Which to Kylie didn't make a lick of sense. If she was in charge of protecting others, wasn't it important that she kind of stay alive? Who the heck had made that rule?

Kylie sighed, a sigh that felt as sorrowful on the inside as it sounded leaving her lips. Was it simply her destiny to always be a misfit?

Her grandfather leaned forward and set his silver fork and knife beside the expensive piece of china.

"Kylie, I hate to intrude with your ... spirit matters, but why would a spirit be conversing with you about killing someone?"

Kylie bit down on her lip and tried to find a way to explain without completely freaking them out.

Especially when it freaked her out. She opened her mouth to say something, but was saved by a bell. A very loud bell, more like a siren. The lights in the chandelier over the table started flickering.

Her grandfather, his frown deepening, pulled out a cell phone from his perfectly pressed white dress shirt, punched one button, and held it to his ear. "What is it?" He paused. "Who?" he snapped, and cut his eyes to Kylie. "I'll be right there!"

He turned the phone off and shot up from his chair, and then faced his sister-in-law. "You and Kylie disappear. Hide out in the barn. I'll be there shortly."

By disappear, Kylie surmised he meant vanish, another thing a chameleon could do. Vanish. Like into thin air.

"What's going on?" Kylie asked, remembering the ghost saying she was about to get company.

"We have intruders." His deep, matter-of-fact tone sounded deeper, more serious."Intruders?" Kylie asked.

His eyes tightened. "It's the FRU! Now vanish."

Her aunt came around the table and reached for Kylie's hand. Then the woman vanished, and in a fraction of a second, Kylie looked down and her own legs had disappeared.

Chapter Two

Three minutes later, Kylie was led into the barn by her aunt. Or at least she assumed it was her. Because everyone was invisible.

Breathing in the earthy smell of stored hay, Kylie added another thing she'd learned about her powers.

A chameleon had the ability to make other people vanish. Or it would appear that way, because she hadn't been wishing to vanish and it seemed her aunt's touch had done all the work.

"Are we all here?" Her aunt's voice broke into the odd, tense silence. Kylie cut her eyes around the empty barn. Not a soul was here that she could see. Of course, she couldn't see herself, either.

Listening, she heard the slight sound of feet shuffling.

"Let's do the count," her aunt's voice echoed again. "One," her aunt said.

"Two," another voice added.

The count went up to twenty-four, but there had been several pauses, and several numbers missed, before someone moved on to the next number. Kylie recognized most of the voices. Especially the four other teen chameleons, plus Suzie, the six-year-old, and her parents, who were the teachers of the groups.

The numbers missing were obviously her grandfather and the other four elders.

"And I have Kylie," her aunt said. "Kylie, your number is twenty-five. Remember it and whenever we have the need to vanish, you must say it so we will know you are here."

She nodded, then remembering they couldn't see her, she said, "Okay." Her mind raced thinking about everything that was happening, from being number twenty-five to being invisible and especially to what the FRU wanted. Were they here for her? Then her racing thoughts stopped on one subject.

Her grandfather. She was worried about his safety and the possibility of what the FRU could do to him and the other elders. Was he okay? Did she need to find him in case he needed ... protecting?

"Maybe we should go find the others," she said, her blood starting the fizzling sensation she got when she feared someone was in danger.

"No," her aunt said in a voice that left little doubt that she was the one in charge. "We wait here. That was the plan and we never stray from a plan."

Kylie heard something in her aunt's voice. Edginess, concern. Kylie's blood grew hotter in her veins.

"Have the FRU come here before? Do they know we can vanish?" Kylie asked.

"Only if you told them," Brandon snapped.

Brandon, the teen who didn't like her. Oh, he had liked her plenty in the beginning, but when Kylie pretty much told the seventeen-year-old that he was wasting his time coming on to her, he'd obviously been offended. He'd snubbed her ever since. And anytime Kylie accomplished something that the teachers taught, shifting their patterns and such, he seemed personally insulted at her success. This wasn't a competition. She just wanted to learn all she could and then ... then go back to Shadow Falls.

Go back home. The thought hung up somewhere inside her, a place very close to her heart."I never told them," Kylie said.

"This is no time for bickering," her aunt stated.

"She brought this on us," Brandon spit out. "We've never had the FRU break in before. And God only knows what they will do to us if they find us."

"Be quiet," Aunt Francyne ordered.

But in the silence that followed, Kylie heard what wasn't being said by the others. They agreed with Brandon. Because of her, the FRU had discovered their compound.

Guilt crowded Kylie's chest. She had never considered that her coming here could have put anyone in danger. Yet it had, hadn't it?

Her blood fizzed faster; thoughts of her grandfather being hurt-of it being her fault-made her heart race.