Tiger's Destiny

  I took his hand. “What is it?” I encouraged gently.

  “If I do something that reminds you of Lokesh or hurts you in any way, will you tell me?”

  “The fact that you’re even worried about it is a sign you could never be like him. Don’t be afraid to touch me. I won’t break.”

  Kishan nodded, pressed a kiss to my fingers, and lifted the amulet from his chest. “You were smart to send Fanindra to me with this, but you should wear it now.”

  He fumbled with the chain and fastened the amulet around my neck. I rubbed the smooth stone with my fingers.

  “That’s how you created those balls of light? With the amulet?”

  “Yes. This piece of the amulet is quite a weapon.”

  “I was wondering how you did that. That never happened to me.”

  “You probably could do it if you tried. The amulet seems capable of creating any type of flame.”

  I considered how I’d seen Lokesh use his pieces of the amulet and suddenly stood and took Kishan’s hand.

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “I want to blow something up.”

  Kishan laughed. “You are definitely the girl for me. Let’s go.”

  When we found a large rock, I infused so much energy into the burst that the rock disintegrated. I stared at my hand incredulously. I had no idea I’d become so dependent upon my power and knowing for sure that the amulet was the source was a relief. I could put on and take off the power at my leisure.

  Kishan and I practiced drills for the next half hour. He taught me how to create bursts of light so they’d explode right in front of someone’s eyes to temporarily blind him, how to snap my fingers to start a fire, and after finding some roadkill to practice upon, how to use the beam to burn the flesh. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but I knew that if Lokesh was still alive and came after me again, or if I had to face another monster in order to fulfill Durga’s fourth prophecy, I would have to be able to use this technique.

  When we returned to the tent, Ren was moody and yelled at Kishan for walking off with me and not telling him. “We need to watch over her constantly. We have no idea if Lokesh is still alive, and I don’t want to take any chances on losing her again,” Ren said sternly then turned around and left.

  After he stormed off, Kishan sighed and picked up my hand. “He’s right. We have to remain vigilant where you’re concerned.”

  I scooted closer and lay my head on his shoulder. “I’ll just make sure one of you is always around.”

  He put his arm around me. “He shouldn’t be that mad anyway. He won the bet. He gets to ride with you all day tomorrow.”

  I teased, “What happened to doing whatever it takes to win?”

  Kishan grunted. “Apparently, he took my advice. He shoved me face-first into a boulder. It broke my nose.”

  “What?” I gasped. He started laughing. “I don’t find anything funny about that,” I said.

  “I do. Ren’s never cheated in his life. He must have been pretty desperate.”

  “Hmm.”

  That night, I dreamed of Mr. Kadam. He was standing in front of a movie screen studying various battle scenes that flashed by so fast I couldn’t make them out. When I touched his arm, he turned and smiled. There was something different about his eyes. He seemed much older and a little sad.

  “What is it?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

  He patted my shoulder. “It’s nothing, Miss Kelsey. I’m just a bit weary.”

  “Where are you? We can’t find you.”

  “I’m much closer than you think. Try to relax your mind and go back to sleep.”

  “But I am asleep. This is a dream.”

  Mr. Kadam paused. “Of course it is. Just close your eyes and focus on your breathing. It will take all your strength to face what lies ahead, but for now, rest.”

  When his voice began to fade, I felt the darkness gently engulf me. I wanted to nod but couldn’t. As his presence faded from my mind, I felt a light touch, a gesture of comfort and understanding.

  Ren and Kishan were thrilled about my dream the next morning. They believed it was a vision and that the amulet had reconnected us with Mr. Kadam somehow.

  When we finally pulled onto the pebbled drive of our Indian jungle mansion, I felt tears fill my eyes. As we stepped into the house, I breathed in the warmth and felt the spirit of the Rajaram family envelop me.

  With Kishan and Ren flanking either side, I crossed the threshold and announced, “We’re home.”

  5

  putting the pieces together

  While Ren and Kishan checked the house for signs of Mr. Kadam, Nilima, or intruders, I reacquainted myself with Fanindra, who had indeed swam through the waves near the shore of Mahabalipuram and found her way to my tigers. My golden pet blinked her jeweled emerald eyes and raised her head under my palm.

  “I missed you too. How clever you were to have found the boys.” I stroked her head for a moment and then she lay on her top coil and froze.

  A look through Mr. Kadam’s computer and security system told me that no one had entered the house or tried to contact us during our absence.

  “What’s our next move?” Kishan wondered aloud. He perched on the arm of the couch and pulled me back against his chest, much to the disappointment of Ren.

  As if in response, the air five feet away from us began to shimmer. Specks of light seemed to move, dancing and bouncing like scattered raindrops on a windshield. But then they coalesced toward the center and began to take form. The light became brighter, until two very real bodies materialized.

  A familiar, beloved voice called out, “Hello, Miss Kelsey. We have much to talk about.”

  “Mr. Kadam? Nilima!” I raced around the table and hugged both of them. “You’re all right? Where were you? Are you injured?”

  Nilima smiled but staggered a bit under my embrace.

  “Ren, Kishan, will one of you help Nilima to her room? She’s still weak from our journey and needs to sleep,” Mr. Kadam said.

  Coming immediately to her aid, Ren carried Nilima upstairs to her room, and Mr. Kadam continued, “Miss Kelsey, shall we sit? If you can afford the time, we should speak.” He chuckled at a thought he didn’t bother to share, which made me wonder what could possibly be in store for us next.

  Ren joined us on the couch, and I held Kishan’s hand, happy to have my little family reunited and hoping Durga’s fourth prophecy would be easier than what we had just gone through.

  “Mr. Kadam, please tell us what happened to you,” I asked.

  He leaned back, stroked his short beard, and briefly paused, as if undecided. “The amulet protected me on the ship. When I saw the harpoon heading toward Nilima, my only thought was to save her. I wrapped my arms around her and the next thing I knew, we were transported to another place.”

  “Where?” Ren asked.

  “I’m not sure it was a ‘where,’ for we were no longer on Earth.”

  “What do you mean?” I sputtered, shocked. “Was it like one of Durga’s other-worlds, like the City of the Seven Pagodas?”

  “No. We traveled to a time beyond time, a place beyond space. It’s an experience I fear I will have difficulty in describing. Suffice it to say we are safe and we are home.”

  I could sense that Mr. Kadam wasn’t telling us the whole truth. He was holding something back, but I had no idea what it could be or why.

  “I will be very busy in the next few weeks,” Mr. Kadam continued. “It is imperative that we begin our journey to find Durga’s fourth gift soon. If we leave too early or too late we will miss our window of opportunity and the success of our endeavor will be jeopardized.

  “Above all else, I must impress upon you the need to trust me. I will ask some difficult things of all of you in the near future, and you must heed my direction without question. There are certain things I have been made aware of that I cannot share with you.”

  Mr. Kadam looked at me kindly. “Your safety and your happin
ess is and has always been my priority. Please don’t question me on this, for I can say no more.”

  “Will you need help with the research?” I offered.

  “Not this time, Miss Kelsey, but thank you.”

  Something was wrong. Mr. Kadam had never closed himself off from us before. He seemed distracted, uncomfortable. To break the silence, I said, “Perhaps now would be a good time to share what I’ve learned.”

  Mr. Kadam nodded for me to begin describing my experiences with Lokesh. I told them about his history, of how he killed his brother and still wore his father’s and brother’s rings, and about the powers I’d observed him use.

  I explained, “He can make wind tunnels and blue static electricity at his fingertips. He freezes not only people but things, which makes me wonder if he has control over ice or water because he doused fire.”

  “It’s a reasonable assumption,” Mr. Kadam acknowledged.

  “Thanks to Kishan, we now know the amulet I wear is connected to fire, and he’s discovered more uses for it in a month than I could have in a year.”

  My thoughts turned briefly to the golden flame that was a result of Ren’s touch, but somehow I knew that the special power didn’t come from the amulet or even my henna tattoo. It was something I only felt when Ren and I connected.

  Swallowing, I turned to Mr. Kadam, who nodded sagely, but his expression was strange, as if he already knew what I was going to say.

  I cleared my throat and said quietly, “Lokesh also used his power to . . . touch me.”

  Mr. Kadam interrupted. “Perhaps it is too uncomfortable for you to speak of.”

  “No, I think you all should know. He used invisible fingers of air that could penetrate my clothing and right before we left I felt him scratch my skin from the inside out. He could’ve probably rearranged my insides.”

  “If that devil wasn’t already dead, I’d strangle him with my bare hands,” Kishan spat.

  Mr. Kadam sat up, clearly fascinated. “You believe he’s dead, then?”

  “We hope so,” Kishan answered. “We left him hung, speared, and burning.”

  “Interesting.”

  Ren leaned forward and pressed his head into his hands. “This is my fault, Kelsey. I should have kept you by my side constantly.” He turned to me and took my hands. “Forgive me. I sent you away. If I had kept you by my side Lokesh couldn’t have abducted you.”

  “There is nothing to forgive. Please don’t blame yourself. I’m safe because you rescued me.”

  He raised his head and nodded but said nothing, so I continued to recap what I had learned. “The amulet keeps Lokesh young. He looks about fifty years old, but he’s actually much older than all of you. He said he was born around 250 CE. With the combined power of the amulet pieces, he can manipulate his appearance at will.”

  Mr. Kadam looked off into the distance but said nothing. In fact, it seemed as if his thoughts were somewhere else.

  “Lokesh also talked about the night you two became tigers,” I added. “You mentioned that the amulet protected you. I have a theory.” I turned to Ren and said, “Tell me exactly how Lokesh cursed you and changed you into tigers.”

  Ren answered, “He took a wooden medallion from around his neck, cut me, dripped my blood onto it, then began chanting. Kishan was affected too. All I remember was the white light, intense pain, and the feeling of my body being reshaped.”

  “Don’t forget the burning,” Kishan added. “The amulet burned my skin where it rested.”

  “Really? The amulet didn’t burn me,” Ren contradicted.

  “Hmm.” I drummed my fingers on my knee. “Lokesh said the amulets punished you by changing you to tigers, and he confessed that he wasn’t trying to do that. He wanted to turn you into zombies or something.”

  “Why did he use an elaborate and slow blood ritual? Why not freeze us? What did he hope to gain?” Ren asked.

  “First, he likes to torture people, especially you two. The amulets were in his grasp. He said he wanted to draw out the process. Enjoy it for as long as he could. He probably hadn’t yet figured out how to partially freeze like he does now. Also, he wanted a son-in-law who had the support of the people and who would do as he asked.”

  “Alright, so Lokesh didn’t change us into tigers. What do you think happened, Kelsey?” Kishan asked.

  “I think the amulet protected you, just like it did with Mr. Kadam.”

  “Then why didn’t it protect Lokesh’s father or brother?” Ren asked.

  “Well, this may be a little far-fetched, but Lokesh feels it is his destiny to reunite the amulet. What if the Damon Amulet is supposed to be put back together again, but it’s not his destiny but yours?”

  Kishan laughed. “You’re right. That is far-fetched.”

  “Think about it,” I argued. “It’s called the Damon Amulet, and it changed you into tigers. Damon is Durga’s tiger, the Durga who sent us on these quests. The Ocean Teacher said that this happened to you, as in, for a reason. What if you’re supposed to save the amulet?”

  Ren rubbed his hands together as he mused, “Perhaps Kelsey’s right. If Lokesh didn’t curse us, then maybe it was the amulet that did it.”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “We should go back to Lokesh and take the amulet from him.”

  “No!” Mr. Kadam said definitively, startling us with his sudden outburst. Seeing our dismay, he sat back in his chair, but his fingers dug into the leather. “You cannot go back. There is no time. When the fourth gift is recovered, that is the time to pursue Lokesh.”

  “But wouldn’t it be better to do it now while the boys can still heal?” I suggested.

  He shook his head. “This is one of the times I will ask you to trust me.”

  I nodded glumly and shared a tense moment of eye contact with Ren and Kishan. Mr. Kadam had a very strange expression on his face. He watched the three of us with a mixture of fondness and sadness and he didn’t write down any notes. That wasn’t like him at all.

  “Are you alright, Mr. Kadam?” I asked.

  The Indian businessman blinked, and a tear fell down his cheek. He sucked in a quick breath and cleared his throat. “Yes, of course. I’m just so sorry, Miss Kelsey, that you were held prisoner. It would be hard to find a more cruel and vicious man than the one who abducted you. You were very clever in manipulating him, and I applaud your creativity in such a dire situation. Such a brave girl. I’m very proud of you. All of you.”

  Another tear fell, and he wiped it away. “I believe I could use some rest as well. If you three will excuse me . . .” Mr. Kadam stood and with a dignified mien, walked to his room and closed the door softly behind him.

  We had never seen Mr. Kadam look so old, so tired, so . . . world-weary. Ren, Kishan, and I speculated quietly but decided to let him and Nilima sleep as long as they needed to. I checked on both of them from time to time, and though they seemed peaceful, I couldn’t shake the feeling that our respite would be short-lived.

  When Nilima finally awoke eighteen hours later, she seemed back to her cheery, matter-of-fact self.

  “Well, hello, Miss Kelsey. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she said, smiling over a bowl of yogurt.

  “Nilima,” I asked, “what happened to the two of you?”

  “I don’t really know,” she admitted. “One minute we were on the ship, and the next we ended up here. It was magic, I suppose, or maybe Durga helped us.”

  I smiled and nodded but I wondered how she and Mr. Kadam could have such different memories of the same experience.

  While Mr. Kadam still slept, Nilima wasted no time plunging with gusto back into the family business dealings. She spent many hours on the phone and the computer with Ren and Kishan at her side, watching and learning how she ran things.

  Unlike Nilima, Mr. Kadam was still somber, contemplative, and mysterious when he awoke. Though he insisted everything was fine, his behavior worried me.

  “Mr. Kadam, why are you so closed off from us? What’s bothe
ring you? I miss you.”

  “Nothing, my dear Miss Kelsey.”

  I looked up, but Mr. Kadam wouldn’t make eye contact. “Yes, there is something bothering you. Don’t you trust me?”

  He sighed deeply. “Of course I do. It . . . it’s myself I don’t trust. There are some things in this world that a person must face on his own.” He tilted his head and considered me. “May I be so bold as to ask you a personal question, Miss Kelsey?” When I nodded, he went on. “If you had a child who was learning to walk, would you pick him up and carry him each time he fell or would you encourage him to keep trying?”

  “To keep trying, of course.”

  “And if you saw sharp corners or broken glass in his path, would you clear the way for him?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what if your child was trapped in a house of burning flame? What would you do then?”

  Without hesitation, I answered, “I would run in and save him.”

  “Yes, you would. In spite of the danger to yourself, you would endeavor to protect your precious ones.” He smiled. “That is precisely what I needed to hear. You have given me great comfort, Miss Kelsey.”

  “But I haven’t done anything.”

  “You have done more than you know. You have a heart pure and loving. It is a priceless gift that you have offered to all of us.”

  “You’re my family.”

  “Yes. We are. Don’t worry so over me.”

  After a pensive moment, I sighed. “Alright,” I responded softly.

  Impulsively, I wrapped my arms around him. Mr. Kadam gently enfolded me in a warm embrace and pressed his cheek against my forehead. He patted my back, and I felt another teardrop land on my nose.

  Clearly, some things were certainly not back to normal, but Kishan did his best to rekindle our romantic flame nonetheless and brought up the idea of a date. First he suggested a romantic dinner by the pool, but we decided on a movie in the theater room instead.

  “It’s a date,” Kishan said, poking his brother with his elbow. “And just to be clear, you are not invited. Three’s a crowd.”