Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(104)

Kylie glanced to Lucas and then Burnett and pleaded for him to speak up. He'd never lost his loyalty to the FRU and she trusted his opinion more than he would ever know.

"They wouldn't do that," Burnett said.

* * *

The room was cold and reminded Kylie too much of the vision she'd had with her grandmother. But she held tight to the knowledge that Lucas, Burnett, and Holiday all waited outside. First, they had her dress in a hospital gown. Beautiful.

The nurse came over. "I'm going to give you a couple of shots to numb you. It's sort of the same thing a dentist uses when he's working on a tooth. We need to get blood from your radial artery for this test, so it's slightly more uncomfortable than just drawing blood. But these injections should help."

The nurse was right, it was more uncomfortable. Kylie didn't know if the prior injections helped, but it still hurt like the devil. She closed her eyes and squinted tight, waiting for them to be done.

In a few minutes, it was over. Before Kylie was led to the other room for the brain scan, they let Lucas, Holiday, and Burnett come in. She knew they'd done Hayden's brain scan first.

"Is Hayden okay?" It was the first thing she wanted to know when they walked in.

"Just saw him," Burnett said. "He's fine, said it was a piece of cake."

Kylie nodded. Holiday still didn't look happy.

"You can still call it off."

"Holiday," Kylie said. "I'm doing this."

The fae exhaled as if exasperated and pressed a hand on her stomach. "I hope my kid isn't half as stubborn as you."

Kylie glanced at Burnett and grinned. "With the daddy being who he is, I'd say you don't have a chance in hell of the child being anything but stubborn.""Hey, I'm not that bad." He smiled, but she could tell it was forced. He was trying to lighten the mood, but the concern shined in his eyes as well.

In a few seconds, Burnett and Holiday left. Lucas stayed behind and moved to stand beside the bed. He picked up her hand with the Band-Aid and brushed his thumb over the bandage. She could tell he was thinking about her healing him.

"When all this is over with, we need to talk. I don't like the fact that you didn't tell me what you were planning to do, or that the other teacher was chameleon. And I know, I didn't deserve for you to tell me about it then. But you were right when you told me that day that we didn't need any secrets. I don't want any more between us."

She swallowed. "Me either."

Suddenly, Kylie remembered something. "You were supposed to meet your grandmother for tea."

He shook his head. "This is more important."

"No it's not, Lucas. You have to get on that Council."

He frowned. "I haven't given up. I just postponed talking to her." He exhaled. "But I don't care what you say. If I make the Council or not. I'm not losing you."

"Okay." A nurse walked in. "We're going to take her now."

Lucas frowned but let go of her hand.

Kylie refused to be wheeled into the lab where the scan would take place. She wasn't sick. But she did make sure her gown was tied before giving everyone a peek at her pink bikini underwear.

Holiday squeezed her hand before she walked into the lab. Burnett gripped her shoulder. Lucas, looking half-pissed and half-very concerned, stayed back. The nurse walked ahead of her into the room, Kylie turned to follow her and was tugged back.

Lucas's mouth pressed against hers briefly. The words I love you sat on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't say them. She didn't want him to think the fear of what was about to happen was the only reason she said them. And then there was that little doubt that if he knew he had her now, he might not work as hard to get on that Council.

The door swished shut behind her. A chill ran up her spine, but not from a spirit; the room was simply that cold. Kylie glanced around, noting the lack of color in the room. Not a speck of color. Everything was white or off white.

"Okay," the nurse said. "Have you ever had an MRI?"

Kylie nodded. "When I was having night terrors."

"Well, this is very much like that. The machine is a little loud and you might feel crowded, but you'll need to remain completely still. It will take about ten minutes to complete the test. You don't have claustrophobia, do you?"

"Not really," Kylie said, but then remembered being caught in the small grave with the three dead girls.

Then again, it was more the dead girls than the small space that freaked her out.

"Good," the nurse said. "Here's some earplugs. Now climb up here and we'll get this done."

Kylie put in the earplugs and swallowed a sudden feeling of anxiety. In the back of her mind, she heard her father's words. But soon. Soon we will discover this together.

Her heart raced to the tune of fear, but she climbed onto the table and laid down, trying to fight the chill, and yet wishing she could feel another cold. That of her father. A little word from him that shewasn't about to die would be good.

The machine pulled her inside. Her nose was less than an inch from the top and the sides of the machine actually touched her forearms. A machine, not a coffin, she told herself. But that's where her mind took her-being in a closed coffin.

The noise started. Even with earplugs, the sound grew so loud she could hardly hear herself think. She closed her eyes. Tried not to listen. Tried not to think. She wasn't sure how long she was in there when she felt a light tickle in her head. That tickle grew until it was a pain. A sharp pain.