Kylie's head was spinning. First, normal and supernatural didn't fit in the same sentence, but ...

"When have I ever been normal?" she asked. "When has anything connected to me, to my powers and gifts and my forever-changing brain patterns, appeared to be normal?"

Della opened her mouth, to argue no doubt, and then shut it. The pause lasted a whole second. Which for Della was a long time. "Okay, you've made another good point, but..."

"No buts," Kylie said. "I'm either a freak, or maybe, just maybe, I'm some other type of supernatural. Something not very many people have heard of."

Della pursed her lips as if in thought. "And that would be totally cool, wouldn't it? To be something very rare. Of course, you're already super rare because you're a protector. Hey ... maybe that's why your pattern went crazy in the beginning, because you're a protector. And you're the first part-human protector to ever exist. Which, like I said, is cool."

"No, I'm not the first. My dad was a protector." Kylie paused. "And it's not as cool as you think." After a second, Kylie added, "Holiday suggested being a protector could have made my pattern do stupid stuff, but..."

"But you want to be a lizard," Della said.

Kylie just rolled her eyes and gave the woods another glance. She didn't feel anything, but maybe if she stood among the trees and surrounded herself with the foliage, she would feel it. Her grandfather and aunt could be waiting for her. Her answers could be out there waiting for her. "Can we take a short walk?"

"I thought we were supposed to be helping Miranda and Holiday set up the dining room."

"Just a short one."

"Where to?" Della asked.

Kylie motioned to the woods.

"Oh, hell no! Burnett was very, very, very clear on that. You aren't supposed to go in the woods. He'd have my head on a platter. After he chewed my ass out."

Kylie looked around to see if anyone was within hearing distance. Super hearing distance. She didn't see a soul.

She still dipped her head down and spoke in a whisper. "I know who's out there and I need to talk to them."

"What...? Who's out there?"

The sound of a door shutting filled the warm air. "You guys letting Miranda do all the work?" Holiday's voice came behind them.

Kylie turned around and saw her stepping off the office steps. "Just going in."

Della leaned in. "Don't leave me hanging like this."

"Later," Kylie said when she saw Holiday walking up.

"Later what?" Holiday asked.

Guilt stirred in Kylie's chest, but she forced herself to lie. "Later, I'll tell her my bucket of boyfriend woes." She forced a smile.

"Yeah, boyfriend woes," Della said, as if to add validity to Kylie's lie. "Two guys fighting for her heart." Della cut her eyes to Kylie, and the message in her friend's eyes said she'd be pressing Kylie to finish their conversation about the woods ASAP.

"What a bucket of ... woe that is!" Della said with drama. But somewhere in Della's voice, Kylie heard something else. A bit of envy.

Holiday chuckled. From the camp leader's expression, Kylie sensed she'd picked up on Della's emotions as well. And that caused Kylie to worry. How much of Kylie's woes did Holiday sense? And how long could Kylie keep things from her? Just long enough, Kylie prayed, to know the right way to approach everything.

Holiday shrugged. "From what I hear, she's not the only one with boy troubles."

"Yeah," Della said with sass. "You and Burnett are filling the air with pheromones." The vamp waved a hand in front of her nose.

Holiday frowned. "I wasn't talking about me." She gave Della a pointed look.

"Me?" Della asked, in total bafflement. "I don't have a boyfriend, so how could I have boyfriend troubles?"

"You could have a boyfriend if you wanted one," Kylie muttered, and that remark got her a sharp jab of Della's elbow in the ribs.

Holiday grinned. "Rumor has it you were the cause of some friction down by the lake."

"What friction?" Della asked.

"Between Steve and Chris," Holiday said, and wiggled her brows. Leave it to Holiday to know what someone needed to hear.

Except in Kylie's case. Kylie needed to know about Holiday's sister, but getting Holiday to talk about it, without just blurting out that her sister was dead, seemed impossible. But if Kylie didn't hear from Hannah soon, or Holiday didn't start talking, then blurting it out might be her only option.

"No." Della shook her head, sending her shoulder-length black hair swinging. "It wasn't over me. You just heard it wrong."

Holiday half grinned and shrugged. "If you say so." She paused and grinned like she knew something no one else did. "Come on. Let's get the dining room whipped into shape for the reception." She draped an arm around each of their shoulders and started walking toward the dining hall.

They took about three steps when Della came to a sudden stop. "Really?" she asked Holiday. "It was over me? Chris and Steve were upset with each other over me?"

"I told you Steve liked you." Kylie almost chuckled at Della's shock.

But Della wasn't listening to Kylie. "You're not shitting me?" Della continued, focusing on Holiday, her head tilted slightly as if listening to see if she was lying.