Burnett took a step toward her. Holiday grabbed him by the arm to yank him back, but he didn't budge.

"Where is he?" Burnett demanded.

"Kylie, have you seen Lucas Parker?" Holiday countered in a calmer voice.

Kylie swal owed. "He came to check on me about an hour ago. But he left."

Burnett leaned his head to the right as if listening to her heartbeat. "Did he tel you where he was going?"

"No," she said. And she was so glad he hadn't. "Why? Why are you looking for him?"

Burnett just stood there staring.

"He's not a bad guy," Kylie said.

Burnett swung around and walked out. Holiday took one step after him and then glanced back at her.

"He's not a bad guy," Kylie repeated to Holiday.

"I have to go," Holiday said. "I'l come by in a little bit."

Holiday shot out, trying to catch up with Burnett. Kylie stood there in the living room and remembered again the day Lucas had popped his head over the fence and told her to make sure she didn't leave her new kitten outside. Al this time, she'd considered his words to be an admission of guilt. She'd blamed him unjustly, painted him as some evil individual.

And Kylie wasn't doing that again. In her heart, she knew whatever they were accusing Lucas Parker of, he hadn't done it. And if he had, there had been a damn good reason.

Chapter Thirty-four

"Change back or I'l neuter your ass right now!"

Miranda's warning jarred Kylie awake shortly before three that afternoon.

Not that Kylie wanted to wake up now. For al she cared, Miranda and Del a could duke it out this time. Kylie pul ed a pil ow over her face when Miranda's threat repeated itself in her head.

Neuter? Del a didn't have a pair of bal s to remove. So who was Miranda threatening?

Oh, no. Socks, Jr.?

"Fine," Miranda's voice rose again. "You asked for it."

"Stop!" Kylie screamed, and shot out of bed just in time to see Miranda holding the kitten and wiggling her pinky at it.

"You were so wrong," Miranda snapped. "It's not me he likes. He was in bed with you."

"No, no." Kylie pushed her hair back and tried not to laugh. "That's not Perry."

"Then who is it?" she asked.

"It's not anyone. It's a real kitten."

"He fooled you again."

"No. He's not fooling me. That's a real kitten. Lucas gave it to me."

"Lucas?" Miranda's eyes widened. "That's what I came to tel you. He's missing. The FRU have been looking everywhere for him."

"I know," Kylie said.

"How do you know?" Del a asked, popping into the bedroom.

The kitten let out a pathetic meow. Kylie took the scared feline from Miranda. "Holiday and Burnett came here looking for Lucas earlier today."

"Was he here?" Miranda asked.

"No, he'd already left." Kylie hesitated. "What do they think he did?"

"Beats me," Miranda answered.

Kylie hugged the kitten closer.

"Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad," Del a said. "They even brought human cops out to talk to Holiday. He's up to his eyebal s in trouble."

* * *

After Del a and Miranda left, Kylie sat in the living room floor playing with Socks, when Helen knocked on her door.

"Hey," Kylie said, and asked her to come inside.

"I heard you weren't feeling wel ."

"It's nothing," Kylie said, wondering if Helen had come to offer her healing powers. And then she noticed something amiss in the girl's posture, as if the girl wanted to say something but couldn't spit it out. At first Kylie almost worried she'd had second thoughts about Kylie having a brain tumor.

"What's wrong?" Kylie asked.

"It's stupid, real y." Helen said. "But ... I needed some advice."

"From me?" Kylie asked.

Helen nodded. "You see, I kind of like Jonathon, but I don't think he knows I like him. And I've never been good at things with guys. I was hoping maybe you could ... you know, tel me how to do it."

"Me?" Kylie said, and almost laughed. "Seriously, I'm not the person to come to with this."

Helen looked disappointed. "But I've never even had a boyfriend. And I don't know anyone else I could ask."

Kylie stared at Helen and remembered the girl had gone the extra mile to help her. "I've only had one real boyfriend. And because I'm not ... flirty, I just went for honesty."

"Like what kind of honesty?" Helen asked. "Because I don't see myself as flirty either."

Kylie shrugged. "It sounds dorky, but I just asked him if he had a girlfriend. When he said no and asked why, I just said that I was sort of thinking that I liked him. I mean, I know so many girls who do the whole flipping hair, giggly thing, and maybe that works best. Then again, honesty worked for me once. Maybe it wil work with Jonathon."

And maybe Kylie thought, if she could just figure out what she felt, maybe she would give honesty a try again.

* * *

The next few days were something of a blur. And not a good blur, either. Kylie and Holiday weren't getting anywhere with the meditation. Del a and Miranda's bickering was at an al -time high. Trey was cal ing and leaving long messages on Kylie's phone. Kylie couldn't stop thinking about Lucas. Oh, and her dad had cal ed her mom and told her that he hadn't visited Kylie the last week and that Kylie wasn't answering any of his e-mails or phone cal s.