Brynne took one look at it and kicked it open.
“Wait … that’sit?” said Aru. “I thought there’d be more to it! Like inLord of the Rings, where there’s a riddle door with the message ‘speakfriend and enter.’ Except I can’t remember whatfriendis in Elvish.”
Brynnerolled her eyes, but her smile was warm. She stepped through first.
Aiden held open the door for Aru. As she walked past him, he said, “It’smellon, by the way.”
“Nerd.”
Varuna had said that the route to the naga treasury was secret.
The good news was that he had told the truth.
The bad news was that they were pickingtheir way through sewers.
They were beneath the naga city, which—based on what Aru could see from the sewer grates—was nestled in a giant air bubble in the middle of an ocean. It was like living in a snow globe! But she could barely concentrate on how cool that was, because theworststench rolled toward them. Aru thought the smell alone had burned away all her nose hairs.
They three of themstood in a sprawling underground network of tunnels. Slime oozed down the walls. Under Aru’s shoes, snake skin crumpled like soggy paper.
“Ooh,” said Brynne, cheerily toeing a pile of rotten vegetables. “This would make great mulch. Great mulch means great dirt, and great dirt means great vegetables, and great vegetables make great food!”
Aiden gagged. “Stop saying ‘great.’”
“How can you eventhinkabout food?” demanded Aru. Because her sleeve was covering the lower half of her face, it sounded likeHah can yoo eben hink abou foo?
Brynne rapped her knuckles on her stomach. “Ironclad gut.”
“I need an ironclad nose,” said Aiden woozily.
Brynne raised her wind mace to her lips. She blew on it,anda continuous breeze wafted around them, carrying away the stink.
Brynne immediatelytook the lead. As the daughter of the Lord of the Winds, she had a perfect sense of direction. She always knew whether they were going north, south, east, or west. Aru cast out Vajra like a torch, and the three of them stomped down one of the less nasty passages. Occasionally, Aiden had to hack through strings of black gunk with his scimitars to clear an opening for them to step through.
Whenthey came to the occasional grate in the tunnel, Aru caught glimpses of the sprawling naga city above them. They had to be careful to stay in the shadows in case there were guards on the lookout, but they saw enough to get a sense of the enchanted kingdom that Uloopi ruled. It reminded Aru of New York City. Wide boulevards. Fashionable nagas and naginis slithering down the streets, shopping bagsin hand. Sometimes Aru caught the names of storefronts:FANGS“R”USandOPHIDIAN EMPORIUM:YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR ALL THINGS SCALY.
There was even an Apple store.
But what she loved most were the seascrapers—huge, twisting spires that looked like they were hewn out of the bones of some long-forgotten sea creature and were so tall they almost touched the top of the air bubble. The sea mightnot have stars, but the water surrounding the naga realm was lit up with its own magical lights. Anemone the color of moonlight bloomed in the alleys.
At one of the grates, Aru was lucky enough to get a glimpse that lasted more than five seconds. Sadly, that was just when someone decided to drop their coffee cup. A red holiday cupfromSlitherbucks, with a green-and-white logo of a crowned nagaon it, fell through the grate …
… and splashed all over Aru’s shirt.
“This is just awesome,” Aru muttered. “How could it get any worse—?”
Brynne held up a hand. “We’re here,” she whispered.
Aiden looked around, and his confused expression matched Aru’s feeling. How couldthisbe the legendary treasury of the nagas? They were in the middle of the sewage system, below-ground, and there was nodoor or anything else marking an entry to another place.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’msure,” said Brynne. “Iamthe daughter of Lord Vayu. I never lose my sense of direction.”
Aiden peered at the ground. With his right foot, he scraped aside some of the goop. There was a small bronze insignia there, along with a couple of raised bumps that looked like buttons. He bent down, shining his phone’sflashlight app to get a better look—which was a good thing, because Vajra refused to get anywhere near this ground, thwacking Aru in the head when she tried a couple times to lower it. She finally just changed it to a bracelet.
Aiden’s scimitar hovered over one of the bronze buttons. “Huh,” he said, “I wonder if—”
He didn’t have to wonder long. The second his blade touched the button, a circularplate beneath their feet suddenlywhoosheddownward. The three of them screamed as the surface fell away and they were plunged into darkness.
