"But she's right," Del a said, half her attention on Kylie and the other half on Fredericka. "I'd help Kylie kick your ass in a heartbeat." She curled her lips at the werewolf, showing off her canines.

Fredericka didn't appear concerned. Not that Kylie was certain of anything; she was stil working on getting the needed oxygen to her brain, while giving the drama playing out in front of her a wee bit of attention. Hey, if she was about to get ripped apart by a werewolf, she wanted to know the reasons why.

"Then who are you talking about?" Fredericka leaned across the table and a low growl escaped her throat.

"I mean Kylie's ghosts." Miranda said. "She's got like a dozen or so hanging around, or hadn't you heard?"

What? Kylie coughed-good thing the lump of bread had gone down and not up because she would have choked on it again.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not messing with the dead. Don't you remember last year when Holiday talked about the death angels?"

Death angels? Kylie recal ed Miranda talking about the legend of dancing death angels at the fal s on the bus ride to the camp. She gave up one more cough and then held up her hand. But right before she started talking, she noticed the fear in Fredericka's expression. Not wanting to come off like a scared rabbit confronting a hungry wolf-even though that pretty much described exactly how Kylie felt-she looked Fredericka directly in the eyes. "Stop." Cough. "I don't want to fight you." Cough. "I don't even know why you'd want to fight me. Or my ghosts."

Hey, Kylie was no fool. She ful y intended to take advantage of the fear she spotted in the girl's eyes.

"Just stay away from Lucas," Fredericka warned, but her voice lacked its earlier confidence.

"Me?" Al the crappiness of the day, of the last few weeks, zeroed in on this high and mighty B with an itch, and the scared-rabbit feeling faded.

"You know what?" Kylie snapped. "Maybe you should go tighten the leash you have around your so-cal ed boyfriend's neck, because every time I've spoken to him was because he came up to me. Not the other way around."

"You'd better watch your back," Fredericka said.

"She doesn't have to," Del a said. "Her ghosts do that for her. Didn't you hear about the little incident that happened at our cabin last night?"

Fredericka shot up and took off.

Kylie pressed a hand to the table and stared after her. "What a bitch."

"Yeah, she was like that last year, too. But we did good," Miranda said, and placed her hand on top of Kylie's.

"We rocked," Del a said, and put hers on top of Miranda's.

"Thank you," Kylie said, and looked from one roommate to the other. "Y'al didn't have to stick up for me, and I appreciate it."

"Hey, we're friends," Miranda said. "And that's what friends do."

Smiling at her two new friends, Kylie realized that coming to camp wasn't going to be all bad. Then, letting go of a heartfelt sigh and feeling her bravado kick down a notch, she met Miranda's gaze. "Do death angels real y exist?"

Chapter Twenty-four

"And oh, do death angels real y exist?"

It was probably the seventh or eighth question Kylie had pitched at Holiday during their meeting thirty minutes later. The moment Kylie's foot had stepped inside the office, the questions just started flowing.

"That's ... a lot of questions." Holiday smiled and motioned for Kylie to sit down.

Kylie set her phone down on Holiday's desk and took a chair. When she'd left the dining hal , she spent the last five minutes talking to Sara, celebrating the fact that her pregnancy test was negative, but now Kylie was back to focusing on her own mission of finding answers.

"Yeah, and I'm only getting started," she said. "I also want to know what else I could be. The other day you said-"

"Real y?" Holiday's brow arched. "So you've accepted that you're one of us?"

The question bounced around Kylie's head. "No. I just want to be prepared if ... that's what I discover."

The camp leader brushed her long ponytail of red hair behind her shoulder. "I heard you had Helen check you for a tumor."

"Who told you?" Kylie asked, imagining the whole camp teasing her about it. Or even worse, teasing Helen. The girl seemed even shyer than Kylie and the last thing Kylie wanted was for her to get hel because of something Kylie had talked her into doing. Holiday shook her head. "It wasn't like that. Helen was excited that she discovered how it worked and wanted to share it with me."

Kylie nodded. She understood how Helen felt and didn't begrudge her sharing the news with Holiday.

"But you stil aren't a believer, are you?" Holiday asked, meeting Kylie's gaze.

"I could stil be..."

"Crazy or schizophrenic."

"Right," Kylie said, relieved that Holiday understood.

Holiday sighed as if exasperated and Kylie's relief evaporated.

"It's just I don't think either of my parents are gifted. And you said this is most likely hereditary. Plus, I can't see into people's head and see any patterns. Helen said she could always do it."

"That's Helen. Most of us with ghost whispering powers-it just appears one day." Holiday sighed. "And there could be a hundred reasons why your mom or dad hasn't shared this with you. You..." She held up her hands. "What am I doing? My job isn't to convince you. It's to help you find your own answers."