“And he claims to have special powers?” Marish said, his voice neutral. Itana thought he was interested in what she was saying but for some reason didn’t want to show it.
“He doesn’t talk about it. But he seems to notice things that most people don’t, and some animals are afraid of him.”
She stopped herself.
“No, that’s not right. It’s more like, if he wants them to be afraid of him, they are, without him doing anything about it.”
“Interesting.” Marish sounded like he meant it exactly that way: interesting but not surprising.
“I went out to a picnic party with him and Rina and some friends once, and there was this troop of monkeys sitting in a tree, throwing awful things at us. And this Vipin—that’s his name—just looked at them, and they squeaked and scampered away through the treetop
