Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(45)

"It's strange as hell," Hayden said. "I could ask Kylie's grandfather about this. He might know something that I don't."

Burnett frowned at the mention of her grandfather, but he nodded, and she saw him work to pull back his discontent. "I would appreciate that." He even sounded grateful. "Would you report back to me on that as soon as you get anything?"

Hayden nodded. "Of course."As they went to leave, Burnett offered Hayden his hand. Hayden didn't hesitate to take it. Kylie got the feeling that the whole sword thing might have worked in her favor for convincing Burnett that Hayden needed to stay on. Even though Hayden didn't have the answers, she could see Burnett appreciated having a go-to person for something he didn't have a lot of knowledge on.

Maybe, Kylie thought, the sword wasn't a bad thing after all. But each time she looked at it held at Burnett's side, she recalled the spirit last night carrying a bloody sword and the severed head.

And she started to worry again that whatever this was all about might lead to more bloodshed.

* * *

They went to put away the sword in Holiday's office and then they all walked to dinner. As they stepped off the porch, Kylie was seen for the first time by her fellow Shadow Falls students and was greeted by several campers. Perry came running and swooped her up in his arms, swinging her around twice. When he dropped her back on her feet, Kylie was dizzy and content. He grabbed her arms to steady her. She hadn't even realized how much she'd missed the shape-shifter until he laughed and it sent a warm deja vu feeling through her.

"Hey, are you groping my best friend?" Miranda's voice echoed from behind Perry.

Perry released her and shot Miranda a grin over his shoulder. "Just a little bit," he said, and glanced back at Kylie. "Damn, we missed you. Miranda was driving me crazy she was so lonely."

"I missed everyone, too," Kylie said, and meant it with all her heart.

Right then, a group of weres walked past. Kylie first recognized Clara, Lucas's half-sister. She met Kylie's gaze and her posture suddenly seemed to express an attitude. Okay, so not everyone was happy to have her back. She could accept that. But then behind Clara, another person moved into view, and Kylie's gaze slammed right into Fredericka.

She didn't smile, but she didn't scowl, and then she offered Kylie a slight nod. A welcome-back nod, maybe even a good-to-see-you nod. Kylie returned the gesture and even offered a slight smile.

For Fredericka, that little acknowledgment was probably more of a show of affection than Perry's.

Especially when Clara shot Fredericka a disgruntled look for her action, and Fredericka gave her a getover-it shrug.

Kylie drew in a deep breath. It felt good to know that while she might not have gained any friends at Shadow Falls, she'd managed to lose an enemy.

Miranda leaned in. "Did you just do what I think you did? Did you smile at that B with an itch?"

"I told you, her and I sort of came to terms," Kylie said.

"Which is a good thing," Holiday piped up. "And I think more people need to come to terms around here."

"And I think Della's right," Miranda muttered. "Kylie's just too nice." Ignoring Holiday's frown, the witch glanced at Burnett. "Speaking of which ... is Della back yet?"

"She's due any time," Burnett answered as they moved to the dining hall.

When they walked in the door, the chatter filling the large room went silent as if someone had turned off the volume. Heads turned. The only sound bouncing around the large space was forks dropping onto platters. Then, simultaneously, at least fifty pairs of eyes squinted to check out her pattern. Kylie stopped moving a foot inside the door feeling-and not liking-the limelight.Holiday brushed the back of her hand against Kylie's. "You want me to do something?" she whispered.

"No," Kylie muttered, determined to fight her own battles. Besides, she wanted to be here, this was home, and by God, she wasn't hiding her pattern. Sooner or later, they'd get used to her. Wouldn't they?

Eventually they would stop staring and accept her as one of their own.

"Well, I'm gonna do something," growled Perry. He moved forward. "You wanna stare at something?"

he yelled out. "Well, stare at this!" Perry swerved around, bent to the waist, dropped his pants, and mooned every pair of those fifty sets of eyes.

"Perry!" Holiday squealed, but there was laughter behind the tone. Burnett's chuckle bounced out of him, but then he slammed shut his mouth when he spotted Holiday's arched brow at his open show of humor.

"Don't be showing your ass, Perry!" Burnett said, his voice deep as if still trying not to laugh. "People are trying to eat."

Everyone in the entire room bolted out with laughter, even Kylie. Leave it to Perry to turn an awkward moment to one of complete humor. Kylie looked at Miranda, who was rolling her eyes, but pride sparkled behind them. And she should be proud. While pulling his pants down might have seemed extreme, it had been done with good intentions, to put a stop to an awkward moment-done to make Kylie feel better.

And it had.

Pants back up, Perry turned around and winked at Kylie. As they started moving to the food counter, Kylie leaned in to Miranda and said, "Perry's a keeper."

Miranda rolled her eyes again in humor. "I know." She grinned. "And he has a cute ass, doesn't he?"