Kylie watched as Miranda dropped her fork to clatter against the tray, leaned forward, and for the first time made eye contact with Perry.
"What?"
Perry smiled. Just having Miranda's gaze on him made the boy's face glow and his eyes turn a nice shade of blue. For just a second, Kylie wondered what his real eye color was.
"I didn't almost eat him," he said. "I just chewed on him a little and spit him out. I was a cat and he was a bird. And he was older than me and always stealing my animal crackers."
Perry continued talking and Miranda continued listening and their eyes met and they both appeared almost mesmerized. Kylie, mentally giving herself high fives, leaned back a bit to make sure not to block the two lovebirds' views of each other. Then Miranda's phone rang. She broke eye contact with Perry and snatched up her phone, which sat beside her food tray.
Checking caller ID, she let out an excited squeal. "It's Todd Freeman. Oh, my God, he's actually calling me!" Miranda's grin brightened her eyes, and she did a little butt-wiggling dance on the bench.
It took Kylie a half second to remember that Todd Freeman was the warlock, aka the best-looking boy in Miranda's old school, who had asked for Miranda's number at the witch competition. It took Kylie the other half of a second to realize this might not be a good thing. Not for Perry, at least.
Miranda's gaze shot back to the blond shape-shifter, and for a flicker of a second, she looked guilty. It wasn't much, but it offered Kylie a bit of hope.
"Excuse me," Miranda said, and then stood up, phone in hand, and zipped out of the dining hall.
Perry watched Miranda go and then looked at Kylie. His eyes were now a bright green color and they were slightly pinched, giving off a hint of anger. And that contented glow on his cheeks from a few seconds ago was gone. Vanished.
"Should I ask who the hell Todd Freeman is, or do I friggin' not want to know?"
Kylie's mind raced as she tried to find the words to answer. "He's just..." Just when she thought she knew what to say, something that would soothe him and hopefully not make him angry, she spotted Derek and Ellie walking out of the dining hall. Derek's hand rested against Ellie's lower back. An innocent enough touch, but it didn't look so innocent to Kylie.
"He's just who?" Perry bit out.
Kylie looked back at Perry. Why, Kylie wondered, was she so involved in trying to fix everyone else's love life when she couldn't even fix her own?
"I don't know what to tell you, Perry. Life's hard. Love's harder."
Thirty minutes after breakfast, Kylie-with Perry still dogging her steps-stood in front of the dining hall again, looking for Helen. Kylie suspected Helen would be among the noisy crowd waiting for the names to be called for Meet Your Campmates hour.
She wasn't.
Lucas walked up, trailed by Fredericka. "Hey." He came close enough that his shoulder brushed against hers. His warmth reminded Kylie of the dream last night when he hadn't been warm. She so preferred him warm. She preferred him to be himself and not some psychotic killer vampire.
"Hey," she said, and tried not to look at Fredericka, who ambled slowly past.
"Everything okay?" Lucas asked, and then frowned at Perry, who stood on the other side of her, not that it affected Perry. He just nodded.
Fredericka kept slowing down, and unable to stop herself, Kylie glanced up. The she-wolf shot Kylie a sassy smile, no doubt wanting to rub it in that she'd been with Lucas.
Lucas dipped his head down a bit. "Sorry I missed breakfast. I had some pack business I had to take care of."
Pack business? Kylie couldn't help but wonder if the pack business wasn't all about them keeping her and Lucas apart. Frustration swelled in her chest. It was bad enough to have Fredericka plotting against her, but to think the whole pack was also against her was too much. She looked at Lucas. "I ... have to go."
"You okay?" He leaned in, concern filling his blue eyes. She wasn't sure if he'd picked up on her flicker of fear from last's night dream or if it was her jealousy for the little she-wolf who followed him around like a lost puppy.
"Yeah," she lied, and started walking.
"Where are we going?" Perry asked, his footsteps matching hers.
"To find Helen," Kylie answered, and stared straight ahead, even as she felt Lucas staring after her. She might not be able to solve her romantic issues, but perhaps Helen could shed some light on the whole healing process and the fact that Kylie had brought a dead bird back to life. With Holiday gone, she needed all the help she could get. A blue jay swooped past and hovered right in front of her for a millisecond before flying away. Could things get any crazier?
Kylie shook her head. Oh hell, what was she thinking? She was at Shadow Falls; things could always get crazier.
As Kylie drew closer to Helen's cabin, she turned to Perry and looked him right in the eyes. "I want to talk to Helen alone."
"No can do," Perry said.
She frowned. "Perry, I'm serious."
"So am I," he said without a touch of sarcasm or humor, and for Perry, that was a rarity. "Look, I know you don't want me hanging around, but Burnett told me what happened with the eagle and snake and then the deer. And on top of not wanting you to get hurt by an evil being of my own kind, I can't mess up again. I've already screwed up by losing that old couple, and I'm not screwing up again. So you'll just have to suck it up."
Kylie frowned, but she did understand. Who wanted to screw up? And as much as she didn't want to accept that she was in danger, she couldn't argue with the probability that Burnett was right. She didn't want to be hurt by an evil being of Perry's kind, either.
She looked Perry right in his yellow eyes and spotted a touch of insecurity. She felt bad.
"It's just that I need to ask Helen some questions and I'm not sure she'll feel comfortable answering with you here."
"How about I transform into something else and hang back?"
Kylie suddenly got an idea. She didn't know if it would work, because she didn't know how the whole transforming thing worked, but it was worth a shot. "How about you change into a male white cat with bright blue eyes."
"The last time I made myself a cat, you got pissed, bruised my ears, and threatened to neuter me."
"Well, don't start playing Peeping Tom in my cabin windows and you won't be in any danger. Just make sure you're white with blue eyes. Oh ... and you have to be male."
"Like I would ever become a female," he said.
"Then do it already," she said.
"Fine." He waved his hand up and the sparkles started appearing. In just a few seconds, Perry disappeared and a long-haired white cat with a cute piggish little face and beautiful blue eyes stood in his place, swishing its tail back and forth.
The animal was so adorable, she had to stop herself from picking up the little fellow and snuggling with him. "Very cute," Kylie said.
The kitty, aka, Perry, cocked its head to the side as if puzzled. He reached up with his paw and gave his right ear a good scratch.
It worked. Kylie remembered her reasoning for insisting on the specific animal and smiled.
"I can't hear!" Perry said. "How did you do this?"
Kylie had to bite her bottom lip not to smile. "I didn't do it. Most male white cats with blue eyes can't hear." She said the words slowly so he might be able to read her lips. "You can watch." She pointed to her eye. "But you can't hear."
"That was sneaky," Perry said, obviously able to read lips.
Kylie smiled. "No, it was genius. Now stay back."
"But stay where I can see you."
"Fine." She took off to Helen's cabin and kept an eye out for any unwanted shape-shifters.
Helen answered the knock almost immediately. "Hey, you came to see me." She hugged Kylie so tight and had such a big smile on her face that Kylie felt a tad guilty for not visiting sooner. Helen was ... well, a little quiet and didn't have a lot of friends.
However, some of the guilt faded when she remembered she had asked Helen to come over to the cabin half a dozen times. The half-fae had declined each and every time because she spent all her free time with Jonathon, her newfound love.
"Come on in," Helen said.
Kylie started to step inside and remembered Perry. "I can't."
"Why?" Helen asked, and ran a hand through her sandy brown hair.
"I've got a shadow."
"Oh, yeah." Helen's hazel eyes widened with concern. "Jonathon was telling me what happened. They think some shape-shifters broke through the security. Are you okay? I mean, after your weekend and now this." Helen stepped out and closed her cabin door. She moved over to the edge of the porch and sat on the whitewashed wooden planks.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kylie answered, which was a bit of a lie, but she didn't need to dump her problems on Helen.
"Did you actually see the intruder?" Helen asked.
Kylie dropped down beside the girl. Their feet dangled off the edge of the porch. "It was an eagle and a snake and then a deer. And we're not even sure that it's anything. It might not even have been shape-shifters." Or at least, Kylie had been telling herself that. And since nothing else had happened today, it was getting easier to believe it-as long as she didn't remember the evil look she'd seen in the eagle's and deer's eyes.
Kylie suddenly became aware of two birds soaring overhead. A shimmer of fear ran down her back, and she looked out toward the patch of trees to see if she could spot Perry.
He didn't seem too worried. He'd found a patch of sunlight spilling through the trees and had stretched out, as if to soak in the warmth. "Who's your shadow?" Helen asked, following Kylie's gaze but obviously not noticing the cat.
"It's Perry. I had him turn himself into a male white cat with blue eyes."
Helen arched a brow with understanding. "So he couldn't hear us. Good one." She brushed an ant off her knee.
They sat there for a few seconds in silence, both of them gently pumping their legs back and forth.
Finally, Kylie spoke. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind answering a few questions about healing?"
"That's right, I heard you healed your friend," Helen said. "And then Lucas, too. Pretty cool."
Kylie bit down on her lip. "Yeah. It's cool. I mean, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, but I like knowing I did it. That's what I wanted to ask you about. I really don't know how it works."
Suddenly, a thousand questions started running rampant in her head. Could she heal anyone? Could she go to the hospital and just heal everyone?
"Holiday hasn't talked to you about it?" Helen pulled one leg up.
"She tried. I just wasn't ready to hear about it. And then she had to leave. Her aunt died, but she's supposed to be back this afternoon."
"That's sad," Helen said with sincerity, then she added, "Holiday said that we two were going to start meeting with her on occasion to discuss healing as a group. I've read up on a lot of it, but I've barely made a dent in all there is to know about the gift."
"There are books on supernatural healing?" Kylie asked, surprised.
"Yeah, there's a whole library on all different supernatural subjects."
"Really? I never heard about them."
"Oh, yeah. There are tons of books on just about every subject."
Every subject? If that was the case, Kylie couldn't help wondering if there might be some information somewhere about anomalies like herself. "Who...? I mean, where do you get them?"
"From the FRU library. If you can call it a library. More like a vault with books. It took almost a month before I was approved to check out the books I got. Burnett finally went in and got me approved."
"Why would they not want you to read up on healing or ... any subject concerning supernaturals?"
"Beats me."
Kylie chewed on that for a few minutes and then asked, "So what did you learn about healing?"
"A lot of it's about the homeopathic. But some of it covers the basics like the different kinds of healers."
"There are different kinds?"
Helen nodded. "And different levels."
"Is any of this based on what type of species you are?"
"Yeah, some. The gift is most common to fairies and witches. But it's found in all sorts of half-breeds, too. I even read one book that said some half-breeds can have more healing powers than full-bloods."
Kylie tried to absorb everything Helen was saying. "What are the different kinds?"
"Well, some of us can just ease pain, but not really heal. Some witches can cure things by mixing up brews and performing certain rituals. Then there are those who heal internal diseases like cancer through touch. And then there's a few of those who are like you."
"Like me how?" Kylie asked, confused.
"Who can heal internal issues, like cancer, as well as physical injuries, like you did with your friend Sara's cancer and Lucas's injuries."
"You can't heal physical injuries?" Kylie asked.
"No. I wish. Jonathon fell a while back and cut his hand. I tried several times to heal it, and got nothing."
Kylie tried to absorb the new information. But mostly what she absorbed was the fact that once again, she was an anomaly. For once, couldn't she fit nice and neatly into a niche?
"You look worried," Helen said, looking at her.
"A little," Kylie admitted. "I'm still overwhelmed, I guess."
"Hey, just be glad you're not like the real freaky type."
"What type is that?"
"The kind that can raise the dead. And every time they do it, they give up a piece of their soul in the bargain. That would be off-the-chart weird, don't you think?"
A chill of fear settled around Kylie's heart. "Yeah. That would be super weird."
Kylie got a text from Holiday on her walk back to her cabin. Problems. Can't make it bk til tomorrow. U ok?
Am I okay? Kylie nearly laughed out loud. Hell, no, she wasn't okay! She'd given away a piece of her soul to a blue jay and didn't know what it meant.
As soon as Perry's shadow duties ended and he was replaced by Della, Kylie snatched her phone and started out of her cabin, feeling desperate. Holiday wasn't here, but Burnett was. He might not have any answers, but at least she could personally tell him she wanted a library card to the FRU's source of books. If there was even the slightest chance that their library held something that would help her figure out what she was, then Kylie would keep her nose in a book for years.
"Where are we going?" Della asked, following Kylie out.
"To talk to Burnett about my problem."
"What problem?"
"You got a problem?" Miranda asked as she, too, joined them on the cabin porch.
"It's just crazy shit," Kylie said, unsure she wanted to explain it, and started walking.
"What kind of crazy shit?" Miranda asked. "Does it have anything to do with Perry being in love with you?"
"What?" Kylie spouted out, low on patience.
"I saw the way he was hanging around all day."
"Please! He was hanging around me because he was shadowing me." She met Miranda's gaze head-on. "Okay, look. I'm gonna say this once. Perry's in love with you. But if you don't stop playing hard to get, you're gonna lose your shot with him."
"Amen, sister!" Della said.
Miranda's face tightened and she glared first at Della and then at Kylie. "Since when are you two taking his side?"
Kylie closed her eyes in frustration. "Fine, he was wrong when he did that, but you admitted that you were a little wrong in kissing Kevin, too. It's time to get past it or get over him."
"You make it sound easy." Hurt hummed in Miranda's tone.
"It is easy," Della said. "Just kiss and make up."
Miranda ignored Della and stared at Kylie. "Like you don't have issues with Derek." She turned to Della. "And you with Lee."
"That's different!" Della snapped, her eyes growing bright as she immediately took the offensive.
No, it wasn't different, Kylie realized. "Look. Truth is, all three of us are in the same boat. The sucky romance boat. And Della and I made a pact yesterday." She glanced at Della, hoping she didn't look upset that she was sharing this with Miranda. But hey, they were a threesome, right?
Thankfully, the vamp didn't look pissed, and Kylie continued, "We're moving on. I'm gonna get past the whole Ellie and Derek thing and give Lucas a chance. Della's going to try to be nicer to Steve and see what happens. You want to join the pact?"
Miranda frowned. "But Todd Freeman called me this morning. He said he may come up here this weekend for a visit."
"Who's Todd?" Della asked.
"The cute warlock from her old school," Kylie answered, and glanced back at Miranda. "Look, if you don't want to forgive Perry, or can't forgive him, then that's one thing. But you can't stay on the fence."
"Yeah. Shit or get off the pot." Della snickered.
"I'm not on the fence," Miranda insisted. "Or a pot."
"Yes, you are," Kylie countered. "You still care or you wouldn't be jealous." So what did that say about her and Derek? Kylie pushed that question aside.
"But what if I blow Todd off and then Perry goes back to being an ass?"
"There are no guarantees," Kylie countered. "Not with love or with life. But we can't go through life never taking a risk. And that's what we are all agreeing to do. Put our hearts out there. Take a chance with a boy. We might end up hurt, but we might not."
Miranda stood there, her expression pinched as if considering the offer. "Okay, how about I make a pact to talk to Perry and try to figure it out?"
"Talking's a good start," Kylie said.
"Making out would be better." Della grinned.
Kylie started back walking. Miranda and Della followed.
"So what's the crazy shit problem you need to discuss with Burnett?" Miranda asked.
Kylie sighed. "I gave away a piece of my soul and I think I want it back."