Chapter 10: A Safe Haven

Apologies for the delay--things have been really busy with school over the last couple of weeks, and while I was planning on posting something over the weekend, I didn't, because this chapter's spork ended up being a lot longer than I initially anticipated.  We're getting into some actual mythology here, folks, and a lot of it is just wrong.

Anyway.

Last time, the book took a turn into casual racism through stereotyping Asian characters and championing the white savior complex in American media.  This time, it's less offensive, but it's still stupid.  Ren shows up as a human again and he is still a massive creep.

Let's get going!

Chapter Ten: A Safe Haven

Kelsey and Ren left Phet's hut at the end of the last chapter, and headed back out into the jungle.  I'm just happy we don't have to deal with Phet anymore, guys.  It was rough there for a while.

The two heading into the jungle gives Houck an excuse to show off that she at least did some cursory research on Indian wildlife.  They find the Suki Lake that Phet mentioned and there are lots of birds there.  All of the birds listed are there, which is a nice change, but that's exactly the problem--it's presented as a list, as opposed to a description that paints a picture of what's going on.  Here:

Ducks, geese, kingfishers, cranes, and sandpipers dotted the water and the sandbanks looking for food.  I even spied larger birds, maybe eagles or hawks of some type, circling overhead.

This isn't very engaging to read.  It's weird because Houck describes the scene better in a later paragraph, which makes the above section really pointless and redundant.  Here's the better version:

Our arrival disturbed a flock of herons, which took off in a brief frenzied flight and then settled again in the water on the far side of the lake.  Little birds darted everywhere in colors of green, yellow, gray, blue, and black with red chests, but I didn't see any of Durga's hatchlings.

It's still not great (see listing problem, supra) but it at least shows an action of some sort and a reaction by the scenery.  It even connects back to what we just read, showing a cross-chapter consistency that's rare in this book.

There's frogs, too, but they don't get as much description of the birds.  They're staring at her, which might add to the atmosphere in this scene if it was written with a purpose, but as it is there are frogs there because Houck is on a roll describing wildlife and didn't stop for some reason.

I spoke to myself as much as to Ren, "Do you think there are any alligators or crocodiles in the lake? I know one of those is indigenous to America, but I can never remember which one is which."

Aside from being phrased in a way that is not even remotely human speech, I'm not sure why this is here.  Ren doesn't even react to it, which is weird because he usually reacts to Kelsey's inane comments.

(For those curious, alligators are indigenous to America, while India has several crocodile species in both fresh and salt water.  The lake here might have what's called a mugger crocodile or the smaller gharial, while coastal areas have saltwater crocodiles, which are the big monsters that can grow over twenty feet long (!!!).  Alligators and crocodiles, while in different families within the order Crocodilia, are very similar and hard to tell apart.  The only ways are that alligators have thinner snouts, and crocodiles have wider lower jaws which allows both their top and bottom teeth to remain visible (including the characteristic 4th tooth sticking out above the upper jaw).  The other ways are dumb--lingual salt glands, integumentary sensory systems in the ventral scales, etc.  The more you know!)

It's hot and Kelsey complains about it being hot.  She also says, "I was sweating hard," which is not necessarily incorrect in a first-person narration, but it still makes me angry.  They stop to eat and it turns out that Phet packed them lunch, which begs the question of how Kelsey didn't notice before this.  As it is, it's just a weird convenience--Kelsey is hungry, so now she has food.

It was a large green leaf wrapped around a ball of sticky white rice stuffed with spicy meat and vegetables.

Must be some of those jelly donuts.

Actually, though, this sounds like zongzi, which is a Chinese rice dumpling (usually eaten at the Dragon Boat Festival), but those are typically not very spicy.

They are also delicious.

It's not outside of the realm of possibility for this to actually exist, though.  This is making me hungry, so I'm going to move on.

They hike out for another four hours, which is making me question further how Mr. Kadam was able to get in and out of here so quickly in order to meet Ren at the town they started at.  Seriously, even assuming he started on this side because it's closer to their final destination, he met Ren on the multiple-day hike side.  Even if he drove to the other side and hiked in and out that way, he still had to have taken the same drive Kelsey did!  I just don't see how the timelines match up.  Unless Kelsey's travel time took 8-10 hours longer than Mr. Kadam's, which makes no sense.

Kelsey and Ren finally reach a paved road, and instead of expressing relief at not being lost in the jungle anymore, Kelsey just complains about how hot it feels on her shoes.  Have I mentioned how much I don't like Kelsey as a viewpoint character?

There's a note from Mr. Kadam in a car by the side of the road (a Jeep, if you're curious--continuing the weird brand-dropping of cars that started all the way back in Oregon).  The first sentence is an apology about lying and shifting the blame to Ren for not being upfront about why they brought her here.  This is weird to include, since the book is trying to paint Ren as a bastion of morality, but the characters inside of it that aren't our viewpoint characters seem to be rebelling against this.  Weird.

It also says that the trip will take about an hour and a half, and that he will meet her at Ren's house.  Which is I guess in the middle of this nature preserve?  Or at least close by.

After a couple hours, Kelsey pulls the car into a well-maintained driveway that leads to an actual, literal mansion in the middle of the jungle.  This isn't mentioned here (or in this book at all, really), but I'm going to talk about it anyway since we get information in the second book that doesn't really work with this.

Without revealing too many spoilers, Ren and Mr. Kadam (as well as Mr. Kadam's many surviving relatives) and their property/actions are kept secret from the Big Bad of the series so he can't find them and kill them for Reasons.  But Ren owns and maintains a mansion in the middle of nowhere in India.  So what, the people who built it are being kept secret?  The people who added in the fountain and the pool and pruned plants in the garden?  All of the people involved in building this place, and somehow the Big Bad hasn't been able to get a single person to talk?

I've heard the same questions posed about the Bat Cave, but I don't know enough about Batman to explain how that works.  I suppose its possible that there was a natural cave underneath.  But here, it's weird that this place remains a secret.

Not to mention the fact that this massive thing would be visible from the air!  The Big Bad has no issues with using modern technology to try to find these people.  In the almost four hundred years this guy has had to find these people, he hasn't thought to fly over a fucking tiger preserve to find some tigers?

Also, how did he not immediately find out where Ren was as a tiger, anyway?  The circus advertised a white tiger named Dhiren!  Even if it was a coincidence, why wouldn't an immortal, wealthy villain with access to all modern technology not be able to find him?

The simple answer is that Houck hadn't thought about this yet, as the whole "we need to escape from the Big Bad finding us" plot line was invented solely to give some actual, you know, stakes to the plot in the second book.  

We'll return to all that when we actually get to the second book.  Let's get back to Ren's fancy, fancy mansion.

It looked like a multimillion dollar mansion that might be found in the tropics or perhaps sitting on the shores of Greece.  I imagined the perfect place for it would be on the peak of an island overlooking the Mediterranean sea.

That's an interesting architectural decision for a house in the middle of nowhere in an Indian jungle. Not to mention that bringing in experts in foreign architecture would just make hiding it even more difficult.

There's a fountain with multi-colored lights.  There's a fantastic garden.  There's a pool and a hot tub. There's a veranda. There's balconies for every room on the third floor.  It's very fancy, in other words. Nothing but the very best for these protagonists.

On the one hand, I would like to see Kelsey struggle a bit as a protagonist--see her overcome great odds to achieve her goals.  On the other hand, if she had to struggle she'd complain incessantly, so I guess I'll take this instead.

There's a lot of description about how nice the house is, but it doesn't bother me as much as the plane.  For one, it's (mercifully) shorter, and for another, Kelsey actually spends a decent chunk of time here, so it makes sense to give it some more description.  Even if the description is just her drooling over how nice it is.

Wait, did I say "nice"?  "Ostentatious" would be a better word:

We stepped into the wide, dramatic foyer. The entryway had vaulted ceilings, exquisite marble flooring, and a curved sweeping staircase with ornate ironwork balustrades. The room was capped by a dazzling crystal chandelier. Huge windows showcased thepanoramic view of the surrounding jungle.

I slipped out of my sneakers, regretting how dirty they were, and crossed the foyer into a gentleman’s library. Dark brown leather chairs, ottomans, and cozy couches were set atop a beautiful rug. A large globe stood in the corner, and the walls were lined with bookshelves. There was even a sliding ladder reaching up to the top shelves. A heavy desk sat to one side with a leather chair. It was meticulously neat and organized, immediately reminding me of Mr. Kadam.

A carved stone fireplace took up one wall. I couldn’t imagine when a fireplace would ever be used in India, but it was a beautiful showpiece nonetheless. A golden vase full of peacock feathers picked up the teal, green, and purple accents of the throw pillows and rugs. I thought it was the most beautiful library in the world.

Hey, I said I preferred it to the plane description, I didn't say it was particularly interesting.

Mr. Kadam is inside the "gourmet" kitchen making food for them.  Kelsey wants to be (and should be) angry with him, but isn't because she's so glad to see him.  This is starting to feel like Stockholm syndrome what with the literal kidnapping and all.

Kelsey finally asks the question that I've been harping on ever since Mr. Kadam shows up:

"I've been wondering.  Did you really ask Mr. Davis to come with you to take care of Ren?  I mean, what would you have done if he'd said yes, and I'd said no?"

Okay, I want to read that book.  A mild-mannered middle aged dude teaming up buddy-comedy style with an immortal tiger prince?  Wait, that's the plot of Thor: Ragnarok.

Mr. Kadam answers:

"I did ask him, just to keep up appearances, but I also suggested subtly to Mr. Maurizio that it might be in his best interest to persuade Mr. Davis not to go.  In fact, I offered him more money if he would insist Mr. Davis stay with the circus.  As far as what to do if you had turned us down, I suppose we would have had to make you a better offer and keep trying until we found one you couldn't refuse."

Let's go back to see what Mr. Davis himself had to say about this.

"I think it would be a great experience for you.  You're terrific with animals, especially with Ren.  If that's something you think you'd like to focus on in a future career, then you should consider it.  The job would look good on a resume."

No mention of why he's staying behind (outside of a separate explanation from Mr. Kadam that he has to remain with the circus).  It looks like it's solely because of Kelsey's relationship with the tiger here from Mr. Davis's point of view, completely independent of Mr. Kadam and Maurizio's perspectives.

"Kelsey is more than capable of doing the job as Mr. Kadam defines it.  It's essentially the same thing she's been doing at the circus for the past two weeks.  Plus it will be a great experience.  I wish I could go myself."

This is backing up his recommendation of Kelsey, and he also expresses a regret that he can't go himself.  But he wasn't offered anything extra to stay, at least on-screen.  Maurizio was.  I guess he got some horses out of the deal, but still.

Mr. Kadam was the one who said that Mr. Davis personally recommended her, so I suppose it's possible that Mr. Kadam made that up when he asked Kelsey.  But Mr. Davis's dialogue doesn't give me that impression at all, so I'm still not convinced about the "master manipulation" that was involved to get Kelsey here.  It seems like Houck started off planning it out to be coincidental, and then changed her mind halfway through to make it seem like Mr. Kadam was more competent at his job, and then didn't fix the first few chapters.  It's weird.

The converstation between Kelsey and Mr. Kadam continues and quickly becomes horrifying:

"What if I had still said no?  Would you have kidnapped me?"

Mr. Kadam laughed.  "No.  If our offer had still been turned down, my next step would have been to tell you the truth and hoped you believed me."

"Whew, that's a relief."

"Then I would have kidnapped you."  He chuckled at his joke and turned his attention back to our dinner.

"That's not very funny, Mr. Kadam."

"I couldn't resist.  Sorry, Miss Kelsey."

That would be a pretty good joke if that wasn't exactly what you did.  You literally did kidnap her by sending her into the jungle on her own and only providing travel directions to your own house!  What are you talking about?!

Oh yeah, and you know what could have been compelling evidence to tell the truth in the first place?  To ensure that she would believe you right from the beginning to avoid the whole kidnapping thing in the first place?

YOU HAVE A MAGICAL TIGER THAT CAN TRANSFORM INTO AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING.  HE CAN DO THIS IN FRONT OF HER.  HE CAN SPEAK TO HER AND SHOW HER ACTUAL, PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF WHAT YOU'RE TELLING HER, REGARDLESS OF HOW UNBELIEVABLE IT IS.

I can chalk up this decision on Ren's part to him being an insufferable douchebag.  But Mr. Kadam has no excuse.

After that terrible conversation, Kelsey tells Mr. Kadam what happened in the jungle, including her time with Phet.  Mr. Kadam seems relieved that she's actually "the favored one of Durga" which is weird, because he literally just said that he already knew that she was.  That's why he brought her here!  Why is he surprised to learn this now?

Oh, wait.  It looks like Kelsey said "something" that made him be able to turn back into a dude for a short amount of time, which means she was only potentially the chosen one.  See, before Kelsey showed up, he was stuck as a tiger all of the time, as opposed to most of the time.  The book never directly clarifies what this "something" is, but I think it's when Kelsey was like, "I wish you were freeeeeeee."  So in the three hundred and fifty years this tiger has been in captivity, precisely zero people have said that they wished the tiger wasn't in captivity.  I highly doubt that.

Kelsey asks who Durga is, because even though Durga is a central figure in the story she hasn't been brought up until now, when it's convenient for Kelsey to know the answer.  You know all those interminable chapters where she asks about Indian mythology with multiple characters?  Like the plane chapter?  Why wasn't Durga brought up there?

It would solve so many problems with the pacing!  It foreshadows the important events that happen later on, it changes useless exposition into exposition that actually does something, and it makes the plot feel less slapped-together!  And we don't have the pause the action here yet again for more exposition!

Mr. Kadam retrieved a small golden statuette from the other room and placed it delicately on the dinner table.  It was a beautifully carved Indian goddess with eight arms.  She was shooting a bow and arrow--and she was riding a tiger.

Durga is commonly depicted with eight arms (but can have up to eighteen) holding various weapons, which usually includes a bow and arrow.

11th century statue depicting Durga's defeat of the buffalo demon.

8th century carving depicting Durga on the wall of a temple to Shiva.

The two pictures I've included above both show her mount as being a lion, the second one in particular resembling the famous Chinese lion statues.

Bronze statue located in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

However, a lot of artwork also depicts her mount as a tiger, which is what Houck is using for Tiger's Curse.

18th century painting of Durga's victory over the buffalo demon.

So it's not accurate to say that it's only a tiger.

"In the language of the Hindus,"

Hold, on sorry.  "The language of the Hindus?"  Seriously?  It has a name.  It's called "Hindi."

"In the language of the Hindus, Durga means 'invincible one.'  She is a great warrior and considered the mother goddess of many of the other gods and goddesses of India.  She has at her command many weapons and rides a magnificent tiger named Damon into war."

This is sort of accurate.  Parvati is actually considered the "mother goddess," but it's a bit more complicated than that.  Hindu mythology isn't like Greek mythology, for example, where all the gods are distinct beings with a whole genealogy.  A lot of Hindu gods are aspects of other gods--for example, Parvati is the central figure, but she has many different aspects embodying different parts of her personality, including Durga, Kali, and Shakti, among others.  Durga is the warrior aspect of Parvati, which she assumes to fight demons (which is why most artwork of Durga shows her fighting the buffalo demon).  Durga's name does mean "invincible," though.

I've been unable to find the name of Durga's mount (or vahana for those curious), but Parvati rides a lion named Dawon, which is close enough that I think this is what Houck meant.  Except the name Dawon is clearly better as an Indian name than fucking Damon, which is Greek in origin.

A very beautiful goddess, she's been described as having long curly hair and a bright complexion that glows even brighter when she is engaged in battle.  She's often dressed in cerulean robes, the color of the sea, and jeweled ornaments of carved gold, precious gemstones, and shiny black pearls.

I have no idea if this is accurate, since most of the sources I've found have focused mostly on the many arms and the weapons that she holds with them.

Mr. Kadam them tells Kelsey about the various weapons that Durga is holding, which includes a weapon called a gada and a snake.

A gada is a blunt mace used in southeast Asia.

Mr. Kadam also says that Durga can control thunder and lightning as well.  I can't find anything to confirm that (outside of the bow and arrow possibly representing lightning) so I can only assume that Houck just made that up so she could give her main character lightning powers.

Uh, spoilers, I guess.

"The goddess Durga was born out of a river to help humanity in their time of need.  She fought a demon, Mahishasur, who was half-demon and half-buffalo.  He terrorized the earth and the heavens, and no one could kill him.  So Durga took the form of a warrior goddess to defeat him."

Like I said before, Parvati took on the aspect of Durga when she defeated Mahishasur.  There's some variation in how this happened--she was either bestowed the name Durga upon her victory, or she took on the name after she killed the demon.  Since this is the story of the birth of Durga as an aspect of Parvati, a lot of artwork depicts this battle, including a couple of the picture I used above.

Kelsey actually says to Mr. Kadam that that's all well and good, but she doesn't actually believe in any of these stories.  Which, while accurate, is also kind of rude.  Mr. Kadam isn't offended, though, and says that throughout his travels he's come into contact with things that he wouldn't have believed were true, either.  Then he says, "What is real and what is not is for your heart to decide and for your heart to know."

Twelve separate people have highlighted this sentence, according to my Kindle.  It's also garbage advice.  My heart can decide that the sky is green and that doesn't make it real.  This line of reasoning can also be twisted by some pretty bad people.  I'm sure all the people whose hearts decided that one group of people is better than all those other groups of people are justified in their beliefs because their hearts make it real.  Just, ugh.

Mr. Kadam leads Kelsey to her bedroom, which is just amazing, of course.  Kelsey spends three paragraphs describing it with the same loving detail she used for the plane.  It's very monotonous and not very exciting, unless you're really curious about what color the towels are in the bathroom (they're purple).  Kelsey unpacks her luggage and takes a shower, puts on her pajamas, and settles in to read her as-yet-unnamed "poetry book" when Ren taps on the glass of her veranda.  Which is weird, because I think Houck forgot that they're on the third floor, and I have no idea how Ren got there.  Flying carpet a la Aladdin maybe?

When I stepped outside, I noticed that his hair was wet, and he smelled wonderful, like waterfalls and woods mixed together.  He was so good looking that I felt even mousier than usual.  As I walked toward him, my heart began to beat even faster.

This is not a normal reaction to a dude, Kelsey.  I'd buy it if he had some sort of, like, sexy aura he projected like Thomas in The Dresden Files, but Ren is just a normal human man.  I mean, outside of the whole "immortal tiger" business.

Ren isn't very nice to start off, which doesn't gel with the whole "Kelsey is immediately infatuated with him/he is a perfect gentleman" vibe we're supposed to be getting from him at all times.

Ren looked at me and frowned.  "Why aren't you wearing the clothes I bought you?  The ones in your closet and dresser?"

Yeah, he insults her wardrobe (which is pajamas...because she's about to go to bed...) and then tells her to wear the clothes he picked out for her.  Yikes.

Wait, when did he do that?  All the stuff fits her perfectly, if I remember correctly, so he would have had to figure all that out.  Was some of the business Mr. Kadam had to attend to going clothes shopping so Ren's kidnapping victim houseguest would wear what he wanted her to?  Ew.

"Oh.  You mean those clothes are for me?" I asked, confused and tongue-tied.

"I didn't . . . But. . . Why would you . . . How . . . Well, anyway, thank you.  And thank you for the use of the beautiful room."

That paragraph break is present in the actual book, by the way, which makes it seem like Ren is sputtering and thanking her for giving him a bedroom.  Editing, what's that????

Ren reaches over to her hair (!) and tucks it behind her ear (!!) while asking if she likes the flowers he got her (!!!).  I don't like that a strange man is touching her like this despite lying to her and having had only one conversation with her so far.  But this is young adult paranormal romance, where any creepy behavior is okay because the guy doing it is hot.  Kelsey's reactions are supposed to make it seem like she's overwhelmed by how attractive this guy is, but taken out of context it literally looks like she's being held hostage.

I just stared at him, then blinked and managed to squeak out a tiny yes.  He nodded, satisfied, and gestured to the patio chairs.  I bobbed my head faintly and sucked in a breath as he took my elbow and guided me to a chair.  After making sure I was comfortable, he moved to a chair opposite from me.  I guess because I was just staring at him and couldn't come up with a coherent thought of my own, he began speaking.

CALL THE POLICE!!!

Instead of asking literally anything else, she asks about why his eyes are blue.  Which, yeah, is a decent question, but not the first question a person would ask, even if you're dazzled by how speshul and hot they are.

"My father was of Indian descent, but my mother was Asian.  She was a princess from another country who was betrothed to my father to become his bride.  Plus, I'm more than three hundred years old, which might make a difference too, I suppose."

Ah, the return of my old nemesis--his "Asian" mother.  Notice again that actually picking an actual country is too much effort for Houck.  Also, I'm not aware of anything that would lead an Asian character to have blue eyes, either.  It is possible for Asian people to have blue eyes, even though it isn't all that common, and tends to crop up mostly in Southern Asia.  It's obviously a lot more common in northern Europe, though.  And blue eyes are a recessive trait, so his dad might not have the pure Indian ancestry that Ren thinks he has...

I also love the redundancy of the phrase "betrothed to my father to become his bride."  Houck, we can figure out what betrothed means, this is a book for young adults, not children.

Also, how does Ren's age affect his eye color?  What???

It turns out Ren was born in 1657, which gives me some dates to work with for Indian history.  It looks like India was going through a period of religious intolerance at this point, which involved the destruction of many Hindu temples by the Muslim rulers at the time.  Which means that the mighty Mujulaain Empire (which is led by a Hindu ruler) wouldn't really work with this timeline.  So the whole "the people loved the king" thing?  Makes no sense.  Oops.

Kelsey's reaction to this news is weird.  "'Right.'  I fidgeted.  Apparently, I find older men extremely attractive."  Gag me.

Ren was cursed when he was twenty-one, and hasn't aged since then (How long have you been twenty-one?). Mr. Kadam also stopped aging at around the same time.  He was Ren's father's military advisor, and Ren went to him to let him know about the curse.  Ever since, Mr. Kadam has been protecting the secret of the curse.  The reason why he's lived his long is because Ren gave him his Matt Damon amulet, which stopped him from aging for all these years.  Which means this "curse" operates completely independently of the Matt Damon amulets, and also bestows immortality for some reason.  Some "curse."

(And yeah, given a better author, I would believe that being forced to live as an animal for all eternity with no way of becoming human is a pretty horrible curse.  But Ren never seems all that bothered by it, so, uh, I think it's just bad writing).

Apparently there are at least four Matt Damon amulets, but no one really knows what they're for or what they symbolize.  Despite this, they've been passed down for generations in royal families.  Weird.  Ren got one from his dad and his brother Kishan got one from their mother.  Apparently, Lokesh (the guy from the prologue, who hasn't been mentioned in almost a hundred and fifty pages) wanted them for some reason, and no one is really sure what would happen if all the pieces are reunited.  Because that's what I want from a story, stakes that don't matter because no one knows what they are!  This whole thing removes any sense of urgency from the plot, because we know he doesn't have all of the pieces, and we don't even know what would happen if he did.  This removes all tension from the narrative and also I hate it.

"We have to stop Thanos from getting all of the Infinity Stones!"

"Why, what'll happen if he gets them?"

"I dunno, something bad, maybe?"

I rest my case.

He gets sad when he mentions his parents, which immediately makes Kelsey sad.  I'm starting to get more support for my "emotional aura mutant power" theory that I mentioned before.  This sadness makes Kelsey think about herself (shocking, I know) and about her reaction--or lack thereof--when her own parents died.  He takes her hand and sits quietly for a while.

Apparently this whole conversation takes up an entire hour because he tells her that his time as a human is almost up.  Not buying that, Kelsey asked like three questions.  Unless they just sat there quietly for like forty-five minutes, I think Ren wants an excuse to get away from her, which is kind of funny.

He has to actually drag her back inside, which is horrifying, though.  Again, Kelsey is supposed to be starstruck by how pretty he is, but it looks like she's terrified to do anything as he forces her to go where he wants.

Which could be some interesting commentary on how Ren uses people like things, which we've already seen by this point.  He lies to her because it's convenient for him, and basically backs her into a corner to help him.  A better book would use this to drive character development, but here it's just a character trait.  Which we're supposed to think is charming.  Nope!

You'd think that this would be a normal place to end the chapter, since it's already been very long--it started with them leaving the jungle, and we've just gotten through Kelsey's journey to this "safe haven," and it would be natural to end it with this conversation.  But it keeps going.  Which means...I am going to split this chapter here.  I've already written loads here, and I'll definitely have more to say  for the second half of the chapter.  So, the rest of chapter ten will be covered in our first ever part two.

Closing Thoughts

Ren is creepy.  Kelsey (and, by extension, Houck) is completely enamored by him, which paints the narrative in a certain way, but if you look past that Ren's actions come across as somewhat less than favorable.

There are also a lot of plot holes, both in how Ren and Mr. Kadam got her here in the first place.  The more Houck tries to explain the reason for lying, the more it doesn't make sense.  The timelines also don't really add up in a satisfactory way.

We've also lost all tension to the story.  We have no stakes for what would happen if the bad guy was able to get all the MacGuffins, and we don't even have a villain yet because he hasn't done anything in the story yet!  Which removes any potential stakes and tension by getting rid of the ticking clock to push the narrative forward.  So now the only plot we have left is "make Ren not a tiger anymore, but like, whenever you have time for it."  I'm not sure if this is a common problem with YA paranormal romance books in general, but even Twilight had a bad guy in the first book.  He didn't show up until about two-thirds of the way through, but he at least tried to kill Bella and stuff.

Next time, we'll finish up Chapter 10: A Safe Haven in part 2!