I hurried after him and bent down to pick up the other end.
He called back without even looking at me, ‘Don’t.’
When we got back to the creek, he dropped the trunk and started looking for a good place to set it. I was about to sit on the tree trunk when I noticed the needles. Even the trunk had thick, spiky needles that rose up to sink themselves into unsuspecting flesh. I walked up to the front end and saw Ren’s blood in great drops coating the shiny black needles.
When he came back, I demanded, ‘Ren, let me see your hands and chest.’
‘Leave it alone, Kelsey. I’ll heal.’
‘But, Ren—’
‘No. Now stand back.’
He moved to the back of the trunk and picked it up, cradling it against his chest. My mouth gaped open in amazement. Yep, he still has tiger strength. I winced as I imagined those hundreds of needles digging into the skin on his chest and arms. His biceps bulged as he walked the trunk to the edge of the creek.
A girl can still admire, can’t she? Even those who can’t afford to go in the store can still window-shop. Right?
It was like watching Hercules in action. I sucked in an appreciative breath and had to keep repeating the words, ‘He’s not for me, he’s not for me, he’s not for me,’ to strengthen my resolve.
The far end of the trunk butted against the stone wall. He moved down the creek bank several more steps until he found the spot he wanted and then dropped it into place with a soft thud.
The needles had ripped jagged, deep scratches down his chest and torn the front of his white shirt to ribbons. I walked over to him and reached out to touch his arm.
He turned his back to me and said, ‘Now stay here.’ Changing to a tiger, he vaulted up and across the log, then leapt up to the crack where the drawbridge was hanging slightly open. He clawed his way in and disappeared.
I heard a metallic clang and then a whoosh as the heavy stone drawbridge lowered. It fell across the creek, hit the water with a big splash, and then settled itself deeply in its pebbly bed. I walked quickly across, fearful of the Kappa I spied in the water below. Ren was still a tiger and seemed content to stay that way.
I entered the stone city of kishkindha. Most of the buildings were about two or three stories high. The smoky periwinkle stone of the outer walls was also used in the buildings. The hard stone was polished like granite and contained shiny pieces of mica that reflected the light. It was beautiful.
A giant statue of Hanuman stood in the center, and every nook and crevice of the city was covered with life-sized stone monkeys. Every building, every rooftop, and every balcony had monkey statues. Ornate carvings of monkeys even covered the walls of the buildings. The statues represented several different species of monkey and were often grouped together in twos and threes. In fact, the only kind of monkeys not included were the fictitious flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz and King Kong.
When I passed the central fountain, I felt pressure on my arm. Fanindra came alive. I bent down to let her slide off my arm to the ground. She raised her head and tasted the air with her tongue several times. Then she started slithering through the ancient city. Ren and I followed her as she wove her slow path.
‘You don’t have to stay a tiger just because of me,’ I said.
He kept his eyes forward following the snake.
‘Ren, it’s a miracle that you can be a man at all. Don’t do this to yourself, please. Just because you’re ang—’
He switched back to a man and spun around to face me.
‘I am angry! Why shouldn’t I stay a tiger? You seem to be much more comfortable with him than you are with me!’ His blue eyes clouded with uncertainty and hurt.
‘I am more comfortable with him, but not because I like him more. It’s too complicated to discuss with you right now.’ I turned away from him, hiding my red face.
Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair and asked anxiously, ‘Kelsey, why have you been avoiding me? Is it because I’ve been moving too fast? You aren’t ready to think of me in that way yet. Is that it?’
‘No. It’s not that. It’s just,’ I wrung my hands, ‘I don’t want to make a mistake or get involved in something that will lead to one or both of us getting hurt, and I don’t really think this is the best place to talk about this.’
I stared at his feet as I said these words. He was quiet for several minutes. I peeked at his face from under my lashes and found him assessing me. He continued to watch me patiently as I squirmed under his gaze. I looked at the stone pavers, Fanindra, my hands, anything except him. Finally, he gave up.
‘Fine.’
‘Fine?’
‘Yes, fine. Here, hand me the backpack. It’s my turn to carry it for a while.’
He helped me slip it off my back and then adjusted the straps to fit over his wide shoulders. Fanindra seemed ready to be on the move again, and she continued her journey, slinking through the monkey city.
We passed into dark shadows between buildings where Fanindra’s golden body gleamed in the darkness. She slipped through tiny cracks beneath unwieldy doors that Ren had to throw his body up against to open. She took us on an interesting obstacle course from a snake’s per-spective, going under and through things that were impossible for Ren and me to navigate. She disappeared under cracks in the floor, and Ren had to sniff her out to find her. Often, we had to backtrack and meet her on the other side of walls or rooms. We always found her coiled and resting, patiently waiting for us to catch up.
Eventually, she led us to a rectangular reflecting pool brimming with sea-green algae-filled water. The pool was waist high, and on each corner stood a tall stone pedestal. On top of each pedestal was a carved monkey, each one looking out in the distance, one for each point of the compass.
The statues were crouched down with hands touching the ground. Teeth were bared, and I could visualize them hissing, as if ready to pounce. Their tails curled up over their bodies, fleshy levers to increase the range of their attack. Under the pedestals, groups of evil-looking stone monkeys stared out of the shadows with grimaces and hollowed black eyes. Their long arms were stretched out, as if to grab and claw at whoever passed by.
Stone steps led up to the reflecting pool. We climbed up and peered into the water. With relief, I saw that no Kappa were lurking in the murky depths. At the edge of the pool on the stone border was an inscription.
‘Can you read it?’ I asked.
‘It says Niyuj Kapi or “choose the monkey.”’
‘Hmm.’
We walked around the four corners examining each statue. One had ears pricked forward and another had ears flat against its head. All four were of different species.
‘Ren, Hanuman was half-man, half-monkey, right? What kind of monkey was the monkey half?’
‘I don’t know. Mr. Kadam would know. I can tell you that these two statues are not monkeys native to India. This one’s a spider monkey. They come from South America. This one is a chimpanzee, which is technically an ape, not a monkey. They’re often classified as monkeys because of their size.’
I gaped at him. ‘How do you know so much about monkeys?’
He crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Ah, so am I to assume that talk-ing about monkeys is an approved topic of conversation? Perhaps if I were a monkey instead of a tiger you might clue me in as to why you’re avoiding me.’
‘I’m not avoiding you. I just need some space. It has nothing to do with your species. It has to do with other things.’
‘What other things?’
‘Nothing.’
‘It’s something.’
‘It can’t be anything.’
‘What can’t be anything?’
‘Can we just get back to the monkeys?’ I yelled.
‘Fine!’ he hollered back.