Chosen at Nightfall (A Shadow Falls Novel) (2 page)

“I wasn’t frowning at you. It’s—”

“Kylie has company,” Francyne said. Her aunt wasn’t a full-fledged ghost whisperer. She claimed she couldn’t see them or hear them, but she could pick up on a spirit’s presence easily.

The ghost held the sword up, pointing it at the ceiling as if making some big declaration.
You’re about to have more company.

Kylie didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but she focused on her confused-looking grandfather now and not the spirit.

“Company?” Her grandfather looked at his sister-in-law. “Oh.” He tensed. Then his eyes widened. “Is it my wife, or my son, Daniel?”

“No.” Kylie wished Daniel, her father, who’d died before she was born, would come for a visit. She could use some TLC, and her father was really good at offering it. However, he’d used all his allotted time on earth.

“It’s not them. It’s … someone else,” Kylie answered.

Someone who had yet to explain what she wanted or needed. Well, except to tell Kylie she needed her to kill someone. What did the spirit think Kylie was? A killer for hire?

The spirit leaned down close to her grandfather’s ear.
It’s a shame you can’t see me. You’re kind of cute.
She proceeded to lick the blood from his cheek. Slowly. And she looked at Kylie when she did it.

Kylie dropped her fork. “Stop licking my grandfather, right now!”

The spirit brought her tongue back into her mouth and stared at Kylie.
Stop fighting your fate. Accept what you must do. Let me teach you how you must kill him.

“Kill who?” Kylie blurted out, and then flinched when she realized she’d been speaking aloud.

“Lick? Kill? What?” her grandfather asked.

“Nothing,” Kylie insisted. “I was talking—”

“She was talking to the spirit, I think,” her aunt said, her brows pinched in worry.

“About killing someone?” her grandfather asked, and shot Kylie a direct look.

When Kylie didn’t answer, Malcolm glanced around the room as if nervous. His expression of fear reminded her so much of the other supernaturals at Shadow Falls.

That’s when a thought hit. She’d come here thinking she’d fit in, and yet, even living on a compound of about fifty acres in Texas hill country, with about twenty-five other chameleons, she still didn’t fit in. And it wasn’t just the ghost whispering, but the fact that she was so much further advanced than the four other teens here. And they weren’t overly thrilled to be shown up by the newbie, either.

The elders of the group—which included her grandfather and great-aunt and about four others—guessed that Kylie’s early development was because she was also a protector, a supernatural with amazing strength. While that sounded pretty cool, she would argue with that definition for so many reasons.

Topping those reasons was that she could only use those powers to protect others, and never herself. Which to Kylie didn’t make a lick of sense. If she was in charge of protecting others, wasn’t it important that she kind of stay alive? Who the heck had made that rule?

Kylie sighed, a sigh that felt as sorrowful on the inside as it sounded leaving her lips. Was it simply her destiny to always be a misfit?

Her grandfather leaned forward and set his silver fork and knife beside the expensive piece of china. “Kylie, I hate to intrude with your … spirit matters, but why would a spirit be conversing with you about killing someone?”

Kylie bit down on her lip and tried to find a way to explain without completely freaking them out. Especially when it freaked her out. She opened her mouth to say something, but was saved by a bell. A very loud bell, more like a siren. The lights in the chandelier over the table started flickering.

Her grandfather, his frown deepening, pulled out a cell phone from his perfectly pressed white dress shirt, punched one button, and held it to his ear. “What is it?” He paused. “Who?” he snapped, and cut his eyes to Kylie. “I’ll be right there!”

He turned the phone off and shot up from his chair, and then faced his sister-in-law. “You and Kylie disappear. Hide out in the barn. I’ll be there shortly.”

By disappear, Kylie surmised he meant vanish, another thing a chameleon could do. Vanish. Like into thin air.

“What’s going on?” Kylie asked, remembering the ghost saying she was about to get company.

“We have intruders.” His deep, matter-of-fact tone sounded deeper, more serious.

“Intruders?” Kylie asked.

His eyes tightened. “It’s the FRU! Now vanish.”

Her aunt came around the table and reached for Kylie’s hand. Then the woman vanished, and in a fraction of a second, Kylie looked down and her own legs had disappeared.

Chapter Two

Three minutes later, Kylie was led into the barn by her aunt. Or at least she assumed it was her. Because everyone was invisible.

Breathing in the earthy smell of stored hay, Kylie added another thing she’d learned about her powers. A chameleon had the ability to make other people vanish. Or it would appear that way, because she hadn’t been wishing to vanish and it seemed her aunt’s touch had done all the work.

“Are we all here?” Her aunt’s voice broke into the odd, tense silence. Kylie cut her eyes around the empty barn. Not a soul was here that she could see. Of course, she couldn’t see herself, either.

Listening, she heard the slight sound of feet shuffling.

“Let’s do the count,” her aunt’s voice echoed again. “One,” her aunt said.

“Two,” another voice added.

The count went up to twenty-four, but there had been several pauses, and several numbers missed, before someone moved on to the next number. Kylie recognized most of the voices. Especially the four other teen chameleons, plus Suzie, the six-year-old, and her parents, who were the teachers of the groups. The numbers missing were obviously her grandfather and the other four elders.

“And I have Kylie,” her aunt said. “Kylie, your number is twenty-five. Remember it and whenever we have the need to vanish, you must say it so we will know you are here.”

She nodded, then remembering they couldn’t see her, she said, “Okay.” Her mind raced thinking about everything that was happening, from being number twenty-five to being invisible and especially to what the FRU wanted. Were they here for her? Then her racing thoughts stopped on one subject.

Her grandfather. She was worried about his safety and the possibility of what the FRU could do to him and the other elders. Was he okay? Did she need to find him in case he needed … protecting?

“Maybe we should go find the others,” she said, her blood starting the fizzling sensation she got when she feared someone was in danger.

“No,” her aunt said in a voice that left little doubt that she was the one in charge. “We wait here. That was the plan and we never stray from a plan.”

Kylie heard something in her aunt’s voice. Edginess, concern. Kylie’s blood grew hotter in her veins.

“Have the FRU come here before? Do they know we can vanish?” Kylie asked.

“Only if you told them,” Brandon snapped.

Brandon, the teen who didn’t like her. Oh, he had liked her plenty in the beginning, but when Kylie pretty much told the seventeen-year-old that he was wasting his time coming on to her, he’d obviously been offended. He’d snubbed her ever since. And anytime Kylie accomplished something that the teachers taught, shifting their patterns and such, he seemed personally insulted at her success. This wasn’t a competition. She just wanted to learn all she could and then … then go back to Shadow Falls.

Go back home.
The thought hung up somewhere inside her, a place very close to her heart.

“I never told them,” Kylie said.

“This is no time for bickering,” her aunt stated.

“She brought this on us,” Brandon spit out. “We’ve never had the FRU break in before. And God only knows what they will do to us if they find us.”

“Be quiet,” Aunt Francyne ordered.

But in the silence that followed, Kylie heard what wasn’t being said by the others. They agreed with Brandon. Because of her, the FRU had discovered their compound.

Guilt crowded Kylie’s chest. She had never considered that her coming here could have put anyone in danger. Yet it had, hadn’t it?

Her blood fizzed faster; thoughts of her grandfather being hurt—of it being her fault—made her heart race.

Kylie tried to pull her hand free. “No,” her aunt said. “You let go, you’ll become visible.”

“I need to make sure they’re okay. And … I can become invisible myself.”

“That’s impossible,” Brandon snapped. “You can’t do that until you’re in your twenties. Everyone knows that.”

Kylie rolled her eyes. She was tired of his petty jealousy.

Footsteps sounded. Numbers were called out. She recognized her grandfather’s voice as well as the other elders.

“They’ll search in here,” her grandfather said. “Adults, make sure you hold tight to your child’s hands. Go to the south end of the property.” The sounds of people making their way out echoed through what, even to Kylie, looked like an empty barn.

Kylie felt her aunt’s hold on her wrist, directing her to walk, but then her grandfather spoke again. “Everyone but Francyne and Kylie. You two go down by the edge of the woods in the back.”

Kylie couldn’t help but wonder why she and Aunt Francyne were being singled out.

*   *   *

“Why?” Kylie asked after she heard the last footsteps leave, still finding it so strange to speak when no one could see her.

“When we are in a state of emergency, one never asks questions.” Her aunt’s voice rang in the emptiness of the barn. Then, still holding Kylie’s hand, the woman started moving, and in careful steps, she guided Kylie out of the barn.

She moved with her aunt, but she couldn’t remain silent. “What’s going on? Why should I be taken to a different place than the others?” Kylie asked as she moved through the barn door. The afternoon light had her pupils adjusting.

“Obviously, it is you they search for,” her grandfather answered, his voice sounding close, but his form still invisible.

“But I’m a protector,” Kylie insisted. “If someone needs help, I should stay close.”

“I can feel you, damn it! Where are you?” a voice, a familiar voice that wasn’t her aunt’s or grandfather’s, called out behind Kylie.

Her breath caught and she looked over her shoulder. About fifty feet away, standing in the tall grass, was someone she cared about.

“Derek,” she called out. Then she remembered that no one, other than another unseen chameleon, could hear her when she was invisible.

“We should go.” Her aunt gave Kylie’s hand a tug, but she didn’t budge. Stiffening, Kylie soaked up Derek’s image, hungry for anything that was linked to her life at Shadow Falls.

His light brown hair resting on his brow stirred in the wind, giving him a carefree look, but his green eyes, with flecks of gold, held concern. What was he doing here?

“Where are you, Kylie?” he asked, and the breeze whisked his words away.

She remembered what her grandfather had said about who was here. This wasn’t the FRU.

“Go to the creek!” her grandfather demanded. “You should not have told them where you were.”

His accusation and his tone put Kylie on the defensive. While she couldn’t see her grandfather, she could imagine his expression—stern and uncompromising.

She turned to where she heard his voice. “I didn’t tell them, and no, I will not leave. You lied. It’s not the FRU.” The feeling of betrayal hit.

“When I told you it was the FRU, I was repeating what I was told by those guarding the gate. But even still, it is not a lie. They both work for the FRU.”

They? Who else was here?
She heard footsteps coming from the house. Her first thought was it could be Lucas. Her heart gripped at the possibility of seeing him. The pain of his disloyalty weighed heavy on her heart and still tasted bitter. Yet as those footsteps grew closer, she could not turn away any more than she could stop breathing.

Looking back she saw Burnett James, one of the camp leaders. Not Lucas. Disappointment swelled in her chest, but she refused to believe it was due to Lucas not being there. She didn’t want him to come. Didn’t want to see him, not now and maybe not ever. Even as the thought whisked through her mind, she felt her heart race with the lie.

But she knew that at least some of the disappointment she felt was about Burnett. She hadn’t said good-bye because she knew he would have tried to stop her from leaving. Now she wanted to go to him and embrace him. Apologize for neglecting the courtesy of a simple good-bye.

“Kylie.” Her aunt spoke again, and gave her hand a slight tug. “Your grandfather knows what is best. Listen to him. We must go.”

Kylie inhaled and tried to not let her emotions control her. But it seemed almost too late. Her head spun as too many feelings swirled inside her. Loneliness, regret, and anger at being lied to. “He knows what is best for him, but maybe not so much for me.”

“You must trust him,” her aunt said, her grip on Kylie’s wrist tightening. “Come, please. We only want to protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting from Burnett or Derek.” She spoke calmly. “And it appears my grandfather needs to trust me, as well. I didn’t tell anyone where I was. I gave you my word and I didn’t break it.” She heard the hurt resonate in her voice.

“That’s not important,” her grandfather said, but Kylie disagreed. Before she could voice her feeling, he continued, “What is important is that they will try to force you to go back. If we leave now, we will avoid a confrontation.”

“She’s around here somewhere,” Derek called back to Burnett. “I can feel her. Seriously, she’s here somewhere.”

Kylie focused where she thought her grandfather stood. “No one will force me to do anything that I do not want to do. Not them … or you,” she added. “My plan all along was to go back to Shadow Falls. I told you that from the beginning.”

“A plan that I also told
you
I do not agree with.” Her grandfather’s voice rose slightly.

Kylie, lured by the sound of footsteps, looked over her shoulder again. She watched as Burnett drew closer. Proud, strong, a bit too headstrong. In so many ways, he reminded her of her grandfather. Inhaling, she glanced back to where she’d heard her grandfather’s voice earlier. “I came here of my own free will and when I choose to leave, I will.”