"But you can transform yourself into most anything, right?" Miranda's question drew Kylie out of her thoughts.
"Sort of," Kylie answered, and tried to keep her mind back on Miranda. "But it's still kind of tricky."
"What crazy stuff can you do now?" Miranda asked. Her green eyes glittered with excitement.
Kylie shrugged and dropped down on the bed beside Miranda. "Nothing new, just a little more control over what I can do. Oh, wait, there is one thing. I can make other people invisible."
"Seriously? Make me invisible now. Do it. Do it."
"Please, not now. I'm exhausted. Plus, I'm not sure ... I mean, it's still kind of scary to do it." She remembered being scared shitless at the thought that she'd somehow lost Derek in the invisible world tonight.
Then, almost wanting a distraction from talking about herself, she reached for the bear and hugged it.
"So you and this bear have a thing going, huh? It looked pretty serious when I came in here."
Miranda smiled. "Perry gave it to me to keep me company when he wasn't here. Though this guy's not nearly as good of a kisser as Perry."
Kylie smiled. This was what she had missed. Just having someone to talk to, to giggle with. "That's sweet," Kylie said.
"Yeah," Miranda said, and then asked, "Can you glow anytime now?" She pulled her knees up to herchest.
"No," Kylie said. "That only happens when I heal people." Or pull them from the dead, she thought.
Realizing the crazy powers that seemed to come and go, it all scared her. She really hoped Hayden and Burnett could work out their differences. It would really be nice to have Hayden here to help her if things went wonky again.
"Too bad, the whole glowing thing was totally cool. I mean, I can make myself glow, but it's not as cool as when you did it. I don't know why, but it's different."
Kylie shook her head. "It wasn't that cool, believe me."
"Yeah, it was." Miranda made a funny face. "Everyone agreed that you looked like an angel. They were even wondering if maybe you didn't have a little angel in you."
"I'm no angel." Just ask Burnett.
"Everyone is still talking about it," Miranda said.
Great. But even at the thought of being everyone's topic of conversation, and getting all the awkward stares from some of the other students, she didn't dread it as much as she would have before. Face it, she was thrilled to be back, even if it did mean she was still considered a bit of a freak.
Pushing all that aside, she focused on Miranda again. "So what have I missed since I've been gone?"
"Everything. It's been crazy. Oh..." A frown appeared in her eyes. "Did you hear about Helen?"
"Yeah." Kylie nodded. "Holiday promised me she's fine."
Miranda made another face. "Did you hear who they think did it? That Mario creep was seen-"
Chapter Twelve
Thankfully the ghost must have gotten tired of waiting, because Kylie found her room warm with Socks, her black-and-white tuxedo kitty, resting peacefully on her pillow.
When she joined Socks on the bed, the cat scooted over, giving her room, then with his front whitesocked paw, he swatted at the teddy bear Kylie still held.
"Okay, I guess holding you is better." She set the bear on the floor. The cat climbed up on Kylie's chest and she gave the kitten some much needed attention. After several minutes, Kylie sat up, shifting the feline to rest at her side. "Sorry, buddy, gotta call Mom. But don't worry, I'll probably be short and sweet.
She's much too busy with John to spend time talking with me."
The moment the words were out of Kylie mouth, she realized half her problem with John. She was jealous. She felt her relationship with her mom had just found solid ground when John had come along and snagged her mom's attention. Was it wrong for Kylie to want to be the most important thing in her mom's life for a while?
Probably, Kylie answered her own question. Especially when she was living away from home. Her mom had every right to need a life of her own.
But if Kylie's jealously was only half the problem, what was her other issue with the man? Plain and simple, she just didn't like him. She reminded herself that Burnett had done a background check on the guy and nothing suspicious came up.
Kylie remembered how shocked Burnett had been to discover that Hayden wasn't everything his background check had revealed. Maybe Kylie shouldn't put too much stock in Burnett's checks.
Then again, maybe Kylie should stop trying to paint John as a bad guy and start trying to accept him as a part of her mom's life. Especially when he seemed to be the only part of her mom's life that was making her happy. Her mom deserved to be happy, didn't she?
Kylie dialed her mom's number, determined to play nice.
It rang once. Then two more times. Normally her mom picked up quickly. Kylie worried she might be interrupting some romantic interludes. She frowned and looked at the time. It had to be almost lunch time in the UK, surely they really weren't ... doing the deed, or as Della would have called it, having a nooner.
She pushed that thought from her mind as quickly as she could, and instead let her mind wander to Della. Burnett had said the little vamp had run into some type of altercation. Seeing Miranda had been super soothing, but having them both here would be just what the doctor ordered.
Another ring of the line brought her attention back to the phone. She expected it to switch to voice mail at any moment. Was her mom okay? Resentment stirred inside her for John again. If something happened to her mom on this trip ...
"Hello?" Her mom sounded ... distant. Somehow unwelcoming."Everything okay?" Kylie asked, her hand tightening on Hayden's phone.
"Kylie?" her mom said. "Whose phone are you using to call me?"
Realizing this to be the reason for her mom's delay and odd distant tone, Kylie sank back on the pillow.
However, the aloofness in her mom's voice reminded her of when she'd been younger and tried so hard to win her mom's approval. A time when Kylie questioned her mom's affection for her. But that was the past. They had found a new place in their relationship. Or they had before now. Kylie prayed John's presence didn't change that.
"Where's your phone, young lady?"
"Oh ... I..." She had think of a lie quickly and make it sound convincing. Her mom might not be able to hear her heart race with a lie, but she had some maternal lie detector that got Kylie in trouble more times than not. "I misplaced my phone last night, so I borrowed a friend's." For all intents and purposes, it wasn't really a lie.