The first thing I felt was human hands gently caressing my face.
Then, sounds. A low voice moaned, “My boy, my boy, my boy, my boy, oh my boy . . .”
Then I saw chapped lips coming down over my eyes. Mustache hair tickled me as I was kissed again and again on the head.
And then the pain.
I coughed up thick black tar. My veins felt like they’d caved in. Each breath sent spikes all through my body. I tried to keep them short, but I was desperate for air. And so thirsty.
“My boy, my boy, my boy,” Father droned on above me.
I managed to raise my head and look around me. Behind Father I could see that we were surrounded by apes. Trébone stood chief among them, looking at me in awe. All the apes did. My vision was still foggy, and I blinked my eyes to clear it.
The Jaguar was there, standing next to Trébone.
Blood rushed back into my body, and I tried to sit up. My father was on top of me, weighing me down.
“L—lll—leave me!” I said.
“I won’t leave you, my boy. I promise,” Father answered, mistaking my meaning. I summoned what strength I had and pushed him away from me. I saw the palm of my right hand. It was burned black like it been in a fire, and a horrible scar crossed where I’d cut myself that first night.
Father sat back into the dirt and I leaped up, racing toward the Jaguar.
“Marlin!” he purred happily, and raised up his head. I knelt before him.
“You’re alive.”
The wound had disappeared from his neck. In its place was hairless, smooth skin. He laughed heartily and licked my face.
“What do we do with him?” asked Trébone uncertainly. The circle of apes had closed in on my father, waiting for orders.
I spun to them. “You’re not to hurt that man!” I said, feeling power in my lungs. Trébone looked to the Jaguar, who made no objection. “He is my father,” I said. “And if you hurt him, men from the city will follow us into the jungle. They will try to kill us in revenge.”
The Jaguar turned to me quizzically.
I smiled at him and considered the circle of animals surrounding us. “I’ll be coming with you.”
The Jaguar purred and showed his teeth. “Are you our protector now?” he asked, half joking.
At my feet, Father was breathing heavily. The Jungle Look was in his eyes.
I lowered myself to help him sit up. He glanced nervously behind me at the Jaguar.
“Marlin?” he asked, shaking. “What are you?”
I put a hand on his wrinkled cheek and wiped mud from his lips with my thumb. Out of my front pocket I took the shriveled Paw that I’d once prized so much. Looking at it now, I saw it was only the hand of a creature he’d killed. I pressed it into his palm and closed his fingers round it.
“I’m m-mm-more than I knew,” I stammered. “M-mm-more than I eh-eh-ever imagined.”