Aru opened her eyes and found that she was staring into the face of a beautiful woman. She had large liquid-black eyes that reminded her of a cow’s serene gaze. Her lips were wide, her nose long, and her skin a rich brown. There was an unusual scent to her—it reminded Aru of milk cakes and sweet hay.
When the woman pulled back, Aru scuttled away on her hands and feet and bumped into a low shelf. The woman’s face was human, but the rest of her was a milk-white cow. Aru looked around her. The run-down convenience store was gone, replaced with a glittering Otherworld shop beneath a vaulted ceiling. It offered jars labeledWINNING LOTTERY NUMBERSand boxes of incense sticks for “cleansing rotten luck.” She saw bowls full of gold coins, and tall crystal jars filled with milk. It was a place full of abundance and good fortune.
“You’re…You’re Kamadhenu,” Aru said, bowing her head respectfully.
“I am,” said the cow goddess. “And you have successfully completed your first trial.”
Beside Kamadhenu stood Kara, Aiden, Mini, and Brynne. Kubera’s golden eye, hovering nearby, blinked at her.
“Wedid?” asked Aru, surprised. “But we, I mean, Brynne, no offense—”
“Stole from me?” asked Kamadhenu. She laughed. “You will discover that when the Lord of Wealth is involved, he is testing how you handle loss as much as victory, for his Nairrata army is very dear to him.”
What victory?thought Aru. She remembered the exact wording he’d used:To start, the land shall test your heart….
At first, that didn’t make sense, but Aru had a sneaking suspicion that Brynne had gotten them past the first trial, even if Aru didn’t understand exactly how. She looked at Brynne and smiled at her with new appreciation. Her sister grinned back.
“For your strength, daughter of the god of the wind, I have a gift for you,” said Kamadhenu. “When all other kinds of payment fail, never forget that a drop of kindness has far more weight more than gold.”
On the marble floor before them appeared a small carton of milk, the kind of thing Aru would get in the school cafeteria. Brynne looked a little confused, but she still smiled when she picked it up. She bowed to the cow goddess, then handed the carton to Mini, who placed it in her backpack.
The cow goddess walked toward the open barn door, which glowed softly, the outside obscured completely by warm golden light. When she stepped over the threshold, she disappeared. Kubera’s eye floated in the same direction, beckoning the rest of them.
As they followed it, Brynne cleared her throat. “I’ve decided that tables are not to be trusted,” she declared.
“Or cows,” added Aiden.
“Or mongooses,” said Mini.
“Or mud,” said Aru, wrinkling her nose as she narrowly avoided another cow patty.
Kara raised her hand, and they turned to look at her.
“Or spoons?” she added shyly.
“Look at you!” said Aru. “Now you’re thinking like a real Potato.”
Kara scowled. “A potato?”
“We needed a group name, so that’s what we called ourselves. Potatoes.”
Aiden groaned. “We could’ve hadanygroup name, but no—”
“I want to be a potato,” said Kara quietly.
Aru paused. Before, she’d stopped herself from calling Karafamily. Now she felt a little guilty about that. Kara had faced monkey-people, a ten-headed demon king, and creepy tables. All Kara wanted was to belong, and the more Aru thought about it, the harder it was for her to imagine going on any adventure thatdidn’tinclude Kara.
Brynne caught Aru’s eye and nodded slightly. Beside her, Mini beamed.
“Are you sure you’re ready to take on the solemn task of being a spud?” asked Brynne loftily.
Kara looked up, hope flitting across her face. “Yes.”
Aru turned and addressed Kara in a formal tone. “Kara We-Don’t-Know-Your-Last-Name-And-Neither-Do-You-So-It’s-Fine, we ask you to…”
“Kneel,” whispered Mini.
“Really?” asked Kara, caught between confusion and amusement.
