Okay, so, this is...a...chapter...of a...story...

Enjoy.

Chapter 9

Tiger Mischief

I was in Mr. Kadam's study, on his computer, trying to locate exactly what part of India I was in. I finally figured it out, and I remembered reading some crazy headlines when I was twelve in some people's crazy houses.

"Boy leading riot against society."

"15-Year-Old Boy Vandalizing Neighborhood"

"Curly Haired Boy Now Public Menace Number Seven"

"Sudden Disappearance of Public Menace Number Seven"

I opened Google and I typed in, "Public Menace Number Seven 2004"

A whole bunch of web links popped up, like, "Top Ten Wanted of 2012," or "Menace Finder," and all those other weird things that people are freaking about these days.

I scroll down until I find it. "The Disappearance of Public Menace Number Seven" and the couple sentences had the year 2004 in them.

I clicked on the link and webpage loaded. I'd been thinking about this moment for quiet a while. I'd always had a suspicion that Number Seven was someone I knew, but I never saw a picture, and I didn't know for sure.

I read a little, then I scrolled down, and I saw it. A big picture of a boy with flat curly hair.

Hair like mine, only mine is usually tied back, and much longer.

I read the caption underneath: Brandon Towers

I opened a new window and I pulled up Google again. I copied his name into the search box and pressed search.

His current age showed up, which is twenty-three. I knew it! He is three years older than me!

I needed to know where he disappeared to, so I reopened the article I was reading.

"Brandon left America, and sightings from around the world say that he was seen all over, but the last sightings we have are when he first reached the border and crossed into India. People are thinking he may have died…"

I cut off the sentence and I went back to the old article.

It said nothing about his current where-abouts, nothing about who he was related to, nothing but his age and his past crimes.

I scrolled down a little more in frustration, and I found something that I didn't expect, which I also thought was kind of stupid and beginner criminals cheesy.

He used the same Real-Estate company.

I clicked on the link and as I waited for the website to load, I thought of all the ways I'd practiced hacking a website. The average Real-Estate websites only have about twelve to seventeen firewalls per page, so to get to the official launch of pages, and then hack those firewalls to get to the page I want…

I sighed as the friendly design of the webpage popped up. I had to get through 24-34 firewalls.

I opened my control panel and I started typing in there, and I started typing in codes in the search box and in the web address box until I found the firewall page. I typed a lot more, and I typed in the next code, when a window popped up, blinking on my bottom bar. I clicked it, and it popped up.

It was the command box to shut off all firewalls. All I needed was the administrator password.

I saw that the username square was already filled in with Mr. Kadam's computer name. I laughed. They were trying to hack me back.

I declined, and I kept breaking through their firewalls.

I made it to the main page, and I found the page with the logs of houses bought. I started hacking my way to the webpage.

It finally popped up, and I gave a sigh of relief.

I silently hoped that it was up until 2004, and I started looking for my brother's name in the name column.

It stopped at the year 2010, and I muttered a curse and left the page.

I hacked into the next page, and these records went back to 2008.

I calculated the age that you were allowed to buy a house in America, which was more than likely the same here anyway, but Brandon would have followed the American laws. Which, is eighteen, so I calculated which year that he would have bought his house.

In 2005, so I had to go back two webpages.

I went to the next to pages over, and started hacking.

By in the next hour, I had all of my brother's contact information, and had pin-pointed his exact location in India, which wasn't too far from the market closest to this mansion.

I started feeling extremely shaky, but I took it as a tired notion, and I started trying to walk out of the study and down the hall.

I ran into Kishan on my way up the stairs.

I was extremely shaky now, and he seemed to be, too.

"Are you as tired as I am?" I asked.

"You're shaking as well?" Kishan seemed extremely alarmed.

"Yeah…?" I replied quizzically.

"Ren! Ren! You down here!" Kishan hissed.

Ren came down, trembling as well.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked. Three was too much to be a coincidence.

"How did you not notice! She's…she's…" Kishan growled at Ren hopelessly.

I couldn't hold in anymore.

"I'm sorry! I didn't notice anything! She said she'd been sprinkled, but she didn't notice any effects…"

I let out a hopeless cry of anger and discomfort, and I shrunk to my hands and knees on the steps.

"Now I know why her eyes are so big," Ren whispered, as Kishan ran to my side. In, a trembling way, that is.

He crouched down next to me and whispered, "Everything is going to be okay, just relax. At least we know we can trust you now," Kishan whispered.

"What's going on, Kishan?" I groaned. "Why does it hurt so much?"

"Just relax, and give in to the pain. You'll see in a second," Kishan coaxed.

I took a deep breath, shot Kishan a worried glance, and I gave in to the trembles.

I lurched forward, and I my hands and feet retract and extend slightly. I felt my spin slightly elongate, but nothing turn until the last bit.

My tail bone mutated and grew larger.

I shouted out in pain, but what came out wasn't a shout, but a roar.

A mighty, strong, wild cat roar.

Then I whimpered and looked down at my hands.

Or, paws.

I sat and I felt my tail swing too and fro gently.

My paws were a golden color, with a mix of red, and, of course, black tiger stripes.

My secret, shown on the outside, the meaning unknown by anyone but me. I thought sadly.

I looked around and saw Kishan. I recognized the black fur and I could barely make out the tiger stripes.

His golden eyes were a darker color than my fur, and were a little more orange.

I nuzzled him in the leg. Can you see in color?

He nodded.

I trotted up the steps toward Ren.

Ren had beautiful white fur that accented his blue eyes and black stripes like tar sitting on fresh, untainted snow, with two dark blue orbs sitting in the snow as well.

I nuzzled the side of his neck. Can you see in color?

He nodded as well, and I brushed up next to him, surprised at how quickly I'd learned how to speak tiger. You look nice.

The red on your gold is an interesting accent I never thought I'd ever see in tiger fur. You radiate in wonder.

Dang, I twitched my ears for that.

He nuzzled my ear in tiger laughter.

I'm going to go over there, I said by backing away.

I trotted down the stairs, all the way past the movie room, through the back doors, and I ran and jumped into their pool.

"What the…!" I heard from the balcony.

I turned my tiger body around in the water and stared at Kelsey.

I wasn't mad at her anymore, even though I wanted to be.

I was about to climb out when Kishan and Ren jumped in after me, and we swam around for a while.

I told Kishan what I wanted to do, and he approved. He decided to come with me, however, just incase.

I shook off by the side of the pool, and Kishan shook off after me and we walked through the house and up the stairs.

I opened Kelsey's door with my nose with the help of Kishan's guidance. I trotted in, and I saw her out on the balcony, watching Ren swim alone in the pool.

I opened the balcony door and snuck out behind her.

I walked up next to her and brushed my back against her leg in a simple can we talk? Motion, but she didn't realize what I meant.

She looked down at me, and her eyes grew huge. "Obviously not a real tiger. Let me see you eyes. If your that girl, I swear, I'm going to laugh at you," Kelsey patted the cushioned couch with her hand and I hopped up.

She got down on one knee and looked into my eyes.

"Yup," she sighed. "These are definitely the eyes of death I looked into earlier this week. Is there anything you have to say for yourself?"

I nodded.

She said, "Do you think you can write some how?"

I nodded again.

"I'll be right back, then," she walked inside and I laid my chin on my paws and waited.

Kelsey came back a minute later with three pieces of paper and four crayons. "Try writing with these."

I picked up one of the crayons with my mouth and I start writing on the paper.

I finished and handed it back to her.

She read it out loud. "I'm sorry, Kelsey, for being such a stuck-up the past day. I just…didn't know how to deal with you. Or, anybody, really, who seemed like they cared. I've had a very rough life, and I don't know what it means to care or to be cared about," her expression softened, and I buried my face in my paws.

She continued, "I just really need to learn how. Again, I'm sorry.

"Oh, and by the way, he doesn't even remember your name!"

Her expression turned sour again, and she put the paper down. "I'll have to think about your apology, including its wholes. Goodnight, Stowaway. That's your new name, now," she whispered, and she opened the balcony door.

Instead of leaving, I picked up the crayon and wrote again.

She read it a loud again. "You think I'm sleeping in Ren's room again? I don't think so!"

She laughed. "Just, sleep out here, or on my floor," and she walked back inside herself.

I fell asleep on the balcony couch, wondering how much longer she could be mad at me.

Okay, so...that was that chapter. Thanks for reading. SOOOrry I kinda/sort of wasted your time.