Disclaimer's: Here we go again... I haven't magically acquired ownership of JQ, nor will I ever... |)0|\|'T $|_|(- |\/| (-... Robbie likes the (-... And maybe someday it will be Robbie in his lonely mansion in Maine, not the "selfish" JQ...

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No attack. I woke up alive, unharmed, and not kidnapped. Well, I guess prayers really do get answered...

Race had mixed emotions, "On 1 hand, it's good Serd hasn't found us..."

"Duh!" I said, "Did you want him to find us?"

He ignored me, "On the other hand, he should be close. He probably is and is just choosing not to attack. Why? What's he waiting for? What's he after?"

Me... Yeah, I know that's kinda irrational since the guy's never even met me, but still...

Race continued, "He probably wants to make us think that he can't find us and make us careless. That won't happen. You kids stay at camp with an adult at all times, do you understand?"

Nod, nod, nod, nod...

"Good," he said, "I mean it." He got up and left the table.

Race had a good point, but... I wanted to go swim! It was still hot here, you know...

"Can I have his bacon?" Jonny asked.

"It's not bacon," Estella said, handing him Race's half eaten breakfast, "It's wild boor."

The green look on Jonny's face almost cheered me up...

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I was meditating. So was Hadji. So was Jessie. As for Jonny...

"Hey, watch this!" he yelled for the fourth time. He was attempting a new karate move that we had seen him mess up 3 times. None of us wanted to look again.

Calm, I thought. Waters ripple and flow... Where did I hear that song before? Ninth grade Spring Concert... It was a lullaby kind of song, really relaxing....

"I said, look at me!" Jonny called.

Not listening...

"Really guys, I can do the flip now!" he said, "Look!"

He needs to SHUT UP!

I became aware of a slight disturbance. My eyes popped open. Rocks were hitting Jonny. Granted, they were little rocks, but they still hurt and no one was throwing them!

"What the...?" I said.

Hadji and Jessie were running towards him. I got up and said, "Stop!"

The rocks fell and hit the ground. The 3 of them turned and looked at me. Hadji was staring at me. I could feel him in the edges of my mind. He smiled.

"Well done," he said.

"What?" I said, "I didn't do that!"

"Yes, you did," he replied calmly, as if he were saying the weather was nice.

"I couldn't have," I said. No way...

"You wanted him to shut up," Hadji said.

"Yeah, we all did," Jessie said.

"But, Cayla was in deep meditation, almost a trance," Hadji said, "All the parts of her mind that she doesn't normally use were opened. She made the rocks fly."

"I couldn't have!" I said, "I'm no psychic!"

"Just telekinetic," Jonny muttered.

"I didn't throw the rocks," I said, "They kept going after I was out of my trance."

"But, they stopped when you willed it," Hadji said.

"Look," Jessie said, "Stranger things have happened, but we can test this easily enough. have her meditate again, and Jonny can annoy her."

That was what we agreed on. If I was moving things mentally, then it was something we needed to tell the adults about.

I tried to get back to where I had been. What was that song? Waters ripple and flow...

"Cayla!" Jonny yelled, "Look at me!"

Shut up... Waters ripple and flow...

"Cayla!"

Something needs to make him SHUT UP!

I opened my eyes. No rocks.

"See," I said, "Nothing to..."

Tiger. Yes, you read it right. Tiger.

As in, there was a tiger standing about 2 feet to my right looking a me. Walking towards Jonny and Hadji, granted, but looking at me.

"Hadji," I said shakily, "There's a tiger looking at me."

"I realize that," Hadji said, "Say something to it."

"What do you say to a tiger?" I asked.

"How about 'Let's not eat Jonny'?" Jonny said.

Here goes...

"Are you a nice tiger or a bad tiger?" Wonderful, just wonderful...

The tiger just looked at me. It clearly wasn't impressed.

"Are you listening to me?" Like the tiger can answer...

"A little help here!" I said to Hadji, "You're the expert on this kind of stuff."

Hadji took a step towards me. He stopped as the tiger growled. Oops...

"No," I said, "Don't eat him. He's a friend." This was going well, don't you think?

I stared into the tiger's eyes and (this was by far the dumbest thing I'd ever done in my life) walked over to it.

"Cayla," Jonny said, "That doesn't seem like a good idea."

Yeah, I know, but something in its eyes said that it wouldn't hurt me... Just the others. I kept going.

The tiger didn't appear to have a problem with me. Finally, something fun! What am I saying?

I was now about a foot away from the tiger. Still, no sign of attack. Hey, look what I can do...

I touched it. Yes, I touched the ferocious, man-eating tiger. And (best of all), I was alive.

"I think it likes me," I said. Jonny was green.

"And they thought you would hurt me," I said to the tiger. Not only was I talking to the tiger, I thought the tiger would hurt me, so I had no room to talk...

"Cayla!" I heard Race scream, "Move!" He was holding a rifle. Uh oh...

"No!" I yelled, "It's a good tiger!" Boy, that sounded convincing... But it worked. Race put the gun down in surprise.

"A good tiger?" he said. Yeah, this could take some explaining...

"It's... my tiger!" I said. Brilliant...

Race walked over towards me and the tiger jumped and growled. I touched its back "NO, he's a friend, too."

The tiger relaxed. Race's jaw was on the ground. So was everyone else's. I had an audience now...

"What's going on?" Estella asked.

"Well," I said, "It's really kinda funny, and to make a long story short, I'm kinda mind linked to the tiger."

"Mind linked?" Race said. He turned to Jonny and Hadji, "Why do I get the feeling this is your fault?"

So now, Jonny and Hadji had to tell the whole story, rocks and all. Race was looking almost amused, "Jonathan Quest, see what happens when you make a pest of yourself? Your girlfriend sends a tiger after you."

Then, he turned to me, "I think it's time for you to unlink now. Send the tiger home."

"I don't know how," I said, "It's not like I've practiced this, you know."

Race exhaled loudly, "Well, what now?"

"Leave me alone for a minute." I was trying to think...

"Oooh, what if I tell it to go away?" I asked, "Hadji, you think it will listen?"

"It's your tiger," Hadji said.

"No, it's not," Race said, "We are not taking the tiger home with us. And that's final."

"Could we take it to India?" I asked, "It's the first tiger I've ever linked to."

"NO!" Race said.

"Fine!" So much for fun...

"You need to go home now," I said. The tiger looked at me.

"Go home," I said, "I'm sorry, I don't need you to eat anyone right now. Maybe later."

"No!" Race said.

I ignored him, "Hey, pretty boy, why don't you tell me your name, and if I need you, I'll call."

I heard a low growl echo through my mind and I got the impression of a purr that formed the word Rishi.

"Bye, Rishi," I said, "You have a pretty name."

Rishi walked back into the jungle and all around the campsite, you heard sighs of relief.

Hadji smiled and said, "Do you know what Rishi means?"

"No," I said.

"It means 'Seer'," Hadji said, "He must be very important among his pack."

"See, Race?" I said, "I didn't make friends with some second class, lowlife tiger. I picked the Elder!"

Race just looked at me.

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News travels fast. By lunch, everyone knew I had contacted a tiger. People either avoided me or tried to spoil me rotten.

"Go pack, guys," Race said, "We leave soon. We don't want Serd to catch us lying down."

We all went and packed our things together. I got Jessie's address so I could write and tell her where we were and where we would be going. Race had everything loaded and ready to go at a moments notice.

"You guys can hang around camp a little while longer, but be ready to move soon." Race said, and walked off towards Estella.

"I don't know why they just don't get back together," Jonny muttered, "They spend enough time together."

"Daddy has too many girlfriends and Mom has too many jobs to do," Jessie said, "It'd never work. They didn't get divorced because they didn't love each other. They did it because they couldn't fit each other into their busy schedules."

That kinda killed the conversation, so we made small talk for the next hour or so. Then Race decided that we'd better get moving. This was followed by tons of tearful goodbyes, especially with Race and Jessie. Then we headed towards the plane.

That's when the knife was pushed up against my throat...

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What do you know? Psychics and tigers and knives, oh my! What am I going to do about all these people who want to kill us? Review and give me ideas! Ja ne! Cayla....