“I’m not entirely certain,” I answered. “Also there are cameras. We can’t play around with it too much or it will alert the bank.”
“Cameras? Bank?”
“Cameras take your picture. Like someone drawing your image. But instead of an artist, it’s a machine that does it. And the bank is the business that owns the machine.”
“I see.”
I wasn’t sure she did. “May I borrow the amulet?” I asked.
She removed it from her neck and handed it over. I held it tightly in my hand, telling it what I wanted, but the machine didn’t so much as hum. As I tried again, I heard Ana’s voice say, “Thank you very much.”
I glanced over my shoulder and found her in conversation with a young man who looked like a college student. He passed her something and grinned as he left her, walking backward until he nearly tripped over a cement parking block.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“He gave me twenty,” Ana answered.
I looked down at the money clutched in her hand and she held it out to me. There was more than twenty dollars in her hand. It looked like the young man had emptied his entire wallet. She had several bills amounting to at least three hundred dollars as well as his personal card with his phone number circled.
“Is it enough?” she asked.
“More than enough.” I held out my hand and she took it.
“Why are you frowning?” she asked. “Are you not happy that we have twenty?”
“Yes. I just don’t like the idea of young men giving you their phone numbers.”
“I do not know what that means.”
“Yeah, I know you don’t. It means he likes you.”
“If he did not like me, then we would not have twenty.”
“It’s not that I don’t want people to like you. I know they love you. They’re drawn to you.”
“They respond to the goddess,” she said.
“They do, but it’s more than that. Even before you were a goddess, your men followed you blindly.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No. Yes. No.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Your men should follow you. I just don’t want them getting any ideas.”
“Ideas such as…?”
“Ideas of romance.”
Ana gave me a long look as I paid the ticket taker. When I offered my arm, she took it and followed me inside. After we found a seat, she finally spoke. “You do not wish me to experience romance?”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I wouldn’t think you’d want to. Not after what happened.”
“What happened to me was long ago.”
“It doesn’t feel long ago.”
“No.”
A man walked by holding a large container filled with red-and-white popcorn boxes. I raised my hand and bought one.
Opening it, I tilted it toward Anamika, who wrapped her hand around mine and lifted it to her nose. “What is it?” she asked.
“It’s called popcorn. This one is, in fact, caramel corn, which is even better than the original.” I nudged her shoulder. “Try it.”
Gingerly, she picked up a kernel and placed it on the end of her tongue. I grinned at the expression of surprise on her face when she bit down and I heard the crunch.
“Do you like it?” I asked.
She nodded, and I angled the box so she could take some. When I grabbed a large handful after her, she protested with a squeal and a full mouth and pulled the box from my grip. Popcorn threatened to spill out of her lips, and she nudged it in with the back of her hand, chewing quickly, and threatened my life if I took more.
I laughed and made a halfhearted attempt to grab the box from her, but she deftly maneuvered it away, and when I saw her mumbling slyly and the box refilling on its own, I warned, “Better not let any of these mortals see what you’re up to.” She just smiled at me and leaned back, munching on her snack.
People filed into the tent, filling up the seats, and Ana suggested we move up a few benches to see better. When we were settled again and she’d finished half the box of popcorn, she rolled a kernel between her fingers and said, “You did not ask me about Sunil.”
I shrugged. “I thought it was pretty self-explanatory. You wanted to see him happy. Truthfully, I was glad to see Nilima found love. She’s an amazing girl. I think they’ll do well together.”
“So, you approve of their…romance?”
“Yes. Don’t you?”
She considered her answer for a moment and then said, “I love my brother. He was a true and loyal companion and he will dedicate himself to your Nilima just as he did to me. Her safety will never be in question.”
I nodded, deciding not to elaborate on the dangers of Kelsey’s time. “I got the impression it took a long time for him to wear her down.” When her brows furrowed in puzzlement, I explained, “To convince her to marry him.”
“He is tenacious,” she said.
Chuckling, I said, “I remember. In this case, his tenacity paid off.”
“Yes, but it still took him more than two years since the time he left my side to completely gain her favor.”
I blew out a breath. That was a long time to wait. I’d seen them kiss at Ren’s wedding, which, by my calculations, was only a few months after they returned. Nilima had been stubborn. Apparently, Ana’s thoughts were along the same lines because the next question she asked was, “If their hearts beat for one another in such a way, why did they hesitate to form a bond?”
“There could be a number of reasons.”
“Such as?”
“Timing, first of all. Sometimes life gets in the way.”
“I do not understand this reason.”
“It applies to this era more than ours. Sometimes one person wants to finish school while another works in a different country.”
“A physical separation?”
“Yes.”
“This would not hinder me.”
“I…I wouldn’t imagine it could,” I said slowly, not liking where this was heading.
“What else?” she asked. “What other things hinder romance?”
“On occasion, one person feels more strongly than the other.”
She nodded sagely as if I’d given her the answer that explained the origins of the universe.
“And third?”
The lights dimmed and the music started and I’d never felt so relieved to be interrupted. A large man wearing garish makeup sparkled under the spotlight as he announced the acts. Ana quickly learned the art of clapping and began the process too early and ended it too late to be natural, but her eyes were riveted on the performance.
She didn’t get the clowns at all, but she loved the acrobats and especially enjoyed the dogs, making me promise to find her one. I tried to tell her that dogs and tigers didn’t really get along in most cases, but she waved a hand and shushed me. I caught a scent, a familiar human scent, which was shocking considering the vast amounts of popcorn, cotton candy, and hot dogs in the area.
Scanning the crowd, I finally spotted her just a few benches down. She wore a sparkly costume and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her telltale ribbon was tied to the end of her braid. My breath caught and the pulse in my neck pounded.
“What is it?” Ana asked, then followed my eyes to the person below us, sitting all by herself. “Is it her?” she queried softly.
I nodded. My palms turned sweaty, so I wiped them on my thighs and then balled up my fists on my knees, not realizing until Ana touched the back of my hand that they’d turned white.
“She won’t know us,” she whispered in my ear.
Turning my hand over, I grasped her fingers, and she slid a little closer to me on the bench. I didn’t glance away from Kelsey until I caught another scent. This one unmistakable. My nostrils flared. I heard the soft snarl, the click of claws, and the irritated huff before he was rolled into the arena.
Wild music played as the man came out to announce the final act. The words rung in my ears like a song on repeat.
“…taken from the harsh, wild giungla, the jungles, of India and brought here to America.”