I can't believe this is chapter 20!

The next chapter awaits you!

EMMA

An annoying ray of sunlight shone through the dirty window and landed directly on my face. My crusted eyes blinked open and I found myself, once again, in Phet's bed. Scowling, I assumed Anik had carried me in there after I had fallen asleep outside last night. I hastily stood up, brushing the mess of tangled hair away from my face with an irritated sigh. I must look like some zombie in a cheap horror movie.

I swept aside the curtains surrounding the bed, for some reason in a foul mood. Probably too long in the jungle with only vegetable soup and granola bars to eat. I immediately noticed the absence of Anik and Edison, but didn't say anything. Instead I scraped a chair back and flopped into it, laying my head on the table and groaning.

'Emma still tired?' asked Phet who was also seated at the table and had just witnessed my display of excessive grumpiness.

'No,' I replied flatly into the table. 'Headache.'

'Aaaah,' Phet replied, as if he understood perfectly. 'I have ideal remedy.' I lifted my head from the table slightly as the strange monk started to bustle around the kitchen, gathering various leaves from the exhibition of pot plants. He began to crush them together with a mortar and pestle. I watched fascinated, as the leaves began to blend together, creating a unique aroma of spice and herbs. Phet then carried the bowl over and placed it in front of me.

'Eat,' he encouraged.

I was looking at green sludge.

Not wanting to hurt Phet's feelings, I tentatively picked up the spoon while instinctively wrinkling my nose. Phet just grinned. I spooned the 'sludge' into my mouth and nearly choked. It was disgusting. It's what I imagined koala vomit to be like. I gagged on the foul mixture, causing me to erupt in a massive coughing fit. My eyes were steaming with tears and I felt Phet thump me on the back.

'See?' Phet said once I had finally recovered enough to talk. 'Good, huh? You forgot all about headache.' Then he laughed uproariously as if he had just made the most hilarious joke. I just glared at him, which made him laugh harder. Deciding to ignore Phet's snorts and chuckles I changed the topic.

'Where are Anik and Edison? I don't see them outside.'

'Oh, tigers go hunt,' Phet said, waving his hand around dismissively. Hunt? Oh. The thought made me feel sick. Then concerned. They were out hunting in the jungle? With no experience whatsoever?

'Tigers can look after themselves,' Phet reassured me, not that it completely worked. 'And they can follow their own scent back.'

'Right. How long does a hunt normally take?'

'Several days.'

For the next few days I wandered helplessly around with nothing to do. Phet was constantly going off somewhere at dawn and dusk to pray, and wouldn't take me with him.

'Only Durga's servant can go to sacred site,' he replied, shaking his head when I had asked if I could accompany him. So I grew bored, unable to go into the jungle for fear of being unable to find my way back. I tidied the house, feeling like Snow White, doing all the chores to earn her keep at the dwarf's house. And it seriously was a dwarf's house. I had to stoop just to get inside the door.

So I took long baths, slept for a long time in the afternoons and read the only book I had brought with me, like, four times. Minutes, hours, and days passed and I was seriously sick of soup. I didn't know how Phet could live with it everyday.

It was finally, one afternoon when I was sitting on the grass just outside the hut when they returned. I had a collection of miscellaneous flowers in my lap and was gradually making a daisy chain when I saw the two tigers approaching. They looked utterly exhausted.

EDISON

She was sitting on the grass; tiny flowers weaved into a braid that flowed down her back. Various blossoms were strewn around her, and her nimble fingers were making a daisy chain. She had never looked more beautiful.

But then I saw her glance up, her gaze immediately resting on Anik and I felt my heart twist and grow painfully smaller with jealousy. Her expression lit up like Christmas lights and I looked away as she ran towards us.

I was exhausted from days and days of tireless efforts of stalking a herd of deer. They had known we were hunting them, and were alert to danger, sticking tightly together which made it difficult to single out one. The hunt had taken five days, and it was something I never wanted to do again. It was disgusting.

But Emma's face and beaming smile made me forget my fatigue and aching muscles. All I could focus on was her. She threw her arms around our necks, burying her face into Anik's fur. She smelt of lemon and pollen.

'I am so glad you are back. I missed you so much,' she murmured, but I stepped back, shrugging her off. I couldn't be so close to her, fall for her harder than I already had knowing that she loved someone else.

I walked towards the hut and lay down on the grass, barely registering Emma's injured expression and Anik's questioning eyes. I wasn't going to put myself through this pain, because it was going to hurt. It scared me how much I had missed her the past five days. A week ago, I had been ready to fight for her. Now I knew that I had already lost. The game had been played before I had begun. I was going to lose, and it was better to stop now than regret it later.

'What's wrong?' I heard Emma ask Anik. 'Did you two fight?'

'No,' Anik answered, just as confused.

That night there were no clouds. Stars glittered the sky and I gazed up at them. They were exactly the same constellations that I could see from the jungle back home. I was suddenly overcome with a wave of homesickness. I missed my mother, who would sit next to me by the fire, surrounded by the noises of the night. She would sing and tell me stories of the war and her brother, Sunil. She knew the tale of every constellation and would tell them to me when I was little. I can't remember them now.

There was a crunch of a footstep behind me and Emma appeared, seeming to glow in the moonlight. I instantly turned away.

'Edison?' she asked, her voice small. 'Are – are you okay?' If she was expecting an answer, she didn't get one. I remained in tiger form and ignored her. 'You know, if I did anything to upset you - '

'- You didn't upset me,' I answered incredulously after I turned into my human self. Emma visibly flinched, but looked relieved. I shook my head. 'You don't understand.'

'Your right,' Emma admitted and I turned to look at her. Big mistake. Her green eyes were more alive and bright at night, strands of flyaway hair twirling in the breeze. Her skin was pale and there was a faint trace of a smile on her lips. 'Your right,' she repeated, 'I don't understand. But you could tell me.' I exhaled slowly, but was thinking fast. I knew that I was falling for her, and needed to stop. Immediately. And telling her any of this was not going to help.

'After we complete the quest,' I began, 'I will go home. To India. In the past. I will never see you again.' I glanced at Emma, who remained expressionless. 'I don't want to… get close to anyone. Get close to you.' I took a deep breath, not daring to look at her. 'So I'm just going to stay away. You won't even see me that often, unless necessary to break the curse. I won't go to school.' I finally risked a glance at Emma's face. There were confused tears in her eyes that she was furiously blinking back. I had hurt her. Great. All I could think to say was, 'I'm sorry, Emma.'

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Thoughts of a Fangirl