heard nothing. All of a sudden, his arms were wrapped tightly around me from behind, and he was dragging me. He was too strong. He was choking me. I wiggled, wrestled, and stomped against his feet, all to no avail.
Desperate, I sucked in a breath and popped my head up against his chin. It hurt. Bad. But, he loosened his grip enough that I slipped out of his grasp and to the floor. Then, I stood up suddenly, rammed my shoulder into his groin, and punched him as hard as I could in the stomach.
Kishan fell to the floor, rolling over. Ren barked a loud laugh and thumped his brother on the back before returning to me. “You asked for it! Don’t think. Just react. Oh, man! I wish I had a camera!”
I was shaking from my effort. I did it, but I seriously didn’t think I could handle more than one opponent. How would I be able to protect Ren if I could barely hold my own? “Is Kishan going to be okay?”
“He’ll be fine. Just give him a minute.”
Ren was thrilled with my small victory. Kishan stood up grimacing. “That was good, Kelsey. If I was a normal man, I would have been down for at least twenty minutes.”
I felt a little dizzy. “Uh, guys? Can we stop for today? My head is spinning. I think I need some aspirin. Remember, I don’t recover as quickly as you two.”
Ren sobered, felt my head, and found a big lump forming. He insisted on carrying me to the car, even though I could walk perfectly well. When we got home, he settled me on the couch, punched Kishan hard in the gut just to make a point, and went to the kitchen to get a bag full of ice for my head.
As we practiced for the next two weeks, I started to feel confident that I could maintain my composure during an attack. Kishan and Ren also started taking turns circling the grounds at night, making sure that nobody could slip in to surprise us.
I stowed an emergency backpack under the front seat of Kishan’s black GMC truck with clothes and other items I would need in a hurry. I put my quilt, traveling papers, the ruby earrings, and Fanindra in the bag. Ren and Kishan filled it with money from several different countries and added a bag of clothing for themselves as well. They parked the truck about a mile down the main road and covered it with branches to camouflage it.
I always wore my amulet and Ren’s locket bracelet, but I was worried about my ribbon box. If we had to leave town quickly, I didn’t want anything to happen to it. Ren suggested that we mail a package to Mr. Kadam for safekeeping. We shipped my ribbon box and several other irreplaceable personal items to India.
Keeping the mood light was difficult, because we all felt that something bad was coming our way. Kishan joined us now for movie nights and usually ate all the kettle corn, which annoyed Ren. We stayed home most nights and I cooked. Kishan easily ate twice as much as Ren, who ate a lot. The Safeway delivery guy probably thought we were running a bed and breakfast with the amount of food we had delivered each week.
One Saturday in March, I suggested a trip to Tillamook and the beach. The weather was supposed to be unseasonably warm and sunny. The likelihood of it actually being that way and staying that way was minimal, but the beaches of Oregon were beautiful, even in the rain. The minute I promised chocolate peanut butter ice cream, Ren became very supportive of the idea.
We packed ingredients for s’mores and a change of clothes in the back of the Hummer. I drove to Lincoln City and then turned right on Highway 101, which ran along the Oregon coast. It was a pretty drive, and both tigers stuck their noses up to smell the ocean when I cracked the windows. Later, I pulled in to the Tillamook Cheese Factory Visitor’s Center and parked in the spot farthest away from the crowds.
“Meet you guys inside.”
I slipped on a light jacket. Despite the warm weather forecast, the sky was a little overcast, with sunshine peeking through the gray clouds only occasionally. It was a bit windy, but rain didn’t seem likely until later that evening. I walked into the store and browsed through the variety of cheeses on display.