Page 91 of Tiger's Curse
I heard a voice, a woman’s voice, cry softly, “Ren? Ren? Ren? Ren?” It echoed from tunnel to tunnel.
“I’m here, Kells! Kells! Kells!”
Ren looked at me apprehensively and squeezed my shoulder. The voices were ours. He let go of me and pulled thegadaout to a ready position in front of him. Walking warily in front, he watched the other tunnels very carefully.
I heard screams and running footsteps, growling tigers, and screeches. I stopped walking for a moment and stood in front of one of the tunnels.
“Kelsey! Help me!” Ren appeared in the side tunnel. He was fighting a group of monkeys that were scratching and biting him. He changed to a tiger, sunk his teeth into them, and ripped them apart. It was gruesome!
I took a step backward, feeling afraid. Then I froze and remembered Durga’s warning about staying together. I turned around and saw two other tunnels that hadn’t been there before. Two Rens were walking straight ahead with thegadain front, one in each tunnel.Which was the main tunnel? Which one was the real Ren?
I heard running footsteps behind me and hastily chose the one on the right. I hurried to catch up to him, but it seemed the closer I got, the farther away he was. I knew I’d chosen the wrong path. I called out to him, “Ren!”
He didn’t turn toward me. I stopped and looked in two other tunnels for a sign of him. I saw Kishan and Ren fighting as tigers in one tunnel. Mr. Kadam was in a swordfight with a man who looked like my nightmare guy in another.
I hurried from tunnel to tunnel. Several passageways flashed scenes of my life. My grandma beckoned me to help her plant flowers. My high school teacher was asking me questions. There was even one with my parents. They were calling out to me. I gasped, and tears filled my eyes.
I screamed aloud, “No, no, no! This can’t be happening! Where’s Ren?”
“Kelsey? Kelsey! Where are you?”
“Ren! I’m here!” I heard my voice, but I hadn’t said anything.
I looked in another tunnel and saw Ren running up to approach . . . me. Only it wasn’t me. I was me. Ren came close to the thing that looked like me, and stroked her face.
“Kelsey, are you okay?”
I heard it respond, “Yes. I’m fine.” It turned its head and looked straight at me while Ren kissed its cheek. The image morphed, and with a sharp, shattering noise, the face melted into death. It smiled insidiously, and I shivered with revulsion as I looked at a smiling corpse pulsating with maggots.
I approached the tunnel entrance and yelled at Ren to stop, but he couldn’t hear me. There was some kind of barrier blocking me so I couldn’t enter. The corpse snickered at me and waved a hand. The image became obscure, and I could no longer make out its form.
Infuriated, I pounded on the barrier, but it had no effect. After a few moments, the barrier disappeared, and I was staring into a long black tunnel lit with torches, just like the dozens of others that I’d passed by before.
I gave up and moved on. I passed a Ren who was cowering on the ground, forlorn and self-deprecating. He was sobbing and bemoaning his losses. He spoke of all the mistakes he’d made and how wrong he’d been about everything. He begged for forgiveness, but he could find no absolution. The things he mentioned having done were awful, ineffable, horrible things. Things that I knew Ren had never done and couldn’t even imagine doing. His body was angular and broken, and it was indescribably heartbreaking.
I was indignant. This was too much! It was so awful to see someone I cared about broken down into nothing that I became furious. Someone or something was playing games with us, and I hated it. What was worse was knowing that the same things were happening to Ren somewhere in these tunnels. Who knew how they were representing me!
I moved on to another tunnel and saw an upright and proud Ren with his back turned to me. I called out cautiously, “Ren? Is that really you?”
He turned around and smiled his beautiful smile, and then he held out his arms to me and beckoned me closer.
“Kelsey! Finally! What took you so long? Where have you been?”
With great relief, I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me close. He held me and rubbed my back.
Puzzled, I inquired, “Ren? Where’s the backpack and thegada?” I pulled back and looked up into his handsome face.
“We don’t need them anymore. Shh, now. Just stay here with me for a minute.”
I moved back quickly and took a few steps away.
“You’re not Ren.”
He laughed. “Sure I am, Kelsey. What do I have to do to prove it to you?”
“No. Something’s wrong. You’re not him!”
I ran out of the tunnel and kept running until my lungs were about to explode but I got nowhere. I just passed tunnel after tunnel. Slowing to a stop, I breathed hard, trying to think about what I should do. Ren had thegadaand the backpack. He would never discard them. So he still had them somewhere, and I had nothing. No, that wasn’t true. I did have something! I pulled the paper out of my jeans pocket and read through the warnings again.
