Not that she should stake her life on the wisdom of the birds and insects.

The feeling hit stronger ... someone was here. What should she do? Logic said for her to keep going; turning back would only put her farther away from the help of the others if trouble struck. Her mind went to the girls who'd been killed in town and amazingly, she found herself running even faster.

The clearing in the woods appeared in less than a minute. The bright sun hit her eyes and she could hear the other campers laughing and splashing in the water. When nothing attacked her, when no evil presence appeared wearing a bloody shirt and tried to yank her back into the woods, she wondered if this feeling of being watched wasn't all in her head. Could she be that paranoid?

She stopped in the clearing beside a tree and tried to catch her breath, feeling completely winded from her run. She almost had her breathing back to normal when she saw Derek coming toward her. He wore only a pair of swim trunks. His chest was bare and wet like the other night in the shower. The trunks were regular boy trunks, a little loose on him, even hung a little low on the waist, but they were wet so they molded against his form. Since she knew what he looked like without them, she found herself feeling breathless again.

"Hey," he said, and when his gaze fell to her mouth, she could tell he wanted to kiss her. He looked around and saw that they had an audience.

So instead of kissing, he reached out and took her hand. "Come on, the water feels great."

It did feel great. And for the next hour, Kylie played water volleyball, splashed around, studied everyone's brain pattern, and completely forgot about the problems pressing on her shoulders. The only downside was watching Perry watch Miranda. She looked really good in her bathing suit and Kylie wasn't the only one who noticed, either. The guys were all stealing glances, even Derek, and then Perry would cut them glances, and not the friendly kind of glances either. His eyes would turn jet black, reminding Kylie of some kind of serpent.

Nevertheless, between the water and the laughter, Kylie hadn't had so much fun in ... well, forever.

Then all the fun came to a jarring halt when she spotted Holiday running out of the woods in a panic and heading straight for the lake. Her expression grew tighter with each hurried step. What was wrong? Holiday's gaze found Kylie's and suddenly she knew that whatever was wrong involved her.

Kylie started moving out of the water, but her toes sank into the mud at the lake's bottom the closer she got to shore. All the stresses in her life lined up like dominos in her mind, and she wondered which one this new problem involved.

Selynn appeared behind Holiday and her gaze shot to Kylie, as well. This wasn't going to be good.

Kylie met Holiday at the edge of the water and purposely ignored Selynn. "What's wrong?"

"We have a problem." Holiday's gaze shot back to the water and she waved someone else in. Kylie turned and saw Derek swimming in to join them.

"What is it?" Kylie asked again, still ignoring Selynn, who had moved in.

"You're coming with us," the werewolf spouted out. Her hand clamped down on Kylie's wrist. "Now."

Chapter Twenty-three

Kylie frowned and shook Selynn loose.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." Kylie's gaze went back to Holiday who watched Derek step up onshore. "Will somebody please tell me what is wrong?"

Holiday glanced back. The line of stress furrowing the camp leader's brow told Kylie this was serious. "It's your mom."

"My mom?" Kylie took a deep breath. Bits and pieces of her mom's conversation filled Kylie's mind. Then the ghost's warning echoed like a bad song in her head. "You have to stop it. You have to stop it or someone you love will die."

Oh, God, no.

"What's wrong with my mom?" The words barely spilled from her lips. She remembered her mom was flying home sometime today. Kylie's heart clutched as she envisioned a plane crash. Oh God, was her mom...?

"She must have come to see you." Holiday said. "Late. For some reason, the new security alarm on the gate didn't work. And she got in without anyone knowing."

"She's here?" More than Kylie wanted air, she wanted to know her mom was alive and well. That her plane hadn't crashed. That some freak hadn't kidnapped her and was torturing her the way the dreams seemed to imply.

"Yes. She's here," Selynn said in her haughty tone. "Against school policy. Visiting hours were over hours ago."

Kylie's gaze went to Selynn. What was the she-wolf saying? Was her mom okay or not? Kylie looked back at Holiday.

"What happened?" Kylie repeated her question. "Is she okay?"

"She's ... upset." Holiday's frown deepened. "She was trying to find your cabin and got turned around. She ... she saw some things she shouldn't have."

"What?" Kylie remembered how stunned she'd been when she first saw Perry change into a unicorn. "What did she see?"

"She needs to be erased," Selynn snapped. "And quickly."

Erased? "What ... is that supposed to mean?"

The she-wolf grabbed Kylie by the arm and started pulling her toward the woods. Kylie put on the brakes.

"What does erase mean?" she asked again, not anywhere close to understanding, but miles from liking how it all sounded. She yanked her arm away from Selynn and then took a step closer, so close Kylie could count the woman's eyelashes.