Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(43)

Oh yes, she wanted the calm that came with being in a place of grace, a place that fed one's spirit with peacefulness. That offered one a sense of wellness.

And courage.

A voice echoed in her mind. Kylie stopped walking. The voice somehow seemed to mean something, something more than just facing her usual tribulations. As if the voice knew something she didn't.

Why would I need courage?

If it wasn't for the peacefulness, Kylie might have started panicking at the little intrusion in her head.

The words didn't come with the cold chill she got when a ghost visited. Not that Kylie hadn't heard thevoice before; she had, several times. In the past, she'd attempted to chalk it up to being her subconscious.

But this time, it seemed more.

The peaceful sound of the falls grew stronger and took the edge off her worry. She didn't want to fret about the voice, or even the reason she might need courage. She picked up her pace.

Five minutes later, they arrived at the entrance to the falls. The serene ambience embraced her. Even the leaves on the trees seemed to whisper their greetings. The water cascading down from the cliff above filled the air with sweet moisture. The light breeze, carrying tiny pinpoints of water, scented the air with some distant flower and natural herbs.

Burnett's normal stern expression dissolved into something more peaceful. He stopped at the line of trees and agreed to wait outside, allowing them to have their regular falls experience. Removing their shoes and rolling up their jeans' legs, Holiday and Kylie both walked through the wall of cascading water.

Once inside, it took a second for Kylie's eyes to adjust. It wasn't completely dark, but only filtered light snuck in from behind the falls. Iridescent shadows in rainbow colors played on the rock walls. Cool water dripped from her hair and ran down her back, but the coolness on her skin felt refreshing, like walking through a sprinkler on a hot day.

Both Kylie and Holiday found their spots on smooth rocks just at the mouth of the water's edge. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. The reverence filling the space seemed to mandate a moment of silence.

The calm of quietness completely chased away Kylie's worries and concerns.

After several minutes, Holiday asked, "Do you have a new quest in place?"

The moment the question found its way to Kylie, a need for direction swelled inside her. "Have I really completed my other quest?" The question wasn't just meant for Holiday, but for herself.

"You know what you are, and you understand most of your powers. Was this not your quest?"

"Yes, but I'm not completely in control of my powers yet." She paused. "And I don't know everything."

The unexplainable need remained and a hunger to have a plan filled her chest. She had to know where to place her focus. She needed a new quest.

The flow of the falls seemed to grow a little louder. Kylie glanced up and then back at Holiday.

"You're right. I have to figure this out. How do I do that? How did I figure out what the first one should be?" She turned to Holiday, not so much panicked, but eager to get started.

"Well, you need to ask yourself what is important to you right now. Usually our quests end up being something that has weighed on your heart, pulled at your conscience, or has been on your mental to-do list that you've ignored."

Kylie inhaled another breath of calm and glanced back at the camp leader. "Okay, I know something, and I was going to talk to you about it, but I haven't had a chance to think it through yet."

"What is it?" Holiday asked.

"The chameleon teens, they ... the elders are practically locking them away on compounds. They have very little contact with the outside world. They aren't allowed to have cell phones or computers. I don't mean to make it sound as if they are mistreated. It's just that the elders are stuck in this mindset of when they were being persecuted. They think the only way to stay safe is to remain in hiding. They have a strict policy that until you can control and hide your true pattern, you shouldn't be allowed out into the world."Suddenly Kylie realized something. "They are as bad as the werewolves. With all their backward beliefs."

"It sounds like that." Holiday paused and stared at the water. "That's a big undertaking." Her expression said her mind was reeling. "It's hard to change beliefs that are motivated by justified fear."

"I know," Kylie said. "But there has to be a way, doesn't there?"

"It's for sure worth contemplating. It's a good quest."

What else? The voice inside her said. The same voice from earlier. But like before, it didn't completely scare her. It was a question she was about to come to on her own.

Kylie pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her shins. "There's something else, too." And her heart searched for what it was, but it didn't come.

"What?" Holiday said, and inhaled as if absorbing the calm.

"I'm not sure." Her words hadn't completely left her lips when all the flickers of light in the cave started swirling and then shifted as if to dance on top of the water.

Kylie's breath caught as the shimmering of different colors formed a circle. Yet even with the movement of light, the water seemed deadly still, and the surface below became crystal clear. The circle of light appeared to frame an object below the water. Suddenly, whatever it was bobbed up to the surface with a small splash and started drifting toward the edge.