Dusk in the rainforest always announced itself with a sudden torrential downpour.
Dick returned before long.
The lean, muscular Shuar man had his hands full: his left hand carried two river fish still flopping their tails, while his right hand carefully cradled a banana leaf filled with Horklumps.
“Mr. Scamander, look at these.” Dick spread open the banana leaf, revealing several fleshy-pink, sparsely black-bristled objects inside.
They looked like some sort of mutated mushrooms, but in the next second, they squirmed slightly, their black bristles twitching uneasily in the air.
“Ah, you found some Horklumps.” Newt walked over, admiring them.
“Beautiful. Many people think they’re fungi, but they’re actually carnivorous beasts through and through. They love snacking on earthworms, though these specimens seem much plumper than the ones back in Britain.”
“They don’t eat earthworms in the Amazon. They’ll even team up to hunt lost little monkeys.”
Dick grinned and turned to prepare dinner.
“I’ll make you an authentic Shuar-style roasted fish.”
He skillfully dug a clump of sticky red clay from the ground, preparing to smear it directly onto the fish.
Frey squatted nearby and tossed a piece of dry wood into the fire.
“Hey, Dick. If I were you, I’d wrap the fish in banana leaves first before applying the clay. Trust me, the meat will be much tenderer that way, and we won’t get clay grit between our teeth.”
Dick paused, looking at his mud-covered hands, then at Frey.
He chuckled.
“You’re the expert. We’ll do it your way.”
Hermione squatted by the riverbank, using a damp cloth to wipe the dried blood from Pudgy.
Pudgy was the new name she had given the injured Plumpy.
“It looks much better,” Hermione murmured, placing Pudgy into her small pouch.
She had set up a cozy little nest for Pudgy inside.
Then, picking up the Horklumps from the banana leaf and cradling a bundle of clothes in her arms, she walked toward Frey’s backpack.
“Where are you going?” Frey asked.
“Inside to grind some potions. There’s a mortar and pestle and Essence of Dittany in your bag, and besides… I plan to bring out some potatoes to roast. Just eating roasted fish isn’t enough; we need carbohydrates.”
Hermione nimbly climbed into the backpack like a little housekeeper moving in.
“Also, I built a nest for Pudgy in my pouch, so there’s no room for my clothes anymore. Empty a cabinet in your bag for me.”
“Put them in my room. Grandpa’s room is a bit full. But if you want to take up permanent residence in there, you’d better let me know so I don’t accidentally put you and the Vipertooth in the same room one day.”
Hermione slipped into the backpack without a word.
In the fading light of the setting sun, Frey caught a glimpse of her fair neck flushing a delicate, unnatural pink.
“When you’re grinding, try to slowly infuse your magic into it,” Frey called out to the bag’s opening.
“The Horklump and the Essence of Dittany need magic to bind together.”
“If you’re so smart, why don’t you do it?” Hermione poked her head out of the zipper, brandishing a squirming pink lump of flesh.
“I got top marks in Potions!”
“I’m off to see about hunting some meat for the Vipertooth! The potions are all yours!”
Seeing that the situation was turning south, Frey turned on his heel, grabbed Dick, and bolted into the deep forest.
It wasn’t long, however, before the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the forest.
Dick burst through the underbrush first, his face pale and grim.
Frey followed closely behind, carrying a fat peccary in his hand, looking thoroughly puzzled.
Panting, Dick ran up to Newt and opened his palm.
Sitting in his palm was a tuft of long, black, needle-like hair that glinted with a metallic luster in the setting sun.
Frey dropped the dead peccary to the ground, his brow furrowed.
“Grandpa, we found a set of tracks. It looks like a… tiger?”
Frey felt a bit sheepish even saying it.
“How could there be a tiger here?” Hermione asked, having just emerged from the backpack with a few washed potatoes in hand.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or any other biological record for that matter, says tigers are only found in Eurasia. Frey, are you sure you didn’t mistake it? Surely it was a jaguar?”
Frey squatted down and traced a shape on the ground.
“I couldn’t possibly mistake it, Hermione. You have to trust a professional. A jaguar’s paw print is round, like a large saucer. But the one we saw had distinct toes and a powerful structure—a classic tiger’s print. More importantly, jaguars don’t have such long black mane hair…”
He paused in confusion, then added, “…but then again, neither do tigers.”
Newt was already crouching by the peccary’s carcass.
He reached out and gently parted the fur on the dead beast’s neck.
There were no massive tearing wounds, only two clean, bloody punctures.
“This wasn’t for food. It was pure slaughter.”
“This thing was killed by that beast,” Dick’s voice trembled slightly.
“I felt like it was watching me from the canopy. It didn’t make a single sound, like a phantom draped in a beast’s skin.”
“What did it look like?” Newt asked.
Dick shook his head.
“I didn’t get a clear look. I only saw a shadow flit across the treetops. And then, it was like every bird and insect around us fell silent. The silence was terrifying.”
Frey gestured with his hands.
“I caught a brief glimpse. It had an incredibly long tail, and… its canine teeth. It didn’t look like a normal tiger, but more like a saber-toothed cat, with two stark white fangs protruding past its lips. And…”
Frey’s nostrils flared slightly.
“I smelled a scent of sandalwood, just like that woman from Quito…”
Newt pinched the black hair, rolled it between his fingers, and slowly stood up.
“That is a Taowu.”
“Taowu?” Hermione tried to mimic the awkward syllables.
“What’s that? Some sort of undocumented South American magical beast?”
“It’s a legendary beast from China. I’ve never seen a living specimen myself; they are exceptionally rare. By all rights, they dwell in the mountain forests of the East. It shouldn’t be here under any circumstances. Wild animals don’t kill purely for the sake of slaughter. I’m afraid… it is being enslaved.”
Frey asked, “Grandpa, do you want to save it?”
“If it really is being controlled, we must. Not just for its sake, but for ours. I don’t fancy having our throats slit in our sleep. We can’t sleep deeply tonight. We’ll take watches. I’ll take the first watch, and Frey, you’ll take the second. Dick, you must rest. Tomorrow we’ll need you to guide us as we search for its tracks.”
Frey pointed at the peccary on the ground.
“And what about this thing? Can we eat it? The Taowu doesn’t carry some infectious poison, does it?”
“No poison, but let’s not eat it. There’s no telling what kind of bacteria are on a Taowu’s fangs. Better feed it to the female dragon—a dragon’s stomach acid can handle a little bacteria with ease.”
At dinnertime, the sweet aroma of roasted banana leaves drifted through the air.
Dick used a stick to crack open the hardened mud shells.
Inside was the river fish, perfectly roasted in its clay casing, along with several baked potatoes.
“Oof, hot!” Hermione speared a piece of tender, juicy white fish.
“Dick, your cooking is incredible. This is even sweeter and fresher than the roasted fish we get in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.”
“Thanks to Frey’s suggestion. The banana leaves really locked in the moisture.”
Frey stuffed a piece into his mouth and replied defensively, “Have some faith in a professional. I learned this from a Chinese biography.”
“Which one? I’ll have to find a copy and read it.”
“The Legend of the Condor Heroes.”
Newt laughed and shook his head.
“Alright, stop bickering. Get some sleep. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Although they called it sleep, in this environment, it was far from comfortable.
Frey and Hermione strung up hammocks between two ancient trees.
The rainforest at night was anything but quiet; the drone of mosquitoes sounded like a helicopter hovering overhead.
“Can’t we use some insect repellent?” Hermione muttered, shivering under her thin blanket.
“I feel like a bug is trying to crawl up my nose. Frey, our outdoor gear is even cruder than when the Weasleys go camping!”
“Just go to sleep, my princess,” Frey said with his eyes closed.
“The most dangerous thing where the Weasleys camp is the mosquitoes, so they can afford to use repellent. Out here, at least the mosquitoes won’t bite our heads off. This is the wild. I told you not to come.”
Hermione glanced at Dick, who had buried himself in a shallow pit of dirt with only his head exposed, eyes closed, breathing as rhythmically as a corpse.
She had no desire to bury herself, so she gritted her teeth and forced herself to sleep.
Night had finally settled.
But the forest remained awake.
The cicadas began to emit an extremely sharp, low hum, which gradually fused into a deafening, continuous shriek.
Tree frogs puffed out their bellies, croaking away.
From the distance came a muffled, thunderous cough—the call of a jaguar.
Then came the rustle of leaves, signaling that the jaguar had begun its hunt.
And then, a piercing, ghostly shriek—the call of a specter owl, sounding like a dying ghost wailing in the mist.
Could a ghost die a second time?
Frey gradually drifted off.
Until a hand lightly tapped his shoulder.
“Second watch,” Newt’s voice said, sounding slightly weary.
Frey opened his eyes, sat up, and idly pulled a Gold Galleon from his pocket, deftly flipping it between his fingers.
The campfire had died down to a pile of glowing red embers.
Suddenly, he caught a faint, elusive scent of sandalwood.
Then, in the pitch-black depths of the impenetrable jungle, a cold gleam of light—distinctly unnatural—flashed in his eyes.
Frey whipped his head around, his right hand already gripping his wand.
In the shadows of the jungle, a stunningly beautiful face abruptly emerged.
The beam of a Muggle flashlight shone directly on her face.
It was that woman from Quito.
Their eyes met.
With a soft snap, Frey caught the Gold Galleon in his palm, and a red light flared at the tip of his wand.
Her fierce, phoenix-like eyes curved into crescents as she flashed a smile at Frey.
Then, she slowly ran the tip of her tongue over her lips.
Then, she raised her long fingers and gently beckoned to Frey.
Then, she raised a slender finger and gave Frey a gentle, beckoning wave.