Read Chosen at Nightfall (A Shadow Falls Novel) for Free Online Page B

down on her lip. “I know someone who told me that it’s when things don’t change that a person should start to worry.”
    “I’m betting this person wasn’t a chameleon,” her grandfather said.
    “No,” Kylie answered.
    He nodded. “Right or wrong, we have a tendency to like our comfort zones.”
    “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.
    The wrinkles between his eyes tightened. “Stay with us and continue to learn what your heritage means,” he said. “You’ve only scratched the surface of what there is to learn.”
    “Malcolm,” her aunt said. “Do not put the girl in a bad situation.”
    “I worry that the bad situation is the one she will go back to,” he said.
    “I’ll do most anything to make this right, but I can’t stay,” Kylie said, feeling her throat tighten.
    “I’m sorry.” He held up his hand. “Your aunt is right, I’m putting pressure on you and I shouldn’t. I have already said my piece. But I will say that I’m going to miss you.”
    “And I’ll miss you,” Kylie said. “Will you remain living here?”
    He shrugged. “If the other elders get their way, we will leave.”
    “Because they don’t trust Burnett?” Kylie asked.
    “I’m sure that’s part of it,” he said.
    “How will I get in touch with you?”
    “Hayden Yates is still working at your school.”
    Hayden was the chameleon whom her grandfather had hired to keep an eye on Kylie. For some reason, when she left, she had just assumed he would leave, too. “He stayed on as a teacher?”
    Her grandfather nodded. “He convinced them that you tricked him into taking you off the grounds. They still don’t know what he is, and it needs to remain that way.”
    Kylie nodded, but she couldn’t help but be suspicious. Burnett wasn’t that easily tricked.
    “Actually, Hayden speaks highly of how things are run at the school.”
    “See,” Kylie said. “It’s really not a bad place.”
    *   *   *
    That night, not knowing what time Burnett would come for her, Kylie packed her bags. Then she stretched out in the bed with the softest sheets and down comforter she’d ever felt, flipping through the pictures of her dad. You would think being with her grandfather would make Kylie miss her real father less, but no; it seemed to work just the opposite. Seeing this man who looked like an older version of her dad made her miss him more.
    Finally, after spending too much time wishing things could have been different, she lay there and stared at the ceiling. She worried about how leaving her grandfather might hurt him. She worried about Della, and even a bit about Miranda feeling abandoned by both of them. She worried about her mom off in England, probably doing the dirty with a man who gave Kylie the creeps.
    Oh, goodness, she had to push that image out of her head really fast, or she was going lose what little pizza she’d eaten.
    She worried about how she was going to cope with Lucas.
    But you aren’t worried about me?
    The cold hit so fast Kylie’s breath caught when the frigid oxygen hit her lungs. She grabbed the comforter and pulled it all the way up to her chin.
    “Should I worry about you?” Kylie asked, and looked over to where the ghost stood. Her hair hung loose and dangled almost to her waist. She wore the same white gown covered in blood.
    And she looked … dead. Deader than before.
    Kylie didn’t understand. If a ghost had an option to look dead, or not so dead, why didn’t they choose not so dead every time?
    No, don’t worry about me. I’m already dead. See? She pulled her skirt tight and showed a dozen or so bloody slits in the white dress. It looked as if someone had taken a knife to her and hadn’t known when to stop.
    “That’s terrible.” Kylie looked away for a second and then back. “Who did that to you?”
    The ghost didn’t answer; she just kept looking at the holes in her dress. Actually, it’s not so terrible. And to be honest, the person you should worry about