Free Saved at Sunrise by C. C. Hunter Page A

control one’s powers
     and to hide their true pattern from the world.
    “That’s amazing. Then why the long face?” her grandfather asked.
    “It’s just…” I’m miserable here. I want to go back to Shadow Falls. The words sat on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t say them. Not until she
     knew for sure that she’d given this a shot. And until she knew how she would survive
     facing Lucas.
    “I wasn’t frowning at you. It’s—”
    “Kylie has company,” Francyne said. Her aunt wasn’t a full-fledged ghost whisperer.
     She claimed she couldn’t see them or hear them, but she could pick up on a spirit’s
     presence easily.
    The ghost held the sword up, pointing it at the ceiling as if making some big declaration. You’re about to have more company.
    Kylie didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but she focused on her confused-looking
     grandfather now and not the spirit.
    “Company?” Her grandfather looked at his sister-in-law. “Oh.” He tensed. Then his
     eyes widened. “Is it my wife, or my son, Daniel?”
    “No.” Kylie wished Daniel, her father, who’d died before she was born, would come
     for a visit. She could use some TLC, and her father was really good at offering it.
     However, he’d used his allotted time on earth.
    “It’s not them. It’s … someone else,” Kylie answered.
    Someone who had yet to explain what she wanted or needed. Well, except to tell Kylie
     she needed her to kill someone. What did the spirit think Kylie was? A killer for
     hire?
    The spirit leaned down close to her grandfather’s ear. It’s a shame you can’t see me. You’re kind of cute. She proceeded to lick the blood from his cheek. Slowly. And she looked at Kylie when
     she did it.
    Kylie dropped her fork. “Stop licking my grandfather, right now!”
    The spirit brought her tongue back into her mouth and stared at Kylie. Stop fighting your fate. Accept what you must do. Let me teach you how you must kill
     him.
    “Kill who?” Kylie blurted out and then flinched when she realized she’d been speaking
     aloud.
    “Lick? Kill? What?” her grandfather asked.
    “Nothing,” Kylie insisted. “I was talking—”
    “She was talking to the spirit, I think,” her aunt said, but her brows pinched in
     worry.
    “About killing someone?” her grandfather asked and shot her a direct look.
    When Kylie didn’t answer, Malcolm glanced around the room, as if nervous. His expression
     of fear reminded her so much of the other supernaturals at Shadow Falls.
    That’s when a thought hit. She’d come here thinking she’d fit in, and yet, even living
     in a compound of about fifty acres in the Texas Hill Country, with about twenty-five
     other chameleons, she still didn’t fit in. And it wasn’t just the ghost whispering,
     but the fact that she was so much further advanced than the four other teens here.
     And they weren’t overly thrilled to be shown up by the newbie, either.
    The elders of the group—which included her grandfather and great-aunt and about four
     others—guessed that Kylie’s early development was because she was also a protector,
     a supernatural with amazing strength. While that sounded pretty cool, she would argue
     with that definition for so many reasons.
    Topping those reasons was that she could only use those powers to protect others,
     and never herself. 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