“You want us topayyou to leave us alone?”
Tanutka blinked as he considered this question, then nodded. “Yes.”
“You’re outta your mind,” said Aiden.
“Well,excuseme for offering some help!” snapped the magician.
Kara raised her hand shyly. “Um, if you want to help us, did you happen to see”—behind Tanutka, Aru, Aiden, Mini, and Brynne all frantically waved their hands in aSTOP! DON’T DO IT!gesture, but Kara didn’t seem to notice—“where a golden eye went? Last time we saw it, it was under this archway, and—Whoa, what’s wrong, guys?” asked Kara innocently.
Aru let her hands drop. Too late.
The moment Tanutka realized they needed something, a greedy glint entered his gaze. “An eye?” he repeated. “Oh…Oh, yes…Yes, Tanutka remembers it now. It was shaped like…an eye.”
“I say we take our chances and go down this tunnel and see what happens,” said Aru loudly.
“No, no, no!” called the magician. “Please! Tanutka can show you where the eye went. But first, just watch one magic performance! Tanutka shall serve up such a delight and wonder that you will continue upon your journey newly refreshed!”
“All right, fine,” said Brynne. “Make it quick.”
Mini elbowed her and added a polite“Please.”
“Tanutka the Great can summonanykind of water you wish!” said the magician. “It is a rare thing in these parts.”
Aru pointedly looked up at the ocean pressing against the ceiling of the underwater terminals. “Just so I’m understanding this,” she said, “your power is summoning water…underwater?”
“WITNESSETH!” said Tanutka. He clapped his hands and a tiny rain cloud appeared. “Is it not amazing? Does it notdefyyour mortal senses?”
Kara smiled weakly. Mini forced a couple of claps. But Brynne, Aiden, and Aru were not impressed.
“Okay, now tell us, where did the eye go?” asked Aiden.
“Ah, but wait—there’s more!” said Tanutka, sounding a little nervous. He threw open his cloak to reveal dozens of pockets in its lining, each holding a tiny vial of water. “Tanutka carries water from all over the world! Municipal water supply of Hoboken, New Jersey? Right here. Rain from a cloud shaped like a barking dog? Tanutka has it. Melted corner of a glacier from a fjord in Norway? Impossible to come by these days, but not for Tanutka!”
“Fascinating, but we have to go,” said Aiden, moving past the magician. “Let’s just try the tunnel.”
Tanutka lunged and grabbed Aiden by his shirtsleeve. “Please! Surely, you can spare something! That was an untold display of magique! Please!”
Perhaps Tanutka had used some of his magic on himself, thought Aru, because when he lunged after Aiden, his purple cloak no longer looked shiny and pristine, but dull and frayed. He was now barefoot, and his ragged pants had holes that revealed skin crusted over with scabs. His fingernails were long and yellow and packed with dirt. His hair, no longer like a tuft of dandelion fluff, was greasy and matted to his shiny scalp.
“Give me your camera, perhaps?” he pleaded. “That way Tanutka can record his marvelous magiques!”
Aru could see that some of his teeth were missing, and the remaining ones were black.
Aiden wrenched himself out of Tanutka’s grasp, his face twisted more in embarrassment than anger. Aru felt the same hot pinch of humiliation. Tanutka wasn’t a magician…he was a poor beggar. No wonder he hadn’t gone home to hide like the rest of the Otherworld citizens. This terminal was probably the closest thing he had to a dwelling.
Aru was no stranger to homeless people. In the winter, she and her mom would leave coats and hats on the fence posts outside the museum so those in need could take them and stay warm at night. Sometimes hungry folks approached them for food or money, and Dr. Shah would always grab Aru and walk away quickly, her head down. Aru hated that, and didn’t understand it. She knew her mom cared and gave to charity. Wouldn’t it be better to acknowledge the people and say sorry instead of acting like they were invisible?
“I can’t give you my camera,” said Aiden, not looking Tanutka in the eye. “And I—I don’t have anything else, honest.”
Tanutka’s head dropped sadly. “There have been no visitors and no audience for Tanutka, and he is quite hungry. Little girl, do you have anything for me?”
Kara lowered her eyes. “I wish I did. Truly.”
“I believe you, child,” said Tanutka, but he looked disappointed.
Before Tanutka could ask her, Aru held out her empty hands. “I don’t have anything, either…. I’m sorry.”
She wanted to meet his gaze, but she felt too embarrassed that she had nothing to give.
