Tears stung her sinuses, but she blinked them back. Now wasn't the time to fall apart. Later, she'd let that happen. Later, she'd have a good, long pity party. She deserved one. Just not now. Not now, she repeated in her head, trying to fight the emotional overload.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Lucas asked.

"She asked you to put her down," Derek insisted, his tone tight, no doubt reading her battling emotions.

"I heard her," Lucas growled, and Kylie glanced up from his bruised neck to his face. His dislike for Derek made his eyes a brighter orange. "I'm making sure she's okay."

"I'm fine," she lied, her emotions ping-ponging all over the place.Betrayal.

Fear.

Her gaze shifted to his bruised neck.

Guilt.

"Please put me down," she insisted.

He did as she requested. Her knees felt weak, but she focused on not letting them turn to Jell-O, and was able to remain standing.

Lucas kept his hand out as if to catch her if her legs wouldn't hold her up. She didn't want to need him to catch her. Why was he even here? Hadn't she told Burnett not to put him on guard duty? Then she remembered thinking she'd seen Monique. Had it been her?

Her emotions did an about-face and she realized how unimportant that was at this time. Right now, she had to make sure they got back to Shadow Falls safely. Like the pity party she'd mentally scheduled, she could spend time mourning over Lucas and her issues later.

"Are you up to heading back?" Lucas asked her.

"We're not leaving here until Burnett shows up," Derek snapped again.

Kylie looked at Derek and then back to the gates, which were now closed. The spirits stood guard, their faces peering out between the rusty metal bars. "Derek's right. We stay here until Burnett shows up."

A flash passed by Kylie and then another.

Burnett, along with about three other FRU people, as well as several of the campers, Perry included, suddenly surrounded them.

"I'm here," Burnett said. His bright eyes seemed to say he was prepared to fight. He glanced around as if checking for danger, before focusing back on them. "And someone better tell me what the hell's going on."

When no one spoke up fast enough for his impatience, his gaze zeroed in on Kylie. "I was supposed to come get you in the morning." His gaze shot to Derek. "You were supposed to be guarding her at her grandfather's place." He glanced at Lucas. "And you told me you were going to your father's."

"Well, I lied," Lucas bit back, never one to take a reprimand easily. "I wanted to make sure Kylie didn't need me. And she did."

"What happened?" Burnett asked again, his tone implying he was losing patience.

"Mario," Kylie answered.

Burnett's eyes brightened and he glanced around again. "Are you sure it was him?" he asked.

"Positive." Kylie shivered, remembering the wickedness she'd felt from him. She recalled the sensation that he'd enjoyed toying with her-like a cat with a mouse. But the mouse had won this time.

Thanks to the dead, no one had died at Mario's hand, but what about next time? She heard Mario's threat ring in her head. You will come to me, Kylie Galen, come to me willing to die, to suffer at my hands for my pleasure, because the price will be too great!

He spoke with certainty as if he already had a plan in place. Fear tiptoed up her spine.

Burnett continued to glance around. After a few more seconds of putting out his feelers, he looked back at Derek.

"He's gone now," Derek said.

"I can see that."But was he really gone? Being a chameleon, he could turn invisible. He could still be here. Kylie almost said something to that effect, but remembered the other FRU members. And her lack of trust in them kept her mouth closed. The less they knew about her and the chameleons as a whole, the better.

"What were you even doing out here?" Burnett asked, seemingly getting more frustrated the longer he considered things. "The orders were to wait for me until tomorrow. Why do I give orders around here if no one listens to them?"

"We couldn't. They weren't going to let her leave," Derek said, and looked at Kylie as if knowing how hard the truth was for her to hear. And he was right. The ache in her chest tightened.

"They?" Burnett asked. "Who was not going to let her leave?" His gaze shot between Derek and Kylie.

"The chameleons," Derek answered.

Burnett's focus landed back on Kylie, and her chest constricted, knowing Burnett was laying the fault on her grandfather.

"My grandfather wasn't aware of it," Kylie said, but for the life of her she couldn't say it with certainty. And she knew Burnett read her white lie for what it was.

His expression softened for a fraction of a second, as if he could relate to her pain. "You should have called me." Burnett glanced back at Derek.

"He tried," Kylie spoke up again, unwilling to let Derek take the blame for this. "We had to hurry to try to beat the guards and then ... then when he tried to get you, Mario ... he fried Derek's phone."

All of a sudden, the night's blackness was sliced by the beam of headlights. A car came to a screeching halt. Holiday's car.

She barreled out of the Honda, her red hair hanging loose as if she'd just risen from bed. And when her teary-eyed gaze lit on Kylie, she muttered, "Thank God," and put her hand over her lips.

Seeing the emotion in Holiday weakened Kylie's resolve to wait until later to fall apart. She ran up to Holiday and fell into her arms.