Invisible once again, Ana and I led them through the labyrinth. We glided on a breeze she summoned with the amulet. That way, our feet never touched the ground to make Ren suspicious. Though he might have sensed us, causing his instincts to warn him of danger, it would only serve to make him more alert and wary. We were trusting this innate sense of his to protect both of them from the traps we’d created.
When Kells almost turned down a wrong path, I caused a gate to appear and block her from backing up. Though it scared her, Kelsey moved forward and headed to the place where they were to find the bugs. Personally, I considered bugs the ultimate pests. Fleas, lice, gnats, flies, mosquitos—these things were irritating to a tiger at best, pestilence spreaders at worst. But Anamika loved animals of all kinds, even bugs.
We walked through the tunnel before Ren and Kelsey arrived. Anamika raised her arms, and not a moment later, swarms were crawling overhead, up the walls, and on us. They moved out of her way with each step she took, the floor appearing just below our feet, and when she held out her hands, they flew to her palms, lifting their sharp mandibles and clicking them as if they were pets asking for a treat. While she cooed over them, I shivered with disgust.
After exiting, I jerked my body back and forth, trying to shake them off. She hissed and made me stand still while she patiently pried them from my clothing and hair. Gently, she placed them back inside the tunnel as we waited for Ren and Kelsey to emerge.
When our two charges ran out of the tunnel, Ana scowled, angry at seeing so many of her creations being destroyed. She huffed quietly, waved her hand, and the two of us rose in the air and moved on to our next trap, letting Ren and Kelsey recover from the experience. The next trap was the poisoned barbs. They weren’t really poisoned. I just floated the scent of poison to Ren’s tiger nose.
It was tough on them, no doubt, and they were frightened, but they were never in any danger. I moved time slowly as they progressed, watching every move they made very carefully. Even when Kelsey slipped, I could have easily made the spike vanish. Instead, I allowed it to go through her backpack just to make sure Ren was properly motivated to take care of Kelsey from then on. There was nothing like watching your girl almost die to get rid of complacency.
The next trap was the tank of water. I worried for the several long moments it took them to escape. It was a fairly straightforward trap, I’d thought. Kelsey just had to use the seal to open it and drain out the water. They still seemed to have a good sense of humor about it afterward, which was a good sign. Poor Ren and Kelsey. I wished I could have just told them I was there or helped them solve the whole thing using my power, but doing so would have ruined their timeline, and as Kadam often warned me, there were consequences, sometimes disastrous, for doing such a thing.
When Ana and I were positioned on the far side of the chamber, she raised her arms, and the earth shook as a chasm appeared. She used the power of the wind to help them across. I looked away, uncomfortable at seeing the tender way Ren held Kelsey. When I turned and saw Ana also watching them, I felt heat creep up my neck. Then, finally, they were at the door where the monolith was hidden.
Kells pressed her hand to the print on the door, and she exclaimed over the light but Kelsey couldn’t see what we did. To her the henna simply glowed red, but to us, we saw the connection between her and her tiger. Both Kelsey and Ren glowed with their golden light, the aura that showed their bond and their hearts that were in tune with one another. It wrapped around their bodies and the lock responded, not just to us but to the other version of the goddess and her tiger.
The door slid open and Ana and I followed them in.
Kelsey went through the necessary steps to trigger the monolith and Ana lifted her hands, causing a chemical reaction that exposed the carvings. The two of us sat up on top of a large rock as the acid began to spread down the sides of the stone and across the floor. We wanted to remain long enough to ensure they didn’t get burned and that the two of them were able to exit safely before we destroyed the cave.
Unheedful of the spreading golden liquid, Kelsey was bent over a stone, making a rubbing and taking pictures. Ren had seen the danger already but Kelsey was oblivious. He growled softly. Ana thought giving them a little jostle might get them going, so she shook the cavern slightly. A rock fell from the ceiling and splashed into the acid.
A spot of golden liquid landed on my hand. I hissed, shaking it, and Ren’s eyes darted up to where we were as if he could hear us, but I was confident he couldn’t see us or smell us, and he was much more concerned about Kelsey anyway than he was about any strange sounds in a collapsing cavern.
The acid bubbled on the back of my hand, quickly eating through my skin. Even as I healed, it continued its work. Whatever it was she had made, it was powerful. I just hoped it wouldn’t get on Kelsey or Ren.
Anamika pursed her lips. Then she leaned over, picked up my hand in hers, and blew softly on the spot. The acid dried up and wafted away. Gently tracing her fingers over the now healed skin, she then lifted my hand to her mouth. The breath seized in my lungs as I watched her lush lips touch my skin. Though I wasn’t breathing, my heart started thrumming a staccato beat.
Better? she mouthed after her chaste kiss.
I nodded dumbly, my own mouth open. Telling myself to snap out of it, I heard Ren yowl. He leapt away, shaking his paw gingerly. Ana blew a goddess kiss to Ren, healing his wound, and I was glad she didn’t have to kiss him like she had me. Then she waved her fingertips and the quaking intensified. Just as the monolith shattered and broke, heavy pieces tumbling down, Ana cracked open a hole leading to outside, and Ren took advantage of it, clawing until it was big enough for the two of them to escape.
Once they were safely out, a rock slammed down over the hole, and we were plunged into darkness.
Chapter 26
Becoming Phet
The quaking stopped just after Ren and Kelsey escaped, but the stones still shifted, and a large one fell near the one we perched on. Our rock moved. I grabbed on to Ana as we tumbled down with the rock, determined to protect her from the fall and the spreading acid that I could see shining like a golden lake in the darkness. She cried out in surprise.
My shoulder hit the wall and I cracked my head. Clutching Ana to my chest, I turned in midair, much as Ren had done when he’d leapt the chasm with Kelsey. Injuries, no matter how severe, wouldn’t be likely to incapacitate either of us for long, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
Ana could break her neck or bash her head on a rock. There were too many variables that we just didn’t know regarding the limits of our power, and I refused to lose her again by being reckless. Kadam had warned me that I’d given up a piece of myself to bring back Ren and another to save Ana. Having recently gotten a taste of mortality, I wasn’t willing to embrace serious bodily injury again so soon. I waited for the impact of the floor on my back, but it never came.
I blinked in the darkness and realized the weight of Anamika’s body was still on top of me, but we were hovering in the air, inches away from the floor. Her long hair tumbled around us, cocooning us in a tent that smelled of jasmine and lotus blossoms. Ana’s legs were tangled with mine and my hands were locked around her, splayed against her back and waist, holding her close. Reaching down with my foot, I touched it to the ground below and said, “You can let us down now, Ana.”
She lowered us softly to the ground, and I was relieved to see we were far away from the acid effusion.
“Are you okay?” I asked, smoothing her hair back so I could see her face.
“Did you know your eyes glow in the dark?” she asked, angling her head to peer into my eyes.