Burnett ushered everyone involved in the dispute out of the dining hall. Kylie moved with him like a robot, one foot in front of the other, still not wanting to let her emotions rise to the surface for fear of what might happen. Meaning, she'd either start again with the wiseass comments-channeling Della's attitude-or she'd vanish. Both could cause irreparable damage.
Right as she stepped out the door, followed by Lucas and Derek, she heard someone's parent say, "Wouldn't you know, it's always humans causing shit."
Inhaling the sunshine-filled air, trying not to be insulted for her mom and stepdad, and trying to control the mortification of it all, she watched Holiday guide her mom and John into the office building. Burnett waited a second, then in an unsympathetic voice, he ordered her stepdad to follow him inside-obviously into different rooms. Kylie sensed they were all going to get a stern talking-to. Not that they didn't deserve it, but ... she felt odd being the one watching her parents getting pulled into the "principal's office" instead of the other way around.
Remembering some of the things she'd said to her mom and John, Kylie suspected her stern talking-to was probably just around the corner.
Once the office door closed behind Burnett and her stepdad, Kylie swung around with the intention of throwing herself into Lucas's arms. She needed a little TLC-someone to lean on. But Lucas wasn't there. She looked back at the dining hall and saw him moving inside, no doubt heading back to his pack. God forbid his pack believe his assistance in stopping the disruption was anything more than a good deed, or because he actually cared about her.
Right or wrong, her heart broke right then. Derek, however, suddenly appeared beside her. Her eyes stung, her throat knotted, and the next thing she knew she was in his arms. Warm, strong arms that were so good at holding her and offering comfort.
It was wrong. So wrong. She needed to stop this. Stop relying on Derek.
"Quit feeling guilty," Derek whispered in her ear, reading her emotion right on cue. "I'm just a friend, helping out another friend."
No, she thought. He was a friend who used to be more, a friend who'd told her he loved her and wanted to be more again. He was someone that on odd occasions she still thought about having more with, too-someone she knew she could turn to for help. And yet, it wasn't his arms she longed for, it wasn't him she needed to hold her.
A while later, Holiday stepped out onto the office's porch and motioned her over. Great, now it was Kylie's time to get her punishment. Accepting she deserved it, she stiffened her spine and went to face the music.
But the look on Holiday's face wasn't one of reprimand. She immediately embraced Kylie. "Dear Lord, child. Please tell me you're okay."
"I'm okay," Kylie lied.
Holiday exhaled. "You scared the life out of me. What...? What happened?"
When Kylie met the camp leader's green, caring gaze, the air in Kylie's lungs shuddered. "I scared the life out me, too. I ... just vanished. I could see and hear you, but you didn't know I was there. I ... I went poof." Just like my grandfather and aunt had.
Holiday touched Kylie's forearm to offer calm. "Okay, we need to talk about it, figure it out, but first let's deal with your parents and get them on their way."
Kylie's chest tightened with the realization that as much as Holiday tried, she wouldn't be able to help Kylie figure this out. She needed her grandfather and aunt. A chameleon alone will not survive. Come with us. You need to learn who and what you are.
Realizing Holiday was studying her, Kylie blurted out, "I said terrible things. I don't like John."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, right now, neither do I." Holiday pressed a palm to each of Kylie's shoulders. "Just go talk to them. I think they're all in agreement that they're the ones in the wrong. Your dad's in my office and your mom and John are in the conference room. Can you do this?"
Kylie nodded.
As she walked away, Holiday pulled her back for another hug. "It's going to be fine, okay? There's nothing we can't figure out."
If only that were true.
Kylie stepped into Holiday's office. Her dad, sitting on the sofa, rose and met her face-to-face. And his face showed his emotions. Remorse. Sadness. A lot of sadness.
"I'm so sorry, baby. I behaved like an idiot. It won't happen again, I promise you."
Kylie nodded. "Everything just got out of hand."
He nodded. "But it wasn't all in vain. It forced me to face the truth. I needed that."
Did his voice just shake, or was she imagining it? "What truth?"
"I'm giving your mom her divorce. She wants it; she's got it."
Defeat filled her stepdad's eyes. Defeat, like she could never recall seeing before. One word came to her mind. Broken. He was a broken man. Seeing it hurt so damn much!
"Dad, I think Mom's just-"
"No." He held up his hands. "I didn't mean ... I'm not blaming your mom. I accept I messed up. I don't even understand how I could do it, when I loved her so damn much from the first time I saw her in high school." Tears filled his eyes as he pressed his palm to Kylie's cheek. "Don't ever fall in love, princess. It hurts too damn much."
His words echoed in her head as she recalled the pain she'd felt when she turned for Lucas and he wasn't there. She wondered if her stepdad wasn't too late in offering that piece of advice. But she pushed her own emotions aside to deal with his. He needed her.
He took another deep breath. "Losing her kills me, but I deserve it, and I'll learn to live with it, but what I can't live with is ... losing you. From the day the doctor dropped you into my arms, I loved you."
Tears filled Kylie's eyes. "You aren't going to lose me."
"Good, because I'm your father and I don't want you to ever forget that."
But he wasn't her father. The words "I won't forget" rested on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say them. She looked away. She hadn't meant that cut of her eyes to mean anything.
Yet it had. She heard his sharp intake of air. She glanced back and saw it in his eyes. He knew. He knew that she knew.
"Your mom told you," he said.
Hurt filled his eyes and the same feeling swelled in Kylie's chest. "No." My real father came to see me from the grave. She had to come up with a lie and quick. "I found your original marriage certificate and learned she was already pregnant, and everything else fell into place."
"I couldn't have loved you more if you were mine. I never wanted you to think I didn't love you because of it."
"I know," she said. "And the fact that you loved me when I wasn't yours meant something." She spoke the words to soothe him, because his pain filled the room, but then she realized how true they were. He'd loved her when he didn't have to.
He'd done all the daddy/daughter things with her: sold Girl Scout cookies, helped her build a matchbox car to enter the school race, and gone on all the father/daughter trips. Then there were the hugs, when her mom wasn't good at giving them. She leaned into him, needing a hug now, and thinking he could use one, too.
She savored his embrace. He'd always been good at this. She heard his breath shake, and she cried into his shoulder like she had so many times as a child. That's when she realized she'd forgiven him. He wasn't a bad man; he'd just made some bad mistakes.
He was, after all, just human.
After her dad left, Kylie pulled herself together, and walked into the conference room to face her mom and John. Like it or not, she had some apologizing to do, so the sooner she got it over with, the better.
Kylie's mom shot up from her chair. John followed. "I'm sorry," Kylie said. "I-"
"We're sorry, too. Aren't we, John?" her mom blurted out.
"Yes, I spoke too freely." The apology came from John's lips but didn't appear in his eyes. "It was a mistake that will not repeat itself."
"You're just human," Kylie said, but she didn't say it with all that much confidence. And she studied his face to see if he reacted to the remark. He didn't. She still had to stop herself from checking his brain pattern again.
The scary thought was that if he wasn't human, he was a chameleon. She recalled Red, who'd given his life to save her, telling her that he was the same thing that she was, only not born at midnight. So ... Mario must be a chameleon, too. And if John was a chameleon, could he be in cahoots with Mario?
She was overreacting, she told herself. Her feelings probably stemmed from the fact that he was the reason her stepdad didn't stand a chance of getting back with her mom. However, she decided to ask Burnett to do a background check on dear ol' John.
Kylie's mom moved closer. "John, can you give Kylie and me some time alone?"
Here comes the scolding. Kylie bit her tongue and told herself she should be happy her mom decided to spare her the embarrassment of scolding her in front of her man toy.
However, the man toy looked unhappy when he turned for the door. Kylie bit her tongue harder. But damn, this guy brought out the worst in her.
The moment John walked out, Kylie blurted out, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things." And she was sorry, not because she'd said them to John, but because she'd probably hurt her mom. That had never been her intention.
"No, Holiday was right. Showing up here with him wasn't the best idea. I just..." She blushed. "He makes me happy, Kylie. I can't even explain it, but it's almost the feeling I got with your real dad."
Kylie recalled something her grandfather said, that the humans who were blessed found themselves attracted to supernaturals. Her suspicions rose about John.
"I wanted you to get to know him, because ... because he's important to me. And-"
Dear Lord, this was hard to hear. Before she knew what she planned to say, she'd started talking. "Dad's sorry about all this, too, Mom. If you brought John here to make Dad jealous, it worked. I know Dad hurt you, but if you still love him ... he loves you."
Her mom closed her eyes as if searching for the right words. When she looked up, raw emotion shined in her eyes. "I did want your dad to see me and John, but I can't ... Your dad and I won't be getting back together." She took Kylie's hand. "I'm sorry, baby. I can't..."
Kylie squeezed her mom's palm. "I understand."
Her mom sighed. "Do you?"
Kylie nodded. It still hurt like the devil, but she understood.
Her mom sighed as if she was about to say something difficult. "Please try to see the good in John. He's not the reason your dad and I broke up."
"I know." That was all Kylie managed to say. She wasn't sure she could ever see any good in John.
Her mom bit her lip and made a funny face. "Now, about the question you asked. If John and I were ... If we..."
"Are having sex?" Kylie finished for her, because God knew her mom would be here all day trying to say it.
Her mom blushed. "I'm an adult and I'm capable of making that kind of decision. You're young and..." Her eyes widened. "You aren't ... you haven't...?"
"No, Mom. I haven't," Kylie said. "But I will someday, and I don't want you to have an aneurism when you find out."
Her mom looked horrified. "I won't. As long as you're thirty."
Kylie rolled her eyes. "Mom."
"Okay, twenty-nine." She paused. "You know, it hurts to see you grow up."
"I know; it hurts to see you grow up, too."
Her mom's brow wrinkled with confusion. "What?"
"I could say it hurt to know you're having sex, but I thought you'd prefer the euphemism."
Her mom chuckled at the same time a cold entered the room, a familiar cold. Daniel? A quick glance around the room told her he couldn't manifest. But she knew he'd tried.
Her mom smiled. Then she reached over and hugged her. "I swear, sometimes when I'm with you, I can almost feel your father here."
"Me too," Kylie said, and wondered how much her mom could really feel.
The chill in the room grew colder, but oddly it came with a hint of anger and frustration. Had her dad overheard the conversation and was making his opinion known about the whole sex-with-John issue?
I know, Dad, Kylie spoke in her head. I don't like him, either.
Even before her mom and John pulled out of the parking lot, Holiday and Burnett had Kylie by her elbows. "Let's talk," Holiday said.
Kylie gazed back at the dining hall. "Shouldn't ya'll be in there?"
"First things first," Holiday said as Burnett led them to the office.
"How the hell did you disappear like that?" Leave it to Burnett to cut to the chase.
"I don't know." Kylie walked into the office. "I wished I could vanish like a ghost when I saw my mom and John kissing, and then ... I did."
"You wished yourself invisible?" Holiday asked.
"I guess," Kylie said.
"Then how did you come back?" Burnett closed the door.
"I un-wished it." Knowing how crazy it sounded, she glanced at Holiday and dropped down on Holiday's sofa. "Sort of like how you tried to teach me to shut off a ghost."
"Visualization." Holiday arched her brows as if impressed.
Not that Kylie shared her viewpoint. "It was scarier than hell. I remembered what my dad said about us working things out together and I thought I was dead." She paused. "How am I going to stop it from happening again?"
Holiday looked at Burnett as if expecting some wisdom from him.
"What?" He held up his arms in defeat. "I ain't got shit. I'm just now learning to deal with ghosts."
Holiday rolled her eyes. "You read the reports at the FRU. Did it say anything, or lead you to assume anything, about a chameleon's gifts?"
"No. The only thing it stated was some of the case studies considered themselves chameleons." He frowned. "There could have been more in the other reports, but they conveniently disappeared."
Right then, Kylie couldn't help but remember her grandfather's warning about the FRU.
"We need to read the other files," Holiday said. Her eyes stayed on Burnett. "How can we do that?"
Kylie closed her eyes. She didn't know what they were going to do, but she knew what she was doing. First, she was going to find a way to get back in touch with her grandfather, and then ...
A wash of pain spilled over her. Could her grandfather be right? Did she have to leave Shadow Falls and go with him in order to get the information she needed?
After a few minutes of both Burnett and Holiday trying to come up with a solution, they finally concluded that Kylie should be careful about what she wished for.
Right! As if she hadn't come up with that one by herself.
Burnett's phone rang. He answered the call. "Yeah," he said. "How long has she been missing?" Both Holiday and Kylie tried to pretend they weren't listening, but how could they not when the call was obviously about Cindy, the waitress at the diner, the once-smiling young woman in her driver's license who was now in the grave with Holiday's sister?
"Okay," Burnett said. "Get me the file. Did you get anything back on the other matter?" Burnett's eyes shifted to Kylie, telling her that the "other matter" involved her, as well.
Burnett listened and suddenly that's when it hit Kylie. She couldn't hear the conversation on the line. What happen to her ... "Hey," Kylie screeched at Holiday. "Am I still vampire?"
Holiday tightened her brows. Shock filled her eyes. "No."
"What am I now?" Kylie asked.
"Welcome to my world," Holiday said.
"I'm fae?" Oh, great. More "Kylie's a freak" moments from the other campers were predicted to arrive soon. As if the parental chaos wasn't enough to get them talking about her.
Her aunt's words echoed in her mind. The few who did not hide were viewed as outcasts, freaks, and not belonging to any one kind.
Holiday nodded and smiled a smile that came with a lot of empathy. And Kylie not only saw it, but felt it.
Burnett must have heard the conversation, because as soon as he pulled the phone from his ear, he stared at her forehead and said, "Damn."
"What did you learn?" Holiday asked, as if sensing Kylie didn't want to discuss her ever-evolving brain pattern.
"Cindy Shaffer disappeared about six months ago."
"So after Hannah disappeared," Holiday said.
"Do we know for sure that Hannah didn't just leave for a while and then..." He paused and sympathy flowed out of him in waves.
"And then was killed," Holiday said, and the words no more left her lips than the grief floated off her and filled Kylie's chest. Kylie had always been empathetic to others, but this was so much more intense.
Not a cakewalk, Kylie thought. Being fae would take some getting used to, but at least she could go back to eating food again. Then she thought about Derek and how he'd said her emotions had felt supersized. That must have been so hard on him.
Burnett moved in. "The police are investigating her disappearance. They have a suspect-old boyfriend-but they couldn't prove anything. I'll go over their files, but considering what we know, I don't think this is tied to her personally."
"What else did you learn?" Kylie asked, remembering Burnett's glance at her during the call.
"I had another check done on Hayden Yates."
"And?" Kylie asked, but even before he spoke she felt his discontent at having to tell her.
"He's clean. There's nothing in his background that points to him being anything other than what he says he is."
Kylie exhaled, not sure she believed it. She'd been so sure there was something hinky about him. Then she remembered ... "Can you check out my mom's boyfriend?"
"You think he's behind Hannah's murder?" Burnett asked, confused.
"No, nothing to do with Hannah. I just ... don't like him."
"I don't, either," Burnett clipped, "but that doesn't mean he's a criminal. There's a lot of people out there that I don't like."
Kylie frowned. "He gives me the creeps and I'd feel better if-"
"I'll do it," Burnett said, but she felt his emotions and knew he believed it was a waste of time.
"There's something else I want to talk about," Kylie said.
"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Burnett asked.
Kylie glanced at Holiday, who looked equally concerned. "I think it's time to call a halt to the whole shadow thing," Kylie said.
"No!" Burnett's expression grew grim.
Kylie sat up straighter and felt her backbone stiffen. "I'm tired of never being alone."
"You're alone in your room when you go to your cabin," he countered.
"Della's listening to every move I make. I can't do it anymore. I want my life back. Mario hasn't tried anything else for weeks now. Miranda said she doesn't feel any unwelcomed presence. I don't feel his presence. Maybe he's given up."
"People like him don't give up. He's waiting for the opportunity to strike."
"I promise to be careful, and if I feel anything, you'll be the first person I tell."
"No!" he said again.
Kylie felt an odd kind of energy building in her gut. Everything inside her said she was right, that they couldn't force this on her. She didn't understand the ball of vigor, or her lack of fear at standing up to them right now. If she wasn't so mad at his out-and-out refusal, she might have been more afraid that something else weird was happening to her.
"I'm not a prisoner here," she said. "I have a say in this."
"A say in if you get yourself killed or not?" he asked in anger.
"I'm not going to get killed." She tilted her chin back and looked at Holiday, hoping she'd see reason in the camp leader's eyes.
"This is because you want to see your grandfather again, isn't it?" Holiday asked, and while she saw Holiday's disapproval, Kylie also felt Holiday's compassion.
"Partly." Kylie didn't even consider lying. There was just a sense of rightness to her request. "But that's not all it's about. I'm tired of being babysat."
Burnett went to speak again, but Holiday intervened. "Would you promise to stay out of the woods?"
"She's already broken that promise," Burnett said.
"I promise." Kylie ignored Burnett.
Holiday leaned forward. "Will you promise to confirm with us when you meet your grandfather?"
"Will you promise not to stop me?" Kylie asked.
"I promise we will assess the situation and only stop you if we feel your life's in jeopardy."
"By whose judgment?" Kylie asked. "Some people's idea of safety is not reasonable." She didn't even flinch when she looked at Burnett-who, by the way, looked even more furious. And she felt every bit of his anger.
"This is insane. My job is to protect you," Burnett snarled.
"No," Holiday corrected him. "Our job as school administrators is to teach Kylie how to survive in the human world. Like it or not"-she glanced at Kylie-"she has the right to leave. And that is the last thing we want to happen right now."
Somehow, Kylie knew that the ball of energy in her gut had been about projecting how serious she was on this issue. Was that a fae talent, or was that from her chameleon abilities? Kylie didn't know. But it was pretty damn cool, even if it scared her.
"Do I have a choice in the matter?" Burnett bit out.
"No," both Kylie and Holiday said at the same time.
Burnett's phone beeped in an odd kind of way. He grabbed his device and pushed a few buttons. "Someone just jumped the front gate." He turned to leave, but stopped when a figure flashed in the doorway.
Blake, Holiday's ex-fiance and the suspected murderer, stood there. "I heard you were looking for me."
Kylie jumped to her feet and stood beside Burnett, ready to defend Holiday.
But Holiday acted as though she didn't need protecting. She jumped up and met Blake's glare. "Did you do it?" she asked, fury pouring out of her.
"Did I do what?" he asked.
"Did you kill Hannah?"
