered the three hollows in it, each one the perfect size to hold the bead containing a piece of the Sleeper.

A secret. That was all that the birds wanted. A secret. Not necessarily hers.

“Now your turn…” she heard the head bird start to say.

Aru looked at Rudy. “Give me the jewel you took from the eagle’s beak.”

“What?” he asked.

“Now,” said Aru.

She must’ve said it with enough force, because the snake boy rummaged through his messenger bag right away and pulled out the tiny blue stone. As soon as he handed it to Aru, she tossed it in front of the chakora elders. The moment the jewel hit the ground, the Sleeper’s secret blasted across the grove.

As the visions played, Aru kept her face turned away and tried to shut out the sound of his voice. It was too painful to see how he’d once been. She felt a flash of anger whenever she thought about his memories. Maybe he would’ve been a great dad. But that whole future had been stolen from her…all because of a stupid prophecy. Who was to blame for how things worked out? Him, for failing to prevent it? Her mom? Herself, just for being born?

She watched a pile of sparkling silver grow until the Sleeper’s story ended. It had to be enough payment, thought Aru. The blue jewel floated back to her, and she popped it into one of the depressions in the pendant.

“Sneaky,” said Aiden.

“You know me,” said Aru.

But her voice sounded flat in her ears.

“Surely we’ve paid for the translation by now,” said Mini.

“I have no idea who Shirley is,” sniffed one of the elder birds, “but I assure you I am not her.”

“And yes,” said another bird slowly. “Your secret was sufficient.”

“Then tell us the clue,” said Aru.

But the birds didn’t look done with them just yet. There was a greedy sheen in the beady black eyes of the highest chakora. Its feathers fanned out, and it hopped down from its moonbeam.

“I find it very curious,” said the bird, walking a circle around Aru, “that you are the secret another mortal used before.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Aru.

“I think you know well, Arundhati.”

What’s in a Name?

Aru stared at the bird. How did it know her full name?

The head chakora must have guessed her question, because it hopped over to its boulder and began pecking something on the ground in front of it.

For the first time, Aru noticed a nest there, full of shiny objects.

“Arundhati, Arundhati,” it sang. “Ah, yes! Here we are!”

It picked up a bright pebble with its beak, flung it out of the nest, and a new vision leaped up before her.

Aru held her breath as the Sleeper once more flickered to life, walking through the chakora forest. He looked the same age he had been when he visited