which spun in the cavern, sliced a vine, and flew back to a tiger paw that suddenly became a hand and caught it. Chakram in his mouth again, he swung below me, across the cavern, and pushed off the other side to aim for me. He grabbed the vine he’d cut to complete the swing. As he zoomed toward me, I saw that this vine wasn’t long enough and realized he would land at least ten feet away.
I wanted to close my eyes but felt I had to watch as Kishan risked his life to reach me. Kishan swung back and pushed off again. This time, when his feet touched the wall, he tossed the chakram still another time. He grabbed the vine in his teeth, quickly changed to the black tiger again, and pushed off hard with his powerful hind legs. He switched to a man again, flew out as high as the vine would take him, and then let go. Twisting in the air, he changed to a tiger. His striped, black body stretched out to my ledge. As his claws sank into the wood near my feet and he hung suspended in midair, the chakram sank into the wood a few inches from my hand. Tiger claws become hands.
“Kishan!”
I grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked as hard as I could. He rolled over onto the ledge and lay there, panting, for several minutes. The light had dimmed still more.
“Yyouu seeeee? Heee diiiid iiiitt.”
His arms shook, and I brushed my tears away. “Yes. He did,” I said quietly.
When Kishan sat up, I grabbed him in a fierce hug and kissed his cheek. He held me close for a minute before reluctantly letting me go. He brushed the hair away from my eyes.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t bring the backpack,” he said.
“It’s okay. There was no way you could bring it with all you had to do.”
“Weeee wiiiill geeet iiiit.”
I murmured sarcastically, “Too bad they couldn’t bring you up here too.”
One of the bats flew down to retrieve the backpack. It dropped the bag into my waiting hands.
“Thank you.” I touched Kishan’s arm. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He grinned rakishly despite his exhaustion. “In fact, I could be convinced to do it again for a real kiss.”
I punched his arm lightly. “I think one on the cheek was enough, don’t you?”
He grunted noncommittally. “Where do we go from here?”
One of the bats spoke, “Weee wiiiiill takeee youu.”
Two of the bats released their grip on the ceiling and fell several feet before snapping open their wings. They beat them hard, gaining altitude, and hovered above us. Then they descended slowly. Taloned feet gripped my shoulders and tightened.
I heard the admonition, “Reeeemainn stiiilll,” and decided it was good advice to follow.
With frenzied flapping, the bats took off, carrying us higher and higher into the tree. It was not a fun ride, but I also recognized that this would save us several hours of climbing. I thought we’d be flying straight up vertically, but, instead, the bats circled, ascending slowly and steadily.
Eventually, I noticed our surroundings were increasingly brighter. I made out an opening, a crevice that allowed dappled orange sunlight to move across the walls. I felt a cool breeze waft over my skin and smelled fresh living tree instead of the rotting musty odor of fungus, ammonia, and burned citrus. Our winged companions flew out of the opening and, flapping loudly, carefully set us on a branch. The branches were thinner here, but they were easily strong enough for both of us to walk on.
With a final warning of, “Beeee viiiiggiiilaaant,” they flew back into the tree and left us on our own.
“Hey, Kells, throw me the backpack. I want to change out of these black clothes and put some shoes on.”
I threw him the backpack and turned around so he could change.
“Yeah. Too bad your fairy clothes are gone now. They’ve disappeared into the tiger ether. They were handy to have around. Luckily, Mr. Kadam insisted on a couple of pairs of shoes for you, just in case.”
“Kells? The fairy clothes are in the bag.”
“What?” I turned around to find Kishan stripped to the waist and averted my eyes. “How did that happen?”
“Not sure. Fairy magic I guess. Now turn around unless you want to watch me change.”
Red-faced, I spun quickly. It was sunset, and we decided to eat and rest. I was worn out but afraid to sleep on a