Chosen at Nightfall (A Shadow Falls Novel) (40 page)

Suddenly, Kylie remembered something. “You were supposed to meet your grandmother for tea.”

He shook his head. “This is more important.”

“No it’s not, Lucas. You have to get on that Council.”

He frowned. “I haven’t given up. I just postponed talking to her.” He exhaled. “But I don’t care what you say. If I make the Council or not. I’m not losing you.”

“Okay.” A nurse walked in. “We’re going to take her now.”

Lucas frowned but let go of her hand.

Kylie refused to be wheeled into the lab where the scan would take place. She wasn’t sick. But she did make sure her gown was tied before giving everyone a peek at her pink bikini underwear.

Holiday squeezed her hand before she walked into the lab. Burnett gripped her shoulder. Lucas, looking half-pissed and half–very concerned, stayed back. The nurse walked ahead of her into the room, Kylie turned to follow her and was tugged back.

Lucas’s mouth pressed against hers briefly. The words
I love you
sat on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t say them. She didn’t want him to think the fear of what was about to happen was the only reason she said them. And then there was that little doubt that if he knew he had her now, he might not work as hard to get on that Council.

The door swished shut behind her. A chill ran up her spine, but not from a spirit; the room was simply that cold. Kylie glanced around, noting the lack of color in the room. Not a speck of color. Everything was white or off white.

“Okay,” the nurse said. “Have you ever had an MRI?”

Kylie nodded. “When I was having night terrors.”

“Well, this is very much like that. The machine is a little loud and you might feel crowded, but you’ll need to remain completely still. It will take about ten minutes to complete the test. You don’t have claustrophobia, do you?”

“Not really,” Kylie said, but then remembered being caught in the small grave with the three dead girls. Then again, it was more the dead girls than the small space that freaked her out.

“Good,” the nurse said. “Here’s some earplugs. Now climb up here and we’ll get this done.”

Kylie put in the earplugs and swallowed a sudden feeling of anxiety. In the back of her mind, she heard her father’s words.
But soon. Soon we will discover this together.

Her heart raced to the tune of fear, but she climbed onto the table and laid down, trying to fight the chill, and yet wishing she could feel another cold. That of her father. A little word from him that she wasn’t about to die would be good.

The machine pulled her inside. Her nose was less than an inch from the top and the sides of the machine actually touched her forearms.
A machine, not a coffin,
she told herself. But that’s where her mind took her—being in a closed coffin.

The noise started. Even with earplugs, the sound grew so loud she could hardly hear herself think. She closed her eyes. Tried not to listen. Tried not to think. She wasn’t sure how long she was in there when she felt a light tickle in her head. That tickle grew until it was a pain. A sharp pain.

She opened her mouth to scream, tried to move but couldn’t. Suddenly she felt like a light exploded in her head and all she could see was darkness.

Soon, baby, soon we’ll be together.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Someone was holding her hand. In the distance angry voices rumbled. One she recognized. Burnett. Kylie opened her eyes, unsure of where she was. The moment she saw the white ceiling, she remembered the pure white room. The big white machine.

The pain.

She didn’t hurt now.

“Thank God.” Kylie turned toward Holiday’s voice. Ah. Holiday was the hand holder. Worry pinching her brow, she pushed some button on a remote control and called for the nurse. “She’s awake.”

“What happened?” Kylie asked.

“You passed out.” Holiday had tears in her eyes. “Scared the shit out of us! Are you okay?”

“I can feel my fingers and toes,” Kylie said.

The door burst open and Burnett, a very angry-looking Burnett, came storming into the room. Right behind him was a man wearing a white coat. And following the doctor was the agent who’d picked her up. Following him was Lucas—a very worried-looking Lucas. And last was Hayden Yates—looking equally concerned.

“I told you she was going to be okay.” The doctor looked at Kylie and then Holiday. “Is she talking?”

“Yes,” Holiday said.

“Is she moving?” he asked Holiday.

“Yes, and I can hear you, too,” Kylie said.

He frowned at Kylie. “Of course you can.”

“Wait,” Kylie said. “Did they finish the test?”

The doctor nodded. “It was wrapping up when you started experiencing pain.”

“Do we know anything yet?” she asked the other agent.

“We need others to read it,” he said, “but it appears you have the markings of all the supernaturals, just as Mr. Yates does.”

Kylie sat up a little. “Does that qualify as a new species?”

“I’m under the impression that it would, but again, others have to review it.”

Kylie bit down on her lip. “How much of this did you already know from the tests in the past?”

The room went silent. Kylie saw Burnett’s shoulders tighten.

The agent paused. “The results we had pointed to the same thing, but ninety percent of the evidence was destroyed by the doctors and administrators running the study to hide their wrongdoings. What evidence we did have, we didn’t know if it was valid.”

“If you even suspected what was done, why haven’t you tried to make it right before now?” Hayden asked.

“We tried,” the agent said. “Maybe not hard enough, but in our defense, the one thing your species is best at is hiding. We searched for family members of those few that we maintained files on. They and their families had disappeared. At one point we considered putting out notices asking people to come in, but no matter how we tried to approach it, it sounded like a witch hunt. And considering what had already happened, it just didn’t feel like the right thing.”

“And how soon will this information be released to the supernatural world?” Kylie asked.

“Probably no later than a few weeks. We’ll also be announcing the internal investigation on the FRU and our wrongdoings in the past. Anyone affected by the studies, or their family members, will receive financial compensation if they come forward.”

Kylie thought of her grandmother. “Money won’t bring back lives.”

“No,” the agent said. “But it’s the human way of showing the organization’s wrongdoing. And since we live in a human world, it’s the best we can do.”

“Why?” Kylie asked.

“Why what?” The agent looked confused.

“You don’t just admit wrongdoings and offer compensation for no reason. Someone is threatening to expose you. Who is it?”

The agent’s expression went cold. “What’s important is that it’s being done.”

Kylie got the feeling they didn’t know the person forcing their hand. But she had a feeling she did know. A few minutes later, the doctor and the agent walked out.

Kylie looked at Burnett. “You wouldn’t know anything about this, would you?”

He shook his head. “Not a thing.” It was a lie, she could see it. He’d been trying to make the FRU do right by her the whole time. She knew she loved this man.

Kylie glanced at Hayden and smiled. Hayden returned the gesture. They had done it. Well, with the help of Burnett. She knew it wasn’t completely over, they still had to convince the elders to trust that things would be different, and they still had to come clean about Jenny, but at least now chameleons wouldn’t have to hide.

*   *   *

The next morning Lucas dropped by at five
A.M.
Kylie was still asleep when he jumped through her window. He’d rescheduled his meeting with his grandmother for this morning and just wanted to check on her before he left. As he started out, she pulled him in for a kiss.

When the kiss ended, he was humming. “You trying to convince me to stay?” he asked, his eyes bright with need and passion.

“No,” she said, and laughed. “Go. We can do this later.”

“Promise?” he asked.

“Promise,” she told him, and she meant it. She didn’t tell him all bets were off, that she’d take him any way he came. On the Council, or off. If he didn’t make it and grew to resent her later, she’d just face it then. But she loved him too much to turn away from him now.

As Kylie pulled her clothes from her closet, Della invited herself into Kylie’s bedroom.

“That was a quicky,” Della said, referring to Lucas’s short visit.

“He just came by to tell me he’s meeting his grandma.”

“I know, I heard,” she smarted off.

Kylie frowned. “You could cover your ears and not listen in, you know.”

“And you could stop buddying up with Steve!” she hissed.

Kylie just shook her head. “Look, I need to get dressed. I’m going with Hayden to confront Burnett and Holiday about Jenny.”

“Burnett’s gonna be pissed,” Della said.

“I know,” Kylie said. “But when he’s done being pissed he’s usually reasonable.”

“Yeah,” Della said. “But it’s always that pissed part that scares the shit out of me.”

Kylie laughed. Della eyed her. “Why would you talk to Steve behind my back?”

Frowning, Kylie answered, “What was I supposed to do? He paid blood for the hour.”

“Tell him no. Believe it or not, that’s usually enough to send him packing.”

Maybe not anymore,
Kylie thought.

“What did he want anyway?” Della dropped on Kylie’s twin bed.

Kylie rolled her eyes. “You know what he wanted. Advice on how to deal with you.”

“So what did you tell him? And remember I can tell if you lie.”

Kylie picked up her brush and started putting up her hair. “I told him to be patient. To fight for you, because you were worth it.”

“Stupid advice,” Della said.

Kylie put her brush down. “Not stupid. True. You are worth it.” Moving to the bed, she hugged the vamp.

“What’s with all the hugging stuff lately?” Della whined.

“I love you,” Kylie said, and grinned.

“You told me that already. So seriously, what’s up?”

She couldn’t lie to Della, so Kylie vagued up the truth. “You tell people you love them so if anything happens, they’ll know how you felt.” Now if she could just find the courage to go and tell Lucas.

Della looked suspicious. “What do you think is going to happen?”

“I hope nothing,” Kylie said, thinking she’d lived through the FRU testing, which hadn’t turned out to be nearly as scary as she’d thought, but she still had to face Mario, and that might not be quite so easy.

“What do you mean?” Della asked.

A light knock sounded on the door of the cabin and saved Kylie from having to explain. “Hayden’s here. Gotta go.”

As Kylie walked out she heard Della’s parting remark. “Perry’s right. You’ve got secrets. You can’t hide them from us!”

Yes, she could, Kylie thought.

Soon we’ll be together.
Her father’s words whispered through her head. She bit down on her lip.

If you don’t mind, Daddy, I’d like to hang around about a hundred years first.

*   *   *

Hayden and Kylie walked into the office. Burnett met them at the door. Holiday was standing behind her desk looking worried.

“What’s wrong?” they asked in unison.

“Nothing, really,” Kylie said.

“We need to talk,” Hayden said.

Burnett motioned for them to sit with a concerned look. As soon as Kylie and Hayden sat down, Burnett spoke. “Are the elders having a problem with you two being tested?”

“It’s not that,” Hayden said. “Supposedly they have contacted all the elders of the other compounds and the consensus is that it is a good thing. Of course there is still a lot of suspicion of the FRU. Something like this doesn’t change overnight. There will be a lot of fences to mend. Trust to build.” He glanced at Kylie. “I personally think a few of the elders are just ashamed that it took a sixteen-year-old girl to force us to face our fears.”

“I didn’t go in alone,” Kylie said, giving Hayden his credit.

“No, but I wouldn’t have gone if you hadn’t set it up.” Hayden glanced back at Burnett and Holiday. “But this isn’t why we are here.”

“Why is it I don’t think I’m going to like this?” Burnett sat down on the edge of Holiday’s desk.

“Don’t start projecting.” Holiday touched his leg.

“First, I want to say I take full responsibility for this,” Hayden said.

“No,” Kylie said. “If you are going to blame someone, blame me.”

“I’m still not liking it,” Burnett snapped. “But I’d like to find out what it is I’m not liking, so I can do what Holiday says and stop projecting!”

“Remember when I told you that one of the other chameleons helped Derek and me escape?”

“Yes,” Burnett said, and Holiday nodded.

“That girl was Hayden’s sister.”

“And?” Burnett said.

“She ran away.”

“And?” Burnett snapped, motioning for Kylie to move faster.

“She ran here,” Kylie said.

“Here?” Burnett asked. “She’s here now?”

Both Kylie and Hayden nodded.

“How could she be…” He scowled. “The night the alarm went off?”

Both Kylie and Hayden nodded one more time.

Kylie saw one of the crystals in the room flicker. For some crazy reason, she sensed Jenny had walked past.

Kylie met Burnett’s eyes. “Please don’t get too mad and start yelling. Not for my or Hayden’s sake, but for Jenny’s. You make her nervous.”

“She’s been here all along, and now is when you decided to tell me? You let me search this whole damn camp for almost twenty-four hours and you knew the whole time who it was?” He stood up from the desk and started walking back and forth.

Holiday stood up, and as he moved past her, she placed a calming hand on his arm and brought the vampire to a halt.

“We didn’t know right away. She was hiding, she…” Kylie didn’t see any reason to throw Derek to the wolves. “I didn’t find out about her until a day later and Hayden didn’t know until I told him.”

“Is she still here?” Burnett barked out the question.