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

by W. J. May

  “Hey, it could be worse,” Molly whispered to an increasingly discouraged Rae. They had just come in to start the weekly session after yet another fruitless day working with Beth’s files. Taking a moment to collect themselves, they paused inside the door and watched the children hunched over books in the library. “We could be on research duty.”

  “You know what?” Rae rubbed her eyes tiredly. “I’d almost prefer it.”

  As eager as she’d been to first recover her mother’s files from Jennifer’s flat, it only took a few times reading through them to discover there wasn’t much there. They were just your basic Privy Council mission reports. The dates, locations, and agency objectives showed no obvious pattern and absolutely no connection to Cromfield. The only thing that set them apart from the rest of the PC’s database were a series of strange, coded notes written on the side. At first, Rae had thought they were just scribbles, something written in a blurred shorthand by whoever was logging the files into the main database. However, she soon realized there was more to them than met the eye. She and Molly had taken them to Beth, working to decode whatever information they were meant to protect, but they’d made very little progress.

  Although the code was something Beth and Jennifer had created together at the height of their PC super-agent hay-day, Jennifer had modified it while Beth was in France. Now, while Beth could understand the basic essence of a phrase, all the details eluded her. She tried her best to help the girls, but so far, all they’d been able to glean from the documents was that no matter where Beth was sent, she kept running into Simon. It was like someone was maneuvering them together, continually positioning them in the same place, at the same time.

  Why? Rae had no idea.

  “Don’t say that,” Molly chided gently. “Come on, you’re being too hard on yourself. You’ve been working your butt off, Rae. We all have. If there’s something to find, we will find it… eventually.”

  “I know.” Rae sighed. “I appreciate everything you, and the guys, are doing to help me track him down, I really do. It’s just…” Her eyes flickered out the window, sweeping over the darkened lawns and peacefully shadowed trees.

  Molly flashed her a knowing smile. “You wish you were out there hunting with Kraigan.”

  Rae couldn’t help but chuckle. Her friend knew her too well. “Is that weird? I mean, I don’t want to be out there with Kraigan specifically, but at least he’s actively doing something. In the meantime, we’re stuck inside, forced to play like we’re just ordinary school girls, masking this mission. One that should be top PC priority. Instead we’re acting like we’re doing a history project for a bunch of little kids. It’s driving me crazy!”

  Molly nodded sympathetically, gazing out over the first years and studying them with a critical eye. “Think of it this way, school’s almost over. Finals are in just a few weeks, then comes graduation.” She poked Rae in the ribs excitedly. “And then, you and I can finally ditch this school altogether and move into our apartment.”

  Frustrations aside, Rae couldn’t help but thrill at the idea. It hadn’t been that long ago that she was sitting exactly where these kids were sitting themselves. Fresh to Guilder, new to the world of tatùs, completely unaware of the path that lay before her. Not to mention the fact that she would soon fall head over heels in love with the boy assigned to be her mentor.

  But so many things had happened since those first days. First, there’d been Lanford, his stinging betrayal as she lay chained in a stone dungeon, listening to the psychotic ramblings of her father. Then there’d been Kraigan—Devon’s brutal kidnapping, their fight to the death in a burning factory. The more time went by, the more things kept piling up. Jennifer’s hidden agenda, Luke’s coma, and Rae’s constant uphill battle against being labeled a hybrid pariah.

  Yes, it hadn’t been that long since she’d been sitting in those seats herself. Yet she was a whole different person from when she’d started at Guilder. When she looked in the mirror now, there was hardly a trace of the innocent, trusting girl who’d first walked through these halls.

  She’d adapted. She had to if she wanted to stay alive. These days, she was quicker to action, slower to trust. And while she may have picked up Charles’ ability to perpetually heal, she carried around the scars from every fight, every betrayal, every time she’d been let down by those people who were meant to protect her.

  “I’m thinking of doing the walls in a light powder blue,” Molly was thinking aloud, oblivious to her friend’s dark reverie. “Nothing gaudy, of course, just a touch of color to make the space seem bigger than it is and liven it up a little. I actually already ordered the curtains to match. Of course, the accent walls will be a different story altogether…”

  Rae looked up in surprise and smiled fondly at her best friend. Of course, not everything that happened since she came to Guilder was bad. In fact, despite the annual catastrophes that seemed to shake her to the core, she’d made some of the happiest memories of her life on this campus. Come into herself as a person, reconnected with her long-lost mother. Been introduced to a group of people that would serve to be life-long friends.

  “…and I don’t want you to freak out, but I’m thinking the first thing we’re going to have to do is re-tile. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but I don’t want to look back in five months and think: if we just hadn’t cut corners…”

  Rae chuckled to herself and led a continuously-babbling Molly into the library.

  Yep—Guilder had a way of balancing the good with the bad.

  “Rae, hi!” Cassidy, the girl with the unique ability to make herself invisible, came bounding across the library, her presence revealed only by the pile of books she accidently knocked off the table. “Are we going to get a chance to work one-on-one again today? I’ve been practicing!”

  Rae laughed. “I can see that!”

  Molly shook her head sarcastically. “I can’t…” Cassidy flashed back into sight and laughed as Molly jumped away in surprise. “I’ll leave you freaks to it,” she teased, recovering herself. “I have a protégé to groom.”

  With that, she flounced off across the room to meet with Noah, the boy who shared her power of electricity. He greeted her with an over-excited wave, grimacing apologetically when the accompanying shower of sparks set a row of books on fire.

  “Caleb, put that out please.” Devon walked calmly into the library, directing a boy with water abilities towards the source of the flame. “Hey babe—Rae. Hey Rae,” he corrected himself as he joined Rae by a worktable.

  “No Julian today?” Rae glanced at the door and listened for Julian in the hall.

  There was a hitch in Devon’s breathing before he shook his head casually. “Nope. He decided to stay in tonight. Had some stuff he wanted to work on.”

  He exchanged a quick look with Rae. These days, Julian seemed to be spending more and more time inside, locked away in his room as he battled for control of his visions. Rae had been worried he was hiding more drawings of her but he vehemently denied it. Devon, Rae and Molly tried to help, showing up with food and volunteering to sit as test dummies as he experimented different ways to keep himself in the present. After a few weeks of persistent disappointment, he’d started avoiding them altogether. At this point, Rae and Devon had actually gone to Carter for council, but all Carter would say was that Julian had been given an incredibly powerful gift, and it was up to him to master it on his own. The rest of them had to be patient and supportive.

  Rae had found Carter’s advice to be a completely unacceptable solution, but before she could once again voice her concerns to Devon, they were startled by a small shriek coming from behind a stack of books. They raced over in alarm, only to see Ellie crouched over a dusty volume that looked like it weighed as much as she did, raising her hands in victory.

  “I knew it!” she exclaimed, shoving the book towards a sullen-looking Ethan. “Cromfield was back in London in 1535. He was seen leaving St. Stephen’s Church after a midnight mass.
I freaking told you so!”

  Rae stared at her. Ellie found a mention of Cromfield. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Better than nothing.

  “How on earth did you remember that?” Ethan complained. “Chapter, page, and line number—verbatim? It’s impossible!”

  Ellie’s face tensed for a fraction of a second, before she held out her hand. “Maybe I’m just smarter than you. Either way, you owe me five pounds.”

  He rolled his eyes, then smirked as he held an open palm up in the air. A moment later, a crisp five-pound note shimmered into view. He slapped it into Ellie’s hand, who pocketed it with a smug, “Thank you!”

  “Hey!” Devon chided Ethan. “You know what I said about creating money. Super powers or not, you’re still a tax-paying citizen of this country, and I don’t want to get a phone call from the Secretary of the Treasury one day about a slew of unmarked bills. Tone it down!”

  “Dude,” Ethan said dismissively, “I’m fourteen. I don’t pay taxes.”

  Devon didn’t blink. “Rae, do you still have Prince Philip’s private cell number? I have a future felon I’d like to report.”

  Rae grinned as Ethan held up his hands and sprang away from the table. “Okay, okay! I won’t make any more money.” He paused suddenly and bit his lip. “What about…pizza?”

  “Oh, bring on the pizza,” Devon encouraged, clearing a space in the center of the table.

  There was a group cheer around the library as the heavy smell of pepperoni and cheese wafted through the air. A second later, everyone was gathered around the table—loading slices onto plates.

  Rae watched them with a faint grin, but stayed fixed in place, fingers still touching the page Ellie had just found. She wished there was more information here but it was just a sighting. That was it. She smiled, appreciating Devon’s form of distraction with the rest of the class so she could focus on what Ellie had found. No one knew how key this information could be. Rae wasn’t sure either. It wasn’t much. At all.

  St. Stephen’s Church?…Where had she heard that name before?

  “Kerrigan,” Ethan called, holding out a plate. “You want one too?”

  Devon shrugged at her helplessly, unable to come up with something to cover her. Rae glanced down at the book again with a slight frown before getting up and joining the rest of her friends.

  “Yeah…I’m coming.”

  Chapter 10

  “Molly, this is so far out of our price range, it’s ridiculous!”

  Molly and Rae stood on the sidewalk on a wintery London morning, looking up at the gleaming balcony of a penthouse apartment five stories above. While Rae had compiled a list of more modest options for their search, Molly had driven them straight here, double parking and gazing up at the luxury suite with open arms.

  “We have no price range,” she insisted. “We’re freaking secret agents, Rae! Live a little!”

  “I plan to live a little,” Rae countered, tugging her friend back towards the car, “I just don’t plan to live there.”

  “Oh come on,” Molly begged, planting her feet on the ground. “At least come up and look at it! I already reserved this time with the property manager for our viewing.”

  “You did?” Rae asked with a frown. Molly flushed like she’d given something away, and something suddenly clicked. “Molly! You already put down the security deposit, didn’t you?”

  Molly bit her lip and smiled nervously. “…Maybe?”

  “Molly Elizabeth Skye!”

  “What was I supposed to do?!” she defended herself anxiously. “The realtor said it was only going to be on the market for a couple of days! We had to pounce!”

  Rae looked up again at the balcony. “We had to pounce on one of the priciest flats in all of London?!”

  “I heard Devon and Julian are thinking of moving in down the street.”

  There was a pause.

  “Let’s go up and take a look.”

  The apartment was everything Rae could have ever imagined and more. It reminded her of Heath Hall, where she had stayed with Devon in order to protect the future Queen. This place though, was so much more. After one look, she instantly decided ‘the apartment’ was too lackluster a name. The penthouse was a top story suite that connected two separate bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, with a wide kitchen and living space that lay in the center. The front door opened up to a common area, but it was unlike any living room Rae had ever seen. Dark hardwood floors stretched from the luxurious sitting area all the way to the far wall, which wasn’t a wall at all, but a massive sheet of spotless glass that opened up onto an outdoor patio with a view overlooking the city. The kitchen was already decked with every appliance known to man, a bit superfluous as neither Rae nor Molly knew how to cook, and a tall closet lay just past the front door, complete with its own coat rack.

  “Okay…” Rae took a tentative step inside, “this is…”

  Molly shadowed her every movement, hanging on every word as she tried to gauge her friend’s reaction.

  “I mean…” Rae sank down onto one of the leather couches and flipped her dark hair over the side, peering up at the antique chandelier that hung from the ceiling. “Molly, you know how sometimes you get into those moods where you order some insanely expensive clothes, and the next day I guilt you about cost and impulsivity?”

  Molly’s face fell as her eyes welled with emotion. “…Yeah?”

  “This is not one of those times.”

  The flaming redhead did a double take. “Wait—what?”

  Rae grinned. “I love it.”

  “You do?!”

  Molly streaked across the room in a whirl of crimson and Burberry. “Thank bloody goodness! I’ve been so excited to show you, but I wasn’t sure if you’d approve because of the price!”

  “Speaking of, that would be…?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Molly said in a casual dismissal. “You know, you still get paid even when you’re on probation from the PC, and needless to say, just one of our first paychecks was more than enough to cover first and last month’s rent.”

  Rae looked around the room in awe. “I just can’t believe this. I can’t believe that we can actually live in a place like this. It doesn’t seem possible.”

  She had grown up in relative privilege living with her Uncle Argyle. Back when Beth was presumed dead, she had left Rae a sizable inheritance. But it was not to be touched until she turned twenty-five, so Rae had always assumed that until that time, she would have to make ends meet on her own. Except now, her mother was alive and that money belonged to her. Rae didn’t need it. Her job would cover whatever expenses she had. Realistically she could ask any amount she wanted; the PC would be idiots to say no. She was one of their most valuable assets. She smiled at the thought. She wouldn’t be greedy, but she would be fair.

  She stroked the soft cashmere draping the sofa. She must have walked past this block in London many times, but she never for one second imagined that she might actually end up here. And the fact that Devon might be moving in just down the street…?

  “Well, you’d better believe it, sister!” Molly squealed, grabbing her hand and pulling her up for the full tour. “Because I’ve already signed the paperwork!”

  While Molly had opted for the room with a full city view and the bigger walk-in closet, Rae was actually quite pleased with her private balcony’s view of the quiet city park that lay just across the street. They were about as centralized in the city as they could be, but because of the exclusive residential boundaries, the streets were picturesque and serene. Between that and the gigantic bathtub that could realistically fit about five people, Rae had found a home.

  “Okay first obstacle,” she said when she eventually peeled herself away from the walk-in shower, “we need to graduate, like, now.”

  Molly nodded fervently, holding up color swatches against the wall. “I hear you. I wish there was some way we could opt to finish the year off-campus and just move now.”

  Rae s
ighed but shook her head. “As fantastic as that sounds, I think we’re both where we need to be right now at Guilder. There’s so much going on, and what with the mentoring and my mom—”

  “Say no more.” Molly held up her hand. “It’s going to take me at least a month to figure out my decorating scheme anyway.”

  Rae chuckled. “Do I have any say in that part or—” Molly flashed her a caustic look and she fell silent. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

  “Come on,” Molly grinned, “let’s sign your paperwork and get some celebratory lunch. I’m thinking…sushi.”

  When they rode the elevator back downstairs, they were greeted profusely by a lobby attendant named Raphael. It seemed that as excited as Rae and Molly were about the apartment complex, the complex was just as excited to be adding them. It wasn’t very often that two, young, attractive girls could afford a place in this neighborhood on their own, and news had travelled fast.

  “Miss Skye!” Raphael greeted her like an old friend. “It’s so good to see you again!” They kissed on both cheeks before he turned his beaming gaze to Rae. “And this must be the lovely Miss Kerrigan we’ve been hearing so much about.”

  “The one and only,” Rae said a little awkwardly, flashing Molly a look as he pulled her in for the double-cheek kisses as well. Over-enthusiastic as he might be, she had to admit, it was nice to be somewhere where her last name didn’t strike fear into the heart of the community. Maybe this move was going to be even better-timed than she’d thought.

  “I’ve already pulled up the rental agreement, and thanks to Miss Skye’s deposit and credit history, that’s really the only information we need. That and your ID.”

  “Sure,” Rae said, pulling out her driver’s license and signing below Molly’s name on the dotted line.