ru plopped to the ground, feeling warm asphalt beneath her palms and inhaling springtime air full of the familiar scents of wet grass and hay. She lumbered to her feet, blinking away the sudden daylight.

Rudy was lying on the pavement, kissing it and declaring, “Sweet ground! I’ll never leave you again!”

Meanwhile, Brynne, Mini, and Aiden were helping Nikita to her feet. Rohini had said a couple of loud sounds would wake her up. Apparently, their escape from an angry planet had done the job.

Nikita rubbed her eyes, and the blossoms on her crown of flowers opened slowly. She looked first at everyone, then stared around at her surroundings, her eyes focusing on something just behind Aru. The corners of her mouth turned down.

“Really, Shah?” she said. “You brought us to Home Depot?”

Only now did Aru realize they were standing in an empty parking lot right outside the giant hardware store. She couldn’t care less. All that mattered was that Nikita was awake and safe with them.

“Always the rude attitude with you,” said Aru.

“Especially after we just pulled off that daring rescue,” said Brynne.

“Um, technically, we won her,” said Mini.

“I mean, I knew you would,” Nikita said snootily. Then she beamed. “And you’re going to save Sheela, too, right?”

Aru forced herself to smile even as she wondered just how exactly they were going to pull that off. She sighed, then looked at the sky. The Door of New Day had spat them out at dawn. Just like Rohini had warned them, they had exactly one more day to find the Tree of Wishes.

“You know me,” Aru said. “More saving, more doing. All that.”

Brynne checked her watch and grimaced. “It’s Holi,” she said. “The Otherworld is going to expect us back at Amaravati for the festivities tonight.”

Aiden lowered his camera, blinking against the sunrise. “Then that means we’ve still got twelve hours.”

“We can’t go back without the tree,” pointed out Mini.

For once, Rudy was exceptionally quiet. He kept turning around in the parking lot, looking a little dazed.

“Why are there white marks on the ground? Is this an ancient battlefield?”

“It’s a parking lot,” said Mini. “We tend to end up in those often.”

“And depending on when you’re trying to park, it’s definitely a battlefield,” added Aiden.

As Aru considered next steps, she touched her sapphire pendant. Two of its hollows were now filled—one with the memory of the Sleeper’s sacrifice of his own childhood, the other with the memory of when he’d chosen her name. Aru may not have found the tree—yet—but she had made other important discoveries. And she wasn’t going to give up. Not when the Sleeper knew what they were after, and definitely not when Sheela was depending on them.

“We have a riddle,” she said to Nikita. “And we think you’re the answer to it.”

“I don’t like riddles,” said Nikita. “Those’re more Sheela’s thing.”

Rudy reached into his messenger bag, pulling out the little pane of moonlight and reading it aloud:

“All growing things know where the tree can be found,

But it takes the right ear to hear the right sound.

All growing things know, but not all wish to talk.

The youngest of roots are the best to unlock.”

“Can you, um, talk to plants?” asked Aru.

Nikita shook her head.

Aru’s stomach plummeted. She had been so sure….

“They prefer it when you talk with them,” said Nikita. “They like conversation.”

“Oh,” said Mini. “That’s good!”

“But only if they’re magical,” said Nikita. “And from the riddle, it sounds like we need baby ones.”

“Where are we going to find magical baby plants?” asked Brynne, peering around the parking lot.

When Aru looked back at the store, she saw the familiar arched awning with bright orange lettering declaring:

PLANT NURSERY

“I know where we could start?” she said.

The five of them walked toward the entrance, dragging Rudy behind them as he swiveled his neck around and frowned. “What’s that?” he asked, looking at one of the soda machines outside the store.

“A vending machine,” said Aiden.

“What does it…‘vend’?” asked Rudy.

“Soda,” said Aiden tightly.

“What’s soda?”

“A drink.”

“Can I try one?” asked Rudy.

Aru had a brief but vivid image of Rudy after he’d downed a can full of sugar syrup, running in circles around the parking lot. Maybe everybody else had the exact same vision, because as one they responded with a resounding “NO.”

Brynne looked at Aiden. “Can I knock him unconscious?”

When they got to the entrance, everything was locked. According to the hours of operation, the store wouldn’t open until six in the morning, and that wasn’t for another thirty minutes.

“We could wait?” offered Mini.

“And give the Sleeper an extra half hour to find us and kill us?” asked Brynne. “No thanks.” She took one look at the door, then curled her hand into a fist.

“Breaking and entering? That’s illegal!” said Mini before pointing to a corner of the building. “And there’s a camera!”

Aru summoned Vajra, transforming the bolt into a tiny spear no larger than a Sharpie. She flung it at the security equipment, which sparked once and drooped.

“There was a camera,” said Aru.

Brynne grinned, raising her fist once more.

Rudy clapped and started chanting, “Heist! Heist! Heist!”

“Just do it already!” said Nikita. “Sheela’s waiting for us.”

Mini turned her cheek. “I can’t be a witness to this.”

“Um, guys?” cut in Aiden. “How about using Mr. V’s key?”

Brynne scowled, dropping her hand.

“He said that only Aru could use it first. He didn’t say that none of us could use it after that.”

Aru didn’t like this idea. She herself wanted zero part of the thing. “You know what it does to people,” said Aru. “But if you’re willing to take that risk, go wild.” She dug the velvet pouch out of her backpack and handed it to him.

Aiden pressed the key to the door and a delicate filigree of golden light spread across the glass. The lock whirred softly as its gears shifted and twisted. Aru watched Aiden’s face intently, wondering what exactly was being opened inside him…. For her, it had been a bruised ache for the father she’d never had. Aiden paused for a moment, his eyebrows drawn together. His eyes darted in her direction, and for one full second he openly stared at her. His eyebrows quirked up like he was shocked by whatever he’d seen there. But then he quickly shook himself.

“Let’s go,” he said. The door slid open, and he waited for everyone to go in before him.

“You okay?” asked Aru as she walked past.

“Yeah, um, I’m fine, Shah,” he said, hastily shoving the key inside its velvet pouch and returning it to her backpack.

Overhead, harsh fluorescent lights beamed down on them. Bright orange placards denoted aisles for everything from lamp fixtures to doorknobs. The silent cash registers looked like dormant guards stationed at the entrance.

Nikita shivered from the chill of the store’s air-conditioning. She snapped her fingers and a new dress swallowed her last outfit. It was made of sky-blue silk and patterned with daisies at the hem. Hope lit up her ice-blue eyes, and she pushed her dozens of tiny braids off her shoulder.

“Much better,” she said.

“Nice,” said Rudy appreciatively. “Could you make me a blue blazer? I want something with tassels—”

“Nope,” said Nikita.

“Why not?” Aru asked.

“’Cause she’s a life-ruiner,” said Rudy darkly. “She ruins people’s lives.”

“Because I think red is more your color,” said Nikita flatly.

Rudy perked up, then started preening again. “Oh. Well, obviously.”

Aiden snorted back a laugh, and they walked toward the plant nursery at the end of the huge floor.

“This place is…gross,” said Rudy, flicking an imaginary piece of lint from his shoulder. “Is this the best of human establishments?” He turned to Aiden and sighed. “I thought you said we were going to do fun tours of the human realm. What about Disneyland?”

“We’re a little busy with, you know, preventing the destruction of the world,” said Aiden.

“All the more reason to take a vacation,” said Rudy, rolling his eyes. “You must hate this place, Shah.”

The comment dug at Aru in a way she hadn’t expected. She looked down the aisles, feeling a pang of homesickness. She remembered all the times she’d come here with her mom, who was always in need of new storage containers for the museum objects, or different lightbulbs so the lobby looked “warmer,” whatever that meant. Aru used to love shopping with her. They’d wander around and talk, and even when Aru got too old for it, her mom never minded when Aru leaped onto the back of the cart and pretended she was sailing through the store.

But they hadn’t gone shopping together in a while. These days, if her mom needed something, Aru just picked it up in the Night Bazaar. Magic had replaced a lot of ordinary stuff, and there just wasn’t time anymore to lurk in the Home Depot aisle with all the doors and pop out at random strangers. There was a war coming and training to be completed. Not to mention eighth grade to survive.

Aru’s throat felt tight, and a moment passed before she realized she’d never answered Rudy.

“I don’t hate it,” she said.

He wrinkled his nose and said loftily, “Well, if you find this place remotely interesting, wait till you see my father’s palaces. You’re welcome to visit, you know.”

A couple of paces in front of them, Mini slowed. It looked as though she had been about to gaze over her shoulder but changed her mind. Aru felt her face grow hot with guilt. She hadn’t asked for Rudy’s attention, and she didn’t want it if it meant hurting Mini in the slightest.

“I’ll ask Brynne and Mini if they wanna go,” said Aru, and then she picked up her pace to join her sisters.

As Aru left the boys behind, she heard Rudy say, “I really thought she’d hate this place.”

Aru couldn’t see Aiden’s expression when he answered, but she imagined him shrugging and instinctively fiddling with his camera when he said, “Then you don’t really know her.”

Nikita stopped in front of the doorway to the nursery, which was strung with thick strips of cloudy plastic. She held open the curtain, and Aru could see familiar rows of black shelving holding budding plants. Ceramic pots were stacked in one corner, and overhead, the lights buzzed on automatically. It smelled like wet dirt, and Aru suspected the humidity was making her hair frizz. But this place didn’t have the usual sheen of portals to the Otherworld.

“Do you think any of these plants are magical?” Aru asked Nikita.

Brynne squinted. “They look pretty ordinary to me.”

“Yeah,” said Mini, with a guilty glance at Nikita. “I don’t think this is where we’re supposed to be….”

Nikita threw up her hands. “Fine,” she said. “Enjoy your lack of faith.”

She flicked her braids over her shoulder once again and slipped into the nursery. It took a moment for the curtain to settle behind her, and when it did, Nikita was…gone.

“Where’d she go?” asked Mini.

Aru frowned, then went through the plastic. Again, no sense of magic. Just a mundane plant nursery in a typical Home Depot.

But when Aru took another step forward, she was drenched in a sudden downpour of magic. Like she was on one of those tube rides at a waterpark and had gone through an unexpected waterfall.

She spluttered loudly, shaking her head as if she could rid herself of the sensation.

Aru looked up, and her jaw dropped as she took in the new room. She was in the middle of a huge fancy greenhouse with a wide sign fluttering just above her head.

ARANYANI’S GARDEN SUPPLIES

FOR ALL YOUR MAGICAL LABYRINTH,

CRYPT, AND LAWN NEEDS

Nikita popped up beside her and said, “Told ya so.”