Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(68)

"Please." Holiday dropped onto the bed beside Kylie. "We needed a little excitement. I mean, if something crazy doesn't happen every fifteen minutes, it just doesn't feel right." She giggled.

Kylie grinned and then she remembered, excitement buzzing in her chest. "I did it. I..." She twitched her eyebrows and looked at Holiday. "I'm doing it now. I can see your pattern. You've got some horizontal lines and then ... and then triangle shapes on the left."

"That's great!" Holiday hugged her. "I knew it would happen for you. Congratulations."

"But does this mean I'm opening up, too? That people can read me now and I won't come across like a snooty bitch anymore? And can ... oh, man!" Hope started to build. "Can you see what I am? Look and tell me."

Holiday stared at Kylie's forehead. Her expression told Kylie the answer before Holiday spoke.

"Sorry. You're still a snooty bitch." Holiday grinned. "But it will happen any time now. Opening up takes more practice. Are you still doing your visualization exercises?"

"Not as often as I should," Kylie admitted. "But I'll start being better, I promise."

"Have you experienced any more of the sensitive hearing?"

"No. Why? Does that mean anything?" Did Holiday know something she wasn't saying? Did she think Kylie was back to being a werewolf now?

"No. I was just curious." Holiday reached up and tucked a strand of Kylie's hair behind her ear. "Are you really okay? You've had a rough few days."

"Tell me about it." Kylie's thoughts went back to the girls who were killed. She looked at Holiday. "What if ... What do I do if those girls from town-their ghosts, I mean-come to me to help them?"

Holiday gripped Kylie's hand. "That won't happen."

"How can you be so sure? If their spirits are still here and-"

"It won't happen," Holiday said with more certainty this time.

And that's when Kylie understood. "They came to you?"

She nodded. "I'm helping them cross over." Then Holiday gave Kylie a feel-better hug. Its soothing effects did wonders.

"Now, let's go back to you," Holiday said. "Are you okay?"

"Not completely okay," Kylie said, and then admitted a piece of truth that Holiday deserved to hear. "You were right. I feel a little better after seeing my dad. I didn't let him off the hook, either. I'm still furious at him, but ... I know he loves me. And I love him and sooner or later, I'm sure we'll be back to something that is almost normal."

Holiday leaned back on Kylie's pillow. "Normal is overrated, anyway."

"I'm beginning to wonder if I'd even recognize normal now." Kylie raised her thumb to her mouth and nipped at the corner of her nail.

"Well, if you did recognize it, you probably wouldn't like it anymore," Holiday teased.

"I just want to figure out this whole mystery with the ghost, if someone really needs me or doesn't need me. Do these ghosts have a clue what they put us through?"

"I don't think so." Holiday touched Kylie's arm again. "But I really believe everything is going to be okay."

For the next few minutes, only silence filled the room. Kylie looked down at Holiday resting on the bed. "Can I ask you something?"

Holiday cocked an eyebrow at her. "It doesn't involve Burnett, does it?"

"No," Kylie said. "But it's about boys."

"Okay, shoot." Holiday sat up.

"Is it ... normal if you really like one guy to still be infatuated with another?"

"The whole Derek and Lucas issue, huh?"

"Yeah." Kylie frowned. "But I liked it better when I didn't name them."

"Okay, no names. Two guys." She held out one finger. "First, we can't always control our attractions to other people. Take my aunt Stella, for example. She's been married to my uncle for fifty years, but the woman is goo-goo over Tom Selleck. Owns every movie and TV show he ever made, she spends hours every week watching him strut across her fifty-twoinch flat screen." Holiday gave Kylie a soft look as if she realized the whole Tom Selleck talk wasn't working. "I think I've said this to you before.

You are too young to worry about things like this."

"You're wrong," Kylie said. "Why wouldn't I worry? Just because a person is young doesn't mean that being loyal to someone isn't important.

And it still hurts if someone isn't loyal to you. It hurt like hell when Trey hooked up with another girl. It hurt Perry when Miranda kissed another guy, and they weren't even going out yet. Okay, I admit that at this age, it might not bring about the same disastrous outcome as ... as my dad cheating on my mom, but it still hurts. So I have to worry, because I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Wow." Holiday frowned and sat back up. "When you put it like that, you are so right, and I am so wrong. I'm sorry."

Kylie stared at the camp leader for a moment. "I appreciate your admitting you were wrong," Kylie said. Adults don't always do that.

"Is it okay if I try again to offer some advice?" Holiday asked. Kylie nodded.

Holiday paused in thought for a second. "Can I guess that this is all about the dream you had with Lucas?"