Jacob stared up at the little spearheads lining the top of the wrought iron fence and debated hopping it. On the other side was VanDusen Botanical Garden, where he'd spent most days this spring after school before his 5:00pm curfew. He'd been in the garden probably fifty times, but it was the only place his parents let him go that was anything remotely close to real nature.

He wasn't a juvenile delinquent, or anything bad, but the idea of hopping the fence without paying to get in had lodged itself in his mind this morning and now it festered in him like some sort of incurable status effect.

But what if he got caught?

Jacob could already see it. The security guard hauling him to the visitor centre and making him call his parents. Sitting there, red-faced, not being able to look anyone in the eye, wishing he'd shrink into nothing and disappear. Then his parents coming and getting him. Grounding him for the entire summer. Having to sit through a 'talk.' His mother going on and on about how "kids at your age go through a rebellious streak, get up to all sorts of juvenile delinquency, but no son of mine will, right Jacob?"

Right, mom.

But he knew if he turned away and went to the entrance and just paid the marginal membership fee like he did most days he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it, and tomorrow was the last day of junior year and then he'd have to do it tomorrow and-

He had to.

It was that simple. The desire tingled in the palms of his hands, made him vibrate like a hummingbird. It would be so easy. Just grab two bars, stick his feet in the spaces between, then step up and haul himself over and into the garden.

And what did he care if he got caught anyway? Junior year of high school was out for summer after class tomorrow. Luke had already left on a Mediterranean Cruise with his family, and Thiago would be at sailing camp until school started again.

He had no one to hang out with the whole summer, his parents never let him do any summer camps, and they said travelling was just an expensive way to get pickpocketed or mugged. If he did this it would set the summer off on a good note, on an exciting note, whether he got caught or not.

Maybe his mom was right. Maybe this was his rebellious streak coming out, and maybe it would lead to juvenile delinquency and all sorts of bad things they warned him about like gambling and drugs and being unemployed and jail, but Jacob thought that as terrible as those things sounded, right now he didn't give a rat's ass about any of it. If he could do this, he could do other stuff too. He could sneak out of the house and take the bus out to Lynn Valley Canyon Park and Capilano River Regional Park and hike there like he'd always wanted to.

He clenched his hands into shaking fists. A little thrill shot through him. He was going to do it. Even if he got caught.

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He looked one way. There was no one coming towards him on the sidewalk. Good. He looked the other way.

A girl he vaguely recognized from school stood on the sidewalk not far away, staring at him with narrowed eyes. Her name was Camilla, which he knew because he'd had a biology class with her in sophomore year, not that she probably knew him. She wore skintight black jeans and a pink blouse and an expensive looking black jacket. A golden necklace with a large blue jewel set in a medallion hung from her neck, and matching golden earrings with blue jewels dangled from her ears.

Jacob's heart fluttered and he quickly pretended to wipe something off the fence and then turned and hurried away. His heart thumped so loud in his chest he could barely hear the traffic going by down the street. He was very aware of himself, the way he walked, his posture, the girl's eyes boring into his back.

Why had she been looking at him? What if she knew what he'd been about to do? No, there was no way. That was paranoia talking.

He hurried to the front entrance of VanDusen, all plans and hopes thwarted. He paid the fee and went in. For a few minutes he walked quickly, head down, his spine tingling as if the girl were still right behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder. She was long gone. He shivered, but the tingling sensation didn't go away.

Jacob sighed and slowed his pace to a slouch. He walked along, taking his usual route through the mini Japanese garden, but barely noticed the flower beds and manicured bonsai trees. One stupid girl looking at him and he'd chickened out. Christ, what a fail.

He didn't even want to be here. He'd been in this stupid garden like a hundred times over the past two years. But, as repetitive as VanDusen was, he'd rather be here than at home.

Jacob sat down on a bench in the far corner of the Garden and flexed his back. His spine was still tingling. He tried to ignore it. Thankfully the garden wasn't very busy right now. Ugh, that stupid girl. Why had he gotten so scared? What was wrong with him? How was he ever going to be an ecologist if he got jumpy every time someone looked at him? How would he ever deal with real life animals? There was only so much he could learn from watching nature docs on his laptop.

A sensation Jacob couldn't describe rippled across the forefront of his mind. He froze. The colours of the neatly trimmed hydrangeas in front of him intensified. Then the air in front of them twisted.

Jacob blinked. It looked as if reality had become malleable fabric. The hydrangeas bulged as if Jacob were looking at them through a fishbowl. Something tried to push through. A shape resolved, a four-legged animal, thrashing and pushing at the air as if it were trapped under a blanket.

A great, regal tiger ripped through the air on the other side garden path, tearing a hole in reality. Jacob got a glimpse of an impossible landscape through the tear, and then it began to knit close.

Instead of black and orange stripes, the tiger's coat was a light, dreamy blue Jacob sometimes saw in ice cream flavours, with silver stripes slashing down its flanks. Silver sparks and streaks of light sprung from it, and its body rippled and shimmered as if it were reflective. Silver tassels stretched out from its brows and nose, like long whiskers streaming in a hidden wind.

It was also as big as a car.

Jacob gaped, unable to think, let alone move.

The tiger looked around, swinging its big, shaggy blue head back and forth. Its eyes were pupil-less, reflective silver, like tiny crystal orbs. It let loose a growl and stamped a paw the size of Jacob's torso down, squashing one of the hydrangeas beneath it. Then it flicked its ear as if irritated.

The tiger's gaze swung over to Jacob.

It snarled.