Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1)(18)

She'd been sitting on a swing with her new kitten in her hands-the kitten her parents had given her because Socks had come up missing. Lucas's head had popped over the fence, and his blue eyes met hers. The kitten had hissed and scratched her, trying to run for cover. The boy stared and then said, Be sure to take the kitten in the house at night. Or what happened to your other cat will happen to it. She'd run to her mother crying. That night her dad and mom had gone to talk to Lucas's parents. Her parents hadn't told her what happened, but she recal ed her daddy looking angry when they'd returned from the visit. Not that it mattered, because the next day Lucas Parker and his parents were gone.

"You're welcome," Lucas said, his deep rumble now slightly laced with sarcasm. Then he turned and walked away. Oh, great. Al she needed was to start making enemies of one of the humans-are-on-the food-chain gang-especial y one she knew was capable of doing despicable things. But face it, being nice to Lucas Parker was going to be hard. After al , he had kil ed her cat and threatened to do the same to her kitten.

Chapter Eleven

During lunch, the introductions proved to be as embarrassing as Kylie thought they would be. Everyone had said their name and "what" they were, but when her time came, she'd only offered her name. The silence in the room had felt suffocating in the seconds afterward. Holiday had jumped in and explained that the origin of Kylie's powers was stil being deciphered and that her "close-mindedness" was not intentional, but a product of her gifts.

If anyone in the room doubted that she was the freak of al the freaks, they had now been informed of the fact by the camp leader. Oh, Kylie suspected Holiday had been trying to help, but Kylie could have real y done without it. Luckily, she had already managed to force down half a turkey sandwich because after that, there was no way she could swal ow another bite.

Right after her embarrassing moment in the spotlight, Kylie's phone rang. She saw her mom's number on the cal screen and turned the phone off. The last thing she wanted was for her conversation with her mom overheard by the super-hearing individuals. As soon as the official lunch meeting ended, Kylie found Holiday to get her cabin directions. Dinner was set at six and until then, the afternoon was free. During downtime, mingling and getting to know your camp companions and cabin roomies was encouraged. Instead, Kylie spent the four hours mingling with her emotional turmoil and hidden away in her closet of a bedroom. Hey, she understood the difference between "encouraged" and "required."

Sitting up on the bed, she noticed again the size of her room. Not that she was complaining. The fact that she had her own room made the size a non-issue. Considering the night terrors that plagued her three or four nights a week, the privacy was much appreciated. She just hoped the wal s were thick enough to contain what her mother cal ed "bloodcurdling screams." The wal s at home sure as heck weren't. Biting down on her lip, Kylie wondered again how her mom could do this to her. Send her here when only a week ago, her mom had suggested she not spend the night off anywhere because it would be embarrassing for her to let others see her in a sleep-dazed terror. Shaking off thoughts of her mom, Kylie looked around the room again. Her afternoon hadn't been a total waste. She'd unpacked her things, cal ed her mom-aka, the Ice Queen-back, tried to get in touch with a MIA Sara-who stil hadn't cal ed or texted-read the camp rules, and indulged in a good ol' fashioned meltdown with lots of tears.

A much-deserved meltdown.

For sixteen years she'd tried to figure out who she was. And while she'd always known she'd had a ways to go, she'd felt pretty confident in her discoveries. But today she realized not only was she wrong about who she was, but she didn't even know what she was. Talk about an identity crisis.

Her phone buzzed again. She looked at the cal er ID and saw her dad's name.

Her dad who'd left her.

Her dad who hadn't picked her up at the police station.

Her dad who hadn't visited her before she'd been forcibly shipped off to camp.

Her dad who obviously didn't love her near as much as she'd thought he did.

Her dad who in spite of everything, Kylie missed with al her heart.

If that made her a daddy's girl, so be it. Besides it was probably just a temporary condition. Sooner or later she'd give up loving him so much like he'd given up on her. Right?

Her throat locked up. The temptation to answer and beg him to come get her was so strong that she tossed the phone onto the foot of the bed. She listened to the buzz and knew if she answered that cal she'd tel him about supernaturals and about her being one of them-about running into Lucas Parker the potential serial kil er.

Keeping secrets from her mom had always felt easy, because it seemed her mom kept her own secrets; but keeping things from her dad was algebra-damn hard.

So instead of taking the cal , she plopped her head on the pil ow and gave in to another bout of tears. When someone knocked on her bedroom door, Kylie stil wore the watery evidence of tears on her cheeks.

Before Kylie could decide what to do, the door opened and a nose peeked through the crack. "Are you awake?"

Since Kylie sat up on the bed and saw Miranda's eyes right above the nose, Kylie didn't lie. "Yes."

Miranda stepped in-uninvited.

"Hey, I just..." Miranda's hazel gaze lit on Kylie's face and the girl's mouth dropped open.

Kylie knew exactly what had the little witch gaping. Kylie envied the girls who could cry and barely smear their mascara, but she lacked that particular skil . When Kylie cried, her fair skin broke out in big red dots and her eyes swel ed so much that she didn't look human. Wait. According to Holiday, Kylie wasn't human. Who knew?