Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (14 page)

Rae stood.
“Un-famous, more like
it
.”
Am I ever going to outlive my name?

Nic, totally unaware of the tension underlying the introduction so far, jumped right in. “Being Simon Kerrigan’s daughter, she’s, like, the whole reason Guilder opened its doors to females.”

“Oh, really?” Kraigan smirked. “Being a Kerrigan has its advantages, does it?” He mock bowed to Rae. “Thank-you for bringing us hotties.”

Nic high-fived Kraigan.

“Grow-up. Both of you.” She
playfully
elbowed Nic. She hated that she was the only real reason Guilder has become a co-ed institution. She hated that everyone knew both her mother and father had been tatùed
;
and
that
because of that, and the fact that her father had been evil, the school had thought it prudent to bring her “into the fold”, to keep an eye on her, if nothing else. On top of
everything
, it irked her even more that their concerns seemed to have merit, since her tatù was stronger than both her parents combined. So far, they really hadn’t found any side-effects or limits to her power.
S
he really wished everyone would just forget about all of it.

“
It’s a shame
I missed the first day of classes.
”
Kraigan
turned his attention
back
to Molly.
“Anything good happen?”

“
Nope.
Just homework, but nothing too hard.
I hear
d
you have
an IQ off the charts.”

Where’d she hear that?

“People talking already?”
Kraigan grinned as he rolled his eyes.
“
At least it k
ept the nuns at the orphanage happy.
That is, until I got
the
tattoo.”
He raised his right arm and shook it as he spoke.

“
It’s
a
tatù
around here
.” Molly
gave a small motherly tsk
.
“Not ta-to, but the tee hangs with the first part of the word and then the ooo rhymes with shoe.
Tattt-oooo
uuu
.
”
And hearing it in a cockney accent isn’t improving anyone’s understanding of how to pronounce the word Molls, but we love you anyway.

Kraigan shrugged and cocked his head to one side.
He was totally trying not to smile.
Hmm…a single brownie point for you, newbie.
Anyone who wasn’t immediately put off by Molly at least deserved a second look in Rae’s book.

Kraigan followed up his so far decent social skills with their world’s version of a personal question.
“What’s your
tatù
?”

“Electricity.
Y
ours?”

“
Unfortunately, I’m s
till
trying to
figur
e
it
out.
Thank goodness I never asked the nuns what was going on. Could you imagine their faces?
”

Nicholas burst out laughing. “Priceless.
It
would have
made an awesome commercial for Guilder
. Not that we tell anyone, but still.”

Rae smiled at the image in her head.
“Your birthday was last January?”

“Yeah, I didn’t really know what hit me.
The nuns
thought I
had
snuck out during the night to get some ink. They were
upset
.
Thank goodness
Headmaster Carter and a
guy from some
agency
showe
d up and explained
things. They
told me about Guilder
.”

Privy
Council
and their secret squirrels in action.

“
Have you figured out anyt
h
ing? Molly asked.

“I can
do
some stuff
, I guess. The headmaster
said classes in
the Oratory
should
help
.”
He shrugged.
“Guess I got
me
a rare one.”

“
No way! Just like Rae.
I doubt it’s a
s
gorgeous as hers. Can I see it anyways?
”

Rae coughed into her elbow, covering a smile.
Leave
it to Moll
s
. S
he ha
s
no shame.

“Sure.” Kraigan brought his arm
up and pulled up his sleeve
.
The
tatù
looked like a colorful piece of
artwork
.
There were all different shades of green, brown and yellow.
Rae thought she saw an outline of something
,
but Kraigan dropped his
arm
before she could
peer
closer.
Did my
sunglasses
throw off its view?
She slid her glasses up on her head.

“
Is it some kind of
camouflage,” Molly
said, tilting her head and continuing to stare even though Kraigan’s
sleeve
now covered the tatù
.

“Still trying to figure out what it means
…or does…or whatever
.”
K
raigan shrugged.

“Let Rae
have a go. One touch and s
he’ll have it figured out in an hour.” Nicholas
winked
at Rae.

Poor Kraiga
n
.
She had
been the ‘uneducated newbie.’
It wasn’t fun.
S
eems this year
,
it’s your turn.

“If you don’t mind, Rae, I’d prefer to figure this one out on my own.”

“I don’t mind at all
.”
She figured he could use some encouragement.
“
I went through the same thing last year. Heck,
I’m still figuring how my tatù works.
It’s not that easy.
”

Kraigan raised his eyebrows.
“Still learning?”

“
We all are
.
The
powers
grow with your body,” Nicholas explain
ed
.

“Really?”
Kraigan’s eyes never left Rae’s.

“Believe
whatever
Nicholas says.
He’s the one who has been here the longest and knows the system b
etter than any of us
.”
Rae
didn’t like Kraigan’s intense focus
. She understood their unspoken connection
involving their mutual lack of background on the tatù world,
but it still made her uncomfortable
.
Let Molly be the center of attention
. S
he
’s
great at it.

S
he
physically
turned
to
Nicholas,
forcing Kraigan out of her line of sight
for a moment
. “
Hey,
you going to be my Physics partner
this term
?
”

“
Hell yeah!
Especially since we had great chemistry in Chem last year?” Nicholas grinned. “
Just kidding. Chemistry
’
s easy for me, but you’ve got levitation and all that so I’m counting on your for Physics.”

“Kraigan,” Molly said. “Want to be my partner? I could use
your
brains.”

A
loud
roaring
engine
cut
off
his
response
.
Rae
tried to resist the urge to
shudder
.
Her
back was to the parking lot
,
but she knew instantly, without turning, who it was.

Chapter 6

Discomfort

D
evon
.

Rae
’s
heart rate accelerated.
It took
every ounce of will she posses
sed
not
to
turn, run
to his car
,
and
wrap her arms around him.
She tried to focus on keeping her
attitude
nonchalant
,
but
she
knew
that
anyone looking would see right through her
.

“Speaking of
Devon
and Julian
—
” Nicholas said.

Rae made every effort
not
to
turn
in the direction Nicholas pointed
to
o
quickly
.
She hoped she acted
half-normal
as she tried to avoid anyone else’s gaze.
It
would not
have
mattered;
she only had eyes for
Devon
once he stepped out of his car.

Dressed in a white polo
shirt
and army pants, Rae
did not
think she
had
ever seen him
look
so handsome.
Looking as if he had just stepped out of
Top Gun
, h
is hair had a slightly messy
appearance
,
as if
he
had
been running his fingers through it on the drive back from wherever
he had
been.
He even wore the same sungl
asses and
had
dog
tags around his neck.
He
looked
…scrumptious.
Hello Maverick!

Devon
’s gaze swept across the fields
before
landing
on Rae.
She dropped her sunglasses back onto her nose
, and closed
her eyes to
concentrate
.
At that range, she didn’t know if he would
get
the message
, but it was worth a try
.

You
’re
lookin’
pretty
hot
from over here.

Devon
grin
ned
and raise
d
his hand in greeting.
He
said something to Julian before
the two of them
jogged
towards the group.

“
Who are they
?” Kraigan asked Nicholas, his eyes narrowing as he watched.

“
Devon
and Julian.
T
he one with the long hair
is Julian.
”

“The Fabio-looking dude?”
Kraigan squinted, his hand
shielding
his eyes
from the bright sunlight
.

“Uh, sure.” Nicholas raised his eyebrows as he gave Kraigan a sidelong glance
.

“Who’s Fabio?” Molly whispered to no one in particular.

Rae shrugged.
She had given up trying to educate her friends on American culture. There seemed to be no point.
How Kraigan knew about Fabio was a question she didn’t want to ask.
To
h
e
r
,
Devon
and Julian looked like a pair of models
--
like poster
students for Guilder.
She took a peek around the fields to see what the other students were doing.
Almost everyone
had stopped what they were doing to watch
Devon
and Julian
.
Her
chest swell
ed
with pride
.
That’s MY man!

Desiree lean
ed
over
,
her
breath warm against
Rae’s
neck before
she spoke
. “I’d like to try my tatù out on either
of
them, especially the Dean’s son.”

Instinctively, Rae stepped back and spread her
feet
.
She crossed her arms and exhaled a hot breath. “
It won’t work. You do know
Julian can see into the future
, right? A
nd
Devon
’s not into people using their
tatùs
for personal gratification
.” She
blinked,
shocked that
her whispers
sounded like a hiss.

Desiree held her hands up, eyes big.
“I was only joking, Rae.
I didn’t know you’d be so defensive.”

Neither did
I
.
Rae
’s face b
urned with embarrassment at her total lack of control
.
“Sorry.
”
S
he shook her head and exhaled.
“I
don’t know why I said that. I’m
just trying to look out for you and your crazy tatù. Don’t want you to get in trouble.”
She relaxed her shoulders, s
uddenly gla
d her sunglasses were large
.
Hopefully
,
t
hey hid
some of her embarrassment
.

“Nicholas!
How’s it going
, mate?” Julian clap
ped him on the back.

“Rae, how’re you?”
Devon
’
s hands
rested
casually inside his back pockets
, stretching his chest muscles and showing off his physique
.

Better now. I hope Desiree doesn’t catch on.
“I’m good.
How was
training?” S
he grinned back.
Screw paranoia.
He
really
did look delicious.

“Cool.
I
’ll
tell
you more about it later.
I
just
got a call from
Carter.
H
e wants
to see you in his office.
He asked me to take you.
” He scratched the stubble on his chin. “
Maybe
it’s
about tutoring
?”

Rae knew it ha
d
nothing to do with tutoring. Carter
would not
call them in
to
his office for that.
It ha
d
to be something bigger
.

Trying to think of some casual response, she was glad Kraigan stepped forward.

“Hello
.
”
Kraigan
held
his hand out.

Devon
straightened
and
turned to him
in surprise.
He hesitated a split
second before
accepting the handshake
.

“
Kraigan
, right
?”

“Yup
.
”

Devon
’s
head
nodded
towards Julian.
“This is Julian.
I hate to be rude and leave, but
Carter
needs
to
speak to Rae
,
and me.”

“Sure, no probs.” Kraigan smirked.

Devon
gave
Rae’s
shoulder
a friendly
pat
. They walked
towards the school buildings, in the direction of the Oratory.
She
did not
even
say good
-
bye to the group.
She had
lost her breath and ability to focus when
Devon
touched
her.

Once out of earshot from the group,
Devon
squeezed her shoulders
and quickly
released
her
arm. He
bent forward
, speaking quietly.
“I missed you, too.
Took every ounce of restraint not
to
hug or kiss you in front of everyone.
I don’t even want to remove my arm
,
but people are going to start to wonder what’s going on.”

“Glad to know I’m not the only one fighting
for
restraint.
I
almost took
that Desiree-girl down for
her comment about you
.”
Rae
’s
cheeks start
ed
burning again.
Too bad she couldn’t
recapture
what she
had
just let out of the bag.

“What’d she say?” H
e grinned like the Cheshire cat.

Rae puffed out a breath.
“Nothing really.
I don’t know why I even brought it up.
She’s got this sex-lust tatù
,
and she mentioned she wouldn’t mind trying it out on you or Julian.”
Specifically you, but I’ll conveniently leave that part out.
Rae flipped her hair behind her shoulder, refusing to look at
him
.
She
caught his grin in her peripheral vision
.

“Jealous?”

“No!” She wrinkled her nose at how vehemently she denied it.

“You sure about that?” The sexy dimple appeared.

“Well…maybe a little.” She he
ld her thumb and pointer
finger
half an inch apart.

“Good
.”

Rae’s eyes and mouth popped open.
Should I zap him?

Devon
laughed and stuck a hand up in
defense
.
“I don’t mean good
Desiree’
s interested, I mean good you’re mad and ready to beat her up.
Makes a guy feel good to know his gal’s protective of him
--
even when she’s not supposed to let on.”
He nudged her shoulder with his.

“Fine. I’ll admit I
m
ight be
the ever-so-slightly
jealous type.?”
Change the subject, Rae.
She
rolled her eyes
.
“What’d
Carter
say to you?”

“Not much, just that he’d like to speak to the two of us sometime when I got back.”

“Sometime?
So there’s no rush?” Rae
noted
Devon
’s cheeks
were
a bit
pinkish
now.

“No.
I guess
…
not really.”

“Then why the rush to leave the group?”