My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

Hit Me Baby One More Time (Part 1)

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.