Awake at Dawn

"How do I make it stop?" Kylie, exhausted from lack of sleep, asked the question as she dropped into a chair across from Holiday's desk at the start of their two o'clock appointment. "I don't want to do this whole dream crap anymore."

Holiday sat back and pursed her lips. "This gift is too special to call crap. And you can't stop it, but you can control it with practice."

"Okay, how do I control this shit then?"

Holiday chuckled. "Haven't you sensed yourself moving in the dream world?"

"You mean, like flying?"

"Yeah, like flying."

"Sure, but sometimes I don't wake up until I'm already in the dream."

"Okay, here's what you do. Before you go to bed..." Holiday rattled off a series of techniques to train herself to wake up from a dream. It wasn't a guarantee Kylie could control it but Holiday thought it was a first step.

They had moved on to the subject of the ghost when Holiday's cell rang. She picked it up from the desk and glanced at the caller's number.

Her eyes lit up. "I ... need to take this call. Can you give me a few minutes?"

Kylie started to get up, but Holiday sprang from her chair first and started toward the door. "Hello, Mr. Eastman."

Holiday shut the door behind her with a firm click and Kylie settled back and closed her eyes.

"Yes, I'm so excited that you're considering my offer." Holiday's words filled Kylie's ear.

Kylie snapped her eyes open. Not again with the sensitive hearing!

"I can't tell you how much Shadow Falls needs someone like yourself on our board."

Kylie put her hands over her ears, not wanting to eavesdrop. "Yes, a hundred thousand should cover it."

Kylie frowned when the voice continued to sneak through her palms. Then she realized what this meant. Holiday had found another investor for Shadow Falls, which meant Burnett would be leaving.

Kylie's chest filled with a strange kind of achiness, a sense that this was all wrong. Not that there was a damn thing she could do about it.

After a few minutes, she heard Holiday tell Mr. Eastman that she'd be in touch soon and send him the papers to sign. She heard Holiday hang up and Kylie quickly started debating whether she should tell Holiday that she'd heard her phone conversation.

Several long minutes passed and Kylie came to the conclusion that she didn't need to tell. When Holiday didn't come back into the office, Kylie went to find her.

Holiday stood in the back room staring out the window at the basketball court. When Kylie joined her, she noticed that Burnett was shooting hoops with a group of boys. Kylie's gaze shot to Derek, but she suspected it wasn't Derek who intrigued Holiday. No doubt the camp leader was having second thoughts. Hopefully even some third ones about turning down Burnett's offer.

Right then, Derek turned. His gaze found the window and she knew he'd sensed her. He didn't smile or wave. He turned back to the game and ignored her. Just like that, Kylie made up her mind. Enough was enough.

She and Derek needed to talk.

The next morning, Kylie woke up refreshed. When the cold at dawn hit, Kylie had slept for about five straight hours. Holiday's tips on how to wake up before the dreams started had worked. She'd woken up twice to the sensation of flying. Once, she'd even seen Lucas, but she'd been able to pull back before he'd noticed her. She felt certain he hadn't even known she'd been there. Or at least she hoped that was the case.

Pulling the covers up to her chin, she looked around. No ghost appeared, but the cold hung on so Kylie knew the ghost hung with it. When Kylie's phone fell off the nightstand-again-she remembered how it had done the same thing the other day.

"Are you doing that?" she asked the spirit. "Wanna tell me something?"

No answer came back. Reaching for her phone, wondering if she'd find someone on the line again, she was relieved when there wasn't.

Then seeing her blinking message light, she remembered she hadn't deleted her old messages.

She'd spoken to the PI and given him the new information she'd discovered about her grandparents. He said he would try to contact the Brightens. Not that it stopped Kylie from also calling them. She'd made a dozen calls to the number yesterday afternoon, but each time she'd only gotten the message machine.

Kylie went to delete the messages and realized she had one from Sara that she hadn't played. Remembering the mixed emotions she'd felt the last time they'd spoken, she put the phone down and gave herself permission to avoid it until later. Besides, she needed to get her speech straight to get Derek to come to his senses. She hoped her plan worked.

Kylie waited out in the dining hall before breakfast, looking for Chris. Don't let him walk up with Derek, she prayed.

When she spotted Chris walking up with Jonathon, she relaxed. When he got closer, she motioned him over. He said something to Jonathon and then started walking her way. Kylie could see curiosity spark in his eyes about why she wanted to speak to him.

It wasn't a secret that Chris, one of the head vampires, thought he was a total stud muffin. And Kylie would admit, with his blond hair and light eyes, he had sort of a California-beach-cute-guy look going for him.

His body wasn't all that bad, either. But if he was thinking Kylie had a thing for him, he was about to be disappointed.

"What's up?" He smiled.

Kylie hadn't given much thought about how to approach this, so she just blurted it out. "I need a favor." Chris was in charge of Campmates Hour, where names were put in a pot and drawn and you would spend an hour getting to know this person better.

"What kind of favor?" His gaze shot to her breasts.

She almost called him on it, but considering she needed him, she let it pass. "I heard that if someone wanted to make sure they drew a certain name, you could arrange it."

"Oh." He looked disappointed, which told her he'd thought she'd called him over for different reasons. He recovered quickly, though.

"Did you also hear there's a price for doing it?"

"A pint, right?"

"Yep."

"Fine. I'll tell Holiday I'm donating." She started to walk away, but he caught her arm.

"You forgot to tell me who it is." He wrinkled his brow. "Let me guess. Lucas?"

Kylie frowned. "Derek."

Derek wasn't around when the names were called, so she went in search of him. He stood in the dining hall talking with Steve and Luis. Derek frowned when he saw her step beside him. That hurt. Forcing a smile, she leaned over and whispered, "Guess what?" She waved the slip of paper with his name in the air.

He said good-bye to the guys and motioned for her to follow. They walked outside past the crowd. She wondered if he just planned to go to their spot at the rock, but he stopped.

His green eyes studied her. "Did you rig this?"

"Rig what?" She feigned innocence.

He caught her arm and turned it over. She knew he looked for a bandage, or a needle mark, but his touch sent tiny pain-like currents running through her. "Did you buy my name with blood?" He dropped her arm. She squared her shoulders. "So? You did it for me. Twice."

So much emotion filled his eyes that her breath caught.

"We have to talk, Derek. This..." She moved a hand between them. "It isn't right."

He raked a hand through his brown hair. "What isn't right is that I care about you while you care about someone else."

"Fine!" Kylie felt herself growing angry and losing hope. "Do I care about Lucas? Yes. But I don't care about him the way I care about you."

He shook his head. "You can't lie to me, Kylie. I can read your emotions and when you're around him you're ... attracted to him."

"Okay, I'll even admit I'm attracted to him. But that doesn't mean anything."

"The hell it doesn't!" He started to walk away.

Kylie grabbed his arm. "You're no different."

"What?" His eyes brightened with anger and hurt.

"I saw you looking at Miranda when we were swimming."

"I didn't-"

"Yes, you did!"

"This is stupid." He started walking away again.

Kylie almost let him go, but she remembered that she was going to have to pay a pint for this. Damn it. She wanted her blood's worth. She caught up with him. "Perry even noticed because he started giving you the evil eye."

He continued walking and so did she.

"Did I get bent out of shape about it? No, I didn't because I know that while you might have thought she was pretty in her bathing suit, it didn't mean you didn't like me."

He stopped and turned to face her. "That is different."

"How is it different? If I could read your emotions, like you can read mine, I would have read lust loud and clear."

"Yeah, but ... but I'm a guy."

Her mouth dropped open. "So only guys can be attracted to someone? Please! What century are you living in?"

His eyes tightened. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant..." He clenched his jaw. "Christ. I don't know, but it's still different."

"It's not, Derek! Don't you see? You're getting all bent out of shape because you're jealous and you have no reason to be."

"It's more than that," he said. "You just said you care about him. This isn't just-"

"Yeah, I care about him. We met a long time ago. And maybe that bonds us somehow. And yes, he's nice looking. But ... I want to be with you."

She thought she was getting through to him, but he looked away. "I can't do it, Kylie. Until you can prove to me that he doesn't mean anything to you, I can't do this." He walked away again.

"Derek?" she called.

He turned around. "What?"

Her chest grew heavy. "You lied to me."

"About what?" Frustration colored his voice.

"You said we'd be friends. This isn't how you treat a friend."

He looked up at the sky before he met her eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I can't be your friend." He walked off.

This time she let him go.

It was hard to get through the day. Kylie wanted to ask Holiday to let her skip the scheduled events, but she'd begged off too much. So she went to art, took a hike, and lost herself in cake decorating.

Every time she started to think about Derek, she'd mentally snap a rubber band around her heart. She was so focused on decorating her cupcakes that half the class was over before she realized Miranda wasn't there.

As soon as it was over, she ditched music class and found Della walking to the lake for kayak lessons. Della had been pretty low-key lately, still recovering from the whole FRU visit and testing. And she dreaded having to go undercover to try to help catch her cousin for murder. Of course, worrying about that meant she wasn't worrying about parents weekend.

Hey, you had to find the silver linings where you could.

"Have you seen Miranda?" Kylie asked.

"No. Is something wrong?"

"She just wasn't in cake decorating. I was going to see if she was at the cabin."

"You want me to come with you?"

"No," Kylie said, remembering that Della had been looking forward to kayaking. "If I can't find her, I'll find you. I'm sure it's nothing."

Unfortunately, right before Kylie reached her cabin, she was certain she'd been wrong in her assessment. Her first clue? The high-pitched scream coming from inside.

Taking off at a dead run, Kylie reached the front door before she realized that the screams weren't Miranda's. Not that this realization slowed her down. Someone was in her cabin and screaming bloody murder.

And Miranda was missing.

Jerking the door open, Kylie ran inside. "Miranda?"

"In here," Miranda called from her bedroom, her words barely heard over the shrieking.

Pushing open the bedroom door, Kylie thought she was prepared to face anything. She couldn't have been more wrong.