Rare Find (15 page)

Sending out a wide green band of healing energy, followed by a gently loving band in lavender, Tabitha surrounded the caged female tiger with energy that would make her feel good. Make her calm. Not afraid. Not alone. Letting Tabitha slip away. At least long enough to check on family and...her body.

Next, Tabitha carefully wrapped her own loving essence around Tango's energy. Added layers and layers of loving, healthy energy like wisps of colored cotton candy until the entire thing was thick and solid looking. Then she blew a breath into the center, making a hollow, and sank into it. Became one with it. She shifted deeper and deeper, feeding the energy trail as she slipped along the pathway, following it back and back and back hoping to find the reality she recognized. Faster she flew as energy warmed, reconnecting to the animal that had shared so much of Tabitha's life.

He'd been there for her after a trying day at school; he'd cleaned her face on the day she'd graduated; he'd been ecstatic over the arrival of Tripod. A kindred soul, in so many ways. A playmate for Tango when she was gone from the house.

Tango had been there listening to her spout off joyfully when she'd gotten engaged, and he'd been there listening to her tears after she'd been jilted. He'd been there for her every step of the way.

She knew him as well as she knew herself. As she thought all this, she fell into Tango's space.

His energy kicked into overdrive. If he could have twisted his lithe body around her, he would have. Instead she was the one wrapped around him. Inside him. Outside him. She was him.

He jumped and spun and howled. And his roar was deafening.

His joy...her joy. Both brought tears to her eyes, if she'd had eyes...or tears.

She cried out his name repeatedly. She couldn't seem to stop. The sense of safety and being home overwhelmed her. Such a relief. Such a feeling of joy. It was finally over…

Only not quite. Reality intruded. She was in Tango's body now. Not her own. Still, she'd managed to leave the other tiger – mostly.

Tango, I need help.

The purr increased to deafening proportions. He'd always understood her moods. And she his.

I need to get to my body.

She stopped and thought about what she'd said, what she was doing. This was stupid. Tango couldn't go to her body. He was trapped inside his own massive physicality. She needed a way to get from here to her body.

Then she heard footsteps. And a voice.

Tango? Are you all right?

Stefan!

***

Stefan wandered through Tabitha's living room looking, seeking something that had to be there, but not sure what. The house was old and empty, but there was a disturbance in the atmosphere that went beyond the lack of furniture. Part of the house had felt empty on his first pass – as if Tabitha had disappeared completely.

Tango had lain despondent in a corner of the large enclosure. Not eating or drinking. Tripod was acting the same. Just like any well-loved pet would, given the absence of their beloved owner.

Stefan wandered back through the house again. He'd learned a long time ago to not ignore his instincts. That prodding voice that said to keep looking. He was here because he was supposed to be here. If he was lucky, he'd understand the reason why. Soon.

He wandered over to Tango's cage once again. He searched for a change. Something to understand this nudge inside him to keep searching.

Just then Tango came racing through the pen into the main area where the caged wall was all that separated him from Stefan.

But he looked different. Happy. Energized.

Stefan narrowed his gaze and studied the tiger. It was almost delirious. Rolling on the ground, rubbing his back on the floor, all four legs in the air as he tossed his head with abandon. It was a joy to see.

The cat looked...ecstatic.
And how could that be?

"What do you know that I don't, Tango?" Stefan murmured, studying the big cat's aura. Sure enough, the color had shifted, brightened. Was now surrounded by a lavender sheen.

Tabitha?

Surely that was her energy mixed into the big cat's energy.
Could it be?

He stepped close enough to press his face against the heavy gauge divider.

"Tango?" he called out. "Come here, boy."

Tango jumped to his feet and bounded to Stefan, rubbing his side along the cage. It was if he understood Stefan. Or someone connected to Tango understood and brought the big cat close.
What were the chances?

Tabitha? Is that you?
Stefan asked telepathically.
Are you with Tango?

Yes!

***

Fez walked calmly into the warehouse. At least on the outside he hoped he appeared confident and in control. At least someone needed to be. Keeper was there waiting for him. "How is she doing?"

"Not eating, but maybe had water."

Fez brightened up. "Water is good."

"And the bleeding stopped."

Fez closed his eyes briefly then said in an ominous voice, "What bleeding?"

"From the original poachers. They shot her with tranq darts, but one site seemed to close over, only she gnawed on it and ripped it open. But it's stopped again."

"That's a good sign." At least he hoped it was. "We need her to eat." He lifted the blanket slightly and the rank odor of meat gone off filled his nostrils. "No wonder she's not eating. What is this crap?"

"I'm hardly going to put good stuff in there to go bad. When she's hungry enough, she'll start eating. Then I will get her fresh stuff." Keeper spat on the old wood floor and walked away as if the conversation was over.

But it wasn't. Not by a long shot. Fez didn't know where the boss had found this guy but he wasn't worth the pennies he was paying him.

Fez grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. "She gets the best. And she gets it now. You aren't paying for her food. We are. Now go and clean that shit out of there and bring her fresh meat."

"You ain't the fucking bos—"

Fez punched him in the nose. "I'm the boss when the boss isn't here. I'm following his orders and you will follow my orders. Now get to it. And give her fresh water too."

When Keeper shot him a resentful look, Fez smiled cruelly and said, in a soft voice, words that echoed the boss, "And do it now – or else."

Sunday noon

A
t the sight of Stefan, a wave of sadness washed through Tabitha. Hers or Tango's? She didn't know or care. There could also be vestiges of the other tiger's energy floating through her energy space. And that tiger also had homesickness as a major issue.

The poor thing.

What thing?
asked Stefan accurately, reading her mind.

She quickly explained who the other tiger was and what had happened to her, then tried to explain what had happened that Tabitha had ended up inside of the tiger.

There was a long shocked pause from Stefan.
Tabitha...are you sure...that's what happened?

Doesn't make any sense, does it?

Not only doesn't it make sense, it requires a level of unprecedented power to do something like that.

But it also explains how and why I was hooked and grabbed. Think about it. The most logical way the tiger found me was through Tango. I already have a strong open connection to Tango.
She nodded to herself as she realized something else.
I used to connect to Tango while I floated in the ethers. If this other tiger could connect to the ethers, theoretically it's possible she'd connected to Tango. It was just an easy step to me.

And that would explain how there were no strange human energies here,
Stefan added thoughtfully.
I saw the animal energy but couldn't see whether it was from other animals you'd worked with. I never thought your attacker would be a tiger.

She laughed.
And yet look where I am right now.

But you also have Tripod and any other number of animals in your life.

But not as close and as loving as Tango. Or in as much distress. Tripod would be a very close second, but Tango has been in my life so much longer.

So you're thinking that the tigers are connected? By love? By circumstance?

Unless we want to contemplate that psychic tigers exist.

She heard Stefan's whoosh as he exhaled.
Yeah, a bit of a mind bender, isn't it
?

Definitely.

We have some incidents involving animals to draw on, but nothing like this.
Stefan paused then added
, I can't say it's a comforting thought to consider that any animal at any given moment can reach out and yank their beloved owner into their own psyche when they hit a bad spot in life.

Probably not any animal. Special ones, yes. Consider this possibility too. An animal in the wild looking for anyone to help them – and they grab a hold of those of us open enough to be accessible.
She felt his shudder. This mind-link thing with Stefan was so intimate at times she could sense his very movements.

As I can with yours, but since you are inside your tiger...yeah, that's more than what I was expecting to find when I arrived at your door today.
He gave a half laugh.
And it feels weird on my end so I can't imagine how you are feeling.

Just why did you come here now?
she asked.
That you'd be here when I arrived...

Remember there are no such things as coincidences. When you are in tune with the universe, you will always be in the right place at the right time. You just might not always like the lesson to be learned by the experience you get to go through.

She snorted.
Like getting yanked out of my body? What the hell, Stefan? I figured out how to come back to Tango by building on our bond, but how the hell do I get back to my own body?

There was only a long silence in her head as Stefan contemplated her through the cage.
You should have gone back naturally on your own.

Yeah, but I tried that – it didn't work.

I have no idea then. You've already defied psychic laws as we know them because it shouldn't be theoretically possible to live without the cord attached. How to reattach a severed cord has always been considered impossible. Not that yours is detached. I don't know what it is.

If it were, in theory I'd be dead. And I'd have disappeared to the ever-after long before now.

What's the chance you are still attached but stretched so thin no one can see it
? He gave a small laugh.
Or could it be masked, hidden in some way? Not that many could see it normally anyway
.

I don't think so.
Could she have hidden it instinctively, something so natural and fast that Tabitha hadn't been aware as the process happened?

Could...Tango?
Stefan asked cautiously.

Tango?
Tabitha wanted to laugh. It was ridiculous to think of an animal doing something like that. But was it? Look at what the female tiger had done. She wanted to shake off the concept of her animals having any kind of ability. To harm her or help her.
Such a foreign concept.

But is it a wrong one?

I don't know
, she whispered.
It's been so hard to deal with this as it is. To try to understand that an animal had that level of competence...

I think we're giving the animals too much credit. Whatever they're doing would be out of pure instinct.
He walked across the room, his head bent in thought.
You could have helped this tiger without severing the cord, so why do it this way? And if the cord is still attached, why hide it?

I have no idea.

That's what we need to understand. There has to be a reason. Find that reason and we'll understand more about what's going on.

She understood that, but it wasn't helping her get back into her body.

What about the other tiger, does she know that you've left?
Stefan asked.

Yeah, that's the thing, I'm not sure I'm totally gone.
She took a deep breath.
I feel splintered into many little bits and pieces.

Have you split your energy?
Stefan asked curiously.
I've been trying to do something similar but it takes a lot of energy to maintain.