by W. J. May
That silence screamed the truth to Rae.
Chapter 23
Your Destiny
Unable to stop staring at the now fried computer, Rae made a conscious effort to close her mouth. Holy…! What…? She stood and started to pace with the shackles on her arms. Two steps one way and then backward two steps was all the room she had, but it was her mind that needed the space and it was clearing faster by the second.
I used Molly’s gift. I killed the laptop, but how? I haven’t touched Molly in hours. I’m supposed to have Dean Carter’s ability.
Rae suddenly froze on the spot as the enormity of what had just happened hit her full force.
Woah…I killed the laptop. I don’t have Carter’s ability…why not? Or do I?
Realizing she didn’t have time for why not, Rae focused on how to use this new-found information to free herself. Okay, what do I know for sure?
I know I used someone’s tatù without touching them. Or out of order.
Wait, Rae cocked her head to the side, trying to break down the truth into its most basic form. Occam’s Razor, “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.” Okay, if I thought I could only use the tatù of the last person I touched, yet I used Molly’s ability out of order, I must be wrong. So then…Rae swung her leg around in a partial semi-circle, dragging the sole of her shoe against the cobbled floor as she tried to consider what exactly the opposite of her wrong assumption would be. Can I use anyone’s tatù who I’ve touched, whenever I like? An excited breath seized in her throat as she realized the only way to know would be to test the theory.
She tapped her foot, trying to think of someone else’s ink she understood deeply. Healing – she could get rid of her headache and the goose egg on the back of her head. She closed her eyes and tried to find the slightly-unfamiliar hum inside of her. Once found, she fed it, nurtured it until it became more than just a memory in her veins. The hum spread through her body. Finally, she could think more clearly, without the murky cloud of pain hovering over her. She touched the back of her head and grinned. No bump. Rae resumed her pacing.
Devon’s ink came to mind next, along with his image and she instantly felt nauseous all over again. How could I be so stupid? Taking a deep breath to dispel the sick feeling in her stomach, she promised herself she would see him again. But for now, I have work to do. She forced him out of her mind so she could concentrate. She realized she must’ve used his ability when squinting to see the recording camera in the dim light. Damn! The camera! She stopped pacing and stared up at it. Lanford might be watching even now and would have seen what she’d just done.
But what exactly have I done? Maybe…maybe there’s nothing to see on the camera but me acting crazy. Little bits of hope trickled through her as she tried to focus. There’s got to be something I can do without getting caught on camera. She sorted through the classes she had in the Oratory this term – thinking about everyone she had worked with. It was an uphill battle because everything reminded her of how much Lanford understood her ability and wanted to nurture it. Nurture my ass. He wanted it working at full force for when he needed to use me to his benefit and no one else’s, not even mine.
A deep breath in and out helped fortify her. Let it go. Focus on the problem at hand. She stood still, legs akimbo, pondering everything. She twirled a blonde strand of hair over and over through her fingers. Her ink was stronger than her father’s, just like her mother had said. I’m not my father, I’m nothing like him. I have to get out of here so I can prove it to the world. “Now how am I going to do that?” she asked herself aloud.
She leaned back against the cold wall and slid down, bumping into another bottle of water, catching it before it fell. She was immediately reminded of Craig as she felt a few drops spill onto her hand. Craig was able to change water into different forms. Rae leaned forward and rolled the water bottle away from her, letting it leave a trail of liquid along the way. She did the same for the remaining bottle as well. Making sure it was toward the door, not near her. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall again, waiting for the hum to start. She remembered the feeling inside of her from Craig’s tatù. She searched for it inside of herself. When she found it, she leaned forward and brought a finger toward the water. It instantly turned to ice. She could even hear the crackle as it froze against the marble. She didn’t think it was going to help, but at least she was able to draw on another skill if she needed it. And with the color of the marble she thought it couldn’t be visible to the camera.
She shivered with cold as she tried to think of a way to get the shackles off her wrists. She rubbed her hands together, trying to think of all the gifts she’d mimicked. Nicholas’ ink would be useful, but she had nothing to work with except the bracelet from Devon, and that was obviously going to be a last resort. She thought about shape-shifting, but being a wolf or a bird wasn’t going to get her out of the room. She needed something smaller, something more petite, something which would allow her to slip through the shackles…GALE!
Just as Rae closed her eyes to catch Gale’s ability, a heavy slamming muffled against the other side of the wall. A very angry, and apparently alive, Carter hollered at Lanford.
“You bugger! You’ve been playing her since day one!” Another loud crashing echoed through the door of her prison. Lanford was obviously using his ability against Carter. Rae pressed herself back against the wall. Nothing could come flying through the ancient brick walls but it still didn’t stop her from flinching. Still feeling the hum of Gale’s ability, she changed only her hands and feet, focusing until the shackles slipped off her wrists and clanged to the floor. She carefully slipped her misshapen feet out of their shackles and focused on changing both her hands and feet back to normal. When done, she let out a relived sigh, thankful that nothing had gone wrong in the process. At the same time another piece of furniture burst into a million pieces on the other side of the wall.
“You know nothing!” Lanford hissed. “You obviously have no idea what she is capable of or who she can hurt.”
“She’s not going to hurt anyone. Guilder’s supposed to protect her, not use her!” Several grunts and scraping noises followed. “Now, where did you hide her, old man?”
Rae, avoiding the ice, ran to the door and began pounding on the heavy oak. Her fists barely made a sound on the dense, almost fossilized wood. “I’m in here! Help me! I’m here,” she yelled.
More fighting and grunting ensued from the other side of the door. Rae knew they probably hadn’t heard her. Carter fought outmatched anyway. Even if he had heard her pounding on the door and calling out, Lanford’s ability could toss the dean in the air like a rag doll. He didn’t stand a chance.
Shoulders slumped, Rae edged back to the spot by the chains and slid to the floor, hugging her knees. Head tucked between her legs, she wished this was a bad dream and it would all just end.
The scraping sound of the rusty dead bolt brought her head up. She held her breath as it swung open.
Lanford, his combover now looking like a bad wig and his clothes completely ripped and covered in red smudges and dirt, looked furious. He glared at her, then the TV screen, then back at her. “The video obviously doesn’t work.” He didn’t sound nearly as angry about it as she had expected he would, which surprised her.
Rae kept her eyes on him, wondering what the heck he was going to do, but tried to focus on an ink that could match his ability. His own. She let the hum fill her body and grow familiar inside her. Then she thought one ink better and had to fight to keep the triumphant smile from breaching her lips. Oh yeah…Mr. Fluffy Bad-Hair is going down…
He moved just inside the doorway.
Right where I want you… “Take one step closer and I’ll burn you and this building down like my mother roasted Simon.” Rae had no idea how her mother’s ability worked, but she figured those words would be enough to stop him in his tracks and Lanford had no idea of what her capabilities truly were anyway. She was betting he
didn’t have the guts to call her bluff.
It worked, for a moment, at least until Lanford pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at her. “You may have some hidden talents, but I have five hidden friends inside of this.” He jiggled the gun in his palm, just to make sure she didn’t misunderstand his poorly chosen pun. “You move and I’ll send all five of them out to meet you.”
Seriously bad joke, but that gun isn’t funny. What now? Rae hesitated. She couldn’t think of any tatù that could stop one bullet, let alone the five that would fly in her direction if she pushed him. She knew she could heal relatively small and internal injuries, but she had no idea if it could save her from the damage caused by bullets, or if it would work fast enough. What if she went unconscious? Would the tatù still work? She didn’t know. Of all the questions I really should have asked in class…this is the one that comes back to bite me in the butt? Really?!?! Her internal turmoil aside, she knew now wasn’t the time to test the far flung theory hoping she’d be all right.
Wow, kinda wish I’d thought this through a little more…
“Did you think you’d be able to get away, Kerrigan?”
Well, kinda…yeah. But she knew now wasn’t the time for her smart mouth. She decided to let him keep talking. The longer he yacks, the longer I live to try to get myself out of here.
“For ten bloody years I served your father. For another ten years I had to wait for you to turn sixteen. You think I just sat and twiddled my thumbs while I waited? That I didn’t take the time to think about what you might become or what monster you might turn into that would be different than your father?” Lanford paused for dramatic effect and Rae knew he was about to go on the attack, but she stood completely unprepared for it when it came. Physical blows she might have been able to deal with, but Lanford’s chosen weapon was her own insecurities. Like a passive-aggressive parent, he dug into her psychological wounds with unerring accuracy.
“Everyone here is terrified of you.”
No. Don’t listen to him. He lies.
“You’re never going to be accepted anywhere you go.”
NO. I won’t let him turn me inside out! Rae felt a curious sensation, a warmth and strength like fire-cured steel filled her up, blossoming from her heart to her fingers and down to her toes. She didn’t know what it meant, but she knew it meant something good.
Lanford, ranted on, completely unaware of the change. “The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can see what I have to offer you is your freedom, and the power to make those fools serve you. Wake up and see your destiny!”
The crazed light in his eyes gave Rae pause. But she was done cowering from him. “I have a hard time believing you’re my destiny. I don’t follow assholes.”
Rae heard someone’s voice hollering from the stairwell. “They’re up here!” Riley. Riley had called for help. Her heart leapt with joy. Go Cheetah-boy!
Lanford glanced over his shoulder and then took another step toward Rae, gun aimed at her heart. “Fight with me or die. You choose.”
Rae lowered her head, glaring at him from under her lashes, and squared her shoulders. She spoke evenly, precisely, wanting to make sure there would be absolutely no misunderstanding. If these are my last words, this asshat is going to hear them.
“I would rather die, than be even one-tenth of what my father was.” She shut her eyes and inhaled slowly, trying to focus on the waiting bullet. Let it come, I have hope.
The gun fired with a percussive boom, amplified by the acoustics in the round stone room, making her ears ring so loudly no other noise could have been heard.
Despite the noise, Rae was ready and she exhaled a breath, thinking of Haley and hoping the gust might curve the bullet away from her. She had the tatù’s power zipping through her veins, had made sure she had it ready, but she had no idea if her crazy plan would work or not, until she felt the bullet’s wind brush by her hair and the dull crushing sound against the old stone, an impact more felt than heard. Little bits of wall pelted her back and scattered to the floor. At the same time, she felt the vibration of something large hitting the floor hard and clumsily.
Then, there came a noise Rae had never heard before – a very dull, but thick, cracking sound, heard even through the ringing in her ears. She peered through her half-closed eyes and saw Lanford on the ground. The scene made no sense at first. It took a moment or two for her understand what she was seeing.
He must have slipped on the ice. Rae’s eyes opened wider when she saw a pool of blood begin forming around his head. He didn’t move and the gun lay by the door.
She didn’t know what to do. Part of her screamed that he was dead, another part told her to check to see if he might still be alive. Fight or flight…Fight or flight…played over and over inside her mind. Just freakin’ run!! But she stood frozen in place, and everything seemed to move in slow motion, sounds coming to her as if from under water while her heart raced. Her ears rang like cymbals and her head pounded. I must be in shock…is that what this is? Or am I dead? Dead, too?
She heard and felt nothing, almost like she wasn’t really there. Afterward, she couldn’t have said how long she’d stood there, acting a zombie; there but not there; her body a sort of place holder for something that had said “brb” and left.
Sound came back slowly, but it returned before anything else did. She heard something…something familiar, but her eyes were fixed on the body lying before her. Gradually, the sound became words, and then the words became a voice she could understand.
“Rae. Rae! Come here. Walk around the body but don’t touch him. Come over here by me.” Dean Carter’s urgent voice beckoned her. The thought why not whispered through her foggy mind.
She let her eyes trail away slowly from the body to the dean, his face full of concern, but the pull to stare at Lanford won and she couldn’t stop her gaze from fixing on him again. “Is he…dead?” she whispered, still afraid to move.
“I need to check his vitals, but I’m not doing anything until you’re out of the room and safe.”
Safe…he wants me safe. The dean? Wait, but he’s bad, isn’t he?
Rae’s mind continued to futilely trying to put coherent thought together. It took momentous effort on her part. A warning finally got through to her brain, telling her lungs they’d forgotten to breathe, and she sucked in a long, noisy breath. The rush of oxygen flowing into her body was just what she needed, so she did it again. But somehow, she lost control of it after that and began hyperventilating. She knew she had to slow her breathing, but the rush of oxygen felt like a welcome relief and at least her brain had started working again.
She forced words out between her heaving. “Wh-What about Riley? Is h-he outside?” Still unsure if leaving the room was her safest option, Rae’s feet refused to budge.
“Riley’s a good guy. He works for me. For the Privy Council.” He beckoned her with his hand, gently but firmly, a perfect counter-balance to her terror. “Come now. Let’s get you a blanket. Your teeth are chattering. You’ve got goose bumps the size of mountains.”
Great. Hyperventilating, freezing my ass off, trying not to die…and the icky Dean is the hero? This has been a night I’ll never forget. Rae edged toward the dean, small hesitant steps between gasps for air and violent shivers, keeping her back pressed against the circular stone wall until she reached the door. Where’s a freakin’ paper bag when you need one? Then the dean pushed her behind him into the reception area, slung a rescue blanket over her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eye.
“Stay here. Don’t go anywhere. We need to talk.” He turned and stepped into the room, slamming the door shut.
Chapter 24
Why Me?
Rae stood in the middle of the reception room. Strangers bustled around, whispering and pointing to the closed door, and then to her. Someone had called 999 and an ambulance was en route. Riley had been hovering nervously by her side for a while. She wasn’t sure how she got there, but she ended up in
front of the leaded windows. Resting her forehead against the cool glass, she stared out.
“Rae,” Riley said, politely keeping his distance for once. “I’m sorry I had to be such a jerk before. It’s just… It’s just that I really want this job. I had to prove to Carter and… well, you know.”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “I know what? That you betrayed me? That you lied to get me here, where I almost died? That Lanford worked for my father? That he planned this whole stinkin’ thing and wanted me here to finish some stupid file my dad started?” She paused when Riley’s eyes grew as big as his open mouth. He obviously knew nothing either. She should care that she’d just given him information, considering she hadn’t really decided for herself which side he was on, but then again… She shrugged and turned back to the window. “Whatever. Thanks for getting help, but it doesn’t erase the rest. You’re gone after this year and I hope I never have to see your stupid face again.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Riley reached out and touched the blanket on her shoulder. “Not everything was an act.”
He dropped his arm and straightened when the door to the prison tower room opened. Carter stepped through, spoke quietly to the paramedics and then came over to the window.
“That’ll be all for now, Riley,” he said. “Pack your stuff from the dorms and one of the drivers will take you to the training center.”
Rae watched several professors and students crowd into a small area of the parking lot. Molly, Maria, Haley, Julian, Andy and Devon were down there waiting. All my friends… “How’s Lanford?”
“He’s in bad shape. Seems you had a slip of luck.” He paused before speaking quietly, “Lanford cracked his head, and it looks like he’s broken his neck.”
Good. A twinge of guilt settled in Rae’s stomach, but she quickly squelched it. He’s the monster, I do not have to feel sorry for him. “Can we get out of here?” She felt trapped inside the reception room and wanted to get outside where her friends were.