Immediately, the tree gathered into itself. Branches folded inward and wrapped around the trunk protectively. Ren stepped in front of me and cautioned me to wait by the injured tree. He walked ahead a few paces and swung the gada.
He thrashed the tree trunks, leaving gaping, pulpy wounds as he went. I followed a length behind as he made slow progress through the forest. The branches seemed to know what he was up to and tore at him viciously, but Ren seemed to have an endless amount of energy.
I winced as I watched the cuts and scrapes appear across every bare patch of his skin. His back was soon lacerated, his shirt torn and bloody. He looked like he’d been brutally whipped with a cat-o’-nine-tails.
At last, we reached the edge of the needle forest and stopped in a clearing. He pulled me out of the reach of the branches and allowed his body to collapse to the ground. He bent over, sweating and winded from his exertion. I took some water out of my backpack and offered it to him. He drank the entire bottle in one gulp.
I leaned over and inspected his bloody arm. His body was slippery with blood and sweat. I got out another water bottle and an old T-shirt and began cleaning the dirt from his cuts and bruises. I pressed the cool, wet cloth to his face and back. He started to relax and breathe slower as I continued my ministrations. His cuts quickly began to heal, and as my worry over Ren diminished, I realized something.
‘Ren! You’ve been a man now for much longer than twenty-four minutes. Are you okay – well, aside from the scratches?’
He rubbed his hand on his chest. ‘I feel . . . fine. I don’t feel the need to change back.’
‘Maybe this is all we need to do. Maybe we’ve broken the curse!’
He considered for a minute. ‘No, I don’t think so. I have a feeling that we need to move on.’
‘Why don’t you test it? See if you can become a tiger or not.’
He changed into a tiger and back and his bloody torn clothes were immediately replaced with clean white cloth.
‘Perhaps it’s just the magic of this place that allows me to be human.’
My face must have appeared crestfallen. Ren laughed and kissed my fingers.
‘Don’t worry, Kells. I’ll be fully human soon, but for now I’ll take this gift as long as I can keep it.’
He winked at me and grinned, and then he leaned over to pull me closer so he could have a turn at examining my injur------ies. He inspected my arms, legs, and neck. He swiped the wet cloth down my arms and cleaned my cuts with healing tenderness. I knew that his injuries were much more severe than mine, so I tried to dissuade him, but he wouldn’t have it.
He declared, ‘Everything checks out okay. You have one wicked scratch on your neck, but I think it’ll heal fine.’ He bathed the back of my neck with the towel and pressed it there for a moment. Then he tugged at the collar of my T-shirt with his finger. ‘Are there, ah, any other places you want me to check out for you?’
I batted his hand away. ‘No, thank you. Those other places I can check for myself.’
He laughed good-naturedly, and then stood and helped me up. He put on my backpack and hefted the gada over one shoulder. After offer-ing me his hand, we began walking.
We passed more of the needle trees, but they were spaced much farther apart and were mixed in with some normal, non-killer types of trees, so we were able to stay out of their range. Ren twined his fingers through mine.
‘You know, it’s nice just to walk with you and not be worried about how much time I have left.’
‘Hmm, yes,’ I agreed shyly.
Ren seemed happy despite our situation. I thought about how hard it must be for him, knowing that he had very little time each day to be a man and trying to make the most of each and every minute. He felt like this creepy place was a gift. His cheerful mood eventually affected me too.
I knew that worse challenges probably awaited us, but walking alongside Ren, I didn’t care. I let myself enjoy my time with him.
We found a dirt path again and started to follow it. The path led toward some hills and a large tunnel that we assumed led through them. There was no other place to go, so we entered slowly, keeping a careful watch of our surroundings. Lit torches lined the stone walls, and many other tunnels led off from the main one. I jumped as I saw something pass by in a side passage.
‘Ren! I saw something in there.’
‘I saw something too.’
It seemed we were in a vast honeycomb of tunnels, and figures kept appearing at the edge of our vision. I pressed my body close against Ren, and he draped an arm around my shoulders.
I heard a voice, a woman’s voice, cry softly, ‘Ren? Ren? Ren? Ren?’ It echoed from tunnel to tunnel.
‘I’m here, Kells! Kells! Kells!’
Ren looked at me apprehensively and squeezed my shoulder. The voices were ours. He let go of me and pulled the gada out to a ready position in front of him. Walking warily in front, he watched the other tunnels very carefully.
I heard screams and running footsteps, growling tigers, and screeches. I stopped walking for a moment and stood in front of one of the tunnels.
‘Kelsey! Help me!’ Ren appeared in the side tunnel. He was fighting a group of monkeys that were scratching and biting him. He changed to a tiger, sunk his teeth into them, and ripped them apart. It was gruesome!
I took a step backward, feeling afraid. Then I froze and remembered Durga’s warning about staying together. I turned around and saw two other tunnels that hadn’t been there before. Two Rens were walking straight ahead with the gada in front, one in each tunnel. Which was the main tunnel? Which one was the real Ren?
I heard running footsteps behind me and hastily chose the one on the right. I hurried to catch up to him, but it seemed the closer I got, the farther away he was. I knew I’d chosen the wrong path. I called out to him, ‘Ren!’
He didn’t turn toward me. I stopped and looked in other tunnels for a sign of him. I saw Kishan and Ren fighting as tigers in one tunnel. Mr. Kadam was in a swordfight with a man who looked like my nightmare guy in another.
I hurried from tunnel to tunnel. Several passageways flashed scenes of my life. My grandma beckoned me to help her plant flowers. My high school teacher was asking me questions. There was even one with my parents. They were calling out to me. I gasped, and tears filled my eyes.
I screamed aloud, ‘No, no, no! This can’t be happening! Where’s Ren?’
‘Kelsey? Kelsey! Where are you?’
‘Ren! I’m here!’ I heard my voice, but I hadn’t said anything.
I looked in another tunnel and saw Ren running up to approach . . . me. Only it wasn’t me. I was me. Ren came close to the thing that looked like me, and stroked her face.
‘Kelsey, are you okay?’
I heard it respond, ‘Yes. I’m fine.’ It turned its head and looked straight at me while Ren kissed its cheek. The image morphed, and with a sharp, shattering noise, the face melted into death. It smiled insidiously at me, and I shivered with revulsion as I looked at a smiling corpse pul-sating with maggots.
I approached the tunnel entrance and yelled at Ren to stop, but he couldn’t hear me. There was some kind of barrier blocking me so I couldn’t enter. The corpse snickered at me and waved a hand. The image became obscure, and I could no longer make out its form.
Infuriated, I pounded on the barrier, but it had no effect. After a few moments, the barrier disappeared, and I was staring into a long black tunnel lit with torches, just like the dozens of others that I’d passed by before.