Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(33)

"It's safe. It's a promise between witches. And since you are part witch, it's the most unbreakable promise you can make."

"Fine. I promise." Kylie held out her pinky to make the promise valid. And in spite of it being a silly gesture, the moment their little fingers locked, a surge of emotion filled her chest. Maybe pinky promises between witches were more than just a childish gesture. Or maybe she was just so damn happy to be home.

"I missed you so much!" Kylie reached out and squeezed the girl's forearms.

"Me too." Miranda bounced back on her bed. "Now, sit down and tell me everything that happened."

She squinted her eyes and checked out Kylie's pattern. "You're back to being that strange pattern again."

"I think that strange pattern is a chameleon." If Kylie was the least bit paranoid, like ninety percent of the other chameleons, she should be trying to hide that pattern. But it was a little late for that, wasn't it?

Too late to start pretending to be something she wasn't? Everyone here had seen her. And for that matter, could she pretend? Sure, she'd been able to change the pattern a couple of times, but how did one maintain it? According to what she'd learned, most chameleons weren't able to do that until they were in their twenties.

And by God, she wasn't going to let anyone lock her away until her pattern quit misbehaving. Her heart went back to Jenny and the other teens at her grandfather's place. Suddenly, Kylie got a feeling that helping the young chameleons was part of what she was meant to do. But as Hayden had said, convincing the chameleon elders seemed impossible.

"But you can transform yourself into most anything, right?" Miranda's question drew Kylie out of her thoughts.

"Sort of," Kylie answered, and tried to keep her mind back on Miranda. "But it's still kind of tricky."

"What crazy stuff can you do now?" Miranda asked. Her green eyes glittered with excitement.

Kylie shrugged and dropped down on the bed beside Miranda. "Nothing new, just a little more control over what I can do. Oh, wait, there is one thing. I can make other people invisible."

"Seriously? Make me invisible now. Do it. Do it."

"Please, not now. I'm exhausted. Plus, I'm not sure ... I mean, it's still kind of scary to do it." She remembered being scared shitless at the thought that she'd somehow lost Derek in the invisible world tonight.

Then, almost wanting a distraction from talking about herself, she reached for the bear and hugged it.

"So you and this bear have a thing going, huh? It looked pretty serious when I came in here."

Miranda smiled. "Perry gave it to me to keep me company when he wasn't here. Though this guy's not nearly as good of a kisser as Perry."

Kylie smiled. This was what she had missed. Just having someone to talk to, to giggle with. "That's sweet," Kylie said.

"Yeah," Miranda said, and then asked, "Can you glow anytime now?" She pulled her knees up to herchest.

"No," Kylie said. "That only happens when I heal people." Or pull them from the dead, she thought.

Realizing the crazy powers that seemed to come and go, it all scared her. She really hoped Hayden and Burnett could work out their differences. It would really be nice to have Hayden here to help her if things went wonky again.

"Too bad, the whole glowing thing was totally cool. I mean, I can make myself glow, but it's not as cool as when you did it. I don't know why, but it's different."

Kylie shook her head. "It wasn't that cool, believe me."

"Yeah, it was." Miranda made a funny face. "Everyone agreed that you looked like an angel. They were even wondering if maybe you didn't have a little angel in you."

"I'm no angel." Just ask Burnett.

"Everyone is still talking about it," Miranda said.

Great. But even at the thought of being everyone's topic of conversation, and getting all the awkward stares from some of the other students, she didn't dread it as much as she would have before. Face it, she was thrilled to be back, even if it did mean she was still considered a bit of a freak.

Pushing all that aside, she focused on Miranda again. "So what have I missed since I've been gone?"

"Everything. It's been crazy. Oh..." A frown appeared in her eyes. "Did you hear about Helen?"

"Yeah." Kylie nodded. "Holiday promised me she's fine."

Miranda made another face. "Did you hear who they think did it? That Mario creep was seen-"

Chapter Twelve

Thankfully the ghost must have gotten tired of waiting, because Kylie found her room warm with Socks, her black-and-white tuxedo kitty, resting peacefully on her pillow.

When she joined Socks on the bed, the cat scooted over, giving her room, then with his front whitesocked paw, he swatted at the teddy bear Kylie still held.

"Okay, I guess holding you is better." She set the bear on the floor. The cat climbed up on Kylie's chest and she gave the kitten some much needed attention. After several minutes, Kylie sat up, shifting the feline to rest at her side. "Sorry, buddy, gotta call Mom. But don't worry, I'll probably be short and sweet.

She's much too busy with John to spend time talking with me."

The moment the words were out of Kylie mouth, she realized half her problem with John. She was jealous. She felt her relationship with her mom had just found solid ground when John had come along and snagged her mom's attention. Was it wrong for Kylie to want to be the most important thing in her mom's life for a while?