Page 122 of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

“Bert?”repeated Kara, laughing.

By then, it was the beginning of February.

The world wore a thin coat of frost, and Aru’s fifteenth birthday was two weeks away. The Potatoes had finished their evening training session, and Kara had just informed them about Aru’s Canadian boyfriend.

“It was the only name I could come up with on short notice!” she grumbled.

“You could’ve just said someone coughed on you,” said Mini. “Instead you came up with…Bert.”

“Bert is agentleman,” said Aru primly.

Kara and Mini had only laughed harder.

“Maybe you should inviteBertto your birthday party,” joked Mini.

Honestly, Aru wasn’t in the mood for a big party this year. It would be the first birthday without her mom. But the Potatoes insisted that she had to take her mind off stuff and had started planning the party for her.

“I have many ideas for your wardrobe,” said Nikita. “I have decided you will have only three outfit changes. That’s all I can manage on such short notice.”

“Onlythree?” asked Aru, her jaw dropping. “Are you for real?”

Nikita, who was lazily conjuring thorny bloodred roses out of the ground, fixed Aru with a haughty stare. “I realize my fabulousness seems too good to be true, but I amveryreal andveryserious.”

“Your party will be one with unexpected guests,”said Sheela in her singsong voice. Her eyes flashed silver with prophecy.

The Potatoes went still.

“What kind of unexpected guests?” asked Aru, her heart racing. “Like…like my mom?”

“I couldn’t see that clearly,” said Sheela guiltily. “But…I know they will be important guests.”

Guests.

So, more than one, thought Aru.

But who else?

“It’s going to beepic,” said Rudy. “Plus, I’m DJ-ing.”

“I’ve got catering covered,” said Brynne.

“I got the decorations!” said Mini happily.

“Now we just need a photographer,” said Kara, glancing at Aiden.

Aru looked over at him. He was leaning against the wall, fiddling with Shadowfax. With his black hoodie and jeans, he blended into the dark background of the spherical arena. But when he looked up, Aru caught that eerie sparkle in his eyes that reminded her of stars and dusk. Aiden hardly acknowledged her these days, Aru thought, with a stinging feeling. He was fine in groups, but he never spoke to Aru one-on-one. Even when they were around other people, it seemed like he was talking to everyone except her.

“I guess that’ll be me?” he said.

“You’ll be great!” said Kara, beaming. With a blush, she added, “Like always.”

Aiden smiled at her, then went back to his camera. Brynne and Mini snuck a glance at Aru, but she pretended not to notice. Aiden might not talk to Aru anymore, but he had no problem with Kara. Even though Kara had become just as close to her as her other sisters, Aru never brought up how she felt about Aiden.

First, because it would be weird.

Second, she was pretty sure Kara and Aiden liked each other, so how would Aru’s feelings change anything?

And third, because Kara was super nice, and if she found out how Aru felt, she’d probably feel awful and stop talking to Aiden, and then everything would be weird and the Potato dynamic would go up in flames and she just could not deal.