Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (39 page)

She
used a cheetah tatù for
the
speed
, moving too fast for the rain to bother her
.
.
She
tried to slip
into the back of the
Grand Hall without being noticed,
and stood behind Nicholas
.

“Hey,
Miss
y
, y
ou’re
half an hour
late.”

“Yeah, I
—
I overslept.” She
peeked
over his shoulder to
Carter
explaining some task he wanted the students to do.
“What’d I miss?”

“Not much
.” Nic stared ahead but turn
ed his head slightly to whisper,
“
Devon
talked about the Privy Council.
There’re opportunities to work for them, but they only accept a few.
He encouraged everyone to apply, since we’re seniors.
” He snorted, in a friendly way.
“Not that
you
need to bother filling
out
th
e forms
.
I’m sure they want you, like,
yesterday
.”
Devon
was here and I missed it?

“Mr.
MacGyver
,”
Carter
spoke loud from the front of the room.
“Is there a reason why your conversation with Ms. Kerrigan is more important than mine?”

Nic coughed.
“No, sir.
Sorry.”

Rae
’s
ears
grew
hot.
She glanced around the room and saw Kraigan
standing by Molly, throwing an annoyed look in her direction.
Crap. I forgot to talk to him last night about standing him up.
She
dropped her gaze to the floor.

“Alright then.
Now
that
I have everyone’s undivided attention, I’d like to get on with today’s activity.
We haven’t much time left in class but if you can all partner up
,
we can get started.”
Carter
checked his phone and then
tapped one of the students with a levitation tatù
. “Focus on your defense mechanisms today.
Talk to your partner to see what skills you can use with each other’s tatùs.”
He said to
a
student, “L
evitate
the
box full of
three-
foot bamboo sticks towards
me
. “
Everyone, u
se these sticks to practice some physical combat.
” He
pulled
his
cell out of his back pocket
. “I’ll be right back.”

Nic groaned.
He shook his head and pointed to his eye.
“Please don’t give me another black one.
The last one was embarrassing enough.
Can we just admit you’re gonna kick my ass and not bother with the drill?”

Rae
giggled and
lightly punched his shoulder.
“Come on.
Don’
t be such a wimp
.
The
y’
re
just
bamboo.”

“Yeah and I remember trying to high jump with bamboo sticks for gym class.
I landed on the bar a
nd broke it. I still have the we
lt line on my back and that was like
,
two years ago.” Nic rubbed his spine.
“Do you want me to show you the
scar
?”

“Only
’
cause I don’t believe you.”
She
watched
Molly walk
to the front
and grab t
w
o sticks and
then
head back towards Kraigan.
Rae chewed on her lip
.
How am I going to figure out a way to talk to him alone?

“Rae?
Y
ou listening?” Nic tapped her gently on the forehead.
“I said,
Devon
asked me where you were.
He seemed pretty worried
you weren’
t here.
Is something going on again, like last year?”
Nic’s eyebrows scrunched together
in genuine worry
.

He was so sweet to worry and he need not have. Yet, that wasn’t the thing that struck her most.
Devon
was looking for her. She felt almost giddy over that.
Her
cheeks
started to redden
,
but she
tr
ied
to play it off.
“
Devon
’s
such a goodie-goodie about attending class.
Since he’s
mentoring
me, he’s probably paranoid
Carter’s
going to give him crap if I’m not here.”
Rae tucked a stray stand of hair behind her ear.
“Did he say where he was going when he left?”

Nic shrugged.
“Probably back to his dorm.
He looked
exhausted
.”

“I’ll gi
ve him a shout after class.”
Her heart-rate picked up
.
She couldn’t wait to see
Devon
.
Kraigan can wait a couple more hours.
“Let’s
duel
.”
She turned and walked to grab two sticks from the front of the room.

Passing Molly, she heard Kraigan say, “Yeah, my buddy Randy’s got this wicked tatù.
Dude’s got awesome hearing.
If he concentrates hard enough, he
c
an
hear
a conversation on the other side of a football pitch.”

“Why listen to
some boring
conversation on a sports field?
There’d be nothing interesting
,
”
Molly said.

“
That’s not what I meant,” Kraigan replied. “
I’m just trying to give you an idea of the
strength
of his tatù.
I
—
”

“Can he hear through walls?
Do they have to be made of drywall or what about brick?
Or can he only hear in open fields?
That’s what it sounds like you
’
re saying.
He can hear in big
, open
room
,
with no obstructions
.
What about if there are a lot of people?
Does he get distracted from everyone talking or can he focus on, say, the one person he wants to hear?” Molly shook her head.
“It doesn’t seem like such a great
tatù
if you ask me.”

Rae grinned.
Leave
it to Molly
.
At least the look of frustration and annoyance on Kraigan’s face wasn’t directed at
her
.

After
class finished
in the Oratory, Rae headed over to
Devon
’s dorm
.
Stopping along the way, she
grabbed a couple of sandwiches and
a
packet of
potato
crisps for
each
of them.
She knocked on his door, wondering if he might actually be sleeping.

The door opened and Rae lost her breath.
Devon
wore a pair of pants
and
nothing else
, looking like a Greek god.

He stepped forward and enveloped her in a tight hug.
“Missed you like crazy
.” He u
nwrapped his arms
then pulled her into the
suite
, closing the door behind them.

The happiness on his face made Rae giddy.
“I brought lunch.
I figured you might be hungry
,
and it saves me having to run and grab something before I have to head back to afternoon classes.” She couldn’t stop grinning and felt
a bit
like Molly babbl
ing
away
.

“Starving
.”
Devon
’
s eyes
traveled
up and down Rae.
“For you and for food, too.”
He pulled her close again and pressed hungry lips against hers.
“I
—
missed
—
you
—
this
—
morning,” he mumbled between kisses.

R
ae laughed, excited to be the one more in control at the moment.
“If someone bothered to e
-
mail me they’d be in class this morning, I’d have made sure I was there early.”
She pretended to give him a scowl.
“Actually, I lost track of time.”
She remembered the journal and slapped her forehead.
“Wait till I tell you what my uncle sent me.”

Devon
leaned towards her again, slipping his arms around her waist.
“Is it better than not seeing me for almost five weeks?
Can it wait ten minutes?”
He nuzzled her neck.

“If you keep doing this, I’m going to forget what I should tell you.
T
rust me
,
it’ll get you points with the Privy Council.”
Rae pressed closer to his firm body, enjoying his aftershave scent and shirtless upper body.

Devon
groaned.
“An angel knocks on my door and then tempts me with words, on top of her hot body?”
He stepped back, running his
fingers
through his hair.
He chuckled and threw his hands in the air.
“You win.
Let’s eat and
you
tell me all the good gossip.”

Rae put her backpack on
Devon
’s desk and pulled out the sandwiches and crisps.
She tossed
him
one of each,
then
grabbed the other and settled on
the
couch.
Unwrapping her tuna sandwich, she waited for him to
sit
beside her.
She
smiled when he raised his eyebrows at her
, obviously impatient for her to talk
.

“Over the holidays, Argyle told me he was part of a fraternity while he attended Guilder.
My dad was the president, Argyle the secretary.
He wrote the minutes in
a
journal.
I guess it wasn’t much of a gathering
. I
t only lasted one term.”

Devon
reached for the second part
of his sandwich.
He
finish
ed
a bite. “Does your uncle remember anything important from it?”

“Not really.
Well
—
” Rae couldn’t resist
building up to the big finish with the information she had
. “He
couldn’t remember the name
—
thought it had to do with some kind of card game
.” She ate a crisp.
“He looked for the
journal
while I was home but couldn’t find it.”
She chewed on another chip.
She was unable
to stall any longer
.
“Argyle posted the journal out to me.
He found it in some old files or
a
box and, get this, the fraternity was called ‘
House of Cards
,
’ or HOC for short
.
”

She grinned when his
eyes nearly popped out of his head
. “
I missed your talk about joining the Privy Council
’
cause I was reading
some of it
. Argyle kept meticulous notes and
my dad
actually
wrote
about the brainwashing thing
in it
. He had planned the whole thing out at sixteen!
I haven’t read everything
yet
,
but
you have got to read the notes at the end
.”