Authors: C. C. Hunter
Chapter Eleven
During lunch, the introductions proved to be as embarrassing as Kylie thought they would be. Everyone had said their name and “what” they were, but when her time came, she’d only offered her name. The silence in the room had felt suffocating in the seconds afterward. Holiday had jumped in and explained that the origin of Kylie’s powers was still being deciphered and that her “close-mindedness” was not intentional, but a product of her gifts.
If anyone in the room doubted that she was the freak of all the freaks, they had now been informed of the fact by the camp leader. Oh, Kylie suspected Holiday had been trying to help, but Kylie could have really done without it. Luckily, she had already managed to force down half a turkey sandwich because after that, there was no way she could swallow another bite.
Right after her embarrassing moment in the spotlight, Kylie’s phone rang. She saw her mom’s number on the call screen and turned the phone off. The last thing she wanted was for her conversation with her mom overheard by the super-hearing individuals.
As soon as the official lunch meeting ended, Kylie found Holiday to get her cabin directions. Dinner was set at six and until then, the afternoon was free. During downtime, mingling and getting to know your camp companions and cabin roomies was encouraged.
Instead, Kylie spent the four hours mingling with her emotional turmoil and hidden away in her closet of a bedroom. Hey, she understood the difference between “encouraged” and “required.”
Sitting up on the bed, she noticed again the size of her room. Not that she was complaining. The fact that she had her own room made the size a non-issue. Considering the night terrors that plagued her three or four nights a week, the privacy was much appreciated. She just hoped the walls were thick enough to contain what her mother called “bloodcurdling screams.” The walls at home sure as heck weren’t.
Biting down on her lip, Kylie wondered again how her mom could do this to her. Send her here when only a week ago, her mom had suggested she not spend the night off anywhere because it would be embarrassing for her to let others see her in a sleep-dazed terror.
Shaking off thoughts of her mom, Kylie looked around the room again. Her afternoon hadn’t been a total waste. She’d unpacked her things, called her mom—aka, the Ice Queen—back, tried to get in touch with a MIA Sara—who still hadn’t called or texted—read the camp rules, and indulged in a good ol’ fashioned meltdown with lots of tears.
A much-deserved meltdown.
For sixteen years she’d tried to figure out who she was. And while she’d always known she’d had a ways to go, she’d felt pretty confident in her discoveries. But today she realized not only was she wrong about who she was, but she didn’t even know
what
she was.
Talk about an identity crisis.
Her phone buzzed again. She looked at the caller ID and saw her dad’s name.
Her dad who’d left her.
Her dad who hadn’t picked her up at the police station.
Her dad who hadn’t visited her before she’d been forcibly shipped off to camp.
Her dad who obviously didn’t love her near as much as she’d thought he did.
Her dad who in spite of everything, Kylie missed with all her heart.
If that made her a daddy’s girl, so be it. Besides it was probably just a temporary condition. Sooner or later she’d give up loving him so much like he’d given up on her. Right?
Her throat locked up. The temptation to answer and beg him to come get her was so strong that she tossed the phone onto the foot of the bed. She listened to the buzz and knew if she answered that call she’d tell him about supernaturals and about her being one of them—about running into Lucas Parker the potential serial killer.
Keeping secrets from her mom had always felt easy, because it seemed her mom kept her own secrets; but keeping things from her dad was algebra—damn hard.
So instead of taking the call, she plopped her head on the pillow and gave in to another bout of tears. When someone knocked on her bedroom door, Kylie still wore the watery evidence of tears on her cheeks.
Before Kylie could decide what to do, the door opened and a nose peeked through the crack. “Are you awake?”
Since Kylie sat up on the bed and saw Miranda’s eyes right above the nose, Kylie didn’t lie. “Yes.”
Miranda stepped in—uninvited.
“Hey, I just…” Miranda’s hazel gaze lit on Kylie’s face and the girl’s mouth dropped open.
Kylie knew exactly what had the little witch gaping. Kylie envied the girls who could cry and barely smear their mascara, but she lacked that particular skill. When Kylie cried, her fair skin broke out in big red dots and her eyes swelled so much that she didn’t look human.
Wait. According to Holiday, Kylie wasn’t human. Who knew?
“Are you okay?” Miranda asked.
“Fine.” Kylie forced cheeriness into her voice. “Allergies.”
“Should you go see a nurse? Seriously, you look terrible.”
Thanks.
“No. I’m fine. It’ll go away in a bit.”
“It’s not contagious, is it?” Miranda stopped a few feet into the room.
“I sure as heck hope not,” said a voice at the door. A voice that belonged to Della, who still wore her dark shades, and who Kylie had learned during the introductions was a vampire. Yup. A real vampire.
“I’m not contagious,” Kylie said, and realized she should have said yes so they’d leave her alone.
Miranda moved in and sat on the foot of the twin bed, and Della followed her but didn’t sit down. Instead, the girl removed her sunglasses and eyeballed Kylie up and down. Her dark expression reminded Kylie of a how a person on a diet stared at a Girl Scout cookie right before it became mouth mush.
Kylie’s skin crawled at the thought of becoming mush in anyone’s mouth.
“You are coming to dinner and the campfire, aren’t you?” Miranda asked.
“Is … is it mandatory?” Kylie asked, hoping her reaction to Della didn’t show.
“Are you scared of me?” Della blurted out, axing all of Kylie’s hopes of hiding the fact that Della scared the pee out of her.
“Why … why would I be scared of you?”
“Because I have sharp teeth?” She opened her mouth and exposed her pearly whites that did indeed showcase two sharp canines. “Because I might suck your blood out?”
It took effort not to cringe at Della’s words, especially when the girl ran her tongue over her lips.
“Quit teasing her.” Miranda laughed and rolled her eyes.
“That’s just it.” Della waved at Kylie. “Her heart is racing and her pulse is running off the chart. Look at the vein in her neck, it’s throbbing. I don’t think she knows I’m teasing.”
The fact that Della mentioned Kylie’s veins had her blood pumping harder. “Of course I do,” Kylie lied. “Holiday said everyone here was good … people.”
“And you believed her?” Della’s black eyes accused Kylie of being dishonest.
Kylie decided right then that Della’s ability to read her vital signs surpassed her ability to lie. “I want to believe her. But I’ll admit it, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that … that supernaturals exist.”
“But you’re a supernatural,” Miranda said. “How could you not know—”
“Holiday
thinks
I’m a supernatural.” Yeah, somewhere in the last few minutes Kylie had gone back to hoping Holiday’s analysis was meritless.
“You are a supernatural,” both Miranda and Della said at the same time, both their eyebrows twitching ever so slightly.
“Or at least, you aren’t all human,” Della said. “We can tell that by looking at your brain pattern.”
“And you guys are never wrong?” Kylie clutched her knees tighter to her chest.
“Everyone’s wrong once in a while,” Miranda said.
“But not very often,” Della added.
Nevertheless, their answer spurred Kylie’s hope. “But it does happen. Right?” The heaviness in her chest lightened.
“Yeah, there are the people with brain tumors,” Della added.
Kylie dropped her forehead on her knees. She was either a supernatural or dying of a brain tumor; she didn’t know which was worse.
“And a few whose brains are just loopy,” Miranda added.
Kylie raised her head. “Loopy?”
“Yeah, like a frog’s hair from being loco.”
“Then maybe I’m just loopy. I’ve been accused of that before.”
“No, wait,” Miranda said. “Didn’t Holiday mention you had gifts?” Miranda and Della both raised inquisitive eyebrows.
Kylie shrugged. “Yeah, but that could just be because I’m dealing with a super-charged ghost.”
“Ghost?” Miranda and Della said in unison.
Kylie could be wrong, but both girls looked appalled and scared. Their shock reminded her of Derek’s reaction earlier when she’d asked if he could see ghosts.
“You can see the dead?” Della stepped back from the bed. “Oh, hell. I do not want to room with someone who has ghosts hanging around. That’s too freaky.”
Even Miranda popped up off the foot of the bed. Kylie stared at them, completely befuddled. “You’re joking right? You two are scared of me? You’re a witch.” She pointed at Miranda. “And you’re a vampire.” She wagged her finger at Della. “And ya’ll are calling me”—she poked herself in the chest—“freaky?”
Miranda and Della exchanged a look, but neither girl denied what Kylie had just said.
“Fine, forget it then,” Kylie said, hurt by their attitude. “But just for the record, I don’t talk to them.” Then she realized that both girls were looking at her the same way she’d been looking at them all day. The bitterness of tasting her own medicine had Kylie turning things over in her mind.
“So they just hang around you?” Della started eyeballing the room. “Please tell me there’s not any here right now.”
“There’s not,” Kylie snapped, but her anger wasn’t directed at her, just the situation. Because dad-blast it, if she’d heard someone could see ghosts, she’d probably be afraid of them, too.
“Good.” Miranda reclaimed her spot at the foot of the bed.
Della continued to glance around. “Nope. Too weird. I don’t want to room with you.”
“I’m not any weirder than you are.” Kylie stared at the vampire and for some reason wanted Della to accept her.
“She has a point,” Miranda said to Della. “We’re probably pretty scary to her, too. I say, let’s try to make this work. You know, be buds.”
Della let out a deep breath. “Okay, but you’ll tell us when you see a ghost hanging around?”
Kylie nodded, but quickly realized how hard that request was going to be to keep, because the familiar icy feeling of a ghostly presence hit right then. The saving grace was that she didn’t “see” the ghost. Not that she looked hard, but who could blame her not wanting to clash gazes with a dead person?
* * *
Kylie hadn’t thought she could eat, but when the warm, spicy scent of pizza hit her nose, she realized how little she’d eaten all day. She’d managed to down one slice of thin pepperoni and cheese and eat half her salad before she started feeling self-conscious from the occasional twitching stares. Some of the campers were still trying to figure her out. Well, good luck with that. She took another bite of salad and hoped that if they managed to do it, they’d let her in on the secret.
As Kylie moved her gaze around the room, she found Derek sitting at another table. There was a red-haired girl sitting next to him, and from her body language she found Derek more interesting than her pizza. The girl leaned so close to Derek that her left breast brushed against his arm and from the way Derek leaned into the girl, Kylie figured he enjoyed the girl’s attention.
The tiniest bit of jealousy echoed in her chest, but Kylie pushed it back. It was just because he looked like Trey. Biting down on her lip and her emotions, she knew she’d have to be careful where Derek was concerned. It would be easy to confuse her feelings for him.
Right then the half-fairy looked over his shoulder at her. Their gazes met and held. The flutter, the good one, started happening again in the pit of her stomach.
“I think he likes you,” Miranda whispered.
Realizing she and Derek had drawn attention, she glanced away. “He’s probably just curious about me like everyone else,” she whispered back.
“Nope. He’s hot for you,” Della said, reminding Kylie of the supernatural hearing of some of the campers. “When he was sitting by you at lunch, he oozed so much testosterone that it was hard to breathe. He wants your body,” Della teased.
“Well, he’s not getting it,” Kylie said.
“So you don’t like him?” Miranda asked, sounding thrilled.
“Not like that, I don’t.” It felt like a lie, but she ignored it, because she knew any feeling she might have stemmed from his looking like Trey. She had enough stuff going on in her life right now. She sure as heck didn’t need to start falling face-first into another relationship, especially one based on a lie. Derek wasn’t Trey.
And Trey wanted her back. Or at least he’d insinuated that on the phone earlier. With all the other stuff she’d been zapped with today, she hadn’t had time to consider how his confession made her feel. Happy? Sad? Angry? Maybe a little of all three?