I didn’t struggle since I didn’t want Kadam to return. “What’s wrong?” I hissed softly as her body slowly phased back, becoming visible. Her green eyes flashed with anger and hurt. “Ana?” I queried as I lifted my hands to cover hers where she still clutched my shirt. When I saw they were Phet’s hands, I whispered the words that would change me back, and the scarf went to work.
She didn’t answer me and I touched her cheek, offering her easy access to my mind, but she shoved away from me and put up her old familiar barrier between us. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked. “Did I forget something?”
“No,” she answered over her shoulder. “You forget nothing. That is the problem.”
“Tell me what’s wrong,” I said. “I’ll fix whatever it is.”
Turning around, she thrust the list into my hands. “Some things you cannot fix, Sohan.” She strode toward the door, her boots quiet on the floor of the hut. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready to leave,” she said and ducked to exit the building, blurring her body in case Kadam was still near.
I lifted my eyes to the ceiling, supplicating the heavens in the way I imagined most men did who were absolutely baffled by the women they lived with, and then followed after her. When I caught up to her, she was closed off to me in a way I hadn’t experienced since we’d first become companions. Her whole demeanor was stiff and unapproachable. Gone was the camaraderie we’d built over the last few months. It had hung about us like a shared blanket, the two of us sitting beneath it together, enjoying the warmth it offered.
Sighing and wishing I had a list or at least an instruction manual that would help me understand Anamika, I perused the one Kadam had given us and said, “The next stop is Kishkindha and then the Shrine of Earth. I have no idea what that second one means.”
Ana took the list from my hands and said, “The amulet knows. You need simply tell it the destination on the list, and it takes us roughly to the place we need to be, or at least close enough for us to figure it out. But first we need to rest.”
We returned to our home, and to my surprise, I noticed that Ana had been adding children when I wasn’t paying attention. In fact, an entire wing of the house was practically overrun with kids.
“What’s this?” I asked her as a half dozen children clambered down the hall.
“It must be time for their studies,” she answered tiredly.
“We have teachers here?”
“A few. They come from different times and places. And some nursemaids. Enough to watch over them.”
Smirking, I said, “Are you trying to build up a new army?”
“No. They just needed a home.”
I sighed. “Just don’t expect me to be dad to half of humanity,” I said, trying to diffuse the tension between us.
In reply, Ana said softly, “I expect nothing from you. Good night, Kishan.”
“Good night.”
Ana trailed down the hall where the kids had disappeared. A hollow feeling in my gut drove me outside. Unwilling to stay in my empty room, I headed to the forest and slept. After a quick breakfast, I sought her out, finding her waiting for me, the list in hand.
Almost reluctantly, she stepped closer, and the two of us were whisked away, not to Kishkindha but to the ruins of Hampi. I recognized the Queen’s Bath and the Virupaksha Temple.
“Where are we?” Ana asked.
“This is the way Ren and Kelsey entered Kishkindha.”
“And how was this done?” Her mood was cold and businesslike. I didn’t like it. I wanted the warm Ana back. The one who ruffled my hair and teased me.
I held out my hand, and when she took it, I felt like I’d won something. “If I recall,” I said as we walked, “they went through the statue. We find it, we find our entrance.”
We wound through buildings until we came upon the right place. “There he is,” I said, pointing. “Anamika meet Ugra Narasimha.”
“Lovely.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Now what?”
I scratched my neck as I circled the statue. “Well, there was something about a bell and an offering.” Snapping my fingers, I said, “I’ve got it. We’ll just flash forward and watch how Ren and Kelsey get in.”
Ana just raised an eyebrow, which I took as acquiescence, and with a thought, I sped us up in time, not slowing until Ren and Kelsey appeared. We kept ourselves phased out just enough to be able to hear and see what was going on but not be seen by either of them. I hid my scent so Ren wouldn’t detect me. Together we watched Kelsey as she figured out Kadam’s clues, and after they disappeared down the opening, I shifted us back to our point of origin. We snapped back like one of Kadam’s rubber bands.
“Doesn’t seem too difficult,” I said. While Ana stood, arms folded, I headed over to the columns and tapped on one three times.
When I returned, she pointed to the statue. “There’s no fog. The mouth didn’t open and the snakes’ eyes aren’t red.”
I frowned. “Maybe those things don’t matter. We need a light.”
Ana opened her palm and a ball of flame grew in the center. “Is this good enough?” she asked.
“Yeah. It should be. Next is claws.”
Ana gave me a pointed look and held out her arm. I shifted to tiger form and drew my claws down her arm, hard enough to draw blood but not hard enough to seriously injure her.
“Sorry,” I said after shifting back.
She raised her shoulders in a shrug, but when I lifted her in my arms, she was silent and cold, her body as rigid as a fire poker.
“Relax,” I said, my lips brushing her ear. When I got to the doorway, I glanced down at her face. Her eyes were closed; the fringe of her lashes shadowed her beautiful face in the moonlight. Tell me what I did to hurt you, lady fair, I said directly to her mind. It was not my intention to stoke your ire.
“It does not matter,” she said out loud. After a long moment of silence, she wriggled in my arms. “This is not working. Please set me down.”
She was right, but I found I was reluctant to put her down. I liked the spill of her silky hair over my arm and the taut bend of her mouth as she frowned at me. Something about it made me feel happy. When she began to struggle, I set her on her feet, and she adjusted her dress, wrenching it into place with a tight-fisted fury she barely contained.
“Did you stop to think,” she said, “that we might possibly have created Kishkindha in the first place, much as we did the Cave of Kanheri?”
“No, I…I suppose I didn’t. It makes sense though. We’ve done most everything else. Why not create an entire underground city?”
She missed my sarcasm and nodded, lifting her arms. “Then let us begin.” Before we could even discuss anything, Ana began working her magic. The statue glowed and the snakes writhed. Even Fanindra came alive to watch the process. When we connected a handprint to the newly made entrance to the tunnel below Hampi, Ana sent her power down into the aperture. Light blossomed in the dark and we headed down steps that rose to meet her feet.
As we walked down the passageway, rock and dirt melted away before us, repositioning themselves or flying up and outside, and I wondered if a new mountain was being created from the ground we’d displaced. Finally, after we’d walked a good distance underground, she paused, pushing her hands forward, and mumbled a spell that shook the earth. A yawning chasm appeared before us. Rocks and dirt swirled in massive eddies, disappearing in cracks in the ceiling far above us or shooting down the tunnel behind.
When the dust settled, she turned to me and waited until I snapped my mouth shut. Her power, no, our power was…was unfathomable. “What is found in Kishkindha?” she asked.
I told her of the needle forest that could be beaten back by the gada. Next, I talked of the mysterious cavern full of tunnels housing malevolent spirits bent on tempting Ren and Kelsey from the path that led to the prize. Ana nodded and spread her fingers. Using the earth piece of the amulet and the bow and arrows, she combined their powers to fashion trees that were alive with sharp needles.