The Chronicles of Kerrigan Box Set Books # 1 - 6: Paranormal Fantasy Young Adult/New Adult Romance

by W. J. May

  “They’re diplomatic flags,” Sarah giggled as she explained. “From our town car. Wherever you’re going, they’ll let you get waved on through. Without them, I don’t see how you’d even make it out of the city tonight.”

  Rae suddenly looked down at the flags as if they were a life raft, a precious token taking her to where she needed to be. She touched the fabric gently and then looked up at Sarah, grateful beyond words.

  “Thank you, Sarah. Really. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

  “Go,” Sarah said, her eyes twinkling with merriment. “On Monday, you’re going to have to tell me all about it.”

  Rae nodded and heaved Devon to his feet before shuffling to the door.

  They had just gotten out to the hall when Sarah suddenly called out to them. “Rae…” she paused, “somehow I think your life is going to be much more interesting than mine.”

  “I highly doubt that, your future highness.” Rae grinned. “But we’ll see.”

  “Yes,” Sarah grinned back, “we certainly will.”

  Armed with her diplomatic immunity, Rae took off at a quicker pace, calling on Jennifer’s tatù to help her shoulder Devon’s weight. They passed by countless doctors and nurses, but fortunately, no one seemed to ask where these two teenagers, one with what looked like serious coordination problems, were going. They had almost made it to the back exit when a flash of crimson hair caught Rae’s eye.

  “Molly?” she called incredulously.

  Molly whirled around and barreled towards them. “Rae! I came as soon as I heard! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe it! How’s Luke? Is he okay? Wait! What happened to Devon? Is he okay? I just saw Carter and Jennifer but I didn’t talk to them yet, I wanted to find you guys.” She suddenly stretched up on her tiptoes to examine Devon’s face. “Rae Kerrigan. That is your lip gloss he’s wearing. I’d know it anywhere. I bought you the shade. What happened last night? Looks like you two worked out your issues after all, huh? Wait!” Her eyes grew wide. “Just how well did you work them out…if you know what I mean?!”

  Rae had to literally grab her by the shoulders to get her to stop talking. “Molls, take a breath! Devon’s fine, Luke’s in surgery. Now back up for a minute, did you say you just saw Carter and Jennifer?”

  “Yeah, they were just up near the ICU looking for you guys. Why? Rae, what’s going on?”

  Rae grabbed Molly’s hands and pulled her close. “Luke got me an address. I think it’s for my mom. Molly, you have to help me.”

  Molly’s eyes shone with excitement. “Of course I will! Tell me what you need me to do!”

  Rae cast an anxious glance up and down the hall. Any minute, Carter and Jennifer could spot them. While Rae knew Carter had some lingering guilt over the way he’d acted that morning, she didn’t think either of them would allow her and Devon leave to go trotting off to France while they were on probation and the city was in virtual lockdown.

  “I need you to cover for us with Carter. Tell him—I don’t know—tell him Devon donated too much blood to save Luke and I’m taking him back to Heath Hall because he’s ill.”

  It was half true. Devon had clearly lost too much blood and they were going away.

  “Sure, no problem,” Molly promised, rising to the challenge. “In the meantime, just be safe, okay Rae?” She suddenly jumped on her in an excited embrace. “And congratulations! I mean, by this time tomorrow, you could be talking to your mother!”

  Rae shook her head in amazement, suddenly a bit dizzy herself. “I know, I can’t believe it!”

  There was a sudden commotion down the hall and she and Molly looked up to see a rush of doctors pour inside as an incoming patient was transferred to the ICU.

  “Okay, I gotta go!” Rae secured her grip and Devon’s arm and started pulling him towards the door. “Molly, there’s one more thing.” She bit her lip and tried to keep it together. “Will you keep an eye on Luke for me?”

  Molly’s face softened and she nodded her head. “Of course I will. You can count on me.”

  “Thanks!” Rae said gratefully as she tugged Devon through the double doors and out into the parking lot. Despite her unparalleled heap of bad luck, she had truly lucked out with a friend like Molly. It was always in times of stress when you realized how great it was to know that someone out there had your back. Unconditionally.

  Devon was waking up, slowly but surely, and he helped Rae along as they weaved through parked cars, trying desperately to spot a taxi. Rae briefly considered how strange it was going to look, a city cab with diplomatic flags sticking off the sides, but she would worry about that later. All she was focused on now was getting her and Devon off the street before anyone could stop them.

  “Miss Skye?”

  A booming voice stopped her dead in her tracks and she automatically switched to a different tatù, using her super-hearing to eavesdrop through the hospital wall.

  It was Carter. He had apparently found Molly still hovering near the nurse’s station. Rae bit her lip anxiously as her eyes darted around for a cab. They had to get out of here—now!

  “What’re you doing at the hospital?” Carter asked curiously. “I thought you’d gone back to Guilder.”

  “I was going to,” Molly stumbled, “I mean, I did. Then I heard about Luke and I wanted to make sure he’s okay.”

  Devon pressed his ear against the wall as well, listening with his own tatù.

  “Have you seen Mr. Wardell and Miss Kerrigan?” Carter asked impatiently. “I’ve been trolling the halls but I can’t find them.”

  “Yeah I did.” Molly tried to sound convincing. “Actually, donating blood made Devon a little sick so the two of them just headed back to base so he could sleep it off.”

  Rae could almost hear Carter frown.

  “How are they getting back to Heath Hall? I drove here.”

  It had to be said, for all her talents, Molly truly sucked at improvising. Rae held her breath as she floundered. “Well, I think they were just going to grab a taxi out in front.”

  There was a second’s pause and Rae smacked her forehead, recognizing Molly’s mistake at the same time that Carter did.

  “Taxis come around the back…”

  “Shit!” Rae silently cursed. “Come on, Devon! We’ve got to go!”

  Together, they half-jogged, half-limped to the other side of the parking lot and crouched behind a parked SUV. A row of taxis was making its way slowly down the street in front of them and Rae tentatively stuck out her arm. If she could just catch one’s attention and get it to curve around, maybe she and Devon could slip inside without—

  A tall shadow fell over them and Rae looked up in horror to see Carter standing there, his long arms crossed over his chest.

  “Where on earth do you two think you’re going?”

  Chapter 11

  Carter and Rae were locked in a standoff, staring each other down in the late afternoon sun, neither of them surrendering so much as an inch. As the evening breeze stirred her curls around her, Rae brought herself up to her full height. Carter could interrogate her all he wanted. She was never going to say a damn thing.

  “It’s going to be okay, Rae,” Devon whispered loudly, “just don’t tell him about France.”

  Rae shut her eyes in a painful grimace as Carter stared at Devon in complete disbelief.

  “France? Did he just…?” he asked. “Miss Kerrigan, what the hell is going on?”

  “I’m dating an exsanguinated idiot,” Rae muttered under her breath.

  Carter leaned forward with a frown. “What’s that?”

  “Nothing,” Rae said swiftly. She gestured to Devon’s wilted form. “He’s not himself. He conned the nurses into letting him donate way too much blood. We’re just heading back to Heath Hall now to let him sleep it off.”

  “Nice cover.” Devon winked.

  Oh, for Pete’s sake. How was she supposed to go anywhere like this?! The diplomatic flags were still clutched in her fist, and for a minute, she co
nsidered stashing Devon somewhere safe and just waving them around as she started walking.

  Carter raised his eyebrows, unimpressed with their new tactic of lie, then self-expose. A taxi slowed down tentatively on the street beside them, but he waved it away with a flick of his wrist. Rae stared after it, watching her chance of seeing her mom drive off into the sunset. She followed it all the way until it disappeared before Carter reclaimed her attention.

  “Rae,” he spoke softly and used her first name, “I think you should tell me what’s going on.”

  Her shoulders slumped as she sighed. They had been caught. There was no way around it. It was time to face the music.

  Before anyone could say a thing, Devon suddenly gripped the side of Rae’s neck as his legs buckled and threatened to give way beneath him. She quickly lowered him down to sit on the grass by the curb. Carter rushed forward and took his other arm to help. It was a testament to how out of it Devon really was that he didn’t struggle or pull away when Carter reached out to touch him. Instead, he just gripped the fabric on his boss’ sweater with a thoughtful look on his face.

  “That’s really soft,” he murmured quietly.

  All at once, Rae’s heart seized up in her chest. Devon’s mind was completely defenseless, an open book. Distorted and hazy. Who knows what Carter would be able to see without Devon trying to keep him at bay? What if he saw…?!

  She glanced at Carter in a moment of blind panic only to see Carter look up at her at the same time. Her lips parted and she was about to say something—a denial, a reprimand—she didn’t know, but before she could, Carter help up a peaceable hand.

  “I didn’t look, I didn’t see a thing,” he said softly. The tops of his cheeks flushed faintly in shame as he knelt down and helped Devon sit up straight. “I know you have no reason to believe that, but it’s the truth.”

  But for whatever reason, Rae did believe him. In many ways, his face was as open as Devon’s, laid bare by the mention of her mother, honestly trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Luke isn’t my college counselor,” she admitted.

  Carter rolled his eyes. “You don’t say.” But he kept his peace and listened quietly.

  “He works for…” She hastily edited herself. “He’s a bit of a computer genius and has access to a lot of information. He’s the one that found me the box my mother left for me. It had some files and a video tape which we watched together.”

  Carter was leaning back on his heels, holding his breath as he absorbed every word. He was sure to have spotted some holes in her stories—some critical information she was omitting—but he let it go. Letting Rae tell the story as he silently listened.

  “Anyway, the video was time stamped and Luke said he was going to check the footage from security tapes around the area to see if he could find any trace of my mom or any clue as to what happened. When he came to Heath Hall this afternoon, he had this in his hand.”

  In a rare moment of trust, Rae extended the note. Carter read it in silence, tracing the writing with his fingers as Rae had done. There was a strange look on his face Rae had never seen before. The look of a man beyond hope who was struggling to hope again. When he finally glanced back up at Rae, that hope had been replaced with steely determination.

  “Who attacked him?”

  Rae ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “That’s what I don’t know. Only a few people even knew about the box—and since the video self-destructed after we watched—the only thing I was able to take with me were some old mission files of my mom’s. The files were missing when we discovered Luke passed out on the floor.”

  She decided not to mention the contents of the tape or the secret code embedded in the files. There were some things that for now, at least, she wanted to keep for herself. And lucky for her, Carter wasn’t pressing.

  He was quiet for a moment, thinking, before his face suddenly cleared back into the Carter Rae had grown to know and even trust over the years. The man in control. The man who could do just about anything.

  “This is what we’re going to do—” he began.

  “What we’re going to do?” Rae raised her eyebrows.

  She hadn’t realized this was a joint mission. But as long as Carter wasn’t actively shutting her down, she didn’t know if she could complain. After all, for the next few hours Devon was going to be pretty much out of the picture. It might help to have another cognizant adult on her side.

  “I’m coming with you.” There was not a shadow of doubt or shame on Carter’s face as he stared Rae straight in the eye. “I loved your mother, Miss Kerrigan, once upon a time. I loved her with all my heart. I would move heaven and earth to find her.”

  Rae froze for a moment in surprise, before slowly nodding her head. She believed him. And because of those feelings, on this particular mission, there was no one she’d rather have on her side.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked quickly, awaiting his instructions.

  He gave her a rare smile. “Jennifer and Molly will stay here at the hospital to keep tabs on your friend. Protect him from any future attacks, and keep us updated on his status.”

  Rae was surprised his plan in any way included Luke. Now that she had the note and the files were gone, she didn’t understand why Carter would find him at all relevant.

  Her surprise must have shown on her face, because Carter paused thoughtfully before continuing. “I know he’s important to you. I’m not going to leave him here defenseless.” He briefly met her eyes, and in a moment of enlightenment, something clicked into place.

  Carter cared about Rae too—because of her mother. Carter felt protective of her.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “I appreciate that.”

  He nodded briskly and turned his attention to the bustling city. The problem of the inescapable traffic must have just occurred to him, because he suddenly frowned and rubbed his chin. “Now, we just need to find a way to get out of this city…”

  “Actually,” Rae triumphantly held out the diplomatic flags, “I may have an idea about that.”

  Carter’s face lightened in relief before he suddenly froze. “Tell me you didn’t steal these from the royal family.”

  “I didn’t steal them,” Rae bristled defensively, “I just borrowed them from Sarah.”

  Carter raised his eyebrows. “Sarah? You two are on a first name basis now?”

  Rae felt the blood rising in her cheeks. “Well…if you can count ‘Sarah to Karen’ a first name basis.” Probably best not to mention that other little secret. She was pushing the boundaries as is.

  Carter simply shook his head. “Pick your battles, right?” he murmured to himself. “I’m going to pull my car around back. Wait right here with Devon. Tell no one where we are going. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  As Carter disappeared around the corner, Devon leaned back against Rae’s legs and gazed up at her with a sleepy smile. “Did I help?” he asked hopefully.

  She smiled and stroked back his hair. “Actually babe, you helped a lot.”

  Exactly one minute later, Carter whirled around the corner in a jet black town car. The kind of car that just might believably have diplomatic immunity. He grabbed the flags out of Rae’s hand and adhered them quickly to his hood before returning to help her with Devon.

  “Open the door,” he instructed as he placed his hands on Devon’s back and helped him get to his feet. Rae looked on with concern as she pulled open the door to the back seat.

  “I don’t understand,” she said anxiously, “he seems to be getting worse, not better.”

  “That’s just because he’s been on the move with nothing to replenish his system,” Carter assured her. “Here,” he tossed her a vitamin water from the front seat, “give him this, it’ll help.”

  Rae helped tip the bottle into Devon’s mouth until he was strong enough to hold it on his own. Then she climbed into the front seat as Carter pulled out of the parking lot.

  “So, Miss Kerrigan,”
he dodged through pedestrians and cars alike, “to the airport or—”

  “The Chunnel?” she interjected hopefully.

  He flashed her a peculiar look before clearing his face and fixing his eyes on the road.

  “The Chunnel it is.”

  * * *

  Only about an hour later, Rae and Carter were parked in the Eurotunnel Shuttle, sitting in silence as Devon slept peacefully in the back seat. Carter had stretched the power of the diplomatic flags as far as both common decency and roadside assistance would allow, and they had made it here in record time. But now that the engine was off and they simply had to wait, the car was quickly filling up with a million unanswered questions.

  Rae tried to break the awkward silence. “I came here once before, you know. To the Chunnel, I mean,” she clarified as Carter shot her another strange look. “I can barely remember it, I was really small, but I remember being so excited and then so disappointed all at the same time. I’d thought that we’d be in some kind of underwater tube and I’d get to see dolphins and fish and stuff. I didn’t realize it was a sealed compartment. My poor mom,” she chuckled, “I must have been a nightmare when I found out.”

  “You went with your mother?” Carter asked with that same odd look on his face.

  Rae frowned at him curiously but then shrugged. “I guess. Who else would have taken me?”

  There was a weighty pause as Carter seemed to be struggling with something. He clenched his jaw and stared fixedly at the steering wheel, trapped in resigned silence, before he suddenly shook his head with a little sigh.

  “I took you.”

  Rae’s mouth fell open. “You what?!” Carter looked at her with something close to pity, but she shook her head in complete dismissal. “No you didn’t. Why on earth would you take me to the Chunnel? I went with my mom.”

  Carter’s voice was quiet. “You went with me. It was your fifth birthday and your mother and father were fighting. He had come home and done or said something horrible to set her off.” He shook his head as he tried to remember the specifics. “I was in town on business and Beth called me up in tears. Asked me to come take you for the day so you wouldn’t get caught in the middle of it. Said it was your birthday and she didn’t want your only memory to be of your crazy father.”