The Circle of Lies

by Crystal Velasquez

  He handed us several bills that he said we should exchange for rupees before we left the airport. Then he wished us luck, reminded us that we had his cell phone number if we needed him, and got back on the plane. Once again we were on our own.

  I picked up the cat and draped her over my shoulders, her rumbling purr vibrating against my neck. I looked at Doli and Lin, trying to muster my courage. “Let’s go save our friend.”

  As soon as I opened the taxicab door and stepped out, the black cat took off running into the bushes.

  Doli sighed. “That cat never sticks around to pay the cab fare. What a mooch!”

  “Yeah, don’t you hate that?” said Lin sarcastically, pulling out her wallet to pay the driver.

  “Guys, would you quit joking around?” I said as we climbed out of the cab. “We’ve got to go get her. You know how many stray cats there must be in Mumbai? If she gets lost here, we’ll never find her again.”

  “Pshh . . . Are you kidding?” Lin scoffed. “That cat knows how to take care of herself better than we do.”

  Doli flung her arm around my shoulder. “Lin’s right. She always ends up exactly where she needs to be. And I think we all know by now that she’s no ordinary— Whoa.”

  Doli was staring straight ahead, openmouthed, her neck craning up slowly. I followed her gaze, and my jaw fell open too.

  Before us stood a towering glass apartment building with elegant curved balconies hugging the corners on each side. And a long dark green awning extended out over the sidewalk, giving the high-rise the look of a high-class Manhattan hotel.

  “I knew her dad was a diplomat, but this place is amazing,” I gushed.

  “Eh, it’s all right,” Lin said, shrugging it off. “A little flashy for my taste.” Doli and I shared a look. I guessed we had to cut her some slack. Lin had come a long way from the spoiled princess I had first met when I’d gotten to Temple. But we knew she was still struggling with the fact that her family had lost most of their money and she was now closer to being one of the “poor people” she used to look down on.

  Like the movie star’s daughter she was, Lin sauntered past the doorman as if she owned the place, and he didn’t stop her.

  Soon we were outside apartment 14H, knocking on the door. After a minute the door swung open, and we were faced with a tall man with graying hair at his temples and large brown eyes that looked just like Shani’s. The aroma of cilantro and basil wafted into the hall.

  “Yes?” he said, staring at us curiously. I’m sure it wasn’t every day that three random teenagers just showed up on his doorstep.

  “Are you Mr. Massri?” I asked.

  “I am. How can I help you?”

  Doli tried to peek into the apartment. “Are we interrupting your dinner?”

  “Yes, actually,” Mr. Massri said, shifting to block her view. “And I’d like to get back to it. So can you kindly tell me what it is you want?”

  “We need to see your daughter, sir,” Lin said.

  Mr. Massri nodded and called over his shoulder, “Sweetie? I think some of your school friends are here to see you. Please make it fast.”

  He moved aside, and a slim Indian girl around our age stepped into the doorway. I didn’t know who she was, but she wasn’t Shani—and she didn’t look happy to see us at all. “Shani’s friends,” she hissed. “What are you doing here? You aren’t welcome.”

  I blinked in surprise. Hadn’t Shani told us her sisters were off at university and boarding school? And if this was her sister, how come she knew who we were but her father didn’t? Worst of all, why were we unwelcome?

  A tiny part of me wondered whether it was because of what had happened with Principal Ferris. Maybe Shani really didn’t want us here. But I shook the thought from my head. In my gut I knew our friend needed us, and until I saw her with my own eyes, I wouldn’t move a muscle.

  “We want to see Shani,” I repeated.

  “Who cares what you want? We’re trying to eat dinner. You need to go.”

  Lin crossed her arms and planted her feet. “We’re not going anywhere until we see her.”

  “I said get lost!” the girl hissed.

  “Kiah,” Mr. Massri said, approaching the door again. If he noticed the tension in the air, he gave no outward sign. He simply looked at the girl and nodded toward the kitchen. “Your dinner is getting cold. Your friends need to go now.”

  Shani doesn’t have a sister named Kiah, does she? I glanced curiously at my friends, and though I knew they couldn’t read my thoughts in our human guises, they looked just as confused as I felt.

  “They’re no friends of mine,” Kiah said. “I don’t know why they’re bothering us. I think they’re selling something.”

  By the look on Mr. Massri’s face, I could see our window of opportunity shrinking. Soon this door would slam in our faces.

  “Mr. Massri!” I shouted, thinking desperately. “Can I . . . use your bathroom? Please? It’s an emergency.” I started squirming and dancing where I stood. He pressed his lips together, clearly debating what to do. “Please,” I begged. “I’m not feeling well.”

  Finally, still looking very confused, he opened the door wider. Kiah glared at him. “Fine,” he said. “It’s down the hall and to the left. But after that you and your friends had better go. We’re not interested in buying whatever you’re here to sell.”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “Okay, you’ve got it.” As I hustled past Doli and Lin, I whispered, “If I’m not out in ten minutes, call the police.”

  I ran for the bathroom and closed the door. After a couple of minutes I eased the door open, listening to make sure that Mr. Massri and Kiah had gone back to the dining room on the other side of the apartment. When I heard the chatter and clinking silverware of the family eating dinner, I crept down the hall in the opposite direction from the living room and started peeking in doors.

  The first bedroom clearly belonged to Shani’s father. There was a large king-size bed in the middle of the room and a dark wood dresser against the wall. On top of the dresser were framed photographs. One was of Mr. Massri and a tall beautiful woman in a red wedding sari. Next to it was a picture of Kiah in her school uniform. Still another was of all three of them together, standing in front of a temple. There were framed photos on the walls, too.

  Shani’s missing from all of them, I realized.

  I tiptoed out of there and snuck into another room farther down the hall. This one had walls plastered with pictures of Kiah and what I assumed were her friends and of random celebrities. But there were two twin beds in the room, and one of them had been stripped bare.

  I opened the closet to see if Shani’s clothes were there, but nothing on the hangers looked like hers. Even her suitcase was missing. In fact, not one item in the room belonged to Shani. It was as if she had never been there at all. But that couldn’t be. If she had never made it to her father’s apartment, wouldn’t she have said so that first night when she’d texted to tell us she missed us? Wait a minute. . . . When I’d told Mr. Massri we were here to see his daughter, he never asked, Which one?

  Every mental alarm I had went off in that moment.

  I ran full speed back down the hall and into the dining room, where Mr. Massri, Kiah, and the beautiful woman I’d seen in the photographs were sitting around a long dining room table. “Mr. Massri, where is your daughter Shani?” I blurted.

  Mr. Massri put his fork down and gave me a blank look. “I don’t have a daughter named Shani,” he said. “Kiah is the only daughter I have.”

  My breath came up short. “What?”

  Kiah got out of her chair and gave me a withering look. “Are you deaf? He said I’m his only daughter, not that it’s any of your business.” She took two quick strides over to me, grabbed my arm, and squeezed it painfully as she pulled me toward the door. Just before she opened it, she got right in my face and said, “You’re officially trespassing. If I catch you here again, I won’t be as nice.”

  Even if she hadn
’t been hurting my arm, and even if she hadn’t been the rudest person I’d met since Nicole, Kiah would have rubbed me the wrong way. Just being near her made all the hairs on my arms stand up, and her breath—the smell was faint, but I recognized a hint of something rotten.

  She whipped open the door and shoved me into the hallway, sending me barreling into a surprised Lin’s arms.

  “And stay out!” she cried.

  Doli looked at me with wide eyes. “Was Shani in there?”

  I shook my head. “No. I think something’s happened to her, and Kiah here knows what it is.”

  Kiah was still standing in the doorway, glaring at us. Lin looked at her and narrowed her eyes. “What have you done to her?”

  Kiah snorted. “The question is, what could I do to you?”

  She started to slam the door, just as I’d suspected she would, but Lin stuck her foot out to keep the door open. “We’re going to find Shani, whether you like it or not. And then we’re coming back here for you!”

  Kiah lifted her foot as if she were about to stomp on Lin’s, so I pulled Lin back, and the door snapped shut.

  And as we stood there staring at the golden 14H on the outside of the door, we heard a long, low growl from inside the apartment—one that no human could make.

  chapter 14

  Shani

  I CAN’T TRANSFORM, I CAN’T transform! I spun in tight circles behind the bars. I was doing everything right—thinking human thoughts, picturing myself doing human things—but nothing, nothing would work. My hands remained paws, my teeth stayed long and sharp, and my cries for help all came out as roars.

  Anubis stood watching me from outside the cage, laughing a gravelly, evil laugh. “Don’t you understand?” he said. “Your struggling is useless. My magic is holding you in this form. For now, I need you to remain a Wildcat.”

  I glared at him. Why?

  He gave me a tooth-filled smile. “Centuries ago it was the roar of a lion Wildcat that imprisoned Shiva in the statue. Now it is the roar of a lion Wildcat—yours—that will set him free!”

  His eyes filled with a maniacal glee. If only I could break through these bars . . . I snarled, thinking of all the possibilities.

  “Besides, this way I don’t have to hear you blather on and on. Truly, if I’d had to listen to one more of you Temple Academy girls prattle on about absolutely nothing, I’d have sent myself back to the underworld for good. I’ve done you a favor by preventing your return to human form.

  “But don’t worry, I won’t keep you prisoner forever. Once you have served your purpose, I will take your life and set you free as well. In one stroke I will gain a powerful ally and be rid of one pesky Wildcat!” He lifted his snout to the ceiling then as he let out a loud, horrifying laugh.

  I growled, wishing he could hear all my murderous thoughts, but the longer I growled, the more satisfied he looked.

  “Aww . . . tsk, tsk, tsk . . . Did you actually believe Ixchel when she told you that you could defeat me? Foolish girl. Every day I get closer to waking the Brotherhood, and soon I will be ready to show the world my power and take over the earth. I have already brought Quetzalcoatl back into the mortal realm. Only a few more additions, and I will have all I need to complete my plan!”

  I stopped my restless pacing. Do the Wildcats know about that? If they did, they hadn’t mentioned it in any of their texts or e-mails. At least, they hadn’t said anything up to the time when Dad confiscated my phone and took the Internet away. I hoped by now that my friends had phoned Ms. Benitez and they were all over this Quetzal-whatchamacallit. But it was just as likely that they were completely in the dark, and the only person who could warn them was stuck in this stupid cage.

  RRRROWWWRRR! I roared again, as ferociously as I could. If I couldn’t tear him to shreds, I could at least scare the stuffing out of him. But Anubis didn’t even flinch. Instead he rocked back on his clawed feet and laughed. When he stopped, he lowered his voice and spoke. Somehow, his quiet voice was far more frightening than my deafening roar.

  “You do not threaten me, child. You may be endowed with ancient power, but you clearly lack intelligence. You’ve seen how easy it was to lure you to my temple, just as my minion Nicole was able to lure you to the gym that fateful night. All she had to do was pretend to be Ana’s aunt, and, like the predictable children you are, you came running. I had hoped that all four of you would be expelled and separated, but no matter. It was you who mattered the most.”

  Anubis spun around. When he turned back to me, he’d transformed into the smiling Dr. Logan with his linen suit and straight white teeth. “Then that heartbroken fool of a principal kicked you out, just as I knew she would, and your mother sent you packing to India, delivering you into my clutches, right on schedule.”

  I glared at him, seething with hatred. He’d orchestrated everything! That meant he knew all about my parents’ divorce, my school record. He’d been watching me, researching me, pulling invisible strings I hadn’t even known were there.

  Dr. Logan tsked at me. “Come now, Shani. There’s no reason to be upset. The Brotherhood will expand and be much more powerful than it has been in centuries, and I owe it all to you.”

  I saw red. I lunged at Dr. Logan, but all I managed to do was bang painfully into the metal bars of the cage.

  “See what I mean?” said Anubis, transforming back to his hideous jackal form. “You’re not too bright. I’ve already told you: You’re trapped, and there’s nothing you or any of your friends can do about it now.”

  With a sinking feeling I realized he had every reason to gloat. I’d walked right into his trap like a moth flying into an electric bug zapper. Even worse, I hadn’t told anyone that I was going to the temple—not my dad, not Sonia. And I hadn’t e-mailed Doli, Lin, or Ana either. I had reached out with my mind, but I doubted they could hear me.

  No one is coming to save me, I thought with miserable clarity. I’m going down, and whether I want to or not, I’m taking the whole world with me.

  chapter 15

  Ana

  “SO THAT WENT WELL.” DOLI stared up at Shani’s shining glass apartment building.

  “Totally,” Lin said sarcastically. “We didn’t find Shani, Ana almost got her arm ripped off, and we have no idea what to do next. Complete success.”

  “Guys,” I said, still rubbing my arm where Kiah’s grip had left five angry red indents. “That wasn’t our best moment, but it wasn’t a total fail. Ms. Benitez was right. There is something seriously weird going on here.” I told them about the odd lack of Shani inside the apartment, and how her father didn’t seem to remember her at all. “At least now we know that Shani really does need our help. We just have to decide what to do.”

  Lin looked around at the darkening sky, which cast shadows onto the unfamiliar streets around us. “I say we find the cat, then go back to the jet and regroup,” she advised. “It’s getting late, and I’m not feeling too safe out here on our own. Plus, we don’t have anywhere to sleep.”

  Doli shook her head vehemently. “If Shani’s really in trouble, every second counts. Going all the way back to the airport would take too long. Kiah is obviously hiding what she knows. There’s got to be something we can do right here.”

  “I think if we go back inside, the doorman won’t be so friendly,” I said. “I’m pretty sure Kiah will have called downstairs and told him not to let us back in.”

  All of us were silent for a minute, scrambling for ideas. Finally, Lin smiled at me and said, “WWSD?”

  “You have an idea?” I said hopefully.

  “If Shani were here, she’d find some techie way to find one of us, right? So why don’t we do the same thing to find her? Even if she hasn’t been able to use it for some reason, Shani would never go anywhere without her cell phone. Doesn’t hers have one of those tracking things in it so you can find it in case you lose it?”

  “That’s brilliant, Lin!” I cried. “The only thing is, to get that info you have to either be the own
er of the phone or a parent. None of us sound very parental.”

  Doli smiled. “If Shani were here, she’d just hack into the phone company’s GPS system and get the information herself.”

  “Figures,” I said, lifting my arms and letting them flap back against the sides of my legs. “The one person who could help us find Shani is Shani.”

  Lin fished in her pocket and pulled out her smartphone. “Let me try calling Antonio,” Lin said. “Maybe he’ll know how to get the information we need.”

  Doli raised her eyebrows. “Do you have an international plan, Lin? Because otherwise . . .”

  Lin snorted. “Do I have an international plan? Does the daughter of a diplomat and an A-list Chinese actress have an international plan? I don’t know, let’s see . . .” She started pressing buttons and scrolling through her contacts—

  GROWWWWLLLLL!

  Startled by the loud noise behind us, I turned to see three mangy-looking dogs approaching with their tails stiff and pointed in the air.

  “We have company!” I yelled, nudging Lin and Doli, who both turned around, and Lin screamed in surprise. The three of us pressed together, each of us trying simultaneously to hide behind our friends and protect them.

  Drool streamed from the dogs’ open jaws, and their shoulder blades stuck up in sharp angles as they inched forward. The dog in front, who I took to be the pack leader, had an extra long snout and bristly ears, and maybe I was just imaging things, but those eyes—they reminded me of Kiah. Could it be . . .

  “We’ve got to transform,” Lin said. “Or they’re going to have us for dinner.”