Page 64 of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

“Who cares!” said Brynne, pointing at a different part of the aisle. “I see the eye!”

She pointed at a refrigerated case marked with a flopping paper sign:TRY OUR MOO-TIQUE’S EXOTIQUE DELIGHTS!It offered a tub of yak butter, a pint of water-buffalo gelato, packaged reindeer cheese, a quart of camel milk, and…

“Does that say ‘human cheese’?” asked Mini, gagging.

Aru didn’t want to know. All that mattered was that Kubera’s golden eye blinked serenely at them just below the tub of yak butter. Before anyone else could react, Brynne sprinted over to it. The eye was stuck between two shelves, and when she pulled it out, the top one tilted, spilling all its contents. Camel milk splattered onto the floor.

“Let’s go!” she yelled.

“Don’t we have to pay for—?” started Aru, but Brynne had already flown past her.

The barn’s exit was straight ahead.

“Ope!” said the cow, popping up to block their way. “Looks like ya made a little mess back there! Now, let’s see, you could work for a week as—”

“Not a chance!” said Brynne. Aru recognized the look on her face. It was pure, cold determination.

I can fix this.

Brynne was talking to herself, but she said it so forcefully that it blasted across the Pandava mind link. It was like a scream unleashed in Aru’s skull. She and Mini staggered backward at the same time.

“Don’cha know you gotta pay for that!” shouted the milk-white cow when Brynne sprinted past her.

Aru tried to follow, but she’d only managed a couple of steps when the convenience store transformed. Everything—the weird cheese, the rickety metal shelves, the dead fly on the stained linoleum floor—quivered and turned transparent. Beneath the illusion Aru could see what the moo-tique actually looked like: milk-and-honey waterfalls pouring down the walls, floating jars of gold coins, and rare nectar sitting in gleaming silver bowls.

Then, just as quickly as they had come into view, the riches flashed and disappeared, replaced once more with the ugly aisles.

Brynne was halfway out of the barn door when the shop sank.

Well, not sank, exactly.

It plummeted.

The walls blurred around Aru as she and her friends fell into a deep hole in the ground. Aru’s hair flew around her face and her stomach swooped violently as they tumbled head over heels. High above, the barn ceiling ripped away, revealing close-up constellations and bright lunar mansions.

Aru kept trying to haul herself upright and turn Vajra into a hoverboard, but she couldn’t get control of her lightning bolt. Eventually, they all slammed into the ground. Stars exploded behind Aru’s eyes. When her vision finally cleared and she looked up, it was like she was staring out from the bottom of a deep pit. Hundreds of feet above them, the milk-white cow poked her head into the hole.

“Jeez, I hate to do this to ya,” she called down. “But, ya know…tough tomatoes.”

Aru tried again to go for her lightning bolt, but her arms were yanked backward. Heavy silver chains magically attached themselves to her wrists and dragged her down into a chair. The next second, a huge silver spoon appeared in her hand, the handle at least three feet long.

“What the—?”

Aru looked around, confusion turning swiftly to horror. All five of them had been shackled to a chair of their own, and each held a huge spoon. Their chairs were brusquely pushed up to a giant metal table, and a cauldron appeared in the middle.

Aru swiveled her neck to seehundredsof other “diners” in the same predicament. They thrashed in their seats, their jaws dripping black saliva, their faces so thin that their cheekbones and tendons stood out. The hair had fallen off their scalps. Some of them were screaming, a raspy sound of terror. The other tables also held cauldrons brimming with a shimmering liquid.

Vajra frantically threw off sparks of electricity, but the weapon was now encased in a little net dangling from an elastic loop around Aru’s elbow.

They were trapped.

“How do we get out of here?” asked Brynne, struggling against her restraints.

“You shouldn’t have stolen!” yelled Aru.

“I was trying to help!” retorted Brynne.

“Stop yelling!” said Mini. “We have to figure this out—” But the rest of Mini’s words were cut off as she winced in pain.