Page 46 of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Aiden was the last to make his way over, ambling as if they had plenty of time. Aru thought he would avoid her gaze, but when he got near, he stopped and stared right at her.

Aru glared at him. “And you thought I couldn’t do it.”

“I never said that.” He still had his hands in his pockets. Aru crossed her arms, and Aiden sighed loudly. “I don’t like picking sides. It’s, um, not a happy memory for me.”

Oh,thought Aru. She remembered all the times Aiden had snuck out of the house because his parents were fighting, and she felt a twinge of guilt.

“But for what it’s worth, I’m always on your side, Shah.”

Aru looked up at him. She hated the swoopy-elevator feeling she sometimes got when he stood too close. She moved back a step.

“Well…you could’ve told me that!” said Aru. “It would’ve been nice!”

“You don’t function well under ‘nice,’ Shah,” said Aiden, with a vague smirk. “You tend to do your thing when there are zero options left. I think panic brings out the best in you.”

“Not true, and also rude—”

Click!Aiden snapped a photo of her so quickly that Aru barely registered it.

“See?” said Aiden, flipping Shadowfax around and showing her the picture of her expression. “It’s a good look on you.”

Aru studied the photo. Her eyes were dark and bright at the same time. There was a faint glow of electricity behind her that lifted her hair but didn’t make it frizzy. She seemed…powerful.

Aiden was right.

Itwasa good look.

At first, it was pretty fun to skim over the sea. They didn’t have to worry about choppy waves, and the random sprays of salt water dried off quickly. Aru saw an occasional shark fin knifing through the water, and once a school of rainbow fish leaped out of the waves, their iridescent scales catching the sun and shining like jewels.

But then the hours melted together, and no matter how far they traveled, Lanka seemed the same distance away.

“Are we there yet?” asked Aru, who was now lying on her back, staring up at the sky.

How long had it been since morning? What day was it? What wasTime?

“You asked that five minutes ago,” grumbled Aiden.

“I thought we would be there by now!” said Aru. “From the beach, Lanka looked super close.”

“But it’s a magical city…” said Kara thoughtfully. “It’s probably farther away than we thought. Or it could be a metaphor. Lanka is a place of temptation, and it’s always said about greedy people that the more wealth they have, the farther away they think it is. I always thought that was strange, because the origin of the wordwealthcomes from the Germanicweal, orhealth. So really—”

“So we could be here forcenturies?” interrupted Aru. She tossed Vajra up in the air and told it, “I’m going to have to start calling you Wilson.”

“Who’s Wilson?” asked Kara.

“Nope,” said Brynne loudly. “Aru, if we’re going to lose our minds out here on the ocean, you quoting some movie no one’s ever seen is not going to help.”

“Castawayis a classic, you heathens,” said Aru.

“Hey, what happened to all the fruit?” asked Mini, rummaging through her rucksack. “I thought Queen Tara gave us a ton….”

Aru craned her head to see Brynne looking extremely guilty.

“I was hungry,” she said.

“You ateallof it?” asked Mini. “How? When?”

Brynne shrugged.