Todd, a fairly hot-looking guy with sandy-colored hair, jumped out of his truck and frowned. He obviously didn't miss that Perry stood touch-me close to Miranda. From the look on Todd's face, he hadn't missed the kiss, either.
"Someone trying to steal my date?" Todd's words could have been meant in humor, but his tone told another story. He strode forward and dropped a possessive arm around Miranda's shoulders.
Kylie saw Perry's entire body stiffen. His eyes turned a bright red.
Todd, still studying Perry, tightened his brows to check out Perry's pattern.
The teen's jaw dropped a little when he realized exactly what Perry was. Kylie waited for the puddle to appear around the guy's feet.
The office door opened and shut behind them.
"Uh, Perry? Can I see you a minute?" Burnett called.
Kylie moved in close to Perry. "Don't screw it up, now," she whispered.
Perry, anger oozing from his pores, continued to stare at Todd. Kylie could feel the electricity start to buzz and hum around the shape-shifter.
"Don't do it," Kylie repeated in a whisper.
Perry looked back at Burnett, then at Kylie, and then back at Miranda. "I'll see you tomorrow night," he said, but his tone was so tight, Kylie knew what it cost him to keep his composure.
Then he turned around, transformed himself into his favorite bird, and flew up, making tight circles around them.
Della leaned over to Kylie. "He's going to crap on Todd's car, just watch!"
Kylie did watch and hoped Della was wrong. Okay, it would have been really funny, because as big of a bird as Perry was, that would have been a lot of crap, but Kylie didn't think it would impress Miranda. And that, she realized, was what this had been all about.
Still, Kylie didn't relax until Perry changed directions and flew back toward the woods.
"Hey, I know. Why don't we go to the swimming hole tonight?" Della suggested fifteen minutes later on the walk back to their cabin. "A bunch of campers have attached a swing to one of the higher cliffs so we can jump into the water. I'm dying to try it."
It was the word dying that had Kylie catching her breath. She'd mostly blocked Jane Doe's warning from her mind and had no idea why she suddenly felt so overwhelmed by emotion. "No." She blurted out the answer so fast that Della made a face.
"Why?"
Because you could die. "Because..." Kylie struggled to explain the situation until she remembered she had a real reason. "Because Holiday is bringing Burnett's computer over for me to use."
"Why would you need his computer when we have one?"
"To send an e-mail to ... It's a ghost thing. I'm sending an e-mail to a deceased woman's family, trying to clear up their heritage, and Burnett has an untraceable e-mail address," Kylie said.
"Oh." Della fell silent. Funny how mentioning the word ghost was a conversation killer.
"So, what time is she showing up?" she asked finally. "I might run to the swimming hole while she's with you."
And you could get killed. Nope. Not happening. "But you're my shadow."
"Holiday let Jonathon leave early when she was there."
"But that was before the sinkhole." Her explanation sounded convincing, and the knot in Kylie's stomach relaxed. She might not be able to tell Della about Fate's premonition or whatever it was Holiday called it, but it wouldn't stop her from watching out for Della.
"Okay," Della said, but she didn't look happy about it. Which was fine with Kylie. An unhappy but alive Della was better than the alternative.
A group of campers rounded the corner and walked past them. Kylie felt the cold stare practically slap her, and when she recognized one of the girls as a werewolf, she figured she knew whose cold stare gave her shivers.
Another glance at the group confirmed her suspicions.
Fredericka.
Kylie kept walking past them, hoping to ignore-
"Hey, blondie," Fredericka called out.
Closing her eyes for a second, Kylie willed herself patience. When she turned, she found herself staring Fredericka right in the eyes. The were had silently moved in and stood so close that Kylie could count Fredericka's eyelashes. The were smirked in an unappealing way. And that's when Kylie had an epiphany.
She wasn't afraid.
Fredericka with her I'll-rip-you-to-shreds attitude didn't scare her anymore. She annoyed Kylie to no end, made her feel something akin to jealousy-although she trusted Lucas not to cheat-but nope, there wasn't an ounce of fear.
"What do you need?" Kylie put her hand out to stop Della from getting between them. Della, probably livid at being held back, growled and exposed her canines. Fredericka's eyes turned a bright pissed-off orange.
"I thought you'd like to know that Lucas phoned me and told me he's not returning until late tomorrow night," the were said in a sickly sweet voice. "He's having issues with his dad. Sad stuff. Poor guy. He needed someone to talk to."
Kylie knew the only reason Fredericka told her this was to annoy her.
And it worked.
But Kylie's pride had her smiling and pretending everything was great. But darn if there wasn't a part of her that didn't want to kick Fredericka's ass and worry about the consequences later.
"Thanks for letting me know. I'll look for his call in a bit." She smiled extra sweetly right back at Fredericka and walked away.
Fredericka caught her by the arm. Her fingers dug into Kylie's elbow. Kylie almost attempted to pull away. Then she remembered that if everyone was right about her being a protector, she wouldn't have the power to take on the were.
The only way Kylie could take on Fredericka was if she tried to hurt someone Kylie cared about.
And considering that other person was Della, and there might be a death cloud hanging around her and every other vampire at Shadow Falls, Kylie wasn't about to let Della get involved.
Kylie would have to use her wits to get out of this. Did she have enough?
"Do you want to let go of my arm?" Kylie pretended like it didn't feel as if her bones were about to be crushed under the were's grasp.
"Not really," Fredericka growled.
"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. Because I've got this spirit hanging around and she's been in a piss-poor mood for about thirty years." It was a lie. Pure lie. But Kylie wasn't above using what she could. "Ever since she was killed by a rogue werewolf, she's been aching-"
Fredericka's hand dropped. "Go to hell."
Kylie smiled. "Thanks for the invite, but I almost went there yesterday and didn't like it all that much." Kylie then wrinkled her nose. "Is that skunk I smell?"
Fredericka's eyes turned burnt orange and Kylie knew she'd pushed too far. The were's hand clamped down on Kylie's elbow and tightened. Someone darted out of the woods. From the corner of Kylie's eyes, she saw it was Will, Lucas's friend.
He cleared his throat, and the she-wolf didn't even look at him. She just dropped her hold on Kylie and took off with a tail-tucked-between-her-legs kind of look.
Kylie didn't like realizing that Will had been hounding her footsteps, unseen. The fact that neither Kylie nor Della had sensed he'd been hounding them told her he was good at it, too.
Della glared at him, but Kylie did the right thing. "Thanks."
"No problem." He disappeared back into the woods.
"What the hell did you say 'thank you'? We didn't need him intervening. I could have opened a can of whoop ass on that she-wolf and she'd have been whimpering like a hungry pup."
And she might have killed you.
They had gotten only a few feet away when Kylie remembered what Fredericka said about Lucas calling her. Pausing, she pulled out her phone to see if she'd missed his call.
Nope.
The were could have been lying. How could Kylie ever know? Then ... duh, the obvious hit. Della, like the rest of her kind, was a walking, talking lie detector. She could hear heartbeats and pulse rates and knew when someone was telling a lie.
Kylie looked at Della. "Was Fredericka telling the truth about Lucas calling her?"
Della made a face. "Is lying wrong if you know it's what the person wants to hear?"
"Just tell me!"
Della mouthed the word sorry. "She was telling the truth."
After Kylie arrived back at the cabin, Holiday came over with Burnett's laptop and they sent an e-mail to Catherine O'Connell's family. They'd concocted a story about being an old friend of Catherine's and thought her family should know that she had wanted to tell them something right before she'd passed away. It sounded good. Convincing, even. And then they did a cut and paste of all the family tree information that came with photos.
Hopefully, it would do the trick. Not that Kylie suspected she'd ever know for sure. But she felt good about keeping her part of the bargain. Never mind that the information Kylie got from her about Berta Littlemon had yet to give her any answers. And Kylie hoped it didn't. The last thing she wanted to discover was that she was wrong about Jane Doe.
While Holiday and Della chatted at the table, Kylie sent her stepfather an e-mail and told him the shift schedule if he wanted to come on Sunday to Parents Day. She hoped he'd e-mail back and say he couldn't make it so she wouldn't have to deal with Sara and her stepdad on the same day. His e-mail came back superfast. He said he looked forward to seeing her on Sunday.
"Crap," Kylie muttered.
Holiday glanced over at her. "Bad news?"
"No, everything is just friggin' fabulous," Kylie said, and dropped her head on the desk. She didn't know if she would survive.
"Are you okay?" Holiday asked when Kylie walked her outside a few minutes later.
"As good as can be expected, I guess," Kylie lied. Holiday nodded and they said their good-nights.
When Kylie got back inside the cabin, Della was answering e-mails and Kylie sat at the kitchen table. She longed to call it a night, but she wanted to be here when Miranda got back from her date with Todd.
Kylie looked at the clock on the wall. That could be several more hours from now, though. Hours that Kylie had to fret over her own problems.
Della swung around. "That's not good. Or maybe it is."
"What?" Kylie asked.
Della pointed to the door and Miranda walked in. Her face was unreadable. She moved over to the table and dropped into a chair with as much drama as she could muster.
"And?" Kylie asked, and spotted hope in Della's eyes. Kylie knew that Della hoped the same thing Kylie did.
Hoped that the date was a complete bust and Perry still had a shot.
Miranda merely shrugged.
"Don't do this!" Della snapped. "Spill it or I'll reach down your throat for the answer myself."
Miranda spoke up. "He was ... nice. Dinner was nice. Holding his hand was nice."
"Did he kiss you?" Kylie asked, unsure how Miranda defined "nice." If Kylie worked hard enough, she could believe "nice" meant it wasn't anything special.
Miranda nodded. "The kiss was..."
"Let me guess," Della said. "It was nice."
"Right," Miranda said.
Della slapped her hand on the table. "'Nice' is just another way of saying 'friggin' boring'!"
Miranda frowned. "That's exactly what I thought."
Kylie and Della both squealed with excitement.
"What?" Miranda asked. "You're happy my date wasn't exciting?"
"No," Kylie said. "Let's just say we're more excited about tomorrow night's date."
A bright smile lit up Miranda's face. "Me too. Can you believe Perry did that? I mean, he was so..."
"Romantic," Kylie said.
"Hot," Della added.
"Sweet," Miranda whispered. "I couldn't stop thinking about him all night."
And that was the best news Kylie had gotten all day.
That night, Kylie stared at the ceiling forever, craving sleep that didn't come. One hour passed. Then two.
Her mind started naming off her problems. She still didn't know what she was. She couldn't stop Fate from taking someone she cared about. She had someone wanting her dead, probably the rogue underground paranormal gang headed by Mario, who still hadn't forgiven her for not wanting to marry his murdering grandson. Lucas was calling and chatting with Fredericka. Sara was coming to visit on Sunday with Kylie's mom. And her stepdad was going to drop by, too. Kylie still hadn't solved her amnesia spirit's issues, and she wasn't even a hundred percent sure the woman wasn't a killer.
Kylie's sleep-deprived brain chewed on each and every issue and didn't spit out any answers. She'd just fallen asleep when she heard a light tap-tap on her bedroom window.
At first, she thought she'd imagined it. Then she thought it was the blue jay again. "I'm not your mama," Kylie muttered.
The tapping stopped.
Kylie lay there, listening. The silence suddenly seemed ominous. She took in a shallow breath, and the sound seemed abnormally loud. The window was locked, right?
She recalled opening it the day before, hoping to invite in a breeze. And no, she couldn't recall locking it afterward.
But hey ... considering the types of intruders Kylie feared the most, the kind that could create sinkholes and materialize out of thin air, what was the chance a locked window would stop them?
So why, Kylie wondered, did the distinct sound of someone lifting her window send sharp jolts of fear straight to her heart?
