“Who is it?” a voice inside asked.
“It’s Anamika,” she replied. I thought it was interesting that she used her given name instead of the goddess Durga.
The door was thrown open a moment later. The woman’s large smile faded when she saw me standing behind Ana. She smoothed her hand over her dress and tucked some strands of loose hair back. Her relaxed mien changed and she was stiff and formal with me there rather than comfortable like she had been with Ana.
“Do not worry about him,” Ana said, indicating me. “He is my protector.”
“Ah,” Lady Silkworm said with a bow. “Then I bid you welcome. But surely you need no protection from me,” the woman said with a small laugh.
“No, not at all,” Ana replied, smiling softly. “Truthfully, we are working on a task together and we need your help.”
“Of course. What may I create for you?” She glanced down. “Ah, I see!” The woman slid the forgotten scrap of silk Ana held between her fingers away from her and lifted it closer to her face for examination. It was the fabric offering from Nilima, but it didn’t look exactly like it did before. It was once a simple piece of green silk, lovely and expensive but ordinary when Kelsey placed it by the statue. Now it sparked and crackled; the strands of silk pulsed with waves of light. “How lovely!” Lady Silkworm exclaimed.
“Is that…” I began.
Ana nodded, anticipating my question. “It is. Nilima’s offering.”
“What happened to it?” I asked.
Licking her lips, Ana gave me a meaningful look. “I believe that we happened to it.”
My mouth fell open into an “oh” and I reached out a hand out to touch it. It vibrated beneath my fingertips.
“I can make something truly exceptional from these threads,” Lady Silkworm said, “though it will take me a good while to unwind them without breaking them. When must it be ready?”
“Of course, you may take it and make whatever you wish from it. However, I do not expect anything to be created immediately. For now, we need your help with something else.
Carefully, the woman lifted the lid off a basket. There were several holes in the top and threads of different colors spooled out through them. Nudging aside some skeins of silk, the woman placed the gleaming fabric inside the basket and closed it up tight before turning back to Ana. “How can I help?” she asked.
Quickly, we explained how she was to help Kelsey on her quest. I told her what I remembered as best I could and that we would be close, drawing Kelsey into the temple so they could talk privately. Immediately, Lady Silkworm picked up a small basket, tucking it over her arm, and said she was ready.
Channeling the power of the Damon Amulet, Ana whisked us all away to the distant Shore Temple. I turned toward the water, peering at the large ship anchored not too far away, and pointed it out to Anamika. She shielded her eyes but I still saw them widen.
“Where are the sails and the rowers?” she asked.
“Machines of metal drive the boat forward. Do you like it?” I asked.
“It is…large.” She turned to me. “Is everything fashioned during Kelsey’s time of such a size?”
As Lady Silkworm exclaimed over the temple and headed off to examine a statue, I answered, “Many things are. The ship is something I’ll miss. The boat was named after my mother.”
Ana frowned. “I would think your mother would prefer a smaller, more petite namesake. No woman wants her name loaned to something the size of fifty elephants.” Ana bumped me with her arm. “What else do you miss, Sohan?” she asked.
“Well, there’s my motorcycle. My gym. Movies.”
Ana grimaced. “I no longer wish to know. You are speaking in riddles.”
I draped my arm over her shoulders. “I can teach you about all of them once we’re done with Kadam’s list.”
“What is that?” Lady Silkworm asked, pointing out to sea. Being close to Ana had almost made me forget why we were there and who we were with.
“It’s another boat. A smaller one. That means they’re coming,” I said. The sound of the motorboat became louder.
“Wait here,” Ana said. “I will prepare a place for her to meet with Kelsey.”
Ana and Lady Silkworm disappeared while I hid behind a statue. They didn’t return immediately, which was cause for concern. What could Ana be doing that was taking so long? The boat landed and Kadam, Kelsey, Ren, and my old self leapt out. Ren and I had been brandishing our new weapons on the alert for danger. They passed me without seeing me since I’d phased out of time, and remembering the risk, I stayed well away from my former self.
The group disappeared inside the first shrine, Kadam talking with Kelsey about a variety of things. I caught the words dome and sanctum but largely ignored him. Where is Ana? I thought again, becoming more worried as each moment passed. I sensed her before I saw her and turned to look at the shore. Ana was there. She was now wearing a white dress that trailed behind her in the sand. A long veil covered her hair and her feet were bare.
Immediately, I stood and was going to race toward her, but she looked up in alarm and pressed her finger to her mouth. I glanced behind me and saw Kells standing there staring through me right at her. Has she seen Ana? Then I remembered she had. We all dismissed it back then as Kelsey seeing things, and afterwards, when we talked about it again, we assumed she’d seen Lady Silkworm. When I looked back, Ana was gone, but only a few seconds passed before I felt her touch my shoulder.
I wrapped her in my arms, thankful to see she was now phased out of time like me. “What happened?” I asked. “Why were you gone so long?”
Ana stepped back and gave me a guilty look. “I apologize,” she said. “I know you don’t like for me to attend to duties without you. But the call was too great to ignore.”
“Call? What call?”
“It was a cleansing of sorts. There were too many women suffering. So many devotees. So many prayers. I had to help.”
“Were you in danger?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. It was a pestilence. Their well water was tainted. Adding the elixir from the kamandal helped cleanse the water, but they needed healing and most of them were too weak to draw water from the well on their own. I acted as nurse for those who had no one to help and spent many hours going from house to house. I did not engage in battle so I thought you wouldn’t mind.”
“I still want to know where you are, Ana.” I touched her face and the veil slipped from her hair, showing me her red-rimmed eyes. “You’re tired.” I said. “You should have returned for me. I would have helped.”
She shook her head. “I did not want to take you away from here should they need your intervention. I would have returned before, but I mistimed it and forgot to shift to hide my presence. I think Kelsey saw me.”
“Yeah, she did,” I said. “But it doesn’t matter. Go home and rest. I’ll come get you when I bring back Lady Silkworm.”
Ana nodded and after I squeezed her shoulder, she was gone. Getting through the list needed to be our top priority. Ana and I had other work to do. I’d been effectively ignoring the cries of the supplicants who begged the help of the goddess, but they weren’t pleading directly to me, so it didn’t grate on my ears like it did with her. The cosmic load must be bearing down on her constantly. I’d have to be of more help to her in the future.
Entering the temple, I saw I was just in time. They were about to enter the room where Kells disappeared. I sucked in a breath, seeing the walls completely bare, and froze time to add the carvings I remembered, then started time going again. As Kelsey traced her finger across a carved thread on the temple wall, I suddenly remembered I wasn’t done.