by W. J. May
A little daisy. Even she couldn’t mess that up. If anyone asked, she’d tell them that she had magical sway in the world of botany. Hopefully, they wouldn’t ask for a demonstration.
In what seemed like no time at all, she was at the front of the line of the gates that allowed non-Guilder people access in and out of the school. With a smile she hoped hid the nerves just beneath, she rolled down the window and extended her badge. She’d used an old model, one that referred to her only as an agent. She’d also whited-out her last name so it spelled Kerri instead. Her real identification badge, the one she used most days, gave her the title of president. Not like she could use that one now.
“Hi, Er—there,” she said as the guard leaned out of the little house. She had almost called him Eric by mistake. Not something a girl from Switzerland would know. “Hi there.” She made up for her lapse with a blinding smile, extending out her badge. “Rae Kerri. Reporting for duty.”
Eric gave the thing a cursory glance, then looked back at her with a frown.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You new?”
She nodded as casually as was possible. “Yuppers. Just got in this morning. Swiss branch. Apparently the higher-ups need some clerical work down on the census files.”
“President Keene called you in?”
So Keene was the president. That was a good call. The man had done the job before.
She flashed another smile, even more dazzling than the one before. “He sure did. And it’s bound to be some riveting stuff,” she rolled her eyes, “let me tell you.”
Eric chuckled sympathetically. “Yeah, I bet.” The gate opened slowly. “Do you know where you need to go?”
“Parking lot by the dean’s office, I believe. Then head down towards the Oratory?”
He nodded. “Well, have fun. And welcome home.”
Welcome home.
Rae sailed through the gates, replaying the words over and over in her head. An odd sense of calm washed over her as she glided down the familiar drive, and despite the fact that in the eyes of the law she was technically trespassing, her body relaxed with a deep, contented sigh.
It’s good to be back.
Chapter 9
For all the times that Rae Kerrigan had set foot on the Guilder campus, she’d never once felt as nervous as she did today. Okay, maybe the day she first arrived. But other than that, she couldn’t remember. Not even when she and her friends blasted their way through half of the Privy Council trying to find illicit evidence to incriminate Victor Mallins.
One, she wasn’t trying to go incognito. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that, if she was spotted, she was going to be spotted. Trouble would ensue.
And two, she wasn’t going alone. It might have been life or death but she’d had her friends behind her, covering her back from every side. As someone who had gone on enough covert missions to last several lifetimes, there was absolutely no overstating the overwhelming necessity of that kind of comradery. Of that kind of support.
To be able to count on someone with your very life. To know for certain that, no matter what happened, they would be fighting blow for blow by your side. Protecting you. Helping you.
But not like today.
Today not only was Rae Kerrigan going by a different name, but she was one hundred percent alone. If she made even the slightest mistake, if the worst should happen and she was discovered, not a single person was going to have her back.
These were the things flying around in her head as she rolled to a stop in the general parking lot and got slowly out of her car. It was a good thing that the Privy Council had a tendency to pay vast sums of money to people who weren’t quite emotionally ready for it. Although Julian’s car was a knockout, it was by no means the flashiest vehicle in the lot. It garnered hardly more than a second glance by the people walking by.
Rae locked it quickly, and started making her way across the grass with no one being the wiser. She kept her head down and her eyes fixed on the lawn. But every so often a burst of noise would catch her attention, and her gaze would flicker up.
Had the campus always been so imposing? She’d spent so much time here over the last few years that she’d become somehow immune. But now that she was seeing it through less privileged eyes, it was hard not to be taken aback by the sheer majesty of the place.
The high stone walls were built to be intimidating. The wide, sweeping lawns spoke of a luxury and inclusivity that couldn’t be ignored. And the students themselves…?
The students were hard to miss.
“Look out!”
Rae ducked just in time to dodge a fireball streaking towards her head. The tip of her ponytail actually brushed the grass before she straightened back up, gazing incredulously across the lawn. It wasn’t hard to find the culprits.
While everyone else was routinely going about their day, one group of exceptionally bashful-looking students was taking great care to stare in any direction except at Rae.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she marched towards them across the grass.
Okay, if the campus hadn’t always looked so imposing, had the students always looked so incredibly young? It felt like just yesterday that Rae and her friends were strolling leisurely about the grounds themselves, on their way to another death-defying training session in the Oratory. Come to think of it, this group of kids reminded her very strongly of her friends.
Tightknit, mischievous, and with an almost comical air of guilt.
“I’m sorry,” one of the guys blurted the second she got close enough. “It was an accident.”
The rest of them clustered behind him, content to let him to the talking. It seemed to be a habit. And from the way the other students passing by were glancing over with indulgent grins, this wasn’t the first time they’d had this kind of conversation.
“An accident?” Rae raised her eyebrows dangerously. “Is that what you’d call it?”
She was well aware that she was supposed to be keeping a low profile. She was also well aware that the parameters of her current mission were to get in and out with no one being the wiser.
But the sun was out, the troubles that plagued her were nowhere in sight, and no one had any reason to be the least bit suspicious. In fact, it might raise a few red flags if a PC agent were to let such shenanigans slide.
Aside from that, these were her old stomping grounds. And she was the president.
It was time to assert a little authority.
The guy pawed nervously at the ground before staring back up with a pair of wide, sparkling eyes. Eyes that reminded her very much of her fiancé’s when he’d been caught in the act.
“Why?” he asked anxiously, sucking her in with a little grin. “What would you call it?”
Oh, TOTALLY like Devon. This guy could be his twin.
Rae bit back a smile, and put her hands on her hips. “I’d call it a flagrant violation of the rules set forth by both the dean and the headmaster in terms of proper student conduct. I’d call it a suspension at the very least, if not a permanent mark on your file.” She glanced over her shoulder and scanned the lawn with a practiced gaze. “And judging by the age of the rest of the scorch marks underneath that tree, I would say it isn’t nearly the first time this has happened.”
The five children gaped in unison, and she rewarded each with a smug smile. “Why? What would you call it?”
Before the guy had a chance to answer, a ringing voice echoed across the lawn.
“Trevor! Amy! Seth!” The voice grew louder with each name. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?! What did I tell you about playing with your ink outside the Oratory walls?!”
Rae’s jaw dropped open as she glanced up to see the last person in the world she ever expected to see thundering towards them across the grass.
“Ellie?” she gasped in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
The lovely girl pulled up short, giving her targets a momentary reprieve. Her knowing eyes swept Rae up
and down before she tilted her head to the side. “I’m sorry,” she said politely, “do I know you?”
Ironically enough, there weren’t many things that Ellie didn’t know. She was a hybrid. One with the unique pairing of both knowledge and understanding. While the applications of such a gift were too numerous to count, one of the benefits was being a virtual human lie detector.
Making her the very last person Rae wanted to have a conversation with.
She took a literal step back, wishing she’d just let the fireball finish her off. “Oh, no, not really. I recognized you from your description. You’re quite the talk around here.”
It wasn’t exactly true. While Ellie’s powers were earning her quite the reputation, Rae had no idea why she would be back on Guilder’s campus. Much less working at the school, as it appeared she was doing. Maybe more was askew in this new reality than just the dynamics at home…
“That’s putting it lightly.”
The guy she’d called Seth muttered under his breath, and was quick to earn an elbow in the ribs from each of his friends. Rae watched with great amusement as Ellie temporarily forgot about her and turned her attention back to the troubled youngsters.
“Oh, I’m sorry, McConnell. Did you think it was a good idea for you to be talking right now?” Her eyes flashed as she turned back to Trevor. “And you, throwing fireballs again?”
Sensing an opening Rae casually backed towards the Oratory, flashing Ellie a quick smile. “I’ll just leave you to it.”
Ellie looked back with a flicker of confusion. “Wait, I never got your name—”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Trevor wailed, hanging his head in despair. “Sometimes these things just get away from me!”
Rae backed away more swiftly as Ellie rounded on him with a glare.
“You know, this little act of yours would be a whole lot more convincing if I hadn’t seen it a million times before. And if I didn’t know that you were covering for Amy!”
The girl standing behind him gave a Molly-esque shriek, and all at once the lot of them erupted into a synchronized chorus of rationalizations and denials. Rae used the opportunity to slip away across the grass, her head spinning with the new state of things.
Keene was president. Her friends were still holed away, nowhere in sight. Ellie was in some faculty mentor position. And the Simon Kerrigan mess…?
She gazed around the cheerful campus, watching as students sunbathed, gossiped, snacked, studied, and generally wasted time in good company.
No…the Simon Kerrigan mess didn’t seem to be on anyone’s mind.
Possibly because his own daughter wasn’t the one who’d discovered him. Possibly because his daughter didn’t technically exist.
A fact that seems to have left the world slightly brighter than when I was in it…
The thought was as troubling as they came. She was still mulling it over when she slipped between some students and sailed through the doors to the Oratory.
It was there that she stopped short, gazing around with the expression of someone who had very recently been punched right in the gut.
How was it possible to be surrounded by so many familiar people, familiar things…and still feel so utterly lonely at the same time?
Everywhere you looked, the place was swarming with activity.
The water bugs were shooting playful jets across the mat, ‘accidentally’ dousing the fire-throwers on the other side. A trio of students was huddled in a concentrated triangle, trying to levitate a single playing card from one person to the other. A fierce-looking girl was throwing lightning bolts at a boy who continually faded from sight. And a tiny Asian girl was sitting unnoticed in the corner, quietly growing a small garden.
Great, I might be asked to show off this non-existent green thumb of mine after all.
Everywhere that wasn’t alight with active powers, people were throwing spears, knives, javelins, and every other sort of medieval equipment you could imagine at a line of dummies on the far wall. The ground pulsed with constant vibrations, as one by one students threw each other down upon the mats. Standing just a few feet away, a group of watchful trainers were shouting out instructions. Money slipped from hand to hand as they made outrageous wagers pitting their over-eager protégés against each other in some absurd gladiatorial recreation.
And for the very first time in her life…Rae wasn’t a part of it.
Feeling very much like the only kid banned from the playground she lowered her head and wove quickly through the crowds, trying her best to ignore the sick feeling of nostalgia bubbling away in her stomach.
Was she ever going to get to do these things again? Was this part of her life gone forever?
She may have been stripped of all active powers, but one way or another her years of training were imprinted deep. She still had quick reflexes and good instincts, a fact that saved her from many a gruesome injury by the time she made it to the other side of the hectic room.
Once she was there she ran her hand along the curved wall, feeling for the familiar knot that unlocked the door to the lower levels. It sprung open with a silent gasp and, after flashing a casual smile to a trainer who glanced over curiously, she slipped into the shadows, leaving the noise, light, and levity of the giant room far behind her as she made her way into the dark.
Rae Kerri, she chanted to herself as she walked at a measured pace down the familiar hall. On loan from Switzerland. Just here for some routine paperwork, nothing more.
A pair of agents gave her a cursory nod as they passed by, and she almost had a heart attack right there on the spot.
Clearly, Ms. Kerri is a bit unstable at the moment. Prone to fits of panic. Pay her no mind…
Over the years Rae had taken on countless identities, in countless life-or-death situations, in countless countries all over the world. She was no stranger to the crippling wave of nerves that sprang up the second she trespassed somewhere she shouldn’t. She knew how to fashion herself to strangers as a long-lost acquaintance, confidante, or friend. She was well familiar with the bitter taste of adrenaline that soured her mouth every time she looked someone straight in the face, and lied.
And yet…there was something very different about doing it to her own people.
“Hey! Can I help you find something?”
She whirled around with a silent gasp as young man stepped away from the wall and re-materialized before her very eyes. As the charcoal hues of the stone vanished from his clothes and face she was able to recognize Jesse, a supernaturally-gifted chameleon. One of the youngest agents the Privy Council had ever seen.
“I’m sorry, what?” she asked, stalling to give herself more time.
His face brightened with a cheerful smile. Despite spending most of his time lurking down in the dark, Jesse was an unflinchingly sunny person. It was one of the things she loved about him. “I said, can I point you in the right direction?” He gestured to the labyrinth of tunnels and connecting doorframes that stretched out before them. “This place can be a little confusing if you’ve never been here before.”
It was an adorable offer, made with a little blush. One that lifted Rae’s spirits in spite of the unrecognition it implied. At the very least, it boded well for the outcome of her mission if the PC’s own guard was offering to draw her a map.
“Oh, I think I can manage.” She cocked her head towards an arched doorway just a few paces down. “Reference center is right through there, right?”
“Yep,” he nodded and began backing towards the wall. “Code is 50134.”
Jesse, what have I told you about giving out the code before asking to see a badge?
Rae’s smile tightened with a sisterly sort of exasperation, but she gave him a friendly wave before heading off down the dimly-lit hall. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him stroke a lazy hand up the side of the stone before promptly melting into a portrait of Thomas Moore. A portrait who she could have sworn gave her a little wink before freezing back in place.
One day, I’m going to start keeping a diary. One day, I’m going to start writing all of this down…
* * *
As fate would have it, Rae had only gone to the reference center on one previous occasion.
It had been at the height of Mallins’ presidency, after receiving a coded letter from her father instructing her to look in to the murder of her grandparents. Since she and Devon had recently broken up, she had dragged Julian along with her instead to help uncover the mystery in their files.
It had been a brief encounter, one that ended with the two of them being discovered by none other than Mallins himself. But she remembered enough to act like she knew what she was doing when she pushed open the doors and headed to the front counter.
Janice, the infamous receptionist, sat waiting for her. Like an enormous toad squatting upon a cushioned office chair just waiting to ensnare her next fly.
“Good morning, Janice,” Rae said pleasantly as she stepped forward. The last time she was here, she had learned to keep at least three large paces between them.
Sure enough, the second the woman cracked open her mouth a spray of spittle followed. “Who are you?”
It was the kind of voice that, under any different circumstances, would have made Rae roar with laughter. The kind of cartoon villain affectation that felt like it couldn’t possibly be real. As it stood, she kept her composure hovering safely outside the splash zone.
“Rae Kerri. Just sent over from the Swiss branch.” She flashed her badge briefly, hoping that a cursory glance would be enough. “Here to do a little routine housekeeping. Code is 50134.”
For a second, Janice only stared. A clammy chill stuck Rae’s hair to the back of her neck as she struggled not to falter beneath those beady, unblinking eyes. Then, when the silence could stretch on no longer, Janice leaned back with a guttural humph.
“Routine housekeeping,” she muttered, shaking her head. “You’d think that someone would have had the courtesy of telling me before you show up here.”