Page 130 of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

In the growing dark, Aru studied her mom’s face. “What did you see?” she asked her quietly. “Where did you go? And why didn’t you tell me about Kara?”

A weird thing about sleep is that sometimes you don’t even notice when it happens. One moment you’re awake, and the next…

Aru found herself at what might have been a tea party out ofAlice in Wonderland. She stood before a long wooden table under the shade of swaying dream willow trees, whose branches were strung with lights. Floating in the air were fancy cakes of all shapes and sizes, porcelain cups full of sunset-colored tea, and a giant banner that read:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARU!

But there were no hosts or guests. Aru’s heart sank. “Sheela? Nikita? Where are you guys?”

There was a littlepop!sound as Nikita appeared before her. She wore a shiny pink pantsuit with white boots, and her hair was accented with a garland of flowers whose blossoms changed colors as they weaved between her braids. Beside her appeared Sheela, wearing a plain denim dress, her braided hair pulled back with constellation clips.

Sheela flung her arms tightly around Aru. “Your birthday was ruined.”

Aru hugged her back. “That’s kinda the least of my problems right now.”

“The untrue sister broke your heart,” said Sheela quietly.

Aru stilled.The untrue sister.The words of the prophecy came crashing around her.

One sister shall turn out not to be true….

For the past year, that phrase had haunted her. Every day, Aru had wondered, was she the untrue sister? Did the fact that she was the Sleeper’s daughter mean that, no matter what she did, she would always end up being the villain?

Instead, the prophecy had been aboutKara. The other Pandava. Krithika and the Sleeper’s secret daughter…

But it didn’t make sense to Aru. If Kara wastheirdaughter, why had the Sleeper only gone on his quest to change his fate when he knew Aru was about to be born?

There was something off about the whole thing….

Nikita’s voice broke into Aru’s thoughts. “What Sheela means is, this whole setup was supposed to be waiting for you after your actual birthday, and now the surprise is ruined.” She snapped her fingers and the tea party began to fold itself up. “My entire party-planning itinerary is a bust.”

“I think there’s a lot more at stake here,” said Aru, but Nikita tutted and huffed.

“I eventriednot to outshine you with my outfit today,” she said, crossing her arms. “Do you understand the level of sacrifice that required?”

“It was a big sacrifice,” whispered Sheela. “She was mad all morning.”

“So, what are you going to do next, Shah?” asked Nikita. “We can help. We’ve been training, you know. Even Brynne was pretty impressed.”

Aru frowned. “You still have your powers?”

Nikita and Sheela looked at each other and then nodded.

“But the astra necklace…It destroys all godly weapons,” said Aru. “Our Pandava powers—”

“We’re not weapons,” said Sheela simply. “Are we?”

“Eh,” said Nikita dismissively. “We’re definitely more than our weapons.”

Out of nowhere, Aru heard Boo’s voice:You are more than the things you fight with.

Was that still true?

She couldn’t even imagine being a Pandava without Vajra by her side.

Then again, a lot of things she hadn’t imagined had come to pass.

“Do you foresee anything?” Aru asked, turning to Sheela. “Anything at all that could help?”