Her mom nodded. "If they are still alive, they are going to hate me."
"I don't think so, Mom. They'll probably just be happy to meet me now."
Her mom touched Kylie's cheek. "I'm sorry, baby. I did what I thought was best at the time, but now ... it looks as if I didn't make the best decisions."
"You did fine," Kylie said. And without thinking, she gave her nonhugging mom another hug.
An hour later, Kylie watched her mom's car move down the road until it was a tiny blue dot that finally faded from view. Both Burnett and Holiday were waiting on her at the gated entrance when she returned.
"I think my mom is going to be fine," she told them, assuming that's why they were there.
Then she realized Burnett had probably been listening to their conversation the whole time. That's when she got a feeling they weren't here just about her mom.
"Am I in trouble for fighting with Selynn?" she asked. The thought had crossed her mind during her conversation with her mom. Like it or not, Selynn was FRU.
Holiday shook her head. "No. Selynn deserved what she got. She handled the situation all wrong. Terribly wrong."
Holiday glanced up at Burnett as if she was saying this to him as much as to Kylie. "If anyone says one thing about what went down out at the swimming hole, I'll be the first to tell them how the cow ate the cabbage."
When Kylie was about to ask Holiday what she meant about the cows and the cabbage, Burnett shrugged. "I don't think anyone will be saying anything," he said, humor dancing in his eyes. "I never have understood that saying. How does a cow eating cabbage translate into giving someone hell for something?"
"I have no idea." Holiday looked back at Kylie. Burnett's gaze followed Holiday's, and they both returned to that weird kind of staring. And Kylie went back to wondering what the heck was going on.
"If it's not Selynn, then what is it?" Kylie asked.
Burnett stuck his hands into his jeans pockets. "I think we just wanted to make sure you're okay."
She started to answer him, but realized they both were staring at her again. "If that's all, why are you two gawking at me as if I'm about to grow a tail?"
"Do you think you might grow a tail?" Concern filled his voice. Oh, shit! He was serious.
Kylie swiped her hand over her butt to make sure nothing had suddenly appeared. When nothing was there, she frowned at them. "What is it that you're not telling me?"
"You showcased some new talents today," Burnett said.
"You mean running fast?" Kylie asked.
"And taking on Selynn," Holiday said. "A were this close to a full moon is ... pretty hard to take on."
"So you're back to thinking I'm a werewolf now?"
Holiday glanced at Burnett and then they both looked back at Kylie.
"We're still not sure." He started studying Kylie anew.
"What is it?" she demanded.
"It's your brain pattern," Holiday said, her tone making it sound like a confession.
"What about it?" She touched her forehead. "Have I opened up? Can you tell what I am?"
"No," Holiday said. "It's just ... your pattern is shifting."
"Shifting? You mean, it's changing?"
Burnett and Holiday both nodded.
"What does that mean?" Kylie asked.
Holiday's expression went from curiosity to sympathy in a flash. "It's just..."
"Surmising, I know. Just tell me." She motioned with her hands for the camp leader to hurry up.
"The only brain pattern that shifts and changes is a shape-shifter," Holiday said.
"So, you now think I'm a shape-shifter?" Kylie tried to wrap her head around being a shape-shifter. Turning into giant lions and ...
"It's not changing like a shape-shifter," Burnett corrected. "A shapeshifter only changes when they change forms."
Kylie looked down at her chest and lower, almost to make sure she hadn't morphed into anything, and to make sure her boobs hadn't taken on another cup size. Then she gave her butt another swipe, praying again that she hadn't grown a tail. "I'm not changing."
"We know," Burnett said.
Then, as if sensing Kylie had about had her quota of crap for the day, Holiday came over and dropped an arm around her. "Come on, why don't we take a walk to the falls?"
Kylie nodded. She'd been thinking about going back to the cabin and having a good long cry, but a trip to the falls sounded even better. "I'll come with you," Burnett said.
"I think we'll go alone," Holiday replied.
"I don't think you two should be that deep in the woods alone," he countered. "We still don't know why the security gate wasn't working."
"I don't think we're exactly vulnerable." Holiday nodded her head to Kylie.
"I would feel better if I went with you." He frowned. "You won't even know I'm there. I'll stay at a distance."
Holiday rolled her eyes, as if to say "whatever," then she guided Kylie to turn around and they started walking toward the trail that led near the falls. "I might be happy with a fifty-mile distance."
"When are you going to remember I can hear you?" Burnett said from about fifteen feet back.
"When did you ever think I forgot?" she countered in a low voice. Monday morning Kylie woke up to the chill of the ghost. She opened her eyes, but the spirit hadn't materialized yet. "You do know just coming here and waking me up isn't going to help me, don't you? You need to give me something, find a way to show me who it is I need to help."
No answer came back and Kylie pulled the covers over her chin and just stared at her breath making little clouds of mist rising above her nose. The visit to the falls with Holiday had been both amazing and amazingly disheartening. She and Holiday hadn't even talked; they just sat beside each other, staring at the wall of water cascading down in front of them. The same ambience Kylie had found existed there last time seemed even stronger this visit. That was the amazing part.
And the amazingly disheartening part? The message she took away from the visit wasn't so much everything was going to be fine. Nope. It was more like: stay focused and keep the faith.
And if Kylie had thought she could argue with the presence at the falls, she would have looked up at the rock ceiling and roared, "Really? That's all you're going to give me?"
Honestly, how was she supposed to stay focused when she didn't know what to focus on? Sort of hard to focus on ghosts when they wouldn't even appear, wasn't it?