Chosen at Nightfall (A Shadow Falls Novel) (13 page)

“I missed you so much!” Kylie reached out and squeezed the girl’s forearms.

“Me too.” Miranda bounced back on her bed. “Now, sit down and tell me everything that happened.” She squinted her eyes and checked out Kylie’s pattern. “You’re back to being that strange pattern again.”

“I think that strange pattern is a chameleon.” If Kylie was the least bit paranoid, like ninety percent of the other chameleons, she should be trying to hide that pattern. But it was a little late for that, wasn’t it? Too late to start pretending to be something she wasn’t? Everyone here had seen her. And for that matter, could she pretend? Sure, she’d been able to change the pattern a couple of times, but how did one maintain it? According to what she’d learned, most chameleons weren’t able to do that until they were in their twenties.

And by God, she wasn’t going to let anyone lock her away until her pattern quit misbehaving. Her heart went back to Jenny and the other teens at her grandfather’s place. Suddenly, Kylie got a feeling that helping the young chameleons was part of what she was meant to do. But as Hayden had said, convincing the chameleon elders seemed impossible.

“But you can transform yourself into most anything, right?” Miranda’s question drew Kylie out of her thoughts.

“Sort of,” Kylie answered, and tried to keep her mind back on Miranda. “But it’s still kind of tricky.”

“What crazy stuff can you do now?” Miranda asked. Her green eyes glittered with excitement.

Kylie shrugged and dropped down on the bed beside Miranda. “Nothing new, just a little more control over what I can do. Oh, wait, there is one thing. I can make other people invisible.”

“Seriously? Make me invisible now. Do it. Do it.”

“Please, not now. I’m exhausted. Plus, I’m not sure … I mean, it’s still kind of scary to do it.” She remembered being scared shitless at the thought that she’d somehow lost Derek in the invisible world tonight.

Then, almost wanting a distraction from talking about herself, she reached for the bear and hugged it. “So you and this bear have a thing going, huh? It looked pretty serious when I came in here.”

Miranda smiled. “Perry gave it to me to keep me company when he wasn’t here. Though this guy’s not nearly as good of a kisser as Perry.”

Kylie smiled. This was what she had missed. Just having someone to talk to, to giggle with. “That’s sweet,” Kylie said.

“Yeah,” Miranda said, and then asked, “Can you glow anytime now?” She pulled her knees up to her chest.

“No,” Kylie said. “That only happens when I heal people.” Or pull them from the dead, she thought. Realizing the crazy powers that seemed to come and go, it all scared her. She really hoped Hayden and Burnett could work out their differences. It would really be nice to have Hayden here to help her if things went wonky again.

“Too bad, the whole glowing thing was totally cool. I mean, I can make myself glow, but it’s not as cool as when you did it. I don’t know why, but it’s different.”

Kylie shook her head. “It wasn’t that cool, believe me.”

“Yeah, it was.” Miranda made a funny face. “Everyone agreed that you looked like an angel. They were even wondering if maybe you didn’t have a little angel in you.”

“I’m no angel.”
Just ask Burnett.

“Everyone is still talking about it,” Miranda said.

Great
. But even at the thought of being everyone’s topic of conversation, and getting all the awkward stares from some of the other students, she didn’t dread it as much as she would have before. Face it, she was thrilled to be back, even if it did mean she was still considered a bit of a freak.

Pushing all that aside, she focused on Miranda again. “So what have I missed since I’ve been gone?”

“Everything. It’s been crazy. Oh…” A frown appeared in her eyes. “Did you hear about Helen?”

“Yeah.” Kylie nodded. “Holiday promised me she’s fine.”

Miranda made another face. “Did you hear who they think did it? That Mario creep was seen—”

Kylie nodded again. “I know.”

Miranda frowned. “I think it was him, too. I had started feeling that weird presence again. Like someone was hanging around. Gave me the creeps. And I was all by myself, too.”

“I know what you mean.” An ugly shiver walked down Kylie’s spine as she remembered her confrontation with Mario earlier. Then Kylie looked at Miranda. “And I’m sorry. It’s my fault he’s here.”

“It’s not your fault. He’s evil.”

“Yeah.” And he was. Soon, Kylie knew she’d have to tell Miranda about what happened tonight, but she didn’t have the energy to go into it now. “You don’t feel him now, do you?”

Miranda tilted her head to the side as if putting out some kind of internal feelings. “No.”

“Good.” Kylie pushed back the feeling that he could come back anytime. She really wanted to believe that Shadow Falls was safe, but was she only fooling herself?

“You okay?” Miranda asked, studying her.

“Fine. How’s school going?”

“We got a new history teacher. To replace that creep, Collin Warren. A cool guy. A were. He’s young. Like only twenty. He was a whiz kid, but you wouldn’t know it now. You should see Fredericka! She’s all over him.”

Kylie nodded but didn’t want to get caught up in bad-mouthing Fredericka. They had kind of made peace. “And what other craziness has happened?”

Miranda arched her right brow. “Nikki happened, and if she doesn’t stop happening I’m gonna give her a case of big fat pimples.” She held up her hand, wiggled her pinky, and scowled.

It took a moment to remember Nikki was the new shape-shifter who had a thing for Perry. Kylie frowned, thinking about the Meet Your Campmate hour she’d spent with the girl. The girl for sure had it bad for Perry. “Yikes. How’s that going?”

“It better not be going anywhere! I get so furious at Perry. I mean, he swears he wouldn’t touch her, but I think he’s eating up the fact that some girl has a thing for him. And I can tell that he likes it that I’m jealous. He mentions her in unimportant conversations. As if he likes to see me get all riled up.”

Kylie bit down on her lip and wondered if Lucas hadn’t been a bit thrilled that Monique had a thing for him. Or did Monique even have a thing for him? Was Lucas really telling the truth about them never doing more than just sharing a couple of kisses? Had it been Monique who Kylie had seen?

The questions came at her so fast, she wanted to mentally duck.

Miranda dropped back on the bed with a bit of drama, and Kylie realized her mind had taken her back to her problems when she should be focused on Miranda.

“Do you trust him?” Kylie asked. “If you do, then you have to stop fixating on it.”

Miranda pursed her lips as if thinking. “Is that what you did with Lucas?”

“That’s different,” Kylie said.

Miranda propped herself up on one elbow. “Are you okay? God, I know that had to hurt.”

“I will be okay,” Kylie said. “Eventually.” She stared up at the ceiling and tried to push her heartbreak back. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a ton of other issues to worry about. Like the ghost carrying around severed heads who was probably waiting for her in her bedroom. A shiver ran down her spine from the memory.

Miranda shifted and rested back on the bed again. “You know after you left he came to talk to Della and me?”

Kylie turned and looked at Miranda. “He did?”

“Yeah. I think he hoped we would try to talk to you about him. Convince you to forgive him.”

Kylie refocused on the ceiling and reached for the teddy bear and hugged it. “I’m sorry he bothered you.”

“He didn’t bother us,” Miranda said. “I don’t know if you want to hear this, but … he was really hurting. I’m not saying you should forgive him, but he swore to us that the only reason he was going through with the engagement was to get on that stupid were Council.”

“I’m not sure the reason is important,” Kylie said. “It’s the fact that he did it. And behind my back. Not that I would have accepted it if he’d told me, but…” Her throat tightened. She hugged Miranda’s teddy bear closer.

“I know.” Miranda paused. “Della pretty much told him the same thing. And she gave him hell. The kind of hell only Della can dish out. Told him he was a piece of monkey shit and that he should go have himself castrated.” Miranda let go of a deep sigh. “When Della first started unloading on him, I thought I was going to have a were/vamp fight on my hands. I mean, I thought he was going to come unglued. Weres don’t often take lip off of a vampire, not that kind of lip. But he didn’t even react. He stood there and took everything she said. Later, even Della said she couldn’t help but admire him for taking his punishment like a man.”

The knot in Kylie’s throat doubled. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.” Silence filled the room. Miranda finally spoke up. “Then let’s talk about something else. Something good. Did you know Holiday and Burnett are planning on having their wedding here at the camp?”

“No, I didn’t know.” That news did make Kylie feel better. “When is it planned?”

“They haven’t set a date yet. I got the feeling she was waiting on you to come back. However, it will probably be soon. I went to see Holiday the other night, and Burnett’s things were all over the place. I think he’s staying there now. They’re so hot for each other. I’ll bet they have sex three times a night.”

Kylie made a face. “Do people really do it that much?”

“I don’t know,” Miranda said, “but I hope so.”

They both started giggling. A warmth filled Kylie’s chest. “Burnett and Holiday deserve to be happy.”

“Don’t we all?” Miranda said, and then sighed again. “I’m gonna say this and then I’ll shut up. I know you are really angry at Lucas and I don’t blame you for it, but … maybe you shouldn’t completely give up on him. You wouldn’t let me give up on Perry.”

Kylie shook her head and frowned. “Two weeks ago you were telling me that I should give him the boot and go back to Derek.”

“That was before I saw how hurt Lucas was. I think he loves you.”

Kylie shook her head. “I really don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I just want … I need to call my mom and then I want to go to sleep. Will you hate me if I leave now?”

“You aren’t going to school today?” Miranda asked.

Kylie gave it a thought. “No, I think I’m going to play hooky. I haven’t been to bed yet.”

“Oh, then go to sleep.” Miranda looked at her. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything that happened?”

Kylie frowned. “Because I’m not, but I’m just too tired to get into everything now. I’ll tell you every horrible detail later.”

Miranda nodded. “How horrible?”

“Really horrible.”

“Okay.” Miranda frowned. “But I may pop in and just look at you every now and then. I’ve really missed you.”

Kylie smiled. “I missed you, too.”

“You can borrow Teddy if you want.” Miranda smiled.

“I think I will.” Kylie reached over and squeezed Miranda’s hand. “Thanks.” She stood up and walked out, holding on to the oversized stuffed animal as if it could be her salvation.

If nothing else, she could use it to hide her face so she didn’t have to look at severed body parts.

Chapter Twelve

Thankfully the ghost must have gotten tired of waiting, because Kylie found her room warm with Socks, her black-and-white tuxedo kitty, resting peacefully on her pillow.

When she joined Socks on the bed, the cat scooted over, giving her room, then with his front white-socked paw, he swatted at the teddy bear Kylie still held.

“Okay, I guess holding you is better.” She set the bear on the floor. The cat climbed up on Kylie’s chest and she gave the kitten some much needed attention. After several minutes, Kylie sat up, shifting the feline to rest at her side. “Sorry, buddy, gotta call Mom. But don’t worry, I’ll probably be short and sweet. She’s much too busy with John to spend time talking with me.”

The moment the words were out of Kylie mouth, she realized half her problem with John. She was jealous. She felt her relationship with her mom had just found solid ground when John had come along and snagged her mom’s attention. Was it wrong for Kylie to want to be the most important thing in her mom’s life for a while?

Probably,
Kylie answered her own question. Especially when she was living away from home. Her mom had every right to need a life of her own.

But if Kylie’s jealousy was only half the problem, what was her other issue with the man? Plain and simple, she just didn’t like him. She reminded herself that Burnett had done a background check on the guy and nothing suspicious came up.

Kylie remembered how shocked Burnett had been to discover that Hayden wasn’t everything his background check had revealed. Maybe Kylie shouldn’t put too much stock in Burnett’s checks.

Then again, maybe Kylie should stop trying to paint John as a bad guy and start trying to accept him as a part of her mom’s life. Especially when he seemed to be the only part of her mom’s life that was making her happy. Her mom deserved to be happy, didn’t she?

Kylie dialed her mom’s number, determined to play nice.

It rang once. Then two more times. Normally her mom picked up quickly. Kylie worried she might be interrupting some romantic interludes. She frowned and looked at the time. It had to be almost lunch time in the UK, surely they really weren’t … doing the deed, or as Della would have called it, having a nooner.

She pushed that thought from her mind as quickly as she could, and instead let her mind wander to Della. Burnett had said the little vamp had run into some type of altercation. Seeing Miranda had been super soothing, but having them both here would be just what the doctor ordered.

Another ring of the line brought her attention back to the phone. She expected it to switch to voice mail at any moment. Was her mom okay? Resentment stirred inside her for John again. If something happened to her mom on this trip …

“Hello?” Her mom sounded … distant. Somehow unwelcoming.

“Everything okay?” Kylie asked, her hand tightening on Hayden’s phone.

“Kylie?” her mom said. “Whose phone are you using to call me?”

Realizing this to be the reason for her mom’s delay and odd distant tone, Kylie sank back on the pillow. However, the aloofness in her mom’s voice reminded her of when she’d been younger and tried so hard to win her mom’s approval. A time when Kylie questioned her mom’s affection for her. But that was the past. They had found a new place in their relationship. Or they had before now. Kylie prayed John’s presence didn’t change that.