House of Cards

by W. J. May

  Riley glanced up and quickly looked away. He walked back around the car to the driver’s side. “I said ‘I hope it’s beer-battered’.”

  “It is!” Molly followed him into the car, sitting behind him again. “Their batter recipe is sooo good. Good chips too. I think they use peanut oil or almond or something like that. You aren’t allergic to nuts are you? I have an uncle who is and this one time he ordered fish from some fry guy at the market and next thing you know, his tongue is the size of a cow’s …”

  Nic looked at Rae and rolled his eyes. Thankfully the car door closed and muffled Molly’s voice. “You going to be okay?”

  “I-I think so.” Rae stepped back, embarrassed by the scene she had just made. Here she had been trying to act all cool and show off in front of Riley and it had all backfired.

  “You’re going to be working for the Privy Council soon, right?” Nic made no move to get into the car.

  “I’ve already started training.” Rae didn’t care if he knew. He’d be there by graduation, if not before with his MacGyver tatù.

  “Do they set you up with a counselor or someone to talk to?” Nic looked at her with sincerity and concern shining in his eyes. He is so sweet and gentle, she thought.

  “I don’t think so. They haven’t mentioned anything.” With her family history and recent events, one would think they’d have ten doctors lined up for her.

  “Well, I’m not a psych guy, but I am a friend. If you ever need… you know… you can talk to me. I won’t tell a soul.”

  Rae felt herself smile. “Thanks, Nic. I appreciate it. I may take you up on that.”

  He glanced back at the car. “Good. You don’t babble like Molly, do you?”

  “I might, once I get started.” She shivered. “Let’s go get some food before Riley throws Molly out.”

  Once inside, Riley turned the Volvo around and stopped just before pulling back onto the road. “What did Kraigan do to your tatù? If you answer, I won’t bug you again about it tonight.”

  “Ignore him,” Nic said to Rae. To Riley, he said, “You’re still going to bug her.”

  “I kind of want to know too,” Molly piped in. “Is your tatù broken now? Did he take yours and then die? No wait, you still have your abilities. I—”

  Rae cut her off. “Kraigan went to mimic my tatù but something went wonky. Each time he touched me, he could mimic the tatù I was using. I don’t know if it’s because we were rela—our dad is the same guy or what, but each time he went to copy one of my abilities, I would lose it completely. It wasn’t like with the others. They didn’t come back.”

  “Seriously?” Riley asked.

  “Yeah. I basically ran out while we fought. I’m not some indestructible machine. My tatù has weaknesses just like everyone else’s.”

  “But you still have abilities. I’ve seen you use them.” Molly pointed to herself, referring to her tatù.

  “I have to restock, I guess. Each time I touch someone, their tatù comes back to me. I picked up Nic’s and Riley’s while we were outside.”

  “I didn’t even notice!” Nic shook his head. “You could have mimicked it right away, I wouldn’t have cared.”

  “Some people might. Plus I don’t want everyone to know what happened. I don’t think sharing my weakness is the smartest thing.”

  Molly nodded, concern and determination glowing on her face. “Especially with your bad track record of people coming after you. Who knows who else your dad created to go after you.”

  “Molls!” Rae stared in amazement at her friend. She’d never said anything so negative to her before.

  Molly patted her knee. “I’ll keep your secret. You can count on me.”

  Riley cleared his throat, probably trying to hide his laughter. He shifted the car into drive and flipped his blinker on.

  After they ordered dinner and drove back to the dorms, Molly and Nic began arguing if they should eat in her room or his. Rae tuned out the discussion and pulled her phone out. She made sure the copy of the note her mother had made stayed hidden and then checked the messages on her phone.

  There were four. Her heart sped up its rhythm and she quickly clicked on the oldest one.

  Jennifer sent the first:

  Rae, you need to get in touch with Julian. Carter said you have his contact info. He will pick you up Monday morning at 5:00hrs. That’s AM. Don’t be late. I want to train tomorrow at 10:00am. See you then (don’t be late, again).

  Rae glanced up at Riley. She wanted to train with him. She smiled. “Hey Riley? Does ten tomorrow morning work?” She figured she shouldn’t say anything else and hoped Nic and Molly wouldn’t start asking questions.

  Thankfully they didn’t. Riley looked at her through his rearview mirror. “Sure.” Then he turned to Nic and asked how classes in the Oratory were going with Carter as the new teacher.

  Rae replied to Jennifer with an ‘ok’ and skipped on to the next message. It was from a number she didn’t recognize.

  Hi, Rae! So glad you kept my number.

  She realized it was from Luke and continued to read.

  A couple of friends and I are going to the Twisted Cork in town to hang out tomorrow night. It’s a bar/club that has a dance floor n stuff. Do you and any gal-pals want to meet there? LUKE

  If she didn’t know what to do with Jennifer’s text, she had absolutely no idea what to say to Luke. Maybe Molly... She tapped her friend on the shoulder and held the phone up so Molly could see the message.

  Molly squealed and pounded her feet against the floor. “I told you he would reply!”

  “Who? What?” Riley asked.

  “No one.” Rae tried to grab the phone out of Molly’s hand, but she kept it out of reach.

  Molly gave her the phone back and grinned. “It’s a guy who likes Rae.”

  “Is he tatùed?”

  “Riley!” Molly hit the back of his headrest. “Of course not! Do you not know Rae?”

  “I guess not.” Riley glanced at Rae from the corner of his eye.

  Rae ignored him and leaned toward Molly. She whispered, “I was just going to ask you what I should say.”

  “Tell him we’ll go. I want to meet him.”

  Rae cringed. Why did Molly not have a quiet button? “I can’t tomorrow,” she said firmly, hoping Molly wouldn’t ask why.

  Riley pulled into Guilder’s drive. Rae went to put her phone away. Her thumb swiped across the screen and it flashed on. She still had two unread messages. She checked who they were; Julian and Jennifer again.

  Riley parked the car and everyone got out. Molly and Rae led the way with the boys carrying the food just behind them. Nic and Riley were having some silly argument about a football match. As they walked toward Joist Hall passing Aumbry House, Rae’s tatù switched. Her hearing and sight sharpened. The others were oblivious, even Riley.

  She quickened her walk ever so slightly so she was half a step ahead of Molly. Her heart quickened its rhythm as her eyes darted everywhere. She noticed the shadow in the gardens and bushes just past Aumbry House. She pretended to turn her head to ask the boys a question, her eyes on the spot where she’d seen the person hiding. They rounded the corner and the image disappeared from her vision.

  When they crossed the road to Joist Hall, Rae slapped her forehead. “You guys go on up, I’ll be there in a moment. I just have to make a call from my dorm room.”

  Molly elbowed her playfully and winked at Nic and Riley. “Might as well give her fish and chips to her. Chances are she won’t be back for a bit.”

  Luckily Nic didn’t argue and handed her a brown paper bag. She darted back to the sidewalk and the way they had just come and when the others disappeared into Joist Hall, Rae used the leopard tatù to move fast. She ran around the small building beside Aumbry House and along the grass to where the person had been hiding.

  No one was going to hurt her friends. Not on her watch.

  The person stood hiding in the same spot as she approached, but she couldn’t
make out who it was because of the dark sky and thick bushes hiding their face. Plus their back was to her. She raised her arm, switching to Molly’s tatù, ready to throw something electric at them the moment they moved. The person finally turned around when she was a few feet away from them.

  She froze when she recognized who it was. Her hand hung midair poised to throw, while the other dropped her food into the garden.

  Chapter 10

  Ground Control

  Devon.

  One part of her wanted to throw the ball of electricity, the other wanted to wrap her arms around him. She blurted, “What’re you doing here?”

  He had the decency to look totally embarrassed. “I don’t normally take off and hide in bushes.” He glanced at her right hand. “Do you mind putting that down? You’re making me kinda nervous.”

  She looked and realized she had glowing blue and yellow lights sparking out of her fingers forming a ball. “Oops.” She fizzled them out and dropped her hand. It felt warm so she shook it in the breeze.

  Devon walked the short distance between them and Rae’s breath caught in her throat. It felt like she hadn’t seen him in ages and he looked so good.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  Her heart wanted to burst. He’d realized the mistake he had made and had come back to ask her to forgive him.

  He bent down and straightened, trying to hand her something. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t ruin your dinner.”

  Oh. Ohhhhh! She could feel her eyes grow big as she realized his apology had been meant for that. “I-It’s fine.” She swallowed. “Why are you back? At the train station…” She trailed off, unsure if talking about it might be taboo. “I thought you were going to be gone for a while.”

  “So did I.” He shrugged, looking as uncomfortable as she felt. “It got cut short. Carter needs Julian to go on some mission with you so I came back with him.”

  Rae nodded, trying not to focus on his bright blue eyes and handsome face. If she could get him to smile, maybe she’d get to see his dimple one last time. Stop it! Just act normal. “Why were you spying on me?” Real normal, Rae. Real normal.

  “Spying?” He pointed his thumb behind him to where he had been standing and looked back at it. “I didn’t… I wasn’t… I-I needed… I went for a walk and heard you guys coming up the sidewalk from the parking lot. I got nervous and didn’t know what to do. I panicked.”

  “So you hid?” Rae stared at him. Devon, of all people, knew she would sense something was off.

  “I thought it would be better if you didn’t see me. I wasn’t sure how you were doing and didn’t want to upset you.”

  “I’m not a wimp.” She didn’t know how she would have reacted if she’d seen him on the sidewalk with the others around, but knowing that he hid from her made her angry. Maybe he hid, not for her but because of her. Maybe he couldn’t handle seeing her.

  “I never thought that. I just…” He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pocket. “I didn’t expect you to ambush me and then come after me with an electric shock ball.” He grinned. “Nice move by the way. Is that from Molly?”

  Rae nodded.

  “Did she teach you that?”

  “No. I don’t even know if she knows she can do it. I didn’t know. Tonight’s the first time. I thought you were somebody else.”

  Devon’s eyebrows pressed together and he tilted his head slightly. “Who? Did Carter say someone’s after you?”

  “No.” Rae’s chest tightened. “Did he say that to you? So help me, if people are keeping secrets from me again.” She clenched her fists, letting her nails dig into her skin. It hurt, but at least it felt real.

  “It’s okay, Rae,” Devon said softly. “I haven’t heard anything. I was just worried… for a sec.”

  The kindness in his voice hurt because she knew they weren’t meant to be special words just for her. Not anymore. Suddenly she didn’t want to be here, alone with him, for a second longer than she had to. “You don’t have to anymore. I’m fine.” She took a wide step in an effort to move around him, not trusting herself to hold it together if she smelled his cologne or touched him. “I’m going in. Crazy busy day tomorrow.”

  “Sure.” He stepped away, as if scared they might touch as well. It only served to add to the ball of anger and hurt feelings rolling around inside her. She knew there was no point in dragging this out and what she really wanted was to be alone, and have a chance to let it all out. She wanted to be done with all the feelings, hurt or otherwise. Maybe if she could get rid of all the feelings, she wouldn’t feel so awful anymore.

  Rae headed past him and toward Aumbry’s concrete steps. “Hey Devon?”

  “Yeah?” He stood on the sidewalk, quickly swinging around when she called out.

  “You don’t have to try to avoid me. We live at Guilder, work with the PC, so it’s going to get tiresome trying to look the other way. Maybe we can figure out how to be friends somehow.”

  “Okay.” He looked at her a long moment. “Goodnight, Rae.” He turned and began walking away with his head down.

  Rae wished she could see inside that head and see what he was thinking.

  “Goodbye, Devon,” she whispered, not sure he heard her.

  Inside Aumbry House, she raced up the stairs using a tatù and once inside her room, leaned her back against the closed door. Her body slid down to the floor and she buried her face against her knees. She had no idea how she was going to get through the rest of this year. It seemed utterly impossible.

  She dug through her backpack to find a Kleenex, her fingers brushing against the Organic Blueberry book. She pulled back and popped her finger in her mouth when she got a paper cut from a corner that was sticking out. She stretched her backpack completely open and saw the piece of paper sticking out from the book, realizing that it was a copy of her mother’s note.

  She pulled it out, unfolded it and then laid it between her knees. Knowing now that her mother had worked for the Privy Council, she wondered if this was a secret message supposed to go to them years ago. Or could it be something else?

  She stared at the weird marks and tried to find some kind of pattern. Nothing. Concentrating on this and trying to figure it out seemed a lot easier than dealing with Devon and her feelings for him.

  She turned the paper upside down and then sideways, still no luck. It was like trying to read ancient Egyptian or some foreign language. Rae tilted her head and got up from sitting on the floor. She went over to the desk. What if it’s a code? Maybe only some of the markings are the important ones. She seriously considered taking the copy to Jennifer the next day, realizing having an ally would speed up the process of deciphering the code, but then decided against it. Riley would be there as well and she had no intention of letting him see it.

  She told herself that the code had been in hiding for who knows how long. It probably meant nothing now. If it sat for another week or two, nothing bad would come of it. She stared hard at it again, trying to will the answer to come to her. “I give up.” She opened her desk drawer and put in the printed copy and the blueberry organic book on top of it.

  Her stomach growled. The fish and chips! The brown paper bag lay on the floor, dirt on the bottom of the bag and oil stains making their way through the thin paper. She pulled out the newspaper wrapped box, which contained the fish and made a face. It was cold and no longer had the freshly fried smell from the chippy shop. However, hunger was hunger. It just needed a little heating up. She put the fish and chips on a plate and warmed it in the microwave and also reheated the curry and poured it over top.

  It didn’t taste as good as it should, but it wasn’t half bad. She put the leftovers and garbage back into the paper bag and slipped down the stairs to throw the bag in the bin outside. Not going to stink up my room.

  “Rae!”

  She jumped at the sound and swung in the direction of the voice, the fennec fox tatù automatically kicking in. “Molly?”

  Molly walked up the concrete steps.
“You okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just tired.”

  “I thought so but I came back to check on you.” They walked into Aumbry House together. “What time we going tomorrow night?”

  “Tomorrow night?”

  “Yeah, to the Twisted Cork to see Luke.”

  Shoot! Forgot about that. How bad is it that my best friend is more excited about the boy who hit on me than I am? “Oh yeah. I forgot. I have to leave early Monday morning so I wasn’t planning on going.”

  Molly linked her arm into Rae’s as they walked up to their floor. “You are not missing this opportunity.”

  An image of Devon popped into her head. She wondered what he was doing right now. “I’m not—”

  “We’re going.”

  She didn’t have the energy to argue. “Fine. But we’re not staying late.”

  “You still have Julian’s car?”

  Rae nodded. Devon said he came back with Julian She should text Julian later tonight or tomorrow. Maybe she would talk to Carter about getting a car. She didn’t need something fast or fancy, but she would be needing one.

  “Awesome!” Molly danced down the hall to her room just down from Rae’s.

  Rae unlocked her room. “Molls, I’m heading to bed. I’ll see you after my morning training session.”

  “Call me when you get in. I’ll help you pick out what you’re going to wear.”

  Rae laughed to herself. “Help” nothing. Molly hadn’t changed since her first days at Guilder. She was still the fashion queen. Rae knew Molly would have all the control in the clothes choosing. Rae barely needed to be there for it.

  In the gymnasium the next morning, Rae rubbed her eyes and yawned. She had slept lousy, woke early and decided to head over to the gym early so Jennifer had nothing to complain about, but once there, all she wanted was to go back to bed. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned again for the hundredth time. The clock on the wall showed it just past half nine.

  As if on cue, Jennifer came through the doors that led into the PC building, and Riley walked through the main entrance doors. Both stopped short and eyed each other up and down.