Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(80)

Kylie's mind went back to Jane Doe. "Last night I remembered parts of the vision, and I recalled what the nurse told the doctor. That her husband-Jane Doe's husband-had just woken up and was asking about her."

"And you think that means something?" Holiday asked.

"Berta Littlemon was never married. And the vision makes me believe Jane Doe's husband had the same type of operation she had."

Holiday hesitated and then said, "Sometimes visions are hard to decipher."

"But all the other times I've had this type of vision, where I'm actually the person, they weren't puzzles that I had to piece together in order to figure out what they meant. They were scenes that actually took place."

"But the visions are from their perspective. And if Jane Doe is crazy, then..."

Kylie shook her head. "I don't think she's crazy. Or evil."

"I hope you're right," Holiday said.

"Me too."

They sat in silence for a long moment or two, just listening to the rush of water and the sound of calm. Kylie looked at Holiday again and felt the slightest bit of worry whisper across her mind. "What am I going to say to Sara when she comes here on Sunday?"

"You don't tell her anything, except how happy you are that she's well."

"It's going to be so weird having her here. She's from my old world, and my old world shouldn't be in my new world. It's like running into your Sunday school teacher at a kegger."

Holiday chuckled. "Or your gynecologist at the grocery store. I did that once. It was so weird." She reached over and rested her hand on Kylie's.

Normally, Holiday's touch brought nothing but calm, but not this time. This time, everything went black.

Chapter Twenty-seven

For a second, it felt as if someone had turned the lights off. Kylie could feel Holiday's hand on hers, but the cave was pitch black.

Then the lights came back on. Kylie looked around, feeling confused. They were no longer in the falls. Instead, she sat in an uncomfortable folding metal chair outside in a clearing under some kind of dark-colored awning. The wind smelled like rain. It was a cloudy day, and she felt sad. So much sadness.

What happened to the serenity of the falls? What the heck had just happened?

It took her a second to realize this was a vision. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to see this time, but she didn't care. She didn't want to see it.

Kylie tried to pull herself out of it. She wanted to be back, back where everything felt right, where calm was all around her, where the sound of water soothed her mind.

When that didn't work, she tried to figure out where she was. Her breath caught when she saw a casket sitting in front of the enclosure. Quiet tears filled her eyes, and she knew someone she cared about lay in that box.

"No," she whispered. "Please, no."

Someone touched her hand. Kylie recognized Holiday's touch before she looked over to see the camp leader sitting next to her. She wore somber black clothes, no makeup, and unshed tears made her sad green eyes look brighter than usual.

Then someone started talking from up near the casket. Kylie looked up, and Chris, the lead vampire, the one who did the Meet Your Campmates hour, stood beside the coffin. "We lost one of our own today. It's our custom when a vampire dies that..."

"No," Kylie whispered again, and suddenly she realized she was standing up, back in the falls. The sadness filling her chest now came with a less painful emotion, one that made it easier to breathe, but it still hurt.

She looked at Holiday, who sat on the rock, her arms holding her knees tight to her chest. The tears in her eyes told Kylie that Holiday hadn't just been in Kylie's vision. She'd actually experienced it herself.

Someone lives and someone dies. The words seemed to flow from the rock themselves and bounce around the stone walls.

Kylie looked at Holiday. "What does this mean?"

Holiday blinked and Kylie saw her attempt to put on a brave face. "Whatever happens, we'll be okay."

"We will," Kylie said, fighting the calmer feeling and letting the feeling of grief take the lead. "But someone here isn't going to be okay. We have to do something to save her. Or him."

It's our custom when a vampire dies that ...

Chris's words tore at her heart. When a vampire dies ... Oh, God. Please say it's not Della, or Burnett.

Holiday shook her head. "There's nothing to be done, Kylie." She inhaled. "Can't you feel it? Acceptance." Tears filled her eyes again. "It breaks my heart, but that's what they are telling us. Someone we love will die, and we have to accept it."

"But I don't want to accept it." Kylie turned and walked through the wall of water to the sunlight.

The instant her gaze landed on Burnett, all the calm from the falls shattered around her. The acceptance she'd felt earlier was little more than a vague memory.

Please not Burnett. Please not Della. Please not Burnett.

She repeated the mantra over and over in her mind, as though wishing would make it so. She wanted to run to him, to grab him by his hands and make him swear to her that he would be careful, that he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks.

But even as she thought those thoughts, she knew in her heart that nothing, and no one, would stop Burnett from being himself. And that meant him taking risks.