House of Cards

by W. J. May

  “And you told him you were single, right? Thank goodness. I was beginning to think you were either going to enter a monastery or start pining after Devon. I mean, I know you guys have some weird, close relationship, but I figured no way you’d ever go down that road.”

  Rae stared at the phone. Thank goodness Molly couldn’t see her face. She quickly started babbling so Molly couldn’t mention Devon again. Then the rest of Molly’s words clicked and she laughed. “I think you meant convent. Women go to a convent and become nuns. Men go to a monastery and become monks.”

  “Really? You sure?”

  She’d just magically breezed by the Devon confrontation with Molly. “Positive. Anyways, as I was leaving he gave me his number. He said he would regret it the rest of his life if he didn’t give it to me.”

  “He’s either very cheesy or very sweet. Considering you are mentioning him to me, I’m thinking the latter.” Molly sighed, a different sound to her usual one. “He sounds like a hopeless romantic. When are you going to call him?”

  “I don’t know. I wa—”

  “You know for sure he doesn’t have a tatù, right? I don’t want the guy to be another Kraigan, or worse.”

  Holy smokes, Molls. Why did it always feel like talking to Molly was like watching a table tennis match? Ping-pong, ping-pong… “He has ink art but definitely no tatù. Nothing there for sure. When our hands touched I didn’t have a transfer.”

  “Then why haven’t you sent him a text? Something short and sweet. Ohhh! I got it! Something like: Thanks for brightening my morning. Or, you’re sweeter than my coffee.”

  Rae started laughing. “That’s cheesy, Molly. Even for you.”

  “I’m trying to suggest something you would say.”

  “Not that!” Rae shifted the car to a lower gear and hit the automatic window button to let it down. She rolled to a stop and entered the four-digit key into a screen that could have easily been missed. The gravel road trailed through a thin forest, which was hidden from the main road. At the code entry place, there lay a covered path that opened when you entered the correct code. “Molls, I’m sorry but I gotta go.”

  “Call me on your way back. Text the hot-guy! I want to check him out. If he’s–”

  The phone automatically cut out when Rae drove past the hidden entrance. She turned it off and pulled into the underground garage to park Julian’s car. There were a lot of fast, expensive cars already there. She double parked to be on the safe side and grabbed her backpack out of the trunk of the car.

  “You’re late!”

  Rae nearly sent a bolt of lightning toward the accusing voice. She dropped her bag. “What the heck, Jennifer!” She checked her watch as she bent to grab her bag. She forced her heart to settle its crazy rhythm. “And I’m not late.”

  Jennifer stepped out from behind a yellow pillar she’d been leaning against. She wore tight black leather pants and a matching jacket similar to yesterday’s outfit. “You’re not early.”

  Rae swiped the arm of her backpack and threw it over her shoulder. “I’m ten minutes early!”

  “No. It’s going to take you fifteen minutes to find the gym, your locker and then you still have to warm up.”

  “I don’t need to warm up.” She tapped her back. “I also have a speed tatù which works perfectly fine.”

  Jennifer came closer, her eyebrows and nose scrunching up. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” Rae wiped her right eye, paranoid her mascara had smudged and she missed it.

  “You’re a lousy liar.” Jennifer continued to stare her down. It seemed like minutes before she finally huffed and threw her hands in the air. “Leave the boy troubles at the gate. If you can’t focus a hundred and fifty percent on what I’m teaching you, we’re wasting our time.”

  Am I that transparent? “I’m fine.”

  Jennifer started walking, obviously assuming Rae would follow. “I told Carter you weren’t ready. I told him to wait until you finished school. But noooo… he had to push to get you in right away.”

  She stopped suddenly and Rae had to jump to the side to avoid crashing into her, making her feel even more defensive than she did already. Rae suddenly felt the need to prove herself to Jennifer. “I’m more than ready.”

  “No.” Her face scrunched into a scowl. “You think you are, but you have no idea whose house you are stepping in to. There’s so much you don’t know. Your pretty little head can’t even comprehend what I’m talking about.”

  Tension from the long morning burned into frustration. Rae stepped close to Jennifer. They were nearly the same height since Jennifer was not wearing high-heeled boots so she met Jennifer’s unblinking stare. “Don’t assume you know everything about me. You don’t.” She put her hands on her hips. “You’re not my mother. I don’t need your concern for my personal life. You made it quite clear you offered to train me. Just do your job.”

  Jennifer stood undeterred, but Rae didn’t miss the slight catch in Jennifer’s breath when she mentioned the word mother.

  “I will, if you show up on time,” Jennifer snapped.

  Lousy comeback. Rae’s tatù tingled up her spine as she switched to Jennifer’s leopard ability. “I’ll be in the gym, ready and warmed up, before you get there.” She took off with more determination and speed then she had ever used before. She left Jennifer still standing in the middle of the garage.

  Chapter 6

  Anger

  What was that woman’s problem? Rae did a few high knees in the gym and threw the long sleeve shirt she had been wearing against the wall. She did not understand why Jennifer seemed so annoyed to be working with her. She had chosen to be her Botcher, not the other way around! If Rae had any say, she would have gone with someone younger… someone like Devon.

  Stop it! I don’t want to think about you right now! No hurt, only anger. Anger feels good, feels strong.

  Rae forced herself to watch the gym door and focus on getting ready to work with Jennifer. She wanted to prove she deserved to be working with the Privy Council. Whose house do you think you’re stepping into? Isn’t that what Jennifer had said? Rae snorted. Like she didn’t know.

  She realized suddenly she was the only one in the gym. There had been two guys doing some kind of combat fighting training but they must have left through the door Carter had taken her through yesterday. Hopefully she hadn’t scared them off with her pacing and whatever else she might have been doing. For all her power, she still had a slight issue with control when she wasn’t paying attention.

  The main doors swung open, and in swept Jennifer. Literally. Rae had read the term in books a dozen times but never understood what it really meant until this moment. Jennifer’s arms were spread wide from pulling the doors and remained outstretched as she stepped into the gym. She would have drawn more attention to the full gym Rae had walked into yesterday. Unbelievable.

  Jennifer’s eyes scanned the room in an instant. “Good.” She marched over to Rae, pulling out her phone and typing something furiously fast into it. She harrumphed. “Carter feels you’re ready to get into the field. Apparently you don’t need training.”

  “What?”

  “Carter wants you on assignment.” She glanced down and scrolled through her phone. “Partnering you up with some guy named Julian. He thinks getting your feet wet is a waste a time… better to just jump right in head first.”

  “Julian? He’s on assignment right now.” With Devon. Rae put her hands on her hips, but it felt awkward so she tried crossing them over her chest. That stance also felt wrong. She settled with dropping them at her sides, clenching her hands.

  Jennifer watched her with a slightly amused look on her face. “So you know Julian?”

  “Yeah. He’s two years older than me. He graduated Guilder last year, but stayed on to help as a mentor or something.”

  “Your mentor?”

  Rae shook her head, terrified Jennifer would ask who her mentor was. The last thing she wanted was to have to say D
evon’s name. She didn’t think she could do it without crying.

  “What’s his tatù?”

  Devon’s? Whoops, Julian’s. Rae unclenched her fingers and felt the familiar strings of Julian’s tatù run through her. “He draws. He can draw a future event before it happens.”

  “That’s it?” She threw her hands in the air. “And Carter wants you on an assignment with him? Why doesn’t he just stake you out in a field like a sacrificial goat?”

  “There’s more.” She didn’t know why she felt the need to defend Julian. This woman was obviously a pessimist and it just grated her last nerve. How Carter had thought Jennifer would be the perfect Botcher for her… What the heck had he been thinking? “Julian can see into the future.”

  Jennifer’s eyebrows shot up. “Now that’s handy.”

  “It is. Except it isn’t consistent. It seems to work best when the situation is super-intense, like when I’m fighting or sparring. And it’s only a move or two ahead of the other guy. It—”

  “You?” Jennifer cut her off.

  “I’ve mimicked his tatù. He probably controls it better than I do. Earlier this school year we sparred and trained a bit in the Oratory. The tatù is handy, but since I can only use one at a time I think it leaves me pretty vulnerable, and I tend to switch to Dev—to another tatù that’s better for the situation I’m in.”

  “I don’t get this mimic thing. I mean, I know you have it, but it confuses me. I’ve spent most of my life making sure I understand what type of tatù I’m up against. I even understood your father’s tatù.” She looked Rae straight in the eye. “Now you come along with your pretty little fairy and screw the whole damn thing up.”

  Rae inhaled a long breath and slowly let it out, counting to five at the same time. She couldn’t make it to ten. “I haven’t screwed anything up! I didn’t ask for this tatù. You want to blame someone? Why not start with my father? And my mother!”

  Jennifer’s even stare turned into a glare. “Don’t you dare blame your mother!”

  “Why not?” Anger from every direction flooded her thoughts; the lousy morning, the impossible teacher, her mother dying, her stupid, bad dad. “No one forced her to marry my dad. If she had any brains she’d have run away from him. Not married the idiot!”

  Jennifer opened her mouth to speak but Rae didn’t let her.

  “Guilder and the Privy Council all cower in fear at the mention of two tatùs marrying. But did that stop her? NO! She went and got pregnant with me!” Rae grabbed some balls out of a bin nearby and began drilling them against the far wall. They flew across the room and landed two bricks above the gymnastic mats every time. She had switched tatùs, but her body had done it unconsciously. “Who would do that? What mother would want to make their child’s life next to impossible?” She threw the balls harder. “Then willingly die, and leave her six year old daughter all alone in a world that can’t freakin’ wait to see her either fail or turn into her father!” She drilled a ball harder and didn’t even pause when it exploded against the far wall with sand spilling everywhere. “She dies and doesn’t bother to explain to her daughter that she might get a tatù on her sixteenth birthday, she might get her father’s jacked up ability, she might spend the rest of her life running from people trying to kill her, she might never be accepted anywhere because of her ability, her past, her family, none of which she has any control over or choice in…” Rae sucked in a giant breath and grabbed the last ball in the bin. “Instead,” she drilled the ball against the far wall and felt a small hint of satisfaction when it exploded as well, “she leaves her vulnerable daughter with no information, no protection, and no answers. Nothing.”

  “Your mother didn’t know she was going to die.” Jennifer pulled the ball bin out of Rae’s reach, probably to make sure Rae didn’t chuck it as well.

  “BULL!” Rae jabbed a finger toward Jennifer. “Don’t defend her! You want to know what she did? She wrote me a letter for my sixteenth birthday, ten years before I turned sixteen! She knew exactly what was going to happen!” Rae’s shoulders and chest heaved as she tried to suck in as much air as she could.

  Jennifer began gathering the balls on the other side of the gym. She worked quickly, using her tatù. “She did? I’d like to see that letter.” Seeing the look on Rae’s face, she must have decided to drop suggesting that idea. She spoke, using her hands to emphasize her point. “I’m not defending her, but you have to understand she was one extremely brave woman.” Jennifer bent down to grab two balls, but Rae heard her mumble, “I couldn’t have done what she did.” She straightened. “One day you’ll understand.”

  “One day?” Rae laughed sarcastically. She wanted to tell Jennifer to try walking in her shoes and see what it felt like to be Rae Kerrigan. She was about to unleash on Jennifer some more when she finally looked her in the eye, and saw the look. Rae knew when she was being assessed. She hated it. Jennifer was not trying to talk her through a tough time, she was sitting back and seeing what Rae could do. That quickly, she was reminded that she couldn’t trust this woman. Jennifer was never going to understand anyway. Rae bit her tongue.

  Jennifer, for her part, realized the show was over and resumed the mantle of Botcher. “Go grab a broom out of the closet just outside the gym.”

  Rae marched to the door and jerked it open. Her eyes burned with tears and she angrily wiped away the ones that sneaked past her guard. She’d just gone and opened herself up to scrutiny to the person she knew the least about in her world and had absolutely no reason to trust. All her careful withholding of information and opinions, and it meant nothing now because Jennifer knew practically everything about her, and Rae knew nothing about Jennifer. So not only had her boyfriend dumped her, but she had lost what little hope she had fostered of gaining the upper hand in her Botcher–Dagonet interaction. She had not just lost it, she had duct-taped C4 to it and blown it to smithereens for shits and giggles.

  Today sucked. Royally.

  She found the janitor closet and tucked the broom with its sweep cup under her arm. It took several deep breaths to calm down. “I’m here to train. Just focus on that. It’s like, three hours. That’s all,” she told herself. “I can get through this.”

  She walked back into the gym, relieved Jennifer was still the only one in the room. In the back of her mind she figured there were hidden cameras and microphones everywhere. Had anyone been around to hear the conversation, she was sure they would have a psychologist or some sort of therapist in there to speak with her. Or maybe the Privy Council would just file it all away to use against her later should the need arise. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t undo it now.

  Jennifer had pulled out some equipment. A punching bag and a bunch of other stuff Rae didn’t recognize were set up in a corner. She stood tying some contraption together.

  Rae hurried over to the mess and began sweeping up the sand. What should she say? Should she apologize? Pretend it hadn’t happened? Act like it was no big deal? She dumped the tray of sand into the garbage can Jennifer had conveniently placed by the exploded pieces. She swept up another pile and dumped that as well. Trying to get the rest as best she could, she finally spoke, “I think we’re going to need to vacuum the last bit.”

  “It’s fine. The floors are cleaned and polished every night here.” Jennifer stepped back from the rectangle she’d just put together.

  Rae glanced at the big blue mats surrounding it and realized it was a trampoline.

  Jennifer wiped her hands on her pants. “Can we just settle for a training session now? Put the drama on the backburner for a few hours?”

  “Sure.” The concession burned Rae’s gut coming from Jennifer, but she couldn’t see how she could have possibly turned anything to her advantage after her outburst anyway. Rae set the broom inside the garbage can and pushed it against the wall. “What do you want me to do?”

  Jennifer tossed her a package, which Rae easily caught. Inside was a pair of gloves, minus the fingers. “Put those on and let
’s start at the punching bag.” Jennifer wore a similar pair. “Have you ever tried one of these before?”

  “Never.” The small balloon shaped bag looked easy to hit the first time, but from what Rae had seen in the movies, keeping the hits connecting would be next to impossible.

  Jennifer squared her feet and began punching the bag. Her fists found a rhythm while she hit. It barely made any sound. “The speed bag is an indispensable tool. It’ll improve your hand-eye coordination, quicken your reflexes – though I believe those are quite fine-tuned right now. More than anything, for you, it will increase arm strength and endurance.” She stepped aside and caught her breath. “It’s a great cardiovascular workout as well.” She adjusted the height of the bag slightly. “It can be a little difficult at first, but I think it won’t take you long.” She rolled her eyes, as if trying to make an effort to be friendly but not being very successful. “You can then dazzle your tatù friends with your lightning speed.”

  Rae walked over, standing slightly away from the bag. She looked at Jennifer.

  “Face the bag with your feet shoulder width apart. Your whole body… No, the whole body from head to toe has to face the bag. Yes.” She moved Rae’s shoulders and checked her distance from the bag. “Be close enough that you don’t need to extend your arm more than a few inches to hit it. It’s the same when hitting someone or making contact to protect yourself. With the bag you have to be close enough to make solid contact, but far enough so you don’t hit your head on the rebound.” She stepped back. “Now hit it.”

  Rae made a lousy attempt at hitting the bag. It swung wildly.

  Using both hands, Jennifer stopped its motion. “You need to keep your fists at chin level, or just slightly lower. Also have your elbows parallel to the floor.”

  Rae tried again, hitting it two times in a row.