Sonu gasped, covering its mouth with its paws. “It is?”
“Told you,” said Kanak.
“Listen, all I’ve got is an emergency credit card from my mom,” said Aru. “If you charge a thousand dollars to it, she’ll kill me. Can’t we agree on something else? I’ve got…”
Aru fished around in her backpack and found a half-empty packet of M&Ms, a bottle of hand sanitizer (probably stuck in there by Mini), a pair of dry socks (because she hated it when she stepped in a puddle and water sloshed over her sneakers), and…five packets of salt, courtesy of Brynne, because “certain sandwiches can go from good to great with just a pinch of salt.” Aru had pointed out that sandwiches were elusive beasts rarely spotted on quests, and Brynne had responded by smacking her in the arm.
“Is that it?” asked Sonu, looking skeptically at Aru’s meager offerings spread out on the checkout counter.
The room seemed to shift ever so slightly with the tone of Sonu’s voice. Aru risked a glance at the archways behind her. Now all three of them looked foggy, as if they were shutting down because it was clear the tourists couldn’t pay the entrance fee.
“Salt! Wow, Aru! I didn’t realize you had so much white gold!”
Sonu tilted its head to the side. “White gold?”
“Well, of course,” said Kara, winking at Aru as she plucked one of the packets from the counter. “Did you know the wordsalarycomes from the Latinsalarium,which means a payment in salt? In ancient Egypt and Rome, it was considered so valuable—for preserving food and stuff—that people were paid with bags of salt.”
Aru jumped in. “And we’ve gotat leasta thousand particles in these five packets.”
“Ooh, particles…” said Sonu, tapping its paws together. “We’ll take it!”
Sonu dumped the keychains into Aru’s backpack. Through her Pandava mind link, Aru asked,Are you guys ready?
Brynne:Duh.
Mini:I hope the marmots won’t be too offended….
The moment the salt packets dropped into Sonu’s paws, Aru yelled, “Time to GO!”
“Sorry!” Kara said to Sonu. “But thank you, and—”
“Now, Kara!”
Aru flicked her wrist and Vajra dropped to the ground, transforming into a hoverboard. Aru jumped on and pulled up Kara, and together they zoomed past the flock of T-shirts and towers of trinkets. Some fifty feet away, Brynne blasted a wind tunnel through the fog-filled third archway, clearing a path for them to the Lanka road.
“Come on, Shah!” yelled Aiden, as he gestured everyone through the opening.
Aru was about to holler a response when the souvenir shop sprang to life. The keychains flew out of their spinner rack, swarming like a cloud of bees. The T-shirts dove into the fray. ANOT A TOURISTsmacked her across the face and anIGOLDcaught her by the wrist. Aru tore them off her only to get attacked by an angry knot ofBRADEN,BRADYN,BRAEDEN, andBRAYDONkeychains.
“You havefourversions of Braden, but not one Aru? Is this a joke?” shouted Aru, batting away the souvenirs.
Kara unleashed her trident, catching three of the keychains in the tines of her weapon, but the swarm had thickened into a tall wave.
“CHARGE!”yelled Aru.
She tilted Vajra forward. Using her trident like a shovel, Kara flung golden magnets, bobbleheads, and snow globes left and right.
“Get that gold digger!” hollered Sonu.
A rumbling sound chased them. Aru snuck a glance behind her shoulder and saw that something was tunneling toward them under the marble. The stone cracked, and Kanak shot up a few feet from the archway with one golden paw outstretched. “Halt, rude tourists!”
A message from Brynne blared through her head:HURRY UP, SHAH!
“Iamhurrying!” said Aru, fighting her way through the flurry of knickknacks.
With a final burst, Vajra broke free of the cloud. Aru flapped one arm, shaking off the grip of aTRUST ME, I’M THE GOLD STANDARDT-shirt.
Aiden and Brynne stood under the archway. Brynne aimed her wind mace and blew back the fog and mist to reveal a cavern with faintly glimmering veins of gold stretching into the darkness. Mini already waited inside, her danda raised. Kara spun her light trident like a baton, and the resulting glare forced Kanak to cover its eyes and stumble back a few steps.
