by W. J. May
“And it’s not me you have to say it to.” Taking him firmly by the hand, she headed up the stairs to fix his arm as well. “You only stabbed me. You should see what you did to Julian…”
Chapter 6
“I’m just saying, honey, you were just stabbed.” Beth flitted helplessly in front of her daughter down the stairs, wringing her hands more desperately with every step. “Don’t you want to maybe give yourself a day to recover?”
Rae hastily stuffed her arms into her jacket, pausing only a moment to mournfully note the giant blood-stained hole in her favorite sweater.
“I told you, Mom, I’m fine.” She nodded a silent greeting to Molly, who was already by the door, lacing up a pair of tall leather boots. “Alicia healed me. I’m as good as new.”
“Almost,” Molly muttered, eyeing her clothes critically. “It’s like Devon didn’t realize that sweater was a gift. From Prada.”
Rae rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t have stabbed me then.”
“Too soon, guys,” Luke muttered as he breezed into the room, having narrowly escaped the restraining hands of his father. “Way too soon.”
“What?” There was a swish of air as Angel slid down the banister to join them. “I think it’s good the guy starts taking responsibility for his actions.”
Molly nodded soundly while Rae shot Angel a sarcastic look.
“Is that right? Just like you freezing Gabriel back at Guilder?”
Angel paused only for a second before shrugging it off in a way unique to her and her endearingly sociopathic brother. “I was under a spell.”
“So was Devon.”
“Rae, honey, seriously,” Beth tried again, discreetly angling herself in front of the door. “I think the lot of you are jumping the gun here. Why don’t you reassess in the morning? After having gotten a good night’s rest.”
Rae shook her head, stepping into pair of boots before realizing they belonged to Julian. “No can do, Mom. We’ve got a lead. We’ve got to chase it down.”
“Did I hear my name?”
Everyone looked up at the same time to see Devon and Julian slowly descending the stairs. The two of them had just had a miniature heart-to-heart—after one tried to strangle the other, a brief apology seemed socially appropriate—and were already geared up and ready to get on with the mission.
“Yeah.” Angel peered up speculatively. Julian and Devon may have been as inseparable as two people could be, but she was slightly less inclined to forgive the man who had almost murdered her boyfriend. “Molly and I were just saying how it was high time that you—”
“That you get down here,” Rae interjected quickly. “It’s time to go.”
Angel rolled her eyes and returned to her scarf, while Devon nodded and began tossing people their cell phones, one by one.
Julian secured his long hair into a ponytail, and nodded to Rae. “You want me to go? Then I need my shoes.”
She glanced down and blushed, quickly locating her own. “Oh, sorry.”
By now, Beth had been joined by both Simon and Commander Fodder. Each of them was watching the children suit up with varying looks of disapproval. All except Simon, of course. He was watching with a faint twinkle in his eye, an almost-nostalgic smile dancing around his lips.
“I don’t know what cars we’re going to take,” Gabriel said as he breezed into the room; his hand shot up automatically as Devon tossed over his phone. “As long as we bring Kerrigan along, all of them are at risk of either getting ticketed or towed.”
The rest of them chuckled under their breath, while Rae bristled defensively.
“When is that going to stop being funny?” she demanded.
Julian, the most recent victim of her vehicular sabotage, shot her a cool glare. “When you stop losing our cars.”
She wisely decided to let it go.
“Rae!” Beth exclaimed again, finally summoning her full attention. “I want you to take this more seriously. You all just went through a trauma.” She stared around at their blank faces. “Why the hell am I the only one who seems to grasp this concept?!”
“They’re super-agents, Beth. It’s their job, you know that,” Simon interjected with a smile. “I, for one, think it’s great that they’re jumping back in the saddle so soon.”
Beth’s eyes flashed with a hint of her deadly fire. “Well, fortunately, no one asked you.” She turned back to the kids. “I don’t care if you’ve all technically been healed; there’s more to recovery than just the physical. There are psychological ramifications to days like this. Scars that can’t just be ignored.” When no one said a word, she spun around in frustration. “Anthony, back me up here!”
It was always strange to hear the Commander referred to by his first name. Most of the time, Rae simply assumed that he didn’t have one. Kind of like how it used to be with Carter.
He stepped forward with a frown, arms folded firmly across his chest. “I agree with Beth. It’s far too soon for you to be gearing up for something like this.” His eyes settled upon Luke, as if he was considering making him some sort of leash. “If we were back at the Abbey, I would order you all under medical supervision for at least twenty-four hours. Or, better yet, I’d send out a different team altogether to carry out such a task.”
“And that’s why the Knights will always come in second place,” Devon murmured with a sly grin. He and Julian shared a silent fist pound before Luke stepped in between.
“You want to say that a little louder, Wardell?” He raised his eyebrows with a friendly, yet competitive, grin. “Maybe you and I can settle it outside.”
“I’d place money on that,” Julian said smugly.
“Yeah?” Molly blew him a shower of sparks. “So would I.”
“It’d be an interesting fight,” Gabriel murmured, generally ignoring the rest of the banter as he hastened to find all his clothes. “That’s for sure.”
Angel giggled. “Yeah, until Devon whipped out a knife and stabbed him.”
The room went quiet. Dead quiet.
The adults blanched. Devon looked depressingly deflated. And as the others graciously averted their eyes, Angel gazed up questioningly at Julian.
“Was that too soon again?”
He put an arm around her, and silently steered her out the door.
As the others were quick to follow, Rae glanced at Devon. “It’s fine, Dev. It’s just… the way we roll, right? We joke around about stuff to deal with it.”
“I know.” He shot her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, again.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’ve never been sorrier for anything I’ve ever done.” He stepped outside and Rae went to follow.
She paused and then doubled back and took her mother by the hands. “Mom, it’s not like we can take a day off, you know that. If there’s trouble out there, then it’s our job to find it. It’s what we signed up for.”
Beth’s eyes watered as they automatically traced over the exact spot that the knife had pierced Rae’s clothes. “Then at least let me come with you. Watch your back.”
Rae pressed her lips tight, refusing to let the smile escape. On almost any other day, she’d bend over backwards to take her mother up on the offer. Having Beth Kerrigan watching your back was as close as you could possibly get to a guarantee. But that was most days. Today was a little different.
Today, the adults were feeling a little overprotective. And if the gang was going to have any chance at all of stopping Samantha, they needed to get back into their usual stride.
“I need you to stay here in case she comes back. She’s already been here once; there’s no telling what might happen if she decides to do it again.” Rae glanced behind to where both her father and the Commander were standing side by side. Both impossibly powerful. Both impossibly different. “Besides,” she lowered her voice to a loud whisper, “you need to keep an eye on these two. You know men.” She rolled her eyes. “Delicate little flowers.”
Beth shot her a sarcast
ic smile, and took a step back. “I’ll do my best.”
Rae grinned and hurried out after her friends, feeling oddly normal as she glanced back at her mother, and her father, and the leader of a secret organization of superhuman spies. All standing framed in the doorway of her enormous country estate. “I’m on my cell!” she called, spotting a tuft of crimson hair and sliding into the nearest car next to Molly. “Don’t wait up!”
“Unless you want to order some dinner, that is!” Molly called through the window. “There are some take-out menus in the drawer by the fridge, and we all like Italian!”
The boys were quick to echo these sentiments, each adding their favorites. It wasn’t until actual flames began dripping from Beth’s hands that they had the sense to quiet down.
The trio of cars revved to life and whipped around the gravel driveway, blasting loud music from the windows as they shot off to the last place in the world that any of them wanted to see again.
Guilder.
* * *
By the time Rae and the gang got back to the scene of the crime, the sun was already setting behind the tall trees. A full moon was shining high in the sky above them, casting long shadows down through the branches and creating a strangely familiar feeling of adolescent criminality to the entire endeavor.
It hadn’t been that long ago that Rae and Molly, as well as Julian and Devon, had been trying to sneak out of this campus instead of trying to sneak in. Lowering themselves down from their dorm-room windows high in the tall, stone towers. Slipping over the wide emerald lawns, as soft as spirits. When the necessity arose, even turning into the occasional bird.
You name it, they had done it. Their names were forever engraved in the sacred halls of the school. Living on as legends far after they had graduated and left such things behind them.
That being said, the lot of them still jumped like a group of frightened school children when they heard an oh-so-familiar voice…
“Rae Kerrigan!”
Molly jumped into Rae’s arms with a shriek as all four of the boys leapt protectively in front of them. Trained to expect the worst Gabriel’s arm shot up at the ready, pointing a loaded gun.
Only Angel remained immune, engrossed in a silent game on her phone.
“Madame…Madame Elpis?” Rae smacked down Gabriel’s hand as she ventured cautiously forward. “Is that you?”
It was a fair question. Never before had the friends seen the poor woman so thoroughly undone. Her skin was a sallow kind of pale, and her wiry fingers trembled with every halting breath. Her clothes were torn and hung on her skeletal frame. Even her graying hair, always tied back in the strictest of buns, was hanging ragged down to her shoulders.
The woman made a strange, choking sound before lifting a quivering finger.
“Kerrigan! Skye! This is your final warning!” Her eyes bulged frightfully as her voice rose in panic. “If I catch you out after curfew one more time, it’ll be a permanent mark on your record!”
Molly and Rae shared a bewildered glance as the rest of them stared in shock. Julian’s eyes flashed in and out of the present. Angel slowly lowered her phone.
“Madame Elpis,” Molly spoke carefully, like she was worried about setting her off, “Rae and I have been out of school for a while now. We graduated over a year ago.”
Elpis’ head jerked back and forth, as though seeing some kind of tennis match the others could not. When she realized Molly had spoken, her eyes—eyes so infamously sharp that they never missed a thing—darted back to the group in shock. Like she was seeing them for the first time.
“Children, what are you doing here?!” She frantically waved her hands towards the dorms, trying to shepherd them all inside. “Get to bed at once! It’s not safe!”
…not safe?
Rae and Devon locked eyes for a split second before he took a step forward. “Madame Elpis,” he began softly, “have you been on campus all day?”
If it was possible, her hands shook even harder. Her eyes darted wildly out to the bloody field next to Lawrence Hall, but she didn’t say a thing.
At this point, Rae wasn’t sure if she was even capable.
Oh, you poor thing…
When a person lived on campus, they were oftentimes overlooked when making a final tally. It wasn’t at all hard to imagine how, when everyone else sprinted for their cars to escape, she was left behind. Lost in all the chaos. Unheard over the deafening clamor. Left alone in the unending silence that followed.
A look of extreme pity flashed across Devon’s face as he silently removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. It was near freezing outside, but the woman was wearing nothing but a dress.
At the same time, Julian stepped forward and took her by the hand with a reassuring smile. “Actually, I think you’re right. We should probably be getting inside.” His voice took on a soothing, almost hypnotic quality. One that never failed to hit its mark. With careful nonchalance, he spun her around so she was no longer looking at the bloody field. Angled so she was looking back towards the safety of the school instead. “Can you walk me back to Joist?”
And that is why I love Julian Decker.
Devon gave him a tiny nod as Madame Elpis gazed up at him with wide, unblinking eyes. At first, Rae was worried that she didn’t even understand the question. But a second later her head jerked up and down in a quick nod, and they started walking.
As they neared the door to the boys’ dormitory, he slipped a comforting arm around her bony shoulders. By the time they stepped inside, she was openly sobbing into his shirt.
The friends were quiet, staring after them a long time after they’d gone. It wasn’t until Molly started shivering in the chilly night, that Devon cleared his throat. “We should get inside ourselves. Jules knows the plan. He’ll meet us in the library.”
Rae and the others nodded and quickly set out across the lawn. But even as they hurried past the dorms and into the main building of the school she couldn’t help but glance back, fixing her eyes on the door to Joist Hall.
Her mother was right. Not all damage could be seen on the surface. Some scars went a lot deeper than that. Some scars could never hope to fade.
She would never be so flippant again. They would give this day its due.
Before they did, they still had to find the girl responsible for all this mess.
But before that, they had to make sure a day like this would never happen again.
Chapter 7
Two hours later, they had yet to make any progress.
The seven of them were sprawled out in various states around the Scriptorium library, having already extracted all the administrative files from the office just inside and spread them out on the long table. Rae figured having superpowers would come in handy at a time like this, but try as they might, not one of them had been able to find a single word or shred of evidence on Samantha.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Rae.” Devon stretched his recently healed arm above his head with a muffled sigh. “If she was really a student here at Guilder, we’d have found her admissions form in one of these files.”
Rae dropped the box of papers she’d been carrying onto the table in frustration. “But she told me she worked for the Guilder Student Press. It’s such a minor detail to add, considering she could have just made me tell her anything she wanted to know. Why would she make up something like that?”
“I don’t know, but she did.” Molly waved half a dozen newspapers in the air, dangling her legs down from the top of a nearby bookshelf. “I’ve looked through issues and mock-ups for the last seven months. There’s not a single mention of a Samantha Neilson anywhere.”
As Rae dropped her head to the table, Julian slid a fresh cup of coffee her way.
“You know, there’s also the possibility she said it because she didn’t want to make you tell her anything she wanted to know.” His face softened thoughtfully. “That she wanted it to be your choice.”
For the first time, Rae consi
dered this. Her gut reaction was that it was a stupid idea—the girl clearly had no problem pulling the strings of everyone around her. Why would she want to hear Rae frame the words herself instead of just extracting them with her power?
Except, the longer she thought about it the more she started thinking that Julian might be right.
She remembered the hungry way Samantha had asked after her father. Simon Kerrigan. The adoring gleam in her eyes when she talked about Rae and her friends. That shell-shocked look of awe the first time she had met them in person. It was a look that was quick to fade once they started talking about Simon. Once she realized that they didn’t see things as black and white as she did.
“She idolized us,” Rae murmured, “and absolutely hated my dad.”
There was a slight pause before Gabriel spoke softly from the corner. “Then talking with you couldn’t have been easy that day at the house.”
Rae’s mind flashed back as, once again, she considered. He was right. In fact, the more she thought about it the timeline made perfect sense.
Samantha had been dying to talk to her back at the safe house, dying to hear all about how Rae and her band of super friends had blown up their own mansion to stop the evil Simon Kerrigan once and for all.
…until she learned that wasn’t exactly what happened.
After that, she came back with a mob.
Then she had been dying to let Rae and the gang explain themselves. To give them a chance to justify what had happened. But at the same time, she’d been arming herself as well. Teaching herself the ins and outs of their relationships. Figuring out their dynamic in case the answers they gave weren’t the ones she wanted to hear.
They weren’t. But when Rae promised to testify against him, everything changed.
She remembered the way Samantha’s pen had hovered over the paper. The way her eyes dilated with absolute focus as she demanded that Rae say it again. Confirm it was true.
Rae had done exactly that. And nothing else went wrong. There was a temporary truce.