Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(65)

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Fifteen minutes later, Kylie sat beside Holiday as she read the different articles about Berta Littlemon on the computer screen.

"That's it. I can't read any more!" Holiday reached over and turned off the computer. "You shouldn't even being reading this. You are not to deal with this spirit anymore." Something about Holiday's tone, so maternal, so un-negotiating, sent up warning flags all over the place.

"We don't know it's even her," Kylie said. "I can't just assume she-"

"Yes, you can! You said the other ghost told you that your Jane Doe rose from the grave of Berta Littlemon. That's good enough for me."

Kylie frowned. "Yeah, but maybe she's lying. And you saw the pictures of Berta. They are fuzzy. I mean, yes, they sort of resemble my Jane Doe, but they're not clear enough for me to be sure."

"Okay, but why would the ghost lie?"

Kylie shrugged. "Because if she didn't have information that sounded useful, she might have been afraid I wouldn't have agreed to help her."

"Wait-help who? The old man's wife?"

Kylie realized she'd obviously left out that part of the story when she'd explained everything to Holiday. "No, the other ghost. Catherine O'Connell. I agreed to help her if she'd tell me what she knows about Jane Doe."

"No," Holiday said, and put her palms over her face.

"No, what?"

Holiday moved her hands. "You never make a deal with a spirit, Kylie. Never!"

"Why?" Kylie asked.

"Because it can be as bad as making a deal with the devil. What they want is sometimes impossible, and they can be relentless about making us pay up. If they think you haven't delivered on your promise, things can get ugly."

Kylie felt her throat tighten. She had looked forward to Holiday's return so much, and now it seemed all Kylie was going to get were reprimands. "I didn't know," she muttered.

Holiday released a deep sigh. "I'm sorry," she said, and dropped her hands on top of Kylie's. "I didn't mean to snap at you. This is my fault. All of it. I knew that your going to the cemetery was a bad idea. I should have vetoed it right off the bat."

Kylie swallowed the tightness down her throat, which had seemed to lessen somewhat with Holiday's touch. "It wasn't a bad idea. And maybe I shouldn't have made a deal with Catherine, but even that doesn't seem so bad. I mean, what she wants is doable and for a good cause."

Holiday shook her head, still looking too unrelenting. "It's still not a good idea to make a deal with a spirit."

"Yeah, but all she wants is for me to send some family history stuff to her kids. She's Jewish and she lied to them and her own husband all her life because back then, being a Jew wasn't so cool. Her parents died in the concentration camps and her grandparents managed to bring her to the U.S. She changed her name. And now, it feels like a lie."

Holiday shook her head. "Kylie, I'm sorry, but I can't let you do this."

"No." Kylie stood up, and although she kept her voice low, even she heard the determination in her tone. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to stop any of this because you're afraid I'm in over my head. Because you don't think I can handle it. I'm helping Jane Doe, and I'm sorry, but I don't believe she's this murderer, and I'm also going to help Catherine O'Connell. It's the right thing to do."

Holiday closed her eyes in frustration. "Kylie, you don't understand how dangerous this could be for you. There are things about dealing with evil spirits that ... that will put you at risk. There is so much you still don't know."

Kylie shook her head. "Then explain it to me. But I'm telling you, Holiday, I don't think she's evil. How many times have you told me to follow my heart-that if I do that, I'll figure out the right thing to do? Well, my heart is telling me to do this, and I'm doing it."

When Holiday opened her mouth, presumably to argue again, Kylie added, "Besides, I wasn't asking you for permission. I was asking for advice."

Chapter Twenty-two

As soon as she'd let the words out of her mouth, Kylie wished she could get them back. Not because she hadn't meant them. She did. She just regretted the way she'd said them.

Holiday sat there for a long moment, staring at Kylie as if she were thinking about what to say. Kylie returned her gaze with an equal amount of vigor. Regretting her tone didn't mean she was going to back down on this. She couldn't. Maybe it was because she emphathized with Jane Doe and her identity crisis, but it felt like more. Kylie knew she had to help the amnesiac ghost. And she would help her, with or without Holiday's blessing.

"Good Lord, when did I become my mom and you become a younger version of myself?" Holiday asked, and smiled.

Kylie saw and heard the lessening of resolve in the camp leader's voice and posture. Then the tension in Kylie's shoulders dissolved and a wave of relief filled her chest. Tears stung her eyes. "I don't know."

"Okay," Holiday said. "Sit down and let's figure out how we're going to work this so I can live with it and you can, too."

Kylie gave Holliday a quick hug of thanks and then settled in to talk. They discussed how Kylie was to go to the library to e-mail the family of Catherine O'Connell. Then Holiday went over and over and over how Kylie could shut out an unwanted ghost ... or unwanted groups of ghosts. And then she made Kylie promise that if she did discover that Jane Doe was a child murderer, she would immediately pull back.