Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,85

front steps before following her friends. In many stories she’d read, there were terrible consequences for looking over one’s shoulder when you were supposed to move on. Someone’s wife would turn into a pillar of salt. Or the wife would become a ghost and float back to the Underworld. Or the wife would—

Why was it always the wives? Rude. Good thing she didn’t have a wife. She stole a glance at Aiden just ahead, gilded in moonlight. He turned to her, his lips quirked in a smile, and Aru quickly looked away. Nope. Definitely no wife.

Rohini’s eyes met hers. “Yes, daughter of Indra?”

“I was just wondering if…Well…you said all this stuff about the path we must take and all that, and I was hoping you could tell me if…um…”

The star goddess seemed to know the question Aru couldn’t bring herself to ask.

“You’re wondering, perhaps, if you are on the right path?” Rohini guessed.

Aru nodded.

“Right is a word invented by humans, little one,” said the star goddess. “We are all stitches in a fabric too vast to comprehend. But perhaps that is a good thing, for it means we are always exactly where we need to be.”

Rohini stretched her hand over the night-dark Boulevard of Stars. For a moment, the world slipped away and Aru saw only the vast shimmering cosmos, and within it, each object, place, and feeling wrought of the myriad decisions of millions of people. It made her head ache just to look at it. Honestly, she could barely comprehend even a corner of what Rohini showed her.

“No matter what happens to us, we have choices,” said Rohini. “We choose how to look at our lives. We choose what we can live with, and what we cannot, and only you can decide.”

Rohini snapped her fingers, and the images faded immediately.

“Now go, Arundhati, named for the morning star,” she said warmly. “For your father has caught wind of the Pandavas’ hunt…and there is much left to be done.”

Someone’s Got a Burning Gaze. Literally.

Like all the other planetary palaces, the House of Saturn was opulent and grand. This one was crafted from sturdy onyx shot through with veins of silver. But it was oddly dilapidated, like the scene of one of those garage sales where you’d find a broken bathtub next to a collection of drinking glasses featuring obscure Star Wars characters. From where Aru stood, she could spot a blasted television set, a broken pool table with snapped sticks, one half-incinerated Etch A Sketch, and a smoldering BUILD YOUR OWN PLANT TERRARIUM! kit, all of which lay at the base of a great archway, plumes of smoke wafting from it.

At the far end of the lawn loomed the gleaming Door of New Day. As they got closer, Aru saw that it was as big and unadorned as a school cafeteria door, except that it seemed to be made of quicksilver. It quivered and vibrated, as if in a constant state of flux.

“Yeah…none of this stuff bodes well,” said Aru, toeing one of the broken things on the ground.

“Is this what Rohini meant by ‘baleful gaze’?” asked Mini. “Does Shani just look at stuff and it breaks?”

Rudy nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Then we have to move as quietly as possible,” said Brynne.

Aiden hoisted Nikita higher across his back. “Be careful, Bee.”

Earlier, they’d taken some of the camping materials from Aiden’s satchel and fashioned a human backpack that strapped Nikita to him. It was probably a good thing Nikita was knocked out. Aru could imagine the fashionista twin hating everything about this.

In a flash of light, Brynne transformed into a blue snake, slithering easily and silently over the crowded lawn. Rudy rummaged silently around in his messenger bag, pulling out a violet jewel and whispering to it. At once, a low sound crept over the lawn…the sound of indifferent things, like someone clacking on a keyboard in an office, the occasional thud of a book falling over on a library’s bookshelf, cicadas in summer.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Nothing to notice.

Aiden brought out his scimitars slowly, casting his gaze about, while Aru followed Brynne’s footsteps. Even with Rudy’s enchanted music, Aru felt a low prickle gathering at the base of her spine. Two minutes passed…then three…and the Door of New Day got closer and larger with every step.

“So far so good,” whispered Mini, carefully stepping over what looked to be a smashed xylophone.

“A xylophone?” asked Aru, glancing down. “I bet he owns an electric triangle—”

Brynne the snake turned her head sharply and