Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (3 page)

“Thanks for the offer, but secretly dating you
is
all I can handle at the moment.
I don’t know if I could handle working side by side day in and day out and pretend I didn’t have feelings for you.
”
Devon
pulled into the parking area by
Aumbry
House.
He jumped out of the car and opened Rae’s door before
she unbuckled her
seat
belt.

Now
that’s
the kind a thing a girl likes to hear
“Thanks. I
–
”

“
Devon
! Ms. Kerrigan!”
A
pleasant-
sounding
male
voice shouted from across the parking lot, near the Refectory Hal
l.
Rae turned and saw the new d
ean,
Devon
’s father, waving as he walked over.

“Hey, Dad
.”

Devon
stiffen
ed
and move
d
a few inches from her.

“Hello, Mr. Wardell.
I mean
,
Dean
Wardell
.
Congratulations on the new position.
” She shifted her weight, making a conscious effort not to look at
Devon
.

Dean Wardell
raised his eyebrows, his
gaze
shooting
back and forth between them.
H
e smiled and rubbed his hands together.
“Glad you brought our star student
back
in one piece.
I just wanted to say hello and let you know Headmaster
Carter
wants
to speak with you
both,
as soon as you’ve unloaded Ms
.
Kerrigan’s suitcases
.”

Rae nodded, still afraid to look at
Devon
.
He had gotten his fennec fox tatù from his father so sharp eyes ran in the family. The last thing
she and
Devon
needed was for anyone to guess at their relationship. Instead, she looked straight at his father.
He looks uncomfortable. I must be making it obvious how hard I’m trying not to look at
Devon
. Have to think of something else.
So Carter is staying around as headmaster
? That’s…interesting…I guess.
She felt her head tilt to the side as she tried to figure out
her feelings
about Carter’s continued presence on the campus.
She had
spent most of the previous year convinced
he
was the enemy, until
he had
come to rescue her from Lanford. The Dean seemed to relax as she pondered.
Crisis averted.

“Julian
’s
looking for
you,
Dev
on
.
He
’s in
the
room
opposite yours.
He arrived
earlier
today
.”
Dean Wardell turned and
smiled
purposefully
at Rae before heading across the football pitches.
“Have a nice afternoon.”
Hmm…maybe not so much averted just yet.

Devon
and Rae pulled her suitcases from the boot of the car.
They walked towards
Aumbry
House.

“Is it going to be
this
awkward
every time we’re in public together
?” Rae whispered.

“
I bloody hope not.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s probably ‘cause it’s my dad
.
he would
kill me if he knew there was anything more going on between the two of us besides
mentoring
.”

My thoughts exactly. But we need positive reinforcement, not agreement on future mutual destruction.
“You do have
an
excellent track record of being the faithful, obedient son.
I doubt he’ll suspect a
thing.
” Rae
nudg
ed
him with her elbow.

He
bent
forward toward
s
he
r
,
but instinctively straightened up a second before Madame Elpis
entered the main
lobby.

“Welcome back, Ms
.
Kerrigan.
” Madame Elpis smiled genuinely, her voice a pleasant, almost sing-song tone.
“
Y
ou’re the first here,
so
you
can
pi
ck
a
room on the third floor.
I’ll see
you both at dinner
.”
Madame Elpis whistled as she strolled outdoors.

Rae’s eyebrows went up
and her mouth hung open. She watched the tall, hawk-nosed
, normally austere and perfunctory
woman
walk with a light
skip
down the path outside until she disappeared from sight.

It’s the twilight zone. I’m in the twilight zone. Any second now, I’m going to hear that theme music.
“What the –?” Rae
sputtered
.
Madame Elpis
had
been rigid with her strict demeanor
the previous year
,
and her magpie-crow tatù suited her to a tee.
She had always been “in the know” and quite cranky at the best of times.
Now it seemed as if someone
had
switched her
p
ersonality
for a
that of a happy little
songbird
.

Devon
gently put his fingers on Rae’s chin and closed her mouth.
He smiled as he leaned forward and kissed her
quickly
on the lips.
Rae closed her eyes to savor the feeling, Madame Elpis completely forgotten.

“She fell in love
.”
Devon
pull
ed
away.
He grabbed
two
suitcases, dragging them toward
s
t
he black and white marble stair
case.

“
She did
,
and she’s waiting for another kiss.
” Rae
puckered her lips, eyes still closed.

“
Not you, silly.
I’m talking about Madame Elpis
.”
Devon
laughed
from several feet away.

Rae opened her eyes, heat rising to her face.
She
grabbed the remaining case and r
an to catch up with him
.
he had
already
gone
halfway up the first set of stairs.

“
Holy
smokes, Rae
. I
s half of
New York
in these suitcases?”

She ignored his question.
“
Who’s the lucky, or not so lucky
,
guy
?”

“
Madame Elpis?
Do you remember
the
English Professor from your first term?”

“Professor Lockheed?”
Rae stared at him incredulously. She knew she and
Devon
were breaking the rules of the
tatù
world by dating but she simply
could not
imagine the ornery Madame Elpis stepping even one toe out of line.

“Yeah
. Well, not him
,
but his brother Donald.”

“Donald?”
Rae repeated
then started
smirking.

“What’s so funny?”

“Do you know Madame Elpis’ first name?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“It’s Daisy.”
She had to stop when they reached
the
first
landing
, she
couldn’t stop
laughing.

“I don’t get
it
.”
Devon
shifted his weight, one foot on the next set of stairs
.

“Donald and Daisy.” She raised her
eyebrows. “You know, on Disney?
Donald Duck?”

Devon
still
seemed
lost
.
“She’s
got
a magpie
,
not a duck
.”

“
I can’t believe you’ve never watched
cartoons as a kid
,
” Rae muttered under her breath
before
follow
ing
him up the next flight
with her head down. She might as well keep quiet
.
How come no one ever gets my
jokes
?
They’re not
that
bad.
She brought her head up about to explain the joke.

What the
—
?
She froze midstride, startled when a
blurry picture
began to
flash behind her eyes
.
S
mall choking noises escaped
as her breath caught in her throat. She squinted, trying to get a clearer glimpse
of the
fuzzy
scene.
She felt
the handle of her suitcase slip from her hand
but
barely noticed i
t
tumble
down the stairs.
This had never happened before.
Could someone be trying to kill me? Or contact me?

Devon
rushed to her side.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

She
heard the fear in his voice
but
could not
reply
.
She gave her head a sligh
t shake
and focused on the mental picture.
The old dean, now new headmaster,
Carter
,
paced in his office, his hand ner
vously running through his
dark hair
as he talked on the phone.
Rae
could not
hear what he
said
,
but the agitation
in his body language worried her
.
The caller on the other end
must not
be
giving
him good news.

She blinked.
As f
ast
as the image
had
appeared, it
disappeared
.
Dazed, s
he realized
Devon
had an
arm wrapped
tightly around her waist,
gently shaking her shoulder with his free hand
.

“Rae…Rae…Can you hear me?
Kerrigan
!
W
hat’s
going on
?”
Alarm
filled his voice.

S
lowly
she
turned her head to
focus on him
. “Sorry.
I’m okay.
I
—i
t
—
” She
pressed
her lip
s
, trying to make sense of what
had just happened
.
Then
something
clicked.
“I had some vision-thing of
Carter
.
That
’s never happened before
.
Right out of the blue
,
it popped up.
I saw him
—
just now
—
” She swallowed
, wondering if it would happen again
.
Taking several deep breath
s, she relaxed and let her shoulders
drop
.
“I don’t know where I picked
the
tatù ability
up. Not sure if it’s new or a development of another I already have.
It wa
s freaky
.
” She reached her hand around his neck and stroked her fingers through his hair.
She had
really missed him this summer
,
and now
here he was.
He
smelled and felt so good.
Focus girl, focus.
“
I didn’t expect it
.”