The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel Series Books #1-3: Paranormal Fantasy Romance

by W. J. May

  A feeling of overwhelming relief radiated out from deep in his chest—lighting his eyes and brightening his face with a soft smile.

  “Thank you.”

  It was brief, but it was heartfelt. As sincere as he had ever been.

  They locked eyes for a moment, then Jason nodded.

  “You’re welcome.”

  This time the silence wasn’t heavy. There was no longer any tension between them, and they were content to sit in comfortable silence avoiding the work outside.

  “So you had to nail it to my door, did you?”

  A ghost of a smile flickered through Jason’s eyes. “You and I seemed to be on the rocks, I figured I should get you a gift. A small token of my continuing esteem.”

  Proof. Jason had wanted to give me tangible proof. Something I could see for myself. To set my fears at ease.

  “Consider it a belated housewarming present.”

  Simon nodded, keeping a carefully controlled expression. “It’ll go lovely with my new drapes.”

  Then a sudden thought struck him.

  “Jason, about the recruiter—”

  “That’s been put on hold for the next few days.” Jason gestured out the window. “In light of the school falling apart and all. I’ll have it rescheduled for some time next week.”

  “Cool, thanks.”

  More time to prepare. More time to think of suitable questions. More time to get Tristan back on his side, so that he could perhaps borrow his ink for the occasion.

  “Simon?” Jason cocked his head to the side. “Do you know Daren Matthews? Teaches chemistry to the first-years?”

  Simon shook his head curiously. “No. Why?”

  “He frequents that diner I took you to the day we met. Went there on Tuesday.”

  Simon froze. It was like all the air got sucked out of the room. He had nothing to say, no excuses to make. He simply stared up at Jason, rigid with fear.

  Jason regarded him carefully. “I don’t know what you’re doing over there, and I don’t much care. But there are people around here who will care.” He paused deliberately. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Simon bowed his head to his chest, before nodding slowly. “Yeah, I do.” When he looked back up, Jason was still studying him thoughtfully. “Listen, Jason, about the diner—”

  A sudden crash exploded the air between them.

  In a burst of speed, Jason had Simon down on the ground. He knelt protectively over him, one hand on his back, until the glass shards of the window had ceased to fall. Even when it was finished, he kept him down, his eyes flashing expertly around the room.

  “Jason,” Simon gasped, his nose pressed into the floor, “what—”

  “Quiet.”

  Jason’s voice was calm, but Simon knew that every muscle in his body was on high alert. His reflexes were second to none. The sound hadn’t even faded away before he had Simon protected.

  There wasn’t a sound to be heard. At least, none that Simon could hear. Nothing except the buzz of distant voices as the school gathered to begin removing the rubble from the tower.

  After another second, Jason got to his feet. When he was satisfied it was safe, he reached down a hand to help up Simon as well.

  “What was that?” Simon asked, looking around in shock. They had just eliminated the threat of one assassin. His frayed nerves weren’t ready to introduce the possibility of another.

  Jason crunched across the glass to the broken window and looked out. His eyes scanned out across the campus before dropping down to the grass below. He scoffed. “It was just a bird.”

  Simon’s heart froze in his chest. Ignoring the shards of glass falling from his hair, he crossed the room and stood beside Jason, gazing down at the mangled little magpie.

  This…cannot be happening.

  “Hope it’s no one we know,” Jason joked lightly. Then he shook the glass off his shirt and returned to his desk, muttering about how it was just another complication to his already-hectic day.

  Simon just stared at the bird. Unable to believe it was true. Unable to believe this could possibly be happening. He’d gone to Jacob after he had the dream about Beth. He’d gone to Jacob and Jacob told him that it couldn’t have possibly been a vision precisely because it was a dream. The future was drawn, he’d insisted. Not dreamt.

  But how could he explain this? The pancakes and coffee at breakfast? The bird? It was too much. Too much of a coincidence to possibly be ignored.

  It was a vision. That was the simple truth of it.

  And so was his dream about Beth.

  “Simon?” Simon turned around to see Jason staring at him curiously. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I…” He backed away quickly, pausing only to set the rumpled take-out container on Jason’s desk. “I gotta go.”

  Out of the Oratory he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He figured Jacob had skipped the clean-up in light of his brother and was holed away in the dorms, so that’s the first place he went. He hardly noticed the people calling out to him in concern. He didn’t even notice when he flew right past Argyle, sending the boy’s glasses flying off his face. His only thought was on getting to Jacob and finding out what all of this meant. As if to bolster his resolve, the image of Beth slowly burning flashed through his mind, driving his legs even impossibly faster.

  I cannot let that happen to her. There has to be something I can do. Something I can—

  “Simon?”

  The smell of burnt rubber wafted up from the floorboards as Simon skidded to a sudden stop. He’d been racing right past his dorm to Jacob’s, but he could have sworn he heard…

  He backtracked a second, and pushed open the door to his room.

  Then he nearly passed out.

  “Beth?!”

  * * *

  He didn’t try to be inconspicuous. He didn’t try to slow himself down. He’d inadvertently picked up Jason’s tatù when he was knocked to the floor, and he used it now to streak across the room to her. Less than a second later, she was in his arms. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he breathed into her hair, panting as if he’d just run twelve marathons. “I’m so glad you’re not—”

  Dead.

  “—back in Scotland,” he edited, crushing her gently against him.

  Her raven hair was as wild as ever, and an automatic smile drifted over his face as she pushed a wayward curl out of his eyes. Then the smile chilled as the vision of flames returned.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded suddenly, realizing he hadn’t yet given her a chance to speak. “Is everything okay? Is your dad back in London on business?”

  She pulled away from him, and he noticed for the first time how very pale she looked. Not at all like the rosy-faced girl he remembered. There was something different about her. Something that sent little waves of fear careening down his skin.

  “Let’s…just sit down for a second.”

  He blinked nervously, then followed her lead as she sat them down on the bed. It was nothing like the last time they were there. Their knees weren’t touching. Their hands were folded carefully in their laps.

  But he didn’t think that had anything to do with the two of them, per se. There was something different about Beth. Something she wasn’t telling him.

  “Honey,” he lowered his voice to a coaxing purr, “what is it? What’s the matter?”

  Her eyes flickered up to him, as wide and luminous as he had ever seen them, before flashing out the open window. “What’s going on out there?” she stalled, gesturing to the fallen astronomy tower. “You guys remodeling or something?”

  He followed her gaze, and shook his head dismissively. “The astronomy tower got hit by lightning last night. Fell down in the storm. Now what’s—”

  “The entire tower just fell to the ground?” This time, her interest seemed genuine, not strategic. “Was anybody in there? Was anybody hurt?”

  Again, Simon shook his head. With a little more frustration this time. “Wha
t? No. It’s only used for class. They keep it empty the rest of the night.” He was mumbling, distracted that she was avoiding looking at him. Unable to wait any longer, he reached out and took her hands. “Beth, please—you have to…”

  But at that moment, he came up suddenly short. His head bowed to his chest as he realized the greater issue at play.

  Beth’s life was in danger. It didn’t matter that she had showed up at the school. And not to be insensitive, but whatever everyday mundane problem was plaguing her, it wasn’t more important than what he had to tell her. Than the secret it was time for him to share.

  A hundred years of instinct rebelled inside him as he got up slowly and shut the door. But as he flipped up the lock, he had a stunning revelation.

  He simply didn’t care. About their traditions. About their rules. About any of it. Jacob had said it perfectly the other night in the parking lot. It was us versus them. There wasn’t any fighting it, there wasn’t any way around it. It was their rule he was about to break. Their law. Not his.

  And he couldn’t think of a better reason to thrust off the chains.

  This was Beth they were talking about. The rest of them could go to hell.

  “Actually,” he began slowly, “I have something I need to tell you.”

  She shifted nervously on the bed, pulling nervously at her long sleeves. “Um…okay. I kind of just want to get this off my chest, but if you—”

  “Please, let me go first.” Simon clenched his shaking fingers into fists. “If I don’t do this now, I’m afraid I never will.”

  Beth’s eyes grew wide as he sat down beside her. He kissed her swiftly on the forehead and pulled in a breath. Then, keeping eye contact with her the whole time, he slowly rolled up his sleeve.

  It took her a minute to realize what she was looking at. At first, her face simply blanked in surprise. Then her brow with concentration as she traced her fingers lightly over his skin.

  “You…you got a tattoo of a wizard?”

  Simon’s shoulders slumped slightly as he thanked his lucky stars that no one else was around to have heard her say that.

  That damn ‘wizard’ again. Always coming back to haunt me.

  “I…uh…not exactly.” He took off his jacket to make it easier to see, pretending not to notice when a little shower of glass fell to the floor. “To start, it’s a warlock. And…it’s also not exactly a tattoo.” He took a deep breath. “It’s a tatù.”

  There was a pause.

  “Simon, is that supposed to mean something to me? What is that?”

  Simon nodded quickly, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. As many times as he had imagined telling Beth the truth, he suddenly realized that he had never settled on exactly what to say.

  “It’s…well, it’s kind of like…” His eyes lit up with an excited smile. “Well here, why don’t I just show you?”

  There was a swish of air, then he was on the other side of the room. Another swish, and he was back on the bed beside her, his hair still sweeping forward, trying to catch up.

  Beth blinked. Then she blinked again. And once more for good measure. He offered out his hand and she looked down at it, eyes dilating in wonder as if thinking it couldn’t possibly be real.

  His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “There’s something I haven’t been telling you, Beth. Something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time. I’m…not exactly like the boys you go to school with.”

  Her head jerked once of its own accord, her eyes still focused on the hand.

  “…Simon?”

  “I have powers, Beth. More powers than most, actually. But it all comes from this.” He held up the warlock again. “This is what lets me do, what it is I do.”

  She started breathing very quickly.

  “…Simon?”

  “I didn’t ask for it. It just happened to me,” he continued in a rush. Now that the secret was out, he felt the need to explain it as long as he could before he eventually had to secede the floor to Beth…and her possible rejection. “The day I turned sixteen, the mark appeared on my skin. It’s that way with all of us,” he gestured around to the school, “everyone who goes here.”

  All the color drained from her skin, and she held onto the mattress to steady herself

  “…Simon?”

  “It doesn’t change a thing between us, Beth. I promise.” He was very aware of the fact that she hadn’t yet taken his hand, and he offered it out again, praying that she would slip her fingers inside. “I’m still me. Still the boy you fell in love with. None of that has changed. In fact, the only difference now is that you know the truth—”

  “SIMON!”

  He finally fell silent, staring fearfully back at her as she got slowly to her feet. Every single part of her was shaking from her hair down to her toes. And the color she’d lost during Simon’s story hadn’t returned yet either. She was the exact color of the ivory walls, looking like at any moment she might be sick.

  “Now I know the truth,” she repeated softly. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” A wave of determination coursed through her, battling it out with her fear. “A tatù, you called it?”

  Simon nodded silently, holding his breath as he waited for the axe to fall.

  “Popped up on your skin the morning of your sixteenth birthday?”

  Another nod. Where was she going with this?

  Then, all at once, Beth did the last thing in the world Simon expected. She turned to face the wall, and slowly rolled up the back of her shirt. “Simon…I think I have one, too.”

  He stared at the amazing ink on her back. The sun had incredible detail, not like any tattoo he’d ever seen before. His body seemed frozen as he stared. It had the detail similar to the tatùs he’d seen on so many students and professors at Guilder. Yet… why wasn’t it on her arm? Why her back? It didn’t make sense. Inside, his body yearned to touch it, to take the power and find out what he could do with it. Except his arm stayed frozen at his side, unable to move. Even when Beth slowly dropped her shirt and turned hesitantly around.

  It was impossible to know how long they stood there. Time itself seemed to stop. The sound of the outside world dimmed to a dull hum as they stared at each other from across the room.

  Waiting.

  Finally, Beth’s face broke with a heartbroken plea. “Say something. Please.”

  Simon just blinked in shock, wincing as the warlock ink sizzled the skin on his arm wanting her power. “You say something.”

  But as it turned out, the final word would belong to someone else.

  That dull hum from outside loudened to a deafening roar, before heavy sets of fists began pounding on Simon’s door. With a look of panic, he gestured Beth to the closet. She slipped inside without a word. When the door was closed safely behind her, he crossed to the front of the room and pulled the other one open. No less than ten tear-stained faces waited on the other side.

  A cool chill slipped down Simon’s back as he stared from one to the next.

  “What is it? What’s happened?”

  There was a moment of silence, and Isaac pushed himself forward. His shaggy hair shook with every step as a stream of tears fell openly down his face.

  “They found somebody in the astronomy tower.”

  A feeling of dread settled in the pit of Simon’s stomach. The world in front of him started to blur, but he asked the question. Even though he had a sinking feeling, he already knew the answer. He swallowed hard.

  “Who?”

  The End

  Fight the Darkness

  Fight the Darkness Description:

  It only takes a second for your entire life to change.

  Simon Kerrigan thought he had it all figured out. He has friends, a gorgeous girlfriend he’s in love with, and even a secret society to topple what he thought was a tyrannical regime. However, in the wake of a giant storm, Simon realizes his entire world has fallen down around him.

  With one friend on death’s door, an
d another hiding out in a secret flat in London, Simon finds himself torn between two worlds. Before he has a chance to figure out where he stands, the Privy Council beckons him.

  A girlfriend with a secret, an inner darkness building inside him, mistrust all around—Simon can no longer hide in the shadows.

  Can he find it in himself to join up with the enemy? Can he do what it takes to keep Beth safe? Who is the real enemy now?

  And more importantly… what do they want with Simon Kerrigan?

  Note from Author

  Dear Reader:

  Thanks for reading and I truly hope you’re enjoying the story of Simon as much as I love writing it. Being able to share how things unfolded before Rae came along is incredibly exciting for me! I’m grateful that readers wanted to learn more.

  I’ve always wanted to tell Simon and Beth’s story. I feel in order to understand what happened to Rae, the secrets and exposure of Guilder, the Privy Council, and to see Cromfield—and build for the sequel series!

  I hope you keep reading and then when the prequel series is done, grab a copy of Rae of Hope (which is free). Fall in love with Simon Kerrigan’s daughter, and her crazy group of friends!

  More questions… and hopefully some more answers!

  All the best, W.J. May

  Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/97aYf

  Website: http://www.wanitamay.yolasite.com

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  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-WJ-May-FAN-PAGE/141170442608149

  The Chronicles of Kerrigan

  Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!

  Book Trailer:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU

  Book II - Dark Nebula

  Book Trailer:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca24STi_bFM

  Book III - House of Cards

  Book IV - Royal Tea