Page 100 of Tiger's Curse
“Give what a try?”
He lost patience. “I don’t know! Do that thing you do, with your hand.”
“I’m not sure it works that way.”
He gestured to the monkey. “Okay, then rub his head like a Buddha statue. We’ve got to figure out the next step.”
I frowned at Ren, who was definitely frustrated with me, and then walked up to the baboon statue and tentatively touched its head. Nothing happened. I patted its cheeks, rubbed its belly, and tugged on its arms, its tail . . . nothing. I was squeezing its shoulders when I felt the statue move a bit. I pushed on one of the shoulders, and the top of the pedestal moved aside to reveal a stone box with a lever. I reached in and pulled on the lever. At first, nothing moved. Then I felt my hand grow hot. The symbols drawn into my hand boldly resurfaced, and the lever shifted, rose up, twisted, and popped out.
Rumbling shook the ground, and the water in the pool started to drain. Ren grabbed my arms and quickly yanked me against his chest while swiftly backing us away from the pool. He rested his hands on my upper arms while we watched the shifting stone.
The rectangular pool cracked and divided in two. Both halves began moving in opposite directions. The water spilled out and fell below, splashing against rock and stone as it tumbled into a gaping hole that opened up where the pool used to be.
Something began to emerge. At first, I thought it was just a reflection of light on the shiny wet stone, but the light grew increasingly brighter until I saw a branch poke out of the hole. It was covered with sparkling golden leaves. More branches emerged and then a trunk. It kept rising until the entire tree was standing before us. The leaves were shimmering, radiating a soft yellow light as if thousands of golden Christmas tree bulbs were threaded through the branches. The golden leaves quivered, as if a slight breeze shook the tree.
The tree was about twelve feet tall and covered with small white flowers that released a sweet fragrance. The leaves were long and thin, attached to delicate branches that led to thick, stronger ones and from there to a sturdy, compact trunk. The trunk sat in a large stone box that had ascended on a solid stone base. It was the most beautiful tree I’d ever seen.
Ren took my hand and led me cautiously toward the tree. He stretched out a hand to finger a golden leaf.
“It’s beautiful!” I exclaimed.
He plucked a flower and smelled it. “It’s a mango tree.”
We both admired the tree. I was sure my face was as awestruck as his.
Ren’s expression softened. He took a step toward me and lifted his hand to tuck the flower in my hair. I turned away from him, pretending not to see, and fingered a golden leaf.
When I glanced at him a moment later, his expression was stony and the white flower lay crushed and broken. My heart throbbed painfully when I saw the beautiful petals lying torn and forsaken in the dirt.
We walked around the base of the tree, examining it from all angles. Ren shouted, “There! Do you see up at the top? It’s a golden fruit!”
“Where?”
He pointed to the top of the tree and, sure enough, a golden orb swung softly from a branch.
“A mango fruit,” he mumbled. “Of course. It makes sense.”
“Why?”
“Mangoes are one of the main exports of India. It’s a staple for our country. It’s possibly the most important natural resource we have. So the Golden Fruit of India is a mango. I should have guessed it before.”
I gazed up at the tall branches. “How are we going to reach it?”
“What do you mean, ‘How are we going to reach it?’ Climb up on my shoulders. We need to do this together.”
I laughed. “Uh, Ren, I think you’d better come up with another plan. Like maybe leap up as you super-tigers do and catch it in your mouth or something.”
He smiled at me malevolently. “No. You,” he touched my nose with his finger, “are going to sit on my shoulders.”
I moaned, “Please stop saying that.”
“Come here. I’ll talk you through it. It’s child’s play.”
He picked me up and set me on the stone edge of the reflecting pool. Then he spun around with his back to me. “Okay, climb on.”
He held out his hands. I tentatively grabbed them and swung one leg over his shoulder, complaining the entire time. I almost lifted my leg back off, but he anticipated that I would chicken out and reached back with his arm to grab my other leg and hoist me up before I could retreat.
After I yelled at him to no effect, he held my hands and, easily balancing my weight, walked back to the tree. He took his time looking for the right place and then began instructing me.
