“I don’t think so,” I said haughtily as I carefully cleaned my fingers with another wipe.
“Aw, come on. We’d let you have a head start.”
I leaned back against the tree trunk. “Yes, but the question remains … what would you do when you caught me?”
Kishan buttered another biscuit while he tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile.
Ren leaned back on his elbows and tilted his head as if seriously considering the question. “I guess that would be up to the tiger that caught you. Wouldn’t you say, Kishan?”
“She won’t run,” he said.
“You don’t think so?”
“No.” Kishan stood and suggested we walk another hour or two then set up camp for the evening. He crouched down next to me and touched my shoulder. “It’s pretty hot now. Let me know when you get tired,” he said and walked off into the jungle to find the trail.
“Kishan’s right. I won’t run,” I affirmed as I sipped my lemonade.
Ren sighed. “That’s too bad. Most of the time the fun is in the chase, but I suspect with you the capture would be equally interesting.” He stretched out a finger and brushed it against my cheek. “Made you blush again.”
“I suspect it’s a sunburn,” I said and glared.
He stood and offered his hand to pull me up. Once upright, I let go immediately.
Grabbing the box of cookies, Ren said softly, “It’s not a sunburn.”
He swung my backpack onto his shoulders and strode off after Kishan. With nothing to carry, I mentally instructed the Golden Fruit and the Divine Scarf to make our picnic scraps disappear and trotted after Ren.
We hiked another two hours before I had to call it quits. Ren leaned up against a tree a few feet away, and Kishan used the Scarf to create a small tent.
“That’s not big enough for two tigers, Kishan.”
“We don’t need to sleep next to you, Kells. It’s hot. We’ll just make you miserable.”
“I don’t mind it, really.”
Kishan wet a cloth and touched it to my face.
“That feels good,” I said gratefully.
“You’re overheated. I shouldn’t have made you walk so far in one day.”
“I’ll be fine. Maybe I should make up a magic milk bath with the Golden Fruit, huh?” I laughed.
Kishan considered and grinned. “A giant bowlful of milk with you in the middle might be a little too much for us cats to resist.”
I smiled but was too exhausted to come up with a flip response.
“I want you to relax now, Kelsey. Take a nap.”
“Okay.” I went into my tent to bathe my arms and the back of my neck with the wet cloth. The tent was so stifling, I was soon back outside. The two tigers—one black and one white—were resting in the shade of a tree nearby. I heard the soft gurgle of a stream. The heat was definitely making me drowsy.
I sat down between the tigers with my back to the tree. After my head dropped for the third time, I cushioned it on Kishan’s soft back and fell asleep.
Fur tickled my nose. I mumbled and turned my head. I heard the call of a bird, blinked open my eyes, and saw Kishan sitting with his back against the tree, watching me quietly. He was barefoot and wearing the black clothes that appeared every time he changed back from a tiger.
“Kishan?” I lifted my head, confused, knowing I had fallen asleep on his soft, sable fur. My hand was pressed against Ren’s white shoulder. “Ren?” I quickly scooted back next to Kishan, who put his arm around my shoulders. “Ren? I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?”
I watched as Ren’s tiger body morphed into his human frame. He pushed up from all fours into a crouch. The late afternoon sun glinted off his white shirt while he considered me musingly. “It didn’t hurt.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. You moved in your sleep. It didn’t burn or cause me any pain at all.”
“How long?”
“A little over two hours.”
“You didn’t feel the need to escape? To get away from me?”
“No. It felt … good. Maybe I need to be a tiger around you more often.”
He smiled, switched back into a tiger, walked up to me, and stuck his nose in my face. I laughed and awkwardly reached up behind his ear and scratched. He made a rumbling sound in his chest and collapsed at my side, twisting his neck so I could reach the other ear.
Kishan cleared his throat, stood, and stretched. “Since the two of you are … getting reacquainted, I’m going to stretch my legs a little, maybe do a little stalking just for fun.
I stood up and put my palm on his cheek. “Don’t get caught in a trap.”
Kishan lifted his hand, placed it on top of mine, and smiled. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be back in an hour or two around sundown. You can practice tracking me on the new cell phones if you want.”
Kishan morphed into the black tiger. I stroked his head briefly before he ran into the jungle.
I settled down next to Ren with the cell phone tracker. It took me the better part of an hour to figure out how it worked. The screen looked like a Google map. I was the dot marked Ke. Ren was R. Kishan was the Ki dot, and I could see his blip move around the screen. He was about two miles away, quickly moving east.
Widening the map, I figured out how to zoom in on Mr. Kadam and Nilima’s location. If I clicked on one of their dots, a small window popped up telling me the exact latitude and longitude, as well as their vital signs. Pretty cool little device.
I petted Ren’s fur absently and explained how everything worked. His ears flicked back and forth attentively. Then suddenly he sprang to his feet and stared at the darkening jungle.
“What? What is it?”
Ren changed to a man. “Go inside the tent and zip it up.”
“It doesn’t have zippers. The Scarf can’t make them. What’s out there?”
“A cobra. Hopefully it will move on and leave us alone.”
I went into the tent while he switched back to the tiger.
Ren padded in front of the tent and waited. I peeked out and saw a giant black-and-olive green snake slither out of the jungle. Its head was disproportionately bigger than its body. When it saw Ren, it stopped to taste the air. Ren growled softly, and the snake’s head shot up, which showed the pale yellow skin of its belly. As its hood opened and it hissed a warning, I realized I was looking at a king cobra.
Ren didn’t stir. The snake would likely move on if we were quiet. It slowly lowered its head and slithered forward a few more inches, but then I saw Ren shake his head just before a loud tiger sneeze tore through his body. The snake lifted its upper body again and spat twin jets of poison from its fangs about nine feet. The stream didn’t hit Ren’s eyes, fortunately, or it probably would have blinded him. The cobra moved a bit closer and tried again.
“Ren! Move back! It’s aiming for your eyes!”
Something moved in my bag. It was another snake! A golden head slipped through the tiny gap in my backpack and shot out of the tent.
Fanindra?
Ren backed up, and I untied a couple of knots so he could come into the tent with me. We watched from inside.
Fanindra wound her way right up to the king cobra, raised her head, and opened her hood. Her jeweled emerald eyes twinkled despite the diminishing sunlight. The king cobra swayed back and forth, tasted the air, and then lowered his head under hers. She slowly dropped her head to rest it on top of the cobra’s, which ran its head down the length of her body, turned, and slid off quickly through the jungle. Fanindra returned to the tent, wound her body into a coil, tucked in her head, and became inanimate.
Ren changed to a man. “We got lucky. That was an angry snake with an attitude.”
“She calmed him down pretty quickly.”
The tent had become dark. Ren’s blue eyes and smile flashed in the dimness. I felt a light touch on my jaw. “Pretty women have that effect on men.”
He changed back into a white tiger and sat at my feet.
Kish
an soon returned and made a throaty, rattling sound as he entered the camp. After changing from a tiger to a man, he ducked his head into the tent. “Why are you guys hiding?”
I stepped outside and told him about the snake. “What was that noise you just made?” I asked as I started to prepare dinner.
Ren switched to a man and sat across from me. I handed him a plate as he answered for Kishan. “It’s called chuffing. It’s a tiger hello.”
I blinked and looked at Ren. “You never did that.”
He shrugged. “Never wanted to, I guess.”
Kishan grunted. “Is that what it’s called?” He elbowed Ren. “Now I guess I know what all those lady tigers were saying. Where did you learn that?”
“The zoo.”
“Huh.”
Ren grinned. “So … you and lady tigers, eh? Is there something you want to share, Kishan?”
Kishan shoved a forkful of dinner into his mouth and mumbled, “How about I share my fist with your face?”
“Wow. Sensitive. I’m sure your lady tiger friends were all very attractive. So am I an uncle?”
Kishan growled angrily and set down his plate. He morphed into the black tiger and roared.
“Alright. That’s enough,” I threatened. “Ren, do you want me to share your white tiger breeding program story with Kishan?”
Ren paled. “You know about that?”
I smiled naughtily. “Yes.”
Kishan switched back, picked up his plate, and smiled. “Please go on, Kells. Tell me all about it.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Let’s get this all out in the open. Kishan, did you ever engage in any … promiscuous activities with female tigers?”
“What do you think?”
“Just answer the question.”
“Of course not!”
“That’s what I thought. Ren, I already know you didn’t either, though the zoo tried very hard to get you to breed. Now no more teasing or fighting about that subject, or I’ll shock you with lightning. I expect you both to be on your best off-the-leash behavior.” I grinned. “Hmm … perhaps we should invest in shock collars for the two of you. Nah, better not. It would be way too tempting for me.”
They both snorted but soon settled down and had about five plates of dinner each.
After we ate, Kishan started a fire to keep animals away, and I shared the story of the lion and the mouse but changed it to a tiger with a porcupine quill. This led to a conversation about hunting and the brothers’ greatest kill stories, during which I squirmed and tried to ignore them.
As we watched the sunset, Kishan put his arm around me and described the changes he could feel in the jungle as day turned to night. It was fascinating but also frightening to know just how many creatures began to move through the trees at sundown.
Later that sweltering evening, I climbed into my tiny tent and lay down on top of my bedroll, twisting the lighter blanket around me mummy-style.
Ren ducked his head in to check on me and laughed. “Do you always do that?”
“Only when camping.”
“You know bugs can still get in there.”
“Don’t say that. I like to live in ignorance.”
I heard his soft laugh as he knotted the ties for me.
After I’d spent a restless hour tossing back and forth, Kishan appeared at my tent door. “Can’t sleep?”
I leaned up on my elbow. “I’d really prefer to have a tiger near me. It helps me sleep in the jungle.”
Kishan sighed. His golden eyes shone in the moonlight. “Alright, scoot over.”
I happily shifted to made room for Kishan. He switched into a black tiger and pressed his body up against my back. I’d just settled down when I felt a wet nose on my cheek. Ren had squeezed his giant body into the miniscule space between the tent wall and me and lay down— half on top of me.
“Ren! I can’t breathe. And my arm is trapped under you.”
He rolled over and licked my shoulder. I pushed his heavy body and twisted away.
Exasperated, I said, “Divine Scarf, can you make the tent big enough for all of us, please?”
I felt the tent shake lightly and heard the whisper of threads as they shifted. A short time later, I was pressed comfortably between both my tigers. I rolled to one side, kissed Kishan on top of his furry head, and petted his neck. “Goodnight, Kishan.”
Then I rolled to the other side and came face-to-face with my blueeyed white tiger. I patted his head and said goodnight before closing my eyes. Soon I felt fur tickling my nose. Ren’s head was pressed up against my face. I knew what he wanted.
“Fine.” I kissed his head too. “Goodnight, Ren. Go to sleep.”
He started purring and closed his eyes. I closed mine too and smiled into the darkness.
3
Phet
The next morning, we decided to set out early. The temperature had dropped overnight, and the jungle was relatively cool and fragrant. I took a deep breath, stretched, and inhaled the spicy, sweet smell of the olibanum trees. After breakfast, Kishan headed off into the jungle to dress in the new clothes he’d created with the Divine Scarf.
Ren stirred the cold black ashes of our fire with a long stick. I stood a good enough distance away so my presence didn’t bother him. This new “being friends” thing was awkward. I wasn’t really sure how to talk to him. This is who Ren was before me. I wanted him to be like my Ren. In many ways he was. But how can you be the same person with a chunk of your life missing?
Ren was still charming, kind, and sweet. He still loved all the same things, except he wasn’t as self-assured. Kishan had always been the follower and Ren the leader, but their roles were now reversed. Kishan was confident; he had direction. Ren had been left behind, like he no longer had a place in this century.
Ren didn’t seem to know who he was anymore or how he fit into this world. It was startling for me to realize that his sense of belonging was gone. He didn’t seem to want to write poetry anymore. He seldom played his guitar. He read literature only when encouraged by Mr. Kadam and me. He’d lost his sense of self, his conviction.
In making decisions, Ren didn’t seem to care about much of anything and was happy to do whatever or go wherever Kishan wanted. Visiting Phet was just an activity rather than a way to get his memory back or break the curse. Ren didn’t resist it, but he wasn’t pursuing it either. It was sobering to recognize that losing me had changed him that dramatically. I was worried about him.
I crouched down across from him and smiled. “Aren’t you going to change clothes too? We’ve got another full day of hiking planned.”
Ren threw the stick into the fire circle and looked up at me. “No.”
“Okay, but your bare feet aren’t going to feel too good after a while. The jungle is full of sharp rocks and prickly thorns.”
He walked over to the backpack, took out a tube of sunscreen and handed it to me. “Put this on your face and arms. You’re turning pink.”
I dutifully started rubbing it into my arms and was surprised to hear him say, “I think I’ll be a tiger today.”
“What? Why would you do that? Oh. It’s probably more comfortable on your feet. I don’t blame you. If I had the option, I’d probably be a tiger too.”
“It’s not because of the hiking.”
“No? Then why?”
At that moment, Kishan emerged from the jungle with his hair slicked back. Ren took a step closer as if he wanted to say something more, but Kishan’s appearance caught my attention.
“No fair! You took a bath?” I asked with only a tiny hint of jealousy in my voice.
“There’s a decent stream out there. Don’t worry. You’ll have a nice bath when we get to Phet’s.”
I smeared sunscreen across my nose. “Okay.” I smiled in anticipation at the thought. “I’m ready, then. Lead on, Lewis and Clark.”
I turned to Ren, who had switched into a tiger and sat watching the two of us. Kishan raised an eyebrow and worked the muscles of his
jaw as he stared at his brother.
“Is something wrong?” I asked him.
Kishan turned to me with a smile and offered his hand. “Nothing at all.”
I took it, and we started off. We’d walked only a minute or two when I felt Ren’s furry body brush against my other hand. The thought occurred to me that Ren might be more comfortable as a tiger, much as Kishan had been for all those years. I bit my lip, worrying, and massaged the ruff of Ren’s collar, then pushed the thought to the back of my mind and told Kishan all about frankincense.
We walked all morning and then stopped to rest and eat. After napping through the hot afternoon, we hiked another couple of hours and finally came upon Phet’s clearing. The shaman was outside working in his garden. He was on his hands and knees, pulling weeds and talking to his plants as he carefully tended them.
Before I even called out a greeting, I heard him holler, “Hallo, Kahlsee. Joyous meetings happen with you!”
Kishan stepped over Phet’s stone wall, then lifted me over, and set me gently down on the other side. Ren leapt over easily next to us.
I rushed up to the garden. “Hello, Phet! It’s so nice to see you too!”
Phet peered at me over a lettuce plant and cackled with delight. “Ah! My flower grows hardy and strong.”
He stood up, dusted off his hands, and embraced me. A small puff of dust floated into the air. He adjusted his robe and shook it out. Clumps of rich, fertile dirt fell off the front where he’d been kneeling.
Phet was about my height but his back was hunched, probably due to age, so he appeared shorter. I could clearly see the shining bald spot gleaming in the center of his wiry bird’s nest of unruly gray hair. He looked at Kishan’s hiking boots and let his gaze travel slowly up Kishan’s tall frame until his shrewd eyes stopped at the younger brother’s face.
“Considerably sized man travels by you.” He took a step to stand toe-to-toe with Kishan, put his hands on Kishan’s shoulders, and tilted his head up as he peered into Kishan’s golden eyes.
Kishan patiently withstood Phet’s scrutiny.
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