The door swished shut behind her. A chill ran up her spine, but not from a spirit; the room was simply that cold. Kylie glanced around, noting the lack of color in the room. Not a speck of color. Everything was white or off white.

"Okay," the nurse said. "Have you ever had an MRI?"

Kylie nodded. "When I was having night terrors."

"Well, this is very much like that. The machine is a little loud and you might feel crowded, but you'll need to remain completely still. It will take about ten minutes to complete the test. You don't have claustrophobia, do you?"

"Not really," Kylie said, but then remembered being caught in the small grave with the three dead girls.

Then again, it was more the dead girls than the small space that freaked her out.

"Good," the nurse said. "Here's some earplugs. Now climb up here and we'll get this done."

Kylie put in the earplugs and swallowed a sudden feeling of anxiety. In the back of her mind, she heard her father's words. But soon. Soon we will discover this together.

Her heart raced to the tune of fear, but she climbed onto the table and laid down, trying to fight the chill, and yet wishing she could feel another cold. That of her father. A little word from him that shewasn't about to die would be good.

The machine pulled her inside. Her nose was less than an inch from the top and the sides of the machine actually touched her forearms. A machine, not a coffin, she told herself. But that's where her mind took her-being in a closed coffin.

The noise started. Even with earplugs, the sound grew so loud she could hardly hear herself think. She closed her eyes. Tried not to listen. Tried not to think. She wasn't sure how long she was in there when she felt a light tickle in her head. That tickle grew until it was a pain. A sharp pain.

She opened her mouth to scream, tried to move but couldn't. Suddenly she felt like a light exploded in her head and all she could see was darkness.

Soon, baby, soon we'll be together.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Someone was holding her hand. In the distance angry voices rumbled. One she recognized. Burnett. Kylie opened her eyes, unsure of where she was. The moment she saw the white ceiling, she remembered the pure white room. The big white machine.

The pain.

She didn't hurt now.

"Thank God." Kylie turned toward Holiday's voice. Ah. Holiday was the hand holder. Worry pinching her brow, she pushed some button on a remote control and called for the nurse. "She's awake."

"What happened?" Kylie asked.

"You passed out." Holiday had tears in her eyes. "Scared the shit out of us! Are you okay?"

"I can feel my fingers and toes," Kylie said.

The door burst open and Burnett, a very angry-looking Burnett, came storming into the room. Right behind him was a man wearing a white coat. And following the doctor was the agent who'd picked her up. Following him was Lucas-a very worried-looking Lucas. And last was Hayden Yates-looking equally concerned.

"I told you she was going to be okay." The doctor looked at Kylie and then Holiday. "Is she talking?"

"Yes," Holiday said.

"Is she moving?" he asked Holiday.

"Yes, and I can hear you, too," Kylie said.

He frowned at Kylie. "Of course you can."

"Wait," Kylie said. "Did they finish the test?"

The doctor nodded. "It was wrapping up when you started experiencing pain."

"Do we know anything yet?" she asked the other agent.

"We need others to read it," he said, "but it appears you have the markings of all the supernaturals, just as Mr. Yates does."

Kylie sat up a little. "Does that qualify as a new species?"

"I'm under the impression that it would, but again, others have to review it."

Kylie bit down on her lip. "How much of this did you already know from the tests in the past?"

The room went silent. Kylie saw Burnett's shoulders tighten.

The agent paused. "The results we had pointed to the same thing, but ninety percent of the evidence was destroyed by the doctors and administrators running the study to hide their wrongdoings. What evidence we did have, we didn't know if it was valid."

"If you even suspected what was done, why haven't you tried to make it right before now?" Hayden asked.

"We tried," the agent said. "Maybe not hard enough, but in our defense, the one thing your species isbest at is hiding. We searched for family members of those few that we maintained files on. They and their families had disappeared. At one point we considered putting out notices asking people to come in, but no matter how we tried to approach it, it sounded like a witch hunt. And considering what had already happened, it just didn't feel like the right thing."

"And how soon will this information be released to the supernatural world?" Kylie asked.

"Probably no later than a few weeks. We'll also be announcing the internal investigation on the FRU and our wrongdoings in the past. Anyone affected by the studies, or their family members, will receive financial compensation if they come forward."

Kylie thought of her grandmother. "Money won't bring back lives."

"No," the agent said. "But it's the human way of showing the organization's wrongdoing. And since we live in a human world, it's the best we can do."

"Why?" Kylie asked.

"Why what?" The agent looked confused.