Chapter 10
Yoga
“Now”—Lisa glanced at the black rectangle—“I’ve got to go get ready to teach my class. You guys stay here, all right?”
Without waiting for me or Harry to answer, she walked out of the apartment, rubbing her leg. She was limping slightly, but her stride had much improved, and I no longer worried Harry had caused her a serious injury. As soon as she left, the humpbacked pony whined.
“Why did you agree?”
“What do you mean, why? You were right there! What was I supposed to do, say no to her? She’s going to help me in return.”
“You should have asked me first! You dragged me into this. I had no choice in the matter.”
“And how was I supposed to do that? She was there the whole time. And you told her my nickname, remember? It wasn’t my idea to work with you. She forced me.”
“Please, Ivan, will you forget about this? It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. And besides, I don’t think she cares that you’re called a dimwit.” Harry shook his head.
“Well, I care.”
“But without your nickname, we wouldn’t have been able to figure out your fairy-tale origins. And now we know you and I are meant to work together. So it was the right thing to do.”
“So you don’t mind helping her?” I asked, scratching my head.
“Not really,” Harry sighed. “But you should’ve asked me first, regardless. It would have been polite. But it doesn’t sound too complicated. You and I have to travel to some inn, get into a locked safe, grab a Fabergé egg worth millions, and bring it back here.”
Hearing him repeat the task at hand made my heart sink. I’d just agreed to do the impossible, I realized.
“Yep. That sums it up,” I responded, trying to maintain a calm expression on my face.
“So, there’s just one thing. What if this man, her ex-husband, is dangerous? I’m still a young horse, and you’re also a young man. We’ve got too much to lose.”
“Listen, Harry. Without Lisa, I’m not sure I can find the Firebird. I need her to help me.”
“Are you sure that’s the full story? She seems to be coming up with more and more things for you to do. Actually, for us to do. Just think, she started off with the deed, then it became an egg, then it got to be a ring in an egg, and she’s somehow turned into Vasilisa. Can you trust this woman?”
“I know I can trust her,” I said, remembering Lisa’s bright-blue eyes and how kind and open her face was. “And weren’t you the one who’d brought me to her? She was your friend first.”
“Yes, she was. But I’m seeing a whole new side of her.
Before, she was just a nice lady—she gave me sugar, helped me find fresh hay, and she was never rude to me.
But now, with all this fairy-tale nonsense, and how she said you and I have a powerful bond, all this troubles me,” Harry neighed quietly.
“You might be right. I’m starting to worry about this. Listen, let’s just go and find Lisa right now,” I proposed. “We can call off the whole deal.”
“That sounds like a great plan,” Harry said. “Except, didn’t she say she was teaching a yoga class?”
“I guess so. Just follow me,” I ordered, but the pony balked.
“I’ll wait right here. You go right ahead, Ivan. I don’t think other people are ready to see a horse indoors. Not everyone is as sweet and open-minded as Lisa.”
“Suit yourself,” I responded and barged out of Lisa’s quarters.
I found myself back in the corridor with the fountain and the metal man.
Behind a drawn curtain, I heard music. It sounded like one tone being played over and over again.
I paused for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts, and then, exhaling, pulled the curtains apart.
On the floor of the room, I saw ten women, all prostrate, lying on small rectangular carpets. All of them had their eyes closed. And every single one had on the same clothes Lisa was wearing, only in different colors—tight trousers and tops that revealed their necks and shoulders.
Lisa walked slowly from one side of the room to the other, holding a metal cup in her hands. There was something regal in her gait. She was moving a stick around the edge of the cup, and it was making the melodious sound I’d heard from behind the curtain.
“Breathe,” Lisa said. The women obediently drew sharp breaths while keeping their eyes closed.
She noticed me and gestured for me to stay by the entrance. I obliged.
Why is she telling them to breathe? I wondered. Are they going to forget to breathe without her?
“Your breath is your lifeline. Let go of the stress, breathe it out. Breathe in renewal and forgiveness. Let go of your fears,” Lisa said, making another circle around the room.
I froze in place, unable to move. I thought the other women would protest, would tell Lisa she was mad or insulting, or at least would get up and leave, but all of them stayed in their positions on the ground, their eyes closed.
“Now, exhale,” she said. And the women obediently breathed out.
“Exhale the stress, the fears. You have to forgive yourself, and that’s the first step to self-love.
This is the theme of our class today. Emotional healing,” Lisa said, and to my horror, I saw one of the women on the ground crying.
She was there on the little carpet, her eyes closed, a tear rolling down her cheek.
“There you go, let it out, let it out,” Lisa said, leaning over the woman and dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “All out.”
Lisa made another circle around the room, but this time she was silent. The women continued lying on the floor, breathing softly.
After a few minutes, Lisa took a seat in the middle of the room, still holding the metal bowl.
I noticed it had intricate designs engraved around its edges.
All of a sudden, Lisa hit the jar with the rod several times, so it made a ringing sound that reverberated around the room, echoing up and down the walls, then returned to the middle, where Lisa was sitting.
“It’s time to come back,” she said. Her voice was melodic and sweet. “Turn slowly to the right,” she noted, and the whole room, all ten women, turned to their right in unison. “And then, slowly, very slowly, come to a sitting position on your mats.”
I observed as the whole room sat up and joined Lisa, sitting cross-legged.
“Bring your hands to your heart,” Lisa instructed them, “and join me in three rounds of ‘Omm.’”
Petrified, I stood, pressed against the wall.
I tried to understand what was happening as the ten women sang “omm” over and over while Lisa ran the rod over the bowl, which made the pretty ringing sound.
Without comprehending what they were singing and why, I felt tears well up in my eyes.
I felt as if I was just about to reunite with my mother, with the woman whom I’d never even met, but who’d given me life.
I was so moved by the singing and the bowl that I tuned out what was happening around me for a brief moment, and before I knew it, I realized all the women had started getting up and rolling up their rectangular carpets.
“Hi.” One of them bared her teeth at me. “Are you the new massage therapist?”
“Massage therapist?” I looked up at her in surprise.
“Yes, we heard the spa was getting a new one after Pansy retired.”
I didn’t know how to answer her, but to my relief, Lisa walked over to us.
“This is Ivan,” Lisa introduced me. “He’s going to be helping out in the studio for a little while.”
“Nice to meet you.” The woman flipped her hair back. “I’m Kelly. I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Ivan.”
I nodded at her, unsure how to react. The woman gave me a long look, then winked at Lisa.
“Way to go, girl!”
“Oh, what? No, no, it’s not like that.” Lisa raised her hands up in protest.
“It’s okay, Lisa, we’re all human.” Kelly leaned close to Lisa and started whispering something into her ear. I couldn’t tell what Kelly was saying, but it made Lisa blush. Then the two women giggled. Kelly pulled back and said out loud, “Great class, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Lisa said as Kelly left. While I was watching their interaction, the room had emptied out, and now it was just Lisa and me left. She gave me a long look. “Did you want something? Is that why you came in, Ivan?”
“Actually, yes. Harry and I would like to talk to you.”
“Go on, what was it you wanted to tell me?” Lisa looked straight at me.
“Well, you see, Harry and I,” I mumbled, my resolve fading. She was so beautiful, her expression so eager. How could I disappoint her? “Harry and I. Well, we just, um, discussed how to best plan for the trip.”
“That’s great. So, you and Harry have completely made up?”
“Yes, of course.” I thought of the cause of my rift with Harry. Lisa thinks I’m a dimwit. The terrible thought flashed in my mind, and immediately resentment at Harry rose back up.
“Don’t be mad at Harry, he’s a good horse. And I figured you’d need his help. It’s always good to have someone by your side.” As she said this, for the second time that day, I noticed her eyes glistening.
“I’m not mad at Harry,” I responded, trying to sound dignified, and asked, just so I could steer the topic of our conversation away from my relationship with Harry, “So, was that yoga?”
“Yes, that was yoga. Would you like to try it sometime?”
“Sure, why not? It seems easy. You just hang out there with your eyes closed, right?”
“That’s just at the end,” Lisa laughed. “What you saw is called shavasana. Or the corpse pose. We do a lot of other asanas—we move quite a bit. There’s a whole flow. I’ve been teaching for almost twenty years. Got certified when I was in college.”
“College? What’s that?”