Page 144 of Dragon 7

Next, the brown pigment in her irises dissolved from the center outward. Warm chestnut gave way to amber. Then, amber deepened into rich golden yellow until every trace of brown disappeared.

Oh. . .

Fine copper-colored streaks appeared within the gold, radiating outward from the pupils like tiny fibers. Thin black rings sharpened around the outer edge of each iris, making the color seem brighter. Only after the shape and color had fully changed did the luminous glow appear.

And what stared back at me from the baby’s cute face was undeniably. . .mystical tiger’s eyes.

I. . .don’t understand. What are you, baby girl?

She gurgled those little lips and a tiny bit of bubbly saliva left the corner of her mouth.

Off in the distance, I heard Reo talking to Kenji as my brother held me, but I could not turn away from the baby.

Little Tiger. Yes. That’s what you are. But. . .when did you come, and when did you die? The twins. . .they said Nyomi sacrificed so much. . .not you? Right? Please. . .

Tears spilled from my eyes.

She chose that moment to giggle again as she lifted her chubby little hand and reached for my tears.

I parted my lips.

Her finger met my skin.

A bright orange spark burst around my face.

What?

I felt her touch the way one felt a live wire through a wet hand. It was a single white jolt that did not stop where it started.

It went in.

It spread.

It became pain, real pain, chewing through my body from the cheek where she'd touched me down into my jaw, my throat, my chest, racing the long bones of my arms and legs like fire down a fuse.

"AHHH!" The scream tore out of me before I knew it was coming. My spine arched against Kenji's arm. Every muscle pulled toward the touch and away from it at once.

Kenji's hands tightened on me. "Hiro?! Hiro!"

I couldn't answer him. The pain owned my mouth and everything else. Cold icy power wrapped around me underneath the burning, and reality warped, and the cabin began to slide.

Across the cabin, Reo moved at a fighter's speed, honed by four decades of surviving rooms worse than this one. His weight shifted onto the balls of his feet before the sound of my scream had finished arriving. One hand rose toward the pistol under his jacket. The other reached for me. His mouth opened around the shape of my name, and the first breath of the first consonant crossed his teeth.

And then he froze. . .right there. . .in that haunting position.

It was eerie.

Kenji froze too.

They both stood there like statues in the red light. Kenji's hand still bracing my shoulder. Reo's fingers still curled a half-inch from his holster, the other palm still reaching, his mouth still open on the H of my name that would never finish leaving him.

My baby niece giggled.

And then. . .I just left Kenji's arms with no fucking control of my body. In one second I was in his big arms. The next second, I was not in his arms and I did not move at my command.

And the twins’ ghosts were no longer around.

And the Little Tiger giggled louder.