He dropped her. Inadvertently or because he had heard her, she would never know. The free fall made her scream like she had never screamed before. With all the power in her lungs, with every ounce of energy in her body. It felt as if her insides reached the floor of the forest before she did. As if all the organs in her body were squeezing down her birth canal and she must give birth to them. The landing was not as painful as she expected, if she could think straight enough to expect. Her new body shape saved her from injury. She rolled on the damp floor of the forest. She was the same size, but all perspectives had shifted.

The silence was the absence of her screams. She was bruised, and she could not stand up. She was still contorted, forehead to knees, feet drawn in, but her body was more relaxed. Her hands were no longer gripping each other. She could unclasp them and move them around. But she could not stretch out her legs or arch her back. She lay down on her side and looked around her. Something blue caught her eye. It was a dab of paint on a wooden post. Comparing her size to that of the post, it would seem that she had not shrunk: it was Adam who had expanded. And this was where she was, back on the blue trail in the forest. Iman and Salma would not be far. They would find her, and they would help. She could depend on them.

‘Iman. Salma,’ she called out.

When hours passed and there was no response, she began to despair. The trail continued for several miles and her friends could long have passed this spot. Finally, something moved towards her. Because it did not speak out in response to her cry for help, she assumed it was an animal. A deer or, worse, a fox. Normally these forest animals were harmless, but nothing for Moni was normal any more. Her body was poised for a fight, the instinct to defend herself. But what shambled over to her was as harmless as a cow, as elegant as a cat, as lustrous as a peacock. It was an unidentified creature, a mix of mammal and reptile, horrific and yet beautiful, repulsive and yet compelling because of the sad dignity with which it carried itself.

When it moved closer to Moni, she caught a sweet scent from it, more herb than animal. A perfume that soothed Moni’s nerves, stopped her from fidgeting and trying to unlock her body from the distorted ball position it was now in. When the creature leant over to look at Moni and their eyes met, they recognised each other. It was Iman.

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen