THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

had in me, I stomped the vine with my foot, focusing on the word crush as I did.
    Nothing.
    Brown tendrils wrapped Tony’s mouth, leaving only his eyes void of any arrogance, just pleading silently for me to save him.
    Gabby gasped and wheezed.
    The vine was strangling her to death. 
    I focused harder. I thought break as I shoved my heel down with a vicious blast on the vine.
    Again, nothing.
    One last effort. Squeezing my eyes until flashes of light burst in my head, I called up all the energy into one last thought.
    Kill .
    Then I heard it. The shuddering of live wood ripped asunder and an unearthly howl of pain. The bush screamed.

CHAPTER 8
     
    My heart slammed my chest with every ear-splitting wail from the massive pink flower at the base of the tree.
    Had I killed Gabby and Tony by attacking the vine?
    The tension wrapping their bodies snapped.
    All at once, thick vines connecting them to the tree splintered as strips of the plant shriveled.
    I drew a breath and staggered over to reach down and grab them each by one hand, then I pulled, dragging them from the bindings still wrapped around their bodies. Uprooting one of these trees would be easier. Where had that wild energy gone? I still had adrenalin pulsing through me, but not that hot power. I yanked harder.
    Their bindings splintered this time, allowing me to drag them clear of the bush.
    Tony clawed his hands over his head until every last clinging stem remnant had disappeared, leaving cuts. His skin was flushed, his breathing heavy. He reached into his shirt, yanked out the metal disk and kissed it hard.
    “What’s that?” I asked.
    “Saint C.” Tony eyed me. At my blank expression, he added, “You know. St. Christopher. Patron saint of travelers.”
    I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
    Gabby fell over on the ground, hissing, cradling her wrists, which flushed bright red.
    Feeling lightheaded myself, I knelt beside her. “You okay?”
    She released her wrists, sat up and shoved hair off of her face, visibly shaken, but she took a breath and muttered, “I will be after I kill Tony.”
    “That thing attacked me,” Tony mumbled, the fight having gone out of him.
    “After you attacked another flower. Maybe it wanted to eat your phone.”
    “My phone?”  Tony lifted his hand, realized he still had his phone and said, “Hallefreakinlujah.”  Relief spread across his face until he frowned at Gabby. “What the heck are you talkin’ ‘bout the flower bein’ mad? It’s a plant.”    
    “ Everything in any world is alive,” Gabby said. “Just because you can’t make something fit into memory chips, processors and motherboards doesn’t mean it lacks value or survival instincts of its own. We have to be careful in this place.”
    “It was a freakin’ flower , for cryin’ out loud. Who woulda thought it’d try to eat me?”
    “You’ve got a point. I’d expect a plant to be more discriminating.” She rubbed the raw skin around her wrists.
    A leaf fell out of Gabby’s hair. She picked it up and shrugged to herself then gave up a half-hearted smile. She did look a year younger physically than I was, but she had the tough core of someone who’d fought her own battles for a long time. Whatever life she’d led had taught her how to adapt, because she’d been taking everything in stride better than Tony had so far.
    More than anything, this plant attack proved how much we needed each other. I hoped Tony realized that now. “Let’s call this progress on the learning curve and move on. No harm, no...” I almost had the word, but it vanished.
    “No foul?” Gabby smiled.
    “Yeah.” That sounded right, though I didn’t have a clue where the saying had come from. Another crumb from my brain.
    Tony muttered something in my direction that sounded like, “I’m gonna have to start callin’ you Xena after that.”
    Another name that meant nothing to me.
    Once Gabby reached her feet, she dusted off her ripped dress and asked me in the quiet voice of a conspirator, “What did you do to that vine?”
    Not a question I wanted to answer. Or could answer with any confidence.
    “Don’t know,” I admitted, and decided a lie would be better for now until I could figure a few things out for myself. Besides, that battle had drained me to the point it was hard to dredge up thoughts, much less words. Muscle fatigue from the inside out. “It all happened so fast. Everything’s a blur.” 
    Though I had figured out