Whispers at Moonrise (38 page)

Kylie’s first class was English with Della, Miranda, and Derek. Although absent, Lucas was in the class as well. Ava Kane, the new teacher, had an easy teaching style, not that any of the guys noticed anything other than her body. Not a male in the room wasn’t mesmerized. Even Derek. Chances were, if Lucas had been there, he’d have been just as taken.

While the boys only had eyes for the teacher, the teacher only had eyes for Kylie’s forehead. Was her pattern doing something new? She actually turned to Della and asked. Della assured her that she was still just a regular boring-ass fae.

When the class ended, Miss Kane stood by the door. And when Kylie walked past, Miss Kane leaned down and whispered, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have stared, I’m just fascinated by … you.”

Kylie felt her sincerity. “It’s okay,” Kylie offered, even though she wished it weren’t. At least the woman apologized, which was more than what ninety percent of the campers would do.

History class—next in line—was difficult to sit through. As hard as Collin Warren tried to hide his jitters about teaching, they rang loud and clear. His nervousness filled the room like smoke, yet unlike Miss Kane, not once did the man look Kylie in the eyes. Frankly, she wasn’t sure he looked anyone in the eyes.

Yet, because of Holiday’s request that Kylie take the nervous teacher under her wing, when the class ended, Kylie hung back to offer a word of support. The students all left the room, except for her. She hoped the man would acknowledge her, but he sat at his desk, head down, shuffling his own papers.

She moved to stand in front of his desk. He still didn’t look up. Okay … this was weird. She got being shy, but this was over the top—the kind of shyness for which a person might require medicine.

“Hello,” she said.

He exhaled as if unhappy, but looked up. “Can I help you?”

Emotions flowed from him—something more than just extreme shyness. Almost fear, mingled with frustration.

“I wanted to say welcome to Shadow Falls. It can be hard—”

“I … I need practice.” He glanced away. “I’ll get better at it.”

“I wasn’t going to criticize.” She sympathized with how he must feel, knowing he’d sucked his first day at teaching. “Practice makes perfect, my Nana used to say.”

He looked up. “Do you see her?”

“See who?” Kylie asked.

“Your Nana. Isn’t she passed? I hear you have the gift of speaking with the dead.”

The question caught Kylie off guard. “Yeah. I mean, she died about four months ago, but I haven’t spoken with her.”

“But you talk to others, right? The dead?”

Kylie nodded. “Yeah.” Unable to read him at the moment, she added, “I know it sounds pretty freaky.”

“Not at all. I’d love to be able to ask the dead questions.”

Kylie tried to digest what he’d said.

He diverted his eyes. “I mean … with my love of history. How great would it be to talk to those who lived before us?”

“That makes sense,” Kylie said. And it did, but it was still odd. Most supernaturals would never have wanted to deal with the dead, not even for the love of history. She looked to the door. “I should go before I’m late.”

As Kylie walked away, she felt him watching her. Okay, Collin Warren was even stranger than she’d first assumed. She really hoped Holiday knew what she was doing when she hired him.

Kylie had just left that cabin and started down the path to her next class when her phone rang. Glancing at the number, a wave of nostalgia hit.

“I was going to call you, too.” Kylie sighed.

“The first day of school doesn’t feel right with you not here,” Sara said.

“I know.” Kylie bit down on her lip.

“How are things?” Sara asked. “You still got two cute boys after you?”

“I pretty much decided on one.”

“Derek,” Sara said.

“No,” Kylie corrected. “Lucas.”

“Hmm, for some reason, I thought you’d go with Derek, but Lucas is yummy.”

Why did you think that?
“How are you doing?” Kylie asked, deciding she didn’t want to know Sara’s answer to the other question.

“Still cancer free,” Sara said. “As you well know.”

Kylie ignored the comment. “I’m glad.”

“When are you coming home next?” Sara asked.

“I think there’s a parent weekend in two or three weeks.” If she wasn’t still pulling stunts like glowing and vanishing, that was.

“Good, because I need a Kylie fix. Agh, there’s the bell. I gotta run. I’ll call you in a week or so.”

A week? There was a time not so long ago when not a day would go by without them talking.

Kylie pushed away the melancholy at how her life had changed. Then, pocketing her phone, she hurried to class. The thought that it was Hayden Yates’s class sent a shiver of dread skittering up and down her backbone.

*   *   *

The second she walked up to the door of Hayden Yates’ classroom, Kylie decided that the awkward vibes Collin Warren gave off weren’t nearly as unsettling as Mr. Yates’s.

The man hadn’t even looked at Kylie, yet somehow she knew he’d been keeping tabs on her—that he not only knew she was standing at the door, but he’d been waiting for her.

The question that had weighed on her mind grew heavier. Was he behind Hannah’s and the other girls’ deaths? If so, did he know Kylie suspected him?

Stepping farther into the classroom, she noticed that everyone was already in their seats. Only one seat remained. Kylie’s gut turned into a pretzel.

Fredericka sat right behind the empty seat. The girl smiled, or rather smirked.

Kylie hadn’t thought about having to deal with the she-wolf in her classes. Trying not to look at Fredericka, Kylie went and sat down.

As she slipped into the seat, she heard the were say, “Oh, boy. Extra light now the glowworm has shown up.”

Kylie gritted her teeth and stared at the book on her desktop.

“Bitch,” Della muttered from across the room.

Kylie, suddenly angry with herself for letting Della fight her battles, swung around and faced her nemesis. “In addition to glowing, I’ve discovered other new talents. Here’s one you’re going to love—giving smart-ass weres the mange. Especially ones that still slightly reek of skunk.”

Chuckles escaped from several of the nearby students. Fredericka rose defensively from her seat, her eyes glowing a shade of pissed-off orange.

Seeing the fury in the wolf-crazed gaze, Kylie questioned the wisdom of spouting off her mouth. No doubt about it, she was about to get her ass whupped by a were—and on the first day of school. How special was that?

Chapter Thirty-three

“Sit down!” Mr. Yates’s order echoed through the room. “Kill each other on your own time, not mine.”

Kylie turned around, surprised the suspicious teacher hadn’t let the she-wolf take her out.

The tension still hung thick when he started teaching. Facing forward, Kylie debated if she would get a pencil stabbed in her back from Fredericka.

But nothing happened. Mr. Yates started talking about how adrenaline can create strength in humans, and how it partly explained how supernaturals received their powers. His teaching skills were above average, and he had everyone hanging onto his every word. Even Kylie found it hard not to be enthralled. Yet everything in Kylie’s gut told her he hadn’t come here to teach. And considering Hannah’s warning that the killer was here, Kylie wasn’t about to let down her guard.

Her need to stay on guard shot up a notch when the class ended and she was half out the door and she heard him clear his throat.

“Kylie, stay a few minutes.”

Kylie froze, her back still to him. Della, equally wary of the man, leaned in and whispered, “I’ll be right outside the door.”

Pulling her books closer to her chest, remembering she suspected the tall thirty-something teacher of being a serial killer, she moved back into the room with caution.

“Did I do something wrong?” An image of the three girls, their decomposed bodies in that grave, filled her mind. What kind of evil person did that?

“No—well, yes. As a protector, you shouldn’t pick a fight with a were.”

“She started it,” Kylie said, and frowned at how juvenile that sounded. But this man gave her the creeps and brought out the worst in her.

His concern was touching—not—but she suspected there was more to this little chat. “Is that all?”

“I feel as if we got off on the wrong foot.” Sincerity, a heavy dose of it, seemed to flow from him, but Kylie didn’t buy it for a second. If an evil person without a conscience could lie to a vampire, he could also fake his emotions.

He continued, “I’d like to believe you would trust me.”

Had he told Hannah and the other two girls the same thing? Did he get them to trust him and then wrap his hands around their necks and choke the life out of them? She could swear he looked at her throat.

Chills spread down her spine. She heard the sound of the other campers leaving the area. Was Della still outside the door? If she screamed, would Della be able to get here in time to save her?

“I don’t trust very easily,” Kylie said.

“I got that feeling.” He took a step toward her.

She took a step back, his presence making it hard to breathe. “You know what else I don’t do?” Her heartbeat played to the tune of fear, but she fought not to let it show.

He laced his fingers together. She couldn’t help wondering if he was remembering how it had felt to use his hands as weapons.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Let anyone hurt someone I love.” Kylie listened again, and there wasn’t a sound coming from outside. The only noise bouncing off the freshly painted walls was the whishing noise of the ceiling fan.

Had Della left?

He tilted his head to the side. “What are you accusing me of doing?”

“What have you done?” Kylie fed her lungs a mouthful of air and held it.

“Nothing,” he said.

Liar!
She could feel it, feel him hiding the truth. “Like I said, I don’t trust very easily.” She turned her back on him, and with each step, she expected to feel him snatch her back, to feel his hands wrap around her throat, choking the life out of her the way he’d done the others.

*   *   *

Three days later, after suffering through yet another Hayden Yates class, unable to think of anything except the threat this man posed to Holiday, Kylie stormed into the office. Burnett and Holiday were arguing again; she heard them before she reached the porch, but she didn’t care.

Well, she did care, just not enough to quiet the alarm blaring inside her. Hayden Yates was hiding something. That something was probably murder. And until Kylie could make Burnett and Holiday see this, Holiday’s life was in jeopardy.

Walking right into Holiday’s office, Kylie slammed the door behind her. “I don’t like him.”

“Me either,” Burnett roared.

Holiday cut her eyes from Kylie to Burnett. “You two aren’t even talking about the same person.”

Kylie looked at Holiday for an explanation. Holiday obliged. “Blake has offered to help look into Hannah’s disappearance. He was the last person to see her alive, so I think we should accept his help.”

“A suspect helping with the investigation, that makes about as much sense as fried ice cream.”

Holiday leaned her elbows on her desk. “You can’t find one thing that points to his guilt.”

“He slept with your sister!” Burnett roared.

“Guilty of murder, not of being a piece of shit.”

“And I’m telling both of you,” Kylie said, “Hayden is guilty.”

“There’s no proof of that,” they said at the same time.

“He wears a glove over his emotions. Every time he opens his mouth to speak, half truths come out. I feel it.”

Burnett shook his head. “I’ve dug so deep into his background, I can practically tell you when he stopped wearing diapers.”

Holiday’s chair squeaked. “Kylie, if Hayden was out to hurt me, he’s had plenty of opportunity. I interviewed him the first time when I was away taking care of my aunt’s funeral. It was just him and me.”

Kylie frowned. “I don’t care. I still—”

“Both of you are wrong,” Holiday insisted. “Blake didn’t do this, and neither did Hayden. And if we don’t stop focusing on them, we’ll never find the killer. And we might never find Hannah’s and the other two girls’ bodies.”

Burnett’s eyes brightened and Kylie could read his mind. It wasn’t finding the bodies that worried him so much; it was protecting Holiday. Hannah’s warning felt imminent and Burnett felt that, too.

“Where the hell is Hannah when we need her?” Burnett bit out. He looked at Kylie. “You haven’t seen her, felt her? Nothing?”

Kylie dropped on the sofa. “The last time was when she saw Blake here in the office.”

“See,” Burnett bellowed. “She probably figures we caught the bastard.”

“I don’t think so.” Kylie almost feared disagreeing with Burnett when he was in this kind of mood, but getting them to see her point felt crucial. “She didn’t look as if she thought it was over when she left.”

He folded his arms over his wide chest. “Can we have a séance? Hold hands and call her back?”

“A séance?” Holiday rolled her eyes. “You have so much to learn about spirits.”

“I don’t give a damn about learning about spirits. I just need Hannah to come and tell me once and for all who she thinks is trying to hurt you.”

*   *   *

On Friday morning, Kylie had skipped breakfast and Meet Your Campmate hour. She barely made it to English on time.

Obviously, Burnett wasn’t the only one who needed to learn more about spirits. Kylie didn’t know enough, either, because while she had felt Hannah’s presence in the last few days, and again this morning, the spirit wouldn’t manifest. Kylie had tried to appeal to her the way Holiday suggested. No luck. Kylie had even resorted to begging. Nothing.

Sitting at her desk, she reached down to make sure she’d brought her phone. The slight bulge in her pocket was reassuring. Maybe she was dreaming, but she hoped Lucas would either call or at least text her. But so far, nothing. That stung.

Looking up at the front of class, Miss Kane started talking about famous authors and the books they would be reading for the first six weeks. Who knew Jane Austen and so many others were supernatural? Kylie sure as hell didn’t.