Well, that pretty much left Kylie in the dark. How many times had she admitted feeling no control when it came to boys and kissing, let alone...
Holiday continued, "The dreamscaper sort of sets the stage for the dream. You offer a script to the person you are dreaming about and, depending on the strength of your abilities, and the person you are dreaming about, he or she can either refuse the script or attempt to alter it."
Kylie's head started to throb. No doubt from stress. "But it feels so real."
"It is real, but it's not." Holiday reached over and took her hand. A lot of Kylie's stress began to fade. "Think of it as going to see a movie. If you go see a movie with someone, you both share the experience. You live through the emotions, but it didn't actually happen."
Holiday released Kylie's hand, and then leaned back in her chair. "I'm impressed by this new ability of yours, Kylie. Really. If someone is highly skilled in dreamscaping, it's considered a very powerful gift. You can learn a lot from it and even teach others through the use of dreamscapes. And very few of us are lucky to have it."
"Lucky me," Kylie said with zero enthusiasm. "I don't suppose it's one of those returnable gifts?" she asked, feeling overwhelmed.
"Not returnable. I'm afraid the time has already passed to refuse your gifts. When you accepted your role as a ghost whisperer, you pretty much accepted it all." Holiday smiled. "But believe me, in time you will probably feel more in control of it. Seriously, Kylie, this is a very special gift."
Kylie crossed her arms over her special extra-size breasts and tried to take it all in. Holiday's words replayed in her head. I've never heard of a werewolf with this gift. "So ... if I am gifted with this, does it mean I'm not going to be morphing into a werewolf this Monday?"
Holiday didn't say anything, but Kylie saw that look on the camp leader's face again. The one that said she was either trying to figure out if she should say something, and if she did, how to say it in a way to soften the blow.
"Just spill it," Kylie told her. At this point, she might as well hear everything.
Holiday wrinkled her brows. "You are good at reading me," she said. "Really, too good," she said as if that could mean something, too. But Kylie was too focused on the werewolf issue to care what other things Holiday was thinking. "What are you telling me now?"
Holiday shook her head. "I was going to talk to you about this later. But first, I want to say up-front that it's still surmising." She paused. "Okay..." Kylie waved her hand to hurry Holiday along.
"After our talk yesterday where you mentioned the wolf ... Well, Selynn and Burnett told me that ... there's an old legend about real wolves being drawn to weres who are supposed to be in the hierarchy of the pack."
"So, I'm like an important werewolf?" Damn, she didn't even want to be a regular werewolf-she for sure didn't want to be an important one.
"I said it was just surmising on our part. Because frankly, Kylie, all the other stuff, the fact that you've never turned, that your other gifts aren't those common with weres, it doesn't line up. Especially when you realize that most all hierarchies in a were group are full-blooded. No human blood. So, you see, I don't want you to start thinking this really means anything. Because frankly, I'm not sure it does."
"Or it could mean a really big something," Kylie said, and wondered if she'd ever figure it all out. Or if she was destined to go through her life not knowing who or what she really was.
Before Kylie left Holiday's office, the camp leader asked Kylie to help her greet the visitors, deliver cold water and hot coffee, and keep peace in the dining hall during parents day. She got the feeling Holiday didn't need her help as much as she worried Kylie would go back to her cabin, fall into bed, and crawl into a deep state of insurmountable depression. Since Holiday could actually read Kylie's emotions, that was a big possibility. Now, prepared to play the part of a greeter, the door to the dining hall opened and several parents came rushing in and looking around for their kids.
Kylie realized a problem with Holiday's no-depression plan. Seeing eager parents walk in and embrace their kids wasn't exactly cheering her up. Remembering the call with her mom and how upset her mom was about having to miss the visitation helped chase away some of her melancholy. But then her mind shot to her stepdad and the reasons he wasn't going to show up. Too busy bumping uglies with his skanky girlfriend!
Kylie turned around and went to the table to start pouring glasses of iced water.
Ten minutes later, the noise in the dining hall rose as more parents arrived.
Kylie looked around and her thoughts went to her mom again. Not that her mind lingered on Mom too long. Nope. She had better things to knock around in the batting cage of her mind. Like the realization that Kylie had been barging into Lucas's dreams and handing him a dream script that read: let's get naked, go for a swim, and make out. Not that he'd exactly been complaining about it.
Oh, and the best part, according to Holiday, was that Lucas would remember these dreams, too. So when he came back to the camp-if he came back-she'd have to face him.
Nope. She definitely didn't want to think about that.
She grabbed another tray and started lining up glasses to fill with water.
"It's Kylie, right?" A soft voice spoke beside her.
Kylie glanced up from the tray. The woman appeared to be in her early fifties. She wore her dark hair short in a classic older lady cut, and her soft green eyes studied Kylie with a smile.
"Yes, it's Kylie." She forced herself to smile back and she was glad she did. It took her only another second after noticing the eye color to recognize the woman. "Hi, Mrs. Lakes."
Kylie looked around to see if she could find Derek, thinking his mom was obviously looking for him. "I haven't seen him, but I'm sure-"
"Oh, he's right over there." She pointed in the opposite direction from where Kylie looked. Kylie was tempted to turn around and find him, but something kept her from it. She recognized the emotion right off the bat.
Guilt. Guilt about her dreams.
Please don't break my heart. Derek's words echoed in her head and she realized it would break her heart if she knew Derek was skinnydipping in his dreams with some other girl.
Staring back down at the plastic glasses lined up like dominos on the tray, she hoped Derek wasn't close enough to read her emotions.
The woman put a hand on Kylie's arm and leaned in. "I told him I wanted to snag a glass of water."
"Oh, here," Kylie reached down and picked up a glass.