Tiger's Voyage (64 page)

I hid a smile by sipping milk. He sat next to me, and we bumped shoulders.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. You?”

“I’ve slept better,” he said and smiled as if remembering a specific incident. “But it was good enough. Where’s Kishan?”

“Still sleeping. I didn’t want to wake him.”

He frowned. “He should be more vigilant where you’re concerned. He should have woken when you stirred.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like I was in any danger, and I don’t think he was sleeping deeply. That’s how he sleeps as a tiger too. Besides, it’s possible he didn’t hear me.”

“Why wouldn’t he hear you?”

“He slept in his own room last night.”

Ren grinned. “Had a fight, did you?”

“No. And where he sleeps isn’t your business.”

“It is if he doesn’t take care of you.”

I sighed and picked up my plate. “Do you know if we are under way yet, Mr. Kadam?”

“Yes. We should arrive at our chosen coordinates in a few hours. Relax for now. I’ll alert you with plenty of notice before we get there.”

Ren polished off the last bite of his pancakes and asked, “Would you like to play a game of Parcheesi while you wait for …” he frowned, “while you wait?”

“Sounds good. But no Parcheesi. I need to teach you the train game. We do have that one, don’t we, Mr. Kadam?”

“Yes, and the others you recommended as well.”

I threaded my arm through Ren’s. “Come on. I’ll let you be blue.”

An hour later, Ren analyzed the board, slapped down a wild card, and placed his last train. “I win,” he announced.

“Not so fast. We need to count the score.”

“I think it should be obvious without counting that I win.”

“Not necessarily. I have the longest connection and big segments. You aren’t afraid to use your math skills, are you?”

“Are you implying that I cannot add?”

“No. But it’s been a long time since grammar school. Feel free to whap your paw against the table like a horse if you need to.” I grinned wickedly.

“Apparently, you need to be taught a lesson in respect.”

“Are you going to write a law against teasing the
High Prince and
Protector of the Mujulaain Kingdom
?”

“That’s
Prince and High Protector of the Mujulaain Empire
and, yes, perhaps I should write a law.”

“And what would you do if I broke your law? Cut off my head?”

He smirked. “I was thinking more along the lines of devising a way to keep you from talking, but you might enjoy the punishment too much.” He rubbed his jaw. “I could throw you into the pool, I suppose.”

He smiled, but then his expression changed when the blood drained from my face. “What’s wrong, Kells?” Quickly, he slid the game board across the table and took my hand. The little train cars spun off the board every which way, messing up our scoring. “What is it?” he asked softly and stroked my cheek.

“I don’t know if I can ever go back into the water. I couldn’t even sit in the Jacuzzi last night. All I see is giant teeth coming after me. I had nightmares all night.”

“I’m sorry, my
anmol moti
. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No. Not really.” I sighed. “I’ll get over it eventually, I hope. I enjoyed diving before this happened.”

He nodded and stood, then held out his hand. Grinning slyly, he said, “Then perhaps your punishment should be cleaning up the game while I watch.”

“That’s a terrible punishment. A definite teasing deterrent.”

I began scooping the trains into their little bags, and despite his edict, he helped. My braid flopped over my shoulder as I bent to retrieve the box lid, and he tugged on it.

“You thought I wouldn’t notice?”

“I knew you probably would. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about it last night.”

“I did notice but … I’m sorry, Kelsey. I shouldn’t have been so adamant about it before.” He twisted my hair ribbon around his finger thoughtfully. “When you cut your hair right after we broke up, I felt as if you were cutting away all your ties to me. When you and Nilima prepared to cut it again, I panicked. It was very difficult for me. I know it’s just in my mind, but I feel as if the long-haired version of you belongs to me, and the short-haired version belongs to Kishan.”

He sighed. “But your hair is attractive no matter which way you wear it, though I’ve always been fond of your braids.” He set the thick braid down and trailed his fingers from my jaw down the side of my neck then took a step closer. I stopped breathing, transfixed by the beautiful man intent on kissing me.

“Kelsey? Kelsey, where are you?” Kishan hollered as he leapt down the stairs and onto our deck.

“In here!” I shouted back with a panicky edge to my voice as I took a step away from Ren.

He ran over to my side, oblivious to the thick tension I felt with his brother, and pecked me on the cheek. “We’re almost there. Mr. Kadam wants us in the wheelhouse.”

Kishan took my hand to lead me from the room. Ren followed along behind us. I felt him watching me and tingling goose bumps shot down my arms. I listened for his footsteps, and he shot past us on the wide stairs.

As we walked around the outside deck to the wheelhouse, Ren asked, “Kishan, will you sleep in Kelsey’s room tonight?”

I peered at Ren who looked like he’d just swallowed something bitter.

Kishan openly gaped at his brother, then straightened and folded his arms across his chest suspiciously. “Why?”

Ren quickly explained, “She’s having nightmares. She sleeps better with a tiger around.”

I frowned. “Ren, you don’t have to arrange—”

“Just let me help with this, Kells.”

“Fine. Whatever. You two work out your plans.” I started up the stairs and heard Kishan and Ren whispering below. Rolling my eyes, I entered the wheelhouse and plopped into a comfortable chair. “So what’s going on?” I asked.

“We’re getting ready to enter the red dragon’s waters.”

“Okay.”

Half an hour later, the brothers and I watched as Mr. Kadam and Nilima deftly guided the ship in a circle around the waters of the red dragon. Nothing happened. We couldn’t see a passageway or a marker indicating what we were supposed to do. Lóngjūn didn’t make an appearance either. By mid-afternoon, I was restless and thought I’d go crazy if I had to stare at the ocean any longer. My fingers brushed against something soft as I turned away from the window. It was Lady Silkworm’s kimono.

I traced the star on the front, which was now complete. Turning it over, I saw that all five dragons had indeed disappeared from the back, but that their elements were still there. I ran my hand over the clouds, traced the lightning bolts of the green dragon, and then flipped the kimono over again and drew a line to the Shore Temple with my finger. “Take us home,” I whispered.

I heard the slick pulling of silk threads and felt the ship lurch.

“What happened?” Mr. Kadam shouted.

“I touched the kimono and said, ‘Take us home.’”

Nilima and Mr. Kadam backed away from the controls that were now blinking wildly. The sextant and the sky disk shimmered and disappeared. Ren and Kishan abruptly changed into tigers and sat at my feet, one on each side. The movement of thread against my fingers caught my attention, and I showed Mr. Kadam a tiny stitched boat traveling along the new line of thread ending at the Shore Temple.

“It would appear as if we’re moving in normal time again. Though none of our instruments are working,” he said. “I believe Lady Silkworm is pulling us home.”

I sat abruptly and let out a breath. “Does that mean we have time before we get back?”

“I believe it does. It took us approximately twelve hours to travel between worlds before.”

“So we’ll arrive early tomorrow morning.”

“It would appear so.”

“Considering what’s waiting for us, that’s probably a good thing. Ren and Kishan need to be tigers for six hours.” I patted Ren on the head and scratched Kishan behind the ear, amending quickly, “Not that they aren’t equally as formidable in battle when in their
feline
forms.” I grinned and gently twisted Ren’s ear. Leaning over, I said, “Can’t punish me for teasing you now, can you, pretty kitty?”

Ren growled at me in a way that let me know he’d remember my jest and make me pay for it later. I giggled.

Mr. Kadam turned distractedly back to his maps while I smoothed the kimono on my lap. When I flipped it onto the other side, I saw the five dragons were back. The blue one snored softly, the white one nodded and smiled warmly, the red grinned, the green winked, and the gold panicked and ducked his head into a pile of gems.

“Nice to see you all too,” I laughed.

I shared dinner with my tigers and snickered when both of them preferred hand feeding. I’d missed this version of them and teased about their being giant spoiled kitty cats while they licked the juices between my fingers from the meaty chunks I was feeding them.

Later, I read to them from
Grimms’ Fairy Tales
while reclining against Ren’s back. Kishan lay along my side with his head resting on my leg. It wasn’t too long before I shifted uncomfortably and asked him to move his head to the floor.

“Sorry, but my leg still hurts a little.”

Ren growled softly in response.

“You shush.” I slapped the white tiger playfully on the shoulder. “He didn’t know, and now he does.”

They both settled down, and I spent another hour reading out loud the stories of
The Frog Prince
,
Tom Thumb
, and
The Lady and the Lion
, which was my favorite version of the
Beauty and the Beast
tale. After that, I stumbled my way sleepily to my room followed by both tigers.

Kishan jumped onto the bed, and Ren lay on the floor. I changed into my pajamas in the bathroom and slid between the sheets. Kishan was already asleep, but Ren lifted his white head off his paws so I could scratch his ears.

“Goodnight,” I whispered and fell into a dreamless, healing sleep.

Just after dawn, the ship lurched so suddenly and violently that I rolled off the bed and landed on top of Ren. He changed to a man and pulled me quickly out of the way as an entire shelf of books fell heavily onto the floor where we had just been a moment ago.

Kishan leapt to the floor as a tiger and immediately changed to a man. “Meet me in the wheelhouse!” he called out as he barreled out the door.

Ren gathered our weapons while I changed clothes. I emerged from my walk-in closet with a bump on my forehead. Another wave had hit the ship, and I smacked my head into the robe hook.

“It’s strange.” I made my way over to him while the ship straightened itself and commented, “It seems like the waves are timed rather than random. It doesn’t feel like a storm.”

“You’re right. It’s not natural.” Ren slid Fanindra up my arm, attached the Pearl Necklace, tied the Scarf around my waist, slid the Fruit into the top of my quiver of golden arrows on my back, and handed me my bow. The trident hung from a loop at his waist, and he carried the
gada
.

“Got everything you need?” I asked as I braced myself in the doorway.

He smiled and touched my cheek softly. “Yes. Everything I need is right here.”

I folded my hand over his, and he brought it to his lips. I leaned toward him when another wave tossed me into his arms. “We need to go,” I said.

“Yes.” He made no move to leave.

I pecked him on the cheek. “Come on, Tiger. We’ll …
talk
later.”

He grinned and tugged me out of the room. We ran as fast as we could up the lurching stairs to the wheelhouse.

“Are we under attack?” I asked. “Another sea monster?”

Before Ren could reply, we stepped onto the sundeck, and I stood there for a moment shocked. “The Shore Temple! We’re home!”

The city of Mahabalipuram stretched out before us on the shore. In just a few moments, we flew past the city, continuing to follow the shoreline. Wherever we were going, we were headed there fast.

“Kelsey! Come on!”

I caught up to Ren and grabbed his outstretched hand just as another wave pummeled the ship. I lost my footing as the ship tilted dangerously to the side. Ren braced himself on the rail and yanked me up until he could wrap his arms around me.

“Thanks,” I murmured against his chest as my feet found the ground again.

“Anytime.” He grinned and squeezed my waist.

We stormed into the wheelhouse where a frantic Mr. Kadam explained, “We’ve been discovered. I had no idea he had this kind of power.”

Giant waves rushed toward us, one after another, each one threatening to founder us. Black clouds moved out of nowhere and darkened the bright Indian sky. Wind whipped the ship so hard the windows rattled.

“It’s Lokesh?” I shouted over the noise.

Mr. Kadam nodded. “My calculations were wrong! We arrived at the Shore Temple at dawn—sooner than expected. I decided to give the city a wide berth, just in case. But he was waiting at the temple and launched an attack! We’ve got to try to disable his ship before he destroys us!”

He had found us.

I headed for the roof of the wheelhouse with Ren. Kishan caught up to us. The first thing I did was secure the three of us to the railing using the Scarf. Then I told Ren to use the Scarf, Kishan the Fruit, and I would use my firepower if Lokesh’s ship came within range and try something with the Necklace.

I focused on the black ship that was quickly gaining on us. It was still too far away for lightning power so I whispered to the Necklace, telling it to pummel their ship with rain and catch them in a whirlpool. Next, I asked for any creatures of the ocean that would heed the Necklace’s call to come to our aid. Ren created a giant tarp to drop down over Lokesh’s ship, and Kishan covered its decks with oil and weighted every free space in its hold with cream cheese.

I grinned as I imagined the panic we’d caused, but frowned when the wind whipped off the canvas and screamed when I saw large fins rushing toward our boat. Ren touched my trembling hand.

“What is it?”

In a barely audible voice, I whispered, “Sharks.”

His hand tightened over mine. “Don’t look at them.”