by C. C. Hunter
Chapter Thirty-two
"Do you know him?" Lucas asked, his bare arm brushing against hers in a protective manner.
Too stunned to speak, Kylie managed to nod. And then Trey started over, splashing through the water.
"Everything okay?" Trey asked.
He didn't look at her. Instead, he kept his gaze riveted on Lucas. Or rather, on Lucas's bare chest.
"Yes," she said, final y finding her voice. "We . . . we were just looking at the dinosaur fossils. "
"Is this Derek?" Trey's tone was ful of accusation. Not that he had a right to accuse her of anything, considering everything that had happened between them. But the hurt in his eyes was genuine and it tugged at her heart.
"Trey, this is my friend, Lucas. Lucas, this is Trey. "
Both boys stared at each other. Instead of exchanging handshakes, they offered each other cold, unfriendly nods.
"We should go," Kylie said to Lucas, and nodded a good-bye to Trey.
She started walking across the stream. Lucas fel in step beside her. She almost slipped again, but Lucas caught her, bringing her ful y against his chest as Trey watched from the other side of the stream.
"Boyfriend?" he asked, releasing his clasp on her waist.
"Ex. " She got to the other side and sat down to put on her shoes, but she could stil feel Trey watching her. She knew al too wel how he felt. The same way she'd felt seeing him and that girl at the party. Poetic justice, just dues, turnabout was fair play-a bunch of emotional qualifiers skipped around her head, but truth was, she felt none of them.
"Why did he ask if I was Derek?" Lucas asked.
"It's a long story. " And one she didn't want to share right now. As she tied her shoes, guilt tied knots in her chest. She shouldn't feel guilty. But she did.
Shoes on, she stood up and started walking, never looking back. Her emotions ran like wild horses in her mind. Lucas held out the fence again and she slipped through-without brushing up against him this time. As soon as she knew Trey couldn't see her anymore, she stopping thinking about him and started thinking about the kiss. Needing to feel grounded, she started putting it into perspective. Yes, it had been a good kiss, but it hadn't been more than a kiss. Right?
They hardly spoke on the walk back. And she hardly looked at him, because seeing him without his shirt was . . . making it hard to think. When they had almost gotten to the camp trail, Kylie realized she hadn't gotten the one answer she wanted from him. Did Lucas remember her?
She tried to find a way to ask without it sounding as if she wanted him to remember her. As if she thought what they'd shared as children had connected them. It didn't.
How could it, when he'd even suggested she forget the kiss? Her chest began to tighten just a little. God, why did his saying that have to hurt so much?
She took a deep breath. Just add that question to the growing list she'd started since coming to Shadow Fal s. While the rest could probably wait, this one couldn't.
She wanted to know-needed to know-if he remembered her.
Just blurt it out. Just blurt it out. She saw the clearing in the woods ahead and knew her time with him was short. She might not talk to him again before she left.
"You know, you kind of remind me of someone," she said.
"Do I?" He didn't look at her.
"Yeah. " She waited for him to ask who.
He didn't ask. Instead he said, "I get that a lot. "
They came to the clearing and stepped out on the trail. His gaze met hers. "I have to go. I'm leading another hike. " He turned to leave.
"Lucas?" she cal ed after him, and he swung around. She pul ed off his shirt and handed it to him. He took it. She pul ed her damp shirt away from her bra. It wasn't completely dry, but no longer as transparent. She saw his gaze lower to her chest briefly, then he met her eyes.
Do you remember me? "Thanks for . . . showing me the dinosaur tracks. "
He nodded. "You're welcome. " He hesitated, and then said, "I'm sorry, Kylie. "
She knew he was apologizing for the kiss. First, he tel s her to forget it ever happened and now he apologizes for it. Her chest clutched. Then he took off again and Kylie stood there with one thought running through her head. She wasn't sorry. She wasn't thrilled Trey had stumbled upon them. But neither was she sorry.
* * *
Kylie had just put on some dry clothes when she heard someone come into the cabin. Stepping out of her room, she spotted Del a standing by the open fridge drinking . . . something.
Blood. Kylie forced herself to accept it. Her friend was a vampire and vampires drank blood, had to have it to live. It was time for Kylie to face things. "Hey. "
"I'm not talking to you. " Del a screwed the top on the bottle and placed it in the vegetable bin as if to hide it.
"I don't blame you. I haven't been a very good friend. "
Del a turned around. "Is this your way of saying you're not going to leave?"
Kylie tried to think how to answer that. "I don't know yet. I told Holiday I'd give it two weeks. So I guess I shouldn't say one way or another until then. "
Then, before she lost her nerve, Kylie moved in and stretched out her arm, rubbing a finger over her vein in the crease of her elbow. "Do you have the stuff to do it?"
Del a's brow wrinkled. "To do what?"
"To draw blood. Derek said that you guys were trained. "
"I didn't. . . " Her eyes widened. "I never asked. . . "
"I know, but you didn't ask because you knew I'd say no. Right?"
"That's part of it. " Del a continued to study her.
"And the other part?" Kylie asked.
"Because you just stopped being afraid of me. I didn't want you to look at me like a monster. "
"You're not a monster," Kylie said. "You're just a vampire. "
"And you don't see that as a monster?" Del a asked.
"Not when I realize it's you. "
Del a hesitated. "My parents would think I was a monster. Lee would think I'm a monster. "
"Screw what they would think," Kylie said. "You're not a monster. " She held out her arm. "You need blood to live. "
"I can survive just drinking animal blood for the summer," Del a said.
"Why should you when I've got extra?"
"You'd real y do it?" There was a catch in Del a's voice.
"Wel , I heard that once you agree to it, you can't take it back," she teased.
"I wouldn't hold you to it. "
"I was joking. I want to do it. "
"Do what?" Miranda asked, stepping into the cabin.
Kylie looked back. "I'm giving her some blood. "
Miranda's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
Kylie nodded. "She offered to fight Fredericka for me. I owe her that much. "
Miranda made a face. "Oh, hel , if you're gonna do it, then I've got to do it. "
"No, you don't," Del a said.
"Yes I do. Because we're a team. Al of us. "
Del a's eyes grew moist. "I don't al ow witches on my team. "
"Tough titty, vamp," Miranda said. "Because you got one. " Miranda held out her arm. "Let's do it. But it better not hurt. I hate needles. "
"I can't do it until we get it cleared with Holiday or Sky. "
"Then let's go get it cleared," Miranda and Kylie said at the same time.
Right then, a toad, aka Miranda's piano teacher, plopped down at her feet. "Not again," she seethed, and eyed the toad. "Won't you ever learn?"
Miranda pointed her finger at the amphibian. "Keep this up and I swear, I'm reporting your butt to the police. "
"Maybe you should," Kylie said.
Miranda looked at Kylie. "Yeah, but he never . . . Al his offenses could be explained by accidents-trying to show me
the right keys on the piano, that kind of thing. The only way I know he was real y doing it was because of the spel . "
"I'm tel ing you," Del a said, "we should cook his horny ass. Or give him to the werewolves. I heard they love toads. "
The toad jumped across the room and then faded into thin air. Kylie got curious. "When he pops in here, is he disappearing from wherever he is?"
"Yup," Miranda said. "But except for the first time, it's happened when he's alone. Or at least that's what I think when I peek into where he ends up when he goes back. I think he gave up teaching piano lessons. "
"Wel , at least that's good," Kylie said.
Miranda's eyes grew round as if she just remembered something. "Is it true that Lucas got your name this morning?"
"Yeah," Kylie admitted.
"Oh, shit. " Del a pushed Kylie into a kitchen chair. "Start talking. What happened?"
Miranda dropped into a chair. "Yeah, spil it. "
Kylie did spil it. It al rol ed off her tongue so fast she couldn't stop it. And not just about the kiss. She told them about Lucas living next to her, about her cat. She told them about the amazing kiss and about the whole mess with Derek and Trey-including her mixed-up feelings for Derek after he'd moved on without giving her so much as a second glance. When Kylie final y shut up, Del a and Miranda sat there, their eyes wide and their mouths hung open in disbelief.
"Damn," Del a said.
Miranda leaned back in her chair and sighed. "I wanna be kissed like that. I'm so ready to be swept off my feet. "
"That's easy," Del a said. "Why don't you go find Perry and lay one on him?"
Miranda shook her head. "Please, if the guy doesn't have the bal s to even tel me he likes me, he's not going to have the bal s to kiss me. "
"Then put a spel on him to make him grow a pair," Del a said.
They al laughed. And then Kylie's phone began to ring. She glanced at the cal er ID and saw her dad's number on the screen. Her laughter faded into a frown. And then, just because she didn't want to let anything ruin the mood, she reached down and turned off the ringer and then slipped the phone back in her pocket.
* * *
The next day and a half flew by. It helped that there were no more bouts of drama-no surprise visits from Trey, no confrontations with Fredericka, not even any arguments between Miranda and Del a. They had donated blood and it felt right. And then night fel .
Kylie woke up in a cold sweat. She sat up in her bed, knowing the ghost was here. Then Kylie realized she wasn't in her bed. She wasn't even at camp.
Her heart raced as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. She knew she wasn't in Texas anymore. Not even in the United States, for that matter. It felt . . . foreign and yet somehow familiar, like images she'd seen in the Gulf War movies her mom loved. Kylie stood outside of a smal house on a plot of land devoid of trees and grass. It was hot. Not Texas hot, more dry desert heat. The sun had set and the time seemed caught between light and dark. The smel of burning rubber and wood, of devastation, fil ed her nose. Plus there was noise. So much noise. It was as if someone suddenly turned up the volume because the noise around her was deafening-there were screams and loud pops-bombs echoing off in the distance. Gunshots. Someone was yel ing for her to fol ow them. "It's not our problem," the male voice screamed. What's not my . . . She heard the wailing-a woman, Kylie realized. A woman screaming for help, screaming in pain. Fear climbed up Kylie's spine and she knew whatever was happening to the woman was terrible. And unjust. Kylie didn't want to be a part of it. Didn't want to see it, didn't want to know about it. Too ugly. Not my problem.
What was not her problem? Confusion fil ed her mind.
It's a dream. Just a dream. Wake up. Wake up. She tried to remember how Dr. Day had taught her to stop the dreams, but she couldn't. She closed her eyes real y tight and opened them, hoping she'd be back at her cabin.
She wasn't. Somehow she'd moved closer to the house and to the screams. The woman was in the house. Someone hurt her. Who? Why? What did it al mean? Why was Kylie here? Why was she stuck in a war movie? Or was it a movie? No, a dream. Her mind tried to compute the questions. No time, a voice deep inside her demanded, only time to feel, to understand. Why did she need to understand?
Her questions faded and she felt completely present in the dream again, in the havoc, in the ugliness of war. She felt an enormous guilt for not wanting to be involved with the woman. If she ran, if she ran right now, she knew she could catch up with the others and get away. Choices ran through her head. She could live if she left now. But could she live knowing she'd al owed this to happen to the woman?
No. She couldn't. She glanced down at an assault rifle in her hand. Just like the ones from the war movies. She had to stop whoever was hurting that poor woman.
Kylie kicked in the door and aimed her gun at the man hunched over the woman. "Stop it!" Kylie screamed, but it wasn't her voice making the demand. It was a man's voice.
Kylie froze for a second, then she saw that the man had a knife. She saw the woman, her clothes ripped, and blood covering her face and hands, as she scrambled away from her assailant.
The man swung around to face Kylie. He rushed forward, his bloody knife held high. Her finger on the trigger tightened. She saw him fal and felt no remorse for shooting him. He was evil, she knew it.
A young boy came running in the front door. His dark hair and eyes seemed haunted and older than his years. "No!" he screamed when he saw the bleeding woman huddled against the wal . He fixed his eyes on Kylie.
He started yel ing something in a language Kylie didn't understand. He pul ed a gun from his pants pocket and aimed it. Aimed it right at Kylie. Pop. Pop. Pop. She heard the shots. She didn't feel them, but she knew she'd been shot-she also knew when she fel to the floor she was dying.
Suddenly, she stood in the corner of the room looking at the boy and the woman. Her gaze shot to the body lying in a heap, the body she'd just left
-the person she had been. Soldier Dude. Blood streamed down his face. He reached inside his uniform and pul ed out a letter. He brought it to his lips and with his last breath, he kissed the envelope.
Kylie's heart ached for the loss. She didn't know him, but she cared. Cared that he had died. Cared that he had died trying to save someone. The woman sat up, looked at the dead soldier, and started screaming again, and so did Kylie. When she woke up, she was stil screaming, standing with her back against the kitchen wal in her cabin. Miranda and Del a, dressed in their pajamas, stood in front of her, staring.
Kylie let go of her tension and felt herself slide down the wal . Her throat felt raw, her heart raced.
"She's having a night terror," Miranda said from far away.
Kylie wanted to believe it, but no. She'd never remembered the others. This time she remembered. Somehow she knew that this had been more than just a dream. This was how Soldier Dude had died.
* * *
Kylie sat there for a good ten minutes, assuring Del a and Miranda she was fine. When they final y went back to bed, Kylie returned to her bedroom. Realizing she couldn't sleep, she got dressed and went to see Holiday. The camp leader had told Kylie if she ever needed her, night or day, she could come to her cabin. Kylie was about to find out if Holiday real y meant it.
Moving down the path toward Holiday's cabin, Kylie couldn't help but notice how the night seemed void of noise. Not a bird, not even the shuffle of a raccoon. In her mind, she heard the woman's screams again and saw the soldier take his last breath. Tears dampened Kylie's face. She brushed them away, not wanting to be crying when she got to Holiday's cabin.
Suddenly, the dark silence shattered. Kylie heard arguing in the woods. The voices were gone just as quick as they'd begun, though. The hairs rose on the back of her neck. She ignored the fear of the unknown and focused on what she knew. The soldier was dead. He'd d
ied trying to save someone. She kept walking. Holiday's cabin was only another five minutes away.
She took another step, and that's when she felt someone move into place behind her.
That's when she felt the hand grab her arm and jerk her back.
"You shouldn't be out now," the eerily familiar voice snarled.