Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Are you strutting, Wifey?" asked Mini. Aiden suddenly slowed. Brynne looked him over and snorted. "Yup, he's definitely strutting." "Am not," said Aiden. "Yeah you are!" , said Aru, laughing. "Am not" "R-2-" "D-2-," said Aiden before giving up and shaking his head. "Why are you guys like this?" "Boredom," said Mini. "Belligerence," said Brynne. "Brilliance," said Aru. The three of them grinned at each other.

Duh,” said Aru. “With great power comes great opportunity to annoy.

More than anything she wanted the world to be uncomplicated, for right and wrong to be as easily divided as the black and white sections of an Oreo. But the world was not a cookie.

Sometimes a weakness felt like a blade turned inward, but that meant it was sharp enough that when turned around, it could be a weapon. You just had to be willing to face it and adjust your grip. And that made it magic far more powerful than any celestial weapon.

The pollution that accumulates upon my surface has no bearing on my soul.” Aru nodded to herself. Nice one. Maybe she’d use that excuse next time she didn’t feel like showering.

Aiden patted his back. “There, there, rich prince. I’m sorry there’s other rich people in the world.” Rudy sniffed. “It’s really hard.

Uh, what kinda dragon are we talking about here?” said Aru nervously. “Like Smaug sitting on all his gold, or like a cute friendly little baby Norbert hanging out in Hagrid’s cauldron?

We’re trapped in the mountains with no camping supplies—” Aiden reached into his backpack and pulled out a coin. He flipped it onto the ground, and three tents sprouted up immediately. Brynne scowled. “Okay, well, definitely no food—” Aiden dug out five protein bars and tossed them in front of the tents. Rudy stared at him. “Dude, what is in that bag?” “Precautionary stuff,” said Aiden simply.

The things that scare us can also give us joy. We just have to learn how to see them in a different light.

As Aru slipped away, she could've sworn she heard Aiden say "Maybe he didn't see you in the right light, Shah." But she must have been dreaming.

Rein in the optimism Shah, It's too much.

Climb the Ferris wheel?!” echoed Aru. “Do I look like Spider-Man to you?” “Well, you sometimes wear those pajamas…” said Mini. Brynne snorted. “What pajamas?” asked Aiden. Abandon conversation! screamed Aru’s brain. Abandon conversation!

Living things cannot help but be curious, to demand answers. There is a cost to opening doors that are meant to stay closed.

We are all stitches in a fabric too vast to comprehend. But perhaps that is a good thing, for it means we are always exactly where we need to be.

I got breakfast covered,” she said. “Berries reduced in sugar and acid, fused with a blended nut butter and spread on toasted wheat.” “So…a PB and J?” asked Aiden.

No picking fights with things that randomly offend you,” he said to Brynne.

Aiden managed a weak nod, dropping his arm from around Rudy’s shoulder. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “You’re my lead singer,” said Rudy proudly. “Nothing is happening to you.” “I’m also your cousin!

For the longest time, she’d thought an antelope was a horned melon, the ugly cousin of a cantaloupe. Which had made the song “Home on the Range” particularly confusing, because every time she heard where the deer and the antelope play, she thought a giant melon had gained sentience and escaped from the fruit aisle of the grocery store.

Anger makes one blind to happiness.

Are you saying the Sleeper left behind Horcruxes?" Aru demanded. "Yeah, I didn't sign up for a Horcrux hunt," said Rudy, looking for the exit.

Aru mentally checked in with Brynne and Mini, who were making their way toward her. On a scale of one to Galadriel, how awesome does my hair look? Mini: Well, uhh… Brynne immediately responded with I love you, but you look like you got in a fight with Pikachu. Aru scowled. And lost, added Brynne.

No matter what happens to us, we have choices. We choose how to look at our lives. We choose what we can live with, and what we cannot, and only you can decide.

Nikita turned to look each of the Potatoes in the eye. “When I take them out, they’ll be loud and fussy. You’re going to have to keep them quiet, okay?

Ahhh”—spits out bug…gasps for air…chokes a bit—“ahhhhh!

Like scales. Specifically, Rahu and Ketu’s scales. Gross, thought Aru. It was like they had said, Nah, who needs a carpet when I’ve got dead skin!

Because it sounded like ‘Spider-Man, Spider-Man…does whatever a Spider-Man does,’ which I’m pretty sure aren’t the right lyrics.” “The wind is messing with your ears.

How they were not just beautiful, but capable of drawing the whole world’s focus. It made them dangerous and sought-after. All this time, Aru had thought it was all just poetic exaggeration….