A/N: Okay, updates SHOULD start regulating now... not often, but regularly. AP tests are done in two weeks (I should probably start studying…), and I will be able to write more after that. HOORAY! :) I deleted the previous 14th chapter as I wanted to edit one part, and I explain it (sort of) in this new semi-full length chapter! And I'm curious about something. How do you guys picture me? I always picture an author in my head and I usually end up totally wrong, so I want to know! If I get enough, then I will let y'all know the closest, most wrong, my favorite, and the funniest. And I mean like age, looks, likes, strengths, any little detail you want/ see in your head. Got it? Now... R&R!

"Ren!" I scream. I run to the slab and try to lift the stone.

"Kells, stop," he says from underground. "You're making it worse."

"Ren?" I say, unsure of what happened. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he answers certainly. "I got some cuts in the fall, but they're almost done healing. You're okay, right?" he asks anxiously.

I almost laugh, but I say soberly, "Yes, I'm fine. Is there anything down there?" Kishan leans closer to hear Ren's answer and to try to see through any cracks.

"I don't think so. The only light is from where the stone isn't completely sealed to the ground, and there isn't much of that. I'm guessing that the only reason we can hear each other is because the stone is semi-porous allowing for the travel of sound waves."

I smile, thinking of the period a few months after we got married when Ren was reading every scientific journal, essay, book, anything he could get his hands on. He clearly has amazing retention capabilities, because he will occasionally say something that sounds very professional; enough so to surprise me.

Kishan bends down to the stone. "Ren, can you tell where I am?" he asks.

"I can't really see you as much as I can't see light, if you know what I mean," Ren answers.

"I understand. Do you notice any weak points in the stone from below?"

"No. It looks like something we would have used to build a wall surrounding the palace. No weaknesses," Ren says.

Kishan thinks for a moment. "Ren, are you just in a room in the ground?"

Ren is silent for a moment, and then answers. "I think there's a tunnel, but I can't tell for sure. Should I follow it?"

I want to say no, but I know it might be the thing that saves Nik. But I don't have to worry about answering, because Kishan beats me to it.

"Yes. What if Sunil and Nilima stay here while Kelsey and I go into the city? Maybe they can help you, and then maybe Kelsey and I can find something in there."

Ren grunts. "I'd much rather Kells be with me not in the city, but I suppose you would be better to protect her than Sunil. No offense."

"I understand," Sunil says with a grin. "No were-tiger powers in this guy."

I can almost see Ren's smirk, and I touch my hand to the slab of stone separating me from my husband.

"Iadala?" Ren calls up.

"Yes?" I answer softly.

"If... Muje tumse pyarhai, rajkumari."

"No, Ren. I love you too, but you dare try to say good-bye to me," I say angrily.

"Okay," he says at a whisper. "If I can't get Nik back, you do it, okay?"

"Yes, sir," I say with a teary-eyed smile. "I thought we would be together the whole time for this one."

"I did too, meri aadoo. But we will be together again. We've been separated by more than stone before."

"See you later, Ren," I say, placing my palm against the cool gray stone.

"See you later, Kells." Kishan pulls me across the stone to the round entrance to the city, and when I turn back, Nilima and Sunil aren't even paying attention.

~TR~

As we enter the city, things change. Kishan enters just ahead of me, and as he passes through the arch, he disappears.

"Kishan!" I yell. "What happened?"

"I'm right here, Kells. I guess there's a veil of some kind projecting the picture of an empty city, because this isn't empty," Kishan answers. "Go back with Sunil and Nilima so I can check this out."

"But I can help, Kishan. I have the Amulet," I protest as I walk through the arch. "and all the other gifts-oh!" I gasp as I see that the city is anything but empty.

Monkeys. Hundreds of them. Wearing clothes, screeching, and walking upright. It looks like a little community. I see Kishan just ahead of, but he's not moving.

"Kishan?" I says softly as I move to place my hand on his bicep. He flinches.

"Sorry," he says. "I'm slightly sensitive right now. I think you should go tell the others what's going on."

"But I don't know what's going on," I protest. "I'd like it if you came with me."

Kishan thinks for a moment, and then agrees. We didn't move far into the city, so we back out, and then sprint back to Sunil, Nilima, and Ren.

"Guys," I say quickly. "We have a problem." I begin to explain, but then I remember the gada. "Actually," I interrupt myself. "Hang on a second.

"Ren?" I ask kneeling down on the ground. "Are you still there?"

"Where would I have gone, iadala?" he answers cheekily.

"Oh, be quiet. I have an idea. How far away can you get from the stone?"

"Well, I figured out that there is a tunnel here, if that's what you mean. What are you trying to do?"

"I'm going to have Kishan," who ran right after me, "try to break the stone with the gada. So don't get crushed," I tell Ren.

"Yes, Ma'am," he says.

Kishan steps up, and I pull the gada out of Nilima's backpack.

"Stay back," he warms the three of us. "You too, Ren. We don't need to have to take care of your broken bones."

Kishan lifts the weapon above his head and brings it down on the stone, and we wait to see what happened.

~TR~

It worked. Ren got a little bit more light through the cracks, and could see more of the tunnel and deemed it safer than the city, once Kishan explained about the monkeys. So, we are now all trekking through a dark tunnel trying to find my baby boy.

After about an hour, we reach the end of the tunnel. There is a stone door that is covered with markings that Ren and Kishan can apparently read.

"Oh, this should be easy," Ren says with a gleam in his eye. "Kells, come on up," he says, pointing to his shoulders.

"Uh-uh," I say surely. "Like Kishkindha before when I was only standing on your palms, or when you jumped me across a cavern? No way, tiger-boy."

"What about me then, bilauta," Kishan says.

"Parachute. Shangri-La. No," I say shortly.

"That was your plan," he reminded me.

"And even then I was scared half to-no, half past death," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "No way. Why don't you stand on Kishan, Ren? Or Sunil? Nilima is pretty light."

She shrieks, and I continue, "Okay, Sunil then. He's wiry, not bulky."

"Hey!" he protests.

"I didn't say you were scrawny, Sunil, I said wiry," I explain.

"And what does this mean?" he asks. "Same thing, I thought."

"No," I say, not turning my gaze from Ren. "Wiry means strong, but not with huge muscles. And no way am I standing on your shoulders," I say finally.

Ren smirks at me. "You have to. This writing says that only the Chosen One can open the door, and Kishan and I can smell the lotuses. Come on. I didn't drop you then and I won't now."

I sigh, and walk over to him. "I don't care what happens in Shangri-La. This is Nilima or Sunil next time."

"Of course, Iadala."

I climb onto Ren's shoulders, and when I get to eye-level with the door frame, dust starts falling to the ground. I think it's just the door being old, but the dust reveals a handprint. I don't move for a moment, enthralled by the magic of it all, but Ren pats my leg, shaking me out my trance. I carefully place my hand in the imprint, and the door raises, but just enough for someone to crawl under.

"One at a time?" Kishan suggests.

Ren puts me down, and I take a flashlight out of my bag to see if anything is visible underneath the door.

"Well," I say, "it's just more hallway."

Ren slides under the door, followed by me, Nilima, Sunil, and Kishan last.

"Still smell the lotuses, tiger-nose?" I ask Ren and Kishan.

He grins at me. "Yes. I think we're almost there, rajkumari."

"Good," I say as I roll my shoulders back. "Then let's go find my baby boy."