Whispers at Moonrise

“tell the truth or die” stare. Kylie wondered if her mom hadn’t taught it to Holiday, because it sure did look familiar.
    “Now, explain to me what’s really going on,” Holiday snapped. “I can sense there’s more.”
    Kylie bit down on her lip. Burnett took a step forward. He squared his shoulders, empathy filling his eyes. He took a deep, apparently heartfelt breath and looked at Kylie. She nodded at him as if giving him the lead. He looked back at Holiday and, in a deep voice, said, “Kylie has something to tell you.”
    Kylie’s mouth fell open and right then she knew it was official: Men sucked at verbal communication, especially where anything emotional was concerned.
    Holiday’s gaze shot back to Kylie, and her chest swelled with grief. Grief she knew Holiday was going to feel. An emotion Kylie had personally visited and revisited too often lately. Losing Nana, losing her stepfather—even if it wasn’t in death, it still felt that way—losing her real father, Daniel, because his visits had been cut off. Then there was Ellie. Kylie had even found herself grieving over Red, aka Roberto.
    Inhaling, Kylie motioned for Holiday to sit down. The camp leader studied Kylie’s face and probably read every one of her emotions. Stepping to her desk, she sank in the chair. The cushions sighed from her weight. It seemed to be the only noise in the room.
    “What is it?” Holiday asked again.
    Emotion lumped in Kylie’s throat. “I didn’t tell you because you told me that … you wouldn’t want to know. The whole live for today and tomorrow speech. Because at first I thought it was you.”
    Holiday leaned forward, gripping the side of her desk. “I don’t understand.”
    “The face of the spirit that I told you I recognized. I thought it was you. But it wasn’t … you.”
    Holiday’s green eyes filled with tears and Kylie knew that Holiday had already put the pieces together. Burnett, much to his credit, moved behind her and tenderly pressed a hand on her shoulder.
    “She’s dead?” Holiday’s next breath shuddered as she pulled it into her lungs. Tears slipped from her lashes and leaked onto her cheeks. “Why … didn’t she come to me?”
    Kylie wiped her own wet cheeks. “I think because she was ashamed of what happened.”
    “She told you about … that?”
    “Yeah.” Kylie’s voice barely came out as a whisper. Burnett looked at her as if wondering what all she hadn’t told him.
    Grief filled the room. “What happened?” Holiday finally asked. “Was she mountain climbing? I told her it was dangerous to go alone.”
    Kylie shook her head. “It wasn’t an accident.”
    Anger tightened Holiday’s expression. “She was killed? By whom?”
    “We don’t know for sure.” Burnett sat down on the edge of Holiday’s desk. The way he looked at the camp leader warmed Kylie’s heart. He cared. She just hoped this whole Blake issue didn’t push them farther apart.
    “But Blake is the prime suspect,” Burnett said.
    “Blake?” Holiday breathed in. “No, I don’t believe…” She stopped as if having second thoughts. She swiped at her face again to clear the tears, and then she looked at Kylie. “Okay, tell me everything you know. And don’t leave anything out.”
    *   *   *
    That afternoon, at her cabin, Kylie sat at her kitchen table.
    Lunch had been so much fun that day—not—that Kylie had decided to skip dinner. There hadn’t been one person who hadn’t stared, mouth agape, at her or made some wisecrack about Kylie’s new vampire pattern.
    Okay, that was a lie. Her close friends hadn’t stared—or at least they tried not to. Jonathon and Helen had been taken off guard and before they could stop themselves, they’d done their share of ogling. Of course, then Jonathon had come over and welcomed her to vampire society and suggested she join them at their table.
    She had declined. She could tell from a few of the vamps’ expressions that she wouldn’t be welcomed by all.
    When Perry walked into the dining room, he’d checked her out, and then sent her a thumbs-up. Obviously, he’d decided not to be mad at her about the whole net thing. Then Kylie noticed all three of the new teachers eyeballing her. For some reason, she just assumed they’d have better manners, but nope, they found her just as entertaining as the others.
    However, there had been one thing that made the whole meal ordeal worthwhile. When a smirking Fredericka pointed her out to