Page 191 of Tiger's Voyage

Steaks? Oh.He was trying to distract the sharks.Of course it wasn’tgoing to work. They don’t care about food. They want us.Heavy raindrops plopped on my cheeks and head. The waves stopped, but Lokesh was whipping up a terrible storm. I snapped out of my shark fixation and directed the rain back to the other ship. That’s when I felt the power of Lokesh touch me. Rain met rain. His power nudged against mine, and I pushed back. It felt … intimate. Invasive.

I pushed harder, and so did he. The rain caressed my cheek roughly as if he were physically touching me, and I could almost hear his laughter in the sounds it made hitting the decks.

He pushed so hard, I whimpered, but Ren put his arm around me, and I felt renewed strength. I shoved the power of Lokesh away using all my mental energy and felt him break off, though a part of me knew he was delighted at my show of bravery and that he hadletme win. Suddenly, the rain stopped, and the clouds broke. The sun streamed over us, and I tilted my head up, willing the warmth to strengthen me during our brief reprieve. Their ship broke free of the whirlpool to pursue us again.

My thoughts flitted wildly as I tried to find a new course of action. I tried to sink him by flooding his decks with water, but he deflected it and sent it back into the ocean along with a few of his men. He gained on us, flying forward at an impossible speed.How could we beat him?

Kishan checked in with Mr. Kadam and returned grim-faced.

I touched his arm. “What is it?”

“We’re almost out of fuel. We won’t be able to outrun them.”

“How long have we got?” I asked.

“Half an hour. Maybe an hour at best.”

The three of us huddled together and discussed other options. Kishan wanted to ground the ship and fight him on land. Ren wanted to turn around and ram the yacht into his ship. I thought the land option might be better because at least we’d be rid of the sharks. Our quiet planning was interrupted by the sound of several erupting geysers. Whale spouts!

I shaded my eyes and made out at least a dozen gray whale humps heading for the black ship. They surrounded it and pounded with their heavy bodies, effectively slowing the ship’s progress.

“Let’s run for it,” I said. “The whales will slow them down. We go as far as our fuel takes us, and then take the jet boat ashore and disappear in the jungle.”

They agreed, and Ren ran down to tell Mr. Kadam when something caught my attention.

“The sharks! Kishan, where are they?”

“There.” He pointed to the ocean, and I saw several large fins heading back to the black ship. “He’s having them attack the whales.”

“No!” The water quickly turned red as a baby was separated from its mother and killed. “Stop it!” I screamed. I touched the Pearl Necklace at my throat and sent the gentle creatures back to the depths of the ocean. It wasn’t long before the sharks returned to swim in the wake of the yacht. Ren returned and I told him dejectedly, “The whales are gone. I couldn’t allow them to be killed.”

“I understand.” Ren gently squeezed my arm. “We’ll fight him hand to hand. It seems that’s what he wants.”

I nodded. “He wants me alive.”

“He’ll never take you.”

We looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment, and I nodded, praying that his determination was enough.

“They’re coming fast!” Kishan shouted. “Get ready!”

Lokesh’s ship was close enough now that I could make out figures on the deck. It wasn’t as big as ours, but it was still a ship of some power, and it was fast. A large harpoon was fitted on the upper decking. Men scrambled over rigging and around the decks and ducked down behind boxes for protection. Only Lokesh stood tall and unafraid as the boat approached. When he spotted me, his image blurred to show him younger again. Brash and bold, he grinned at me and held out a hand, beckoning me to come to him.

I stepped between Ren and Kishan and shook my head. Lokesh frowned and issued a command. The boys were ready. Kishan threw thechakram, and Ren used the Scarf to tie up men and dangle them over the sides of their boat within chomping range of the sharks. Unfortunately, the sharks stayed focused on us. Their open jaws snapped as they breached the water. Thechakramcut off a foe’s arm and sliced open a chest before it returned.

Ren had eyes only for Lokesh, who smiled and invited him aboard with a flourish. I nocked and released a series of arrows, one imbued with lightning power. I hit two men and caused a minor explosion in the back of the ship, but I’d been aiming at Lokesh. He seemed to use the wind to divert the course of our weapons.

Lokesh moved his arm, and his vessel surged forward. The yacht rocked violently as the black ship rammed into the back in an explosion of splintered wood and screeching metal. A ramp was quickly attached to our ship and a battle cry rose in the air as men streamed up onto our open deck.

Ren leapt off the wheelhouse and dropped twenty feet to land in a crouch on the deck below. Kishan followed after, and another battle cry rang through the air—the battle cry of the house of Rajaram. I scrambled down the ladder and raced after them. Kishan used thechakramand claws, switching from tiger to man just in time to catch and throw between blows. As a tiger, his ears lay back flat and his teeth were bared as he roared. Seeing the ferocious black tiger, some of the men stumbled to a halt, deciding to confront Ren instead and moved to challenge him, but he was equally as dangerous.

Ren separated the trident into Sai knives and leapt into the fray, slashing through bodies like a bull in a chicken coop. His knives spun so fast he looked like a man-sized blender, slicing through anything that came near. I hid behind some decking and took out men with either arrows or lightning. Lokesh was missing. I searched for him, but he was hiding somewhere.

We’d taken down dozens of men and still more emerged from the ship. They weren’t armed with dart weapons this time, which puzzled me. Lokesh knew Ren and Kishan couldn’t be killed. And though these pirates were modern, they fought with knives, machetes, and other older types of weapons. I didn’t see a gun anywhere. It wasn’t a battle so much as carnage. The sheer number of the pirates was the only reason we hadn’t won yet.

Mr. Kadam and Nilima joined me on the deck. She was armed with a knife and he with a Samurai sword.

“Who’s driving the boat?” I whispered as I let loose an arrow and smiled at the screech of pain from the pirate about to stick a knife into Kishan’s back.