Someone was holding her hand. In the distance angry voices rumbled. One she recognized. Burnett. Kylie opened her eyes, unsure of where she was. The moment she saw the white ceiling, she remembered the pure white room. The big white machine.
The pain.
She didn't hurt now.
"Thank God." Kylie turned toward Holiday's voice. Ah. Holiday was the hand holder. Worry pinching her brow, she pushed some button on a remote control and called for the nurse. "She's awake."
"What happened?" Kylie asked.
"You passed out." Holiday had tears in her eyes. "Scared the shit out of us! Are you okay?"
"I can feel my fingers and toes," Kylie said.
The door burst open and Burnett, a very angry-looking Burnett, came storming into the room. Right behind him was a man wearing a white coat. And following the doctor was the agent who'd picked her up. Following him was Lucas-a very worried-looking Lucas. And last was Hayden Yates-looking equally concerned.
"I told you she was going to be okay." The doctor looked at Kylie and then Holiday. "Is she talking?"
"Yes," Holiday said.
"Is she moving?" he asked Holiday.
"Yes, and I can hear you, too," Kylie said.
He frowned at Kylie. "Of course you can."
"Wait," Kylie said. "Did they finish the test?"
The doctor nodded. "It was wrapping up when you started experiencing pain."
"Do we know anything yet?" she asked the other agent.
"We need others to read it," he said, "but it appears you have the markings of all the supernaturals, just as Mr. Yates does."
Kylie sat up a little. "Does that qualify as a new species?"
"I'm under the impression that it would, but again, others have to review it."
Kylie bit down on her lip. "How much of this did you already know from the tests in the past?"
The room went silent. Kylie saw Burnett's shoulders tighten.
The agent paused. "The results we had pointed to the same thing, but ninety percent of the evidence was destroyed by the doctors and administrators running the study to hide their wrongdoings. What evidence we did have, we didn't know if it was valid."
"If you even suspected what was done, why haven't you tried to make it right before now?" Hayden asked.
"We tried," the agent said. "Maybe not hard enough, but in our defense, the one thing your species isbest at is hiding. We searched for family members of those few that we maintained files on. They and their families had disappeared. At one point we considered putting out notices asking people to come in, but no matter how we tried to approach it, it sounded like a witch hunt. And considering what had already happened, it just didn't feel like the right thing."
"And how soon will this information be released to the supernatural world?" Kylie asked.
"Probably no later than a few weeks. We'll also be announcing the internal investigation on the FRU and our wrongdoings in the past. Anyone affected by the studies, or their family members, will receive financial compensation if they come forward."
Kylie thought of her grandmother. "Money won't bring back lives."
"No," the agent said. "But it's the human way of showing the organization's wrongdoing. And since we live in a human world, it's the best we can do."
"Why?" Kylie asked.
"Why what?" The agent looked confused.
"You don't just admit wrongdoings and offer compensation for no reason. Someone is threatening to expose you. Who is it?"
The agent's expression went cold. "What's important is that it's being done."
Kylie got the feeling they didn't know the person forcing their hand. But she had a feeling she did know. A few minutes later, the doctor and the agent walked out.
Kylie looked at Burnett. "You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"
He shook his head. "Not a thing." It was a lie, she could see it. He'd been trying to make the FRU do right by her the whole time. She knew she loved this man.
Kylie glanced at Hayden and smiled. Hayden returned the gesture. They had done it. Well, with the help of Burnett. She knew it wasn't completely over, they still had to convince the elders to trust that things would be different, and they still had to come clean about Jenny, but at least now chameleons wouldn't have to hide.
The next morning Lucas dropped by at five A.M. Kylie was still asleep when he jumped through her window. He'd rescheduled his meeting with his grandmother for this morning and just wanted to check on her before he left. As he started out, she pulled him in for a kiss.
When the kiss ended, he was humming. "You trying to convince me to stay?" he asked, his eyes bright with need and passion.
"No," she said, and laughed. "Go. We can do this later."
"Promise?" he asked.
"Promise," she told him, and she meant it. She didn't tell him all bets were off, that she'd take him any way he came. On the Council, or off. If he didn't make it and grew to resent her later, she'd just face it then. But she loved him too much to turn away from him now.
As Kylie pulled her clothes from her closet, Della invited herself into Kylie's bedroom.
"That was a quicky," Della said, referring to Lucas's short visit.
"He just came by to tell me he's meeting his grandma."
"I know, I heard," she smarted off.Kylie frowned. "You could cover your ears and not listen in, you know."
"And you could stop buddying up with Steve!" she hissed.
Kylie just shook her head. "Look, I need to get dressed. I'm going with Hayden to confront Burnett and Holiday about Jenny."
"Burnett's gonna be pissed," Della said.
"I know," Kylie said. "But when he's done being pissed he's usually reasonable."
"Yeah," Della said. "But it's always that pissed part that scares the shit out of me."
Kylie laughed. Della eyed her. "Why would you talk to Steve behind my back?"
Frowning, Kylie answered, "What was I supposed to do? He paid blood for the hour."
"Tell him no. Believe it or not, that's usually enough to send him packing."
Maybe not anymore, Kylie thought.
"What did he want anyway?" Della dropped on Kylie's twin bed.
Kylie rolled her eyes. "You know what he wanted. Advice on how to deal with you."
"So what did you tell him? And remember I can tell if you lie."
Kylie picked up her brush and started putting up her hair. "I told him to be patient. To fight for you, because you were worth it."
"Stupid advice," Della said.
Kylie put her brush down. "Not stupid. True. You are worth it." Moving to the bed, she hugged the vamp.
"What's with all the hugging stuff lately?" Della whined.
"I love you," Kylie said, and grinned.
"You told me that already. So seriously, what's up?"
She couldn't lie to Della, so Kylie vagued up the truth. "You tell people you love them so if anything happens, they'll know how you felt." Now if she could just find the courage to go and tell Lucas.
Della looked suspicious. "What do you think is going to happen?"
"I hope nothing," Kylie said, thinking she'd lived through the FRU testing, which hadn't turned out to be nearly as scary as she'd thought, but she still had to face Mario, and that might not be quite so easy.
"What do you mean?" Della asked.
A light knock sounded on the door of the cabin and saved Kylie from having to explain. "Hayden's here. Gotta go."
As Kylie walked out she heard Della's parting remark. "Perry's right. You've got secrets. You can't hide them from us!"
Yes, she could, Kylie thought.
Soon we'll be together. Her father's words whispered through her head. She bit down on her lip.
If you don't mind, Daddy, I'd like to hang around about a hundred years first.
Hayden and Kylie walked into the office. Burnett met them at the door. Holiday was standing behind her desk looking worried.
"What's wrong?" they asked in unison.
"Nothing, really," Kylie said."We need to talk," Hayden said.
Burnett motioned for them to sit with a concerned look. As soon as Kylie and Hayden sat down, Burnett spoke. "Are the elders having a problem with you two being tested?"
"It's not that," Hayden said. "Supposedly they have contacted all the elders of the other compounds and the consensus is that it is a good thing. Of course there is still a lot of suspicion of the FRU. Something like this doesn't change overnight. There will be a lot of fences to mend. Trust to build." He glanced at Kylie. "I personally think a few of the elders are just ashamed that it took a sixteen-year-old girl to force us to face our fears."
"I didn't go in alone," Kylie said, giving Hayden his credit.
"No, but I wouldn't have gone if you hadn't set it up." Hayden glanced back at Burnett and Holiday.
"But this isn't why we are here."
"Why is it I don't think I'm going to like this?" Burnett sat down on the edge of Holiday's desk.
"Don't start projecting." Holiday touched his leg.
"First, I want to say I take full responsibility for this," Hayden said.
"No," Kylie said. "If you are going to blame someone, blame me."
"I'm still not liking it," Burnett snapped. "But I'd like to find out what it is I'm not liking, so I can do what Holiday says and stop projecting!"
"Remember when I told you that one of the other chameleons helped Derek and me escape?"
"Yes," Burnett said, and Holiday nodded.
"That girl was Hayden's sister."
"And?" Burnett said.
"She ran away."
"And?" Burnett snapped, motioning for Kylie to move faster.
"She ran here," Kylie said.
"Here?" Burnett asked. "She's here now?"
Both Kylie and Hayden nodded.
"How could she be..." He scowled. "The night the alarm went off?"
Both Kylie and Hayden nodded one more time.
Kylie saw one of the crystals in the room flicker. For some crazy reason, she sensed Jenny had walked past.
Kylie met Burnett's eyes. "Please don't get too mad and start yelling. Not for my or Hayden's sake, but for Jenny's. You make her nervous."
"She's been here all along, and now is when you decided to tell me? You let me search this whole damn camp for almost twenty-four hours and you knew the whole time who it was?" He stood up from the desk and started walking back and forth.
Holiday stood up, and as he moved past her, she placed a calming hand on his arm and brought the vampire to a halt.
"We didn't know right away. She was hiding, she..." Kylie didn't see any reason to throw Derek to the wolves. "I didn't find out about her until a day later and Hayden didn't know until I told him."
"Is she still here?" Burnett barked out the question.
"Yes," Kylie said. "And she'd like to stay here. To finish school.""Will her parents sign for her?" Holiday asked.
Hayden's jaw tightened. "I don't know how they are going to feel when they learn she's here. With the news of the FRU, they may allow it. If they don't, I'll be taking legal action to get custody of her."
"Is she here now? In this room?" Holiday asked.
Kylie nodded. "Jenny."
Jenny appeared, standing against the wall farthest away from Burnett. Kylie didn't know if it was just Burnett's warm and fuzzy appearance right now, or if it was because Jenny knew he was part of the FRU that had sheer panic in the girl's gaze.
Burnett must have recognized the look, because immediately his posture softened. He offered her a nod.
"Hello, Jenny," he said. "Welcome to Shadow Falls."
Kylie saw Holiday beam with pride at her soon-to-be husband's transformation. No doubt Holiday was schooling him on softening his approach. And it was working.
Kylie just hoped that this meant Jenny's chances of staying on at Shadow Falls were good.
Holiday and Hayden were going to have a conference call with Kylie's grandfather to talk about the possibility of Jenny staying on. Until then, Jenny was going to hang out with Holiday, with plans to introduce Jenny to everyone at lunch.
Kylie suggested she introduce Jenny to some of her own friends first. Maybe Jenny wouldn't feel as if everyone at Shadow Falls were rude gaping individuals.
Kylie made some phone calls and asked everyone to meet her in the office at 10:45. She didn't tell anyone what it was about, but she had good faith they would all show up.
As Kylie left the office, Della met her outside and they went to wait for Campmate hour. Miranda came running up with Perry. "So what's the meeting all about?"
"You'll find out," Kylie said, not wanting to explain with so many ears around. Since Della already knew about Jenny, or as Della had dubbed her, Girl Wonder, she'd told Della the truth.
"I know," Della said, teasing Miranda.
Kylie frowned at Della.
"Why did you tell her and not me?" Miranda asked.
"I promise you'll understand later."
Miranda frowned. "You aren't leaving again, are you? Because you pinky promised me you wouldn't."
Tears actually appeared in the witch's eyes.
"I'm not leaving," Kylie assured her. Not by her own accord, Kylie thought, and then thought again about the sword and what it all meant.
"You're gonna come clean and tell us that you and Hayden are lovers," Perry said.
Kylie scowled at him.
"Hey, I'm just guessing. I mean there's something going on between you two."
Lucas showed up right then and growled at the shape-shifter for the comment. Then Lucas leaned down and kissed her.
"What happened with your grandma?" she asked in a low whisper.
"Window's open." He kissed her again. "She's going to talk to him about meeting me. He could tell herhell no, but it's a start."
"It's a great start." Kylie let out a squeal and for just a few minutes, she felt certain everything in her crazy life was going to work out.
Then Chris, announcer of the grand event, pulled his hat from behind his back and his gaze started moving around the crowd and stopped on Kylie. She wanted to scream, enough was enough. But then his gaze shifted a little to her right.
Was he looking at her? Or was he looking at ...
"Okay," Chris said. "One of our own vampires brings in a little blood. About time."
Oh, hell, Kylie thought, and got a feeling she knew who'd paid blood for Della. And she wasn't sure this was a good thing.
"Della, our friend, you get the pleasure of spending an hour with Steve, the amazing shape-shifter."
Della's mouth dropped open. She looked around, eyes bright with fury for the culprit.
Steve strutted out of the crowd, and went to confront the pissed-off vamp with a confident gait.
Kylie knew she'd told him to fight for Della, but she hadn't meant for him to do it in front of everyone.
Della, not liking being shown up, was likely to fight back.
"You ready?" Steve asked.
Della scowled. "I'm not going to spend an hour with you."
Steve just stood there. "I paid good blood for you."
"Then you really screwed up."
"Nope." Steve looked back at Chris and then the forty or so other students enjoying the show. "What are the rules, Chris? Hasn't everyone pretty much agreed to honor the blood drive?"
Chris looked shocked that Steve dared to argue with Della. But he shook his head. "Yup, that's pretty much it."
Steve turned back to Della. "You ready?"
Della tilted her chin and glared daggers at the boy.
Perry leaned over and whispered to Kylie, "If she kills him, it's your fault."