Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(71)

"Don't remind me," he said with a tease in his voice.

"You're terrible," she reprimanded, but she wasn't all serious. She liked the fact that he was attracted to her.

"Just put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and come down."

Kylie bit down on her lip. She looked at the computer screen, which displayed the list of the Dallas Brightens she hadn't called yet. Della and Miranda had been helping, but so far nothing.

"Please," Derek said.

His plea echoed in his voice and she felt herself giving in. On top of just wanting to make Derek happy, she remembered that she could read everyone's brain patterns and realized seeing everyone all together would be fun. She could compare one brain pattern to another.

"You had a rough day," Derek said. "You deserve some fun in the sun."

I've had a rough few months. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Really?" he asked, almost shocked that she'd given in. Didn't he know how much he meant to her?

"Really," she said, and smiled. The smile warmed Kylie inside and out. The memory of how he'd stood up for her even to her dad played in her mind. And that's when she knew that the next time Derek asked her to go out with him, she'd say yes.

It took her fifteen minutes to decide which pair of shorts and T-shirt to wear. She wanted to look good. Extra good. Maybe she and Derek could sneak off together and ... and hopefully he would ask her to go out with him. Heck, maybe she might even ask him.

When she realized how much time had passed, she tore out the door. The shortest route to the swimming hole was through the woods, so she took it. The speed with which she moved shocked even her. Her footeye coordination of where to step and how to miss the trees flabbergasted her.

While speed and agility had never been something she longed for, she found herself feeling a sense of pride at her new talents. If only she knew from what species these new talents stemmed.

She was over halfway to the swimming hole when she felt it. Felt that sensation of being followed. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. And wouldn't you know that's when she recalled Burnett's warning about staying on the paths and out of the woods.

Listening, hoping to hear something other than the sound of feet pounding against the earth, she felt better when the normal sounds of the woods filled her ears. Whatever presence loomed close by wasn't so ominous that birds and insects stopped their songs.

Not that she should stake her life on the wisdom of the birds and insects.

The feeling hit stronger ... someone was here. What should she do? Logic said for her to keep going; turning back would only put her farther away from the help of the others if trouble struck. Her mind went to the girls who'd been killed in town and amazingly, she found herself running even faster.

The clearing in the woods appeared in less than a minute. The bright sun hit her eyes and she could hear the other campers laughing and splashing in the water. When nothing attacked her, when no evil presence appeared wearing a bloody shirt and tried to yank her back into the woods, she wondered if this feeling of being watched wasn't all in her head. Could she be that paranoid?

She stopped in the clearing beside a tree and tried to catch her breath, feeling completely winded from her run. She almost had her breathing back to normal when she saw Derek coming toward her. He wore only a pair of swim trunks. His chest was bare and wet like the other night in the shower. The trunks were regular boy trunks, a little loose on him, even hung a little low on the waist, but they were wet so they molded against his form. Since she knew what he looked like without them, she found herself feeling breathless again.

"Hey," he said, and when his gaze fell to her mouth, she could tell he wanted to kiss her. He looked around and saw that they had an audience.

So instead of kissing, he reached out and took her hand. "Come on, the water feels great."

It did feel great. And for the next hour, Kylie played water volleyball, splashed around, studied everyone's brain pattern, and completely forgot about the problems pressing on her shoulders. The only downside was watching Perry watch Miranda. She looked really good in her bathing suit and Kylie wasn't the only one who noticed, either. The guys were all stealing glances, even Derek, and then Perry would cut them glances, and not the friendly kind of glances either. His eyes would turn jet black, reminding Kylie of some kind of serpent.

Nevertheless, between the water and the laughter, Kylie hadn't had so much fun in ... well, forever.

Then all the fun came to a jarring halt when she spotted Holiday running out of the woods in a panic and heading straight for the lake. Her expression grew tighter with each hurried step. What was wrong? Holiday's gaze found Kylie's and suddenly she knew that whatever was wrong involved her.

Kylie started moving out of the water, but her toes sank into the mud at the lake's bottom the closer she got to shore. All the stresses in her life lined up like dominos in her mind, and she wondered which one this new problem involved.

Selynn appeared behind Holiday and her gaze shot to Kylie, as well. This wasn't going to be good.

Kylie met Holiday at the edge of the water and purposely ignored Selynn. "What's wrong?"

"We have a problem." Holiday's gaze shot back to the water and she waved someone else in. Kylie turned and saw Derek swimming in to join them.

"What is it?" Kylie asked again, still ignoring Selynn, who had moved in.