by W. J. May
Rae rubbed her aching wrist. “I got lucky. I haven’t proven anything.” She knew it was the truth.
Jennifer smiled – a real smile.
Rae realized that little gem didn’t happen very often. She suddenly wanted to earn that approval more than once.
“You’re ready,” Jennifer said. “Either natural instinct guides you, or your tatùs do. Doesn’t matter which. It works.”
Riley cleared his throat. “If you don’t need me for any more training today, I’m going to shower and see if the ointment cauterized the wound.”
“We’re done.” Jennifer’s military, unreadable face returned.
Rae turned to follow Riley.
“Not you, Rae. I want to talk to you.”
Crap! Rae stopped and touched Riley. “Sorry, again.”
He shrugged, grimacing and touching his shoulder. “Don’t be. I kinda deserved it. Think we can call it even now?”
“For now.” Rae winked.
Riley leaned close to her ear. “I’ll be fine. That salve stuff was made by the guy who created the laser swords. The cut and burn will be gone by supper. I’ll be a hundred percent for the Twisted Cork later.” He jogged away before she could reply and disappeared through the door.
Great. Molly asked him to go. Who else is coming along? Hopefully not Julian, or worse, Devon.
“Earth to Rae! You still here?”
Rae blinked and blinked again. She turned back to Jennifer. “I’m here.”
Jennifer picked up Riley’s laser sword and tossed them perfectly onto the cart. “Tomorrow’s mission shouldn’t be too difficult. You and Julian are going to break into a museum and retrieve an item.”
“What?” Not difficult?
“With Julian’s ability, he’s going to guide you in and disarm the security code. You run in, grab the item and basically dash back out.”
“I have Julian’s ability. He can’t disarm a code with it.”
“Apparently he’s done it before.” Jennifer walked over to the cart and retrieved a rolled up poster. She squatted down on the ground and unrolled it to reveal blueprints for a museum in London.
“You guys will drive to the train station tomorrow, take the train into London and visit the museum during the day to do recon. Then you will leave. Once the museum closes, you’ll go in.”
Rae stared at the architectural drawing. “What the heck am I supposed to be stealing?”
“Borrowing. You are going to borrow it and the next night go back in and return it.”
Rae shook her head. “Seriously?”
Jennifer glanced up from where she was. “Of course.”
Is she crazy? Maybe this would end up being some kind of initiation test. “Fine.”
Jennifer tapped a circled item in one of the rooms on the blueprint. “There’s an old book here. You need to retrieve page thirty-seven. You’ll tear it out and take it with you.”
“Why can’t someone just go in and take a photo with the phone or something of the page? Seems a whole lot easier.”
“The book’s in a glass cube to protect it from the elements. And it’s not opened to page thirty-seven.”
“So I’m just going to go in, lift the glass, take the page and go?” Stupid, stupid mission.
“And put the glass back on. Don’t forget to turn it back to the page it’s on. Next night you’ll return it. Or the same night if you’re quick enough.” There was the slight gleam of a challenge in her eye.
“We’ll see.” Thank goodness Julian would be there with her.
“You think you can handle this?”
“Do I have a choice?” Jennifer’s face went from light challenge to darkening thunder clouds in about 2 seconds. Whoops, wrong answer. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
Jennifer clapped her hands. “Good. Then we are done here. I’ll see you Tuesday or Wednesday for the debriefing.”
As much as Rae wanted to ask Jennifer what the debriefing involved, she held off and decided asking Julian would be a hundred times easier. “Okay. See you… next time.”
Jennifer began moving the cart back into the storage room so Rae waved goodbye to her back and headed out of the gym. She had heavy things on her mind anyway. She had to go meet a boy and pretend to like it.
Chapter 11
The Twisted Cork
“Let’s dance!” Molly yelled above the music. Rae had survived Molly’s dressing and the ride to the place without showing any of the heartache she was still feeling. She had arrived actively seeking an early escape. However, the longer she let the beat pound through her, the less she felt like escaping.
She stared at the people around her, waiting to see how the battle of wills between Molly and the boys played out. The three boys shook their heads. Nic and Charlie looked mortified at the thought. Not so much Riley, but he seemed to still be favoring his shoulder. A twinge of guilt ran through Rae.
“Suit yourselves.” Molly grabbed Rae’s hand and pulled her to the dance floor.
“Shame the boys don’t want to dance.” Rae moved and enjoyed the loud music bouncing against her chest. Between today’s training incident and tomorrow’s breaking and entering job, she needed to let loose. She fixed her skirt, trying to pull it down a bit more. Molly had picked out something shorter and tighter than Rae felt comfortable in. She had bit her tongue when Molly gushed about spending the whole morning shopping for clothes for them to wear tonight.
“Not really.” Molly’s eyes ran across the club, in time with the flashing lights. “It’s a real shame Luke isn’t here yet. He did say he was bringing some friends, right?”
“That’s what the text said.” Rae tried unsuccessfully tucking a chunk of hair behind her ear.
Molly continued to follow the lights around the room, turning around to see the other side of the benches and by the bar. She swung her hips to the beat of the music.
A strange, slightly creepy guy about Rae’s age strutted over to her. He began dancing with them and raised his hands in the air. “A pretty little thing like you should wear your hair up, show off your face.” He reached over and touched her hair.
Rae jumped back, startled that the guy had touched her. He, however, didn’t miss a beat and recovered the distance between them.
“Alright pal,” another male voice said from behind the weirdo. “It’s time to leave.” A hand grabbed the guy’s shirt near his collar and tried to pull him away. The creepy guy jerked out of reach and ended up pushing himself right into Rae.
She stumbled and fell forward, managing to hold her balance by grabbing a nearby railing.
“I’m so sorry, are you okay?”
Rae, her hair covering her face, thought she recognized the voice. He wasn’t one of her Guilder friends. “I’m fine.” She straightened and flipped her hair back.
The creep elbowed past her and went after the knight who had come to her defense. He managed to connect his fist to the knight’s jaw.
“Hey!” Rae yelled. As the creep turned around, she punched him hard in the face, somewhere by his nose and eye. Maybe both, she wasn’t quite sure but by the sudden stream of blood gushing from his nostrils, she had the feeling she had broken something, especially since she’d added a bit of a tatù when she’d connected, hoping to knock him off his feet.
Two large bouncers appeared and dragged the creep away. The knight who had stood to protect her, rubbed his jaw and looked at her. “Thank you, for defending my honor.”
It was Luke. Café Luke. Rae grinned and shrugged, exhilarated that the freaky moment was over. “Pretty little thing like you, it’s the least I can do.”
He grinned. “I recognized you from over there,” he pointed to where a group of people sat laughing, clapping and pointing at him. “That guy’s a bit of a regular. We call him the ‘groper’ and when he headed over toward you…” He smiled, his lower lip swelling slightly. “It’s nice to see you, Rae.”
Rae smiled, liking the way he said her name. “I think we should get you some i
ce, Luke.”
Molly suddenly appeared at her side again. “Luke? You’re Rae’s Luke? I’ve been scanning the club looking for you.” She popped her head over Rae’s shoulder and squinted. “You are cute.”
Luke grinned, looking quite chuffed.
Rae felt her cheeks burn and was suddenly thankful for the semi-dark lit room and flashing blue strobe lights to hide it. “I’ll go get you some ice,” she said again.
“I’m fine, but I could use something cold to drink.” He rubbed his jaw and smiled at her. “I think I bit the inside of my cheek.”
“Get Rae to kiss it better.” Molly giggled, saying it quietly so only Rae would hear her.
Rae elbowed her in the ribs and smiled at Molly’s ‘oof!’
Luke and Rae walked to the bar while Molly made her way back to the table where the Guilder boys sat. Rae could only imagine what tale she was telling them. Everything had happened so quick Rae wondered if they had even seen it. Surely Nic would have been there ready to fight if he had.
Luke ordered a coke with extra ice. “Do you want anything?”
“Maybe a lemonade?” Thank goodness he ordered something non-alcoholic. Less pressure for her.
He ordered her a lemonade and pulled two stools over for them to sit on. He took a swig and crunched on an ice cube a moment before speaking. “The guy you borrowed the car from, is he here?” He nodded in the direction Molly sat with Nic, Charlie and a scowling Riley.
“No.” Rae turned her back so she couldn’t see them.
Luke smirked. “Then apparently you have a list of admirers. Guess I should just get in line.”
Horrified, Rae shook her head hard. “No! They’re all buddies from school.”
“That was my next question. What year are you in?”
“I graduate in a couple of months.”
“Cool. I bet you are looking forward to that. Do you have plans when you graduate?” He made a face. “I mean, of course you have plans. Ignore my question. It sounds like I’m drilling you on your future.” He took a long swig of his drink and crushed another ice cube.
Poor guy. He’s trying. Rae totally understood the awkwardness and not knowing the best way to say things. “It’s fine. I am looking forward to being done with school work, but I like school at the same time.” If he asked her where she went, should she tell him? I guess it doesn’t matter. Everyone here thinks Guilder’s super prestigious for all the wrong reasons anyways. “What about you, are you still in school?”
He gave her an appreciative smile. “I graduated last spring. I joined the work force right away, actually a couple months before I finished school and when I graduated, they offered me a full time job.”
“Where do you work?”
He chuckled.
Rae tilted her head, confused. She hadn’t asked him a funny question.
“I’m sorry. I love your accent. It’s super cute. You sorta sound American but with some kind of hidden Scottish or English bit mixed in. I feel like asking you a million questions just to hear you talk.”
Rae knew she was blushing again. She could feel the heat on her cheeks and the weird inner feeling that came along with it. “I was born in England and moved to New York when I was a kid.”
“So your family’s in America? Are you going to stay here or head home?” His face turned concerned that he might miss out on the opportunity of hanging with her.
“I’m staying. I’m kinda like you and have a job lined up… when I graduate.” She blinked, worried he would ask her what kind of job. She quickly covered her tracks. “Or I might just go to university and hang out at school for another four years. I have no idea what I want to do, except I know I don’t want to go back to America.” There. That should turn the conversation into a safe direction.
“Cool. I’m glad you’ll be around.” He winked at her. “Just in case the “groper” comes back and I need your services again.”
Molly skirted up and put her hand on Rae’s shoulder. “I’m totally sorry to interrupt…”
Rae and Luke both looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to finish the sentence. Rae made a conscious effort not to roll her eyes heavenward. “Molls, this is Luke. Luke, this is my best friend Molly.”
She held her hand out and Luke shook it. She gave him a huge grin. “It’s great to meet you, again. When Rae told me some guy had given her his number at a café, I was a little skeptical. There are a lot of weirdo’s out there so I wasn’t sure she should even respond, but she was all ‘gung-ho’ about sending you a text. I even suggested getting a burner phone to be on the safe side.” Her head moved up and down as she chattered away. “I’m glad she ignored my warnings and sent you a message.” She put a hand to the side of her mouth. “She managed to save your ass tonight. Not bad ‘eh?”
Rae leaned forward and tapped Molls on the shoulder, sending a little electric shock through her finger to her friend. She smiled innocently when Molly jerked in surprise. “Whoops. Sorry about that. The air must be dry in here.” She planned to send a few more of those on their ride home as payment for the tall tale Molly had just weaved.
Luke’s eyes flitted back and forth between the two girls. Like most of the human population, he obviously didn’t know how to respond to Molly. “I-I’m glad she texted me.”
A quiet cough sounded from behind Rae. She turned around and saw Nic.
Molly slapped her forehead. “Oops! I forgot.”
Nic cleared his throat again. “Hi! Sorry to bug you guys.” He glanced at Luke. “I’m Nic, by the way.”
“Luke.”
Nic nodded. “I feel bad interrupting you but we need to get going. Riley’s feeling like trash.”
Rae glanced around Nic to the table where Riley had been sitting. It sat vacant now. “Is he okay?” She slid off her seat.
“I think so, but Charlie took him outside.”
“He looked like he was going spew everywhere a moment ago.” Molly pretended to shudder. “That’s why I came over here.”
It’s from that stupid laser sword. Rae chewed on her fingernail. An old habit she obviously hadn’t broken. “We should go then.”
“I can give you and Molly a lift back if you want to stay,” Luke offered.
“That’s super nice of you,” Molly chirped.
Rae wanted to swat her on the back of the head. “Yes, thank you, but we had better head back all together.” She wanted to see if Riley’s shoulder was all right and if she needed to get a hold of Jennifer or get more ointment for him.
“No problem.” Luke stood.
Nic grabbed Molly by the elbow and began dragging her toward the exit before she could start babbling away. “Nice meeting you, Luke,” Nic called over his shoulder.
Rae didn’t miss him hiss, “Ow!” and jerk his hand away from Molly. She owed him one. “Well, I should get going too then.” She tugged on her skirt.
“Do you have plans next Friday?” Luke pulled his phone out. “Maybe we could catch a movie or do dinner or both… if you want.”
She nodded. “S-Sure.” That was part of the reason she had stayed behind and not left with Nic and Molly, right? She thought about Devon and a surge of guilt ran through her.
“I’ve saved your phone number, but I’m not sure how you spell your name.”
“R-A-E.” She watched him erase Raye and type Rae. “My last name’s Kerrigan if you want to add it.” She bit her lip. Should I have told him that? She waited for him to cringe or drop his phone and run away.
He didn’t even blink. “Cool,” he said. “With a K?”
She nodded, wishing the thunder rushing by her ears would mute. She pulled her phone out of her little jacket pocket and found where Molly had saved Luke’s name. “What about yours?”
“Fodder. F-O-D-D-E-R.”
Rae giggled.
Luke raised his eyebrows and gave her a questioning look.
“Has anyone teased you about that? You know, ‘Luke, I am your Fodder?’”
Luke l
aughed, a deep, pleasant sounding one. “Nope. You, my dear, are the very first.” He held his hand up. “Scout’s honor. I kid you not.”
She smiled. “Sorry.” Why do I have to have the lamest sense of humor?
“Don’t be. That was a good one.” He stuffed his phone in his pocket.
Scratch that. I’m a little bit funny. “I had better get going before they leave without me.”
“I can walk you out.”
Very chivalrous. “Thanks, but I’m okay. I probably should hurry.” If Riley or any of them were using their tatù, the last thing she wanted was for Luke to see it.
“I’ll text you… or call you?”
Thinking of Riley’s shoulder distracted her again. “Sure.” She leaned forward and hugged him. Her face burned instantly again by her random action. She pulled quickly away. “See you.” She avoided looking him in the eye and dashed for the door. She had never had this awkward feeling with Devon. Ever. But it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Chapter 12
Memory Work
The second Rae stepped out of the club she raced to where Riley had parked his car. Nic, Charlie and Molly stood on the passenger side, their faces grim.
“What’s going on?” Rae skidded to a stop right beside them. “Where’s Riley?” She shifted and glanced behind Nic into the car. Riley wasn’t there.
Nic, using his thumb, pointed behind him and made a face as if to say, ‘don’t go over there.’
A retching sound erupted from near the boot of the car. Riley stood, half keeled over, his face hidden by the trunk. The sound continued a few more times before he spat and slowly straightened, leaning against his car for support. “Nic, you’re gonna have to drive home.” He lamely tossed his keys in Nic’s direction.
Rae walked over to him, being careful to stop far enough away to avoid smelling or seeing anything. “We need to get you to the infirmary.” She whispered, knowing pale and slightly green looking Riley would have no problem hearing her. “Your shoulder could be poisoning you. I am so sorry.”
Riley half smiled, his eyes glassy. “Shoulder’s fine. Totally healed.” He swallowed and grimaced. “I think I’ve got the freakin’ flu.” He leaned over again and heaved.