Taken at Dusk Page 30

His statement stirred confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Do you want a mansion? A new car? Do you want to go to Mexico and drink beer on the beach? I can give you that and more."

She shook her head. "I don't want any of that."

"Then what?"

These questions weren't like Lucas, but she felt compelled to answer. "I want everyone to get along. Miranda and Della fought again last night. I want my dad to be able to visit me again. I want the Brightens to be okay. I want to know what I am. And I want to take care of whatever problem it is that this new ghost has."

"I can give you most of that. Just say yes."

"Yes to what?" And that's when it hit her. That's when she realized what was wrong. Lucas wasn't hot.

"You're cold." She took a quick step back, moving out of his arms. "What's going on?"

"I wanted to see you. I knew you would leave if..." Suddenly, it wasn't Lucas standing there. It was Red, the rogue vampire who was Mario's grandson, the one who'd killed the girls. The one who'd kidnapped her and beat up Lucas. She started to scream, then realized that this was just a dream and she had the ability to wake up.

"My grandfather and his friends don't think you can be convinced to work with us. I only want to help..." His last words faded as Kylie shot up on the bed, gasping for breath. She recalled how her senses had told her in the beginning of the dream that something wasn't right. If she'd only listened to her instincts, this wouldn't have happened. Then she remembered how Holiday had said she could temporarily shut them off. When she was able to think straight, Kylie leaned back on her pillow and did the visualization.

The last thing she wanted was to see him in her dreams.

Or her reality.

* * *

The next morning, Kylie felt tiny little skunk paws walking up her chest and then felt a wet pointed nose bump her chin as if summoning her awake.

She lay there for a few seconds, not moving and not opening her eyes, trying to decide why something felt wrong. Her first thought went back to the dream she'd had with Red, but no, this wasn't about that. Then bright light leaked into the corners of her closed eyes. She opened her eyes.

Sitting up cautiously, giving Socks his obligatory morning pat, she looked around. The sun streamed through the blinds and cast horizontal shadows on the floor.

What time was it? She swept her hair from her face.

Her gaze shot to the clock. Seven. Was that what didn't feel right ... that she hadn't been nudged awake by an impatient spirit? Was her Jane Doe ghost not a morning ghost? Then again, maybe amnesia prevented someone from judging time.

Not that Kylie was complaining. Her last spirit had rarely let Kylie sleep a minute past dawn.

Seeing her phone, Kylie remembered Holiday and snatched up the cell, hoping to find Holiday had called or texted her. Before Kylie and Burnett had gotten back to the office, Holiday had called Burnett and asked if he could take over the camp for a day or so because she had a family emergency and had to leave. The only thing Holiday had told Burnett was that she had to deal with this.

Burnett had been worried, too. Kylie had heard the frustration in his voice when he spoke with Holiday and she wouldn't elaborate on the type of emergency.

Kylie had phoned and texted Holiday but hadn't gotten an answer before she'd gone to bed.

Checking her call log, she found two texts. One from Sara, her old best friend whom Kylie had probably just healed of cancer-please let that be so-and then one from Holiday.

Kylie breathed a sigh of relief as she read Sara's message that she was feeling great, then quickly read Holiday's. It was short and simple. All is ok. B back soon.

Wanting more reassurance, Kylie dialed the camp leader's number.

"Hey," Holiday answered. "Is everything okay?"

Kylie almost told her about the dream with the rogue vampire, but her gut said Holiday had something else on her plate. Besides, Holiday had already told her how to deal with this, and if Kylie had listened to her instincts, this wouldn't have happened. "Yeah, just worried about you. Are you back at camp yet?"

"Not yet. I should be there this afternoon." She grew quiet. "I'm sorry I had to bail before we talked. Are you dealing with everything okay? Nothing else has happened, has it?"

"No, I'm fine. We were just concerned about you."

"We?"

"Burnett and me," she said, remembering her promise to herself to play matchmaker. "What happened?" Kylie asked hesitantly, not wanting to overstep her bounds. But her relationship with Holiday felt like more than just camp leader and camper. She truly cared about her.

Holiday was quiet for a moment. "My great-aunt passed away."

"Oh, Holiday, I'm so sorry. Can I do anything?" A cold entered the room. Kylie ignored it and focused on the phone conversation. She'd deal with Jane Doe in a few minutes.

"No. I'm fine," Holiday said. "It was her time. But she didn't get her estate in order and now..."

Kylie felt her mattress dip down. She glanced up, and sitting on the foot of her bed was an older woman wearing a yellow housedress and a beautiful pale blue tear-shaped crystal necklace.

"The will is taped to the bottom left drawer of my dresser. But I want her to take all my crystal pieces. Don't let Marty take them, and she'll try. She's a sneaky little twit."

Kylie studied the woman's gray hair hanging down around her shoulders and then noted her eyes were a bright green that looked vaguely familiar.

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