The pain eased a fraction. It still crushed me unbearably, but I was finally able to look my brother in the eye. After centuries of guilt and distrust, I felt the sweet relief of forgiveness and sensed my sacrifice had mended the gulf that I’d caused between us—a divide that should never have been. Suddenly, I felt as if I were the wiser, older brother.
As I moved through the trees to say good-bye to the one I loved, a part of me hoped that she’d deny it, that she’d insist on me returning with her. When she erupted into hysterical sobs upon seeing me and I realized she was crying not for me but for him, I knew that my cause was lost. That her love for him was, and would always be, stronger. She claimed she couldn’t let me go but the fact was…she did.
I’d regretted my choice ever since. I’d been an idiot for allowing it to happen. For allowing my need to mend broken fences with my brother to influence my decision about Kelsey. I rationalized that Kelsey was distraught because she thought Ren was staying behind and that if she had had a few minutes longer to consider my staying in the past, she would have been just as upset.
Now, here Phet stood before me, six months later, and said that Kelsey needed me. Inwardly, I thrilled at the idea. Perhaps all was not lost. Perhaps she’d realized that she did love me after all.
I let out a pent-up breath and asked, “Is she in danger?” when what I really wanted to ask was, “Does she miss me?”
“She is. Kelsey is in grave danger. But not the kind you’re thinking of.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. Then another thought rose to the surface. “Wait a minute. You called her Kelsey, not Kahl-see.” I folded my arms across my chest. “What exactly is going on here?”
Phet exhaled slowly and said, “Perhaps it is best if you know everything.”
He clutched a necklace emblem hidden beneath his robes, and the familiar gesture confused me. A sense of foreboding trickled through my veins and I took a step back. “What…what are you doing?”
The little man straightened to his full height and smiled as he said, “Divine Scarf, please return me to my normal form.”
Brown robes shifted as threads wound around his body. What I was seeing made no sense. I knew the Divine Scarf was, right now, in Durga’s care, and even if he’d gotten ahold of the scarf somehow, then why was he changing to a different form?
The magic swirled around him, obscuring his face, and then, when the threads finally settled, I fell to my knees and tears blurred my vision.
“It’s not…not possible,” I whispered, unable to believe my own eyes.
“You know that it is,” he answered gently.
“How did you—?” I swallowed thickly, overcome by emotion. “When?”
“Ah…the when is a bit complicated. The how I will show you.”
He took hold of my arm and helped me to stand. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled and said, “It is good to see you, Kishan.”
“Words cannot express how it feels to see you once again, Kadam.”
“Yes,” he murmured somewhat distractedly. “Now, let’s see what we can do about saving Miss Kelsey, shall we?”
I nodded, completely overwhelmed that my mentor, friend, and surrogate father had somehow returned from the dead.
Chapter 2
Saving Kelsey
“Shall we?” He found an overturned log and took a seat.
I still couldn’t believe that he was here. That he was alive.
“How have you returned?” I asked.
“I haven’t. Not exactly. When you witnessed my death, I did pass from this world. But you need to understand that this event, though it has already occurred in your timeline, has not yet happened in mine.”
“Not yet happened? I don’t understand.”
Kadam smiled patiently and asked, “Do you remember when I appeared with Nilima after you rescued Miss Kelsey from Lokesh?”
“Yes. You’d been missing for weeks.”
“Correct. I shared with you then that a power had whisked away Nilima and me when the harpoon shot toward us.”
When I nodded, he pulled the broken piece of the Damon Amulet he used to wear from his shirt and went on, “And since then you have discovered that the piece of the amulet I wear is the one that controls space and time.”
“Yes. But how is it that you are wearing the amulet once again when I know that your particular piece, the one used to send Lokesh to the past, has been restored to the whole and is currently around Anamika’s neck?”
“I have this piece because I still wear it in my own time.”
Standing, I began to pace. Kadam pulled a jar from his pocket and unscrewed the lid. A spicy scent wafted up. “Frankincense?” he offered. “It calms the nerves.
I waved his offer away and he shrugged, taking a piece for himself before screwing the jar lid shut. “Then tell me when you are from,” I pressed.
Kadam replied softly, “I am visiting you from just before my death. You all believed that I was under the weather after my return, but in fact I was doing the work that destiny had assigned me.”
“You were missing often,” I mumbled. “Distant.”
“Yes,” he answered. “Very distant, in fact.”
Kneeling before him, I pleaded, “You can go back then and undo what has happened. We can defeat Lokesh alongside you. There’s no need for you to sacrifice yourself. You don’t have to die. It hasn’t happened in your timeline, so we can prevent it.”
He shook his head. “Lokesh is too powerful. If you had helped me, Miss Kelsey would have been taken.”
“But we could’ve—”
Kadam interrupted by raising his hand. “Kishan, son, trust me when I say that my death is and was the only way to send Lokesh to the past, and his defeat in the past affects the future. Without a monster for Anamika to defeat, without a goddess”—he smiled—“or two, riding into battle on the back of a tiger, the fabric of our world would unravel. This is much more important than prolonging my life.”
When I didn’t respond, he reached over and gripped my arm. “Please accept this. Leaving you will be the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do, but I know, it must be done. Somehow, when the time comes, I’ll try to find the courage.”
Dismayed, I pressed my forehead to his knee. My eyes stung with unshed tears. “I know you will,” I said, grieving anew for his impending loss.
When I raised my head, I asked, “Did Phet ever exist or has he always been you?”
“Phet’s purpose was to orchestrate the tiger’s curse. I am Phet and he is me…most of the time,” he demurred.
“But we would have smelled you. Both Ren and I would have figured it out long ago.”
Kadam shook his head. “I was able to stifle my scent, not only by filling the hut with copious amounts of herbs but by shifting myself slightly in time. You have this ability as well. Both of you could see me and touch me, but if you think back, you will not recall that Phet had a personal essence.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Kishan, as much as I would like to, discussing Phet’s place in our world is not the reason I am here today. Today you must journey into the future to save Miss Kelsey.”
“Save her? How? Has Ren—”
Kadam held up his hands to stop me, stood, and said, “It will be easier to show you. You’ll need the Damon Amulet. Borrow it from Anamika but do not share with her that you’ve seen me, not yet. Meet me back here in one hour, and I will give you the instructions you need to fulfill your purpose.”
I blinked and he was gone, leaving only the crushed blades of grass where he’d stood. My world had been upheaved once again, but this time the idea electrified me. Every nerve was on edge, and adrenaline pumped through my veins as I ran through the trees. Unsatisfied with my pace, I switched to tiger form and covered the distance to the base of Durga’s mountain in a short time.