Second fiddle sucked.

Another mosquito bit the dust when she swiped it off her cheek.

"You might want to slow down," Burnett said, moving up beside her with his long-legged strides.

Kylie glanced at him. He studied her briefly, then shifted his gaze back to the terrain as if expecting something to jump out at them. He'd been acting antsy since they walked into the woods, not that Kylie paid too much attention; her heart had been too busy fiddling with her second fiddle matters to care if Burnett had drunk too much caffeine.

"Seriously, slow down," Burnett said.

"Why?" Kylie asked.

He briefly glanced over his shoulder again. "As wonderful as faes are, they're slow."

Kylie sighed. She hadn't realized that she was moving at a fast sprint. A non-human sprint. A non-witch sprint, too. Which meant she wasn't really a witch, right? Glancing back, she saw Holiday power walking to keep up.

"Sorry." Kylie slowed down and noticed how Burnett kept looking around as if he expected something to jump out at them. Had something happened? And if so, did it have anything to do with her?

Holiday's footfalls sounded beside Kylie. She glanced from the nervous vampire to Holiday.

"Thanks for slowing down," Holiday said, sounding a bit breathless. In less than a minute, Burnett lagged behind them, just out of vampire hearing range. Probably at Holiday's insistence. No doubt she wanted to talk with Kylie, and Holiday didn't like knowing he'd listen in.

The verdant smells of the forest filled Kylie's senses. For the first time since she entered the woods she recalled her grandfather and the fog. She immediately tried to listen with her heart to see if she felt the calling sensation from before; it wasn't there. Then she wondered if somehow the whole fog episode was behind Burnett's edginess. Or even worse, had they tried to return and set off the alarms? Would Burnett even tell her about it if they had?

Probably not.

She looked back at Burnett. What did the vamp know?

Moving closer to Holiday, Kylie asked, "Can you tell me something and be honest about it?"

Holiday's footsteps on moist earth made squishy sounds, as if Kylie's question had added a weight to her step. "I don't lie to you."

"By omission you do. Not being up-front about something is as bad as lying." And then there was the issue of how little Holiday shared about herself. As much as Kylie confided in Holiday, it hurt to realize it wasn't a two-way street.

"I don't purposefully keep things from you." The truth in her tone hung in the damp air. They walked without talking for a few moments.

"What is it you want to know?" Holiday asked.

Kylie fought back her frustration with Holiday, knowing her anger with Lucas was affecting her attitude. "What's with Burnett? He seems extra alert. Has he ... learned something that concerns me? Does he have news about my grandfather? Today was supposed to be the day he showed and yet ... I don't think there's a chance in hell that he's coming. And no one is even saying anything about it, as if it never happened."

Holiday frowned. "Because we didn't think it would happen, we decided to downplay it. But Burnett and I talked earlier about it and he hasn't heard anything about your grandfather. But ... I agree about him being ... let's call it on the defensive. I asked about it. He says he's feeling jittery." Her tone seemed to say that Holiday didn't buy it.

And neither did Kylie. Something was up. But what?

As they continued over the rocky path, an unnatural cold seemed to sweep in with every other breeze. Someone, someone dead, was close by. She gave Burnett another glance over her shoulder and remembered their talk about ghosts.

Was that the issue bothering him?

Holiday slowed down and peered back with concern. A slight huff of air leaked from her lips and her expression shifted from concern to annoyance. Not just any kind of annoyance, but the kind that stemmed from the opposite sex.

The mood must have been contagious because Kylie's own thoughts ventured to her opposite-sex issues and she wondered if men weren't just created to drive women crazy.

A few more minutes down the path, Holiday spoke up. "Now it's your turn. What's up with you? And don't tell me nothing, because you have anger dripping from you like a leaky faucet."

Kylie frowned, too angry to deny her feelings. "Lucas is what's up."

"Boy trouble, huh?"

"Boy catastrophe is more like it. I'm not sure I can do this."

"Do what?" Concern sounded in Holiday's voice.

"Do Lucas," Kylie said.

Holiday made a funny face and raised one eyebrow.

"Not do him as in ... get naked," Kylie blurted out, realizing what she'd said and thinking this was the cause of Holiday's odd expression.

"I mean, dealing with being the last thing on his to-do list. I mean him treating me as if I'm an afterthought in his life. I mean me feeling as if everyone he knows and cares about thinks I'm not good enough for him because I'm not a were."

Sympathy filled Holiday's eyes. "If it helps, I don't think Lucas shares the old beliefs of the weres. Most of the young weres don't agree with them, but there's pressure from the elders in their society to follow them anyway."

"I know," Kylie said. "And I also know that the only reason he's abiding by the stupid rules is because he needs his father's approval to make the Council so he can change things. But when he won't even smile at me for longer than a second, it hurts!" she seethed. "I guess that makes me a selfish twit for feeling this way." Her words resonated deep inside her and the guilt, like flies on a bad banana, started buzzing around her chest.