by Collen Houck
“No, I didn’t faint!” I then mumbled, “At least I don’t think I did.”
He was holding me in his arms, cradling me close, and I liked it. I didn’twant to like it.
“You caught me?”
He lectured, “Itold you I wouldn’t drop you.”
I muttered sarcastically, “Thanks, Superhero. Now put me down, please. Ican stand up.”
He set me down carefully, and to my great dismay, my legs still wobbled.
He reached out a hand to steady me, and I howled at him, “I said I can stand! Back off a minute, would ya?”
I had no idea why I yelled at him. He was just trying to be helpful, but I was frightened. Strange things were happening to me that I had no control over. I also felt embarrassed and was overly sensitive about him touching me. I couldn’t think straight when he touched me. My brain got all fogged up like a mirror in
a steamy bathroom, so I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.
Also, it seemed my determination to avoid emotional entanglement wasn’t working. I thought it would be
easy for me to uproot this connection between us, but it was proving tricky. The tender bud of love was holding on tenaciously. Every minute I spent with him just made me want him more. Since merely annoying him wasn’t working, I’d have to up the ante.
Apparently, I needed him not only to fall-out-of-like with me, but hate me as well. Otherwise, those feelings of mine would never go away, and I’d plummet to the jagged rocks of heartbreak. I’d frequently been told that I was an all-or-nothing kind of girl. If I were going to push him away, it was going to be so
far away that there would be absolutely no chance of him ever coming back.
I sat down on the stone border of the pool and put my tennis shoes back on, hoping the dizziness would soon pass.
He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. “Kelsey, tell me what happened, please.”
“I don’t know exactly. I had a…a vision, I guess.”
“And what did you see in this vision?”
“There were three people, Mr. Kadam, some scary man, and me. All three of us wore amulets, and they were glowing red.”
He dropped his arms and his face became serious. He asked quietly, “What did the scary man look like?”
“He looked like….I don’t know, a mob boss or something like that, the kind of guy that likes to be in control and kill things. He had dark hair and black, glittery eyes.”
“Was he Indian?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
Fanindra had curled up at my feet in her jewelry position. I picked her up, slid her onto my arm, and then looked around desperately. “Ren? Where’s the golden fruit?”
“It’s here.” He picked it up from where it had fallen at the base of the tree.
“We should hide it.” I picked up my backpack and yanked out my blanket. I reached for the fruit and took it from Ren’s hand carefully, making sure I didn’t allow my skin to touch his. Then I wrapped it in my blanket and stowed it in the backpack. I guess I’d been a little bit too obvious in my desire to avoid touching him, because he was scowling at me when I looked up at him.
“What? You can’t even touch me now? Nice to know I disgust you so much! Too bad you couldn’t convince Kishan to come with you so you could avoid being with me altogether!”
I ignored him and yanked my shoelaces in double knots.
He gestured toward the city and smiled mockingly, “Whenever you feelrecovered enough,rajkumari .”
I glared and poked him in the chest. “MaybeKishan would have been less of a jerk. And for the record, Mr. Sarcastic, I don’tlike you very much right now.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Welcome to the club, Kells. Shall we proceed?”
“Fine.” I turned my back to him, adjusted the straps on the backpack, and marched off on my own.
He threw up his hands in exasperation,“Fine!”
I hollered back,“FINE!”
I walked stiffly back to the city with him following silently behind me, fuming.
When we passed the first building, the ground started shaking. We stopped and turned to look at the golden tree. It was sinking back into the ground, and the two pool halves were moving back together again. There was a strange glow coming from inside the four monkey statues.
“Uh, Kells? I think it might be wise to exit the city as soon as possible.”
We double-timed our pace and started to jog briskly between the buildings. I heard a hiss and screech, followed by several more. Monkey statues were glowing all around the buildings. I saw something move overhead.
Small black and brown figures were leaping across buildings following us. The screeches became cacophonous, and the noise level was incredible.
I yelled over at Ren as I ran, “Perfect! Now we’re being chased by hoards of monkeys! Perhaps you would care to name their species as we’re attacked, just so I can appreciate the special traits of said monkey as hekills me!
He ran along beside me. “At least when the monkeys are harassing you, you don’t have any time to harassme !”
The monkeys were getting close. I almost tripped over one as it darted in front of my legs.It probably wanted to trip me. It could bring me down easier that way. Then they can pummel me with their little monkey fists, while Ren stands over me and laughs.
Ren leapt over a fountain with his tiger power.Show-off.
“Ren, you’re holding back. Just get out of here! Take the back-pack and go, would you?”
He laughed acerbically as he ran ahead of me; then, he turned to look at me while jogging backward,
“Ha! You’d like tothink you could get rid of me that easily!”
He did run a bit farther ahead of me though, and switched to the tiger. Then he barreled back toward me and actually leapt over my running body and into the throng of monkeys.
I shouted back at him while still running, “Hey!Careful where you jump, Mister! You almost took my head off!”
I kept running between buildings, pumping my legs as fast as they would go. I heard terrible noises behind me. Most of the monkeys were now attacking Ren, who was biting, slashing with his claws, and roaring thunderously. I looked back over my shoulder. Brown, gray, and black monkeys covered his body and clung to his fur. A dozen or so monkeys were still chasing me, including the huge, scary baboon
from the reflecting pool.
I turned a corner and finally saw the drawbridge. A monkey leapt and latched itself onto my leg, slowing
me down. I tried to shake it off as I ran.
I batted at him ineffectually. “Stu-pid mon-key…get…off!” In response, he bit my knee.
“Owww!” I shook my leg harder as I ran and stomped my foot down hard to make the ride as jarring as possible for the hitch-hiker. Just then, Fanindra animated the top half of her body. She hissed and spat at the monkey, who screeched and immediately let go of my leg.
“Thanks, Fanindra.”
I patted her head as she settled back down on my arm again. I reached the gate, crossed the bridge, and stopped on the other side. Ren was bouncing toward me trying to shake monkeys off his back. Several monkeys were storming toward me. I kicked at them viciously, quickly threw off my backpack, and took out the gada.
I started swinging the gada like a baseball bat at the monkeys. I hit one with a sickening smack. Once they’d been hit with the gada, the monkeys hightailed it back to the city, whimpering. The problem was that I was able to hit a monkey only every third try or so. One jumped on my back and started pulling my
hair. Another attached itself to my leg. I continued swinging the gada back and forth in front of me, and eventually ended up being able to get rid of most of them.
Ren ran down the drawbridge with about fifteen monkeys clinging to his fur. He bounced over, leapt into
the trees, and banged his body up against the trunks, first on one side and then the other. He leapt up high to rub his back on a branch and scrap
e the remaining monkeys off. The needle trees came alive like before, shot leafy tendrils down to ensnare the malicious simians by their legs and tails, and then pulled their shrieking bodies up into the branches. They were too lightweight to fight back and soon disappeared
into the treetops.
Meanwhile, I was still swinging the gada at the gray baboon. He darted around to avoid being hit. He was too fast for me and chattered at me violently. He also swung his long arms and hammered my body at every opportunity. He was strong, and it hurt. Each pound from his monkey arms battered against my already tired muscles. I felt like I was being tenderized. A tiny monkey was still sitting on my shoulder and tugging on my braids so hard that it brought tears to my eyes.
Free of monkeys, Ren jogged over, detached the little monkey fingers from my braids, plucked the tiny monkey off my shoulder, and threw him hard back through the city gate. The tiny monkey bounced, rolled on the ground, and then got up, hissed at us, and disappeared. Ren took the gada from my hand and raised it to threaten the baboon. The baboon must have realized that Ren’s aim was better than mine because he shrieked loudly and headed back to the city too.
I sat down hard on the ground panting. The city became eerily quiet. Not a monkey hiss or screech could be heard.
Ren turned around to look at me. “Are you okay?”
I waved my hand at him dismissively.
He crouched down, touched my cheek, looked me up and down, and then smirked at me. “That was a pygmy marmoset, by the way, just in case you were wondering.”
I wheezed. “Thank you, oh Walking Monkey Dictionary.”
He laughed and got out bottled water for both of us, then handed me an energy bar.
“Aren’t you going to eat one?”
He put a hand on his chest and scoffed. “What? Me? Eat an energy bar when the jungle is full of delicious monkeys? No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
I nibbled my energy bar in silence and checked the golden fruit to make sure it wasn’t bruised. It was still wrapped up in my blanket cocoon. Between bites, I said, “You know, all in all, we made it out of the
city fairly unscathed.”
His mouth fell open. “Unscathed!Kelsey , I have monkey bites all over my back and in other places that I don’t even want to think about! Ha!Unscathed , she says.”
“I saidfairly .”
He grunted at me.
After a quick meal and rest, we started the walk back on the pebbly path between the trees and the creek. Ren banged the trees extra hard as we passed. I started to feel guilty about the way I’d been treating him. I watched his stiff shoulders as he paced angrily in front of me. This was hard. I missed his friendship.Not to mention all the other things. I was almost ready to apologize when I realized that Kappa
were sticking the tops of their heads out of the water and were watching us.
“Uh…Ren? We have company.”
Looking at them only seemed to empower them to more action. They slowly raised their heads out even farther and followed our progress with inky black eyes. I couldn’t stop staring at them. They were horrible! They stank like a fetid swamp, and when they blinked, their lids moved sideways like a crocodile’s.
Their flesh was pale, almost diaphanous, and their pulsing black veins could be seen under their clammy
skin. I increased my pace. Ren moved between the creek and me, raising the gada as a warning.
“Try bowing to them,” I suggested.
We both started dipping our heads and bowing as we passed, but they ignored us and rose up farther out of the water. They were now standing up and moving forward slowly, mechanically, as if they’d just awakened from a deep sleep. The water currently came up to their chests, but they were getting closer. I turned around and did a deep curtsy type of bow, but it still didn’t work.
“Keep going, Kelsey. Move faster!”
We started jogging. I knew I wouldn’t have the stamina to keep up this pace for long, even with Ren taking on the extra weight of the backpack. More Kappa emerged from the water, several in front of us.
They had long arms and webbed hands. One of them smiled at me, and I saw sharp, jagged teeth. A shiver tore down my spine, and I ran a little faster.
Now I could see their legs. I was surprised that they had legs like humans. Ridges ran down their backs like a dinosaur, or, no, more like a fish. Powerful, muscular legs were covered in brine and scaly pond scum, and their long tails could curl, like a monkey’s, but ended in a transparent caudal fin. They swung back and forth menacingly, pulling their feet out of the muck with loud sucking noises while they made their way to the bank of the river.
They were careful to keep their heads level, which made their bodies seemed disjointed. The head stayed in one place while the torso bobbed and swayed, zombie like. They were about a foot shorter than Ren and I, and they moved quickly, picking up speed while shifting awkwardly forward on their webbed feet. It was eerie seeing their bodies accelerate while their heads remained virtually still.
“Faster, Kelsey. Run faster!”
“I can’t go any faster, Ren!”
A horde of white Kappa vampires descended on us, closing the distance quickly.
Ren shouted, “Keep running, Kelsey. I’ll try to slow them down!”
I ran ahead a good distance then turned and jogged backward to see how Ren was faring. He had stopped to try bowing to them again. They did pause to assess his action, but they didn’t bow in return.
Gills on the sides of their necks opened and closed, and they opened their mouths to bare their teeth.
Viscous black droplets trickled from their mouths as an insipid gurgle turned into a piercing squeal.
They
surged toward Ren, closing in on their prey.
He swung the gada mightily at the nearest one and sunk it deep into the creature’s chest. The monster sprayed filthy dark fluid from its mouth and fell to the creek bank. The other creatures didn’t even notice their fallen comrade. They just closed in on Ren.
He wacked several more then spun around and ran in my direction again. He waved at me.
“Keep running, Kelsey! Don’t stop!”
We were able to keep ahead of them, but I was tiring quickly. We stopped for just a moment to catch our breath.
I gasped for air. “Ren…they’re going to catch us. I can’t keep running. My legs are giving out.”
He was breathing heavily too. “I know. But we have to keep trying.”
Taking a big swig of water, he handed me the rest of the bottle.
He grabbed my hand. “Come on. Follow me. I have an idea.”
He led me to the trees.
“Ren, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back into the needle trees. Two things will be trying to grab us instead of just one.”
“Just trust me, Kells. Follow my lead.”
He pulled me along as we raced through the trees. I seriously didn’t think I could keep going, but somehow I did. When we entered the needle trees, the branches immediately began reaching for us. I could feel them whipping my back and ripping my shirt. After several minutes of running, Ren stopped, told me to stand still, and beat the trees all around me with the gada.
He leaned over, panting. “Sit down. Rest for a while. I’m going to try to get the Kappa to chase me into the trees. I hope it works on them as well as it did with the monkeys.”
He changed into a tiger, left me with the gada and backpack, and then leapt back into the waving branches. I listened carefully and heard the trees moving, trying to snag him as he passed. Then it became
deathly quiet. The only sound was my jagged breathing. I sat on the mossy ground as far away from the trees as I could and waited.
I strained my ears to listen but heard nothing, not even birds. Eventually, I lay down and rested my head on my backpack. My sore body and muscles throbbed, and the scratches on my back stung. I must have drifted to sleep because a noise startled me awake. I heard a strange shuffling noise near my head. A
sallow grayish-white shape walked out of the trees toward me, and before I could even get up, it grabbed my arms and jerked me up to a sitting position. It leaned over me and drooled black spittle on my face.
I swung my arms wildly, beating on its chest, but it was more powerful than I was. Its torso was covered
with cuts oozing murky droplets; the trees had torn off pieces of its flesh. Alien eyes blinked several times
as it pulled me up closer, bared its teeth, and sunk them into my neck.
I heard it grunting and suckling at my neck, and I kicked my legs hard, trying to escape its clutches. I screamed and thrashed, but my energy quickly waned. After a moment, I couldn’t feel it any longer. It was almost as if it were happening to someone else. I could still hear the monster, but a strange lethargy stole through my frame. My vision fogged up, and my mind drifted until I felt a dreamy peace.
I heard a crash, followed by a very angry roar. Then I saw a warrior angel rise up above me. He was magnificent! I felt a slight tugging on my neck, and then a weight lifted off my body. There was a juicy splat, and the handsome warrior angel knelt beside me. He was speaking to me, and I tried to respond, but my tongue wouldn’t work. I couldn’t understand his words.
Gently, he brushed the hair away from my face and touched my neck with cool fingers. His dreamy eyes
filled with tears, and a sparkling diamond drop fell to my lips. I tasted the salty tear and closed my eyes.
When I opened them, he smiled. The warmth of that smile enveloped me and wrapped me in a blanket of
soothing tenderness.
The warrior carefully lifted me in his arms, and I slept.
When I opened my eyes, it was dark, and I was lying in front of a green-and orange-tinged fire. Ren sat nearby staring into it, looking broken, exhausted, and forlorn. He must have heard me move because he came directly to me and lifted my head to help me drink some water. My throat burned, and the fire moved deeper into my body until it exploded in my core. I was burning from the inside out, and I whimpered from the terrible pain.
Ren set my head down gently and knelt beside me. He picked up my hand and stroked my fingers.