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

by W. J. May

  Rae watched the dilemma present itself on her mother’s face with bated breath. She almost wished she still had some blood on her to complete the ‘defenseless girl’ image.

  “Where are you staying for the night?”

  Carter glanced at Rae and took over, catching on to her scheme. “We have reservations at a place about two hours from here.” He squinted out into the darkness with a speculative look. “I’ll just need to find some sort of rest stop first so we can get a map…”

  Rae watched as Beth silently struggled with the predicament. The inherent danger of allowing three strangers to sleep in her house, versus the well-being of a sickly young girl. In the end, her eyes fell on Rae and she seemed to make up her mind.

  “That’s nonsense,” she waved her hand dismissively, “you three should stay here for the night. Save yourself the trouble of a hotel.”

  “We couldn’t impose,” Carter said at the same time Rae spoke.

  “Are you sure?” Rae feigned a look of hesitation. “We wouldn’t want to impose.”

  “Not at all.” Bethany gave her a kind smile. “If you’re anything like my mother, then you need to rest young lady. There’s a room upstairs where you can sleep.”

  “That’s so generous of you, thank you so much!” Rae exclaimed. At least now, while she came up with a plan to return her mom’s memory, they’d be sleeping under the same roof. “I’m sure my dad will be fine on the couch, and my boyfriend can just come up with me.”

  “He most certainly will not!” Both Carter and Bethany said at the same time.

  They glanced at each other in surprise before fixing their attention on opposite sides of the room. Rae smothered another smile and buried her face in her tea. It was worth a shot.

  “Your boyfriend can sleep on the couch in the living room,” Beth said sternly, giving Devon a once-over that made him straighten in a hurry. “And you,” she flashed Carter a suspicious glance, “the one with the crazy eye twitch. You can sleep in the car.”

  Casting a triumphant glance at the men lingering behind her, Rae followed her mom up the stairs and down the hall to a small but cozy guestroom. A tall wooden dresser stretched up against one wall while gauzy, laced curtains hung over the windows that occupied the other. A neatly made bed sat in between them.

  Rae fingered the thick, handmade quilt that covered the mattress. “Did you make this?”

  Bethany shook her head. “It was here when I moved into this place a few years ago.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Rae’s head cocked up in interest. “Where did you move from?”

  Her mother’s lips opened and closed like she was going to say something as the same dark shadow passed over her face. However, nothing came out. Strangely enough, she seemed even more perturbed by this than Rae was. Eventually, she simply shook her head with a quick smile and headed to the dresser.

  “I’ll get you some pajamas,” she said softly, pulling out a pair of striped sweatpants and a periwinkle camisole. “Let’s not bother the boys to go to the car for clothes now. If you like, I can wash what you’re wearing so it’ll be clean for you tomorrow.”

  “That would be wonderful, thanks,” Rae answered, taking the pajamas and holding them up appraisingly against her body.

  “What do you know?” Beth smiled. “A perfect fit.”

  Rae shook her head with a small smile herself. “What do you know?”

  Beth turned around as Rae quickly slipped into the pajamas, but when she bent over to pick up her slacks to give to her mom, Beth’s eyes grew wide.

  “Is that a fairy?” she asked curiously.

  Rae’s heart skipped a beat as she froze. Well…what was the harm? Might as well figure out what other latent memories her mom might still be carrying.

  “Yeah, it is,” she said brightly. She turned around and lifted her shirt, but kept a careful distance from Beth’s hands. She didn’t know what exactly was holding her back, especially because every fiber of her being was aching to reach out and touch her mother, but she somehow sensed that she should wait. When the time was right…she would know it.

  “Wow,” Beth remarked admiringly, “that’s beautiful. The detail is exquisite.” Then she gave Rae a speculative look. “When did you get it?”

  “On the morning of my sixteenth birthday.” Rae gulped and tried to act casual. “Do you have any ink?”

  Beth chuckled softly. “Actually, I do. And it’s in the exact same spot as yours. Oddly, with a bit of a similar pattern.” She turned around and lifted up the back of her own shirt. Rae’s eyes widened as she was finally able to see her mother’s tatù for herself. It was absolutely spectacular—a swirling, looping, blinding sun. Rae could almost feel the heat coming off of it. It was closer to her own tatù than she had ever imagined, just with even more detail due to its size.

  “That’s amazing,” she breathed. Again, she resisted the urge to touch her mother and turned instead to her quilted bed. She felt her fingers burn and quickly shoved them behind her back, afraid fire would shoot out of them. “Thank you again so much for letting us stay here tonight miss… I’m sorry, I actually never got your first name.”

  “It’s Beth,” her mother answered cheerfully, grabbing the little pile of Rae’s clothes. “And yours?”

  Rae had to take a quick, steadying breath before she could speak. “It’s Rae.”

  “Rae?” Her mother frowned thoughtfully. “That’s a lovely name. Does it run in your family?”

  Unwelcome tears started pooling in Rae’s eyes and she did her best to ignore them. “I honestly don’t know. I never got a chance to ask my mom.”

  Beth smiled distractedly before gesturing to the bed. “Well goodnight. Hopefully you’ll feel better after a good night’s rest.”

  “Yes, thank you.” Rae couldn’t quite keep all the pain from her voice. “Good night.”

  The second the door closed behind Beth, Rae fell onto the bed in a mess of silent, hysterical tears. What had happened? How could her own mother not know her? What had they done to her!

  She muffled her sobs in the quilt, vaguely aware that Devon was sure to be able to hear them, quartered in the living room directly below. Sure enough, after a few minutes, a soft whisper floated up through the floor boards.

  “Rae, honey, are you all right?”

  Rae pulled herself together with a shaky breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry to wake you.”

  “You didn’t wake me.” She could almost see his concerned eyes as he spoke. “Do you want me to sneak up there?”

  She snorted. “I don’t think that would be the best idea. I mean, you heard my mom. She and Carter would have a fit if they caught you.”

  Devon laughed softly. “Yeah. I can’t believe I was actually banished to the couch by your mom. It seems so…normal, for us.”

  Rae shook her head with a smile. “Trust me. Nothing about this is normal.”

  “What’re you going to do in the morning?” he asked quietly.

  She sighed. “I’m not exactly sure.”

  But as she looked down at the tearstained quilt, a sudden idea popped into her head. She stroked the material with trembling fingers as a small smile began creeping up her face.

  “I think I have a plan…”

  The next morning, Rae woke up to the smell of bacon and scrambled eggs. Her clothes were sitting folded on a chair by the bed, and she put them on quickly before hurrying downstairs. Carter and Devon were already sitting at the table as her mother flew around the kitchen. Pouring some coffee here, prodding something on the grill over there. She was a blur of nervous energy.

  “Good morning,” she said brightly as Rae took a seat by Devon. “How would you like your eggs?”

  “Uh,” Rae glanced at the boys’ plates and followed suit. “Scrambled is fine. Thank you.”

  With a grand relish, Beth tilted some eggs onto her plate and watched as she took the first, steaming bite. Rae’s throat closed up automatically to protect itself and she struggled to keep a smile plas
tered on her face. It was like biting into the bottom of a dumpster.

  “S’good!” she choked, with her mouth still full.

  Beth turned around with a satisfied smile and Rae quickly spit them into her napkin. She cast a tortured glance at Devon only to see him smirking back at her, shaking his head as he poured some of his into a crack in the floor. Only Carter was immune—gobbling them down and staring at Beth like her cooking was God’s gift to the world.

  When they’d finally finished—or pretended to finish—Rae stood up in a sudden rush. “Well, thank you so much again for breakfast, Beth, and for letting us stay. But we should really get going.”

  The men looked at her in confusion as Beth blinked quickly, caught off guard by the sudden rush. “Oh, okay, of course.” She got slowly to her feet and stared around the sudden flurry in her kitchen as everyone gathered up their jackets and scarves. “Well, are you sure you don’t want some more coffee?” she offered hopefully.

  “Nope, we’ve got to hit the road,” Rae answered. “Thanks again.”

  The three of them headed out the door and down the cobblestone path with Beth trailing along behind, staring after them in a daze. Without understanding why, Carter and Devon slid obediently into the car and started up the engine, while Rae turned around for a final wave. Beth was standing halfway up the walk, that same shadow clouding her lovely features.

  “Bye, Beth,” Rae called breathlessly, preparing to drive away from her long-lost mother, “thanks for everything.” She paused for a moment, waiting, but Beth said nothing and she turned slowly back to the car.

  It felt like a knife had been lodged in her ribs, keeping her heart from properly beating.

  Come on, Mom, she thought. I’m your daughter! You know me!

  Nothing happened.

  In what felt like slow motion, Rae pulled open her door and began to climb inside.

  “Wait!”

  Rae whirled around to see Beth running after her. She froze beside the car as her mother took her by the arms and spun her around.

  “Why did you call me mom?”

  Rae’s heart leapt as silent tears ran down her cheeks. It had been a gamble, but this is what she had been counting on. The only emotion strong enough to pull Beth back to them was the utter heartbreak you feel when you lose someone you love. It was a pain Rae had quietly lived with for the last twelve years. She knew exactly how powerful it was.

  “Because your name is Bethany Kerrigan. You’re the ex-wife of Simon Kerrigan. Your brother attended Guilder and when you turned sixteen, they realized you were marked instead of him, they sent him home. You joined the Privy Council in England. You’re a fighter, a badass, and an honestly terrible cook.” She stared straight into Bethany’s lovely eyes, her chest heaving. “I know all that…because you’re my mother.”

  There was a long pause as Bethany stared back at her in the brilliant sunrise. The first rays of light shone down on them, casting away the shadows and illuminating what had been dark just moments before.

  “I am.” Bethany didn’t say it as a question, more like an affirmation of things she knew deep in her heart to be true. Rae’s breath caught in her chest as her eyes brimmed over with emotion. In a rush of adrenaline, she pulled up the back of her shirt and showed her mother again the sparkling fairy dancing in a bed of suns on her back. Without Rae even having to think about it, a blinding array of blue flames sprang up from her hand and began travelling up her arm.

  Beth gasped, but didn’t pull away as Rae reached for her.

  “And this,” Rae took her mother’s hand and watched as the flames spread harmlessly across both their bodies, uniting mother and daughter, “is not a tattoo.”

  Chapter 13

  “I just don’t understand.” Silence followed a moment with shock. “She’s been living in France this whole time?”

  Rae glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eye. The four of them were in the car, driving as fast as they could back to London. While her mother hadn’t remembered any other details about what had happened the day of the fire or how she had ended up in France, she completely accepted the fact that she was Rae’s mother and that the lot of them apparently had superpowers. Even now in the car, she was rhythmically snapping her fingers, delighted when a tiny blue flame shot out of the end of them. Devon, sitting in the passenger seat directly in front of her, stroked the back of his hair nervously and looked decidedly less pleased.

  “Rae! Rae, are you listening?”

  Rae turned her attention back to her ecstatic, frantic uncle waiting on the phone.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Apparently, she’s been living in France for over a decade. She has no idea how she got there or what happened all those years ago, but she recognizes me now.” Rae grinned as her mother tossed a flame from one hand to another. “I think things are starting to come back.” She pushed the phone away from her mouth. “Hey Mom? Be careful.”

  “Could you please not do that in the car?” Devon asked imploringly.

  “Said the boy who tried to sleep in the same bed as my daughter,” Beth shot back. She smiled but there was a steel beneath the honey.

  Devon flushed beet red. “That was her idea—I didn’t say a thing.”

  Beth raised her eyebrows. “Oh, now you want to blame my daughter? You think that’s going to earn you points?”

  “I’m never going to win here, am I?” he muttered.

  “No, but I love that you keep trying.” She chuckled and Devon shook his head, trying to hide an exasperated smile.

  Rae kept glancing between them, grinning from ear to ear. She couldn’t believe that all the things she loved most in the world were coming together in a freak sort of blissed-out heaven. She felt light as air, like she could skip across the golden clouds that were crisscrossing their way back to the Chunnel.

  “Did she remember anything? That she has a brother?” Uncle Argyle asked eagerly.

  “I told her she had an obsessive compulsive, neurotic little brother, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Rae Kerrigan!” Uncle Argyle’s Scottish accent rolled his r’s in frustration.

  Rae giggled into her hand. “I’m kidding! Of course I told her. She’s really excited to meet you. Again.”

  “Well, I’m hopping on the next plane to London. I just,” he said and sighed. “I can’t believe she’s alive.” His voice grew thick with emotion. “I could never accept the fact she had died, even after all this time. I just couldn’t imagine a world without her.” He cleared his throat briskly. “I’ve no idea what I’m going to tell your aunt!”

  “Tell her…I don’t know. Tell her she was in a coma. And…misplaced. In France.”

  It was Uncle Argyle’s turn to laugh. “I think I’ll have to come up with something better than that.”

  “Well you know what they say, if you want something done right, do it yourself.”

  “Isn’t it my job to provide the proverb?”

  Rae shrugged. “What can I say? I’m feeling unpredictable.” Her voice grew thoughtful as she stared again at her mother. “Just get over here, please? We have about a million family dinners to start catching up on.”

  “Will do. Drive safe.”

  “And you fly safe.”

  He hung up and Rae glanced down at her phone. The first thing she’d done once they were in the car was dial her uncle, and only now was she seeing the massive amount of missed correspondence from various people in her life. It was a wonder her phone hadn’t run out of memory. She smiled as she scrolled down, selecting a random one from Julian.

  I just drew a picture of you somehow setting yourself on fire. Please explain.

  She giggled as she typed a reply: You need to pay closer attention to detail, my friend. Not me, my mother. And I wasn’t setting her on fire…exactly. Headed back to London. Will explain everything then.

  After Julian’s, there were about a dozen from Molly. They ranged from wild speculations that Rae’s mother had been caugh
t up in an underground French slave trade, to her firm belief that Carter had no doubt imprisoned Rae and Devon in some sort of tatù-proof dungeon for their insubordination. Rae read through them all, struggling to suppress her laughter as Molly’s theories ranged from just mildly crazy to utterly ludicrous. Then she remembered that as far as Molly knew, she and Devon were still trying to get to France with Carter hot on their trail.

  She was about to go into full detail and explain, when a sudden whimsy seized her and she ended up sending just one, happy message: Guess who’s coming to dinner?

  With Molly and Julian out of the way, the bulk of the messages were from an increasingly-concerned Jennifer. Rae bit her lip as she glanced through the frenzied texts. It looked like Jennifer had been going out of her mind with worry.

  Instead of texting, Rae decided she needed to call her mentor. The woman had been her mom’s best friend before everything had happened. She was going to be one of the key helpers in bringing her mom’s memory back. She’d done missions with her mom and could fill her in on how much of a superstar her mom really was.

  Jennifer answered on the first ring. “Tell me what’s happening.”

  “We found her!”

  There was a long pause during which all Rae could hear was rapid breathing. Finally, she frowned and clutched the phone closer to her ear.

  “Hello? You okay Jennifer?”

  “Yes, sorry. I’m here.” Jennifer’s voice sounded more subdued than Rae had ever heard it before. Almost childlike in its uncertainty. “So… How is she? What did she say when she saw you?”

  Rae spoke gently, sympathetic to her mentor’s shock. After all, it would be like getting Molly back after a decade of thinking she’d died. Rae honestly didn’t know how she’d handle it. “That’s the thing, she didn’t remember me…at first.”

  “But then she did?” Jennifer’s voice was sharper now, sounding more like herself.

  “Sort of.” Rae glanced again at Beth—staring out the window now as they neared the water. “She knows she’s my mother, but she doesn’t remember anything else. She doesn’t know what happened to her or who she is. She didn’t even know she had a tatù until I…” She tried to think of a way to explain what she’d done. “Until I activated it for her.”