* * *

It took Kylie twenty minutes to find Helen. During that time, she'd texted Sara a bunch of smiley faces, but had foregone cal ing her. Now that Sara's trauma was over, Kylie felt justified in concentrating on her own. And the first order of business was to get her brain scanned by a certain half fairy. Moving across the dining hal , she studied Helen who was sitting at the table, her nose in a book. The girl came across as the quiet but real y smart type-the kind who never had to study in school, but wasn't real y proud of it.

"Hi," Kylie said when Helen didn't notice her.

Startled, Helen jerked her attention up. A strand of sandy blond hair fel across her face and she brushed it back. "Hi."

Kylie opened her mouth to speak, only to realize she didn't have a clue how to ask if she would check her for a brain tumor. The silence hung heavy and Kylie forced herself to start taking. "I ... I just..."

Noise from the other side of the room erupted and Kylie looked at the other campers. "I'm Kylie Galen. You and I were in the group-"

"I remember," she said in a mel ow voice. Kylie didn't know Helen, but she instantly identified with her. She was another cliqueless wonder. A loner. Kylie couldn't help but hope that the girl had someone like Sara who made her life easier.

"Can we talk?" Kylie asked. "Somewhere else?"

Helen glanced over at the other campers, and then picked up her book and backpack.

When they stepped out of the dining hal , Kylie noticed several groups of hungry teens congregating near the building. She headed away from them, and tried again to find the words to ask Helen. "I was wondering if ... I sort of-"

"Derek told me," Helen said.

"He did?" Kylie's chest pinched at the thought of Derek trying to help. Behind that pinch came guilt at stil not being able to trust him. Was she wrong to be unsure of her feelings for someone who could control them as easily as he could breathe?

"There's a quiet spot behind the office," Helen said.

"Not there." While Kylie didn't think Lucas would already be hooking up again, she didn't want to chance it. She saw the path back to her cabin was mostly unpopulated, so Kylie headed that way.

They passed a group of kids, laughing at something one of them said. In the midst of the group, she spotted Lucas's girlfriend, and before Kylie could look away, the girl met her gaze and snarled. Why did the she-wolf hate her so much?

Trying not to focus on Lucas or his girlfriend, Kylie glanced at Helen. "Do you think you can help me?"

Helen shrugged and everything from her expression to her posture appeared uncertain. "I've only done it with my sister. I'l try, but..."

"But what?" Kylie asked as they continued down the path.

"Aren't you scared?" Helen asked.

Kylie stopped walking. "Should I be?"

Helen did another one of her insecure shrugs. "Maybe. I don't know. Al I know is that I'm scared."

Oh, just great. Kylie swal owed the nervous tickle down her throat. "Is it going to hurt or something?" When Helen didn't immediately answer, Kylie asked, "Did it hurt your sister?"

"No," Helen admitted.

A sigh left Kylie's throat. Second thoughts started building, but then she remembered how badly she wanted to get to the bottom of everything. "I need to know."

Helen motioned Kylie to move behind a row of large oak trees. The girl tossed down her backpack and then looked at Kylie.

"How do we do it?" Kylie asked, her stomach knotting.

"Honestly, I don't know. With my sister I just ... We were fighting. She had stolen my diary. And then al of the sudden..." She let out a breath.

"So we have to start fighting?" Kylie asked, unsure what Helen was getting at.

"No." She shook her head. "It was almost like ... You know how we can peek into everyone's mind?"

"No, I don't know," Kylie answered, frustration tightening her tone as her headache returned with a new vengeance. Surprise registered on Helen's face. "You real y can't see people's brain patterns? But I thought we al could do that."

"I can't," Kylie answered. "Which is why I don't think I'm one of you guys." She clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking. Her heart lurched at the thought that she honestly might have a tumor. Then her mind went back to the idea of reading brains. "Have you always been able to do it? Always?"

"Sort of. I mean ... I could do it, but I didn't know what I was doing. I just thought it was like closing your eyes real tight and seeing the different splotches of red. But now that I know what it is, it's so much clearer."

Their gazes met and Helen twitched her eyebrows.

"What do you see?" Kylie asked, her heart racing.

"Just your pattern." Helen continued to stare, unfocused like when Kylie looked at one of those posters where if she stared at it long enough, she might see a hidden image. "You aren't like ... normal people. They have these even waves. Yours is ... up and down and then you have some weird kind of scribbles. But you aren't letting me read you."

"I don't know how to let you read me." Kylie bit down on her lip and tried to stare at Helen, unfocused to see if she could see anything. Nothing happened, but her eyes crossed.

Blinking, Kylie asked, "Do I have to let you read me before you can see if I have a tumor?"