* * *
Lucas met Kylie at the gate. More than anything, she needed a hug. She wanted to tell him what she'd learned, but what she got was his anger.
"Why didn't you wait on me?" he demanded.
Maybe it was because her emotions were already on the edge, but she just started walking away.
"Damn it!" Lucas said, and moved in step with her. "Why in the hell would you go back to the cemetery, anyway? And why would they allow Derek to go with you?"
"Because I needed answers. And because Derek is my friend. Just like Fredericka is yours!"
He caught her by the arm. "Do you know how worried I've been?"
"Yes," Kylie snapped. "You were as worried about me as I am about you when you run off and play wolf for a night."
He looked stunned. "I can't help what I am, Kylie."
"Neither can I, Lucas." Tears sprang to her eyes. "I don't know what I am, but I know that what I do is deal with ghosts. And if you can't accept that, then maybe you can't accept me."
"I didn't say that," he insisted. "I just want-"
"You want me to be werewolf," she said. "You want me to be werewolf so your family and your pack will accept me. But right now, it's not looking good that you'll get what you want. So maybe you need to think about that, too."
She took off.
He caught up with her. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's just I can't stand the thought of something happening to you. And ... nothing is going to change between us, no matter what you are." He lifted her chin and met her eyes. "Don't you know how I feel?"
He pulled her against his chest, and Kylie let him. She buried herself in his warmth and tried to believe that he spoke the truth, but she couldn't lie to herself. She knew Lucas wanted to believe it, but she wasn't completely convinced that it would be the case if his grandmother really got involved. Kylie wasn't even sure it was fair of her to ask him to make that choice.
* * *
Kylie awoke very early Tuesday morning. Her first thought was that today was Ellie's funeral. She recalled the vision she'd had about it and wondered if it was fair that she had to live through it twice.
She ran a hand over her face. Her alarm hadn't gone off. So why was she awake?
The cold suddenly fell on her like a blanket of ice. "Heidi?" She sat up so fast, her head spun. "Is that you? I have more questions to ask."
No answer came. Kylie sat there, waiting. Through the haze of darkness, she saw a figure appear at the end of her bed. "Heidi?" she asked again.
Kylie turned on the lamp. The light filled the bedroom and illuminated the spirit, who stood with her back to the bed. It wasn't Heidi. Kylie couldn't even tell if this ghost was male or female. Somehow he/she looked ... deader than the others. Sure, they were all dead, but for some reason even the matted hair looked deader than the hair of other spirits.
"Hello," Kylie whispered.
The spirit turned around, and Kylie stopped breathing. Worms, maggots, and creepy insects crawled in and out of the eye sockets, eating away at what little flesh still clung to the face.
Screaming, Kylie slammed back against the headboard.
"Can you help me?" A stream of worms cascaded from the spirit's lips as she spoke, and they landed on Kylie's blanket.
"I..." Kylie kicked the covers to stop the gooey-looking creatures from crawling toward her. "I might, but can you do something about your face? Now!"
Della bolted into the room. "You okay?"
Kylie glanced back at the foot of her bed. The ghost was gone. Relief washed over her. "I'm fine," her voice squeaked out. Remembering the maggots-and not one hundred percent sure the ghost had taken them with her-Kylie leapt up, yanked the covers off the bed, and tossed them on the floor. She backed away from the pile of bedding.
"Yeah. You look just fine," Della said sarcastically.
Kylie jumped from foot to foot and brushed off imaginary maggots that she felt crawling on her skin.
Della stood there in Mickey Mouse pajamas, staring at her as if she didn't know whether to laugh or run.
Kylie stopped dancing and tried to breathe normally. "If I die, promise me I'll be cremated."
Della frowned. "Die?"
"Not that I'm planning to die anytime soon." She gave her arm one more swipe. "But still."
Della shook her head. "I don't know why you pretend you're okay."
Kylie wrapped her arms around herself. "Me either."
* * *
Kylie didn't go back to sleep. She wasn't sure if she'd ever sleep in that bed again. Instead, she dressed and waited for Della and Miranda to go to the sunrise service.
The service happened just as it had in the vision. Only the grief felt deeper, especially when Kylie saw Derek, tears in his eyes, holding Ellie's hat.
Holiday kept looking over her shoulder. Kylie knew she was looking for Burnett. It wasn't until Chris started talking that Burnett slid into the chair next to Holiday.
She saw the two of them look at each other. Kylie wasn't sure what kind of look it was-other than sad. Sad seemed to be the mood of the day. Well, for everyone except the blue jay who kept flittering by, spouting out song as if wanting to impress her.
Only she wasn't impressed.
When the ceremony ended, Lucas took her hand to walk her to the dining hall, where they planned to have a celebration of Ellie's life. Everyone was going to tell Ellie stories.
But Burnett stopped her. "I need to talk to you and Holiday a minute."
Lucas said he'd meet her in the dining hall. Then Holiday and Burnett and Kylie walked into the office.
"Is something wrong?" Kylie asked once Burnett closed the door.
He pulled an envelope from his suit jacket and handed it to Kylie.
"What is that?" Holiday asked. From her tone, she seemed to think it had to do with Kylie having tests.
"It's the location of her grandmother's body."
"You had her buried in her own grave?" Kylie asked.
"Not exactly." He paused. "Let's just say that if the FRU try to force you to undergo any tests that you aren't comfortable with, you can use this to ... insist that you prefer not to participate."
"So you think they'll push for Kylie to be tested?" Holiday asked.