After thinking about it, Kylie couldn't help but be suspicious. Did Holiday know something she wasn't telling Kylie? She loved Holiday, but her belief in the self-discovery crap, the idea that a person needed to find their own answers, was chewing on Kylie's last nerve.
The cold filling the room brought her back to the present. "You have to save her."
Speaking of last nerves ...
Kylie groaned and sat up. The ghost stood at the foot of her bed. The sweet smell of blood assaulted Kylie before she saw the ghost had donned her bloody gown again. The spirit met Kylie's gaze and clutched her abdomen as if she was going to be sick.
"If you're going to throw up," Kylie said, "would you mind stepping away from the bed?"
The cold, uncaring sound of her own voice hit Kylie like a slap across the face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm just ... I want to figure it out and it's frustrating not to be able to."
The ghost rested a hand on Kylie's foot. Even beneath the blanket, the icy chill took hold. "You have the ability to stop it. Please make it stop."
"Make what stop? Has it already started?" Kylie asked, her chest tightening.
Was someone she loved already suffering? Kidnapped and being tortured by the Blood Brothers, or something even worse?
"Damn it, answer me!" Kylie yelled. "Or at least give me a vision I can understand. I don't even care how scary it is, just do it."
The one of the funeral still made no sense.
The ghost faded and so did the coldness of her touch. But then Kylie felt tingly warmth spread down the tendons to her toes and up the arches to her ankle. Kylie pressed a hand against her foot. She'd never felt that before with Daniel. Was that supposed to mean something?
Frustration welled inside Kylie, but the sound of cascading water filled her head. Was this the death angels way of saying it would be okay?
Kylie's phone beeped, announcing she had messages. There were three: one from the private investigator, one from Sara, and one from her mom.
Recalling the fear that whatever might happen could already be happening, and not caring about the hour, Kylie dialed her mom's number.
Later, at eight o'clock that morning, Kylie dropped her breakfast tray on the table and sat down beside Della and Miranda, purposely not looking around because she was afraid she might see him. Or both hims. She wasn't any more eager to see Derek right now than she was to see Lucas.
Derek's avoidance of her last night still stung. Oh, she knew she'd avoided him only a couple of weeks ago, but it had been different. She hadn't avoided him because she didn't want to be with him; she'd done it because she'd wanted to be with him too much.
Staring down at her runny eggs, which were about as appetizing as roadkill, Kylie recalled her conversation she'd had with her mom. Frankly, Kylie didn't know if her mom believed the whole "I woke from a bad dream and didn't realize the time" spiel. But when her mom confessed she'd been having some really bad dreams lately, too, Kylie couldn't help but wonder if this was because of the erasing. Were her mom's nightmares about what she'd seen at Shadow Falls?
Suddenly, Kylie felt the hair on the back of her neck start to stand up. Without even looking back, Kylie knew someone had her locked in a serious stare. Unable to resist, she glanced over her shoulder. She should have known.
Fredericka.
Turning back around, her gaze shot across the room and she found herself staring right at Derek. His eyes expressed concern, caring, but not so much that he'd come over. Could he not sense how much she needed him? She looked away, but only found herself caught in the snare of a pair of blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes that took her back to her childhood and trying to find elephants hidden in the clouds.
Lucas glanced over at the door and nodded as if asking her to meet him outside.
Kylie had to reach deep to find the courage to do what came next.
She picked up her fork and started heaping food into her mouth as if she were too hungry to leave. Yup, she'd rather eat cold roadkill, runny scrambled eggs than talk with Lucas. Plain and simple, she wasn't ready to face him, or the dreams. Then came the fact that walking out of this dining hall to be with Lucas would no doubt hurt Derek. She didn't want to hurt Derek. It didn't even matter that he didn't seem to mind hurting her.
It was after art when Kylie arrived back to the cabin to make her two phone calls. Sitting at the computer desk, she reached for the mouse to pull up her grandparents' number again. She'd debated who to call first.
The PI or her grandparents. She opted for the grandparents. Though for the life of her, she didn't have a clue what she was going to say. How did you go about telling someone you were their long-lost grandchild-but not really theirs because you happened to know their dead son had been adopted?
Oh, yeah, this was going to be easy.
When the computer woke up, the screen brought up a list of car accidents for the Springville area, Della's home. Kylie chest grew heavy when she realized Della was still suspicious of what she might have done during her changing stage.
Kylie glanced at Della's shut bedroom door. She often came back to the cabin and napped after lunch.
Opening another screen, Kylie searched for the telephone number for Kent B. Brighten in Gladlock, Texas. Unsure what she would say, she punched in the number before she lost her nerve.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
An answering machine picked up. "Hello, you have reached Kent and Becky Brighten. We aren't home right now, but if you'll leave..." The voice continued.
They were still alive.
Her heart quivered. The line beeped.
Decision time. Leave a message? Not leave a message? She hit the end button.
Ten breaths and thirty seconds later, she called the PI. Another message machine. But she left a voice message, letting him know she'd gotten a name and number of Daniel's adoptive parents.
Trying to let her mind wrap around the possibility of actually meeting the Brightens, Kylie realized she wanted to meet them for reasons other than just finding Daniel's birth parents. It would be nice to learn more about her dad. She closed the screen and another one popped up. It was a double screen of two newspaper articles about two different car accidents, each with casualties.
Kylie started to read. One was about a man in his late forties and the other was ... Kylie's heart tugged. A woman and her six-month-old little girl.
How could Della think she could have done something like that?
A knock filled the cabin and panic filled her chest. Was it Lucas? Or Fredericka again? She cut her eyes around the room, hoping Socks was hiding. The knock came louder.
"Kylie?" Burnett's deep voice boomed through the door. Knowing he could hear her, Kylie called, "Come in."