"No!" Kylie stepped in front of him. "He stays. This is about me, and I need to know."

Holiday looked at Burnett with anger, then she looked at Kylie. "You wouldn't understand this."

"Why don't you try me?" She looked at Burnett. "Start talking."

He cut his gaze to Holiday.

"The FRU wants to run some tests on you," Holiday said. "To see if they can figure out what you are."

Hope rose in Kylie's chest. "I thought there weren't any tests that could tell me this?" She remembered asking Holiday that question before.

"There aren't!" Holiday said. "They just want to play around in your brain to-"

"I'll do it," Kylie said.

"No!" Holiday looked horrified. "I refuse to let them use you as some kind of lab rat. There are no guarantees that these tests are safe, and they may not even work."

Kylie looked at Burnett. "Are they safe?"

Burnett stared at Holiday, his eyes getting a pissed-off amber color. "I wouldn't let them do anything to her that's not safe," he growled. "Do you have that little faith in me?"

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"I have that little faith in the FRU. History repeats itself."

"What kind of tests would they be?" Kylie asked.

"Just some CT scans," Burnett said.

"No!" Holiday turned back to Kylie. "They'll use you as a guinea pig."

"They're not going to hurt her," Burnett said.

"I know, because she's not agreeing to it."

The cold came into the room so fast that Kylie's breath sent tiny flakes of ice falling from her lips. Jane materialized, and at the same time, the three light bulbs in the fixture overhead burst. Shards of glass rained through the air.

"What the hell?" Burnett looked up and took a step closer to Kylie.

Holiday's crystals hanging throughout the room started swaying, sending rainbow colors spiraling around them.

The laptop computer on Holiday's desk started beeping, making serious malfunctioning noises.

"You stay away from her!" Jane shot across the room to stand between her and Burnett.

"Run, Kylie!" Jane yelled in the same tone she'd used to warn Kylie about the sinkhole.

"What's wrong?" Kylie demanded.

"He's wrong!" Jane yelled.

Holiday looked around the room. "What's happening, Kylie?"

"I think she thinks Burnett is trying to hurt me."

"Tell her to leave," Holiday insisted.

"Jane, you're going to have to go."

But Jane wasn't listening.

Burnett took another step closer to Kylie. Jane screamed and then jammed her hand inside his chest. Not only could Kylie see Jane's hand, she saw the inside of Burnett's chest. And she watched in horror as Jane's hand closed around Burnett's heart.

"No!" Kylie screamed.

Burnett's gaze shot to Holiday. He reached for his chest.

"Stop it!" Kylie said.

Burnett dropped to the floor in a dead thud.

Chapter Thirty-four

Thirty minutes later, with Jonathon sitting under a tree a few feet away, Kylie sat on Holiday's porch, swatting away bugs and listening to Holiday, the doctor, and Burnett from inside the office.

"He asked you to take your shirt off," Holiday said.

"I don't need to take my shirt off," Burnett snapped. "I'm fine."

His voice was loud and clear, and he did indeed sound fine.

Not that it made Kylie feel any better.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Holiday said. "We'll know as soon as you disrobe and let the doctor examine you."

In a few minutes, Holiday came out and plopped on the porch beside Kylie. She had tears in her eyes. "I don't know why I'm worried about him. He's too pigheaded and stubborn to die."

Kylie laced her hands together. "I'm so sorry."

Holiday shook her head. "It wasn't your fault."

"You told me to get rid of her when I first told you about her. I refused, and she could have killed Burnett."

"She didn't want to kill him. She just wanted to get him away from you."

"Maybe I've been wrong all along. Maybe she is evil."

Holiday put her arm around Kylie's shoulder. "She wasn't evil. I felt her presence and her emotions. She was concerned about you. She did this to protect you, Kylie."

"Yeah, but, protect me from what? Did she really think Burnett was going hurt me?"

Holiday sighed. "She probably picked up on what I was feeling. I overreacted." She tightened her arm. "I mean, I refuse to let you be tested by the FRU. But I shouldn't have wigged out like that."

"You don't trust Burnett?" Kylie asked.

She shook her head. "I don't trust the FRU."

"Why? And if you don't trust them, then why are they involved with the camp? Besides, if they can really do some simple tests and tell me what I am, I want to do it."

Holiday closed her eyes for a second. "Don't take this wrong, Kylie. I'm not against the FRU. God knows we need them to keep things right. But they have no business testing people."

"But if they can really-"

"I can't let you do it. If they want to tell me the name of the test they want done, I'll ask our doctor if he can order it. But it will be under his care and his care only."

Kylie heard so much in the camp leader's voice. So much she wasn't saying. "Okay, what is it you're not telling me?"

It took a minute before Holiday finally sighed and started talking. "It was over forty years ago. It involved only one small branch of the FRU that has been shut down, and charges were brought against a lot of people. They were doing scientific tests on supernaturals. Something about figuring out genetics. The subjects were forced into doing it, and some people never completely recovered from the tests. It's not as if I think they're doing it again, but I refuse to have you go there so they can poke and prod you to find answers."

Kylie looked at Holiday. Bits and pieces of Jane's vision started replaying in her mind like an old movie. And everything suddenly made sense. "The FRU killed Jane Doe. They killed her and then they buried her with Berta Littlemon in the Fallen Cemetery."

Holiday's eyes widened. "You can't know this for sure."

"I do," Kylie said. "In the vision, Jane was called a subject. Her husband was one, too. And the doctor was a vampire. They mentioned her not having a pattern."

Kylie pulled her knees up and hugged them, trying to wrap her head around everything as it all came together. She didn't understand how Jane's baby fit in, but on some things she was clear.




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