Her mom yanked open the door and flew out, wrapping her arms protectively around Kylie. "We gotta get out of here!" She spotted Derek and pushed Kylie behind her. "Stay away," her mom yelled.
Derek looked at Kylie as if he was unsure how to proceed.
"It's okay, Mom." Kylie's heart broke when she saw her mom's tearstreaked face. "This is Derek. He's a nice guy."
"I don't trust him," her mom said. "We can't trust anyone here. I just want us to leave. Now." Clutching Kylie's arm, she started moving toward the door, keeping herself between Derek and Kylie as if in protection. Unsure what to do, Kylie stopped moving. She couldn't let her mom walk outside. If her mom was freaking out with just Derek, she would surely lose it if she saw Jonathon and Burnett.
"Mom, Derek is a good guy. He's going to help us leave," she lied. "Aren't you, Derek?" Kylie looked at him.
"Yes ... Mrs. Galen. I'm going to help you and Kylie get away."
Her mom looked at Derek and back at Kylie. Panic shone in her eyes, but she didn't jump back when Derek took a step closer.
"Let me get the door," Derek said. He moved in and when he did, he reached out and touched her mom's arm.
Kylie hadn't known what to expect when a person's memory was erased, but when her mom's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed in a dead heap on the floor, Kylie screamed.
Shaking, and still in mid-scream, she dropped down beside her mom to make sure she was still breathing.
"It's okay." Derek dropped beside Kylie and touched Kylie's elbow. "She's just unconscious. I promise, Kylie," he said, as if reading her fear.
Burnett appeared and scooped her mom up in his arms. "I'm putting her in her car. You come with me," he said to Kylie. "We'll need you there when she wakes up."
His gaze held Kylie's for a second. "It's all going to be okay," he told her. "Follow me. It's almost over now."
Burnett disappeared. Kylie took off, too. She wasn't anywhere near as fast as he was, but with luck, and considering he had her mother in his arms, he could bet she wouldn't be far behind him.
"Mom, you okay?" Kylie tapped on her mom's car window only five minutes later.
When her mother didn't instantly wake up, it took everything Kylie had not to yank open the door to see if she needed CPR. But Burnett's list of don'ts still echoed in her head.
Don't show panic, because she might pick up on it and it will make her even more nervous.
Don't try to explain too much; let her come up with her own conclusions of what happened.
Don't start crying for no reason.
And as he'd said that one, he'd pointed to Kylie's tears.
It was the "crying for no reason" part of number three that Kylie would have argued about if she hadn't been so damn worried about her mom.
Kylie tapped again on the window. "Mom?" She fought to keep her voice calm.
The way Kylie saw it, she deserved to go on a crying jag that lasted for a good two weeks. The emotional trauma she'd endured this last half hour would go down as one of the top worst half hours of her life. Even the fight at the wildlife preserve hadn't kicked her in the gut so hard.
She glanced down at her arms, expecting to see bruises and nail marks from where Selynn had grabbed her. Oddly enough, her skin was smooth and unmarked. Weird. Had she just acquired a new quick healing gift, too?
Her mom's eyes fluttered open and Kylie refocused on the situation before her. Her mom sat up and looked around, obviously startled. Kylie's first thought was that the erasure hadn't worked.
Then her mom turned her head and her confused eyes met Kylie's.
Kylie plastered a smile on her lips, hoping to appear as if everything in the world was just peachy. "When did you get here, Mom?"
Her mom's brow creased and she raised her wrist to see her watch and then opened the door. She turned and put her feet on the pavement, but didn't climb out of the car. "I..." She blinked. "I rushed over here from the airport." She ran a hand through her dark hair, which now had highlights of red running through it.
"You must have fallen asleep after you got here." Kylie bit her lip, realizing she'd broken one of Burnett's rules.
"Yeah." Her mom pressed a hand to her temple, a sure sign of the headache Holiday had said might come. "I was up all night at the airport hoping to get a flight on standby."
"You must be really tired," Kylie offered.
"Yeah. Gosh." She looked back at her watch and then stood from the car seat. "I hardly even remember arriving here. I must have parked and zonked out. Which is a good lesson for both of us. Don't drive while under the influence of exhaustion." Her mom reached over and gave Kylie a hug. "It feels so good to see you."
Damn it, if Kylie didn't feel herself breaking another rule. Tears filled her eyes and she hugged her mom really hard. Ahh, but her tears weren't just because of the last thirty minutes. No, they were because of Kylie's last sixteen years and the rarity of hugs from her mom. And because it brought to mind the hug she'd given her dad ... stepdad, before he'd left a few hours ago.
When her mom pulled back, she looked at Kylie. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Kylie batted at her tears. "It's just ... you don't hug me a whole lot."
"Something I guess we need to work on, huh?" her mom said, and touched her temple again.
"Yeah, we need to work on that," Kylie said. "But we're off to a good start." And they were. Kylie could feel it.
Her mom looked at her watch again. "I must have slept for an hour."
"You probably needed it," Kylie said, and started walking back through the gates.
"Yeah. I was going to call and let your camp leader know I was going to be here a little late. I remember what a big deal they made over visiting hours, but wouldn't you know it that my battery died in my phone. It's completely dead."
"Yeah. Luckily I walked by and saw your car and told Holiday you were here. But they are very strict about visiting hours." Please God, don't let me have to go through this again.
"Which I think is silly," her mom said. "It's like they are trying to hide something."
"Nope." Kylie lied through her teeth and almost felt bad doing it. "Not trying to hide anything." Except things like: people drinking blood, changing into any kind of creature imaginable like super-size bears or unicorns or wolves. Or girls who accidentally turn kittens into skunks. In other words, the usual stuff that happened at Shadow Falls.
"But they're still strict," Kylie said. "They say it's for our safety. Besides, you know, like you used to tell me. Rules are rules."