Page 98 of Anchored to the Storm

Connecting Gifts

She is life. . . for me. . . That is what I felt when, as if going back in time, I was suddenly back in the lagoon with Saleeni. Her hand over Styx’s, both resting on my chest. “B-Boy change… B-Blood and h-heart…” Then I heard Gage’s voice. “Brother, you don’t need air to breathe.” Air rushed into my lungs, but I was still in the pool, Saleeni asking me, “Is she okay?”

Confused by where I was because I now felt grass—earth—under my back instead of water, I reached out, scared I had failed. That I somehow got lost between realms of earth and the underworld and didn’t save Sarah.

Then, hand to hand, forearm to forearm, thumbs locked, Styx had me. “I’m here. I’m with you.”

Deep inhale…

That connection, the one I counted on, rose to a whole new level. Still with arms locked together, now bent and putting us chest to chest, we were both standing but not touching the ground. We were moving but not by our feet. It was more like a mystical, invisible conveyor belt.

Plus, we could see everyone around us, but they didn’t seem able to see us. Not even Gage as he searched the grass for me.

As Styx and I floated farther away, toward the shadowed trees, Styx sounded spooked. “Uh, Silly Rabbit, what the fuck is happening?”

I didn’t dare let him go. Something warned me not to.

It was like we were in a moving fog… “Gramps, see the haze we’re in?”

Still studying everything around us, he was panting in fear. “Yeah.”

Almost to the trees, I swallowed. “This is what I see when Saleeni transforms. Fin to legs. Legs to tail.”

Just then, we dropped to the ground, grunting when landing on our sides. I rolled in excruciating pain. “Styx, my back.”

Not even having the chance to adjust from the freaky ride we were just on, he crawled to me in a rush, quickly lifting my sweatshirt to see my back. He whispered in the woods, “Gotta be from getting hit—Oh shit.”

Er? Looking over my shoulder from the ground, I asked, “That bad?”

He kept blinking. “It’s… You… Kid, your skin is like black leather. Saleeni did this when she was mad at me. Remember?”

How could I forget? My little goddess rose from the water when Styx interrupted her ‘love’ dance.

Styx looked back to where we had just been. “You said the fog… when she transforms…” He now stared at me. “I think that is what you’re doing—” He examined my back again. “Or were doing. Skin is lightening up now.”

Apprehension rocketed through me. “Am I okay?”

He shrugged. “Besides the projectile in your back?”

Asshole! I whispered-shouted, “No, me becoming a creature!”

Styx rolled his eyes. “Aaaand here come the dramatics.” He stood and brushed off his knees as if I wasn’t in major trouble. “Let’s get back to the SUV. I gotta knife I need to dig into your back.”

As he walked away, I got to my feet, livid! “Can you please take this seriously, you old coot!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“I could be growing a tail soon!” I ripped off my ski mask, stomping behind him.

“Could be cool. Maybe you and Saleeni can take sunset swims or something.”

Sunset swims? “Or swim you to the bottom of an ocean,” I grumbled.

We made it back to the SUV after he said, “Ya don’t say?” After retrieving a knife from the glove compartment, he said, “Let’s do this outside in case you bleed.”

“In case?”

Again, the fucker shrugged. “How am I supposed to know whether or not shifters bleed?”