by May, W. J.
“Well, he’s not your everyday boyfriend,” Molly answered cryptically. “Let’s just say he has some connections with the…um…other side.”
“The other side?!”
“Oh! Oh no! No, no, no. Not Cromfield!” Molly said quickly. “Julian’s the one dating someone who worked for him. I’m talking about the Xavier Knights!”
“What?!” Carter turned to Julian with a shout, looking about ready to explode.
Julian shot Molly a quick, “leave me out of it,” before sinking inconspicuously down in his chair, trying not to be noticed.
“Anyway,” Molly continued on obliviously, “one of the ways we were able to out Jennifer as a double-agent back in the day, was because my boyfriend, Luke, was able to create of timeline of when exactly information started leaking from the Privy Council and ending up on the radar of the Knights—”
“Miss Skye…” Carter breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, trying very hard to keep his composure, “are you telling me that you were made aware of the fact that the Xavier Knights had gained access to proprietary information, and you neglected to report this?”
Molly frowned, like he had asked the dumbest question in the world. “How could I have done that? Luke would have lost his job.”
Rae swooped in with a helpful, “And we did expose Jennifer. That’s the important thing.”
Carter brought his hands back to his eyes. “Heaven help us…”
“The point is,” Molly continued, “I just asked him to make a similar timeline to when information started slipping through the cracks this time. He says it will take a while, but he’ll get right on it.”
“This is just perfect,” Carter mumbled, staring across the table with red-rimmed eyes. “You’re placing the future of this organization in the hands of your…your flavor of the month.”
Rae snorted into her hand as Molly flushed bright red. “He is not just a flavor of—”
“Why did you need my phone to text Luke, anyway?” Julian asked curiously, casually stopping her rant before it could begin.
She shrugged distractedly and pulled out her own. “It was long distance. I don’t need those sorts of charges.”
“So, we’ll keep Gabriel at an arm’s length for now,” Rae summarized, “for his protection as well as our own. In the meantime, we’ll focus on collecting these pieces before Cromfield can get his grubby little hands on them.”
“You know,” Molly mused aloud, taking a gulp of hot chocolate, “in a way, we’re lucky Cromfield is only after the device. What if he was going after something else? Like a bomb?”
“That’s very true,” Rae nodded unblinkingly at the wall. “Or, like, a dragon. Something he resurrected from the old days to rain down fire and brimstone.”
“No fire and brimstone.” Molly grinned and slurped up a marshmallow. “Glass half full.”
Beth’s eyes narrowed as she set a stack of plates on the table. “You know, you guys might have been playing it up back there, but this job is seriously doing a number on you.”
The four of them shared a blank expression before digging into their food.
Carter watched them eating for a moment, murmuring in a low voice, “I’m not even sure that going after Cromfield is the right end game anymore. If the only thing he’s really after is Rae, the best thing to do might be to keep her as far away from him as possible.”
Devon looked up, like he thought this was a magnificent idea, but before he could say anything Rae cut him off.
“Hey,” she said through a mouthful of turkey, “if Cromfield wants to come after me, he knows right where I am. The last time we spoke on the phone, I basically told him as much.”
“What?! You spoke to him on the phone?!” Beth and Carter exclaimed at the same time.
Rae paused in her chewing and looked across the table at Molly. “I thought you guys told them all that already.”
“No, I totally forgot about that part,” Molly answered, taking another gulp of chocolate. “In fact, I can’t even remember when exactly that happened. Was that in Japan? Or after we fought Angel and helped her fake her own—” Julian kicked her sharply under the table and she jerked back with a painful, “OW! You have got to stop doing that to me all the time.”
“That’s for telling Carter I was dating Angel.” But his smirk froze on his face as a strong hand clapped down ominously on his shoulder.
“A fact that I promise you, we’ll address in good time,” Carter vowed in a low voice.
Julian paled and sank down again in his chair. “Yes, sir.”
“So anyway,” Devon circled them back to the matter at hand, “the brainwashing device. Julian and I scattered three pieces. One in London, one in Ireland, and one in Wales. Now, which one did Cromfield already get?”
“The one in Wales,” Carter answered gravely.
“So why doesn’t the Privy Council just send people out to recover the rest of them before they can get snatched?” Rae asked impatiently.
“Because the Privy Council doesn’t know any of them have gone missing, let alone who it was who took them,” Carter replied. “At this rate, they’d probably think it was you; out to finish off your father’s work.”
“Oh, well that’s just great,” Rae snapped.
Cromfield did something, and she took the blame. She’d finally graduated Guilder Academy just to become a freaking scapegoat.
“We don’t need the Privy Council to recover the pieces,” Devon said softly, reassuringly squeezing her hand. “It’s something we can do ourselves.”
Her jaw tightened and she shook her head. “But we shouldn’t have to…”
“Come on,” his eyes sparkled as he tilted her chin up to look him in the eyes, “it’ll be fun… a little road-trip to Ireland? Travelling around Britain? It’s like a vacation.”
“Didn’t we just get back from vacation?” Molly muttered petulantly.
Devon flashed a coaxing smile. “Think of all the cold-weather travelling clothes Rae can conjure for us. All the, um…hats and scarves and stuff. And shoes. You like shoes, right?”
For a moment, Molly pursed her lips. Then she patted him lightly on the head. “Oh Dev, you always know exactly what to say to make me feel better.”
“Gabriel’s on his way back,” Julian said lightly, his eyes going momentarily white before switching back to their dark brown.
Carter and Beth had been listening with amused little smiles as they bantered, but shared an abruptly-exasperated look as they glanced outside.
“Honestly, children,” Beth chided, “the boy has done nothing but help.”
Julian grinned. “Yeah, but beneath all this ‘limit the circle of information to protect Rae’ bit, the truth is that my buddy Devon’s got a fragile little ego. Probably best to go along with it, for now.”
Devon threw up his hands in frustration. “For the last time, that is not what this is about.”
“Sure, sure,” Molly giggled.
“Like you wouldn’t punch me in the face if I looked at Rae like that?” Julian teased, with a playful shove. “As I recall…you actually did try to punch me in the face once for Rae.”
“Yeah, only because you’d secretly filled your room with drawings of her! Did you draw any naked ones too? Maybe keep those ones in a secret file while you handed the rest to the Privy Council?”
Rae’s cheeks steamed red and she raised her hand in the air. “A little awkward, guys. I’m right here. So’s my mom! Just sitting right—”
“That was the Cromfield connection,” Julian continued like she hadn’t even spoken. “It was about him, not Rae. And how dare you bring that up right now! I don’t know if you remember Japan, but it’s still a bit of a sensitive subject.” He flashed a mock look of hurt, and Molly was quick to pick up on the game.
“Geez, Dev.” She rubbed Julian’s back comfortingly. “Even I wouldn’t have mentioned that. I think we all remember how badly Julian screwed everything up in Osaka. You need to be
delicate—”
“Shut up!” Julian laughed, pushing her arm away.
“Were we like this at their age?” Beth muttered incredulously to Carter. “Is this really how we pumped ourselves up for a big mission?”
For the first time, Carter actually smiled. “We were worse. A lot worse.”
“Guys, he’s coming!” Rae interjected, her ears attuned to a pair of snow-damped footfalls outside.
The next second, Gabriel pushed open the door.
Carter and Beth shared a quick, nervous glance, but by the time they turned to the table, the four teenagers were deflated once more, back in their original poses of despair.
“Thanks for the hot chocolate, Mrs. K,” Molly mumbled pitifully, sliding her hands up into her hair. “Sorry, I guess I’m just not really feeling like myself today…”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Gabriel exclaimed rudely. “This is still happening?”
“I don’t know what’s the matter with us.” Rae lifted her head an inch off the table and shot Devon a secret wink. “Maybe it’s that time of the month.”
“Gross!” Julian muttered. “I think we all just need some sleep.”
Gabriel looked up at Carter. “See? This is why I hate working with newbies. They have no stamina.” He winked at Rae. “Do you know what that is, pretty girl?”
Rae heard Devon’s chair squeak as he pushed it away quickly and stood.
“She invented the word, buddy.” Devon grabbed Rae’s hand and tugged her toward the hall.
Chapter 5
“Rae?”
The sound of her mother’s voice stopped her and Devon as they headed out of the kitchen. There was a catch in her mother’s voice. Rae turned slowly around. “Yes?”
“Do you remember this place?”
Every head at the table swiveled from Rae to Beth then back to Rae, like a tennis match.
Rae let her eyes do a circle look, gazing out of the corner, rolling above her, to the other side and then down. “Am I supposed to?” she asked timidly, not sure if it was a trick question.
Beth smiled, her eyes shining. “This is,” she cleared her throat, “this was your grandparents’ home. I grew up here.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what she was supposed to say. It felt like she should feel a connection to the house, but if she did, she’d buried it long ago in childhood memories. She didn’t know her grandparents, except by photos Uncle Argyle had. She wondered if the Agent 007 in the Skyfall James Bond movie felt the same kind of hollow, empty memory Rae felt now when he returned to his childhood home. Distant memories locked away somewhere. Darn, hadn’t Skyfall been in Scotland too?
Her mother cleared her throat and absently tucked wisps of curls that she thought had been misplaced. “It’s a big house. We still own the land and the farm around here. The fields are rented out to local farmers now, but someone kept care of the house. I think Argyle made sure it was looked after. This place belongs to you. It was left in their will to their grandchildren. It belongs to you.”
“Oh.” She looked around again in a kind of questioning way. What did she want with an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere? She couldn’t exactly say that to her mother. “Cool.”
“Do you want me to show you around?” Beth glanced outside. “Maybe just inside the house for now. Bit cold out there to go to the barn.”
“Uh, sure.” Rae put on a smile and tried to look excited. This place meant something to her mother; it should mean something to her.
The farmhouse was huge, luxurious beyond what seemed reasonable in the beautiful but desolate scenery. It had five fully-furnished bedrooms upstairs, two of them with two beds each. The kitchen was stocked to the brim, and three of the four bathrooms had full, walk-in showers.
It grew dark early, and everyone agreed to an early night. They would make plans and strategize in the morning after a good night’s sleep.
The problem was that there were seven people, and only five bedrooms. In what seemed like no time at all, the spacious house was filling up with everything they were all taking care not to say.
“So…” Rae began innocently, “my mom can sleep in her old room, at the far end of the house…” she paused thoughtfully for effect, “and Carter, there’s a room for you right down here next to the foyer.” It was her house after all: shouldn’t she be in charge of the sleeping arrangements?
For what had to be one of the only times in his life, Carter turned beet red. But Beth just smiled at Rae, her eyes sparkling wickedly.
“Great, and on that note—perhaps two of the boys could share one of the remaining rooms upstairs, while you and Molly can share the other.”
Rae shot her a petulant look, and Beth grinned even wider. They were square. If she couldn’t be with her man, then Rae couldn’t be with hers either.
“Cool, then I’ll bunk with Devon.”
Devon looked up in alarm while the rest of them whirled around in shock. Much to everyone’s surprise, it was Gabriel who had spoken, not Julian. His green eyes sparkled with a mischievous fire as he looked his new roommate up and down, acting purposely oblivious to any tension between them.
Rae rolled her eyes at Molly and wondered if the two men would survive the night. Devon’s abilities were damn-near unparalleled, but she had never seen anyone fight like Gabriel. He moved with a skill that wasn’t God-given; it was developed carefully over time and backed by a casual arrogance that was just as deserved as it was annoying. Now, it seemed, he was using that same cocky self-assuredness to quietly torture her boyfriend.
“Well, I…uh…” Devon stalled, scrambling for some other solution. His eyes fell on Julian for automatic help, but before Julian could volunteer Beth clapped her hands briskly together.
“Perfect, it’s settled then.”
“So that just leaves you, Jules,” Carter said obliviously. He gestured up the hall and to the left. “If I remember this house correctly, I believe you’re up there.”
Julian glanced quickly between Gabriel’s triumphant expression and Devon’s pained one, before a small smile crept up his face. “Brilliant—a room to myself.”
For a second, his dark eyes flashed to the future. But they came almost immediately back to the present, dancing with a knowing grin. Although the specifics might be lost on everyone else, one thing was clear: this was going to be a rough night.
“Well goodnight, everyone. See you in the morning.” He headed down the hall without another word. Rae suspected he was eager to escape both before Devon changed his mind, and before Carter remembered the little hiccup about him dating Angel.
“Yes, um, see you in the morning,” Carter was quick to follow Julian’s lead, his eyes sweeping over the children before resting briefly on Beth. “Sleep well…”
“Yes, sleep well, headmaster,” Rae interjected, using his old school title for emphasis.
Beth swatted her upside the head and then departed to her own room, leaving the girls alone in the hallway with Devon and Gabriel.
“So…top bunk? I’ll flip you for it. Or you wanna arm-wrestle?” Gabriel was looking decidedly pleased with himself, while Devon had a look on his face like he couldn’t believe what had just happened to him.
He muttered a few words Rae had never heard come out of his mouth before, then he leaned down and kissed her swiftly on the lips, bidding her goodnight. As he walked away, Molly flitted behind him like a shadow, hiding her smile as the two of them disappeared up the stairs.
Which left Rae alone with the man who was turning out to be an endless thorn in her side.
“Finally,” Gabriel held open his arms with a look of utter exhaustion. “Come here.”
“Bite me.”
* * *
One would think with four working bathrooms in the house, it would be possible to have a moment of privacy. The night, it seemed, had other plans.
“Oh, hello!” Gabriel popped up behind Rae in the doorway, scaring her half to death.
She had been st
anding in front of the mirror in a pair of hastily conjured pajamas, brushing her teeth. The shower situation hadn’t been easy. Apparently, the country of Scotland had a limited supply of hot water, but she had managed to do the entire thing without running into Gabriel once.
Until now.
“Geez!” She jumped out of her skin, placing a hand over her heart. “What’s the matter with you?!” Then her eyes swept over the rest of his outfit, or rather, what was left of it. “Gabriel, for the last time, put on a damn shirt!”
“I told you,” he pretended to be as flustered as she was, intentionally pressing against her as he reached for a spare toothbrush, “I get hot in the night. You should remember that.” He winked.
Her fingers crackled with electricity and he leaned back a few inches. “Careful, now,” she mocked seriously. “We’re not on a ship anymore. And I don’t think anyone in this house would have a problem with me frying your ass.”
He sniffed carelessly, observing his perfect jawline in the mirror. “Yeah, your boyfriend seems to feel the same way. Such hostility in this place.”
Remembering the forced sleeping arrangements, Rae turned her back to the mirror to face him straight on. “Yeah, speaking of… why did you have to do that?” she hissed between her teeth, well aware that at least one other person in this house was blessed with super hearing.
Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up in innocent surprise. “What? Volunteer to spend the night with your boyfriend? Well, I figured at least one of us should do it, poor guy. And since you were so publically relegated to the girls’ room,’ I thought—”
“Would you be serious for one second?” Rae tried to hold back her smile. The boy was infuriating. “Why would you do that to him? You know he doesn’t like you.”
Gabriel took a casual step forward, inadvertently trapping her between the sink and his towering, bare-chested, muscular body. As his long legs pressed up against hers, she sucked in a quick breath, wishing like hell he didn’t smell like citrus body wash—wishing he smelled like something rotten instead of hunky, delicious male.