Awake at Dawn (19 page)

“Questions to who?” Kylie asked.

“Your mom, of course.”

“I think she’s told me everything she knows,” Kylie said.

“Maybe,” Mr. Smith said. “But parents are funny about divulging info about relationships and things like this.” Kylie bit down on her lip and wondered if he could be right. For certain her mom wasn’t the most open-book type of person. “I guess you could be right.”

“Yeah, and even if she’s not keeping something from you on purpose, she might not see something as important. She does know you’re looking into finding his family, doesn’t she?”

“Uhh. Not really.”

There was a silence. And she supposed Mr. Smith was wondering if he could get in trouble doing work for an underage kid.

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“I plan to tell her,” Kylie said. “I just haven’t really had the chance.”
Or
decided how to do it.

“Good. Believe me when I say that these kinds of things work out best if you’re up front about them.”

“Yeah,” Kylie said, and tried to figure out how that conversation would go with her mom. How could she explain that she wanted to meet Daniel’s real parents, not just his adoptive parents, because she needed to know what species of supernatural she was?

Hanging up from the PI, Kylie sat there feeling let down. The PI thing didn’t sound like the answer anymore. And if that didn’t work, what would? If only she could get some more information from Daniel.

She looked up at the ceiling. “You wouldn’t be able to come for a visit, would you?”

No spiritual cold filled the room. Kylie was about to get up when her gaze went back to the computer screen and the obituaries. She noticed that the dates on the deaths were back eight months ago.

A terrible thought hit. Was Della looking at obituaries because … she thought she might have killed someone during those blackout days when she turned?

Kylie’s gaze went back to the screen to faces of the people who had died. Only a few obituaries listed cause of death, and none said, “drained of blood.” While her heart knew that she should feel bad for the deceased, she couldn’t help but think of Della. How hard would it be to even think you might have killed someone?

* * *

The next few days passed in an uneventful blur. Kylie had tried to talk to Della about what she found on the computer, but Della refused to talk about it. She’d tried to ease into a conversation about Daniel with her mom, but her mom had brushed her off.

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While every morning she woke up right at dawn to a blast of icy temperature, the spirit left without any visual or verbal contact. Nothing from Daniel either. So it appeared even everyone in the spirit world was giving Kylie the brush-off.

Kylie wasn’t sure what that meant. She got Daniel’s absence. He had said his time on earth was now very limited, but what about the female spirit who insisted that someone Kylie loved was about to die?

Holiday told Kylie not to worry, that when the spirit needed to talk, she would speak up. Holiday even tried assuring her that, more likely than not, the ghost’s lack of presence was more good news than bad.

Either she’d realized things weren’t as imminent as she had first thought, or the situation had been handled. Kylie hoped it was the latter. But her gut told her not to get her hopes up.

While Holiday and Kylie had met twice since she’d confessed her mistake of passing info on to Burnett, Holiday had remained almost distant, very matter-of-fact. Kylie had tried apologizing again, but Holiday had stopped her and said it was forgotten.

Forgotten maybe, forgiven not so much. Kylie sensed it when she looked into the camp leader’s eyes. And the pain of knowing that her mistake had altered their relationship left an empty spot in Kylie’s chest. To make matters worse, there seemed to be even more tension between Holiday and Burnett. Obviously, Kylie’s interference not only hadn’t helped, but it had made the rift between them even wider.

“You ready?” Kylie heard Miranda call out from the living room. Socks raised his little skunk face off the mattress and hissed. No doubt the kitten/skunk was tired of Miranda following him around and trying to undo her screw-up. Kylie wouldn’t be surprised if Socks didn’t end up spraying her. If he could spray, that is.

“No. I haven’t even touched my hair,” Kylie called back, and looked around for her hairbrush. “Why don’t you go down to breakfast and meet up with Della and I’ll meet you as soon as I can?” 158/375

“Got it!” Miranda called. “But hurry, I can’t wait to head off. It feels like years since I’ve gotten to go shopping. And hey, when you leave, make sure you shut the door and don’t just break it down.” Kylie frowned and wished she hadn’t told Miranda and Della about the whole shower scene at Derek’s. But not sharing didn’t feel right, even if they teased her about it.

“Did Holiday say we had to be back at a certain time?” Miranda called out again.

“No,” Kylie said.

Holiday, in spite of her emotional distance, had agreed to let Kylie, Della, and Miranda take one of the school vehicles into town and do some clothes shopping. It was either that or Kylie was going to have to borrow someone’s shoes and bras. Thankfully, the growth spurt appeared to have come to an end. Not that it stopped Kylie from worrying. What did it all mean? And when would she know for sure what to expect next? The full moon would be here on Monday. The weres of the group had planned their show-and-tell event for that night, planning on allowing the group to actually watch one of them turn.

Every now and then, whenever Kylie let her mind go there, she worried she might be doing some show-and-telling that night, too. If her body’s change was because she was werewolf, didn’t that mean she might do a little morphing herself? Her heart raced at the thought. Would she know what to do? Would she remember who she was?

Kylie heard the cabin door shut and she reached for her phone to make sure she hadn’t missed a call from Mr. Smith the PI. Looking at the phone, she realized she did have some messages. Her hope rose that it was him with good news.

But nope. No call from the PI. Two more messages from her stepdad and one from Trey. Great. Just friggin’ great! She deleted all three messages without listening to them.

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When she reached inside her drawer to find her brush, her eyes landed on Lucas’s letter. Curiosity ate at her to open it, but another emotion—one Kylie could best describe as guilt—kept the letter sealed and unread.

Please don’t break my heart, Kylie.

Derek’s words played across her mind. She had no intention of breaking Derek’s heart. She had no intention of getting involved with Lucas. So would someone please explain why she felt guilty about reading his letter?

Maybe because she kept dreaming about him. Almost dreamed about him. Oddly enough, the dreams always stopped before they really got started. However, Kylie had a feeling that was best. She somehow sensed that they would be all too similar to the dream she’d had about him before. Dreams that involved kissing and touching where clothes were considered optional.

Why did she keep almost dreaming of him?

Because you have unresolved feelings for him,
a voice from within answered.

A voice Kylie really wished would keep her mouth shut. Kylie didn’t want to have any feelings for Lucas. He was off with Fredericka. And Kylie was now with … well, almost with Derek. They hadn’t even kissed since the night she’d seen him naked. A memory that never ventured too far from her mind. However, since that night, he’d sort of kept his distance from her. Kylie didn’t know if it was because he sensed she still felt embarrassed about everyone picking up on her uncontrollable desires for him, or if it was something else.

It could be his way of trying to show how it felt to be avoided. Though Derek didn’t seem the type to play head games.

Maybe it was simply because she still hadn’t made any verbal commitment to being a couple, to going out with him. Not that this had anything 160/375

to do with Lucas or his letter. Nope. Not at all. Lucas was history. Even if he came back. He’d made his choice when he took off with Fredericka.

Not that she would be rude to Lucas if he did come back. They could even be … friends. If his little she-wolf allowed it.

Thinking of Fredericka shot Kylie back to the night she’d been trapped in the bedroom with the lion. The Blood Brothers, a rogue vampire gang, had started terrorizing and killing the wildlife at the animal preserve next door hoping the FRU would blame the camp and then close it down. They had sent the lion into the camp as part of the setup. However, Kylie couldn’t help but think that someone had made sure that lion had gotten in her bedroom. That someone would be Fredericka. Was she wrong to suspect her? Kylie didn’t think so.

Oh, heck, this trip down memory lane was stupid. So was the fact that she hadn’t opened Lucas’s letter. She snatched up the envelope, opened the seal, and was just about to pull the letter out when her phone rang.

Dropping the letter on the bed and checking the number, she took the call. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetheart.” Her mom sighed. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

“What is it?” Right then, the room’s temperature dropped. Kylie felt her stomach twist into a tight knot. Had someone she loved been hurt, like the ghost had warned? “Are you okay, Mom?” Kylie asked as panic began to pull at her heartstrings.

“No. I’m not okay.”

Oh, God!
The temperature in the room dropped another ten degrees.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I just received an e-mail and my company is insisting I fly out today to a meeting in New York. It’s with a big client and … I’m going to miss seeing you on parents day. I checked to see if there was a red-eye flight back and it’s already booked.”

The chill hung on, even as Kylie’s panic lessened. “It’s okay.” Kylie looked around to see if the ghost had materialized. She hadn’t. Kylie 161/375

reached over and petted Socks, who looked around with nervous, beady skunk eyes. Socks always knew when a spirit was here.

“I wanted to see you. I feel as if I haven’t seen you in months.”

“It hasn’t been months,” Kylie said. “Just two weeks.” Yet deep down, Kylie realized she was going to miss seeing her mom, too. “I’ll be coming home in a couple of weeks for the weekend, anyway. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up then.”

“And we have the haunted B&B dinner and tour,” her mom added, sounding so thrilled.

“Yeah. That, too.” Kylie tried not to let her dread leak out in her tone.

They talked a few minutes about her mom’s schedule and about her mom’s cousin who wanted to come down for a visit. Kylie almost brought up Daniel again, but couldn’t figure out how to turn the conversation that way.

As they talked, Kylie pulled the blanket up closer. The cold from the spirit lingered and even grew colder, but she still didn’t materialize.

“Oh, guess who I saw at the grocery store?” her mom asked.

“Who?” God, it was getting even colder.

“Sara.”

Kylie’s heartstrings gave her emotions another tug. “How’s she doing?”

“Actually, she didn’t look good at all.”

“What did she do, dye her hair or get a nose ring?” Kylie asked, knowing how Mom felt about such things. She might have suddenly found common ground with her mom, but that didn’t make the woman perfect or change the fact that she was judgmental.

“Not that,” her mom said. “Sara’s not that kind of girl.” Her mom would be surprised at some of the things Sara had done with drinking and boys—not that it made Sara a bad person. She was just …

going through something.

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“She just didn’t look … good,” her mom continued. “She’s thinner than she should be. I hate it that you girls feel as if you have to be size zero to look good. I hope you aren’t losing weight.”

“Nope, if anything, I think I’m growing.” Frowning, Kylie looked down at her boobs, a tad worried what her mom would say when she saw her.

“Which reminds me, have you gone shopping yet?” her mom asked.

“Your camp leader called and confirmed it was okay if you drove to town.

I told her I’d already given you permission.”

“Actually, we’re going today.” Kylie shivered again from the ghostly cold.

“Well, have fun. And keep it reasonable.” The maternal tone filled her voice.

“I will,” Kylie promised. “Under a hundred dollars. I remember what you said.”

“Okay, go up to a hundred and fifty. But no higher.”

“Mom, I didn’t ask—”

“I know.” Her mom chuckled. “But I’m offering.” She grew quiet a second. “Ahh, my baby is growing up.” Her mom let go of a deep, heartfelt sigh. “Oh, I forgot to mention it, I told Sara you were coming down.

She said you’d texted her and told her and that she owed you a text. And she’d probably be in touch in the next few days.” Sara owed her about four text messages, not including the phone calls and e-mails, Kylie thought.

She and her mom chatted a few more minutes. Mostly about her selling the house—another subject Kylie had to bite her tongue on. “I’ll still do my best to come see you on Saturday. Maybe I can get a flight out first thing in the morning. If I get in by ten, I might be able to make it.

Even if I’m a little late.”

“Mom, it’s okay. Don’t worry. And they’re pretty strict about visiting hours here.”
As in if you come in without a pass, you might be taken
down by a vampire.
“So really, don’t worry, okay?” 163/375

“I just miss you,” her mom whimpered.

“I miss you, too.”

When Kylie hung up, the spirit’s chill still lingered in the air. Kylie got the crazy sensation she’d been listening in on the conversation. But why?

“Do you have something to say?” Kylie asked. “Something to show me?” she muttered with less enthusiasm. Kylie really didn’t like the freaky visions or dreams, but if that was what it took to solve this and protect someone she loved, she’d do that and more.

No answer filled the cold air and a few seconds later, the chill faded.

She looked at her clock on the bedside table and moaned. She was late, which meant Della and Miranda were probably already pissed.