The Tiger's Apprentice Read online

  —CHINESE TRADITION

  All the next morning, Mr. Hu paced back and forth in the store, weaving a tortuous path in and out of the collected antiques. “Blast. Where is Mistral? Until she comes, all I can do is wait here like prey.”

  Tom didn’t particularly care for the Guardian’s choice of words. It made him think of some goat set out as bait. “You’re used to doing the hunting?”

  Mr. Hu smiled. “I was always a better hunter than I was an apprentice.” Having seen his true shape, Tom wouldn’t want to have the tiger tracking him.

  As he watched Mr. Hu prowl restlessly, Tom couldn’t help thinking that the Guardian might look human but inside he was still a tiger. “Did you really expect to retire and sell antiques?”

  Mr. Hu paused. “When I was in the midst of battles, a peaceful life as a shopkeeper seemed like such a remote, happy dream.” The tiger chuckled deeply in his throat. “Be careful what you wish for, Master Thomas.”

  The tiger spun around and Tom gave a jump when someone rattled the doorknob and then knocked at the glass.

  “Mr. H?” Sidney called. “Let me in.”

  When Tom turned, he saw the small, round, yellow rat hopping up and down excitedly and rapping at the door as if he were trying to break inside.

  “Blast that rat!” Mr. Hu snarled. “He probably wants to sell me some trash he found.” He waved his hand at Sidney. “Whatever you’ve got, I’m not buying.”

  The rat kept right on knocking. “He never takes no for an answer, does he?” Tom asked.

  “It’s not part of his vocabulary,” Mr. Hu said, stalking to the door, “and unfortunately neither is ‘go away.’” Taking off the charm and unlocking the door, Mr. Hu yanked it open. “I don’t want anything, Sidney!”

  “Oh, you’ll want this.” The agile rat slipped between the tiger’s legs and inside the store. “I heard this guy nosing around last night, asking about the boy.” Unfortunately Sidney could not hold a conversation without inspecting every item in reach of his paws. “Ooo, that’s nice.”

  Slamming the door shut again, Mr. Hu liberated a porcelain bowl from the rat’s paws. “Careful, that’s fragile.” When he had safely set it out of Sidney’s reach, Mr. Hu went on, “Did you recognize him?”

  “Sorry, Mr. H. Never seen him before and nobody else has either.” Sidney picked up a small statue. “He was as ugly as a lizard can get. So I followed him for a while, but I lost his trail.”

  “You don’t have a tiger’s stalking skills.” Mr. Hu’s eyes brightened and his foot began to tap with so much excitement that he did not notice the danger to the statue that the rat was tossing back and forth from paw to paw. “Could you take me to the spot where you last saw him?”

  “Sure thing, Mr. H.” Sidney was so busy nodding his head that the statue slipped through his paws. “Morning,” he said to Tom as the boy caught it and placed it on a high shelf.

  Mr. Hu glanced in the direction of the street as if he longed to be on the hunt again and then sighed. “I have to wait here until Mistral comes to watch the store.”

  Sidney shook his head. “No good, Mr. H.; the trail will get cold. We’ve got to leave now.”

  Mr. Hu paced in and around the antiques. Finally he stopped, nodding his head firmly. “We mustn’t waste this opportunity. If we can track him to his lair, it’s worth the risk.”

  Tom was also finding the store a little cramped. “It’ll be good to get outside.”

  To the boy’s surprise, the Guardian said, “I’m sorry, Master Thomas. The rose is safer here and someone must remain in the store to place the charm back upon the door after I depart. It’s already been enchanted so you won’t need any more spells. You just have to put it on the glass. It’s a task that’s very easy but just as important as tracking our enemies.”

  Tom knew when an adult was trying to fool him. “You mean I’m stuck here?”

  “I’m afraid so,” the tiger said, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

  Tom looked around the dusty old shop in dismay. “How long will you be gone?”

  “It could be awhile.” Mr. Hu shrugged. “On my way back, I should also see if that blasted dragon’s had any luck finding a replacement.” He handed Tom the charm. “Tape this on the door after we leave. Do not let Mistral in. She’ll understand when you explain the situation. And even if you see someone who looks like me, do not remove it until you hear me knock. Like so.” He rapped his paw on the door twice and then twice more.

  Disappointed, Tom scolded himself. He had been stupid to believe Mr. Hu’s talk about the bond between the Guardian and his apprentice. He was no different from the school counselors who had talked about trust but never meant it. As soon as Tom got in trouble, they did a report with a lot of fancy words and turned him over to someone else.

  The thing that hurt the most was that he’d let himself be fooled again. At least none of the school counselors had abandoned Tom to face monsters on his own as the Guardian was doing.

  Well, it was time he started to think about himself first.

  “I quit,” Tom said.

  Mr. Hu’s head jerked up in disbelief. “You what?”

  Tom set his jaw defiantly. “I don’t want to be your apprentice anymore. What kind of Guardian would expect me to deal with monsters by myself? Grandmom never would have.”

  Sidney stared at the tiger in awe. “You’re the Guardian now. Then that means—”

  “Yes, Sidney,” Mr. Hu said, and turned back to the boy. “Master Thomas, you have plenty of protection.” He waved the charm in his hand. “How can you turn your back on everything your grandmother fought for? If Mistress Lee were alive, she’d be ashamed of you for talking about quitting.”

  Tom felt a twinge inside at that accusation but he held his ground. “I only learned the Lore to please my grandmother. And I wouldn’t have done that if I knew just how bad the monsters would be.”

  Mr. Hu’s amber eyes stared at him in puzzlement. “I will never understand human cubs. They are so willful.” He slapped his sides in frustration. “Well, do this much for your grandmother’s sake: Stay here until I return. I will find someone else.” Again he thrust the charm at the boy.

  Tom hesitated, but he guessed he owed his grandmother that much. “Okay, but as soon as you get back, I’m out of here,” Tom grumbled as he finally took it.

  Mr. Hu looked worried. “Where will you go, Master Thomas?”

  Tom held the charm against his chest. “I don’t know. I guess some foster home if I have to.”

  Mr. Hu blinked, hurt. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I promised your grandmother that I would protect you, so I will see what I can do to carry out your wishes.” When Mr. Hu had stepped outside with Sidney, he turned and watched Tom as he pasted the charm to the glass of the front door. Satisfied that the store was secure, he loped off, apparently eager to be on the hunt again and away from the irresponsible human cub.

  Tom watched the tiger disappear and then turned. Suddenly the strange shop seemed very large, and every creak and groan of the old building made Tom look around. The newspaper article had brought back the horror of yesterday afternoon, and he could imagine something hiding in the many shadows of the cluttered shop.

  Feeling betrayed, lonely, and frightened, Tom found himself drifting into the rear apartment to the memorial. Even though he had seen the smoke with his own eyes, it still didn’t seem possible that his grandmother was dead. He put out a fresh cup of tea before the tablet and added one of the star-shaped fruits that Mr. Hu had also bought last night in Goblin Square.

  “I’m sorry, Grandmom,” he whispered to the tablet as he sat down. “But I’m scared. I know you wouldn’t want me to do something I didn’t want to.” Even so, he couldn’t help feeling that he was letting his grandmother down. As he sat, miserable and alone, he heard a rapping on the door.

  Cautiously, he peeked from the apartment toward the front door. A girl about his age was standing there.

  “Help. Please he
lp me,” she begged in Chinese.

  Tom stared at her because the girl, who was about his age, did not look Asian. She was short and slender, dressed in a white sweater, jeans, and sneakers. Her narrow chin and wide cheekbones gave her a foxish look. Her fluffy silvery hair, which she had gathered up on either side of her head, swung like wings as she banged at the door.

  “Please. Something’s following me,” she pleaded frantically.

  She looked so frightened that he began to feel sorry for her. After all, he reasoned, he shouldn’t be suspicious just because she didn’t look like the others in Chinatown. Neither did he. “I call police,” he said in his own limited Chinese. What he’d learned, he’d picked up from his grandmother.

  “They won’t come in time,” the girl said, switching to English. In her desperation, she tried the doorknob. “Please let me in.”

  But the Guardian’s orders had been so clear that Tom still hesitated. “I can’t.”

  “Please, please.” The girl was banging on the door frantically. “They’ll get me.”

  He thought again of the monsters on the roof. He wouldn’t want to leave anyone at their mercy, and she seemed harmless enough. Mr. Hu had warned him not to open the door, but he wouldn’t want an innocent person to suffer. And how could Tom stay in safety and watch the monster attack her?

  “Hurry.” The girl glanced down the street. “They’re coming.”

  He was sure his grandmother would not have left the girl to her fate. Quickly Tom made his way to the front door, but even so, despite the girl’s pleas, he peered out, looking for monsters. When he didn’t see any in view, he began to peel back the charm.

  “Okay, I’m going to unlock the door but step inside quick. What’s your name?”

  The girl was so stunned he was listening to her entreaty that it took her a moment to answer. “Räv.”

  Once the charm was removed, the door opened easily. “Hurry. Get in,” Tom urged.

  Instead of seeking refuge Räv stood there, confused. “Why are you doing this?”

  “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” Tom demanded. “I couldn’t leave anyone to a monster.” He motioned her into the shop.

  Even now, Räv hesitated on the threshold as she gazed at him, puzzled. “Thank you. It’s . . . kind of you.” She lingered on the word as if the concept was strange to her.

  That’s the last word his teachers and schoolmates would have used for him. “It’s not kindness,” Tom said as he swung the door back. “It’s just that I know how I’d feel in your shoes.”

  “Maybe that’s what real kindness is,” Räv said almost guiltily. As she finally entered the store, her arm happened to brush his and she stepped back with a cry.

  “What’s wrong?” Tom asked in alarm, glancing at his arm.

  “It must be static electricity.” Räv rubbed her fingers.

  The next instant a strange creature suddenly dropped down onto the sidewalk from his perch on the storefront above the window. His face was bright blue but his eyebrows and hair were the same scarlet as his suit with the long tails—as if he had just come from a nightclub.

  Set at a rakish angle on his head was a top hat, also of red, and he leaned on a purple Chinese umbrella of oiled paper. He might have been the picture of a gentleman from a high-fashion magazine except for the long, sharp teeth that protruded from the corners of his mouth and the three eyes that stared in triumph at Tom.

  Pointing the umbrella at the boy, the creature began to open it. Tom saw words written on it in a strange script mixed in with pictures of skulls and monsters.

  “Down!” Räv impulsively threw herself against him so hard that the both of them fell backward. With a teeth-jarring crack, Tom’s head hit a small cabinet. And then the world was dark.

  “Hu, old boy, you’ve shaved,” a voice drawled. “And you’ve also shrunk.”

  Tom opened his eyes to see another stranger, a short man, squatting down beside him. His hair was a tawny yellow, almost like a lion’s. On his head flopped a cap of silk, and he was wearing a white suit over a compact, powerful body. In his eyes was a mischievous spark that seemed to invite everyone to have fun. The girl Räv was gone.

  Tom forgot to be afraid. He finally had a chance at one of the thieves who had been attacking them. His hand groped blindly for something and he found a stick. “Take that!” When he whipped the stick toward the stranger’s head, he saw it was really a broken chair leg.

  Though he swung as hard as he could, the stranger nimbly jumped to a table, scattering plates and vases on the floor with a crash. “Next time swing from the hips and not the shoulders, Hu.”

  “Get out of here,” Tom yelled. He felt dizzy as he aimed wildly at the man again.

  The nimble stranger did a graceful back flip that took him through the door into the apartment behind the store. “And your wrists should be more flexible.”

  Hoping against hope, Tom stumbled toward the rear apartment. Broken bits of porcelain and glass crunched under his shoes. The glass case lay on the floor. The rose was gone! He hunted for the stranger and found him sitting on top of a set of shelves between a couple of demon masks. “You’ll be sorry if you don’t give it back.”

  The stranger cupped his chin in his hands. “I’m glad to see you still have the same bad temper.”

  “I warned you.” Tom threw the chair leg.

  The stranger ducked easily. “But your aim is worse than usual.”

  “Get down here and fight!” Tom snatched a broom from a corner and started to poke it up at the stranger.

  The stranger yawned as he batted it away with a hand. “This is the address Hu sent me and he said he’d be here, but the Hu I know would never be caught dead in those clothes. So I guess you can’t be him in disguise.”

  “Give it back,” Tom shouted, continuing to thrust at the stranger.

  “I would if I knew what it was you wanted,” the stranger said, catching the broom handle easily in his hand. “And it would help to know who you are.”

  “I’m Mr. Hu’s apprentice. At least for a while,” Tom said. “My name’s Tom Lee.”

  The stranger jabbed a finger at Tom. “Ha! If you were Hu’s apprentice, he would have told you I was coming. For I am,” the stranger declared proudly, “the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Mr. Hu sent for me.”

  “That’s an awful big title,” Tom sniffed, “for such a small person.”

  The Great Sage transformed into a golden ape; but unlike Mr. Hu, his clothes also changed. Now he was wearing a floppy silken cap and gray robes.

  Puffing out his chest, he proudly announced, “I am the Master of the Seventy-Two Transformations, the rider of clouds—”

  “—And the biggest liar and thief in the Seven Seas,” Mistral’s voice said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you have to be behind it. I came just in time.”

  Mistral must have finally found her replacement, and none too soon. Tom whirled around expecting to see the dragon, but instead he saw a woman in a fancy lamé suit that shimmered like a rainbow. The next moment she had launched herself into the air, transforming as she leaped, reaching out hands that became scaled paws with sharp claws in the blink of an eye. Even her suit changed back into shiny black scales.

  Tom barely got out of the way in time; but the Great Sage somersaulted off the shelves, landing upon the dragon’s back. “Mistral! I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  The dragon crashed to the floor, writhing about as she tried to toss the ape from her back. “Get off me, you furry fleabag.” What little furniture hadn’t been smashed before was turned into splinters now.

  If the dragon had a strange, deadly beauty, then so did the golden ape. You just didn’t realize it, Tom thought, until you saw him move. Then he was like a furry lightning bolt that flashed through the air. The Sage could not only hold his own against a dragon but he had fun doing it.

  Corkscrewing her body across the floor, the dragon finally threw the Great Sage off. As he landed on the floor, she c
oiled her body around him and pointed deadly claws at his throat. “You’ll pay for your crimes.”

  “I’ve missed you too,” the ape said amiably.

  Mistral looked at Tom. “What’s this furbag done?”

  “There’s a . . . a coral rose is missing.” Tom pointed to the space on the table where it had been. “But I don’t think the Great Sage took it. He says Mr. Hu called him too.”

  The dragon glared at the ape. “First of all, his name is Monkey—no matter what grand airs he tries to give himself. And you don’t know how nimble a thief he is. He stole a magical staff right out of the Dragon King’s palace.”

  “The staff was just gathering dust,” Monkey argued. “What good’s magic if you don’t use it?”

  “Please,” Tom said. He put his hands on the dragon’s coils. The scales felt dry, even pleasant. “You mustn’t fight. Mr. Hu called you both. I’m sure he wanted you to help protect the rose.” Tom felt a sinking feeling. “But it’s already gone.”

  “We’ll help you get the rose back.” But Monkey could not resist mischief for long. Turning, he patted the dragon’s cheek. “Won’t we, old friend?”

  The dragon snapped her head back out of reach of his paw. “We are not nor will we ever be friends.” But she loosened her coils and glanced at Tom. “Is the rose what I think it is?”

  “Yes,” Tom confessed.

  Monkey glanced at the dragon. “Mistress Lee had the rose when last I heard.”

  “She’s dead,” Tom said, feeling the ache inside.

  “I’m sorry.” Monkey took off his cap. “She’ll be missed.”

  The enormity of the rose’s loss was just starting to sink in. Tom felt as if someone had snatched away the floor, and he leaned against a table. Not only had he run away when his grandmother was in trouble, but now he had lost the very thing for which she had given her life. “The thief wrecked everything. He didn’t even leave your cakes alone.” He held up one of the pungent pieces from the broken bakery cart bag.

  “You got them for me?” Mistral asked. With obvious delight, she plucked one of the smelly bits from Tom’s palm. “But these are my favorites. How did you know?”