Page 15 of Tiger's Quest
All of a sudden, the happy, light atmosphere blew away and was replaced by thick, expectant tension. He leaned his face a little closer to mine and hesitated, watching my reaction. I froze and felt a wave of sadness wash over me. Turning slightly away, I closed my eyes. I couldn’t kiss him. The idea felt nice, but not goose-bumpy nice. It just didn’t seem right.
“I’m sorry, Li.”
He chucked me lightly under my chin. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get a milkshake; what do ya say?” His eyes were a little sad, but he seemed determined to keep things lighthearted between us and quickly diverted my attention to other things.
Mr. Kadam broke through my dating funk with welcome news. He’d figured out a major section of Durga’s prophecy and asked me to help with some research, which I was more than willing to do. I pulled out a notepad and asked, “What have you got for me?”
“The tests of the four houses. Specifically, it says a house of gourds, a house of temptresses, and a house of winged creatures of some kind.”
“What kind of winged creatures?” I gulped.
“I’m not sure at this point.”
“What about the fourth house?”
“It would appear there are two houses with winged animals, I believe one will be a type of bird but later in the prophecy metal or iron is also mentioned. The other winged animal has the symbol for ‘large’ next to it and the same symbol is found again later in the prophecy. I’d like you to research any myths you can find about passing through houses or a test of houses and let me know what you come up with.”
“I’ll let you know.”
“Good.”
The rest of the conversation turned to mundane things and though I was happy he was including me in the research, my stomach churned at the thought of returning to India. I was all set for the danger, the magic, and the strangely supernatural, but going back also meant I’d have to facehimagain. I was good at going through the motions of an ordinary life but underneath the surface, where I could hide my innermost feelings, something churned. I was disconnected, out of place. India called to me, sometimes softly, sometimes with a roar, but the beckoning was constant and I wondered sometimes if I’d ever be able to settle down to a normal life again.
Thanksgiving meant a tofurky feast at Sarah and Mike’s. I kept glancing at their festive pumpkins and squash cornucopia during the meal trying to figure out how such friendly-looking gourds might become something dangerous, and I spent the time wondering how they would play into the next quest. It was a cold and rainy day, but my foster parents had the fireplace blazing. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed some of the vegetable dishes. I couldn’t do the sugar-free, gluten-free pie, though. It just seemed wrong.
“So, what’s new? Any hot guys you want to tell us about at school?” Sarah teased.
I looked up from the pumpkin pie I was stabbing cautiously with a fork. “Um, well, I am kind of dating,” I admitted shyly. “There’s this guy named Li and then there’s Jason. It’s nothing serious. We’ve only gone out a few times.”
Sarah was thrilled, and both she and Mike pestered me with a lot of questions that I didn’t really want to answer.
Luckily, Jennifer had also invited both Li and me for Thanksgiving dinner, and I managed to excuse myself from my foster parents’ in plenty of time to head to Jennifer’s. She lived in a nice house in West Salem. I brought a lemon meringue pie, the first one I’d ever attempted to make, and I was proud of the result. I’d let the meringue toast just a little too long, but other than that, it looked good.
Li lit up when he saw me at the door and said to Jennifer, “See? You break the lucky wishbone, and your wish does come true!”
He confided to me that he’d already stuffed himself at his family’s Thanksgiving dinner but that he’d saved his dessert stomach for my pie—and was true to his word. Li ate half of my pie in one sitting.
Jennifer also had made a pumpkin pie, a marionberry pie, and a cheesecake. I took a little sample from each and was in heaven. Li groaned, complaining that his stomach was so full he’d have to sleep over. Jennifer’s kids jumped up and down at the thought, accidentally dislodging their pilgrim hats, but settled down immediately when she popped inA Charlie Brown ThanksgivingDVD.
I was helping Jennifer clean up in the kitchen when she asked, “So?How’s it going with,” she whispered knowingly, “Li?”
“Umm, it’s going fine.”
“Are you guys, you know, together?”
“It’s hard to say. I think it’s too early in our relationship to call us together.”
She shrunk a little and frowned at the dishwater. “Is it still that other one, the one you never talk about, who’s holding you back?”
I paused with my damp towel in mid-swipe of her nice turkey platter.
“I’m sorry if I was rude. Honestly, it’s just hard to talk about him. But what do you want to know?”
She picked up another plate, washed it, and dipped it in the rinse water. “Well, who is he? Where is he? Why aren’t you together?”
“Well, he’s in India. And we aren’ttogetherbecause . . .” I whispered, “Because . . . I left him.”
“Was hemeanto you?”
