Page 108 of Tiger's Dream
Since I was at a loss for words, she began speaking. “I…I wanted to thank you,” Ana said.
I turned quickly to look at her, thinking she’d lost her mind. A small smile played under her lips, waiting to burst forth. It didn’t make sense. “Thank me?” I said uncertainly. “Why on earth would you want to do that?”
“I didn’t know before,” she said. “That it was you, I mean.”
“It was me, what?”
“It was you who saved me.”
“Saved you? I failed to save you.”
“No, you succeeded.” Ana sighed and pulled my hand in her lap, playing with my fingers. It made me very aware of how close we were. I shifted uncomfortably. “I went back while you were sleeping,” she said softly, as if she were confessing to a crime. “I took her…I meanmymemories of you.”
“You did?”
“Yes. When I met you and Ren and Kelsey for the first time, I didn’t know you. Had never seen you before.”
“That’s true,” I said.
“I had to go back and take those memories. My younger self knows that a man saved her, a man who taught her how to use a knife, but she cannot now remember his face. My parents and Sunil have forgotten you as well.”
Nodding, I said, “That was smart.”
“Is it?” she asked, lacing her fingers with mine and glancing up at me. “Maybe if my younger self knew you, we would have fought less when I met you again.”
“Maybe,” I answered. My neck suddenly felt hot. I rubbed my cheek on my shoulder. “It doesn’t matter now though. What’s done is done, right?”
“Right,” she agreed, green eyes peering up into mine. “I remembernow, though. I remembereverything.”
Swallowing, and trying to wet my mouth after it had suddenly gone dry, I said, “You…you do?”
“Yes. I was with you, you know. When my consciousness merged with my younger self, it was like I was trapped inside her. I saw everything, relived everything.”
I turned away. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”
“How could you not be?” I asked, incredulous.
“I didn’t want to relive my abduction, if that’s what you’re thinking, but it did give me a new insight into it. From my adult perspective, he was a pathetic excuse for a man. I found, more than anything else, that I wanted to reach out and protect my younger self. Now, with my powers, I could kill him just by thinking of it, but the younger me was terrified of him. That fear has stayed with me for many years.
“In my recollections, he was monstrous, inhuman, powerful. Now I have seen him as weak, sick, and truly dead. This revelation was important for me. I’ve had long months to think about it as I was trapped inside the girl who was also trapped inside herself, waiting for you to bring me forth.”
“So, you’re saying you were alert the whole time? Even as she slept?”
“Yes. Even when she died. It was my presence that kept her bound to this mortal realm long enough for her to heal. Without you, she, I mean I, would have died. You see? You did save me. More than once. And since I was the one who took those memories away, I can now remember everything that was hidden from my young mind years ago.”
“It was dangerous going back,” I said. “You could have been sucked in again.”
Anamika shrugged. “I went when she was sleeping. There was less chance of her waking up.” She smiled. “I watched Sunil for a while as he slept too. I forgot how much he took upon himself being my guard.” Glancing up at me, she added, “You should also know that I erased your tracks and provided food and shelter when you rescued the children.”
“That was sorely needed. Did you take me to the fire forest so I would be healed?” I asked.
She frowned. “No. At least, I don’t think so. I dreamed about it while I was trapped. Since the truth stone came from the fire forest, perhaps it channeled the healing of the trees.”
“I see.”
Ana hesitated, then added, “I also checked to make sure the man who abused me was dead. I had to know.”
