And if he knows about it, that makes you all that more vulnerable to him."

"I know this," her grandfather said, sounding defensive.

"Then you should know enough to be scared. Mario has not spent the last fifty years hiding as you and your friends have been moving from one place to another. He's been killing the innocent. He has taken the powers you have and mastered them to slaughter others. Even his own grandson died at his hands in front of Kylie because the boy defended her. If Mario will sacrifice his own blood, he will think nothing of killing his own kind."

"Wait," Kylie said, trying to keep up. "How do you know Mario is back?"

Burnett glanced briefly at Kylie. "He has been spotted."

"Spotted by whom?" her grandfather asked, disrespect coloring his tone. "The FRU? Like we wouldbelieve them?"

"I see that you have reservations," Burnett said, his words slipping from thinned lips pursed in what appeared to be anger. "But you must understand-"

"You dare to ask for my understanding?" Her grandfather's face grew red with fury. "What I understand is that you and your kind killed my wife. Because of you, I never knew my son. What I understand"-he pounded his chest with his fist-"is now you wish to do the same to my granddaughter!"

Kylie saw Burnett try to hold himself in check, but he couldn't hide the bright anger filling his eyes. She had to intervene, but how? Unfortunately, Kylie had no time to come up with a plan. Her grandfather took a step toward Burnett.

"Stop." Kylie attempted to move between the two men. But too late.

No one stopped.

Her grandfather swung his fist and Burnett took the blow square on the jaw.

While not nearly as young as Burnett, her grandfather didn't lack strength, and Burnett hit the ground.

The sound of pure fury leaked from someone, and Kylie assumed it was Burnett. Before a second passed, her grandfather dove on top of Burnett and the scuffle continued.

Derek barreled forward, but two male chameleons appeared out of thin air and grabbed him by each arm.

How had things gone so wrong, so fast?

Kylie nodded again. "I know."

Miranda frowned. "I think it was him, too. I had started feeling that weird presence again. Like someone was hanging around. Gave me the creeps. And I was all by myself, too."

"I know what you mean." An ugly shiver walked down Kylie's spine as she remembered her confrontation with Mario earlier. Then Kylie looked at Miranda. "And I'm sorry. It's my fault he's here."

"It's not your fault. He's evil."

"Yeah." And he was. Soon, Kylie knew she'd have to tell Miranda about what happened tonight, but she didn't have the energy to go into it now. "You don't feel him now, do you?"

Miranda tilted her head to the side as if putting out some kind of internal feelings. "No."

"Good." Kylie pushed back the feeling that he could come back anytime. She really wanted to believe that Shadow Falls was safe, but was she only fooling herself?

"You okay?" Miranda asked, studying her.

"Fine. How's school going?"

"We got a new history teacher. To replace that creep, Collin Warren. A cool guy. A were. He's young.

Like only twenty. He was a whiz kid, but you wouldn't know it now. You should see Fredericka! She's all over him."

Kylie nodded but didn't want to get caught up in bad-mouthing Fredericka. They had kind of made peace. "And what other craziness has happened?"

Miranda arched her right brow. "Nikki happened, and if she doesn't stop happening I'm gonna give her a case of big fat pimples." She held up her hand, wiggled her pinky, and scowled.

It took a moment to remember Nikki was the new shape-shifter who had a thing for Perry. Kylie frowned, thinking about the Meet Your Campmate hour she'd spent with the girl. The girl for sure had it bad for Perry. "Yikes. How's that going?""It better not be going anywhere! I get so furious at Perry. I mean, he swears he wouldn't touch her, but I think he's eating up the fact that some girl has a thing for him. And I can tell that he likes it that I'm jealous. He mentions her in unimportant conversations. As if he likes to see me get all riled up."

Kylie bit down on her lip and wondered if Lucas hadn't been a bit thrilled that Monique had a thing for him. Or did Monique even have a thing for him? Was Lucas really telling the truth about them never doing more than just sharing a couple of kisses? Had it been Monique who Kylie had seen?

The questions came at her so fast, she wanted to mentally duck.

Miranda dropped back on the bed with a bit of drama, and Kylie realized her mind had taken her back to her problems when she should be focused on Miranda.

"Do you trust him?" Kylie asked. "If you do, then you have to stop fixating on it."

Miranda pursed her lips as if thinking. "Is that what you did with Lucas?"

"That's different," Kylie said.

Miranda propped herself up on one elbow. "Are you okay? God, I know that had to hurt."

"I will be okay," Kylie said. "Eventually." She stared up at the ceiling and tried to push her heartbreak back. It wasn't as if she didn't have a ton of other issues to worry about. Like the ghost carrying around severed heads who was probably waiting for her in her bedroom. A shiver ran down her spine from the memory.

Miranda shifted and rested back on the bed again. "You know after you left he came to talk to Della and me?"