Looking almost regal, the bird bowed his head at her then leapt up and flew away. With him, he took a part of her heart. And she wasn’t sure she’d ever get that part back.
* * *
Della heard Miranda and Kylie leave in time for the morning meal. Della skipped breakfast and the campmate hour. She managed to pull herself together enough to go to her first-period class. Math.
From there she went to science. The class was halfway over, and Haden Yates, Jenny’s brother, was up discussing sound waves. It might have been interesting if she gave a shit.
She didn’t.
Not while she was still reeling over last night’s vision. Reeling over the mere possibility that her father, and if not him, her uncle, was a killer. Over the fact that another day had passed and she wasn’t any closer to finding Natasha. Add that a part of her heart was halfway over the ocean heading to France, and was it any wonder that she didn’t give a rat’s ass about sound waves?
Someone in the back of the room chuckled. Della looked back and right then she realized something wasn’t right. She turned her head around to make sure she wasn’t mistaken.
Nope. No mistake. She’d been so busy wallowing in self-pity that she hadn’t realized Kylie and Miranda were missing. Damn.
What kind of friend was she? Especially considering Miranda was in the same sinking boat as Della. Well, she didn’t have her dead aunt haunting her ass, but at least romantically the girl’s heart had been yanked out of her chest.
Della shot up out of her seat to leave, only to remember that one didn’t just leave class and discussions on sound waves.
“Della?” Mr. Yates said.
She looked at him. She started to explain she needed to go find her friends, but that didn’t sound like a good enough excuse to leave class. And lately, Mr. Yates had been complaining about absences—even when they were approved by Burnett.
“Uh … I need to be excused.”
“Because…?”
“Personal reasons,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t argue, and if he did, he wasn’t going to like her alternative get-out-of-class answer. But she wasn’t above using it—even if it was a lie.
“What kind of personal reasons?” he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
Well, damn, she’d tried to spare him. She put her hand on her hip and met his unhappy gaze.
“I just started my period and it’s about to get messy. Of course, you wouldn’t understand that.”
Mr. Yates’s mouth dropped open, but he didn’t excuse her from class so she continued.
“I mean, I know guys don’t understand the whole period thing.”
Red color climbed up his neck to his face and almost looked cartoonish, but he still didn’t excuse her.
“But seriously, if your penises bled once a month—”
“Go!” he almost yelled, and she barely heard it over the laughter from the other students.
“Thank you.” She shot out of the classroom and didn’t slow down until she stopped at her cabin.
She could hear Miranda and Kylie inside. Miranda’s broken voice echoed the loudest.
Feeling terrible about abandoning them when they’d been there so much for her these last few months, she stormed inside. They sat at the kitchen table. Miranda had a pint-size carton of Chunky Monkey ice cream in her hands, and three empty cartons sat on the table. And they looked licked clean.
Kylie stared at Della as if she didn’t know what to do with the witch. Not that Della had any great ideas.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know we were having an ice cream party.” Della stopped at the table.
Miranda let go of another sob and shoveled another big scoop of banana ice cream into her mouth. “He haaaasn’t even called,” she whimpered around the sweet goo in her mouth.
Della exhaled and reached deep for patience. “He’s only halfway there. Once you get up to around twenty thousand feet, it’s kind of hard to find a cell tower.”
“I gave him a special phone.” She hiccupped. “It doesn’t need a cell tower.”
“All cell phones need … Oh, you mean a magic one?”
Miranda nodded and let out another sob.
“Cool,” Della said.
“Not cool when he’s not calling … me. Why hasn’t he … called me?”
Kylie frowned at Della as if saying she didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sure he’ll call,” Kylie said and the chameleon’s heart raced to the lie.
Della dropped down in a chair and couldn’t help but wonder if lying was the best option. She tried to envision Perry flying and suddenly a question arose.
“How is Perry flying with humans if he can’t be trusted to be around them?”
Miranda dove back into her pint of ice cream. “Burnett gave him a Benadryl. It slows down a shape-shifter’s ability to shift.”
Della gave that some thought. “Then why doesn’t he just take Benadryl daily? Then he wouldn’t have to go to some school to teach him to stop shifting.”
“He had to take a dozen pills,” Miranda said.
“A dozen?” Kylie asked.
“Well, duh,” Della said. “Maybe he passed out on the plane and that’s why he’s not calling.”
“I think he’s purposely not calling me,” Miranda moaned.
“I don’t think that’s it,” Kylie said, and her heart did somersaults in her chest, telling Della that was exactly what Kylie thought. Hell, Perry had probably already confided in Kylie and told her he wouldn’t be calling Miranda.
Damn Perry! It didn’t even matter if the reason he was breaking up with Miranda was because of his own insecurities. He was still breaking her heart and her spirit. Miranda’s spirit was fragile. And that royally pissed Della off to the nth degree. She took a deep breath and tried to calm the fury from brightening her eyes.
Miranda shoved another heaping spoonful of Chunky Monkey into her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked pathetic and gross because her nose was running down to her upper lip and she was still eating.
And just like that, Della lost it. She couldn’t stand by and see Miranda like this. “Stop!” she screamed and yanked the ice cream from Miranda’s clutches.
“Give that back!” Miranda demanded and jumped up and tried to dig her spoon into the carton.
“Let’s not fight,” Kylie said. “Give her back her ice cream.”
“No!” Della jerked the pint back from Miranda’s spoon. But the witch went for it again.
Della stuck her finger into the ice cream. “My fingers are filthy!” She glared at her teary-eyed roommate. “I had some nose problems earlier.” She kept poking her finger in the ice cream, hoping to discourage the girl.
“I don’t care! I want my ice cream,” Miranda screamed and went to grab the carton.
“Stop this,” Kylie said.
Della ignored Kylie, lurched back, and yanked her finger out of the cold substance. She pretended to hand the carton to Miranda, but instead she threw it on the floor, and doing a vampire-speed polka dance, she stomped her boot heels in the Chunky Monkey until the witch would need a straw to slurp it up off the floor.
Miranda stood there, staring at the mess with fury in her large green eyes. “I skipped school to get that ice cream.”
Looking completely wacko, she held up her pinkie and it started to twitch.
“Stop this!” Kylie screamed.
“No. Let her do it!” Della put her face in Miranda’s. So close, her nose touched the witch’s. And that was kind of gross, because she had ice cream on it. At least she hoped it was ice cream and not …
“Don’t do it!” Kylie pulled Miranda back a step. “This could end so badly.”
Della held up her hand. “Stay out of it!” she told Kylie. “Let the witch turn me into a kangaroo, or give me pimples, I don’t care.”
Della glared back at Miranda. “You are my friend, damn it! And I’m not going to stand by and watch you eat yourself sick and get fat.”
&nb
sp; “I don’t care if I get fat,” Miranda said.
“Well, I do!” Della snapped.
“You don’t understand,” Miranda sobbed.
“The hell I don’t!” Della said and suddenly tears filled her eyes. “Look, they left us! We didn’t want this. We didn’t ask for this. They should be the ones hurting, not us!”
“But I love—”
“I know you love him, but you don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve this! Steve and Perry basically told us the same thing—to figure out what we want. Well, damn it, that’s what you should do. You aren’t going to wallow around in this self-pity shit and get fat eating ice cream. You’re going to go on with your life and figure out what you want! And guess what? You just might figure out that you want better than Perry.”
“The vamp has a point,” Kylie said.
Miranda sniffled. “But I don’t want—”
“Look, I’m not saying go fall in love with someone else, but maybe flirt a little, open yourself up to the possibilities. You might even have fun.”
“Who am I going to flirt with? Everyone here knows that—”
“Well, flirt with someone who’s not here.”
“There’s no one I want to flirt with.”
And bam, Della remembered something she hadn’t told Miranda. About the warlock FRU agent who’d helped bury Chan. She had to search her brain for his name, but she found it. “How about Shawn Hanson?”
Miranda’s mouth dropped open. Then she slammed it shut. “You dirty little, blood-sucking vamp. You’ve been reading my diary?” The pinkie came back up. “I should, I should…”
“I haven’t read shit.” Della made a face. “But I would’ve if I’d known you had one. Where’s your diary? I’ll bet it’s got some good stuff in it.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Miranda snapped. “How else would you know about Shawn?”
“I know about him because I met him.”
“Liar!” she said, and looked at Kylie. “Turn vampire and check her heartbeat.”
Kylie shrugged. “I am vampire and she isn’t lying.”
Della smiled in victory. “Listen to the chameleon, she has a point.”
When Miranda didn’t say anything, Della continued. “Not only that, but when he said your name, he started polluting the air with all kinds of pheromones. The guy’s got a hard-on for you.”
“Now I know you’re lying.”
“I swear,” Della said.
Miranda made a face. “How would he even know you knew me? Where did you meet—?”
“He was helping out with Chan’s funeral. And he knew I knew you because everyone’s talking about the arrest and how you turned those five goons into kangaroos. He told me you were friends with his sister and that he’d always known you have more talent than you let people believe.”
Miranda’s eyes sparkled just a bit. “Everyone’s talking? Seriously, he really said that stuff about me being talented?”
Della made a gesture over her heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“And stick a needle in your eye if you’re lying?” Miranda asked.
“Yes, the needle, too,” Della said.
“And the pheromones … He really…?”
“I swear!”
Miranda dropped back into her chair. She sat there thinking for several seconds. Then her eyes lost the twinkle. “I still don’t want Shawn. I want Perry.”
“I know. But you can’t make yourself sick because Perry called it off until he comes back. Look at this time as a chance to make sure this is what you want. It’s hard. But darn it, go kiss a few toads and see if they turn into princes.”
Miranda folded her hands in her lap and then looked up at Della. “Are you going to do it?”
“I don’t know any toads,” Della said.
“No, I mean are you going to open yourself up and see if maybe Chase isn’t really a toad, but a prince?”
“I don’t think the Panty Perv is—”
“Stop right there!” Miranda stood back up and sent Della what some would call the stink eye—an evil glare. “You can’t destroy someone’s break-up ice cream, dish out advice, and then not follow it yourself.”
“The witch has a point,” Kylie said.
“Here’s another point,” Miranda added. “You haven’t called him the Panty Perv in a long time. Why is that?”
Because she’d stopped distrusting him so much, Della thought. And because he hadn’t said anything else about her panties, which was how he got the nickname in the first place. “Fine. I’ll follow my own advice.” In a way, she’d already been doing it. And maybe she should remember how much she’d distrusted Chase in the beginning, too.
“Pinkie promise.” Miranda held out her little finger.
Della locked pinkies with the witch, but she couldn’t help but wonder what the penalty was for breaking a pinkie promise. Yesterday, she’d let herself lean on the guy, today there’d be no leaning. Not until her doubts about the Panty Perv completely vanished.
“Say you promise,” Miranda repeated.
“Promise,” Della said, realizing the promise hadn’t entailed any leaning. All she’d promised was to attempt to decipher if Chase was more toad or prince. And so what if he was a prince? That didn’t make him her prince.
Chapter Twenty-two
Della went to her last class, and right after it was over, she went straight to her cabin, where she called Derek and asked him to meet her. As much as she’d been thinking about Steve and Perry and Miranda, she hadn’t forgotten the vision. And if there was anyone who could help her find answers, it was Derek. He was Kylie’s ex and he’d once worked in a private investigator’s office, so he’d helped Della dig up information about her family in the past. He’d been the one to discover about Bao Yu’s murder.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Just some questions … about my aunt’s case.”
He paused for a minute. “I don’t really know a lot.”
“I’d like to know all you know,” she said.
“Okay. I’m with Jenny, can she come?”
“Sure,” Della said, realizing she’d been neglectful about initiating any more friendship with Jenny, the new chameleon at camp. But Della had been kind of busy, right? A thread of guilt whispered through her.
Della sat on the porch waiting after they hung up. The fall air felt good, the sky was a perfect blue, and the sun was warm on her face. It seemed too pretty of a day to be thinking about murder. A murder that happened years ago, but the ghost had given her the image, and she could only assume it was important. Or maybe she just needed to prove to herself that it hadn’t been her dad committing the murder.
When she heard two sets of footsteps walking down the path, she glanced up and watched as Derek and Jenny came around the corner. They held hands and chatted quietly, smiles on both their faces.
Della’s heart did a dip, feeling the emotional tug of seeing two people who were so right for each other. She’d always gotten that feeling when she saw Kylie and Lucas together. And maybe even a little with Miranda and Perry—the little twerp.
Jenny saw her, let go of Derek’s hand, and ran up and hugged her. Della allowed it. “I know you’ve been working a case for the FRU, but I’ve missed you. And I’ve been worried about you … with Steve leaving.”
“I’m … okay and I’m sorry,” Della said, her mind still stuck on people being right for each other, and she wondered if others saw her and Steve as “right.”
“Sorry about what?” Jenny asked.
“Being too busy. Let’s do lunch tomorrow.”
“Am I invited?” Derek asked.
“No,” Jenny said. “We wouldn’t be able to talk about you if you were there.” The girl laughed, sounding almost giddy. Was it because of love?
Derek frowned. “What are you going to say about me?”
“You’ll never know,” Jenny said. “But I’m sure it’ll be good.”
Della rolled her eyes. Her
heart might have tugged earlier, but this was getting too mushy.
“You want to come inside?” Della offered before the two of them started kissing or something.
“It’s so pretty, why don’t we just sit outside?” Jenny answered.
They all sat down, leaning against the front of the cabin. Derek pulled one knee up, and when he looked at Della, she knew he was thinking about the reason she’d asked to see him. “I think I told you just about everything I found out.”
“You never said how she died,” Della corrected. “Did you actually get a copy of the report?”
“No, my PI friend just told me what the detective told him.” He paused as if thinking, then he frowned. “I’m pretty sure he said she was bludgeoned to death. He said the report noted there was a lot of blood.”
“So, she wasn’t stabbed?” she asked. “If she’d been stabbed, it would’ve said that, right?”
Derek considered it a minute. “I think so. Why?”
“Nothing important,” she lied, now even more unsure if the ghost haunting her was really her aunt. Just because she was Asian didn’t mean she was related. So okay, it might be wishful thinking, but Della deserved to wish a little.
Then, all of a sudden, she realized that she hadn’t seen the ghost actually get stabbed. She’d only assumed that the victim had been killed by the knife. Oh, hell, now she was more confused than ever.
“Can you find anything else out? Maybe you forgot something. Or didn’t think it was important. Can you ask him to tell you everything again?”
Derek looked as if he was going to say no, but then sighed. “I’ll ask him, but…”
“But what?” she asked.
“It’s just … you didn’t like what I found out the first time—about your father being the only suspect—and I don’t think it’s going to be any different.”
“I need to know,” Della said. “Me liking it is beside the point.”
* * *
A couple of hours later, Della spotted the Panty Perv as soon as she took the first curve in the path leading to the office. He’d texted her and said he needed to see her early.
He walked with a sense of purpose … no, more like confidence. He wore jeans, a bright yellow shirt, and a brown hoody mostly zipped. His boots matched his hoody, a worn yet warm color. The yellow of his shirt made his light green eyes appear lighter. Almost a gold green.