Rae of Hope (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (29 page)

In no time, everyone fell back in the swing of things and gossip was abundant. On campus, everywhere she went, Rae heard students talking about her
tatù and the alumni dinner
. She ignored the whispers, figuring she’d show them what she needed to in the Oratory.

Monday evening, Rae headed down the marble steps and into the library a few minutes ahead of eight. She passed a few seniors sitting at the front of the room. She settled at her usual table with Devon near the back.

She hadn’t chatted with him since before Christmas. Her knees bounced against the underside of the table making it shake noisily, and earning her dark looks from Madame Elpis. She got up and began pacing around the aisles at the back of the room. Rows of books lining the shelves looked like walls.

Rae dropped her head sideways to get a better view of the titles. Most of the books were old leather -bound tomes with gilt printing on the bindings. She touched one, pulling her hand back in surprise. She felt power from the book shift into her.
Well that’s new. How could a book have ink power?
Well, there was only one way to proceed.

Dropping her hands to her sides, and standing perfectly still, she waited for her gift to show her what power she’d just absorbed. Eyes closed, she focused on the inner hum of her body.

The library grew completely silent -- aside from the steady noise of the old ceiling lights and the computers.

The urge to wrinkle and twitch her nose grew strong inside of her. Rae knew the ability she’d just absorbed belonged to a shape-shifter and immediately following the realization, came the knowledge of whose it was. She opened her eyes and sighed. “Gale, I know it’s you.” She tried to peek over top of the books. In her best sing-song voice impersonation of the Shinning, she said, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Laughter erupted from the front of the room. A tiny mouse crawled between two books, one of which Rae had touched. It jumped to the floor.

Within seconds, Gale stood beside her, a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry,” she whispered. “The girls dared me to try it. I hope you’re not mad.” She looked frightened enough to turn back into a mouse.

Rae smiled and laughed, trying her best to show that she was nothing to be scared of. “Here I was thinking some book might actually be a human stuck in the library stacks. I was about to pull the book out to try to free it!”

A small, squeaky laugh erupted from Gale and she hurried back to her friends, giggling the whole way.

“What am I missin’ out on?” Devon’s voice came through the other side of the aisle, behind the books.

Rae peeked through the stacks, disappointed not to sneak a glimpse of the sexy body the voice belonged to.

“Just playing a joke on Kerrigan,” Nadia, one of the twins, called from across the room

“Except she didn’t fall for it,” Gale added. “Figured it out in about five seconds.”

Aidan appeared in the aisle. “I got her once already.” She grinned triumphantly.

“What?” Rae asked, furrowing her brow. “When?”

“The night of your birthday. In the Infirmary.” Aidan’s eyes sparkled. “I snuck outside your window and tossed you some crazy dreams.”

“That was you?”

“Yeah, ’til you rolled out of bed faster than the wind and stared right at me. I took off running, positive you had caught me.” She giggled. “You never ratted me out. I thought that was cool of you.”

Rae thought back to the night. All of it had been strange. “I remember waking and jumping out of bed. I freaked at my own reflection. Never saw you.”

Aidan winked. “Gotchya.”

Devon leaned over Rae’s shoulder, his hand wonderfully warm on her arm. “I’d watch it. From what I’ve heard, payback’s a bitch.” His smug smile backed up his words, making Rae wonder what he was thinking.

That wiped the silly smirk off Aidan’s face. Worried eyes glanced at Rae. “Sorry. I won’t ever do it again.”

Rae couldn’t help grinning, even though she hated the nervous tension in Aidan’s voice. “No worries.”

“I-I’ll leave you guys to get some work done. We won’t bug you again.”

 
“Happy New Year,” Rae called out as they headed to their table, hoping she could do a tiny bit of damage control.

 
The girls mumbled a reply and turned back to their books.

“Sorry I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you.” Devon sat down across from her. “Things were just really busy at home. Now, it seems, just as busy here.”

“Is it your mom?”

“Nah, Mom’s doing great. Her cast came off last week. She’s wearing one of those air casts now which she can walk on and take off to shower. She’s in heaven.” Devon let out a long breath. “My father’s putting me through hell. He’s hounding me to get my applications in order for university.”

Rae’s heart stopped. She’d never considered Devon wouldn’t be here next year. She’d kind of hoped he might stick around and, if she had the courage to ask, maybe mentor her more.

“Where’s your dad pushing you to go?”
Hopefully really close by.

“Cambridge. It’s his alma mater. For having a tatù, it isn’t much help in deciding what to do. I was sort of thinking about some kind of spy work for the government, maybe the Privy Council. My dad disagrees. He seems to think I don’t have what it takes.” Devon looked dejected for a moment, but quickly cleared the expression from his face. “It was just a long holiday break, and I’m happy to be back again.”

“Me, too.” Rae blushed realizing how it sounded. “I didn’t mean I was happy to have you back, I just meant it felt like a long break, and I was happy. To be back. At school.” She shook her head, wishing she had Molly’s mouth at the moment.
Because I sound lame
. “How’s Beth?”

“Beth?” Devon looked like he’d forgotten his girlfriend for a moment. “Oh, Beth! She’s good, I think. I haven’t spoken to her since the first week of Christmas break.” He reached over and grabbed a couple of books from the stack and flipped through one. “We broke up.”

He said it so quietly, Rae wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. “Oh.” Maybe he broke up with her?
Yay!
Or did she dump him and he was totally depressed?
Poor Devon!
Rae didn’t say anything else, but she harbored a tiny twinge of guilt when she realized she was suddenly in an awesome mood.

“My dad said you were the talk of the alumni dinner.” Devon’s soft brown eyes met hers. “Seems Dean Carter put you center stage.”

Rae cringed at the memory. The entire night seemed like a bad dream now -- from Dean Carter to Riley’s attempted kiss. In fact, she wished it had all been one of Aidan’s creations. But, lucky her, it had all been real.

“Let’s just say I’ve no plans to attend next year,” Rae said firmly. “I’ve done my time.”

Devon laughed and held his hands up front of him. “I won’t bring it up again! I promise! Let’s try and get some work done then, shall we?”

He pulled a folder from his bag. Inside were newspaper clippings. He slid the file to her and opened the cover.

Rae looked at the black and white photo on the first page, instantly realizing it was of the fire that had burned her house down and killed her parents. She read the caption: FIRE KILLS TWO. MIRACLE CHILD SAVED.

Leaning forward, she read the article.

A combustible, deadly fire took the lives of two people: Simon and Bethney Kerrigan. Their remains were found inside their smoldering house. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined; firefighters are not ruling out foul play. Miraculously, their six–year-old daughter was found unharmed in the tree house in the yard. All trees surrounding were singed. However, the tree house mysteriously had no fire damage. Investigators are still trying to determine if she was inside the house when the fire began or if she may have seen anything that might explain the cause of the fire. The fire did not spread to any neighboring houses. The investigation continues.

Rae glanced at Devon. He nodded and turned the page to the next clipping.

SIMON KERRIGAN killed. Murder or Mistake? The man that many have come to fear and believed to be invincible is gone. His remains were located among the fire debris of his house. His wife, Bethney Kerrigan, who also died, was discovered beside him. Their daughter was found unharmed. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire – possibly a mistake made by Simon or by another source outside the home.

Simon’s business associates are devastated. For this reporter, I will sleep better at night knowing Simon Kerrigan is gone. He will no longer be a threat to any of our kind or the rest of the world. Many of our readers will feel the same as I do. Let’s all hope the Kerrigan daughter has the gift of her mother, not the malevolence of her father. The six -year -old’s only living relative is Argyle McBane; his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Rae looked up, slightly confused. The second article didn’t come from a typical newspaper. It seemed pretty bold to think, let alone put down on paper that her father was the boogieman. Yet, it told her little more than what she already knew. The difference here, was that it made her feel protective about her family, flawed as it was. It still felt like her personal loss, no one else’s, she greatly disliked having anyone else comment on it, especially with the tone this article had projected. Devon seemed to read some of her thoughts. “The first article’s from the local paper. The second article is from
our
newspaper.”

“
You mean, those who are inked?” She blinked several times, trying to absorb what Devon meant. It was difficult to accept, even though she knew it was true. People had actually feared or hated her father, and even after his death, they didn’t put much confidence in her future. They were passing the gauntlet from him straight down to her, had done so in fact, before she was ever inked. Her need to defend herself, her life, her family, both dead and alive, and her tatù grew stronger.
Just a reflex
, she told herself, but felt like she’d still been actively attacked. It had felt that way for a long time, and had only been growing worse.
I’ve been naïve all this time to think I’d ever fit in here.
She might be one of them, but she would never belong.
They’ll never accept me
.

She played with the zipper on her backpack. “You know, I wish I hadn’t been born. Or maybe had a brother to carry this load instead of me. It would’ve been better if it just skipped over me.”

“You don’t mean that.” Devon looked horrified. He took her hand in both of his.

“When Lanford told me you were coming, know what he said?” He squeezed her hand before releasing it. “He said you were coming to this school because of how special you are. He said you were going to need this
tatù
like the river needs the sea. And it
would need you like the sea needs the river to survive.”

“Sounds like Lanford’s been having conversations with my uncle.” Rae couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

Devon pressed on. “You can’t bury it deep inside and pretend it doesn’t exist. The sooner you realize that and accept it, the easier life will be.”

Rae scoffed. “Easier? You’ve no idea what it’s like to be me! Did you have newspaper articles written about you? Or an entire school and fraternity of gifted people leery of your
tatù, watching your every step, suspicious of everything about you waiting for you to turn into a monster?” She ticked each point off on her fingers, her voice rising with each point. “I don’t know who my real friends are. I have an uncle who never told me the truth and a mother who wrote me a letter before she killed my father! Don’t even let me get started on my evil so-called evil father. I don’t even know if the school has me here to help me, or so they can try to protect their own asses from what I might become!” She rolled her eyes.