Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(112)

* * *

Kylie awoke very early Tuesday morning. Her first thought was that today was Ellie's funeral. She recalled the vision she'd had about it and wondered if it was fair that she had to live through it twice.

She ran a hand over her face. Her alarm hadn't gone off. So why was she awake?

The cold suddenly fell on her like a blanket of ice. "Heidi?" She sat up so fast, her head spun. "Is that you? I have more questions to ask."

No answer came. Kylie sat there, waiting. Through the haze of darkness, she saw a figure appear at the end of her bed. "Heidi?" she asked again.

Kylie turned on the lamp. The light filled the bedroom and illuminated the spirit, who stood with her back to the bed. It wasn't Heidi. Kylie couldn't even tell if this ghost was male or female. Somehow he/she looked ... deader than the others. Sure, they were all dead, but for some reason even the matted hair looked deader than the hair of other spirits.

"Hello," Kylie whispered.

The spirit turned around, and Kylie stopped breathing. Worms, maggots, and creepy insects crawled in and out of the eye sockets, eating away at what little flesh still clung to the face.

Screaming, Kylie slammed back against the headboard.

"Can you help me?" A stream of worms cascaded from the spirit's lips as she spoke, and they landed on Kylie's blanket.

"I..." Kylie kicked the covers to stop the gooey-looking creatures from crawling toward her. "I might, but can you do something about your face? Now!"

Della bolted into the room. "You okay?"

Kylie glanced back at the foot of her bed. The ghost was gone. Relief washed over her. "I'm fine," her voice squeaked out. Remembering the maggots-and not one hundred percent sure the ghost had taken them with her-Kylie leapt up, yanked the covers off the bed, and tossed them on the floor. She backed away from the pile of bedding.

"Yeah. You look just fine," Della said sarcastically.

Kylie jumped from foot to foot and brushed off imaginary maggots that she felt crawling on her skin.

Della stood there in Mickey Mouse pajamas, staring at her as if she didn't know whether to laugh or run.

Kylie stopped dancing and tried to breathe normally. "If I die, promise me I'll be cremated."

Della frowned. "Die?"

"Not that I'm planning to die anytime soon." She gave her arm one more swipe. "But still."

Della shook her head. "I don't know why you pretend you're okay."

Kylie wrapped her arms around herself. "Me either."

* * *

Kylie didn't go back to sleep. She wasn't sure if she'd ever sleep in that bed again. Instead, she dressed and waited for Della and Miranda to go to the sunrise service.

The service happened just as it had in the vision. Only the grief felt deeper, especially when Kylie saw Derek, tears in his eyes, holding Ellie's hat.

Holiday kept looking over her shoulder. Kylie knew she was looking for Burnett. It wasn't until Chris started talking that Burnett slid into the chair next to Holiday.

She saw the two of them look at each other. Kylie wasn't sure what kind of look it was-other than sad. Sad seemed to be the mood of the day. Well, for everyone except the blue jay who kept flittering by, spouting out song as if wanting to impress her.

Only she wasn't impressed.

When the ceremony ended, Lucas took her hand to walk her to the dining hall, where they planned to have a celebration of Ellie's life. Everyone was going to tell Ellie stories.

But Burnett stopped her. "I need to talk to you and Holiday a minute."

Lucas said he'd meet her in the dining hall. Then Holiday and Burnett and Kylie walked into the office.

"Is something wrong?" Kylie asked once Burnett closed the door.

He pulled an envelope from his suit jacket and handed it to Kylie.

"What is that?" Holiday asked. From her tone, she seemed to think it had to do with Kylie having tests.

"It's the location of her grandmother's body."

"You had her buried in her own grave?" Kylie asked.

"Not exactly." He paused. "Let's just say that if the FRU try to force you to undergo any tests that you aren't comfortable with, you can use this to ... insist that you prefer not to participate."

"So you think they'll push for Kylie to be tested?" Holiday asked.

He frowned. "I'm under the impression they will, yes."

"You told them about what happened?"

"I haven't told them anything since you asked me not to."

"So the FRU doesn't know you removed the body?" Holiday asked.

"No." His gaze met Kylie's. "What they did to your grandmother was wrong. And while the agency has admitted to some wrongdoings with some of the testing that went down in the sixties, this is one skeleton they wouldn't want brought forward."

"Why did they do it?" Kylie asked.

He shrugged. "The information I could find was very vague. Supposedly, there were a small number of supernaturals who were genetically different from the rest."

"So we still don't know what I am?"

Burnett's expression tightened. "I'm afraid not."

"Except a genetic freak," she muttered.

Holiday sat beside Kylie on the sofa and reached for her hand. "Don't say-"