Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck (12)

11

The Cave of Kanheri

The next morning, I woke to find the Mujulaain Empire Seal on the dresser. The beautiful, creamy stone had golden orange striations and hung from a soft ribbon. I picked up the heavy object to examine it more closely and immediately noticed the carved words that Ren had said meant ‘wisdom, vigilance, bravery, and compassion.’ A lotus flower bloomed on the bottom of the Seal. The detailing in the intricate design demon­strated highly sophisticated workmanship. It was lovely.

If he was as true to these words as Ren says he was, Ren’s father must have been a good king.

For a minute, I let myself imagine an older version of Ren as king. I could easily envision him leading others. There was something about him that made me want to trust and follow him. I grinned wryly. Women would follow him over a cliff.

Mr. Kadam had served his prince for more than three hundred years. The idea that Ren could inspire a lifetime of loyalty was extraordi­nary. I set aside my speculations and looked at the centuries-old Seal again with awe.

I opened the bag Mr. Kadam had left and found it contained cameras, both digital and disposable, matches, a few handheld digging tools, flashlights, a pocketknife, glow sticks, paper with rubbing charcoal, food, water, maps, and a few other things. Several of the items were placed in waterproof plastic bags. I tested out the weight of the pack and found it surprisingly manageable.

I opened the closet, fingered my pretty dress again, and sighed. Slipping on some jeans and a T-shirt, I laced up my new hiking boots, and grabbed my sneakers.

Downstairs, I found Mr. Kadam slicing mango for breakfast.

‘Good morning, Miss Kelsey,’ he said and gestured to my neck. ‘I see you found the Seal.’

‘I did. It’s very pretty, but a little bit heavy.’ I scooped some mango slices onto my plate and poured some homemade hot cocoa into a mug. ‘You’ve taken care of it all these years?’

‘Yes. It’s very precious to me. The Seal was actually made in China, not India. It was a gift given to Ren’s grandfather. Seals that old are quite rare. It’s made of Shoushan stone, which contrary to popular belief, is not a type of jade. The Chinese believed that Shoushans were brightly colored Phoenix eggs, found high in mountain nests. Men who risked their lives to locate and capture them received honor, glory, and wealth.

‘Only the very richest of men had items carved from this type of stone. To receive one as a gift was a great honor for Ren’s grandfather. It’s a priceless heirloom. The good news for you, though, is that it’s also considered good luck to own or wear something made from this type of stone. Perhaps it will help you on your journey in more ways than one.’

‘It sounds like Ren’s family was very special.’

‘Indeed they were, Miss Kelsey.’

We’d just sat down to a breakfast of yogurt and mango when Ren stalked into the room and put his head down on my lap.

I scratched his ears. ‘Nice of you to join us. I guess you’re anxious to get moving today, huh? You must be excited that you’re this close to break­ing the curse.’

He kept watching me intently as if impatient to leave, but I didn’t want to rush. I pacified him by feeding him pieces of mango. Content for the moment, he sat down and enjoyed his treat, licking the juice from my fingers.

I laughed. ‘Stop it! That tickles!’ He ignored me, moved up my arm, and licked me almost all the way up to my sleeve. ‘Ew, gross, Ren! Alright. Alright. Let’s go.’

I washed my arm off, took one last look at the view, and made my way out to the garage. Mr. Kadam was already outside with Ren. He took my bag from me, put it on the passenger seat, and then held open my door as I hopped into the Jeep.

‘Be careful, Miss Kelsey,’ Mr. Kadam warned. ‘Ren will watch out for you, but there are many dangers ahead. Some we’ve planned for, but I’m sure you’ll face many that I am unaware of. Use caution.’

‘I will. Hopefully, we’ll be back very soon.’

I rolled up the window and backed out of the garage. My GPS began beeping at me, telling me where to go. Once again, I felt a deep appreciation for Mr. Kadam. Ren and I would be truly lost with­out him.

The drive was uneventful. The traffic was very light for the first hour. It gradually began to pick up the closer we got to Mumbai, but by then I had almost gotten used to driving on the other side of the road. We drove for about four hours before I pulled to a stop at the end of a dirt road that bordered the park.

‘This is where we’re supposed to go in. According to the map, it’ll take us two and a half hours to walk to the Cave of Kanheri.’ I checked my watch and continued, ‘That gives us about two hours to kill since we can’t go in until nightfall when the tourists have gone.’

Ren leapt out of the car and followed me into the park to a shady spot. Ren lay down on the grass, and I sat down next to him. At first, I used his body as a backrest and then gradually relaxed against him, using his back as a pillow.

Staring up into the trees, I started talking. I told Ren about visits with my grandma, grow­ing up with my parents, and the vacations we used to go on as a family.

‘Mom was a nurse in a geriatric facility at first, but then she decided to stay home and raise me,’ I explained, thinking back with fond memories. ‘She made the best chocolate-chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Mom believed that showing your love meant making homemade cookies, which is probably why I was chubby as a kid.

‘Dad was your average backyard-grilling-kind of dad. He was a math teacher, and I guess some of that rubbed off on me because I like math, too. We all loved reading, and we had a cozy home library. Dr. Seuss books were my favorite. Even now I can almost sense my parents near me when I pick up a book.

‘When we traveled, my parents liked to stay at bed-and-breakfasts, where I’d get a room all to myself. We toured practically the whole state and saw apple farms and old mines, Bavarian-themed towns that served German pancakes for breakfast, the ocean, and the mountains. I think you’d easily fall in love with Oregon. I haven’t traveled all over the world like you have, but I can’t imagine a place more beautiful than my home state.’

Later, I talked about school and my dreams to go to a university, though I couldn’t afford more than a community college. I even spoke of my parents’ car accident, about how alone I felt when it happened, and what it was like living with a foster family.

Ren’s tail flicked back and forth, so I knew he was awake and listen­ing, which surprised me because I figured he’d just go to sleep, bored with my chatter. Eventually, I trailed off, getting sleepy myself, and drowsed in the heat until I felt Ren stir and sit up.

I stretched. ‘Time to go already, huh? Okay, lead the way.’

We trekked through the park for a couple of hours. It had a much more open feel than the Yawal Wildlife Preserve. The trees were spaced farther apart. Beautiful purple flowers covered the hills. But, when we got closer, I noticed that they were diminishing in the heat. I guessed that they sprung up briefly during the monsoon rains and would soon be gone.

We passed teak trees and bamboo, but there were other types I couldn’t identify. Several animals darted across our path. I saw rabbits, deer, and porcupines. Looking up at the branches, I spied hundreds of birds in a variety of colors.

As we walked under a particularly dense group of trees, I heard strange, alarmed grunts and spotted rhesus monkeys swinging as high up as they could climb. They were harmless and familiar, but as we moved deeper into the park, I saw other, more fearsome creatures. I skirted a giant python that hung from a tree and watched us with black, unblinking eyes. Huge monitor lizards with forked tongues and long bodies scurried quickly across our path, hissing. Big, fat bugs buzzed around lazily in the air, bounced drunkenly off objects in flight, and then continued on their journey.

It was pretty but also creepy, and I was glad that I had a tiger nearby. Every once in a while, Ren would veer off the path and circle around in a way that made me think he was avoiding certain places or perhaps, I shuddered, certain things.

After about two hours of walking, we arrived at the edge of the jungle by the Kanheri Cave. The forest had thinned out, opening to a hill, bare of trees. Stone steps led up the hill to the entrance, but we were still too far away to see more than just a small glimpse of the cave. I started toward the steps, but Ren jumped in front of me and nudged me back toward the tree line.

‘You want to wait a bit longer? Okay, we’ll wait.’

We sat down under the cover of some bushes and waited for an hour. Slightly impatient, I watched tourists emerge from the cave, make their slow way down the steps, and walk to a parking lot. I could hear them chattering as they left in their cars.

I remarked enviously, ‘Too bad we couldn’t have driven in here. It sure would’ve saved us a lot of hassle. But, I guess people wouldn’t understand why a tiger was following me around. Plus, the park ranger would be keeping tabs on us too, if we’d driven in.’

Finally, the sun set, and the tourists left. Ren stepped for­ward carefully out of the trees and sniffed at the air. Satisfied, he began moving toward the stone steps that were cut into the rocky hill. The long climb up left me breathless by the time we reached the top.

Once inside the cave, we came upon an open stone bunker with rooms that reminded me of beehive cells. Each one was identical to the other. A stone block the size of a small bed was positioned on the left side of every room, and hollowed-out shelves were located on the back walls. A sign noted that this place used to be where the Buddhist monks lived and that the cave was part of a Buddhist settlement dating back to the third century.

Isn’t it strange that we’re looking for an Indian prophecy in a Buddhist settlement? I thought as we continued on. But then again, everything about this adventure is a bit strange.

Walking farther in, I noted long stone trenches connected by arches that ran from a central stone well and continued on – probably higher into the mountains. A sign read that the trenches were once used as an aqueduct to move water to the area.

Reaching the main room, I ran my hands over the deep grooves of the elaborately carved wall. Ancient Indian writing and hieroglyphics had been etched into the walls.

The remnants of a ceiling, still held up in some places by rock pillars, cast deep shadows over the area. Statues were carved into stone col­umns, and, as we walked through, I kept my eye on them just to make sure they didn’t let the remainder of the roof come crashing down on top of us.

Ren continued making his way to the back of the main room toward the black gaping maw of the cave that led even deeper into the hill. I followed him and stepped through the opening and onto a sandy floor in a large, circular room. Pausing, I let my eyes adjust for a minute. The round room had many doorways. The light coming in was just enough to silhouette the opening, but it could not penetrate into any of the other corridors beyond and was quickly fading as the sunlight disappeared.

I pulled out a flashlight and asked, ‘What do we do now?’

Ren stepped over to the first shadowy doorway and disappeared into the darkness. Following him, I ducked into the small room. It was filled with stone shelves. I wondered if it might have been used as a library once. I wandered through and made my way to the back, hoping to see a giant sign that read: ‘Durga prophecy here!’, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped at Ren’s touch.

‘Don’t do that! Can’t you give me some kind of warning first?’

‘Sorry, Kells. We need to check each room for a symbol that looks like the Seal. You look high and I’ll look low.’

He squeezed my shoulder briefly and morphed back into his tiger form.

I shuddered. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.

We didn’t see any carvings in the room, so we moved on to the next one and the next one. At the fourth doorway, we searched more carefully because the room was full of glyphs. We spent at least an hour in there. No luck in the fifth either.

The sixth chamber was empty. Not even a stone shelf graced the walls, but the seventh door was where we found a match. The opening led to a much smaller room than the others. It was long and narrow and had a couple of shelves similar to the other rooms. Ren found the engraving under one of the shelves. I probably would have overlooked it if I’d been searching alone.

He growled softly at me and stuck his nose up under the ledge.

‘What is it?’ I asked and bent down.

Sure enough, under the shelf on the wall in the back of the room was an engraving that matched the Seal exactly.

‘Well, I guess this is it. Keep your fingers, er, claws crossed.’

I removed the Seal from around my neck and pressed it into the carving, wiggling until I felt it click into place. I waited, but nothing happened. I tried twisting the Seal, and this time, I heard a mechanical whirring behind the wall. After a full turn, I felt resistance and heard a quiet pneumatic hiss. Dust blew out from the edges of the wall reveal­ing that it wasn’t a wall at all, but a door.

A deep, muffled rumble shook the wall as it slowly rolled back. I popped the Seal out, put it back around my neck, and aimed my feeble light through the door. I only saw more walls. Ren nudged me aside and entered first. I stayed as close to him as I possibly could and almost stomped on his paws a couple of times.

Shining my light on the wall, I found a torch hanging in a metal sconce. I pulled out matches and was surprised that the torch lit almost immediately. The flame brightened the corridor much more than my meager flashlight had.

We were at the top of a winding stairway. I peered cautiously over the edge into a dark abyss. Since the only way to go was down, I took the torch and started the descent. A clicking noise sounded behind us, and with a slight whoosh, the door closed, sealing us in.

I muttered, ‘Great. I guess we’ll worry about how to get out later, then.’

Ren just looked up at me and rubbed his head down my leg. I massaged the scruff of his neck, and we continued down the steps. He placed his body on the outside of the steps, which allowed me to hug the wall as we descended. I wasn’t normally afraid of heights, but a secret passageway plus narrow stairs plus a dark abyss and no handrail equals freaking me out. I was very grateful that he took the more danger­ous side.

We crept along slowly, and my arm began to ache from holding the torch. I shifted it to my other hand, careful not to dribble any hot oil onto Ren. When we’d finally reached the dusty bottom, another dark passageway gaped open before us. A short distance from its beginning, we came upon a fork leading in two different directions. I groaned.

‘Fantastic. A maze. Which way do we go now?’

Ren stepped into one corridor and smelled the air. Then he moved to the other one and raised his head to sniff again. Moving back to the first one, he continued. I sniffed the air too, just to see if I could smell what he did, but the only thing I detected was an acrid, noxious sulfur-like odor. The bitter smell permeated the cavern and seemed to intensify with each turn we made.

We continued onward in the dark, twisting through the underground labyrinth. The torch cast a flickering light on the walls, creating scary shadows that danced in sinister circles. As we made our way through the tomblike maze, we frequently came upon open areas that branched off. Ren had to stop and smell each opening before choosing the one that he felt led us in the right direction.

Shortly after passing through one of the open areas, a terrifying sound shook the passage. A metallic hammering grated loudly and a sharp-spiked iron gate slammed to the ground right behind me. I spun around quickly and cried out in fright. Not only were we in an ancient dark maze, it was an ancient dark maze full of booby traps.

Ren moved up beside me and stayed very close, close enough for me to keep my hand on his neck. I dug my fingers into his fur and held on tight for reassurance. Three turns later, I heard a quiet hum emanating from one of the passageways ahead. The hum increased in volume the closer we walked.

Turning a corner, Ren stopped and looked directly ahead. His fur stood straight up and crackled against my fingers. I raised my torch to see why he had stopped and gripped his fur as I started shaking.

The corridor ahead was moving. Giant black beetles, as big as baseballs, were lazily crawling over one another, obstructing the entire passageway ahead. The strange aberrations seemed to limit their move­ments to the corridor directly ahead of us.

‘Uh . . . Ren, are you sure we need to go down that direction? This other passageway looks a little better.’

He took a step closer to the corner. I reluctantly took a step closer too. The bugs had shiny black exoskeletons, six hairy legs, quivering antennae, and two pointed mandibles on the front that clacked back and forth like sharp scissors. Some of the bugs cracked open thick black wings and hummed heavily as they flew to the opposite wall. The prickly legs of other bugs stuck to the ceiling.

I looked at Ren and gulped as he started forward, determined to go through the passage. He looked back at me.

‘Okay, Ren, I’ll do it. But this will really, really freak me out. I’m running the entire way, so don’t expect me to wait for you.’

I took a few steps back, tightened my grip on the torch, and began to sprint. Squishing my eyes to slits, I ran with my lips tightly closed, screaming in the back of my throat the entire way. I darted through the passage as quickly as possible and almost lost my balance a few times when my boots rolled across several bugs at once, crunching them. A horrible image flashed through my mind: landing in the horde face down. I resolved to be more careful with my footing.

I felt like I was running on a giant roll of bubble wrap, and every step popped several giant, juicy bubbles. The beetles burst like ketchup packets and splattered green slime in every direction. This action, of course, disturbed the other bugs. Several of them took flight and started swarming around my body, landing on my jeans, shirt, and hair. I was able to bat them away from my face with my free hand, which was poked by their pinchers several times.

Finally making it to the other side, I began shaking my body in great convulsions to rid myself of any hitchhikers. I had to reach up and grab a couple that wouldn’t detach, including one that was climbing up my ponytail. Then I began scraping my shoes against the wall and looked around for Ren.

He was running fast through the now-buzzing passageway, and with a great leap, landed next to me, shaking himself fiercely. Several bugs still clung to his fur, and I had to push them off with the butt of my torch. One of them had pinched his ear hard enough to make it bleed. Luckily for me, I’d made it through without any of them pinching me to the point of breaking skin.

‘I guess it helps to wear clothes, Ren. They end up pinching your clothes instead of your skin. Poor tiger. You have squished bugs all over your paws. Yuck! At least I have the benefit of wearing shoes.’

He shook each paw in turn, and I helped him pry bug bodies from between his toe pads. Shuddering one last time, I doubled my pace to put as much distance between the bugs and us as possible.

About ten turns later, I stepped onto a stone that sank into the ground. Freezing in place, I waited for the next booby trap to spring. The walls started to shake, and small metal panels slid back to allow sharp, spiky, metal barbs to emerge on both sides. I groaned. Not only were spikes sticking out of the walls, but also the trap was compounded by a slick black oil that poured out of stone pipes, covering the floor.

Ren changed into a man.

‘There’s poison on the tips of the spikes, Kelsey. I can smell it. Stay in the middle. There’s enough room for us to pass through, but don’t allow yourself to be even scratched by those barbs.’

I took another look at the long pointy spikes and shivered. ‘But what if I slip?’

‘Hold tightly on to my fur. I’ll use my claws to anchor us as we go, and we’ll go slowly. Don’t rush through this one.’

Ren changed back into a tiger. I adjusted my backpack and tightly gripped the scruff of his neck. He stepped gingerly into the pool of oil, testing it with one paw first. His paw slipped a little, and I watched as his claws emerged and sank through the oil and into the dirt floor. He forced them deep into the oily ground. After locking his leg, he then took another step and sank those claws in. Once that paw was firmly in place, he had to yank hard to get his other foot back up.

It was a painstakingly tedious process. Each deadly spike was placed at random intervals so I couldn’t even get comfortable with a rhythm. I had to focus all my attention on them. There was one by my calf, then my neck, my head, my stomach. I started counting and stopped after fifty. My entire frame shook from clenching my muscles and moving stiffly for so long. All it would take was one second of slipped concentration – one wrong step and I’d be dead.

I was glad Ren was taking his time, because there was barely enough room for us to walk side by side. We only had about an inch of free space on either side of us. I planted each step carefully. Sweat dripped down my face. About half­way through, I screamed. I must have stepped into a particularly oily place because my boot slipped out from under me. My knee buckled, and I staggered. This spike was aimed at chest height but luckily I twisted at the last second and my backpack took the spike instead of my arm. Ren froze in place, waiting patiently for me to right myself.

I panted and righted myself limb by trembling limb. It was a miracle I didn’t end up impaled. When Ren made a whining sound, I patted his back.

‘I’m fine,’ I reassured him.

I was lucky, very lucky. We continued on going even slower and finally emerged on the other end, shaky but safe. I collapsed on the dirt floor and groaned, rubbing my stiff neck.

‘After the spikes, the bugs don’t seem so bad anymore. I think I’d rather do the bugs again than that one.’

Ren licked my arm and I petted his head.

After a brief rest, we went on. We walked through several more turns without event. I was just beginning to let my guard down when a noise set off again and a doorway sunk down behind us. Another doorway started descending ahead of us, and we ran for it but didn’t make it. Well, Ren could have made it, but he wouldn’t go through it without me.

A rushing sound started banging against pipes overhead, and a panel opened in the ceiling. A moment later, we were knocked to the floor by a flood of water that fell on top of us. It doused our torch and quickly began filling the chamber. The water was already up to my knees by the time I was able to stand. I yanked open a zipper and felt blindly. Finding a long tube, I gave it a snap, shook it, and the liquid inside began to glow. The color changed Ren’s white fur yellow.

‘What do we do? Can you swim? It’ll go over your head first!’

Ren changed into a man. ‘Tigers can swim. I can hold my breath longer as a tiger than as a man.’

The water was now up to our waists, and he quickly pulled me past the surging pipe and over to the door in front of us. By the time we reached it, I was floating. Ren dove under looking for a way out.

When his head popped back up, he shouted, ‘There’s another Seal mark on the door. Try to insert the Seal and twist it like you did before!’

I nodded and took a deep breath. Diving under the water, I felt along the door for the mark. I finally found it, but I was running out of air. Struggling to the surface, I kicked hard, weighed down by the heavy backpack and the Seal around my neck. Ren reached down under the water, grabbed my bag, and yanked me to the surface.

We were floating near the ceiling now. We would drown any minute. I took a few deep breaths.

‘You can do this, Kells. Try again.’

I took another breath and yanked the Seal from around my neck. He let go of my bag, and I dove again, pulling myself down to the bottom of the door. I pressed the Seal into the groove and twisted it one way and the other, but it wouldn’t budge.

Ren had changed back into a tiger and was now swimming down to me. His paws tore at the water, and the motion swept the fur back from his face, making him look scary, like a white striped sea monster. The grimace of pointed teeth didn’t help. I was running out of air again, but I knew the chamber had filled and there were no more options.

I panicked and started to think the worst. This was where I would die. I would never be found. No one would hold a funeral for me. What would it feel like to drown? It would be fast. It only takes a minute or two. My dead corpse would be bloated and swollen, floating next to Ren’s tiger body forever. Would those awful bugs get in and nibble on me? That seemed worse than the dying, somehow. Ren could hold his breath longer. He’d watch me die. I wonder how he’d feel about that. Would he regret it? Would he feel guilty? Would he pound against the door himself?

I fought against the desperation to swim to the top. There was no more top. There was no more air. Frustrated and terrified, I beat my fist against the Seal and felt a slight movement. I beat on it again, harder, and I felt a whoosh. The door finally began to rise, and the Seal fell out. I reached down desperately, just able to grab the ribbon between two fingers as the water spilled out of the door, taking us along with it.

The water dumped us into the next corridor and then slid down through drain holes, leaving the floor sopping and muddy. I gasped and coughed, sucking in deep breaths. I looked at Ren, laughed, and then coughed again. Even gagging, I still laughed.

‘Ren,’ giggle-cough, ‘you look like a,’ cough-cough-giggle, ‘drowned cat!’

He must not have seen the humor in it. Ren huffed, walked right up next to me, and shook himself like a dog, spraying water and mud all over. His fur stood up everywhere in wet spikes.

I sputtered, ‘Hey! Thanks a lot! Well, I don’t care. It’s still funny.’

I tried to squeeze all the water out of my clothes, slipped the Seal around my neck, and decided to check the cameras to make sure no water had seeped into the bags. I dumped the soggy contents of the bag onto the floor. The items fell into a muddy puddle that splashed my soaked clothes. Except for the soggy food, everything else looked well contained. Thanks to Mr. Kadam’s foresight, all the cameras looked intact. ‘Well, we can’t eat, but other than that, we’re good.’

I reluctantly got up again. Uncomfortable and soaked, I grumbled for at least the next ten minutes. My boots made squishing noises, and my wet clothes chaffed. ‘The bright side is that we washed off the bugs and the oil,’ I murmured.

When the light from the glow tube faded, I pulled a flashlight out of the backpack and shook it. It sloshed wetly inside, but it still worked. We took a few left turns and a right and came upon a long corridor, longer than any of the others had been. Ren and I started making our way through. About half-way along it, Ren stopped, jumped in front of me, and started forcing me to move backward – fast.

‘Great! What is it now? Scorpions?’

At that moment, a great rumbling noise shook the tunnel. The sandy ground I had just been standing on collapsed. I scrambled backward as more of the floor crumbled and plunged down into a deep chasm. The quaking stopped suddenly, so I crawled to the edge to look down. Hold­ing my flashlight over the edge didn’t help much because I still couldn’t see how deep the hole was.

Frustrated, I shrieked out to the hole, ‘Wonderful! Who do you think I am? Indiana Jones? Well, I think you should know that there ain’t no whip in this bag!’ I groaned and turned to Ren. Indicating the path across the chasm, I said, ‘And I suppose this direction is where we need to go, right?’

Ren bent his head down and peered into the rift. Then he walked back and forth along the edge, examining the walls and looking at the path that continued on the other side. I plopped down with my back to the wall, pulled out a water bottle from the bag, took a long drink, and shut my eyes.

I felt a warm hand touch mine.

‘Are you okay?’

‘If you mean am I injured, then the answer is no. If you mean am I “okay” as in am-I-confident-I’m-still-sane, the answer is still no.’

Ren frowned. ‘We have to find a way to get across the chasm.’

‘You’re certainly welcome to give it a try.’ I waved him off and went back to drinking my water.

He moved to the edge and peered across, looking speculatively at the distance. Changing back to a tiger, he trotted a few paces back in the direction we had come from, turned, and ran at full speed toward the hole.

‘Ren, no!’ I screamed.

He leapt, clearing the hole easily, and landed lightly on his front paws. Then he trotted a short distance away and did the same thing to come back. He landed at my feet and changed back to human form.

‘Kells, I have an idea.’

‘Oh, this I’ve got to hear. I just hope you don’t plan on including me in this scheme of yours. Ah. Let me guess. I know. You want to tie a rope to your tail, leap across, tie it off, and then have me pull my body across the rope, right?’

He cocked his head as if considering it, and then shook his head. ‘No, you don’t have the strength to do something like that. Plus, we have no rope and nothing to tie a rope to.’

‘Right. So what’s the plan?’

He held my hands and explained. ‘What I’m proposing will be much easier. Do you trust me?’

I was going to be sick. ‘I trust you. It’s just—’ I looked into his concerned blue eyes and sighed. ‘Okay, what do I have to do?’

‘You saw that I was able to clear the gap pretty well as a tiger, right? So what I need you to do is to stand right at the edge and wait for me. I’ll run to the end of the tunnel, build up speed, and leap as a tiger. At the same time, I want you to jump up and grab me around my neck. I’ll change to a man in midair so that I can hold onto you, and we’ll fall together to the other side.’

I snorted noisily and laughed. ‘You’re kidding, right?’

He ignored my skepticism. ‘We’ll have to time it precisely, and you’ll have to jump too, in the same direction, because if you don’t, I’ll just hit you full power and drive us both over the edge.’

‘You’re serious? You seriously want me to do this?’

‘Yes, I’m serious. Now stand here while I make a few prac­tice runs.’

‘Can’t we just find another corridor or something?’

‘There aren’t any. This is the right way.’

Reluctantly, I stood near the edge and watched him leap back and forth a few times. Observing the rhythm of his running and jumping, I began to grasp the idea of what he wanted me to do. All too quickly Ren was back in front of me again.

‘I can’t believe you’ve talked me into doing this. Are you sure?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I’m sure. Are you ready?’

‘No! Give me a minute to mentally write a last will and testament.’

‘Kells, it’ll be fine.’

‘Sure it will. Alright, let me take in my surroundings. I want to make sure I can record every minute of this experience in my journal. Of course, that’s probably a moot point because I’m assuming that I’m going to die in the jump anyway.’

Ren put his hand on my cheek, looked in my eyes, and said fiercely, ‘Kelsey, trust me. I will not let you fall.’

I nodded, tightened the shoulder straps of my bag, and moved nervously to the edge of the chasm. Ren changed back into tiger form and ran all the way to the end of the tunnel. He crouched down and then surged forward in a rush of speed. A huge animal was charging, barreling toward me, and all my instincts said to run – run as fast as I could in the other direction. The fear of the chasm behind me dwindled in comparison to being run down by an animal of his size.

I almost shut my eyes in fear, but I pulled myself together at the last possible second, ran two steps, and hurtled my body into the void. Ren took a mighty leap at exactly the same time and I reached out to wrap my arms around his neck.

I desperately began clutching at his fur, sensing myself falling, and then felt arms grab me around my waist. He pulled me tightly to his muscled chest, and we rolled in the air so that he was under me. We hit the dirt floor on the other side of the chasm with a heavy thump that knocked the wind out of me as we bumped and skidded along for a bit on Ren’s back.

I sucked a huge breath of air into my collapsed lungs. Once I could breathe again, I examined Ren’s back. His white shirt was dirty and torn, and his skin was scratched and bleeding in several places. I took a wet shirt from the bag to clean his scratches, while removing little pieces of gravel embedded in his skin.

When I was finished, I grabbed Ren around the waist in a fierce hug. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I whispered against his chest quietly but firmly, ‘Thank you. But don’t ever . . . ever . . . ever do that again!’

He laughed. ‘If I get results like this, I surely will do it again.’

‘You will not!’

Ren reluctantly let me go, and I began mumbling, com­plain­­­­­ing about tigers, men, and bugs. He seemed very pleased with himself for surviving a near-death experience. I could practically hear him chanting to himself: I overcame. I conquered. I’m a man, etc, etc. I smirked. Men! No matter what century they’re from, they’re all the same.

I checked to make sure I had everything I needed and then pulled out my flashlight again. Ren changed back into a tiger and moved in front of me.

We walked down a few more passageways and came upon a door etched with symbols. There was no knob or handle. On the right-hand side, about one third of the way down was a handprint with mark­ings similar to mine. I looked down at my hand and turned it over. The symbols were a mirror image.

‘It matches the drawing from Phet!’

I put my hand on the cold, stone door, lined it up with the drawing, and felt a warm tingling. Pulling my hand off, I looked at my palm. The symbols were glowing bright red, but strangely, my hand didn’t hurt. I moved it back toward the door and felt the warmth build up again. electric sparks began popping out between the door and my hand as I moved closer. It looked like a mini lightning storm was occurring between my hand and the stone, and then I felt the stone move.

The door opened inwardly, as if pulled by invisible hands, and allowed us to pass. We walked into a large grotto that was glowing dimly from phosphorescent lichen growing on the stone walls. The center of the grotto housed a tall rectangular monolith with a small stone post set in front of it. I dusted off the stone post and saw a set of handprints – a right and a left. The right handprint looked the same as the one on the door, but the left one had the same markings that were on the back of my right hand.

I tried putting both hands on the stone block, but nothing happened. I put my right hand with the back side down on the left handprint. The symbols started glowing red again. Flipping my hand over, I placed it palm down on the right handprint and felt a more than a warm tingle this time. The connection crackled with energy, and heat poured out of my hand and into the stone.

I heard a deep rumbling at the top of the monolith and a wet sucking, slurping noise. Golden liquid spilled over the top of the edifice and poured down the four sides, pooling into a bowl-shaped basin at the bottom. The solution was reacting to something on the stone. The stone hissed and steamed as the liquid foamed, bubbled, and fizzed, eventually dribbling down into the basin.

After the hissing stopped and the steam cleared, I gasped in shock, seeing that glyph engravings had appeared on all four sides of the stone where none had been before.

‘I think this is it, Ren. This is Durga’s prophecy! This is what we have been looking for!’

I pulled out the digital camera and started taking pictures of the structure. Then I took some more with the disposable camera for good measure. Next, I grabbed the paper and charcoal and made a rubbing of the handprints on the stone and the door. I had to document every­thing so Mr. Kadam could figure out what it all meant.

I wandered around the monolith trying to make out some of the symbols and then heard a yelp from Ren. I saw him pick up his paw carefully and set it down again gingerly. The golden acid was seeping out of the basin in little rivulets and moving across the stone floor, filling in all the cracks. I looked down to see that my shoelace was steaming where it lay in a golden puddle.

We had both just leapt over to the sandy part of the floor when another great rumble shook the maze. Rocks began to fall from the high ceiling. They dropped to the stone floor and shattered into tiny pieces. Ren nudged me back against the wall, where I ducked down, sheltering my head. The shaking became worse, and with a deafening crack, the monolith split in two. It fell with a mighty boom to the floor and broke into large chunks. The golden acid bubbled through the broken basin and started to spread across the floor, slowly destroying the stone and everything else it touched.

Acid crept closer to us until there was no place for us to go. The doorway had been blocked, sealing us in, and there appeared to be no other way out. Ren got up, sniffed the air, and walked a short distance away. Standing up on his hind legs, he put his claws on the wall and started scratching furiously at something.

Approaching him, I saw that he had opened a hole and that there were stars on the other side! I helped him dig and pulled out rocks until the hole was big enough for him to leap through. After he was out, I tossed out my backpack and shimmied my way through until I fell out the other side and rolled across the ground.

At that moment, a huge boulder fell with a thunderous boom, sealing off the hole. The quaking slowed and then stopped. Silence descended in the dark jungle where we stood as a light, powdery dust filtered down from the air and fell gently upon us.