Tiger's Dream (Tiger's Curse Book 5)

by Colleen Houck

  He did his best to soothe his wife and daughter and refused to hurry down the dangerous mountain despite the pressure of the young idiots riding his tail. To distract them, he began talking about where they should go on their vacation next year, suggesting the beach or some other warm place, and asked them where they would like to go.

  “Kelsey?” he asked, “what about you?”

  She shrugged and when he asked again, she spoke quietly. “I chose this year. Maybe Mom can choose the next.”

  “Perhaps you’re right.” Her father smiled in the rearview mirror. “Maddie? Where would you like to go?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said nervously. “Kishan? Perhaps you could tell us a bit about India,” she suggested.

  I’d just opened my mouth to answer her when the car rammed into us and pushed us several feet to the left before Kelsey’s father regained control.

  “Now that’s just going too far!” Mr. Hayes said sternly. He maneuvered back into his lane with the intention of stopping the car, but the drunken boys behind us hit us again, this time shoving us straight ahead. The right side of the car scraped against the mountainside. As sparks flew up between the windows and the mountain, Kelsey screamed and grabbed my hand. I squeezed it, trying to reassure her.

  When the other car backed away, I leaned forward. “We need to get out of the car, Mr. Hayes. I can handle them,” I said.

  “But you have a broken ankle,” Mrs. Hayes said anxiously. “Besides, it’s better to get away from bullies and report them to the authorities than to fight.”

  “Running from bullies just isn’t my style, ma’am. No offense.”

  She gave me a look. “No. I can’t imagine you running from anything.”

  Kelsey watched me wide-eyed and pale-faced. “You’re not going out there, are you?” she asked nervously.

  “If your dad can safely stop the car, I will.”

  Joshua Hayes nodded in the mirror and managed to bring the car to a stop, angling the front wheels to the left a bit so that when my door opened I’d be facing the troublemakers, but instead of stopping their car, they accelerated.

  “Joshua! Watch out!”

  I’d just undone my seat belt when they hit us and the door on my side of the car folded inward, the glass breaking. Kelsey cried out and grabbed on to my arm in an attempt to pull me closer to her side so I wouldn’t be injured. Our car slid several feet down a hill so icy that even the chains on the tires couldn’t find purchase. We were pushed into the other lane and beyond it, where we hit a boulder.

  Before I realized what was happening, my body became weightless and I slammed against the other side of the car, hitting something soft, which I soon recognized was Kelsey. We held each other and tumbled together as the car rolled once, twice, three times. I tried to shield her with my body as best I could, but the torn vehicle swerved to the edge of the road, and I heard the crunch of metal as we hit a post. Then my stomach dropped as the car spilled over the side of the mountain in free fall headed toward the tops of the trees in the forest far below.

  Grabbing Kelsey close to my chest, I used the power of the Damon Amulet to whisk her away before the plummeting car struck a tree and the windshield shattered. There was nothing else I could do to prevent the horrifying accident that not only claimed the lives of Kelsey’s beloved family but would change her forever, impacting the woman she would become.

  Chapter 3

  Enlightenment

  We rematerialized on the mountain road just as the car hit the jutting edge of the mountain. With a shriek of twisting metal, it spun and crashed below, the body of the car crumpling into a mass of steel. The white world around us quieted as the engine died. I heard a ticking sound and then turned away as the underside of the vehicle that now faced the sky burst into flame.

  I staggered back and collapsed to one knee, still cradling Kelsey in my arms. She cried out as one of her legs hit the ground. Quickly scooping her up again, I asked. “Where does it hurt?”

  “My…my leg,” she groaned. “Something’s wrong with my knee.”

  Her eyes were unfocused and blood dripped from a cut on her temple. I needed to check her head injury. A large lump was forming.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Where are my parents?”

  Swallowing, I said, “There was an accident.”

  She nodded but I wasn’t sure if she understood. Trembling delicately, she said, “I’m so cold.”

  “I know, bilauta.” I snuggled her close to my chest and felt the trickle of icy tears run down my cheek.

  I didn’t know what to do. If I had brought the kamandal with me, I could heal her. The least I could do was help her get warm. Using the fire piece of the amulet, I created a heated pocket of air that surrounded us. She sighed and buried her face in my sweater. Brushing my lips against her hair, I said, “Close your eyes, sweetheart. Don’t open them until I tell you.”

  Her eyelids fluttered closed, and I shifted us to the forest floor not far from the still-burning mangled car below. Metal pieces had torn off and littered the ground everywhere. I used the water amulet to douse the hot flames. Black smoke rose in the air, and it was cold enough that the water around the car began to freeze. Making my way toward the car through a deep snowbank, I approached the broken vehicle and stopped cold when I saw an icy pool of blood with more seeping slowly into the snow from the driver’s side.

  I heard a crunch as someone moved through the underbrush and whirled around, hoping to see Kelsey’s mother, but instead it was Kadam. He carried Kelsey’s blanket and wrapped it around her shaking body. Traveling with her using the power of the amulet had affected her. She was barely conscious.

  “Her parents?” I asked.

  He shook his head sadly. “Her father is gone.”

  I swallowed thickly. “Maddie?”

  “She was thrown from the vehicle. Maddie Hayes will live for only a few more moments. Her back is broken as is her leg and her arm is crushed. She has third-degree burns covering over seventy percent of her body, and she will die before help arrives,” he answered.

  Taking a determined step forward, I said “That’s enough time do something. She doesn’t have to lose her mother too. You stay here with Kelsey while I go back and get the kamandal.”

  Kadam blocked my path and put a hand on my shoulder. “No, son.” His wizened face seemed carved in stone. Only his eyes showed how painful this was for him as well.

  He walked off through the trees, and when he paused, I clutched Kelsey close to my chest with trembling arms and listened to his voice as he murmured softly to Kelsey’s mother.

  “There now, Maddie. I promise I will take care of her. Help will come soon. She will be just fine.”

  Then I heard it, the soft rasping of Kelsey’s mother as she struggled to breathe once, twice, and then the horrible sound of nothing at all. She was gone.

  When Kadam made his way back to me, I asked harshly, “Why?” Tears fell freely down my face. “Why save only her?”

  Sighing deeply, he said, “The mermaid’s elixir must not be used to change destiny. Each person has their time allotted. Their time has passed.”

  “Daddy?” Kelsey said drowsily, trying desperately to rouse herself.

  I turned away from the accident, walking into the trees so she wouldn’t see the mangled, smoking wreck wrapped around the bodies of her parents.

  I couldn’t bear to tell her what happened. “I’m here, Kells,” I said.

  “Daddy, I had the best dream!” She smiled sweetly but then groaned and pressed a hand against her scalp. I quietly asked Kadam if she was going to be all right. He nodded and mouthed, “Concussion.”

  My heart was breaking for her. “What did you dream about, love?” I asked, trying not to let my grief show in my voice. Wrapping the quilt around her, I sat on a log and smoothed her hair away from her face.

  “I’m…I’m a little dizzy,” she said when she tried to open her eyes.

  “Shh. Just keep your eyes c
losed and try to relax.” I warmed the air around us again while Kadam kept vigil at our side.

  “I dreamt about a handsome prince. He saved me from a dragon!”

  “He did, did he?” I smiled while pressing my lips to her hair, unable to resist the brief moment of closeness.

  “I think he loves me, Daddy.”

  “I know he does,” I replied.

  She fell quiet after that and drifted into a light sleep. When I lifted my head, I asked Kadam, “What’s next?”

  “We wait for the authorities to arrive.”

  “And then what?”

  “We leave her.”

  I shook my head. “No. No. I can’t leave her alone to face her parents’ deaths by herself.”

  Kadam pressed a cloth to Kelsey’s bleeding scalp. “We must, Kishan. If she is to become the girl you know, the girl willing to come to India to help a stranger, the girl you fell in love with, then we must leave her to experience this sorrow on her own.”

  “How is that the right thing to do?”

  “The right thing often hurts. If anyone knows that, it’s you.”

  After a moment, I asked, “Why me?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Why was I the one who needed to save her? Why wasn’t it you? Why not Ren?”

  “It is you because it was always you.”

  I clutched Kelsey closer and remarked irritably, “Destiny. Destiny is your answer to everything, isn’t it? Well, I have no faith in destiny. In fact, I think destiny got my life wrong.”

  “You’re not thinking of it in the right way. Destiny is no guardian angel influencing your choices. Destiny chooses nothing. It simply is. You are here saving Kelsey solely because you did save her. If you weren’t here, now, at this time, then she would have died with her parents.”

  “So you’re saying I have no choice? No freedom? I am simply a pawn pushed back and forth in a cosmic game of chess?”

  “Not at all.” Kadam sat on the log next to me. “You have always had the freedom to make your own choices. It’s just that your choices have been recorded in the annals of time. All of our choices have. Each person is accounted for. Each event chronicled. The only difference is that I have been able to glimpse the events that affect our lives and now know my place. The irony is that if I hadn’t seen my own timeline, I wouldn’t have the knowledge to assume my role as your guide.”

  “Do you know my future as well?”

  He hesitated. “Yes.”

  “And Ren’s? Kelsey’s?”

  Kadam nodded.

  “Is…is she happy?”

  “I think it’s better for you not to know how things unfold. To travel in time is no light undertaking. The knowledge I have influences every thought, every word, every action I take. If you were to learn the things that I know, it would change you forever. What has happened is something I cannot fix, Kishan.” After a pensive moment, he added, “I often wish I could.”

  “I’m not asking you to fix it. I just want you to tell me. Is the future Kelsey happy?”

  “I’m sorry, but that is information that I cannot share with you, and there are events that you must not know. If you attempt to learn more or to tamper with things that should be left alone, the consequences could be catastrophic. I beg you, leave Kelsey to her fate.”

  Her fate. Her destiny. As I cradled the young version of the girl I loved and listened to her soft moans as she slept, I knew leaving Kelsey to her fate was something I could never do. If I’d made a mistake in letting her leave with Ren, then I needed to know it. Kadam may have qualms about altering the timeline, but if I could spare Kelsey pain and assure myself of her happiness, then I would make every effort to do so.

  My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a siren on the road high above us and the shouts of men.

  “It is time,” Kadam announced. “We need to leave before they come.”

  “You want to leave her here unattended?”

  “We must. There must be no record of us or our names associated with what happened here today.”

  I narrowed my eyes briefly, then sighed and kissed her soft cheek as I stood. Studying the surrounding landscape left me unsatisfied. I refused to place her too close to the car for fear of her waking up alone to that traumatic scene, but if she continued to sleep, I needed her close enough so the rescue workers could find her.

  Closing my eyes, I used the power of the Damon Amulet. The earth rumbled and rocks appeared to block her view of the car. I melted the snow and dried the ground around us and even caused tender shoots of grass and wildflowers to bloom. Kadam raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Satisfied with my efforts, I carefully laid her down on the natural carpet I’d created.

  When I was finished, Kadam said, “And now it’s time to take her memory.”

  I started. “Take her—” I set my jaw. “What are you saying?”

  “We need to alter her memory so she forgets our presence. Surely, you understand why this must be done.”

  Impatiently, I ran a hand through my hair. Take her memory? When Kelsey first met me in the jungle, she’d said that she knew who I was and what I was. She knew that I was Ren’s brother and that I was a tiger, but there hadn’t been a spark of recognition when she saw my face. I bristled thinking of what he was asking me to do and wondered what would happen if I didn’t.

  Would she remember me and carry that connection with her? When she saw me for the first time, would she recall that I was the man who saved her? Would she give me a chance to love her before Ren got his claws into her? Not taking her memory could alter the future significantly. I suddenly understood why Kadam was pressing.

  “What would I need to do?” I asked, still undecided.

  “The Damon Amulet has the power to remove her memories of you. Since there are only a few there at this time in her life, it should be very easy to follow the pathways. Use the amulet to open her mind. Close your eyes and see what she sees.”

  I entered her mind, though I was still unsure if I was actually going to go through with it, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to peek. A spark of light blazed as the amulet glowed and I felt warmth spread through me. Images, fuzzy at first but becoming clearer by the moment, filled my mind.

  Initially, I was overwhelmed with seeing so many of her thoughts. They flashed by too quickly for me to absorb them all, but soon I recognized patterns and an organization in her mind. Prevalent were thoughts of her grandmother and her worry over a boy at school who was picking on her. My fists tightened as I watched her come home in tears because he’d bullied her.

  Mr. Kadam’s voice broke through. “Focus on the recent hours,” he said.

  The images shifted, shuffling quickly to the most current. I saw myself in the lodge, craning my neck for a glimpse of Kelsey. She wasn’t reading at all but watching me. I smiled when I discovered that she thought I was the most handsome man she’d ever seen.

  Quickly, those images were overtaken by her fear of the boys crashing into us and the memory of clutching my hand as she instinctively looked to me for strength and protection. She didn’t want the bullies in the other car to find her. When I’d offered to fight them, she’d stared at me in wonder, and something sparked in her at that moment. She suddenly felt like fighting back. Humbled, I realized that I’d given her that.

  “Kishan, we must hurry,” Kadam said.

  I sorted through her memories and decided that if I was going to change the future, then I had plenty of time to try to do so when Kadam wasn’t around to stop me. For now, I’d do as he asked. With a mental flick, I swiped her memories of meeting me and Kadam in the lodge and of me being in the car.

  Unhappily, I removed her thoughts of me holding her after the accident, but at the last minute, I decided to leave her two things—the last piece of advice she’d ever get from her mother and the budding feeling of her wanting to fight back. She wouldn’t know where it came from, but she’d still recognize it, and I’d always know that I was the one who’d inspired that co
urage.

  Finished, I stood and nodded to Kadam, who put his hand on my shoulder. Using the Damon Amulet, I removed all signs of our presence. As the thump of a helicopter grew stronger, I put my hand on Kadam’s shoulder. Once again the world tilted on its axis as we spun in the whirlwind of time.

  ***

  My stomach settled more quickly than it had before, and as I took in our surroundings, I glanced at Kadam.

  “If you wouldn’t mind finding Anamika,” he said, “there are a few things we need to discuss. I’ll meet the two of you in the throne room.”

  I was still angry with him over his absolute refusal to consider altering history. As I made my way toward Anamika’s room, I wondered how long we’d been gone and if she was asleep or still in her bath. Turning on my heel, I decided to check the bath first and was faintly disappointed not to find her reclining amid thousands of pink bubbles. I didn’t have any designs on the goddess, but I sure enjoyed getting her riled up. A fight with Anamika would have distracted me from what I’d just experienced with Kelsey, at least for a little while.

  Softly, I knocked on her bedroom door but there was no response. When I opened it and crept silently inside, I expected a very upset woman to put me in my place about entering her bedroom without her leave, but instead I was amazed at the changes she’d made in her room.

  For a woman as tough as Anamika was on the outside, I’d expected her room to be simple, austere, or perhaps similar to her tent on the battlefield. Instead, I was surrounded by softness. Not luxury, though that was still there, a remnant of Lokesh’s trappings, but the room felt warm, inviting.

  Several vases full of flowers wafted their fragrant scent, which combined with the slight smell of woodsmoke from the dim fire. She’d used the Divine Scarf to make thick rugs and pillows, and her room was full of tokens and gifts that had been offered. The walls were decorated with elaborately stitched tapestries but also with children’s drawings. Relics, pieces of pottery, and small carved likenesses of the goddess in battle adorned simple wooden shelves.