House of Cards

by W. J. May

  Molly’s mouth dropped – for a mere millisecond. “You did? Oh, that’s so cute! He seems really nice and totally into you. Did you guys kiss? I mean, I know you aren’t the first date kind of girl, but he is easy on the eyes. Did I tell you I’m single again? I think Luke and you would be perfect together. He seems kinda slow like you, so you guys would be perfect.”

  Rae held her hand up. “Hold on!”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean you or him are slow. You’re just not in a rush to get to third base… or first base or even up to bat for that matter.”

  Rae fought the urge to burst out laughing. It would only draw Madame Elpis into the library to tell them to be quiet. “Molls, I know what you mean. When did you break up with –”

  “About a week ago. I know I should have told you. I just figured, meh, you had enough on your plate. It’s no big deal. The whole distance thing stank big time. I was bummed for about an hour.” She smiled, her eyes sparkling, almost like a bolt of electricity ran through them. “Honest. I figured if you’re okay with being single, I can be too. Plus the Privy Council is interested in me joining on after graduation!” She stomped her feet and squealed. Then quickly stopped and glanced at the library door. In a lower tone she said, “Imagine us working together? Out in the field. You and I might be partners!”

  Rae couldn’t imagine the Privy Council letting them work together, nor could she imagine Molly out in the field. However, she was no expert, so she kept the thoughts to herself.

  Molly pointed to the dictionaries hanging heavy under Rae’s arm. “What’re those for?”

  Rae glanced down. “Assignment.”

  Molly winked and nodded at her knowingly. “I getchya. Of the Privy kind?” she whispered. “That why your trainer was looking for you? Do you want me to help?”

  “Thanks, but this is one I have to do on my own.”

  “No problem. Do you want me to guard the door for you?”

  Rae pressed her lips tight to stop the smile trying to push through. “That’d be great.”

  Molly gave her a thumb’s up and raced down the hall. She stood, feet spread shoulder width apart and her arms crossed guarding the closed library doors.

  Rae quickly pulled the journal from inside the one dictionary and rolled it slightly. She stuffed it against her back under her shirt and returned the large books. She walked back to Molly. “I got what I need. Want to head upstairs together?”

  “I’ll act as your bodyguard. It’ll be good practice for me. It’ll help show the Privy Council a spectrum of things I’m capable of doing.” She pulled open the door and dramatically glanced around the hall. She was being more obvious than Rae would have been on her own, but Rae would never say so. It would only hurt Molly’s feelings. She turned and beckoned Rae to follow. “The coast is clear. By the way, you never answered my question.”

  Rae stepped through the doorframe and double-checked the room and stairwell. From her hearing tatù, a few younger girls were chatting in the hallway on the floor above them but would pay no attention to the two of them. “Which one?”

  “Which one what?” Molly climbed the stairs beside Rae, still glancing behind them and all around.

  Rae chuckled. “Which question didn’t I answer?”

  Molly paused a moment on the stairs, then quickly resumed her pace. “I asked if you and Luke kissed. Did you?”

  They passed the group of girls camped out on the hallway floor pouring over textbooks. Exam time. Rae made a mental note, she had several of those coming up in the next two weeks, and needed to carve out time to study. “We didn’t.” She thought of the Xavier Knights and Luke. Then she thought about what it felt like when Devon brushed his lips against hers. She sighed.

  Molly nudged Rae with her elbow. “Ahhh, you want him to. Maybe you need to make the first move.”

  Rae shook her head. “We’ll see. Things are, uh, pretty complicated at the moment.” She wished she could tell Molly about Kraigan, or Devon, or anything. It sucked having a best friend that she couldn’t talk to. Maybe one day… just not today.

  They reached their floor, but not before Molly held her arm out and made Rae wait while she checked both ways of the hall to see if anyone was about. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she turned to Rae. “Go get your work done. Want to meet for breakfast tomorrow?” she asked.

  By breakfast time tomorrow, would Kraigan be racing here to kill her, or maybe running as far away as he could? Either way, could she afford to break cover? No. Not yet. “Sure. Breakfast sounds good. Seven-thirty?”

  Molly groaned. “How about eight?”

  Rae laughed. Molly had never been an early riser. “I’ll come knock on your door.”

  “Sounds good. Sometimes I miss rooming with you.” Guilt washed through Rae like a tidal wave. In all the stress, and questions and mysteries she had uncovered in the last two and half years of her life, Molly had been her stalwart supporter through every second of it. Yet she’d never really been able to share her thoughts and feelings. She didn’t deserve such a loyal friend.

  “Maybe next year we can get a flat together or something.”

  Molly snapped her fingers. “Great idea! We can drive in to work together and everything! I might just skip studying and google what’s available in the area. I mean, if the Privy Council is around here. Are you allowed to tell me that? Or am I even allowed to ask? Crap! What if they have little itty-bitty microphones set up all around here and are listening in to all our conversations?” Molly ended in a whisper and held her finger up in front of her lips in the universal sign for silence, making Rae giggle.

  “Goodnight, Molls.” Rae unlocked her dorm room and closed the door firmly behind her. She kicked her shoes off as she listened to Molly head back down the hall to her room. Dropping on the bed, she sat up immediately, remembering that she had the journal tucked in at her back. Rae pulled her father’s journal out from behind her back. She stared at the old worn leather.

  How long had the Privy Council been searching for this book? All along, it had been with her uncle, who had never realized its importance. She flipped through the pages randomly. There wasn’t much. The first part had been written by her uncle. Then her dad had started writing a few things, but they were the ramblings of a group of boys. Her dad had not been much older than 18 when he had written the other parts. What was so special about it?

  She held the book up by the outer cover and back flap and shook it, wondering if anything might slip out. The copies of the strange page she had found in her mother’s old Wade cabinet fell out. They floated to the bed like a feather, except they were upside down.

  The angle of light, or the thin paper, or who knows what, triggered something in Rae’s memory. She saw it but couldn’t quite grasp it. “Come on!” she growled to herself. She stood and began pacing, trying to force the hidden connection out.

  She stared at the cabinet of Wades. Why had her mother hidden the paper in the back?

  Backwards! That’s what was on the tip of her tongue. “But why?” she said out loud. Her eyes shot left to right like a pendulum clock as she struggled to remember something without knowing what it was she was looking for. She walked to the miniature cabinet and carefully slid the paper out of the back.

  She unfolded it and turned it upside down. Nothing. She turned it over. Blank. A strange thought struck her. Slowly, she turned the page back upside down and on the backside. With shaking hands, she held the thin paper up against the light and gasped.

  Somehow her six-year-old brain had processed what she stared at. The strange markings were symbols for words. Her mother had taught her to read them when she had been little. Every day, she had taught Rae the symbols, like learning the alphabet. When they went to the beach, her mom would draw them in the sand, and then quickly erase them.

  Rae stared at the wall. How could she have forgotten? She focused on the page again, slowly making out some of the words. Her heart thundered in her chest. The discovery excited her, but she wa
s still frustrated that she did not know what it all meant.

  Her mother had hidden this for a reason, knowing Rae would inherit it one day. Could her family tree of secrets get any more complicated? No amount of shaking was ever going to reveal everything.

  Rae moved to her desk, taking out a blank piece of paper. She couldn’t remember all the markings but made lines on the paper and began trying to fill in what she did know.

  An address began to take shape. She figured that out by the numbers. She opened her laptop and tried to see if the postal code would give her a location, or something… anything.

  An hour later she had managed to decipher only a tiny bit. There was a disc or something hidden in Stoke-on-Trent. Something the Privy Council needed to see. The one line she had sorted had Jennifer’s name in it. Rae thought it said to bring the hidden item to Jennifer, or for Jennifer’s eyes only.

  This code was something her mother had made up for Rae only. The Privy Council wouldn’t have a clue. Should she ask Jennifer? As soon as she asked herself the question, her gut told her the answer. Not yet.

  Rae googled the postal code again with one different letter and her heart nearly stopped when an address showed up on the screen.

  The Wade Factory. In Stoke-on-Trent.

  Or rather, by the images Google showed, it must be the old factory. Closed down quite a few years ago.

  Somewhere inside, there was a message from her mother.

  She intended to find out what it was.

  Tomorrow.

  Chapter 20

  No Tomorrow’s

  Rae spent most of the night decoding the message, using memories of her mother to help her remember how, talking to her mother as if she sat right beside her, trying to help her figure it out.

  “Mom, what’s the round symbol with Pi inside of it mean again?”

  As if in answer, Rae flashed to a memory of a day when she had been on a beach with her mother, drawing symbols in the sand and playing until the tide came in and washed it all away. She didn’t realize she was crying until a wet drop landed on the scribbled and scratched sheet of paper she had been working on. She’d nearly gone through an entire pad of paper brainstorming on it.

  She couldn’t go to Stoke in the morning. She needed a bit more planning and organizing. Where in the factory was the hidden clue? She had figured out it was a disc or some kind of data but beyond that, she knew next to nothing.

  Googling the word Wade and its factory, she learned that the company was still in business making porcelain collectables, but had built a new factory and closed the old ones. The land had been sold for housing development. The factory Rae wanted hadn’t been torn down yet. It was closed, windows boarded up and fenced off, but it was still standing.

  A few hours before dawn, Rae tossed her pencil on the desk and rubbed her eyes. She needed to sleep. Slipping her father’s journal and the sheets of scribbled paper from her mom’s hidden message into the bottom of her backpack, she tossed her school books on top. In the morning she would try again with a clear head. Maybe tomorrow she could go and talk to Devon. Scratch that. Just more complications. Julian would be better. She would need to borrow his car one more time.

  Rae rubbed her eyes. Everything seemed to be coming at her all at once. Devon, the ancient portrait drawing, Kraigan, her father’s journal, her mother’s clues. It felt overwhelming. She yawned, a big, long one. Enough, girl! Go to sleep!

  She crawled into bed, too tired to even bother changing or brushing her teeth. She dreamed of her mother, her father, weird drawings, old factories, talking porcelain animals, Kraigan chasing her down and laughing at the hidden messages she painted on the walls.

  Crazy dreams, all with a hint of truth to them.

  A pounding on her door brought her back to reality. She sat with a start and checked her watch. Nearly eight o’clock. She glanced around the room. Luckily she had hid everything. She winced when another round of hammering on the door started.

  Her heart leapt into her throat. Kraigan! Could he be free already? Surely the Privy Council wouldn’t let him come straight here for her. They probably didn’t realize how much he wanted her dead.

  “Rae! Are you in there?” Molly’s loud voice actually calmed her thundering heart.

  Rae jumped out of bed and unlocked the door. She absorbed a shock of electricity when she turned the doorknob. She jumped back, swinging the door open at the same time.

  Molly flicked her wrist and laughed. “Was that you or me?”

  Rae shook her hand. “Not sure.” She smiled, remembering now that the Privy Council wanted to hire Molly. She was glad. She wanted her best friend beside her next year. “Hey Moll? When we graduate, do you want to find a place we can rent together?”

  Molly raised an eyebrow and tossed her loose hair over her shoulder. “Of course. I’m not staying here another year like Julian and Devon did. They’re idiots.” Her eyes ran up and down Rae. “You plan on going to breakfast like that?”

  “Give me three minutes. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Using a speed tatù Rae was ready in less than two. She raced down the stairs and met up with Molly.

  For once, the sun was shining. Bright and hot. The sense of dread that had been dogging Rae for days now, seemed to burn away in the bright, happy sunlight. It filled her with a sense that maybe the day would be alright.

  They had breakfast, and Rae didn’t even mind Molly’s constant chatter throughout. Somehow, Rae agreed to go through papers to see available places. Molly had gabbed on and on and talked Rae into at least looking to see what was out there so they would know what they wanted when school finished. Molly figured even finding a place near school grounds would be good for the summer.

  The morning blurred slowly into the afternoon as Rae went through classes trying to focus on what the instructors were saying. Exams were around the corner. Ironically, Rae didn’t care. She had secured a job, and at the moment, had no intention of even thinking about university.

  During lunch, Jennifer sent several texts to ask how she was doing. When she suggested taking the afternoon off of training, Rae agreed. Jennifer made her promise to check in with her throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening. She would be in a meeting with Carter but would keep her phone on.

  Perfect. Rae could skip the rest of classes and drive to Stoke. She could be there before it got dark.

  She stuffed her phone into her back pocket and used the speed tatù to race over to Julian’s dorm. She sort of hoped he wouldn’t be in. She could just tape a note to his door. Then he couldn’t stop her from going.

  At the top of the stairs in Joist Hall, just before the fireproof doors, Rae stopped and tried to tame her unruly hair using the glass reflection. She hadn’t bothered to check it that morning. Tucking a loose strand behind her ear, she gave up and shoved it in a ponytail. She pushed through the heavy metal doors.

  How she hadn’t heard the shouting while playing with her hair surprised her. The fire doors must have muffled the sound of the two male voices, which were clearly coming from Julian’s dorm room. Using the cheetah tatù, Rae raced down the hall.

  As she ran, she nearly stumbled when she realized it was Julian and Devon who were hollering at each other.

  “You back-stabbing scum!” Devon shouted.

  “Me?” Julian scoffed. “I wasn’t the one who screwed up! You did that all by yourself.”

  Rae paused behind the half opened door. Maybe she shouldn’t be here listening. Then again, they couldn’t see her.

  “Yeah, I screwed up.” The disgust in Devon’s voice couldn’t be missed. “I thought I was doing what was best for me and her. She deserves a chance to figure things out on her own.”

  Rae blinked. Did Devon mean her?

  “By dumping her basically minutes after she joined the PC?” Julian must have pounded a fist against a chair or table or something. “I always thought you were a decent guy, Dev. Whatever your intentions were, you sure did a lousy job. I’m just glad I’m n
ot the selfish prick who’s pretending to try and please everyone.”

  Devon snorted. “I’m not selfish! Rae needs to focus. On training. Her dad, her mom…” He paused and Rae imagined him running his fingers through his hair. “She doesn’t need me as a distraction.”

  Rae clenched her hands into fists. He was an idiot. She had needed him the most. He was supposed to be the one person who she could go to, spill everything and never be judged. He’d simply dropped her when he realized she had crazy complications in her life to deal with. Just two months ago, with no combat training or PC training, she’d risked her life to save him. Julian was right; Devon was being a selfish prick. She slipped through the half opened door, ready to confront him. Neither Julian nor Devon noticed her. They were too busy staring each other down from across the desk.

  Julian stood straight, his arms crossed and frowning. He had bags under his eyes and he looked exhausted. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, dude.”

  Devon leaned forward, his hands spread across the wood top. “You wouldn’t know about sleep, would you? You now spend your nights plotting, drawing and obsessing over my girlfriend.”

  “She’s not your girlfriend. You dumped her!”

  “You’ve been in love with her since the day she arrived at Guilder!”

  Rae’s mouth dropped and she could feel her eyebrows raise so high her ponytail shifted. A noise escaped her lips. Both boys’ heads swung at the sound. It couldn’t be true. Devon was spitting accusations in anger. Besides Molly, Julian was her next best friend. He had been acting strange the past few days but that didn’t mean… it couldn’t.

  Julian seemed to recover first. He stepped toward her, his hands open, palms up. “Rae. It’s not what it sounds like. Dev–”

  “It’s exactly what it sounds like!” Devon shouted. “You’re fascinated by Rae. Don’t freakin’ lie!”

  “I’m not lying!” Julian glared at his PC partner.

  “What the heck’s going on?” Rae’s heart pounded hard against her ribs. She shifted and set her feet shoulder width apart, feeling an extreme need to find solid ground.