Page 177 of Tiger's Dream
Waves of energy coursed off her body and steam rose from the bubbling water. The surface crackled with electricity. I knew the water was deep, so she was either standing on a platform or using her power to float there. Shifting to a man, I cupped my hands and shouted to her but she didn’t turn to look at me. Calling to her mind didn’t work either. All I got from her was a sort of dark static.
The water had changed too. It wasn’t plain seawater any longer, nor was it the color of milk like I remembered. Instead it was a vivid, boiling green. The smell was noxious. Toxic. In fact, it smelled awfully close to the juice from a poisonous plant we dipped arrows in when I was a soldier. I touched my toe to it and the water jolted me so my hair stood on end, but it wasn’t too hot to tolerate nor did it sting my skin.
Saving Ana from it became my sole motivation. Something terrible had happened to her and my first course of action was to get her out of danger. Despite the unknown risks, I dove in, and the pulses of energy nearly fried my brain. I was stunned to the point where I stopped breathing for a moment, but my inner power revived me enough so I could catch my breath, and I began swimming. Careful not to imbibe any of the water, I quickly made my way to her side. My energy drained from me faster than it could refill and I was exhausted by the time I got to her.
When I neared Ana, my hand brushed a rocky outcropping and I climbed up onto it, limbs shaking. The water parted around my torso as I made my way over to her. “Ana?” I took hold of her arm and shook her, but she continued to stare straight ahead, her eyes fixed on nothing as slow, steady tears dripped from her cheeks and plopped into the lake. Each tear fizzed like acid when it hit the surface of the water.
I inhaled sharply, remembering the Kappa demons who had been created from her tears. “Ana, love. Tell me what’s wrong,” I pleaded as I wiped the tears away from her cheeks.
“I…I threw the key into the lake,” she said quietly. “It sank to the bottom.”
“Okay. That’s not a problem. When I came here before with Kelsey, I had to dive for it anyway.” The water susurrated around my waist as it leeched power from my body. I imagined it was doing the same thing to her.
Despite the warmth of the water, she trembled. I ran my hands up and down her arms, trying to warm her. “Tell me what happened,” I said. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“That is the heart of my problem,” she said. “I do not know why I was angry before and I do not know why I am sad now. All I do know is that I wanted to destroy something, everything, and now that feeling is gone. In its wake, there is a terrible misery in my heart.”
“Okay. Then, if you can’t tell me what happened, show me.”
Ana blinked. “Show you?” she asked with a small frown.
“Yes. In my mind. Open your thoughts to me.”
She shook her head. “I cannot.”
“You can.” I touched my finger to her chin and nudged her face up so she’d look at me. “You don’t have to show me everything, just what happened with the mermaid. I’m just asking you to try.”
After searching my eyes, she slowly nodded and touched her hands to my cheeks. She still kept most of her mind blocked but let me see her recent memories. In her mind’s eye, I saw me walking toward the mermaid, my steps hesitant, and then I kissed her.
I was shocked at how ardent the embrace became, especially since I had no memory of it. Through Ana’s vision I saw how Kaeliora pulled me closer and winked saucily at Ana even as she siphoned enough energy from me to fuel a small city. It quickly became clear that I’d lost my mind to the mermaid. My hands roved her form and I was blind to everything but her.
Softly, Ana said, “No more. That is enough.”
The mermaid ignored her.
“Sohan,” Ana called, “Come back to me.”
Still, the kiss continued. “Sohan?”
I heard a voice echo in Ana’s mind and recognized the siren. “He’s mine now. He’ll never come back to you once he’s tasted my lips,” she promised.
“No,” Ana said. Her breathing quickened. “No!” she shouted. “You will not take him!” Then she lifted her hands and rained down punishment on the deceitful siren.
I fell to the ground, drained and unconscious, while Kaeliora pleaded for mercy. The vengeful goddess paused a moment when the desperate mermaid warned that if she was harmed it would destroy me as well. She told Ana that I was tied to her now and that I would seek her out for the rest of my days.
Ana’s response was to freeze the siren instead of killing her, though, at the time, she’d desperately wanted the girl dead. After that, Ana numbly walked to the lake, hoping the freezing water would temper the fire burning in her blood. Instead, her pain seeped out, slowly polluting the water.
“She lied,” I said, stroking the wet tangles of her hair. “I feel no pull for the mermaid. She holds no sway over me.”
“But you did want her. I saw it on your face. In the way you held her.”
“It was a trick. A mere spell to take what she wanted from me. I was a mindless bee seduced by the honey of her lips, but I have a queen back home. She is the one I serve.” When she remained mute, I added, “Ana. You must believe me. I would not dally with you in such a way. What happened was not deliberate on my part nor was it a sign of affection.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist, drawing her into me so tightly our hearts beat against one another. “As for your emotional state, you were angry because you thought I betrayed you. The tears came after because you believed that I was lost to you. Is this not so, my lady fair?”
Ana slid her hands up, locking them around my neck, and nodded. “Hers is a seductive beauty,” she said forlornly. “I do not blame you for wanting her.”
I held her, rocking her body against me. “But I didn’t want her. Not even a little. Besides, I would have broken free of her magic quickly enough. Did you know I was once trapped by the sirens in the great tree of Shangri-La?”
