Whispers at Moonrise (20 page)

“Oh, it probably is everyone,” Miranda said. “My mom said they were talking about you at Witch Council last week in Italy. And they didn’t even know you were a witch then. You can imagine how they are talking now.”

Kylie didn’t want to imagine. Her chest suddenly felt hollow. “They were talking about me in Italy? You didn’t tell me that.” She bit down on her lip. “I’m such a freak that—”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” Miranda said. “I knew you’d get all weird about it. And you’re not a freak,” she added. “You’re a protector. And being a protector is huge. Very newsworthy like a natural disaster. Not that you’re a disaster. I mean, like good news.”

Nothing about this felt good. It felt more like a disaster. Not even a natural one.

“Word of a protector would be something people would talk about. But Miranda’s right, it’s not a bad thing.” Burnett looked at Kylie and obviously read her erratic heartbeat and motioned to the crowd of teachers. “They just want to say hello. Not interrogate you.”

Say hello to the camp’s natural disaster, aka the freak.
Kylie’s heart raced.

“It’s not a big deal,” Burnett said.

Right. Only it felt like a big deal to her. Especially when she looked up and noted all three of the teachers gawking at her. Two were even twitching their brows, checking out her pattern—and their actions had encouraged several of the campers to do the same. She could almost hear the roar of thoughts.
Hey, anyone want a good laugh? Check out Kylie’s brain pattern again.

She heard someone say something about her still being a witch. Kylie supposed she should feel happy she had a pattern to check out—instead of one of those screwball shifting patterns that really freaked people out. But even knowing that didn’t make her anxiety subside. She hated being in the spotlight.

Burnett, looking baffled at Kylie’s emotional dilemma, leaned closer and whispered, “If you really don’t want to meet them—”

“No, I … I’ll do it.” It was crazy not to. And she felt like an idiot for letting her insecurities be known. It wasn’t that she completely hated meeting people, she just hated meeting people who already had a preconceived notion about her. And she sure as hell didn’t like knowing that people in Italy were talking about her. Probably in Italian, and she couldn’t even understand it.

Stiffening her backbone, she plastered a smile on her face, hoping to appear less like a freak than they considered her to be. It was, however, the same fake smile she wore when her mom took her someplace she didn’t want to go—like to one of those mother/daughter days at work, or to one of those stuffy volunteer luncheons. What was it that her mom had said about that smile? Oh yeah:
You look like you just swallowed a mosquito.

Yup, she was going to look like a freak, all right.

Chapter Seventeen

Kylie, practically holding her breath, suffered through Burnett’s introduction of all three teachers. First was Hayden Yates, aka Mr. Yates to the students, who gave her a nod and a more than uncomfortable stare. The new half vampire, half fae science teacher shook her hand and held on for a second longer than she’d liked.

Considering his fae half was dominant, she was surprised she didn’t feel any emotion-altering warmth from him. And although he didn’t strike her as a pervert, something about him gave her just a bit of the creeps. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she didn’t like it, or him. Odd, because Kylie normally didn’t make rash assumptions about people—with the exception of her mom’s new boyfriend, of course. But that was a special case. That guy wanted to dirty up the sheets with her mom and that just wasn’t okay.

Ava Kane, aka Ms. Kane, wore the title of English teacher. She was half-witch and half-shape-shifter, with shape-shifter being her dominant species. She seemed nice enough, but the way she kept twitching her brows, trying to see something different in Kylie’s brain pattern, made Kylie uncomfortable. Exactly what did she think she’d find?

Collin Warren, a half-fae, half-human, was the history teacher and a geologist who came off as the quiet type. Odd, for someone with fae blood, because they usually seemed to have a certain amount of natural charm, but then again, perhaps not all half-fae inherited that talent. Kylie had heard that, on rare occasions, some human supernatural blends tended to be more human than supernatural, so perhaps that was the case with Mr. Warren.

Nevertheless, he smiled, said the proper things—“Nice to meet you”—but Kylie got the feeling he was as uncomfortable being put on the spot as she was. Which made her wonder why he’d want to be a teacher.

After everyone knew everyone’s name, Kylie stood there, her smile still spreading her lips tight, and waited for something to end the awkward moment. Burnett finally intervened. “Well, I’m glad you all met.”

Kylie spun around, thinking only of escaping. But one step forward, and she found herself surrounded by six or seven teens she’d never met. Obviously the new students. The blunt stares and open curiosity in their expressions made her catch her breath again. It was one thing to be gawked at by the regular campers, but newbies … Her heart raced and her palms began to itch. Hives were only a few minutes away.

Her swallowed-a-mosquito smile fell flat. And that mosquito she’d supposedly inhaled buzzed in her stomach. She didn’t know if she could handle more brain gaping and uncomfortable introductions.

“Is it true that you didn’t even have a pattern at first?” one of the girls, a witch, asked.

Suddenly, an arm fell across her shoulders. Before she looked at the owner of that appendage, she recognized Derek’s warm touch. “I’m sorry, but you guys are going to have to meet Kylie later. I need to steal her away.”

“Lucky guy,” one of the new vampires said.

“Yeah, I am,” Derek said, sounding possessive.

He guided her through the circle of new students. Moved her with confidence and with purpose—the purpose being to get her the hell away from the gawkers. But damn, she appreciated Derek being there so much. She leaned against his shoulder and heard him sigh.

“Hang in there,” he whispered. “I’ll get you out of here.”

He glanced over his shoulder and she followed his gaze to see him looking toward Burnett. The vampire nodded as if giving permission for him to take her out.

She didn’t breathe again until they walked out the dining hall door.

Derek’s arm tightened as they left the building, as if telling her he didn’t want to let her go. While she hated admitting it, there was a small part of her that didn’t want him to let go either. But knowing what was right, she stepped away from his side. And then she met his soft green eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“For what?” he asked.

For everything. For feeling things I shouldn’t.
“For needing to be rescued. It’s crazy. I should be able to handle it. It’s just that people stare at me like I’m…”

“Special?” He grinned.

“No, like I’m a freak.”

He shook his head. “They don’t think you’re a freak. They’re curious. And that one vamp was totally into you, but I’m sure it’s still hard.”

“Maybe when I know for sure what I am, then it won’t be so hard.” But she did know, didn’t she? She was a chameleon. Was she starting to doubt her heritage like everyone else?

Derek’s eyebrow rose. “You still don’t believe you’re a witch?”

“Not completely,” Kylie said.

He nodded. “Well, that should all be cleared up tomorrow, right? When your grandfather comes.”

That’s when she remembered she hadn’t told Derek about her grandfather cutting off his phone or about him and her great-aunt turning into fog. She started to spill her guts to him when she felt the sudden splash of cold.

The smear of condensation started to materialize next to Derek. The familiar feminine form taking shape told Kylie it was Hannah. But Kylie’s breath caught when she saw the spirit had gone back to her zombie look. The beige dress she wore was in shreds and stained with mud. Her hair hung lifelessly around her shoulders. Part of her cheekbone was exposed where the skin had decayed and hung loose. And worms moved in and out of her ears.

Gross. Instinctually, Kylie took a step back.

“Not again.”
Panic filled Hannah’s dead-looking eyes.

“What?” Kylie forced herself not to keep backing up. But the worms were falling off her at a rapid rate.

“Huh?” Derek took a step closer and one of the worms fell onto his chest.

Kylie brushed it off and then shook her head.

“Oh.” His eyes widened with understanding. He took a small step back, not so much out of fear, but as if giving her space.

Kylie refocused on Hannah. But the spirit’s gaze stay glued over Kylie’s shoulder. She heard the dining hall door open behind them, and the sound of the crowd followed the door. Hannah continued to stare over Kylie’s shoulder. Then, suddenly, her expression grew more panicked.

“No,”
Hannah muttered and her hands, more bone than flesh, grabbed Kylie by the shoulders. Worms went everywhere.

“Not again! Not again!”
The spirit’s touch sent wave after wave of icy tremors coursing through Kylie, who forgot about the worms. Pain shot from every nerve ending and her body stiffened from what felt like a brain freeze to her entire body.

“Is everything okay?” Derek moved in.

The throbbing through Kylie’s body locked the air in her lungs. She wanted to scream. But she felt as if someone had her by the throat. Black spots started forming in her vision. She felt her knees start to fold. Derek touched her and just like that, the pain and the dizziness vanished. Blinking, she saw Hannah was still there, standing beside Derek.

Kylie breathed, then forced the words out. “Not again, what?”

Hannah didn’t answer, didn’t even look at her. Derek did, and he appeared concerned.

“Look, I need to know what it is you need me to do. Please, answer me.” But the spirit, her frightened dead gaze locked over Kylie’s shoulder, faded into thin air.

Derek brushed his hand down Kylie’s arm. “You okay?”

Kylie nodded, savoring the warmth of his touch, and then she turned around to see who’d walked out of the dining hall, wondering if that was what had sent Hannah running. Burnett, the new teachers, and a couple of the new students stood by the door.

“Was that Hannah?” Derek whispered.

“Yeah,” Kylie said, still trying to wrap her head around what Holiday’s sister had meant by
not again
.

“You really okay?” he asked.

She touched her throat. “Yeah. I just don’t know what it is that she needs me to do.”

“I don’t know if this helps, but I think I know where Cara M. worked.”

“Where?” Kylie asked.

“When you told me that she could possibly be from around here, I Googled all the diners and cafés in the area. I found some photos and this old newspaper article about some place called Cookie’s Café, right outside of Fallen. Have you ever been there?”

“No, I don’t … Wait. Yes, my mom took me to this restaurant that was really just an old house. That must have been how I recognized the uniform.”

“That’s it. The house was built in the eighteen hundreds.” He smiled as if proud he’d found the answer to at least part of the puzzle.

Kylie almost smiled herself, but then it hit her. What now? Even if all Kylie needed to do was find the bodies, how was knowing where one of the dead girls worked going to help her? Ordinarily, she could talk to Holiday about this but … she couldn’t do that until she knew exactly what was going on. It would be unbearably cruel to tell Holiday her sister was dead when there was a chance Kylie was misinterpreting the visions.

Then another realization washed over her. She should probably go to the police. But she didn’t have a freaking clue how to explain any of this. Which meant it might be up to her to try to solve the murders.

Not again. Not again.
Hannah’s words rang in her head. What was Hannah trying to say?

Oh, holy hell, Kylie didn’t have a clue how to move forward. She wasn’t an investigator. She didn’t even enjoy watching TV shows about detectives. She glanced back up at Derek. “What should I do now?”

“I called the diner, just to ask if there had been a Cara M. working there, but it’s a tourist place and they’re only open on the weekends.”

Kylie’s mind continued to whirl with what she needed to do. “Oh, hell, I’m so out of my league on this.”

“Don’t worry,” Derek said. “I’ll help you. And besides, we have until Saturday to decide what to do next.”

She looked up at him with complete appreciation. “How can I thank you?”

He grinned with pure sex appeal, the gold flecks in his eyes brightening. “I could think of a few ways.”

She frowned.

He held up a hand. “Fine. Just smile a little more. That’ll be payment enough.”

*   *   *

Thursday morning, Kylie woke up when Socks bumped her chin with his nose. As she blinked away the fogginess of sleep, she stroked Socks’s soft feline fur. The sun spilled through the window and she watched as the day’s brightness and shadows flickered on the ceiling, fighting for space—a war of sorts between light and darkness.

As the battle took place, she felt her mood host a similar conflict. Her life seemed to be a mêlée of so many problems and yet so many possibilities. She’d lost Derek, but gained Lucas. She’d lost the bond with her stepdad but found Daniel. She’d lost being human, but was now supernatural.

And today was the day she was supposed to meet her grandfather and discover just what it all meant, but she doubted that would happen. A frown pulled at her lips and the darker side of her mood tried to take over.

Not that she’d let it win. She closed her eyes and tried to think positive thoughts. But her mind went to Hannah and the fact that Kylie shouldn’t postpone telling Holiday any longer that her sister was dead. Just thinking about how that conversation would go took another bite out of Kylie’s disposition.

Then her heart reminded her that Lucas hadn’t shown up last night, despite the fact he’d told her he would. That pretty much made it official. The dark side, the bad mood, had won. Glancing back up at the ceiling, she couldn’t help but notice there were indeed more shadows than sunlight.