"Justin! Wake up!"

Small hands shook Justin's shoulder, pulling him out of a strange dream of elephants dancing out over the lake. Opening his eyes, he blinked. He had a sideway unobstructed view of the still glass water. He blinked again. Hadn't they been inside Kali's temple? Movement in the water caught his eyes. He blinked a third time as the rising sun reflecting off the water nearly blinded him. There was a boat filled with four men near the water's edge.

"It's my uncle," informed Nitara, who stood over Justin. He could hear an edge of panic in her voice. "He has found me."

The words, my uncle, stirred something within Justin's brain. He scrambled to his feet, noticing the plush green couch they had fallen asleep on was actually a moss-covered flat rock.

"Your uncle?"

Suddenly Ramya's voice spoke inside his head, He is horrible, perhaps worse than his father.

Justin stepped over pieces of stone covered in fading images of a blue, multi-armed woman. He stopped at a crumbling pillar overtaken by creeping vines.

One man jumped out of the boat into knee-deep water and pulled the boat to the shore. From this distance, Justin could see a thick metal shackle clamped around the man's neck. At the wheel of the boat stood a tall, handsome man with a long sharp nose, not unlike Ramya's. But unlike Ramya, he kept his hair shaved close to his head and wore an expensive white suit.

A hand grabbed Justin's. "I need my princess sister," said Nitara. "We need to dance and then fly away."

The boat reached the shore and a graying older man wearing thick black sunglasses jumped from the boat and ran towards the ruins. Immediately, Nitara and Justin scrambled back further into the ruins.

"We don't have time. He will catch us," said Justin and he peered around, examining the ruins they stood in.

Remnants of the walls were circular just as Justin remembered from the temple last night.

Goodbye Justin, thank you, Kali had said before opening a hidden door on the far side of the temple.

Justin raced to the far side of the ruins where the vegetation overtook the temple remains. Vines grew everywhere and even trees grew through the crumbling marbled floor. He climbed through a small gap between two trees, Nitara following close behind him.

"He's going to catch us!" she screamed. Ahead, one wall still stood intact but completely covered in vines with bright blue flowers.

Please, please, thought Justin, please still be standing.

He reached the wall and began pulling at the vines. "Help me! We need to find a door!"

"We don't have time!"

Behind them, Justin could hear crunching as the man ran through the rubble.

The vines came falling down, revealing more murals of Kali, but not a door. Justin moved further along the wall and yanked at more of the vines. These fell away easily, and Justin's heart fluttered as he revealed a faded golden door.

"Here it is!" Justin exclaimed, holding his hand out to Nitara. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He smiled triumphantly, but his smile faded as he looked into Nitara's frightened eyes.

She grabbed his hand but shook her head. "No, we need to fly now. Please, Maya, help me."

Maya? Am I actually Maya? Am I she? Or am I he?

The man had nearly reached them. Justin had no time to contemplate this. He stepped forward, grabbed the rusty door handle, and yanked the door open.

On the other side of the door, more jungle greeted them.

Rough hands grabbed Justin by both shoulders and yanked him around. He came face-to-face with the old man in thick black sunglasses. Justin tried to pull away, but the man held onto him even tighter and pulled him so close that their noses almost touched. The man wheezed as he breathed, but said nothing. The smell of rotting smoke fell off the man, making Justin want to gag. He tried looking through the glasses into the man's eyes but could see only his face reflected back at him. He looked away, searching for Nitara, and froze. It wasn't just his face he saw reflected in the glasses.

Justin looked again into the glasses and became rigid.

He saw a white picket fence with a small gate. From the gate, red bricks formed a path to a blue door and a two-story house. Justin's home. Next to the house, he could even see the apple tree with the tire swing Simon would push Justin on when he was little. Justin's muscles relaxed. He wouldn't fight this, he would do whatever to look at this.

"Can you take me there?" he asked, his voice sounding little and frightened.

The man smiled. "Of course."

"No!" someone yelled and hands yanked him away from the man. Yanked him away from the one thing he wanted most.

The ground fell away beneath his feet. With every breath, the man in the glasses shrunk below him. He looked up to see Nitara glowing, holding Justin by one arm and pulling him into the sky.

"No, wait!" he shouted at her. "He was going to take me home!"

"No, he wasn't," Nitara responded. "He was going to take you to my uncle."

Cool air hit Justin in the face, and he shivered. She was right.

"You're flying and making me fly without Maya, how?"

She shrugged. "I can't be captured. I have to save my brother."

In that moment, Justin could see just how magnificent Nitara was. She had never needed rescuing, she would have found her way to her brother no matter what.

They rose high above the treetops.

"Nitara!"

Nitara stopped rising and hovered in the air. On the shore of the lake stood three men. The tallest man, Nitara's uncle, stood in the middle, gazing intently up at his niece. He held on to the metal around the two men's necks like a master holding back his dogs from attacking.

"Īga keḷage bā!" her uncle shouted.

"No!" Nitara shouted back in English. "Those two men, they tried to kidnap Niraj. You can't be trusted."

"They were trying to save Niraj from the beast. Your mom told me what you emailed her. I am only trying to help. Please come down. We can save Niraj together."

Silence followed, and Justin looked at Nitara. Her face flushed, and she ground her teeth together. He squeezed her hand.

"Liar!" she screamed. It burst forth from her mouth with such force that even Justin flinched.

Below, Nitara's uncle frowned and yanked both his arms back from the two men standing next to him. Two long golden keys dangled in his hands. The keys were so long that Justin wondered how they had been sticking into the collars.

In unison, both metal collars fell from the men's necks and bounced across the ground.

Justin's eyes widened in horror as the men's flesh ripped from their bodies starting with their heads. Both men let out howling screams as their faces peeled off. The skin, however, did not fall to the ground. As it ripped from the body, it turned into mist and floated into the air. Left in the place of the skin was not blood and muscle but a grayer, sicklier form of the men. Soon, two ghostly versions of the men hovered in the air in front of their now almost lifeless bodies. Wide grins that made Justin shiver formed across the ghost figures' faces.

"Avaḷannu ākāśadinda horategeyiri!" Ordered Nitara's uncle.

The two ghosts rose quickly into the air and shot toward Justin and Nitara.

"This isn't good," said Justin. Nitara squeezed Justin's hand tighter and yanked him in the opposite direction of the ghost men. They soared quickly over the jungle, the air whipping in Justin's face, causing his eyes to water.

He glanced back, and his heart sank. The men were quickly gaining on them.

"Fly faster. They are going to catch us."

"This is as fast as I can go," she said.

Justin glanced back again. They were only fifty feet behind them now. Both men opened their ghostly mouths wide as if they were going to swallow Justin and Nitara whole. Reflexively, Justin tucked his knees into his chest.

"What are you doing?" asked Nitara. "You will slow us down in that shape."

"They are going to eat us!"

Nitara fell into a dive, pulling Justin with her. They free fell towards the treetops. Above them, the men soared past, not anticipating their sudden dive. The ghosts came to a halt in the air and then turned and dove after Justin and Nitara.

"They are catching up fast," said Justin.

"I will lose them," Nitara responded.

They continued to free fall; the treetops becoming larger and larger. Justin braced for impact, thinking Nitara was going to take them straight through the impenetrable-looking branches. At the last moment, Nitara pulled up, and they shot forward across the trees. Ahead, one tree rose above the others, a king towering above his subjects. Nitara made straight for this tree. Justin didn't dare to glance back, as he knew those gaping mouths would be right behind them.

Seconds before slamming into the gigantic tree, Nitara pulled Justin close, wrapped both arms around him, and dove headfirst into the thick canopy of the jungle. Justin closed his eyes tightly as leaves and small branches scratched at his face. He expected the solid impact of wood, but it never came. He opened his eyes to find Nitara looking straight into his eyes as they zigzagged over and under branch after branch.

"How are you doing this?" Justin asked.

"I don't know. I just know when we are about to hit something. I can feel it."

They looped, spun, and dove through the jungle effortlessly. Nothing could touch them, and the ghostly men were nowhere in sight.

Justin let out a loud whoop that echoed through the jungle. Laughing, Nitara then howled like a wolf. They both started laughing.

Minutes passed as the scenery rushed by in a blur. Justin wondered just how far they had traveled.

"I can feel my brother calling me," said Nitara. "We are really close."

"What are we going to do when we find the beast? I don't have the device that can capture it anymore."

Nitara shrugged. "We will figure it out. I know it."

Justin nodded. "I'm sorry about back there in the clearing. I haven't figured out how to work my magic yet."

A frown crossed Nitara's face. "Magic?"

"Yes, I can open doors to wherever I want... Well, if my magic is working."

"Oh, not all children have magic. My mom told me that. I haven't met anyone else magical yet besides Niraj and I. I make you fly Justin, you realize that right?"

"What? Um, no, I mean, yes, I know, " Justin sputtered, his face turning crimson.

Nitara squeezed her arms. "You're my Maya. You helped me find my magic. You rescued me. You are magical in your own way."

"No, I can..." Justin started, but then he trailed off as he thought.

His brother Simon had created the palace that had led Justin to India and Satvi had created a portal that he and Ramya had traveled through. Perhaps it was his brother's magic he had used to open the palace door, and it had been Satvi who had actually made that door in the police building take them outside.

Justin fell silent.

They flew close to the ground now as the canopy above thickened with too many vines to navigate, even with Nitara's magic. Ahead of them, two trees twisted together, becoming one. As the trees twisted together, they formed a small gap.

Nitara picked up speed and let out a whoop in delight, heading straight for the gap.

"Will we fit?" Justin asked.

Instead of answering, Nitara simply laughed and made them spin wildly in tight loops.

Justin squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn't take the suspense, and at the last second, he opened them. Instead of a gap, the silver outline of a vast mouth awaited them.

Nitara screamed and suddenly it felt as if they had been plunged into ice water. They pushed straight through the ghostly man and the gap in the tree and dropped from the air.

Nitara landed back first on the hard ground with Justin on top of her. She bounced, and they both rolled. Pain shot through Justin's elbow as it hit a rock. A sickly thud reverberated through Justin and they came to a halt. Tensing his muscles, Justin waited for the pain. A second went by and then another. A burning sensation pulsed across his left cheek, his wound from Caroline pulling him out of the car reopening. His left elbow throbbed, but surprisingly he felt okay.

He untangled himself from Nitara, who fell limply onto her back.

"Nitara?" Crawling to her side, he found she was unconscious.

"Nitara!" He shouted and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook. Her head rolled side to side as if no one existed within. Blood seeped out from beneath her hair and pooled at Justin's knees.

At the sight of the blood, bile rose in Justin's stomach. He backed away. He had never seen a dead body before.

This couldn't be happening. Nitara couldn't be... A spindly old man stepped out from behind a large palm frond. The man wore an orange knitted sweater and an orange wrap around his waist. He glanced quickly at Justin and then stepped up to Nitara's body. He bent over her and reached down as if to pick her up.

"No!" Justin shouted. He pushed up onto his feet, reached into his left robe pocket, and imagined the dagger Kali had gifted him. Immediately, the dagger formed handle first into his hand.

In one fell swoop, the man picked Nitara up. Justin rushed forward and held the dagger out inches from the man's chest. The man stopped moving and looked Justin in the eyes.

"Nāṉ avaḷukku utava muṭiyum," said the man.

"No," said Justin, waving the dagger. "You can't take her! Put her down!"

Cold, sharp metal pressed into Justin's neck and he stopped waving the knife but continued to point it right at the man's heart. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see another man, younger than the one holding Nitara, frowning as he held out his own dagger.

"Uṅkaḷ kuttuvāḷai viṭuṅkaḷ," the younger man said as he pressed his dagger firmly into Justin's neck.

"You can't take her," Justin said more softly, tears falling down his cheeks.

The older man's eyes widened, and he turned his neck, looking back at the place he appeared from.

"Avarkaḷ nam'maik kaṇṭupiṭippārkaḷ," the older man whispered.

It was then Justin noticed the tattoo on the man's neck, an image of a blue woman with her tongue sticking out. Slowly, Justin lowered the dagger with the hilt carved in the shape of an elephant and a woman.

The younger man grabbed Justin by the shoulder and pulled him back. He stepped around Justin and approached the man holding Nitara. Grabbing Nitara's wrist, he raised his dagger.

"Wait! No!" Justin rushed forward, but the man pushed Justin to the ground with his free hand. Before Justin could react, the man brought his knife to Nitara's wrist and sliced it open.