Holiday looked back at Kylie. Their gazes met and held.
Just from the quick glance, Kylie knew that Holiday, an empath like Derek, had read the swarm of emotions playing hide and seek in her mind. And not the happy ones.
Kylie seldom got anything past the fae. Not that Kylie attempted to hide a whole heck of a lot from Holiday. The bond they shared had moved past friendship. Holiday was family-not the kind you were born with, but the kind you were lucky enough to choose.
"I need to speak to Kylie." The warmth in Holiday's tone had Kylie's chest tightening and she wondered what she'd ever do without the woman in her life. She hoped she never had to find out. The thought sent a shiver down Kylie's spine.
Burnett acknowledged all of them with a farewell glance, and then left.
As soon as he walked out, Della turned to Holiday. "Maybe you can talk some sense into Kylie. She thinks she's a lizard."
* * *
Five minutes later, Holiday and Kylie sat on the edge of the porch, their bare legs dangling over the edge. The camp leader had changed from the dark dress she'd worn at Ellie's funeral to a pair of cutoff jeans and the yellow shirt that she wore inside out.
Kylie's black dress flared across her thighs, landing right above her knees. If she stretched out her feet, her toes would brush against the grass. She usually liked how the light tickle felt, but for some reason it now reminded her of sitting with Derek earlier out beside the tree.
Pushing that thought aside, Kylie stared down at their feet. Holiday had on a pair of sandals, and her toenails were painted a soft pink.
"What happened?" Holiday asked, concern deepening her tone.
"I don't know where to start," Kylie said.
"How about with the whole lizard thing? What's Della talking about?"
Kylie bit down on her lip. "Before I get into all that, what happened between you and Burnett?"
Holiday glanced away. "He's staying on."
"I know that." Smiling, Kylie bumped her shoulder with Holiday's. "Did anything good happen?"
Color brightened Holiday's cheeks. "I don't feel comfortable talking about this."
"Wow. It must have been good, then," Kylie teased.
Holiday frowned, which meant whatever happened hadn't changed much. Some clothes might have come off, but Holiday's reservations hadn't.
"We didn't..." Holiday dropped her face into her hands. "I'm confused, okay? I need Burnett at Shadow Falls. He's strong in all the areas that I'm lacking. And where he's lacking, I'm strong. But..."
"But you're scared to admit you care about him," Kylie said, even when her gut told her she needed to back off.
"You don't understand," Holiday said.
"That's because you haven't told me everything," Kylie accused, and she got that sensation again that there were things, emotional things, Holiday kept bottled up inside her.
Holiday sighed. "This is something I need to work out myself. I know we're close and I love that you care." She put her hand on top of Kylie's. "I feel that you're only trying to help, but I need to go solo on this one. And I'm asking you to accept that."
Kylie nodded, knowing she had to respect Holiday's wishes, but not liking it.
"Now, let's get back to you." She bumped Kylie's shoulder with hers. "Talk to me."
Taking a deep breath, she told Holiday about her dad's visit-both the chameleon stuff and the part about them figuring it out together ... soon.
Concern and confusion filled the camp leader's eyes. "Okay, about your dad saying you will work it out together-I don't think it means what you think. Time doesn't mean the same thing in the spirit world."
Kylie considered what Holiday said. "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just ... there was something about the way he kept saying 'soon.' And he was happy about it."
Holiday shook her head. "Your dad loves you. And I think if he knew you were going to die too soon, he'd be panicking. And the last thing he would do is share that news with you."
It hurt to say it aloud, but she did it anyway. "If I'm going to die, I should know."
"It doesn't work like that. I mean, there are a few people who are able to know of their death and use the time wisely. But when you start planning for the end, most people instinctually stop living for tomorrow. Living for the day is beautiful-too many of us don't do it enough-but to live fully, we must live for today and tomorrow. Think about it, if you knew you were going to die in six months, would you start a project that you knew you couldn't finish? Would you go to school to learn to be a doctor? Would you have a child, knowing you would leave it alone too soon? People miss out on so much if they stop living for tomorrow."
Holiday's little speech sent Kylie right into the lap of another problem. Her ghost problem. She tried to think about the best way to approach it.
"Now, about the whole lizard thing," Holiday said, taking Kylie's thoughts in another direction. "I've never heard of a chameleon supernatural. And while I'm inclined to tell you that he got it wrong, I wonder..."
"Wonder what?" Kylie asked.
"I don't know for sure, I'm just-"
"I know," Kylie said. "You're just speculating, guessing, but since I'm feeling pretty clueless, I'd like to hear it."
"I was going to tell you." Holiday's expression told Kylie she needed to be patient.
She'd grown tired of being patient. And yes, she knew that on Thursday, her grandfather Malcolm Summers was coming, and hopefully he'd make sense of all this for her. But that meant a couple more days of not knowing.
"So just tell me. Please." Kylie softened her tone because being impatient might be understandable, but blaming others for it wasn't.
Holiday inhaled. "Maybe he referred to you as a chameleon because your pattern hasn't matured to what it really should be. It's still changing, like a chameleon changes colors."
"But he said I was a chameleon like he was telling me that I was a vampire or witch. Is it possible that there's another type of supernatural race that no one knows about?"
Holiday paused. "My gut says no. The history of supernaturals is documented in books as old as the Bible. But ... I admit I'm baffled. It seems that whatever is causing this is probably hereditary because of your real grandfather and great-aunt's ability to change their patterns to human. But even that is completely off the chart weird. I'm still thinking it was Wiccan related but..."