Taken at Dusk(29)

Holiday appeared to consider it. "She probably heard you talking about them."

"Maybe. But ... she's really scared of something."

"Dying can be scary if you're not ready."

"I think it's more," Kylie said.

"More like what?"

"I don't know yet. But it's ... something."

"Wait." Holiday pressed a hand on the desk. "Didn't you tell me she had some kind of brain operation?"

"Yes." Kylie touched her temple. "She has stitches and her head is shaved."

"It's probably a tumor. I've never seen anyone with one, but I've heard tumors can make one's brain pattern do strange things."

"But can a tumor make it disappear?" Kylie asked. "And what about her getting freaked out when I asked her what she was? I really think she's supernatural."

"I'm not saying she isn't one of us, but ... rarely do we supernaturals hang around long after we pass. In all my years of dealing with ghosts, I've only had three supernaturals."

"But my dad hung around."

"But he had a very big reason to hang on. To check in on you."

Kylie pulled her leg up in the chair and hugged her shin. Her mind zipped from the ghost to her dad to the ghost again. "I don't know ... There's something about her that's ... different. Remember, she told me she had messages from others."

"That's not unusual. I often get spirits who tell me something for someone else." Holiday rolled a pencil between her hands.

"But from the death angels?" Kylie asked.

"No, but like I said, she could have heard you mention the death angels and simply be confusing things. Has she mentioned the message again?"

"Yeah. Every time, like it's important." Kylie frowned. "She keeps saying that someone lives and someone dies. And I don't like the die part." She hugged her knee tighter.

"Me either," Holiday said. "But as you've learned, ghosts aren't the best communicators. So don't panic. Just keep asking questions and watching for clues."

"Is it possible that the only reason she's here is to give me this message?"

"Rarely. She's probably here for something else."

Kylie frowned. "Then how the heck am I going to help her if she doesn't even remember who she is?"

Holiday dropped her chin in the palm of her hand. "I think this might be a difficult one."

"As if any that I've had have been easy." Kylie tightened her hold on her leg. "There's one thing I want to check out."

"What's that?"

"Fallen Cemetery. I know you said she could have come from anywhere, but I still find it odd that this is where she popped into my mom's car."

Holiday pinched her brows together. "I'm not going to tell you not to go, but cemeteries aren't the best place for a ghost whisperer. By now you should be able to see more than just one ghost, and a lot of ghosts hang around the cemeteries for a long time."

Kylie remembered. "At Nana's funeral I got a terrible headache."

"That was probably them trying to get through to you. And that was before you could see them. Sometimes they can come at you all at once and it gets ... difficult."

"But if that's the only lead I have, I have to try."