Kylie ran like the wind.
Nothing slowed her down. Nothing could.
Not the thick underbrush.
Not the overhanging limbs.
Not even the seven-foot barbed-wire fence telling her she was leaving Shadow Falls property. Don't you dare leave Shadow Falls property. She heard Burnett's warning ring in her head, but she ignored it. She followed the screams.
She even ignored her fear that she was running full-speed ahead into a trap set by Mario and his friends. It didn't matter. She was a protector. She had to protect.
After several minutes of running on pure adrenaline, her breath heavy, she sensed the scream and the screamer getting closer. Then she saw it.
Not the screamer.
She saw the fog-the thick, low-hanging cloud that moved over the underbrush, as if swallowing the ground up. It moved in a way that said the force behind it was more than Mother Nature. This was some unnatural power.
A power that traveled at breakneck speeds.
Logic told her to run, but the screams grew louder, and instinct kept her feet moving right into the mouth of the fog. Movement to the left caught her eyes. A girl raced to escape the thick mist. Her long black hair stirred around her head, reminding Kylie of the picture of Medusa she'd seen in a Greek mythology book.
Still a distance away, the girl's gaze met Kylie's. Relief sparked in the runner's eyes. Doubt sparked in Kylie.
Was this real, was the girl real, or was this another vision? Was the girl truly running for her life, or was she running from a death that had already claimed her?
Questions bounced around Kylie's mind as her feet hit the earth. Faster, she told herself when she saw the fog almost at the girl's heels. "Run faster," Kylie screamed.
Dead or alive, helping the stranger felt essential. The sound of the girl's rapid footfalls echoed through the trees, until her speed helped her escape the mouth of the fog.
Then, as if in slow motion, the girl tripped, lost her footing, and hit the ground. Hard.
The thud of her fall bounced off the trees.
Kylie watched in horror as the fog moved in. She pushed herself, sensing the need to reach the girl before the strange fog. The fizz in her blood gave her strength.
Coming to a sudden stop beside the lifeless body, Kylie snatched the unconscious girl into her arms. She weighed next to nothing. When Kylie looked up the fog was almost upon her. Running on instinct and perhaps panic, Kylie shot off.
Her feet pounded the underbrush into the ground. She hadn't gotten ten feet when the feeling of being lured hit her again. Come to us. Come to us. The wind, the trees, everything whispered the same message.
She stopped running. Her breaths came short, in and out. She swung around. "What do you want? Who are you?"
Her heart slammed against her rib cage. Cradling the girl closer, Kylie stared at the fog.
The thick gray cloud hovered twenty feet back, pulsating as if a heart beat within. The air around it stirred as if it breathed.
That's when she stopped being able to breathe, because ... because freaking hell, fog wasn't supposed to breathe. Fog wasn't supposed to be alive.
Before Kylie could react, the cloudlike air shifted and separated into two different masses. While she didn't sense an evil presence, she could no more deny the fear biting at her backbone than she could deny her own need for oxygen. Part of her instinct screamed to run, another part screamed to stay.
The fog inched back a few more feet as if it sensed Kylie's dread.
So she waited.
She watched.
She listened.
Listened to her name being called.
Kylie. Kylie.
Listened to the words spoken that came with the wind-whispered softly like a breeze stirring in the leaves. We mean you no harm.
"Who are you?" Kylie called out.
The girl in Kylie's arms shifted. The weight that had felt lifeless now stirred with life. Glancing down, she saw that blood oozed from the girl's brow. The need to get her help pulsed through Kylie's veins. She looked up again at the fog. The two different masses had taken shapes. Humanlike shapes.
Don't go.
Kylie's instinct to move the girl to safety swelled in her chest. To face the unknown alone was one thing. To do it with a bleeding girl in her care was another.
"I have to," Kylie answered, and turned to leave. She got only a few feet.
Stay.
There was something about the voice, a male voice. She glanced back over her shoulder; air caught in her chest.
Her grandfather? Was that not him? Then Kylie saw the woman and recognized her as her grandmother's sister. Tears filled Kylie's eyes.
She started to turn back but the girl in Kylie's arms screamed. She looked down. The girl's eyes shot open. Her dark blue irises stared up in bafflement and sent a bolt of familiarity rocketing through Kylie.
But she had no time to ponder. The blood oozing down the face of the girl came down faster. Kylie's instinct to get the girl to safety made her own blood sizzle. How badly was this stranger hurt?
"Release me!" the girl ordered in a low growl, and tried to squirm free. "Release me!" she screamed again, and started to fight this time. Her strength told Kylie this was no human. Without Kylie's protective powers, the girl would have easily won her freedom, but not now.
"In a minute."
Kylie took flight-holding the squirming blue-eyed stranger close. I'm sorry. Kylie spoke the words in her head and prayed they would be heard by those she'd just left. She'd had no choice but to leave. Her need to protect bit down stronger than her own quest.
Clutching the screaming stranger in her arms, Kylie jumped over the barbed-wire fence. Once on Shadow Falls property, the silence in the woods seemed louder than the girl's protests. Without warning, Kylie felt one, two, and then three whisks of air fly past her.
Then Burnett, Della, and a large bird-Perry-appeared beside her, all three moving at Kylie's pace.
Kylie stopped running. So did the others. Tiny sparkling bubbles appeared beside Perry as he morphed back into human form.
The three of them stared at Kylie, or rather, they stared at the screaming girl in Kylie's arms.
"Who is she?" Burnett asked.
"Don't know." Kylie's breaths came short, her mind on her grandfather and great-aunt. "She was running from-"
"She's a were," Della interrupted. "I could smell her as soon as we passed."
The girl stopped struggling against Kylie's hold. Her voice deepened as she met Kylie's eyes. "Release me now! Or you will regret this with your dying breath." She raised her head and glared at Della and then Burnett. "All of you will regret it!"
Burnett spoke directly to Kylie's package. "Give me your word that you will not run."
She glared at him.
"If you do, I'll catch you and I'll be really pissed off."
"If you're fast enough," the girl quipped.
"Oh, he's fast enough." Perry tossed in his two cents. "When he was fifteen, he chased down a shape-shifter in antelope form and kicked his antelope ass. There wasn't enough of that animal left to make a rug."
"Fine," the stranger bit out. "I won't run."
Della moved in and stared at Perry. "You knew Burnett when he was fifteen and chasing antelopes?"
Releasing the girl, Kylie's gaze collided with the antelope ass kicker himself. His expression prepared her for what came next. "I thought I made it clear you were not to go into the woods."
Kylie nodded, but she refused to be reprimanded for doing what, for her, was as natural as breathing. "Someone was in danger."
"You put yourself in danger." His gaze shot back to the girl. "What were you running from?"
"Fog." The girl wiped away the blood that oozed from her forehead. "It chased me."
"Fog chased you?" Della snickered. "You smoking something?"
"She's telling the truth." Kylie almost told them about her grandfather, but something compelled her to think first ... speak later.
"Who are you?" Burnett asked the girl.
"Who are you?" the girl countered.
"Definitely were with that attitude," Della muttered.
Perry laughed, then waved at the girl. "You're bleeding. It's dangerous to bleed in front of vampires."
"Don't worry," Della said. "Were blood is nasty."
The girl shot Della a cold look. Kylie got the feeling again, that something about this stranger was familiar.
Burnett spoke next. "I'm Burnett James, the camp leader of Shadow Falls, and you are trespassing."
"You're ... Burnett?" The girl showed the first bit of insecurity.
"She wasn't trespassing," Kylie spoke up. "I brought her across the property lines."
The female shot Kylie a look of surprise. "I don't need you to defend me."
"I wasn't. Not really."
Burnett's body posture hardened, but his scowl targeted Kylie. "You left Shadow Falls property?"
"I heard her screaming." The bleeding stranger pinched her brows, trying to read Kylie's pattern. Was she still a witch? Or was her pattern doing something else weird?
"You..." The girl shook her head. "You're a witch. How could you..."
Well, that answered that question, Kylie thought.
The girl turned her blue eyes back on Burnett. And just like that, Kylie knew who she was. The color of the eyes, the way she tilted her head, even her body language hit the mark.
"I'm-"
"Lucas's sister," Kylie said.
"Yes." She focused on Kylie again. "I'm Clara Parker. Who are you?"
"Kylie Galen," Kylie said.
Surprise widened the girl's eyes. "But you're a witch? I thought..." She paused. "And you ran and have strength like you're either a were or ... a vamp." The last word came out sounding like an insult.
Della growled. Burnett's frown tightened.
The frustration of the whole witch issue came rushing back. "I'm just an evolving piece of art. Just call me the mealtime freak show here at Shadow Falls."
"You're not a freak," mumbled Perry. "I'm the resident freak," he said with pride.
Clara continued to stare at Kylie, and then she said, "Why was that fog chasing me? Did you do that with magic?"
"No, I didn't do it."
Burnett focused on Clara. "Your family is worried about you."
Clara rolled her eyes. "They worry too much. I told them I was coming here."
"You were expected two days ago," Burnett reprimanded. "And just so you know, if you plan on staying on at Shadow Falls, we don't like changes in plans without going through the proper channels."
Clara arched her chin up as if to offer Burnett some lip. Remembering it was Lucas's sister, Kylie intervened. "I'm sure she'll adjust. Lucas will fill her in."
"Where is my brother?" Clara insisted.
"He was called to visit the Council," Burnett answered.
Kylie looked at Burnett and wondered if Lucas had told Burnett. If so, why hadn't Lucas told her?
"Is something wrong between him and the Council?" Clara asked Burnett.
Kylie recalled Will's odd behavior earlier when Kylie asked the same question.
"Not that I know." Burnett stood stoically for a few seconds, and then asked Clara, "How badly are you hurt?"
"Just a scratch," Clara answered.
"She passed out," Kylie said.
"Did not," insisted Clara, as if it would make her look weak.
Kylie started walking back to the clearing. Everyone fell in step with her. The sounds of the woods returned to normal, but Kylie barely noticed. Her mind chewed on what she'd seen when she'd looked back the last time, and tried to decide what if anything to share with Burnett. Glancing briefly over her shoulder, she tried to listen with her heart to see if she still felt her grandfather and aunt calling. Were they still there? Or had they left?
The sensation lacked the earlier power, but she still felt it.
"Perry," Burnett spoke up, "you and Della go ahead and make sure Clara gets to the office to be seen by Holiday." Burnett's demanding voice bounced off the trees and caused another wave of silence. "Kylie, I want a minute with you." His tone left little doubt that the minute wouldn't be pleasant.
Kylie stopped walking. Perry shot Kylie a look of pure sympathy. "She was just trying to help," the shape-shifter offered.
Della spoke up. "And nothing happened. All's well that ends well, right? You can't get mad when-"
"Go," Burnett ordered.
Della grunted, and Perry sent Kylie another look of empathy. She loved both of them for feeling the need to intervene, but she could handle this. She hoped.
"I'll see you," Kylie said when Perry appeared poised to argue.
As they walked away, Kylie inhaled a deep breath of wood-scented air. Burnett stepped beside her. They watched the three others move ahead. Clara glanced back. Her gaze expressed more curiosity than concern.
"Is she in trouble?" Clara asked, her voice getting softer as the distance between them increased.
"Let's just say, I wouldn't want to be her right now," Perry answered.
"And your wolf ass is the reason she's in trouble," Della smarted back.
"I didn't ask her to help me," Clara countered.
Kylie waited before she spoke to Burnett. "I shouldn't be reprimanded for doing what I was supposed to do."
"You could have been killed. It could have been a trick to lure you away from Shadow Falls."
"It wasn't. Clara thought she was in danger. I felt her fear and reacted."
"She thought she was in danger?" he asked, picking up on Kylie's slip of the tongue. "Are you saying she wasn't?"
When Kylie paused, Burnett continued. "Exactly what was it you two were running from?"
A need to tell the truth filled her chest, but another need-the need for answers-kept her quiet. "Like I said before. It was fog," Kylie answered, confident that her response wouldn't read as a lie. Her words were true.
Just not the whole truth.
"Did you sense it was evil?"
"I was scared," she admitted again. A shiver rushed down her spine. Not from fear, but from the cold that came when the dead neared. She glanced around, trying not to let on that they had company. The ghost, Holiday's look-alike, peered at them from behind a tree.
"But...?" Burnett asked, sensing she wasn't finished.
"But I didn't sense it was evil." A whisper of guilt came, but if she told Burnett her grandfather and aunt had attempted to see her without permission, what would Burnett say?
"I'm trying to protect you. I can't do that if you don't follow my rules."
"I don't normally break your rules." The cold grew colder and she cut her eyes to where the ghost had been. She'd disappeared. In a flash, the Holiday look-alike stood beside Burnett, looking at him as if she recognized him. The thought sent a tremor of fear through Kylie's heart.
"It could only take one broken rule and it would be too late."
Kylie bit down on her lips, fighting the cold. "I'm sorry." For upsetting you, not for going. "I heard the scream and I felt called to help."
"Next time, before answering that call, get me."
"I'll try." She shivered in spite of her attempt not to.
"I think you could do better than try," he countered, then he looked up as if questioning some higher power. "Explain to me why I wanted to be a part of Shadow Falls."
"I can answer that," Kylie said, feeling bad for making him angry. "Because beneath that crusty exterior of yours, you care about us. And you love the other person who runs this place." Kylie glanced at the ghost, wondering if she would react to the words.
The spirit's gaze widened. "Do you mean...?"
Burnett frowned, but he didn't try to deny it.
Kylie would've been happy that he'd come to terms with his feelings for Holiday if she didn't have the ghost staring as if ... as if the confession of love had affected her.
The spirit looked at Kylie. "He's in love with the camp leader?" Panic laced her tone. Did the spirit now know she was Holiday?
What's your name? Kylie asked in her head.
"I told you," the ghost answered.
"I'll never get used to this." Burnett started walking.
"Get used to what?" Kylie caught up with him, her attention more on the spirit who walked beside the vampire, staring at him with surprise.
"The ghosts," Burnett blurted out as if the words cost him.
Kylie stopped and grabbed him by the elbow. "You can feel them?" she asked. Generally, only when a spirit was trapped in a small room could a non-ghost whisperer feel them.
"No," he said.
Kylie stared at him.
"Fine. Maybe I feel them a little. It's probably more about the look you and Holiday get in your eyes when they're around," he confessed. He looked around. "Is she gone?"
"How did you know she was a female?" Kylie asked, realizing the spirit was gone.
His jaw clenched. "I could smell her," he said, as if it were some kind of a sin.
"You can? I didn't think ... I mean, I didn't think vampires had ghost-whispering gifts."
"I didn't think so either." And he didn't sound happy about it. He shot off walking again, only faster-his pace reflective of his mood.
Kylie kept up, but barely. "Does Holiday know?"
"Know what?" He didn't even look at Kylie.
"About you detecting ghosts? She was curious as to why you could go into the falls and-"
"No, she doesn't know," he said. "And don't mention it. I'll tell her later." Worry tightened his jaw.
They walked in silence for a second. "I didn't mean to cause trouble by going after Clara. I just reacted to my internal instinct."
"Sometimes our internal instincts can be skewed," he added.
She wondered if he was talking about his ability to smell and sense ghosts as well as her protective instincts. "I'll try to do better next time."
"Thank you," he said, as if conceding to what she offered.
They continued forward. The wind stirred the trees.
"Can you tell me more?" he asked.
"About ghosts?"
"No. About the fog. I'd like to forget about the ghosts."
Kylie remembered how she'd felt when she first learned she could detect the dead. She could relate to his feelings. Sometimes she'd still like to forget about her ability.
"Did you sense it was Mario?"
"No." Kylie went over the details, careful not to leave anything out except the ending. No doubt he would question Clara later. But Kylie was almost certain Clara hadn't seen anything that would give the secret away.
"It has to be Mario and his buddies again." Burnett's fist clenched as he walked.
Kylie hesitated to say anything, knowing if she slipped up and lied, he would know. But neither did she want Burnett to worry too much. "Remember I said it didn't feel evil."
"It has to be them." He looked at her directly, a stern, fixed stare. "You do not go into the woods, with or without a shadow. You understand?"
She nodded. She understood, but she didn't say she would comply.
"It has to be some witch or wizard behind this." His brows pinched. "You don't think that you accidentally caused the fog, do you?"
"No," Kylie insisted.
"You sure? With the other incident-"
"It was different." Her cheeks warmed, remembering the incident.
Their pace slowed. The trees and underbrush seemed to soak up the sound of their footsteps. Kylie's mind returned to Clara, and from Clara, it moved to the girl's brother.
"Can I ask you something?" Kylie asked.
"If I said no, would it stop you?"
"Probably not." She debated on how to word her question.
"If it's about anything concerning Holiday and me, I've been ordered to plead the fifth."
She grinned. "Don't worry, the inside-out shirt the other day pretty much told me what I wanted to know about you and her."
The stern-looking vamp half smiled again. His smile faded. "It's not about ghosts, either, is it?"
"No. It's ... When a Council calls someone in for a meeting, is it bad news?"
"You're talking about Lucas?" he asked.
She nodded.
He moved a limb out of his way, holding it back so it wouldn't hit Kylie. "It can be, but not always."
"Do you know what it is they want with Lucas?" She pushed another limb away.
"No, I don't." His words rang completely honest.
"Are you concerned?" Kylie asked.
He hesitated. "Yes."
"Why?"
"I respect Lucas's need to become a part of the Council so he can help bridge the problems between the weres and the FRU, but I don't want the Council to have too big of an influence over him."
"You don't trust Lucas?" Kylie asked.
"If I didn't trust him, he wouldn't be here. My problems stem from the fact that the were council and the FRU have issues. In general, the were community is less compliant to work within the FRU's rules. It goes back to the pack mentality."
"But couldn't that be because the FRU considered werewolves lower-class citizens?"
"That has changed," he said. "But I'm sure that plays a big part in their behavior, and I can assure you that the FRU treats all were situations with that in mind. However, prejudices stem from both sides. One of the reasons they were viewed as outcast was because they viewed others as the same."
"So it's a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg' kind of thing," Kylie said.
"I guess it doesn't matter," he said.
When they arrived at the clearing, Burnett looked at her. "I'll walk you back to your cabin. If Della or Miranda isn't there, I'll get someone else to shadow you for the time being. Holiday and I will be there shortly to go to the falls. But until I investigate this whole fog thing, you're not to leave that cabin without me knowing where you are and who you are with."
She flinched slightly at his tone and new demands. Surely he was exaggerating. "Do you mind if I go back to the office with you?" Kylie asked. "I'd sort of like to check on Clara."
He hesitated, but nodded, and they started down the path to the office. Kylie gave the woods one last glance and felt nothing. Had they already left?
Her gut instinct said they had. Question was, would they come back? And if so, could she find a way to go to them?
Before Kylie stepped up on the porch, she heard Lucas talking. "You can't keep doing this!" His voice carried.
Kylie wasn't sure if it was her sensitive hearing or if he was talking that loudly. Considering how private werewolves were, she suspected the former.
"What did I do?" Clara asked. "I told them I was coming here and I did."
"Where else did you go? Did you go see Jacob?" Lucas's tone came out tight.
"Of all people, I would assume you could understand my need to see who I wanted to see."
"As strange as it is, I think Dad's right about him."
"Really, are you going to let him choose your lifemate? Wasn't that what you two were arguing about when you were back there? Your affection for Kylie?"
Kylie's breath caught. Lucas had argued with his dad about her?
"We're talking about you," Lucas snapped.
"I'm here, isn't that what matters?" Clara asked. "Isn't that what you want?"
"What I want is for you to quit playing games, Clara. I'm trying to help you."
"Games? Please, you are the biggest game player of them all. You play games with the Council, with Dad, with your mom, and with Grandma. You even play them with Fredericka. I'll bet you're even playing games with that witch of yours."
"I'm not playing games, and I don't have a witch."
Kylie hesitated as they moved closer to the cabin's steps, and from the look Burnett sent her, she supposed that he, too, was hearing the conversation.
"I could still walk you to the cabin," Burnett offered, and from his tone, Kylie sensed he understood how this might be hard for her. His concern should've been touching; instead she didn't like knowing everyone knew her business. She preferred her private life to stay private.
"I'll have to face him sooner or later," Kylie said, glancing away.
But even Kylie had to admit, later sounded really tempting. Yet she squared her shoulders and continued walking, her gut tight at the thought of Lucas's response to her being a witch.
