Page 11 of Tiger's Dream
“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.”
