Her mom's eyes got big as quarters.
"Are you ... okay?"
Okay was such a vague term, Kylie realized. It didn't come close to expressing what Kylie felt. But at the same time, words failed her.
She'd seen her mom nearly choked to death. Kylie had been forced to fight for their life with a glowing sword. She had watched her abductor kill his father. She'd been stabbed with a sword. Then she'd had to kill a man."Yeah," Kylie nodded. "I'm okay." She inhaled and tried to remember how she planned to tell her mom the truth.
"Of course you're okay," her mom blurted out. "It's just a dream."
Kylie gave her mom's hand another squeeze. Daniel had said he was going to try to go into her mom's dreams and help make all this easier. Had he been successful?
"Mom, do you remember telling me that you thought there was something magical about Daniel?"
Her mom nodded. "Yes, but-"
"Well, you were right. He was magical. And that made me magical."
Her mom gripped the bed sheets as something occurred to her. "I dreamed about him, too. Oh, goodness. This isn't making sense." She dropped back and covered her eyes with her hands.
"It will, but you're going to have to listen to me, Mom." Or maybe it wouldn't make sense. Hadn't it taken Kylie weeks to accept all this?
She paused. The expression to make sense was another vague term.
"Do you remember the stalker I thought I had? You know, when you sent me to see that shrink."
Her mom nodded, but weakly, almost as if she was about to pass out again. Then Kylie realized why that might be.
"Breathe, Mom."
Her mom took a big, deep swallow of air and Kylie continued. "Remember I told you he was dressed in army clothes?"
Her mom nodded again. "I realize now that probably freaked you out because ... well, my dad died in the army? Isn't that part of what upset you?"
"He said you would tell me all this. What's happening, Kylie?"
"Just what Dad told you," Kylie said calmly. "I know it sounds crazy and I know what you've ... what we've been through here is hard, but you have to try to believe."
Her mom's eyes, focused over Kylie's shoulder, suddenly went large. The cold hit at that exact moment when her mom gasped and Kylie knew Daniel had appeared. And if her mom's expression was any indication, she could see him, too.
"Breathe, Mom." Kylie got tears in her eyes at the look of loss that passed on her mother's face as she gazed at the man she loved so much so long ago.
"The dream I had ... you..." Her mom's voice wavered.
I told you that you would see me. Daniel moved closer to the edge of the bed. Now, I want you to listen to our daughter. She's going to explain things to you better than I did. I have to go now, but remember what I said. You will find love again. Don't fight it.
Daniel leaned down and kissed her mom softly on her lips. You were the love of my life, he said.
Tears filled her mom's eyes again as Daniel pulled away. He glanced at Kylie and then placed a soft kiss on her cheek.
Daniel looked back at her mom and motioned to Kylie. We did good, didn't we?
Her mom nodded.
Her dad glanced back at Kylie. I'll always be here when you need me. He faded and Kylie wiped her own tears from her cheeks.
Her mom looked at Kylie. "I had a dream, he told me that he'd been watching over us the whole time."Kylie nodded. "He has been, Mom. I only started seeing him recently, but he knew things about my life."
Kylie crawled in bed with her mom and hugged her and they cried. Cried for someone who had died years ago, but who they would forever miss. After a few good tears had passed, Kylie told her mom about Shadow Falls being for magical teens, and about Mario and Roberto, and how John was actually Mario's son. In a gentle tone, she told her mom that they were magical, but Mario and John were actually the bad kind of magic.
Her mom gasped. "I just remembered. John killed someone, some man? Where are the cops?"
"That was Mario. And, well, Burnett took care of that."
Her mom gripped Kylie's hand. "Burnett from ... your school?"
Kylie nodded and noticed her mom had stopped breathing again. "Breathe, Mom."
She gasped and then asked, "Is he, this Burnett, magical, too?"
"Yeah." Kylie decided to wait and explain the whole different species thing to her mom later.
Vampires, werewolves, and such might freak her out. It certainly had Kylie, at least until she became best friends with one and fell in love with another.
Her mom closed her eyes as if trying to forget something, or maybe trying to remember. "Then there was a wolf and then you killed ... John. Oh, God, baby, you had to kill him. What are the police going to say?" She sat up some. "We'll tell them I did it. Do you hear me, I did it, not you."
Kylie's heart clutched at her mom's willingness to confess to murder for her. How, Kylie wondered, had she ever doubted her mom's love? "There's not going to be any police. Burnett works for an organization like the FBI. He's taking care of it for us. That means we can't ever talk about this to anyone."
Her mom nodded and then she leaned in. "But, Kylie, how is Burnett going to explain the bodies?
People will know I was dating John."
"Burnett is taking care of that, too."
She sank back into the pillows. "It's going to take a long time to believe this."
"I know," Kylie said. "It did me, too."
* * *
The following Monday morning, Labor Day, Kylie went down early and started breakfast for her and her mom. Kylie had stayed with her, and she had to remind her to breathe a lot. They slept in the same bed at night. Talked sometimes until after midnight.
Her mom asked a lot of questions. Some required difficult answers. Yup, she went into the whole species issue. Vampire and werewolf being the most difficult because of instinctual fear due to all the folklore surrounding them. Kylie told her mom she was a chameleon, and decided to wait until later to explain that meant she actually had a little of all of the species in her.
Over the weekend, Kylie had also spoken to Della and Miranda. Della was furious Kylie had disappeared on her watch again.
"It's beginning to look bad on my record," Della said.
Kylie promised to talk to Burnett and take all the blame.
Miranda reminded Kylie of her pinky promise to never leave, and Kylie assured her that she wascoming back. And today was the day. It also just so happened to be Burnett and Holiday's wedding.
She and her mom were going early to help set things up.