"Are you really ready to completely walk away from your family?"
Jenny dropped on the bed and bunched a handful of Derek's loose-fitting pajamas in her hands. "It hurts like hell, but that family is trying to force me to marry someone I don't love. And he doesn't love me, either. I don't want to live like that."
Kylie's mind raced. She had told Holiday that what the chameleon elders were doing was almost as bad as the weres. Now she realized how right she was. The elders were doing to Jenny what Lucas's father was doing to Lucas.
Did that mean Lucas was right to stand up to his pack, and to his dad? Everything felt so mixed up.
Realizing Derek and Jenny stared at her, she decided now wasn't the time to think about Lucas. One problem at a time.
Problem one, her grandfather and the entire chameleon community were going to blame this on Kylie because she was the reason Hayden was here. How in the hell was she going to fix that? She looked at Jenny again. "Okay, so now explain to me why you haven't gotten with Hayden?"
"Because," Jenny said. "Every time I talked to him about me leaving, he'd tell me it was wrong. To stick it out until I matured. But everyone knew that the day I matured, I was out of there, so the elders were trying to find another way to stop me. They were going to force me to marry Brandon next week."
Her expression grew solemn. "Besides, I didn't come here because of Hayden. I came here because of you. I thought you'd understand. I guess I was wrong."
Guilt filled Kylie's chest. "You're not wrong, I just ... I don't know how to make this right." Kylie looked around. "How did you end up with Derek?"
"You always had people around you. I saw Derek and I figured if you trusted him, then I could, too."
Kylie sighed. "Are you really ready to lose the right to see your family?" Was Lucas?
Tears filled the girl's eyes and Kylie felt the same emotion stir inside her.
"No," Jenny said, "but I wasn't ready to marry Brandon, either."
"I know," Kylie said. "We just have to figure out how to deal with this." The same went with Lucas.
But God help her, she didn't have a clue how to do either.She glanced at Derek and remembered why she'd come here to begin with. "We have a lot of stuff to deal with," she muttered.
"What stuff?" Derek asked.
Kylie hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud. Then parts of the vision played in Kylie's head like a horror movie. "Do you remember when you told me about Roberto, Mario's grandson? You said he witnessed his mother's murder?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember how she was murdered?"
He ran a hand through his dark hair. "I think one article said she was stabbed."
Kylie frowned. "I was afraid of that."
"Why?" Derek asked.
"She's my ghost."
Derek looked concerned. "Roberto's mom is your ghost?"
"Please tell me she's not here right now." Jenny pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.
"It's okay." Derek moved closer to the girl. He rested a palm on her shoulder to ease her fear.
"Stop it!" Jenny slapped his hand. "I don't like you touching me. You ... make me feel things I don't ...
feel."
Derek frowned. "I was trying to make you feel better."
"Maybe I don't want to feel better!" she snapped, and they stared at each other.
For some reason their bickering reminded Kylie of Burnett and Holiday, or better yet, Kylie and Derek in the beginning, and she knew why. Sexual tension. If Kylie was a vampire she'd bet she could smell the pheromones.
Derek looked at Kylie. "Do you see what I've put up with the last twenty-four hours?"
The only thing keeping Kylie from smiling were the remnants of the vision and the realization that she didn't have a clue how to deal with Jenny. If she went to Holiday, she wasn't sure the camp leader would or even could allow her to stay. But how long could they keep her hidden?
All of a sudden, Derek's window shot up and Della lunged inside. "Okay, here's the thing. I just got a call from Burnett. He was doing walk-bys of our cabins and realized we're gone. He's on his way here.
You've got one second to hide Girl Wonder over there, or he's gonna know she's here."
Jenny vanished. Della, seeing the vanishing act for the first time, looked stunned. Burnett came bolting through the opened window. "What the hell is happening now?"
"I had a vision." Kylie offered part of the truth. "I wanted to ask Derek about it."
"And you couldn't have called me first?"
"You know how I am after a vision, I was crazy, all I could think about was finding out the truth."
"What truth?"
"I know who the ghost is now. She is ... was connected to Mario. She was his daughter-in-law, Roberto's mother. Mario had her killed." Kylie's heart ached, remembering the last few minutes of the woman's life. Remembering how Roberto had witnessed the terrible death.
Burnett sighed. "And the sword? Is it from her, too?"
"No, she says it's from ... the death angels."
A long pause filled the room as if everyone had to take a few seconds to believe it. "Do you know whythey sent it?" Burnett finally asked.
Kylie frowned. She suspected it was because she was going to have to face Mario. And deep down she figured that Burnett suspected it as well. But nobody wanted to say it. "No, not really." It wasn't even a lie. There was a difference in knowing something and suspecting it.
"Come on, let's go talk to Holiday about this vision," Burnett said.
Kylie left Derek's cabin to deal with one issue, knowing that sooner or later, she would have to deal with the one she was leaving here. Jenny.
How long could they hide a runaway chameleon? Hopefully long enough for Kylie to come up with a plan.
* * *
Both Burnett and Holiday walked Kylie back to her cabin after their powwow. She'd managed to get through the talk without lying by keeping the topic on the vision. Kylie hadn't told them anything about Jenny or about her father repeating his message concerning them being together soon. To be honest, she tried not to think about her dad's message. Hadn't Holiday said that a person who started preparing oneself for death cheated themselves out of what little life they had left? And ... somewhere deep in her gut, she held on to the fact that her dad could be confused. That his definition of soon could be in about eighty or ninety years.
The first thing Kylie did after Burnett and Holiday walked away was grab her phone.