Page 67 of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Let’s just start this wonderful feast, okay?Gunky had said.I’m sure she just got caught up at work.

Brynne nervously spun one of her melted-down trophy bracelets. Anila always seemed happiest when Brynne won something. Sometimes she even saidThat’s my girl!Had Anila somehow found out that Brynne lost the soccer game? Was that why she hadn’t come?

Eventually, Gunky and Funky had convinced Brynne to eat, but the thought kept lurking in her brain.

When she was a winner, people showed up. When she was a loser, people left her behind.

In her head, she saw Anila’s face twisting to meet hers:Even if you manage to restore your friends’ strength, they’ll just leave you behind. You failed them.

The spoon in Brynne’s hand slipped a little, the soul liquid sloshing dangerously. Quickly, Brynne righted it, careful not to lose a single drop.

Do you have the strength to help them, thief?Anila’s face was replaced with the mysterious skeletal one.

Strength.

It was what Brynne was known for. She could throw heavy weights long distances. She could command a cyclone and unleash it on an army. She could turn into a bear and pick up demons by the scruff of their necks.

You’re my strongest Pandava, you know, Boo had said on the last day she’d seen him, after Aru had been kidnapped.

It wasn’t the first time Boo had praised her. When it came to their physical drills, Brynne always outshone her sisters. But the way Boo had said it then was different. He was just as worried as the rest of them about what had happened to Aru.

You’ll have to be even stronger now, Brynne,Boo had warned.I hope you can do it.

Brynne was confused.Of course I can.

She’d been so distracted, she didn’t remember the moment he flew away.

When she thought of it now, angry tears pricked her eyes.

Aru had said that Boo went to the Sleeper thinking that if he could change back to his true form, he’d be powerful enough to protect the Pandavas.

Maybe if Brynne had been stronger, he never would’ve made a deal.

It made her hate him as much as she missed him. What was she supposed to do now? She had tried being strong, and it had only brought them here.

Brynne blinked, her eyes focusing on the metal table, her unconscious friends, the spoon in her outstretched arm. All she had to do was pour it into the gaping hole in Aru’s chest.

Brynne could feel her strength—the very strength she had thought made her useful and special—leaving her. Her arms felt so heavy, her eyelids even heavier. Aru’s face was already sunken-in. Mini’s hair had turned gray. Aiden’s skin had paled to a bloodless pallor. Kara looked thin and small.

Do it, she told herself.

But what if she got them out of here only to end up so weak that they left her behind?

So?whispered a voice in her head.Then you saved them anyway.

It was that thought that steadied her hand. Brynne felt the world screech to a halt around her. Maybe she couldn’t fix herself, but sheknewshe could fix them.

After all, Brynne Tvarika Lakshmi Balamuralikrishna Rao knew lots of stuff.

She knew how to whip up a perfect soufflé, knew a dozen ways to knock someone unconscious, and (All right, fine!) she knew how to play the harp, and she was pretty great at it. Plus, it was very soothing….

But she also knew something else in that second.

She knew she was strong enough to be weak.

She extended her arm as far as she could. The soul liquid in the silver spoon wobbled a bit, but Brynne kept her hand steady. She could feel something tearing at her heart. She flipped her wrist, and the liquid poured down, gathering once more in the seam in front of Aru’s heart.

Brynne watched the seam close slowly. She saw Aru’s face brighten as color returned to her cheeks. Then Brynne collected Mini’s soul liquid, and her heart soared when her sister’s gray strands shimmered to black. She raised the spoon to Kara next, and last, to Aiden, her best friend in the world.