Whispers at Moonrise (33 page)

“I thought I saw someone.” Kylie spotted Holiday moving across the street.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Kylie thought she recognized someone.” Burnett motioned for them to cross the street. “We should get back to the camp before the parents start showing up.”

Oh, great!
Now Kylie had the whole parent issue to deal with.

Holiday looked at her watch. “We’d better hurry.”

They moved across the street to get in the car. All
five
of them.

Yes, five.

Burnett hit the clicker to unlock the doors. Holiday popped in the front seat. Kylie stood by the back door when Hannah leaned in and whispered,
“I call window seat.”

Hannah, Derek, and Kylie climbed in. As soon as Burnett got settled behind the wheel, his shoulders stiffened and he swung around. The look, the sheer panic in his gaze, told Kylie she wasn’t the only one hearing and, more than likely, seeing Hannah.

*   *   *

Burnett drove in silence, but kept looking back in the rearview mirror. Kylie shivered from the chill of Hannah’s presence.

Have you figured out anything else?
Kylie spoke in her mind.

Hannah ignored Kylie’s question. Instead, she stared at Derek. “
He’s cute.”

“Damn, it’s cold in this car.” Derek draped his arm around Kylie. The warmth of his arm did feel good, and being this close, close enough to get a good whiff of his natural scent to chase away the scent of garlic, didn’t feel so bad, either. And for that reason, she shifted away and cut him a warning look that said, “Don’t push your luck.”

Sometimes she thought he forgot she wasn’t really with him anymore. Not that it wasn’t easy for him to forget, with Lucas never hanging around her …

“
You should definitely choose him.”
Hannah leaned into Kylie’s shoulder. The icy feel of her touch caused Kylie’s spine to stiffen.
“And speaking of romance, the bozo in the front seat better watch himself. If he hurts my sister—”

“I won’t,” Burnett muttered.

“Won’t what?” Holiday and Derek asked at the same time.

“Nothing.” Burnett slammed his jaw so tight he had to have cracked a few teeth.

Hannah leaned forward and stared at Burnett in the rearview mirror. The mirror frosted over.
“If you break her heart, I swear, I’ll neuter you in your sleep.”

Burnett’s jaw tightened some more. Holiday gaped at the rearview mirror and then stared wide-eyed at Burnett. A second later, she swung around and gave Kylie the befuddled look. “Is it her? Is Hannah here?”

Kylie froze, literally from Hannah’s icy presence, but also from not knowing what to say.

When Kylie didn’t answer, Holiday stared back at Burnett. “Can you see her? Can you see ghosts? How can you do that?”

“We’ve got a ghost in the car?” Derek’s voice rang a bit high-pitched.

“
Had a ghost in the car,”
Hannah said. Her teary-eyed gaze stared at Holiday, and then she vanished, leaving the saddest of sad moods to fill the car like smoke.

*   *   *

The moment Kylie spied her mom and John, her mom’s creepy new boyfriend, walking into the dining hall, holding on to each other like a couple of horny teenagers, Kylie found herself envying Hannah’s ability to vanish. Why did her mom think bringing John was a good idea? And if she had to bring him, couldn’t she keep her hands off his butt while she was here?

Yup, Kylie’s mom had her right hand tucked into the back of John’s jeans pocket. And frankly, the man didn’t even have a nice ass!

Surely her mom wasn’t getting serious about him and felt these visits were needed for Kylie to get to know him—before … before they did something stupid, like get married.

The thought scared the crap out of Kylie. Inhaling, she told herself she was overreacting; as Nana would have said, she was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Then again, her mom hadn’t answered Kylie’s question about them having sex. And chances were, her mom wasn’t about to answer that inquiry today, either.

Kylie’s mom turned around and spotted her on the other side of the dining hall and smiled. Kylie waved, hoping her mom would do the same, freeing her hand from John’s ass, but nope.

Taking a deep breath, Kylie faked a smile.

Her mom grinned up at John, and the man swooped down and kissed her. Kissed her … with tongue, and right there in front of all of Kylie’s campmates.

“Just shoot me,” Kylie muttered.

“I think they’re cute.” Holiday leaned into Kylie as if reading her emotional overload.

“And I think I’m going to puke.” Kylie swore she was going to have a sit-down, serious chat with her mom and find out exactly what was going on. When the kiss kept going, Kylie decided again that yup, she’d love to vanish. Just up and disappear.

“Take some deep breaths and calm down,” Holiday said. “You’re exploding with panic.”

Kylie looked at Holiday. “My mom’s French-kissing a guy in front of everyone,” she muttered. “Of course I’m panicking!”

“Shit!” Holiday snapped.

“Shit, what?” Kylie asked, alarmed at the panic in Holiday’s voice.

“Oh, Kylie,” Holiday murmured. And then she looked across the room and waved down Burnett, her arm motions serious.

“What is it?” Kylie looked to the door, thinking someone unwanted, possibly Mario, had walked in.

No Mario.

“Damn it to hell and back!” Holiday whispered. “Kylie, where did you go?”

“What do you mean? I’m right here. Standing right next to you.” Kylie looked down at her feet, but she saw only the floor. No sneakers, no legs. No Kylie.

“Oh, shit!” she muttered, and while she hadn’t thought about it in quite a while, she remembered her dad telling her that they would work things out together. Was this it? Was this what dying felt like?

Chapter Twenty-nine

Wait, Kylie thought. If she was dead, wouldn’t she be on the floor in a crumpled, lifeless heap?

“Oh, crap!” Kylie muttered when her mom, a dumbfounded look on her face, walked up to Holiday.

“Where’s Kylie?” her mom asked.

“She ran to … to the bathroom, I think, but … I’m not sure.” Holiday’s voice sounded an octave too high.

Burnett stopped at her mom’s side, his serious gaze trying to read Holiday. “Something wrong?” His calm front almost sounded convincing, but Kylie saw the stress tightening his jawline.

“Uh, Kylie … she … disappeared. I thought maybe you could find her.”

Disappeared?
So, she’d just disappeared. She wasn’t dead.

“Disappeared?” All sorts of questions filled his eyes.

Holiday nodded and didn’t break eye contact as if mentally telling him it was serious.

And hell yeah, it was serious. She was freakin’ invisible.

“It’s crazy.” Her mom sounded confused. “She was here and then … she vanished.”

Vanished?
Kylie suddenly remembered wishing she could vanish. Vanish like a ghost.

Damn! Damn! Damn! If there was ever a lesson in the old adage of be careful for what you wish for, this was it.

Questions flashed across her mind. Was she still a vampire? Had she turned back into a witch and accidentally wiggled her pinky when she made the declaration? Or was this completely connected to her being a chameleon? That’s when she recalled that her great-aunt and grandfather had gone
poof,
both from the car the first day they’d shown up at Shadow Falls, and at the cemetery. Was
poof
the same thing as vanishing?

Her grandfather’s words echoed in her head.
Come with us. We’ll help you understand everything. You need to learn who and what you are.

More than ever, and maybe not even for the first time, Kylie wondered if he was right.

*   *   *

“You’ve lost her daughter?” John snapped. “What kind of place loses kids?”

“We haven’t lost her,” Holiday said, but Kylie saw fresh panic flash in her eyes. “I’m sure she’ll show up any minute.”

Her mom seemed to relax, but Kylie didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling from Holiday’s tone. And when Kylie listened closely, she heard the camp leader’s heart beating to the tune of a lie.

Crap! Crap! Crap! Kylie tried to think. She had to get herself out of this because … well, apparently she’d gotten herself into it.

“I can do this,” she said, needing a little encouragement even if it was as fake as a mall Santa.

She tried to rationalize. If she’d gotten this way by wishing it, maybe she could un-wish it. She started un-wishing, if you could call begging to everything holy in her mind to change her back as un-wishing. She closed her eyes and realized that if it worked, she’d magically appear. That would freak everyone out even more. “Go somewhere else,” she muttered to herself. “Somewhere private.” She dashed toward the bathrooms.

Hurrying into the room, she heard voices but ignored them, and stormed into an empty stall. Breathing in, then breathing out, she closed her eyes, closed them really tight. “I wish … I wish I was visible.” She opened her eyes. Her gaze shot to her feet. Or to the space where her feet should have been, but weren’t.

A knot formed in her throat; fear bounced around her chest like bumper cars. What if she stayed like this? What if … No! She’d been in worse situations. Heck, she’d been kidnapped and chained to a chair and survived. She’d been tossed off a cliff and came through it. All of a sudden, she questioned again if this was Wicca related. She wiggled her pinky. “Turn me visible. Turn me visible.”

Nothing happened.

“What the hell have I done?” The knot in her throat doubled in size. She started to cry. “Somebody help me, please?” She leaned against the bathroom stall door. “Daniel.” She whispered her father’s name, even though she knew the likelihood of him showing up was slim to none. “Can you please, please help me?”

“Think yourself there,” a voice said.

Her breath caught when she realized it wasn’t just any voice, but Daniel’s. She pulled away from the door and saw the vague apparition of him, crowded between the toilet and the stall wall. “Think it. Make it so in your head.”

“How?”

“Think it. In your heart. You have the power—” He faded.

“No,” she begged, but he was gone.

Wiping her tears, she did what he said. She concentrated on being visible. On being there, physically.

Closing her eyes again, with no faith but desperate enough to try, she concentrated. She opened one eye and peered down. Her feet had never looked so beautiful in all her life.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“For what?” someone asked in the stall beside her, but Kylie barely listened, too excited that she wasn’t invisible anymore.

She walked out of the stall and came to an abrupt stop when she saw Steve and Perry both standing in front of urinals, their jeans hanging low on their butts. The sound of urine hitting ceramic filled her ears. It wasn’t a pretty sound.

Her face heated to a nice shade of red.

The stall door behind her swished open. “What are you doing in the boy’s restroom?” someone asked.

Steve, pants still down, swung around. Completely around. Kylie slapped her hands over her eyes.

“I didn’t see a thing. I swear.” Okay, maybe she did, which had her face turning hotter.

“What the hell?” Steve growled. Along with Perry’s laughter, she heard the sound of zippers being pulled up.

“I’m sorry.” Hands over her eyes, she moved in the direction of the door, but she hit a wall instead.

Perry laughed again. “Our friends are all put up. You can open your eyes now.”

She did, but refused to look at anyone.
Their friends!
She darted out, wishing she had a minute to get her head together before …

Too late.

Holiday spotted her. And so did her mom and John. All three came hurrying over.

Holiday stared at her wide-eyed with questions flashing in her eyes. Questions Kylie didn’t have answers to.

“Was that the boy’s bathroom you just walked out of?” her mom asked, sounding a bit annoyed, but mostly worried. John moved in and slipped his hand around her waist. Something about the way he touched her had Kylie envisioning them naked together. Oh, Gawd. They were having sex. She knew it.

Then she saw it. Saw it in her head. And it was not pretty!

“Are you okay?” her mom asked. “You’re beet red.”

“Yeah.” Kylie squeaked. She pushed away the image of them naked before she wanted to vanish again.

“You were right there,” her mom said in a mildly scolding voice. “I turned my head and you were gone when I looked back.”

Kylie opened her mouth to say something, to apologize, or maybe to say something mundane like
beautiful weather isn’t it
, but those weren’t the words to leave her lips.

“You didn’t turn your head. You were sucking face with that idiot.” She inhaled, clamping her mouth shut, but it just flew back open. “You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you? Have you even read the sex pamphlets you gave me all those years?”

Her mom gasped and her face brightened. So that was where Kylie got her ability to blush. Her mom opened her mouth, obviously to scold Kylie, but nothing came out. Not a word.

John cleared his throat in a scolding tone. What in holy hell gave him the right to clear his throat at her? “Now, Kylie, that wasn’t nice.”

“You mean the kiss?” Kylie asked. “Because, frankly, I didn’t say it was nice. It was actually quite embarrassing.”

That’s when Holiday cleared her throat. Kylie could handle Holiday’s intervention, but not this bozo’s, who was doing the dirty with her mom.

“I really think we should go outside,” Holiday said.

“I think the girl needs a firm talking-to,” John said.

Kylie’s spine went ramrod straight. And damn if she didn’t feel her canine teeth grow a little longer. She had emotions racing through her so fast she couldn’t even begin to define how she felt. Except hungry. For blood. How dare he feel he had the right to correct her?

“I hope you’re rich, because that’s the only reason I can think my mom might like you.”

Her mom gasped, and so did Kylie. Why was she saying these things? Oh, shit, she needed to shut up. What was wrong with her? Had going invisible addled her brain? Or was being vampire making her as ballsy as Della?