My Date From Hell (16 page)

I knew he hadn’t left me. He’d probably gone to find water or scout or something and would be back soon.

I’d wait. I brushed most of the sand off of me, and put my tank top, skirt, and boots back on. I didn’t want to traipse through the jungle in my bare feet and underwear. I left off the leggings though. I’d risk mosquito bites.

I gazed up at the sun, shining brilliantly above me, lulling me into a continued state of drowsiness with its warmth and the sound of gently crashing waves. Fat puffy clouds meandered their way across a truly incredible blue sky.

Calming as they were, it wasn’t long before I started to feel twitchy, wanting Kai back.

To distract myself, I thought about how we were going to find the holiday home or cave that Jack slithered into when he came here for his R&R. Hopefully it wouldn’t be warded up, since neither of us had any power, but I wasn’t holding my breath on being that lucky.

As soon as Kai returned, we’d start searching. Although thinking about Kai also made me think about Pierce’s memory retrieval plan. How bad
exactly
was “fourteen” on the pain scale? And what could it possibly entail?

Don’t think about it
. I leaned back against the scratchy bark of the palm tree and tried to peer into the gloom of the jungle to distract myself.

Golden eyes blinked back at me slowly.

I froze. Kai didn’t have golden eyes. Kai had lovely brown eyes. These were more like a cat’s.

More specifically, a tiger.

Ten points for the clever girl. I’d just gotten a hell of a distraction.

Thirteen

The enormous tiger padded silently out of the trees and onto the beach.

I pressed myself into the tree and grasped my pendant. It didn’t work, either. Unlike in Olympus where just my powers had gone kaput, even my magic artifact was in sleep mode. I couldn’t tree myself out of here.

I glanced skyward, hoping for a branch I could pull myself onto. Could tigers climb trees? I had this sickening feeling they could. Hannah would have known.

Didn’t matter. There were no branches on the tree anyway. Just a few coconuts hanging out of useful range.

“Kai?” I called out, having no problem with him coming to my rescue about now.

Two more tigers padded out of the jungle, smaller than their friend, but still more than capable of slicing and dicing me. They sat there, in a loose semi-circle between me and the jungle, with the beach and sea to my back.

I slowly glanced over my shoulder but there was no way I could make it out into the water far enough to get my vines back before one of the cats took me down.

I had no idea what these beasts wanted with me. But I doubted their presence here was random. Somehow these tigers were tied to Jack. They were here on his business.

But what was that?

The only thing I could think of was that Jack had gotten tired of trying to psych me out and had simply decided to throw me to the wolves. Uh, tigers.

I swallowed nervously. “Nice kitty?”

The first tiger let out a wild roar that I felt down to my toes. It was some kind of prompt because the other tigers cocked their heads to one side, then rose as one, and headed toward me.

Of the many opportunities I’d had to die, this was the most unique. Eaten by tigers.

A thousand pounds of lethal muscle closed in on me. I willed a sudden lightening storm to present me with fire, but the weather remained perfect.

One of the tigers stopped in front of me.

I stopped breathing.

He nudged my hip with his big head. What a gorgeous beast. He was close enough that I could see the gold flecks in his eyes and the tawny fur on his body rippling slightly as his chest expanded with each breath.

“This would be very cool if you weren’t going to eat me in a second,” I told him. Even though the tigers were clearly my jailers and possibly my executioners, I had this irrational desire to ride on the back of one. Maybe tussle with it until it purred.

As long as it didn’t rip my throat out.

Bad visual. I clasped my hands together tightly to stem their shaking.

The tiger hip butted me again.

His friend came around me to nudge the back of my leg. His fur tickled behind my knee.

I panted, close to full on-hyperventilation.

Their leader, Rory McRoar, just sat, waiting and watching.

I accessed my familiar angry place. “I don’t speak tiger, you stupid cats. So either eat up or figure out how to speak English.”

Rory tossed his head in a clear “come on, then” motion and padded back into the trees.

The other two kept prodding me until I realized they were trying to herd me into the jungle.

The dark, scary jungle.

No way was I going in there with them.

The tigers butted me again, more forcefully, bent on having their way.

As I had no choice, I let them. But it was definitely under duress.

The temperature dropped significantly in the cool canopy of the trees. Unseen birds trilled merrily. Occasionally I caught a shadow out of the corner of my eye, zipping into the undergrowth. I tried not to look too carefully at anything.

The dim light in the jungle just heightened all my other senses. I could smell the cats’ musky, slightly sweet sweat. I was surprised at the strong scent of ginger in the air and the dank rot coming up from patches on the ground.

And the jungle was loud. Frogs croaking, monkeys chittering, the buzz of mosquitos. Not to mention the heavy, sinusy breath of my captors.

I tried to drag myself along as slowly as possible. My hands still shook and my jaw was clenched so hard that my teeth were grinding down to nubs. I kind of wished that if they were going to attack me, they’d just do it already. The anticipation of all the painful ways these cats could take me out was excruciating. But maybe that was the head trip part of Jack’s plan.

The tigers herded me along for about fifteen minutes over soft, spongy ground with the occasional tree root to stumble over. Nothing slithered or skittered over my feet, for which I was profoundly grateful.

We stepped into a clearing in front of a large, clear pond with a waterfall. It was beautiful here. I almost forgot about my keepers until one of them pawed at me gently. I jumped at the slight rasp of its claws on my skirt and glared at it.

“You prefer lunch with a view?” I asked the tigers, pleased with my bravado.

They sat down, hemming me in along the shore of the pond.

A woman began to sing. Not in Greek. Not a hymn or a chant or a lullaby. Nope. She sang of how her loneliness was killing her. Which sounds poetic, but was actually Britney Spears.

Another woman joined her. And another.

It was the best unplugged cover of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” that I’d ever heard.

Three young women swam out from behind the waterfall. They looked like triplets, with dusky olive skin, and long black hair all threaded through with silvery flowers that glinted as they caught the sunlight. Their voices soared as they entreated the object of their song to give them a sign.

My toes were tapping. And yeah, I hummed along. Whatever. It didn’t get to be a massive hit without being catchy.

The Diana Ross of the group swam forward and held out her hand.

As if. I wasn’t jumping in.

One of my feline jailers nudged me hard enough to push me in.

Instead of being wet, I found myself floating underwater but in the air. The women continued to sing, starting their song again as they somehow plucked orchids which did usually not grow underwater to weave in my hair.

By the time they had finished adorning me, I was singing, too.

I rose out of the waves. Light caught the spray of droplets, creating a thousand tiny prisms of color. Crooning my heart out with eternal angst, I was consumed with emotion. I had to sing.

This was the most poignant song ever written and I was the keeper of all the anguish.

Kai stepped out into the clearing and I sang to him. Sang this ageless story that was our tale. About misunderstanding. About confession. And this burning need to know.

I walked out of the water and took Kai’s hands. Enfolded him in my arms then returned us to the pond. I sank with him beneath the waves into this place of air, my voice raised in lyrical pleading to show me that sign.

That’s when Kai tickled me.

As I started to laugh and could no longer sing, I realized that I was drowning him
—
not in air but in cold water
—
while burbling Britney Spears lyrics off-key, tears falling from my eyes like an overwrought teenybopper.

Jack hadn’t attacked me, psychologically or otherwise. No, he’d put me under the spell of the sirens and then made me their lead singer in an attempt to take Kai out. Thankfully, it hadn’t worked.

I stumbled out of the pond and said casually, “Well, that was awkward.”

There was a moment of silence and then the two of us burst out laughing, doubled over.

Kai could barely speak. “You. And that song.” He mimicked me. It was painful.

“Stop,” I begged. “You’re killing me.”

“Like your loneliness?” he howled.

I swatted at him weakly, tears streaming down my face. “Don’t. Make. Me. Pee.”

That just set him off more. It was a good five minutes before we’d composed ourselves enough to compare stories on what had happened.

Kai had gone in search of water, only to find me gone upon his return. I told him about the tigers and sirens.

“There was only you,” he said.

“Then the Supremes left me to go solo. Believe me. They were there.” I placed my hand on his arm. “Glad I didn’t drown you with my alluring voice.”

Kai’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “Hermes didn’t realize that you can’t sing worth a damn.”

I shook out my hair. “I’m not that bad.”

“Sweetheart, you suck. Lucky for me, he was banking on Persephone’s abilities with that one. Didn’t transfer.”

I wrung out my once again wet clothing. “So what now? Find his house?”

Kai knelt at the edge of the pond and motioned me over. “First we drink. This pond is freshwater.”

I realized how dehydrated I was when I found myself gulping down water like there was no tomorrow. “Not quite as good as Olympus, but damn fine.”

“You drank the water up there?” He sounded like he couldn’t believe I’d been that dumb.

“It’s not like we learn about it in school,” I said. “Stop, drop, and roll, beware of stranger danger, and when in Olympus, stick with soda.”

Kai took the lead. I held on to the back of his waistband as we continued our trek.

It was hot and boring. And uphill. Very uphill.

To take my mind off it, I started talking. “Tell me a bit about yourself. What kind of movies do you like?”

“Revenge flicks.”

“Wow. Don’t make the psychoanalysis too easy. At least you didn’t go all Oedipal complex.”

Kai swatted at an overhanging branch. “Really? Of all the Greeks, that’s the one you know?”

“Thanks to the fine curriculum developers of grade ten English. Had a unit on it last year.”

“Uh-huh. Please. Enlighten me about the mysteries of your soul with your cinematic preferences.”

Smartass
. “I like lots. Especially movies about girls who kick ass. Who don’t sit around waiting for a boy to save them.
Crouching Tiger
,
Matrix
,
Fifth Element
. That kind of stuff.” I winced at the squelchiness of my saturated boots, but I was drying surprisingly quickly. Although walking behind Kai, I had more than a moment of being bummed out that he was dressed again.

He turned and favored me with a grin. It warmed my skin like sunshine pouring down on me. Almost made up for the clothing. “You continue to surprise me.”

“That’s because I am unique.”

“One of a kind,” he agreed, “For which I’m supremely grateful.”

I slapped him on the butt. When he glanced over his shoulder at me, I shrugged and said, “Sorry. Alien hand syndrome. My hand is not in my control.” I sang a few bars of the
X-Files
theme for good measure.

“You are so weird.”

“Flying my freak flag, baby,” I agreed.

“Waving your weird wand,” he retorted.

I scrunched up my face. “Now that just makes me sound like a boy.”

Kai laughed. “No guy would ever call it his wand. Weird or otherwise.”

“Agree to disagree.”

“Again,” he agreed.

I smiled because it was fun to be getting along with Kai. Especially when he was, dare I say it, in a playful mood.

A brilliant pink dragonfly flew past, close to our heads. I clapped in delight just as Kai flinched. “Aw, did the wittle dwagonfwy fweak you out?” I joked.

“I don’t like them,” he said flatly.

Curious.

“They can’t hurt you,” I pointed out.

Kai turned a mirthless smile on me. “Hurt doesn’t have to be physical.”

“Come on, they can’t emotionally hurt you either.” I wasn’t trying to be bitchy. I thought he was kidding or something. I mean, dragonflies? Really? “Were you dive-bombed by evil ones in Hades?”

“All the dragonflies in the Underworld are grey,” he said, resuming walking.

“Okay. I didn’t see any when I was there but I’ll take your word for it.” His strides had gotten longer so I had to hurry to keep pace. “I’m sorry. I just don’t see what the biggie is.”

He didn’t say anything. Just kept walking.

I poked him in the back. “Kai, talk to me.”

Surprisingly, he did. “When I was little, Hades used to take me out of the Underworld every so often to go up and visit Earth. For the colors, you know? We both liked to see all the colors you could find there.”

That seemed like a nice memory. I guess even with Hades as your father you were bound to have one or two. I jogged up to walk beside him. “Did you have a favorite spot?”

Kai shrugged. “Not really. But everywhere we went, we’d always see dragonflies. They’re so vibrant. Blue, red, crazy yellow-and-black ones like a bee.” He sounded wistful. “Pappas and I would stay very still so that they wouldn’t fly off.”

My breath caught. Kai didn’t realize how he’d just referred to his dad.

Kai looked off into the distance, lost in his memory. “One day, a blue one landed on my shoulder. It wouldn’t fly off. Hades said I should bring it back to the Underworld with me. I worried it would die but he promised me that if I loved it enough, nothing would happen to it.”

I had a very bad feeling about this. “It died, didn’t it?”

Kai met my gaze, his poker face on. “They all died. Every single one of them that Hades encouraged me to bring down that year. No matter how much I tried to care for it, tell it I loved it. Nada. He told me it was my fault.”