Born at Midnight (Page 8)

"My name is Holiday Brandon and this is Sky Peacemaker."

Right then the cabin door opened and a couple of men walked in. They looked like lawyers, or some other serious type of profession that demanded they wear matching black suits.

Kylie watched the two women up front shift their gazes to the visitors and frown. She got the feeling the two men weren’t expected. That they were even unwelcome.

Sky, the goth leader, walked over and led the men outside and Holiday continued. "Okay," the singsong voice said. "First we’re breaking down into newbies and returnees. Everyone who has been here before wil move outside. You’l find some helpers out there with your schedules and cabin assignments. As always, the rules of this place are posted in your cabins. We expect you to read them. And let me make something clear right now, we’re not going to rearrange cabin assignments. You are here to get along, and get along you wil . If a serious problem arises, bring it to the attention of either myself or Sky and we’l discuss it, but not until after twenty-four hours. Any questions?"

Someone in the front raised a hand. "Yeah," the female voice echoed in the room. "I have a question."

Kylie leaned to the right to see the girl. The girl, another goth-dressed individual, turned around. "It doesn’t have anything to do with the rules, but … I want to know, who the hel is she?"

The girl pointed-pointed right at the table where Kylie stood. Or was she pointing right at Kylie? No, she couldn’t be. Oh, damn. She was. She was pointing at Kylie. "Crap," she muttered when about sixty pair of eyes al turned and focused directly on her.

Chapter Six

"Relax," Derek said in a voice so low she was certain no one else heard it. And she could barely hear him thanks to the thumping of her own heart.

"Introductions wil happen over lunch," a female voice said. Kylie thought it was Holiday again, but she couldn’t be sure. They al continued to stare. Stare at her. Her mind raced and her heart pounded. Gushing sounds echoed in her ears. Tearing her gaze away, she eyed the door and fought the urge to run. Run fast and run hard. But face it, she’d never been a good runner, and too many freaks stood between her and the door. Then, oddly, she remembered something she’d learned about wild animals. If you run, they think you’re dinner and wil chase you.

Oh, double crap. Okay, deep breath. Then another one. Her lungs expanded. These weren’t wild animals, just weird-ass teenagers. Right then, Kylie’s phone beeped with another incoming text. Probably Sara. Kylie ignored it. And for the first time, Kylie decided she possibly could have been wrong about Sara’s situation being more difficult than her own. She wasn’t a hundred percent certain of that, but something deep in her gut said this wasn’t just about her going to Mark Jameson’s party.

But what else could it be about?

And why? Why of al the freaks in the room had she been singled out? Was it because she didn’t twitch her eyebrows? Oh, she could twitch her brows as good as the next person. And darn if she wouldn’t be practicing that as soon as she got alone. Problem was, she just didn’t understand the whole twitching thing. Was it the Shadow Fal s Camp version of a secret handshake?

"Come on. Let’s get things moving," the singsong voice said again. "Returnees, outside. Newbies, hang right here."

Kylie experienced the tiniest bit of relief when the crowd stopped staring and started shuffling around, reaching for purses and backpacks. Or at least most of them stopped staring. Kylie looked over to the right and saw the black-haired boy with bright blue eyes standing there, his gaze locked on her. Lucas Parker. She recal ed his name, even though it had been a long time since she’d seen him. I’m glad they left, she recal ed her dad saying. Take my word on it, that kid is going to grow up to be a serial killer. Kylie felt a fist wrap around her heart and squeeze. Was she real y at a camp with a possible serial kil er?

Could it real y be him? Of course, she could be wrong. It had been, gosh, over ten years. Chil s tiptoed up her spine, and then he turned and moved into the flow of other returnees out the door.

Kylie saw Miranda take a few steps. She stopped in front of Kylie and said, "Good luck." Kylie couldn’t tel if the girl was being a smartass or serious, so she just nodded.

The blond boy stepped behind Miranda and grinned at Kylie. "Wouldn’t want to be you," he said as if joking, then he fol owed Miranda out. Knees locked so she wouldn’t crumble, Kylie came to her senses long enough to realize that at least half the crowd had gone. And of her bus buddies, the only ones remaining were Pale Girl, Goth Girl, Derek, and the guy with al the piercings.

"Okay," Holiday said. "Now, what I want is for al of you who know why you’re here, to move to the far left. Al of you who don’t, move to the far right."

Kylie remembered her feeling that this was about more than her trip to the police station and started to move to the right, but she noticed everyone shifting to the left. Not wanting to be singled out any more than she already had been, she went to stand beside Derek. He shot her a look of disbelief. Deciding to practice the whole eyebrow thing, she crinkled her forehead. When she looked over, only four people stood on the right side of the room. One of them was the pierced boy from her bus. Holiday looked at both groups and Sky walked in and stood beside the redheaded leader. "Okay, righties, come with me. Sky is going to talk to everyone else." Holiday started out, then stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. Her gaze slapped right into Kylie. "Come with us, Kylie."

Shocked the women knew her name, she shook her head. "I know why I’m here," she lied.

"Real y?" asked Holiday.

Deciding to take a stab at it, she said, "I got caught at a party where drugs were found."

A few snickers fil ed Kylie’s ears.

Holiday frowned at the snickerers and motioned Kylie forward.

"Is it because my parents are getting a divorce?" she asked, feeling desperate.

Holiday didn’t say anything, but then she didn’t have to. The look she shot Kylie reminded her of her mom’s don’t-go-there stare. And the one time Kylie had gone there, she’d been grounded for a month. So Kylie fol owed Holiday and the four others out of the dining hal . When they walked past the crowd standing outside, Kylie felt al the eyes turn toward her. Miranda nodded and mouthed the words "good luck."

For some reason, Kylie suspected the girl’s intentions were genuine.

Then Kylie spotted Lucas Parker standing beside the goth girl who’d raised her hand and asked about Kylie in the big meeting. They had their heads together, whispering, and they both stared at Kylie as if she didn’t belong there. And damn if Kylie didn’t agree with them. That’s when Kylie realized that Lucas was dressed goth, too. Or at least he wore a black T-shirt. Of course, he looked real y good in that shirt. It fit his upper torso-