Whispers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls #4)(56)

"And what did he find?" Kylie asked, intrigued by the subject, but no more believing it was a drug than she believed in Santa Claus.

Holiday pulled off her shoes and set them beside a rock and stood up, glancing down at Kylie with a slight smile on her lips. "Not a damn thing. After only a few weeks of working in the area, he and his teams suddenly gave up the grant that was going to pay for the project. Rumor was the Death Angels scared them away."

Kylie moved her gaze around the verdant and beautiful landscape. The mingling of mist and sprays of sunshine beaming down from above the trees spoke of the power and magic that Holiday had mentioned. The ambience that existed here was too reverent to be considered a drug, and the natural splendor too spiritual to be dissected and studied under the microscope.

"I can see how the Death Angels wouldn't like unbelievers digging around. I'm glad they chased them away."

"Ditto," Holiday said.

Standing up, Kylie's bare feet sank into the moss-covered bank. Wiggling her toes, she bent down and rolled up her jeans.

Right then something swooped down in front of her. She swallowed her scream when she saw it was the blue jay. The bird she'd brought back to life that had somehow imprinted on Kylie and kept stopping in for visits. Hovering right in front of her, it sang as if personally performing a ballad just for her.

"I'm not your mama," Kylie said. "Go, find your own way. Do what all birds do. Leave the nest, so to speak. Find a hunky blue jay to flutter after."

"That's sweet." Holiday chuckled.

"Maybe, but it's also weird," Kylie muttered.

With her jeans rolled up, she took a step into the creek. The cool water lapping around her ankles felt heavenly. Her heart that had moments earlier ached with raw emotion now felt lighter. Things, at least for right now, felt right. Her world felt manageable; her problems solvable. She eagerly embraced the feeling.

Yet if she'd learned anything from her visits to this special place, it was that even a manageable life didn't mean things would be perfect. A trip to the falls didn't fix anything. It simply offered one the strength to face the hurdles.

Life could still hurt like a paper cut right across the heart.

And she had a few paper-cut scars to prove it. A vision of Ellie filled her heart. Yet as a breeze carrying the misty coolness brushed Kylie's face, the ache faded into acceptance. Every new day was about opportunities. You couldn't always control life, just your response to it.

Stopping halfway across the creek, she turned to look at Holiday. The camp leader stood gazing back at Burnett, who stood in the trees. The expression on her face held concern, fascination, and something else.

Love. Burnett and Holiday were meant to be together. The feeling came on so strong and with such certainty that there seemed to be a message with it-a message Kylie couldn't quite read. Did it mean she was supposed to help make that happen? Or could she trust that if left alone, love would find a way?

And could she feel the same about her and Lucas?

Not that she was prepared to call it love. Nor had he called it that.

But Derek had. I'm in love with you, Kylie.

Kylie closed her eyes and tried not to think about anything other than the calm feeling that the falls provided.

Chapter Eighteen

Time seemed to stop as Kylie and Holiday sat side by side in the alcove of the falls. The wall of water diffused the incoming light; only the briefest rays of yellow sun passed through. And when they did, the light caught in the mist droplets and danced in the air. The water rushed down with a low roar, and tiny molecules of moisture brushed against their faces.

The thought occurred to Kylie that maybe now would be a good time to tell Holiday about her sister. If anything could help curb the sting of the news, it would be the magic of this place. Yet even with the peacefulness embracing her, the idea of telling Holiday about the death of her sister had Kylie's heart hurting.

Then a familiar chill filled the damp air. Hannah materialized, standing in the pool of water. Her green eyes, bright with tears and filled with sadness, focused on Holiday.

Oblivious to her sister's presence, Holiday stared at the wall of water rushing down. She rubbed her arms as though she were chilled, and then turned her head and met Kylie's eyes. "A visitor?"

Kylie nodded, her throat getting tighter with emotion when she glanced again at Hannah's tears.

Holiday shrugged. "That's odd. They normally don't come back here." She leaned back on the rocks and stared up at the cave ceiling, as if giving Kylie space to deal with the spirit.

"She hates me," Hannah said. "And I don't blame her. What I did was unforgivable." Shame now entered Hannah's wet eyes.

Kylie almost asked Hannah what she'd done, but decided to let her be the one to initiate the conversation. Kylie sat there in silence, feeling the cold of death that somehow seemed to blend with the calm of the falls.

She studied Hannah's emotion-filled expression and she knew the spirit had found her way through the confusion of death enough to communicate.

Enough to remember. Did she recall the moments before her death? The name of her killer perhaps? But all Kylie saw in Hannah's expression was regret.

Watching Hannah took Kylie back to her own near-death experience, to when Mario and his friends had knocked her off the ledge. She'd thought she was about to die. And she would have if Red, Mario's grandson, hadn't saved her and sacrificed himself in the process.