Page 80 of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Behind the row of doppelgängers, the blue lotus was fully open. Kubera’s eye hovered an inch above the petals, its eyelid peeled back as if it didn’t want to miss a single moment of what was going to happen next.

“We have to fightourselvesto get to the eye?” asked Brynne.

In response, Brynne’s counterpart aimed her wind mace straight at her. Brynne narrowly dodged the stream of air. Both girls growled at the same time.

“Okay, you wanna fight?” asked Brynne, her teal eyes glowing brighter.

Aru felt the too-hot quality of the space threading around her, straining tight, and then…

“Let’s fight,” said Brynne.

The thread snapped.

Aru focused all the anger she had inside her, and it exploded toward the line of replicas. “Fall in!” she shouted.

The Potatoes gathered into a knot and leaped shoulder to shoulder.

“They can’t fight us if they can’t see us,” said Aru.

Brynne grinned savagely. She aimed her wind mace at the cement walls, and clouds of dust whipped up, obscuring the clones’ view. Mini’s violet shield snapped around them.

“Light ’em up, Shah,” said Aiden.

Aru touched her lightning bolt to his scimitars, and Mini retracted the shield.

“Kara, keep them away from us!” hollered Brynne.

She nodded, fixing her stance and slashing out with her trident.

One of their enemies yelped—it sounded like Other Mini—and Aru grinned.

The duplicates swarmed forward only for a huge gust of air to shove them back. Other Mini formed her own shield, and the doppelgängers fanned out defensively around the blue lotus.

“CHARGE!” yelled Aru.

Both lines—doppelgängers and Potatoes—stormed forward.

Brynne and Other Brynne unleashed identical cyclones. Dust flew around them. Aru caught occasional flashes of blue light before the wind died down enough to reveal two blue wolves snarling and snapping at each other. Aru spun around, blocking a lightning javelin flung in her direction. As she turned, she caught sight of Mini and Other Mini. They were staring each other down, their Death Dandas raised to eye level as violet light shimmered around them. A sudden crash drew Aru’s attention, and she turned to see Aiden and Other Aiden clanging their scimitars together. They parried each other’s blows….

One jab at the throat, blocked.

One jab at the knees, blocked.

This was, Aru realized with a sinking sensation, pointless. The doppelgängers knew their foes’ every move and every weakness. How could either side win?

Beside her, Kara had focused all her concentration on Kubera’s eye still floating above the blue lotus. Over and over, she cast out her weapon, as if she was trying to catch the eye in the tines of her trident. Aru spun around, scanning the arena.

Everyone’s doppelgänger had found their counterpart….

So where was Kara’s?

“Watch out, Aru!” screamed Kara.

Almost too late, Aru saw Other Aru’s lightning spear careening toward her. Aru sidestepped it neatly, then flung out Vajra like a net. It caught Other Aru around the ankles, knocking her to the ground. Aru almost smiled before she heard something whistling in the air just behind her. Other Aru’s lightning bolt had flattened into a discus and slammed into her back, sending her sprawling across the stone floor.

Aru rolled to her side, glancing up just as Other Aru’s lightning bolt transformed into a spear aimed straight for her heart. Aru scrambled for her own Vajra, but then violet light burst around her. Mini had cast a shield, and Other Aru’s lightning bolt had bounced off it.

“I got you, Aru—” Mini started to say.