Tiger's Dream (Tiger's Curse Book 5)

by Colleen Houck

  Now that I considered it, I didn’t remember seeing Phet’s garden or the clothesline outside. Wood had been stacked outside and there was still a small place to build a fire, but it didn’t look like the hut had been used for a very, very long time. Moss had grown over the rocks and the roof was in serious disrepair.

  “What’s happened to the place?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” Kadam answered. “None of the improvements you remember have been made yet.”

  With the light streaming in through the door, I could see the inches of dust and the plants creeping up between the cracks where the walls met the floor. I sucked in a breath and blew it out. “Animals have been living here,” I said.

  Kadam smiled. “I would think so. This hut would make quite a cozy den.” His eyes trailed me as I walked around the small space looking at everything. “Nothing’s lived here in a while, I believe.”

  “No,” I admitted. “None of the scents are fresh.”

  He nodded as if satisfied with my assessment. “Shall we sit?” he offered, gesturing to the table. Touching the amulet at his throat, he froze time around us to make sure his other self wouldn’t happen upon us while we spoke.

  We took positions, Ana next to me, and she used the Golden Fruit to provide a small tea for us. Kadam smiled with delight. “You remembered my favorites,” he said to Ana as he filled his mug.

  I peered over at her to find a happy blush creeping across her cheeks. “I remember everything you taught me.”

  “You were an excellent student,” he said. “Much more moldable than this one,” he added, nodding to me. “Perhaps by now you know how stubborn he can be.”

  Ana laughed and I found I liked the sound so much I forgot to be irritated that the joke was on me. After we’d eaten, I said, “Tell me what I must do.”

  Kadam pushed away his crumb-filled plate and steepled his fingers. “You must guide me in finding Kelsey and leading her here, where I, as Phet, will counsel both her and Ren to find the Cave of Kanheri.”

  “So, I tell you where she is?”

  “No. Not at all. Your main purpose here is to give me hope. To give Ren hope. After seeing Phet and discovering that there is a prophesy, I will visit Ren over the years, and though I cannot free him, I will tell him that there is a way to break the curse if we are patient enough to wait for it.”

  “You mean wait for her.”

  “Yes, exactly. I have already whispered the idea of a shaman in this jungle to a few of my old contacts, and they shared the information with my other self. I plotted courses and searched this jungle for many years before I discovered this hut. It lies far away from any road, even in Kelsey’s time.”

  I blew out a breath. “Okay, so why me?”

  “You know as well as I do the dangers of crossing paths with yourself. It will be safer for me not to encounter a future, or past, version of myself. Speaking of which, don’t forget to tell me that after the chosen girl is found, she and her tiger must come here alone. I must stay far away as I will be posing as Phet at that time.”

  “Got it. So, when will you be here?”

  “Within a few moments of my restarting time.” Kadam rose and placed a hand on my shoulder. “The two of you are doing well. I wish you luck in completing the rest of your list.” He leaned down to my ear. “And don’t forget to bring that scroll on your next few adventures.”

  I grimaced at the word adventures but nodded. He restarted time, then disappeared with a pop and we were left alone.

  “May I borrow the scarf?” I asked. “If Kadam is arriving soon, I’d better change.”

  “Can I stay and watch?” Ana asked as she wound the scarf around my neck. I’d bent down and our faces were very close.

  My eyes drifted to her lips, and when she inched closer, I backed away and cleared my throat. “I suppose you can. Just make yourself invisible.”

  She phased out of time, her body shimmering and then disappearing while the threads of the scarf went to work, transforming me into the stooped man called Phet. When it was done, I plucked at my homespun robe. I ran a hand over my bald head and licked my lips, feeling the gaps in my mouth where teeth should have been.

  I heard a giggle come from the corner of the room and turned, nearly stumbling on my scrawny legs. “You don’t look like yourself at all, Sohan,” she remarked.

  Giving her a wide, gap-toothed smile, I asked, “Do you miss my hair more, or my teeth?”

  A ghostly hand touched my arm. “Hmm. I’d have to say your muscles.” Ana shook my arm slightly. “You’re as scrawny as a chicken.”

  I laughed and snuck a hand around her waist, surprised to find her waist higher than it normally was. Apparently, I’d shrunk in height as well as muscle. “I think I’m still strong enough to wrestle with a goddess.”

  She shrieked and pulled away. I was about to seek her out by scent when I heard a voice. “Hello?” someone called from outside.

  “Come in,” I hollered back in my normal voice. Then I remembered Phet didn’t talk like that. “Come! Come, young man,” I said in a singsong tone and pushed open the small door.

  A younger Kadam poked his head in. “Thank you,” he said. “It’s been a long time since someone called me young.”

  Peering at him in the way I guessed an all-too-fake wise man would, I said, “I perceive you are aged past your years and are, as yet, young in the ways of this world.”

  “I suppose I am,” Kadam said. “I’ve been traveling a long way.”

  “Travel far. Ah, yes. Phet see. You are”—I paused, trying to channel Phet—“you are most welcome. Drink for you?” I asked.

  “Please and thank you,” he answered as he took a seat.

  I turned to the non-kitchen and wrung my hands for a moment but then felt something pressed into them. Anamika had made a steaming mug of tea. I patted her invisible hand and headed to the table, plopping the mug down in front of Kadam.

  “There,” I said as he sipped. “Drink all as good for you. Now tell Phet of your travels.”

  “Yes, well, I am in the jungle searching for a shaman.”

  “Shaman?” I cocked my head. “What is shaman?”

  “A man who knows answers.”

  I laughed. “All mans knows some answers. Are all mans shamans?”

  “No.” Kadam smiled. “I’m seeking a man who knows a specific answer. You see, there is a tiger, a pair of them actually—”

  “Ah!” I said. “You wish break the tiger’s curse. You pursue remedy.”

  He set down his mug abruptly. “You know of it?” he asked, hope lighting his expression.

  I felt a ghostly hand on my shoulder and warmth reverberated through my frame, filling me.

  “Beautiful warrior goddess, Durga, is strong. She speak to my ear. Very soft are her words, but smart mans listen women. Particularly goddess.”

  Ana’s invisible hair fell over my shoulder as she blew softly in my ear. I cleared my throat noisily, rubbing my extra-long lobe with my fingers, and continued. “She partial to tigers but only one special girl can help. Girl is favored of goddess. Girl love tiger. Alleviate his pains and sufferings.”

  “How do I find this girl?” Kadam asked. He’d pulled out a pad of paper and was jotting down notes very quickly.

  “Phet dream tigers. One pale like moon. One black as resembling night. Girl is devoted, exceptional. She will find her tiger. Free him. Then you know.” My voice had softened as I remembered Kelsey. “Girl is alone, no family. She cares for tiger. Her hair is brown like bark of tree, her eyes dark and soft. Bring such special girl to me. I will guide more.”

  I realized then that Anamika had drifted away. Turning my head, I tried to catch her scent but she was hiding from me. I continued. “When she come, you stay back. Only girl and tiger can enter jungle.” Frowning, I ended with, “This is the one favored by Durga, who breaks tiger’s curse.”

  At the mention of the goddess, I reached out mental fingers, trying to connect to her, but she had cut hers
elf off from me. “Yes,” Kadam said. “I will bring her. Thank you. Thank you so much!” With that, he leapt from his chair, inclined his head respectfully, shouldered his pack, and left.

  When he was gone, ghostly hands grabbed on to my thin robe and shoved me against the wall.

  Chapter 27

  Shrine of Earth

  I didn’t struggle since I didn’t want Kadam to return. “What’s wrong?” I hissed softly as her body slowly phased back, becoming visible. Her green eyes flashed with anger and hurt. “Ana?” I queried as I lifted my hands to cover hers where she still clutched my shirt. When I saw they were Phet’s hands, I whispered the words that would change me back, and the scarf went to work.

  She didn’t answer me and I touched her cheek, offering her easy access to my mind, but she shoved away from me and put up her old familiar barrier between us. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked. “Did I forget something?”

  “No,” she answered over her shoulder. “You forget nothing. That is the problem.”

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” I said. “I’ll fix whatever it is.”

  Turning around, she thrust the list into my hands. “Some things you cannot fix, Sohan.” She strode toward the door, her boots quiet on the floor of the hut. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready to leave,” she said and ducked to exit the building, blurring her body in case Kadam was still near.

  I lifted my eyes to the ceiling, supplicating the heavens in the way I imagined most men did who were absolutely baffled by the women they lived with, and then followed after her. When I caught up to her, she was closed off to me in a way I hadn’t experienced since we’d first become companions. Her whole demeanor was stiff and unapproachable. Gone was the camaraderie we’d built over the last few months. It had hung about us like a shared blanket, the two of us sitting beneath it together, enjoying the warmth it offered.

  Sighing and wishing I had a list or at least an instruction manual that would help me understand Anamika, I perused the one Kadam had given us and said, “The next stop is Kishkindha and then the Shrine of Earth. I have no idea what that second one means.”

  Ana took the list from my hands and said, “The amulet knows. You need simply tell it the destination on the list, and it takes us roughly to the place we need to be, or at least close enough for us to figure it out. But first we need to rest.”

  We returned to our home, and to my surprise, I noticed that Ana had been adding children when I wasn’t paying attention. In fact, an entire wing of the house was practically overrun with kids.

  “What’s this?” I asked her as a half dozen children clambered down the hall.

  “It must be time for their studies,” she answered tiredly.

  “We have teachers here?”

  “A few. They come from different times and places. And some nursemaids. Enough to watch over them.”

  Smirking, I said, “Are you trying to build up a new army?”

  “No. They just needed a home.”

  I sighed. “Just don’t expect me to be dad to half of humanity,” I said, trying to diffuse the tension between us.

  In reply, Ana said softly, “I expect nothing from you. Good night, Kishan.”

  “Good night.”

  Ana trailed down the hall where the kids had disappeared. A hollow feeling in my gut drove me outside. Unwilling to stay in my empty room, I headed to the forest and slept. After a quick breakfast, I sought her out, finding her waiting for me, the list in hand.

  Almost reluctantly, she stepped closer, and the two of us were whisked away, not to Kishkindha but to the ruins of Hampi. I recognized the Queen’s Bath and the Virupaksha Temple.

  “Where are we?” Ana asked.

  “This is the way Ren and Kelsey entered Kishkindha.”

  “And how was this done?” Her mood was cold and businesslike. I didn’t like it. I wanted the warm Ana back. The one who ruffled my hair and teased me.

  I held out my hand, and when she took it, I felt like I’d won something. “If I recall,” I said as we walked, “they went through the statue. We find it, we find our entrance.”

  We wound through buildings until we came upon the right place. “There he is,” I said, pointing. “Anamika meet Ugra Narasimha.”

  “Lovely.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Now what?”

  I scratched my neck as I circled the statue. “Well, there was something about a bell and an offering.” Snapping my fingers, I said, “I’ve got it. We’ll just flash forward and watch how Ren and Kelsey get in.”

  Ana just raised an eyebrow, which I took as acquiescence, and with a thought, I sped us up in time, not slowing until Ren and Kelsey appeared. We kept ourselves phased out just enough to be able to hear and see what was going on but not be seen by either of them. I hid my scent so Ren wouldn’t detect me. Together we watched Kelsey as she figured out Kadam’s clues, and after they disappeared down the opening, I shifted us back to our point of origin. We snapped back like one of Kadam’s rubber bands.

  “Doesn’t seem too difficult,” I said. While Ana stood, arms folded, I headed over to the columns and tapped on one three times.

  When I returned, she pointed to the statue. “There’s no fog. The mouth didn’t open and the snakes’ eyes aren’t red.”

  I frowned. “Maybe those things don’t matter. We need a light.”

  Ana opened her palm and a ball of flame grew in the center. “Is this good enough?” she asked.

  “Yeah. It should be. Next is claws.”

  Ana gave me a pointed look and held out her arm. I shifted to tiger form and drew my claws down her arm, hard enough to draw blood but not hard enough to seriously injure her.

  “Sorry,” I said after shifting back.

  She raised her shoulders in a shrug, but when I lifted her in my arms, she was silent and cold, her body as rigid as a fire poker.

  “Relax,” I said, my lips brushing her ear. When I got to the doorway, I glanced down at her face. Her eyes were closed; the fringe of her lashes shadowed her beautiful face in the moonlight. Tell me what I did to hurt you, lady fair, I said directly to her mind. It was not my intention to stoke your ire.

  “It does not matter,” she said out loud. After a long moment of silence, she wriggled in my arms. “This is not working. Please set me down.”

  She was right, but I found I was reluctant to put her down. I liked the spill of her silky hair over my arm and the taut bend of her mouth as she frowned at me. Something about it made me feel happy. When she began to struggle, I set her on her feet, and she adjusted her dress, wrenching it into place with a tight-fisted fury she barely contained.

  “Did you stop to think,” she said, “that we might possibly have created Kishkindha in the first place, much as we did the Cave of Kanheri?”

  “No, I…I suppose I didn’t. It makes sense though. We’ve done most everything else. Why not create an entire underground city?”

  She missed my sarcasm and nodded, lifting her arms. “Then let us begin.” Before we could even discuss anything, Ana began working her magic. The statue glowed and the snakes writhed. Even Fanindra came alive to watch the process. When we connected a handprint to the newly made entrance to the tunnel below Hampi, Ana sent her power down into the aperture. Light blossomed in the dark and we headed down steps that rose to meet her feet.

  As we walked down the passageway, rock and dirt melted away before us, repositioning themselves or flying up and outside, and I wondered if a new mountain was being created from the ground we’d displaced. Finally, after we’d walked a good distance underground, she paused, pushing her hands forward, and mumbled a spell that shook the earth. A yawning chasm appeared before us. Rocks and dirt swirled in massive eddies, disappearing in cracks in the ceiling far above us or shooting down the tunnel behind.

  When the dust settled, she turned to me and waited until I snapped my mouth shut. Her power, no, our power was…was unfathomable. “What is found in Kishkindha?” she asked.

  I told h
er of the needle forest that could be beaten back by the gada. Next, I talked of the mysterious cavern full of tunnels housing malevolent spirits bent on tempting Ren and Kelsey from the path that led to the prize. Ana nodded and spread her fingers. Using the earth piece of the amulet and the bow and arrows, she combined their powers to fashion trees that were alive with sharp needles.

  They rose from the newly razed soil and spread forth leafy branches. She next created a river running alongside that would water the trees. For light, she used fire power and the scarf and made a sort of pseudo-sun that rose and set. It provided light and warmth for the cavern, enough to support the ecosystem she’d built.

  She stepped along the path that led through the forest, whispering to the trees as she went. They bowed to their goddess and vowed to honor her and her weapons should they ever return. We came upon a natural rise in the land, and within the span of a few moments, she’d created the maze of tunnels. Using the time piece of the amulet combined with the scarf and the truth stone, something I never would have thought of as part of our newfound powers, she placed pieces of Kelsey’s and Ren’s past into each tunnel.

  Small animals that lived underground were commissioned to tempt and sway passersby, and the scarf transformed their bodies into ones Kelsey and Ren would recognize. Ana then promised them that as soon and Ren and Kelsey left, they would be returned to their natural forms.

  As we proceeded, I was amazed at not only the sheer depths of her creativity but the ease with which she wielded her power. When we got to the river and she asked about the creatures that lived within it who hunted Ren and Kelsey, I just stood there mutely, staring at her.

  “Are you well?” she asked, putting her hand on my arm and shaking me.

  “You…you’re amazing,” I said, my words tripping over my tongue. Any time I saw her in goddess mode, it humbled me in a way I just couldn’t describe. “Kadam taught you well. I…I’m fortunate to be your companion,” I finished lamely.

  She looked at me for a long time with a doubt-filled expression. “Is that how you truly feel?” she asked.