‘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 little hitchhiker. 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, and it whimpered and hightailed it back to the city. 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 scrape the remaining monkeys off.
The needle trees came alive, 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 swung the gada at the gray baboon but he darted around to avoid being hit. He was too fast for me and chattered at me violently. He swung his long arms and hammered my body at every opportunity. He was strong enough to make his blows hurt. Each pound from his monkey arms battered against my already tired muscles. I felt like I was being tenderized. A tiny monkey sat on my shoulder and tugged on my braids so hard that it brought tears to my eyes.
Free of monkeys, Ren jogged over, detached the monkey’s fin-gers 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.
‘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 safely wrapped up in my quilt.
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!’
‘I said fairly.’
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 feet 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 fish spine. Their powerful, muscular legs were covered in brine and pond scum, and their long tails curled like a monkey’s, but ended in a transparent caudal fin. The Kappa swung back and forth menacingly, pulling their feet out of the muck with loud sucking noises while they made their way to the river bank.
The Kappa were careful to keep their heads level, which made their bodies 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 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 dis-tance 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 paused to assess his action, but contrary to Ren’s mother’s story, the Kappa 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 whacked 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. ‘They’re going to catch us. I can’t keep running. My legs are giving out.’
Ren 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 had taken from my backpack, and grabbed my hand, leading me to the trees. ‘Come on. Follow me. I have an idea.’
‘Ren, the needle trees are awful. If we go back there, we’ll have two things trying to kill us instead of just one.’
‘Just trust me, Kells. Follow my lead.’