Awake at Dawn (33 page)

“Sure you will.” His gaze shot over Kylie’s shoulder. Kylie feared he saw Fredericka behind her.

“You okay?” Holiday’s comforting voice came to her ear.

Kylie turned just as Holiday motioned for Perry to move on.

274/375

Kylie leaned in and her voice caught as she confessed the truth. “I’m scared out of my gourd. I’m not ready for this.” Her eyes stung with the new urge to cry.

“You’re going to be fine. I don’t even think…” Holiday didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she placed a hand on Kylie’s shoulder and the majority of her panic faded. “Come on, I’ll stand beside you.” They walked to the crowd and formed another circle much like they had at the vampire ceremony. Luis stood in the middle and in his hands he carried a skull. Not a human skull, it looked to be a wolf. He held up the skull. It seemed to catch the moonlight and glow. He started recounting the story of the first werewolf, and then telling about his kind’s many gifts, but Kylie couldn’t listen. Nothing felt right. Her gaze shot to the moon, and she could swear she saw the man in the round silver circle wink at her.

Then Kylie noticed that many of the campers were walking off. The werewolves. Kylie glanced at Holiday with questions in her eyes.

“Most prefer not to transform in front of an audience,” the camp leader explained.

Kylie didn’t blame them. She didn’t want to do it, either. Would her clothes fall off? Would they see the hair growing on her skin?

Her only thought was to run, but Luis stopped talking and the sound that came out of his mouth was one of sheer terror. In the background, Kylie could hear what sounded like the screams of the others as they, too, turned. Air caught in her throat again. Her feet felt nailed to the ground.

She didn’t want to hear this, didn’t want to see it, but like an accident on the side of the road, she couldn’t look away.

Luis dropped to the ground, his back arched, and the sounds—half growl, half moan—continued. It was like something out of a horror movie. Kylie watched his body contort in ways no human body should ever twist. He arched his neck back so far it looked as if it would surely break. His jawbone grew, his cheeks became elongated, and where the 275/375

face of a young man had once been the snout of a wolf appeared. And then came the hair.

Kylie’s heart jolted. Her skin started to crawl. Her stomach knotted.

Oh, God! Something was happening to her.

Chapter Twenty-six

Kylie felt as if seltzer ran through her veins. She watched Luis, now a complete wolf, run off into the woods. Then everyone there turned and stared at her.

Watching.

Waiting.

She looked at Holiday. “I need to … be alone.” She walked away. She didn’t run—didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself than she already had—but she walked fast, afraid the sounds of terror would any minute begin to flow from her own throat.

She made it to the woods before the urge to run overtook her. She moved at amazing speeds, dodging trees, jumping over stumps, and ducking under branches. How long she ran, she didn’t know. But out of breath, out of energy, she finally collapsed in a heap of trembling muscles.

Stilling gasping, she stared at her hands. She touched her face to make sure she hadn’t started the change.

Nothing. No change. She closed her eyes and tried to stop the feeling of her crawling skin. That’s when she heard it.

A low, very ominous growl.

Opening her eyes, she saw the wolf lurching toward her. Mostly white with hints of gray and tan, its eyes glowed a bright golden. Its lips curled under and its sharp teeth were bared. This was no ordinary wolf. It was a werewolf.

277/375

Kylie tried to stand, but her muscles trembled and refused the command. The wolf seemed to notice her weakness. Its posture became more aggressive. The coarse hair on its back stood up and when Kylie looked it in the eyes, she knew. Knew with certainty the wolf was Fredericka. The she-wolf’s growl deepened and then she charged.

Kylie found the strength to bounce to her feet, ready to run, when another wolf, even larger, crashed between two trees. Fredericka stopped.

At first, Kylie thought she was about to be attacked by two beasts instead of one. But the second wolf, a dark gray in color with eyes that glowed a lighter gold, whipped around and growled at the oncoming wolf.

Kylie heard the competing growls and saw the two converge upon each other. She heard the sound of teeth clicking, and then, recognizing this as a chance to escape, she tore off through the woods. She ran, not as fast as before, for her energy had been spent, but she forced herself forward and didn’t stop until she reached her cabin.

Collapsing on the porch steps, she forced air into her lungs. When she looked out at the woods, a pair of light golden eyes stared back Her next intake of air brought recognition. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but it came with such clarity that she didn’t question it.

Lucas was back.

* * *

The next morning, Kylie got her daily wake-up call with the dropping of the room’s temperature. She groaned, rolled over, and glared at the clock, not wanting to believe it was dawn. But yep. It was 4:59 a.m. The spirit was right on time.

It didn’t seem fair, and not just because she didn’t want to face Lucas yet. Hadn’t she just put her head on the pillow? She’d never had three hours pass so quickly. It had been two a.m. when she’d collapsed in her own bed.

278/375

When Kylie ran inside her cabin after seeing Lucas, Holiday had been waiting on her to make sure she was okay. Della and Miranda were waiting with the camp leader at the kitchen table, all of them looking somber.

Her two cabin mates looked shocked when Kylie arrived. No doubt they seriously thought she’d made the change into werewolf. But Holiday hadn’t seemed so surprised.

After thinking about it, Kylie couldn’t help but be suspicious. Did Holiday know something she wasn’t telling Kylie? She loved Holiday, but her belief in the self-discovery crap, the idea that a person needed to find their own answers, was chewing on Kylie’s last nerve.

The cold filling the room brought her back to the present.

“You have to save her.”

Speaking of last nerves …

Kylie groaned and sat up. The ghost stood at the foot of her bed. The sweet smell of blood assaulted Kylie before she saw the ghost had donned her bloody gown again. The spirit met Kylie’s gaze and clutched her abdomen as if she was going to be sick.

“If you’re going to throw up,” Kylie said, “would you mind stepping away from the bed?”

The cold, uncaring sound of her own voice hit Kylie like a slap across the face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m just … I want to figure it out and it’s frustrating not to be able to.”

The ghost rested a hand on Kylie’s foot. Even beneath the blanket, the icy chill took hold.
“You have the ability to stop it. Please make it stop.”

“Make what stop? Has it already started?” Kylie asked, her chest tightening. Was someone she loved already suffering? Kidnapped and being tortured by the Blood Brothers, or something even worse?

“Damn it, answer me!” Kylie yelled. “Or at least give me a vision I can understand. I don’t even care how scary it is, just do it.” The one of the funeral still made no sense.

279/375

The ghost faded and so did the coldness of her touch. But then Kylie felt tingly warmth spread down the tendons to her toes and up the arches to her ankle. Kylie pressed a hand against her foot. She’d never felt that before with Daniel. Was that supposed to mean something?

Frustration welled inside Kylie, but the sound of cascading water filled her head. Was this the death angels way of saying it would be okay?

Kylie’s phone beeped, announcing she had messages. There were three: one from the private investigator, one from Sara, and one from her mom.

Recalling the fear that whatever might happen could already be happening, and not caring about the hour, Kylie dialed her mom’s number.

* * *

Later, at eight o’clock that morning, Kylie dropped her breakfast tray on the table and sat down beside Della and Miranda, purposely not looking around because she was afraid she might see him. Or both hims. She wasn’t any more eager to see Derek right now than she was to see Lucas.

Derek’s avoidance of her last night still stung. Oh, she knew she’d avoided him only a couple of weeks ago, but it had been different. She hadn’t avoided him because she didn’t want to be with him; she’d done it because she’d wanted to be with him too much.

Staring down at her runny eggs, which were about as appetizing as roadkill, Kylie recalled her conversation she’d had with her mom.

Frankly, Kylie didn’t know if her mom believed the whole “I woke from a bad dream and didn’t realize the time” spiel. But when her mom confessed she’d been having some really bad dreams lately, too, Kylie couldn’t help but wonder if this was because of the erasing. Were her mom’s nightmares about what she’d seen at Shadow Falls?

Suddenly, Kylie felt the hair on the back of her neck start to stand up.

Without even looking back, Kylie knew someone had her locked in a 280/375

serious stare. Unable to resist, she glanced over her shoulder. She should have known.

Fredericka.

Turning back around, her gaze shot across the room and she found herself staring right at Derek. His eyes expressed concern, caring, but not so much that he’d come over. Could he not sense how much she needed him? She looked away, but only found herself caught in the snare of a pair of blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes that took her back to her childhood and trying to find elephants hidden in the clouds.

Lucas glanced over at the door and nodded as if asking her to meet him outside.

Kylie had to reach deep to find the courage to do what came next.

She picked up her fork and started heaping food into her mouth as if she were too hungry to leave. Yup, she’d rather eat cold roadkill, runny scrambled eggs than talk with Lucas. Plain and simple, she wasn’t ready to face him, or the dreams. Then came the fact that walking out of this dining hall to be with Lucas would no doubt hurt Derek. She didn’t want to hurt Derek. It didn’t even matter that he didn’t seem to mind hurting her.

* * *

It was after art when Kylie arrived back to the cabin to make her two phone calls. Sitting at the computer desk, she reached for the mouse to pull up her grandparents’ number again. She’d debated who to call first.

The PI or her grandparents. She opted for the grandparents. Though for the life of her, she didn’t have a clue what she was going to say. How did you go about telling someone you were their long-lost grandchild—but not really theirs because you happened to know their dead son had been adopted?

Oh, yeah, this was going to be easy.

281/375

When the computer woke up, the screen brought up a list of car accidents for the Springville area, Della’s home. Kylie chest grew heavy when she realized Della was still suspicious of what she might have done during her changing stage.

Kylie glanced at Della’s shut bedroom door. She often came back to the cabin and napped after lunch.

Opening another screen, Kylie searched for the telephone number for Kent B. Brighten in Gladlock, Texas. Unsure what she would say, she punched in the number before she lost her nerve.

The phone rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

An answering machine picked up. “Hello, you have reached Kent and Becky Brighten. We aren’t home right now, but if you’ll leave…” The voice continued.

They were still alive.

Her heart quivered. The line beeped.

Decision time. Leave a message? Not leave a message?

She hit the end button.

Ten breaths and thirty seconds later, she called the PI. Another message machine. But she left a voice message, letting him know she’d gotten a name and number of Daniel’s adoptive parents.

Trying to let her mind wrap around the possibility of actually meeting the Brightens, Kylie realized she wanted to meet them for reasons other than just finding Daniel’s birth parents. It would be nice to learn more about her dad. She closed the screen and another one popped up. It was a double screen of two newspaper articles about two different car accidents, each with casualties.

Kylie started to read. One was about a man in his late forties and the other was … Kylie’s heart tugged. A woman and her six-month-old little girl.

282/375

How could Della think she could have done something like that?

A knock filled the cabin and panic filled her chest. Was it Lucas? Or Fredericka again? She cut her eyes around the room, hoping Socks was hiding. The knock came louder.

“Kylie?” Burnett’s deep voice boomed through the door.

Knowing he could hear her, Kylie called, “Come in.” He opened the door and walked to the kitchen table. She grew instantly worried about the reason he was here. Surely he hadn’t come back to try to pull more information out of her about Holiday. If so, he’d leave disappointed.

He nodded to a chair. “Mind if I sit down?”

“No.” Then, unable to stop herself, she blurted out, “If this is about Holiday, I—”

He held up his hand. “It’s not about … Holiday.” He frowned. “Though I have to admit she still puzzles the hell out of me.”

“Maybe if Selynn wasn’t hanging around, then…” Kylie shut her mouth, realizing she was doing it again.

“Selynn’s on orders of the FRU, so I couldn’t send her away. But as of today, she’ll be leaving.”

While Kylie hadn’t seen the were since the lake incident, she’d heard she was still at Shadow Falls. Someone had said she was here due to the incident with the rogue vampire. And if she was leaving, did that mean they’d caught …

“Has something happened? Did you catch him?” She envisioned the two girls who’d been killed, and the vision left painful footprints on her heart.

Burnett leaned back in his chair. “That’s what I came to tell you. I just got word that the Vampire Council has the guy. They are going to …

handle the situation.”

“What do you mean by … handle?” she asked.

“Just that. They will handle it.”