by W. J. May
His eyes flickered curiously to Beth and then quickly back to his daughter, but Kraigan bounced in between them. Like an over-excited child who couldn’t get enough attention.
“So how did you do it, Dad?” Kraigan had no problem using the word. Rae found that it continued to stick in her throat. “How did you make it out of the fire?”
Simon stared between his children for another moment before sliding his hands inside his pockets. “Not of my own volition, I’m afraid. I was taken prisoner by a man named Jonathon Cromfield. Yet another person long presumed dead, except—”
“—Except he was a hybrid gifted with both sight and immortality,” Rae interrupted, moving things along quicker. “We know.”
“Wait—Cromfield had you all along?!” Kraigan exclaimed, his brows pressing together. “You were in the factory?” He glanced behind to Rae for confirmation. “Same factory, right? That’s how you found him?”
She nodded silently as Simon frowned.
“Hold on.” He swallowed. “How do you all know Jonathon Cromfield?”
For a moment the conversation stopped as all three of them—Beth included—turned to gaze at Simon with the slightest bit of pity.
In their quest to satiate their own curiosity, in their haste to answer of all their burning questions—they’d forgotten that Simon must have some burning questions of his own. In fact, given that they could find out almost anything they wanted know between the newspapers and the case files, it was likely that he had a hell of a lot more questions than they did.
He simply didn’t know anything. Not anymore. His entire life was in the past. It had effectively ended the day Cromfield dragged him out of that fire. Everything since then had been just passing time. A mindless purgatory in which the rest of the world went on without him.
“We…” Rae paused, wondering where to begin. “I guess you could say we crossed paths.”
“I killed him,” Kraigan announced proudly, ever his father’s hero.
Unable to control herself, Rae rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “Oh, you did, did you? It wasn’t the fact that Devon buried a dagger in his chest?”
Kraigan’s nostrils flared. “Only after I stripped the man of every tatù in his arsenal. You know that dagger wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t for me!”
Rae snorted. “Yeah? It also wouldn’t have worked if Gabriel hadn’t held him steady so long,” Rae shot back, unwilling to surrender the credit for such an incredible victory to only one person. Not when so many had given so much. “And it also wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t spent the last ten minutes knocking him senseless with everything I had!’
“Oh, that’s just like you, isn’t it?” Kraigan spat, towering over her as the two of them squared off. “Little Miss Privy Council President always has to save the day!”
Rae stretched up on her toes in frustration. “I’m not saying that I alone saved the day! I’m just saying that it took a hell of a lot of people to bring him down, and you can’t—”
“Children!”
Both Beth and Simon shouted at the same time. Then they turned to share the strangest look that Rae had ever seen.
Looks like we’re having a family Thanksgiving after all…
Beth took a wide step away from Simon as he cleared his throat quickly, hastening to get the shaky conversation back on track. “Is that why you were voted President of the Privy Council?” he asked Rae with an unmistakable note of pride. “After killing Cromfield in the factory?”
It sounded like he didn’t know what was more impossible: The fact that Jonathon Cromfield, his immortal counterpart, was truly dead, or the fact that his long-lost daughter was actually the leader of the supernatural government.
Rae was about to answer, when Kraigan stepped forward again, unwilling to share even an ounce of the spotlight. “Yeah, Rae went the conventional route,” he replied, sounding distinctly unimpressed. “Until very recently, I was actually a fugitive—like you.”
Rae grimaced on his behalf, while Beth stepped forward with a sudden frown.
“Kraigan. What exactly are you doing here?”
“Oh,” his hand lifted in a wave welcome, “I just got out of prison. See,” he flashed his father a wink, “I told you we have a lot in common.”
Rae fought back a wave of nausea.
Beth pressed on, not understanding why a secluded mansion in Kent would have automatically been his first stop. “Did you come here for Thanksgiving?”
“Thanksgiving,” Simon interjected with surprise. “It’s November?” Then he glanced around with a touch of confusion. “Why in the world are we celebrating Thanksgiving? Is that an English thing now as well? Have we been re-colonized?”
Beth shot him a truly indecipherable look. “Your daughter grew up in New York, with her uncle. She’s American. Celebrates American holidays.”
Simon absorbed this for a moment, before his face tightened in shock. “Why did Argyle raise her in America? Where the hell were you?”
“Supposedly dead, according to Rae.” Beth’s voice began to rise.
“You’re here now. Back then, you were happy to lock me away—”
Rae closed her eyes as the two of them began shouting out of control.
It was going to be a family Thanksgiving alright.
* * *
After the altercation in the living room, everyone retreated to their separate corners for a much- needed break. Simon was returned to the basement. Beth went out for a drive to clear her head. Rae went upstairs to unload her feelings upon her unsuspecting fiancé.
And Kraigan… Rae had no idea where he’d gone, nor did anyone else.
“He was just so happy to see him,” she repeated for the seventh time, pacing like a madman in front of the bed. “Like it was his own Thanksgiving miracle. He smiled! It freakin’ reached his eyes. He was like, “Wahoo! Our father’s really alive.”
Devon was laid out on top of the bed, propped up against the headboard. He tracked her progress carefully, glancing down on occasion to see if she was actually wearing a trail into the floor. “Well, you know Kraigan’s always idolized your dad. That’s no big surprise. And as for the other thing…” His voice and eyes gentled at the same time. “Honey, you might not have been thrilled that your dad was alive, but you can’t tell me that at least some small part of you wasn’t—”
“Relieved?” Rae interrupted, casting him a quick look. “Yeah, don’t remind me. I said the exact same thing to my mom this afternoon.”
Devon leaned back in surprise. “You told Beth that you were relieved Simon wasn’t dead?”
Rae sank down where she stood, her face in her hands. “Yeah. I did. Genius move, right?”
In a second he was sitting on the floor beside her, fingers lacing gently through her own.
“It’s…surprising, to be sure.” She looked up and he gave her a crooked smile. “Hey, no one ever said you Kerrigans were predictable. But at least it was honest.”
She looked down with a sigh but he squeezed her hand, bringing her back to attention.
“I’m serious, Rae. It was honest. It’s good you said it. Just like when you stopped her from going down to the basement. It might not have been what she wanted to hear… but it was the right thing to do. No matter which way you look at it.” He stroked back her long hair, cupping her face in his hands. “You’ve got a beautiful heart, Rae. It’s one of the first things I fell in love with. Of course you’re relieved that your dad is alive. Of course you’re doing everything in your power to protect him now that he’s here.” His face lit up with a sudden smile. “Actually, I guess it’s not that surprising after all. That’s just you.”
Rae placed her hand over his before turning her head to kiss his palm. “I almost told her today,” she whispered. “I couldn’t help myself. Every time I see her, it gets harder and harder to keep it a secret.”
At this, Devon dropped his eyes to his lap. His shoulders stiffened with automatic tension
before falling with a tired sigh. “I know. It’s hard for me, too.”
The decision not to tell Beth about their engagement had been universal. Echoed by every single one of their friends. It had started with the crack of a bullet, and had solidified by the time Carter’s body was carried out of the room.
They could not advertise this kind of happiness. Not right now. Not like this. And especially not now that the sky had started falling once again.
“We’ll do it soon.” He kissed her finger where the ring was supposed to be. “I promise. And until then…” He pulled out his wallet and tipped it over into his palm. A sparkling diamond fell into his open hand, sending up rays of light all over the room. “I’ll keep this with me day and night.”
They leaned towards each other. Closed their eyes. Parted their lips.
Then suddenly all hell broke loose.
CRASH!
A shadowy figure fell from the top of the dresser, landing with a muffled profanity in the middle of the floor. As Rae and Devon leapt to their feet with a cry, the figure began to change color. The chestnut grains of browns and odd antique-looking hues lightening to a flat grey trench coat and a pair of slacks. Complete with prison ID tags.
“Kraigan!” Rae screamed, ready to kill him.
He scrambled to his feet just in time to dodge the bolt of lightning from his sister’s hand. A second bolt was soon to follow, providing cover fire as Devon stuffed the precious ring back into his pocket.
“It’s not what you think!” he cried, shielding his face with his hands. “I wasn’t going to hurt anyone. I was only spying! Using the other half of my own tatù. Nothing stolen! Nothing sinister!”
The bolt that followed left a small crater in the wood. But before she could surrender to her darker temptations and finally barbeque her little brother like she’d always wanted, he dropped his hands completely and said the one thing that could get her to stop.
“You’re getting married?”
For once, there wasn’t an ounce of malice on his face. No evil flicker, no hint at a deep, dark plan. Not a trace of that cocky smile they all knew and hated so well.
All the darkness had cleared away to leave him looking strangely childlike, staring at his big sister in a state of wide-eyed shock.
“Devon asked you to marry him?”
For a second, the lightning paused. The fire-poker Devon had grabbed lowered slowly in his hand as the three of them froze in momentary silence.
“I don’t…” Rae began, but there was no point in denying it. He had already heard them talking. He had already seen the ring. Instead, she shared a quick look with Devon before instinctively clutching her hand. “He proposed a few days before the battle,” she murmured, silently wondering in what kind of world did she tell Kraigan this information before telling her own mother.
Kraigan just stood there, looking downright astonished. “And…you said yes?”
Both Rae and Devon shot him a sour look, and he was quick to back-pedal.
“No. I didn’t meant it like that. Of course you said yes, it’s just…” His eyes met his sister’s, and for one of the first times in their lives he offered her a genuine smile. “Congratulations, Rae.”
Congratulations?! Okay, what kind of alternate dimension have I stumbled upon…
“Uh… Thank you?”
This time, it was her turn to look shocked. Devon instinctively raised the fire-poker back up again, but brother and sister were having their own little moment. Oblivious to the rest of the world.
They simply stood there for a moment, cautiously feeling out these first tentative steps of ‘family’ before Rae crossed the room and did the most surprising thing of all.
She gave him a hug.
“Rae—Don’t.” Kraigan made a strange, strangled sound and stiffened up as straight as a board, closing his eyes and wincing as if she might just go away. When that didn’t work, he actually tried pushing her off of him, but without his usual ink she was far too strong. “What the hell are—”
“Just stand there,” she soothed. “Just let it happen.”
Blame it on the fact that she’d just bailed out her little brother with the cops. Blame it on the fact that she’d just seen him transform into what she could only describe as a ‘giddy five-year-old boy’ the second he saw his long-lost father. Blame it on the damn congratulations on their engagement.
Whatever the reason… this hug was a long time coming.
“I think I’m having a panic attack,” he muttered. “An actual panic attack.”
She grinned, squeezing him even tighter. “Remember, if you take my strength tatù you won’t be immortal.”
He looked like he was seriously considering it anyway. “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Worse than prison.”
She patted him consolingly on the back of the head. “You’re going to learn to love it.”
Then a sudden flash illuminated the room, and both siblings sprang back to their opposite corners. Devon was already slipping his phone back into his pocket—but judging by the quiet dings echoing from all corners of the house, he’d already texted the photographic evidence to everyone he knew. He returned their murderous expressions with a satisfied smile. “Come on! No one would have believed me otherwise.”
“On second thought,” Kraigan aggressively shifted forward, “you could do a lot better.”
Rae’s eyes narrowed as she mimicked his move. “I’m beginning to think you’re right.”
Devon gulped and took a cautious step back, glancing between the two as if assessing a threat he never would have imagined was possible. “Anyway,” he said causally, “we should probably get back downstairs…”
Rae rolled her eyes, but allowed him his transparent escape. She snatched her sweater up off the floor, but as she made to follow Kraigan caught her elbow and held her back.
“You’re really,” he paused, sounding almost shy, “you’re really not happy he’s back?”
Her whole body stiffened, then wilted with a weary sigh. Unable to say the words for a second time, she simply shook her head. He absorbed this for a moment.
“But you also stopped your mom from killing him?”
Again, words failed her. She merely nodded.
A cloud of confusion flickered across Kraigan’s face, darkening to a sort of burning frustration as he tried to understand. “How could you not be happy? He’s our dad.”
At this, Devon stepped graciously outside to give them a moment as Rae turned around with another stifled sigh. “He killed a lot of people, Kraigan. Killed them.”
Kraigan’s face went blank, making it impossible to determine his verdict. “But he’s our dad.”
Rae bit her lip as she stared up into those dark eyes. For the first time, they seemed as searching as her own. Piercing deep down into her own, trying to answer an impossible question. “And that’s why I saved his life.”
It was a very ‘Kerrigan’ ending to the conversation, but an ending nonetheless. One that both she and Kraigan were satisfied with—at least for the time being. They headed down the stairs together, not seeming to realize the usual barrier of space between them had been subconsciously bridged.
It wasn’t until they reached the kitchen that Rae pulled him to a stop. “Kraigan, about the…the other thing.” Her eyes nervously flickered around, scanning for anyone who might be able to hear. “I haven’t told my mom yet. Not after… you know.”
He stared at her for a long moment before swiftly nodding his head once. He made no promises or threats of leverage, but simply headed inside the kitchen.
Strangely enough, Rae wasn’t worried. At least not about that. For the time being, there were more pressing matters at hand.
Chapter 15
“My dad’s on his way.” Luke assaulted her, and the others, with the information the second she stepped inside the kitchen the next day.
The kitchen was in vast disarray. Bits of flour, butter, and what she could only hope was
cranberry juice were sprinkled all over the floor. Her friends had obviously taken it upon themselves to begin food preparations when they received the fateful news.
“Right now?” she exclaimed, her heart seizing up in her chest. “He’s not supposed to get in until tomorrow! We’re supposed to have a whole other day to…to…” She trailed off as her father walked into the room, flanked closely by her mother.
…to have with my dad.
Strange. She suddenly didn’t have an ounce of trouble with the word.
“Wait. Your dad’s coming?” Kraigan asked sharply. “Why?”
“He’s coming for Thanksgiving,” Molly replied in a voice much smaller than her own. “It was set up before any of…any of this happened.”
Kraigan looked at her coldly before shrugging it away. “So, call him off. Tell him to turn back around.”
“We can’t,” Luke said, looking miserable. “He’s been looking forward to it for ages; trying to think of all sorts of reasons to drop by in the meantime to see me and Molls. Since your dad got here, we’ve been trying to put him off as best we could, but that’s why he waited so long to text me.” He glanced down at his phone. “He’s just a few minutes away, Rae. He’s not turning around.”
A cold chill raced down her spine, and all the color drained out of her face.
This is it, then. This is the last time we’ll all stand here together as a family. First and last.
A sardonic voice echoed in the back of her head.
Don’t be silly. You’ll all be in the courthouse together, too. Right before he’s carted off to some Privy Council black hole and you never see him again.
“Just a few minutes?” she echoed faintly, eyes locking with Simon’s.
Luke nodded sadly, looking as though he understood her plight. “Yeah, I’m sorry, Rae. I mean, we could always ask him to wait a day. Give you a little more time—”
“Time for what?” Gabriel asked sharply. Angel stood fiercely by his side.
The two of them had made it a point to steer as far away from Simon as was possible, while remaining within the confines of the house.