"We can finish our discussion tomorrow," Holiday said to Lucas as if dismissing him.
"Okay," he said, offering Holiday a smile. Then he walked out.
Del a and Miranda moved away from the doorway to let him pass. Kylie didn't miss the unfriendly way Del a and Lucas exchanged glances. Was Del a worried that Lucas had told Holiday about her cousin Chan's surprise appearance at camp? Probably.
"Shut the door," Holiday added as Lucas was almost out.
Kylie looked back at the camp leader, feeling as if she was about to be chastised for ... for what? Fainting? Or had Lucas told her about Chan and now Kylie was in trouble for not speaking up?
"You don't have to be afraid of Lucas," Holiday said.
Kylie studied her. "Can you hear my heartbeat, too?"
Holiday grinned. "I read emotions, not heartbeats, but I also read your fear from the way you turned white as a sheet when you saw him."
Kylie almost blurted out what she knew about Lucas, but she didn't. It felt too much like tattling. Instead, she asked a question. "Why was he here?"
"He was in the office when Miranda came to get me."
Kylie looked at the clock; it was almost one in the morning. She couldn't help but wonder exactly what Lucas and Holiday were doing at that hour. Sure, the camp leader was older, but not by many years.
"Are you and he ... close?"
"Depends on what you mean by close." Holiday arched a brow. "This is his third time here. He's assisting us with some things and even training to work with us next year. But that's al ." Then she asked, "What happened tonight?"
Kylie swal owed, stal ing. How much should she tel ?
"The ghost appeared again, didn't he?" Holiday asked in the beat of the indecisive silence. Kylie nodded, yet more than anything, she wanted to deny it. "Yes, but Miranda and Del a said that people who are a little loony sometimes give off the same mental image of not being human. So maybe I'm not gifted and maybe the ghost is just a powerful one, like you said sometimes happens. Or I could even have a brain tumor."
Holiday sighed. "The chances of either one of those are very slim, Kylie. Don't you think?"
"Maybe, but the chance exists," Kylie insisted. "I mean, you said most of the time ghost whispering stems from ... a condition that's hereditary. That one of my parents had to have been gifted, too."
"Neither of your parents ever ... showed any signs of being different?"
"No. Never." Yet even as she answered, she reconsidered her mother's cold nature. Could that qualify as "different"?
"I also told you that in rare situations it can skip a generation."
"But I knew my grandparents on both sides. Don't most people know if ... if they're not human?"
"Most people do, but..." Holiday stared at her as if disappointed, and then she folded her hands in her lap. "I suppose that's what you should work on while you're here."
"Work on?"
Holiday stood up. "Everyone here has a quest. Something they're seeking answers for. I suppose your quest is to discover if you are, or are not, completely human. And if, as I suspect, you are one of us, then you must also decide if you'l embrace your gifts to help others, or turn your back on them."
Kylie tried to wrap her mind around the possibility that one of her parents wasn't human, that they might understand what Kylie was going through. Wouldn't they have said something to her?
Holiday placed a hand on Kylie's shoulder. "You should try to get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow."
She nodded and watched Holiday almost make it out the door before the question popped out. "How ... how do I find the answers? I can't go to my parents and ask them if they see ghosts. They'd think I was crazy."
Holiday turned around. "Or maybe one of them would confess the truth to you."
Kylie shook her head. "But if al this is a mistake, then al of that would be for nothing. They already have me seeing a shrink. If I start talking about ghosts, they might have me committed."
"It's your quest, Kylie. Only you can decide how you want to do this."
* * *
The next morning Kylie and Miranda walked to breakfast together. Del a had already taken off by the time Kylie got up. When Kylie asked about Del a, Miranda informed her that vampires often held before dawn meetings where they performed rituals.
"What kind of rituals?" Kylie asked.
"Don't know exactly, but my guess is it has to do with feeding on blood."
Kylie pressed a hand to her stomach, sorry that she'd asked. Of course, her sickly feeling could partly be due to the fact that she'd hardly slept. Then on second thought, nope, it was for sure the blood. The idea repulsed her in a big way. Seeing the red stuff in those glasses during dinner last night had been too much. If nothing else, at least Kylie might lose a few pounds over the summer. They walked the next few minutes in silence. "How did you sleep last night?" Miranda final y asked, although Kylie knew what her roommate real y meant. Namely, was Kylie okay and what the hel had happened to make her faint?
Kylie decided to ignore the subtext and answered the question as asked.
"Fine." Kylie lied, aware the white lies might work with Miranda, just not Del a.
In truth, Kylie had stared holes in the ceiling considering what Holiday had said about Kylie's quest. No matter how Kylie looked at the problem, she couldn't think of a way to ask her parents if they were not al human.
But she could think of a lot of questions she'd like to ask someone about herself. Questions like: if I am a supernatural what other kind of species could I be? And if I'm not one of you, do I have some kind of a brain tumor? Kylie didn't know which was worse. Then the revelation hit. Maybe getting answers to those questions would help her rule out the possibility of being anything but human. It wasn't the best plan, but it was a start. And she had to start somewhere.
"You didn't look fine last night," Miranda said.
She hadn't been. When Kylie final y went to sleep, she'd dreamed. Crazy, weird dreams that involved Lucas Parker and her. They were swimming. He hadn't been wearing a shirt and neither had she. She'd woken up, feeling out of breath, and tingly. Tingly the way Trey had made her feel when they'd kissed for a long time. How could her body betray her and actual y find Lucas Parker desirable? Not that she would let her body win this one. If there was anything she knew about herself, it was that she could control her desire. She'd gotten real y good at stopping Trey, even when stopping had been the last thing she'd wanted.