Rae of Hope (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (11 page)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
. Rae turned back in her chair, ideas already forming in her mind on how to start the first paragraph. Grabbing a pen from her bag, she went to write her name on the top right corner.

Her hand froze midair.

On the paper in neatly capped black letters lay a note. Rae’s head pounded a delirious rhythm. This couldn’t be good. She glanced around the room, but no one sat watching her. They were all busy writing, heads bent over their work.

Exhaling slowly and deliberately she cringed, not wanting to look down.

“Is something the matter, Ms. Kerrigan?” Professor Stockheed’s voice floated from the back of the room.

“No, sir.” Rae bent down, resting her left arm on the table, elbow bent to cover the paper. Forced to look, she read the note.

KERRIGAN

NOBODY WANTS YOU HERE. NOT AT GUILDER, NOT IN ENGLAND. GO BEFORE SOMETHING HAPPENS TO MORE THAN JUST YOU.

Rae’s stomach dropped into her sneakers. Another Rae-hater. The professor? What did he mean by “more than just you”? Was this the reason she couldn’t reach her uncle?
No, I won’t do this, I won’t freak out…

“Five minutes, class.” Stockheed stood by his desk.

Rae spread her hand over the note, her sweaty palms sticking to the paper. With a will of their own, her fingers curled into a fist as anger coursed through her veins. The crinkling noise of the sheet as it crumpled into a ball made the students nearby stare at her. She didn’t care. She hadn’t done anything wrong and these people were still judging her.

“Ms. Kerrigan?” A fresh, blank sheet slid onto her desk from an arm entirely covered in tattooed flags. It reminded Rae of a quilt her aunt once made, like a mosaic. “Shall we try again?” The professor smiled. He looked spooky with his crooked teeth. He strolled up the aisle without saying another word.

By lunchtime, Rae’s stomach was eating itself. Molly and she headed to the Refectory for lunch. Rae piled her plate high. Depression made her hungry. She wished she could bury her face inside of her pile of food when she heard Devon’s voice.

“Rae, you up for some tutoring tonight? Or do you prefer to eat the entire cafeteria out of all its food?” He laughed. “Headmaster Lanford suggested we meet two nights a week. Whatever works best for you…” He let the sentence trail off.

“Tonight’d be great. Thanks again. I really appreciate your help.” Silly girl for stacking her lunch plate with enough food to feed a small country.

“Tutoring?” Nicholas interrupted her thoughts. “From the sounds of your answers in our classes this morning, I don’t think you need any tutoring.”

“It’s just to help get her up to speed on the
tatù
and gift classes she hasn’t taken,” Devon explained. “Shall we meet in Aumbry’s library? Say, around eight then?”

 
“Whatever time works for you is great for me.” Rae wondered if she should mention the note to him from class. Maybe see if the professor had a grudge against other students.

 
“See you tonight.” He turned and walked away, Rae’s heart hammering away in her chest.
He’s got a cute butt
. Her cheeks grew hot. Between her nervous heart and fire-burning cheeks, she hoped she didn’t have a heart attack.

“Shall we get going to our first ‘magic’ class?” Nicholas said.

“Magic? I thought -- ”

“Not real magic. There’s no such thing. It just seems like it when we use our tatùs.” He smiled, excitement flashing in his eyes. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for three years!”

Chapter 10

Magic Class

Rae
walked into the grand room of the Oratory and felt like she’d stepped back in time. It appeared to still be in the sixteenth century.

The same black and white marble that appeared in every other building decorated the floor. Dark stained oak with hundreds of intricately, detailed carvings covered the walls. The grand room stood at least three stories high with long windows set near the pinnacle of the room. Rae wondered who set the windows so close to the ornately carved wooden ceiling almost five hundred years ago. They must’ve used one heck of a tall ladder.

Antique chairs were stacked along one wall, but there were no desks or tables. The room was as big as a football field.

Eyes wide, she ended up in the center of the room, doing a 360 degree turn to take in the entire view. She wondered if time did actually stand still inside this amazing place.
It sure looks like it.

“We have class
in here
?” Rae whispered to Nicholas. The atmosphere felt too reverent to speak louder.

“Some classes are down the hall.” Nicholas gestured to the far side of the room. “It’s where the younger kids study skills until they turn fifteen. Then you graduate to here. I think Lanford's office is somewhere down the hall, as well.”

“Where do seniors have class?”

“It’s switched. Seniors in the morning, then we have the place after lunch.” Rae had been too pre-occupied to notice the other students coming in so it was a shock when she looked around and saw the room now filled with people.

Headmaster Lanford glided into the room, tapping his walking stick to get the students’ attention.

“All of you here are inked. Well, almost everyone.” Lanford nodded at Rae, but not in a discouraging way. “I’d like you to form groups of four and explain -- ”

He paused in his talking and glanced toward the back of the room. Rae turned to see Dean Carter come in and stand at the back of the room. He appeared ticked off, his arms crossed tight against his chest, and a scowl etched deep on his face.

“…Please introduce yourselves to each other.”

Rae blinked, trying to refocus on Lanford.

Nicholas motioned to the boy beside him. “Charlie just had his birthday this summer. Show us the new ink.”

Charlie walked over and rolled up his sleeve to show a tatù of a hand-drawn man.

“Cool tat.” Nicholas let out a low whistle. “What does it do?”

“It’s the Vitruvian Man. Let’s me heal quickly from, like, everything.”

“How?” Rae was curious. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dean head over to Lanford.

“You know the Vitruvian man, right? Leonardo da Vinci drew him and used him to relate proportions of the body. The
tatù
shows I’m able keep all things proportioned.”

“Skip the da Vinci crap.” Nicholas let out a deep, hearty laugh. “Isn’t the Vit- man the same symbol for the medical profession?”

Charlie glared at Nicholas, then the corners by his eyes began to crinkle and he smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. Just thought the da Vinci shit sounded way better.” He slapped Nicholas on the back in a friendly gesture. “What about you?” He turned to Rae.

 
“Nothing…yet. I won’t be sixteen ’til November.” Rae sighed, wishing her birthday had already passed.

“Students. Your attention, please.” Headmaster Lanford tapped his cane on the marble. “Dean Carter would like to have a few words.” He leaned back, as if sitting, but with nothing behind him, not a chair or stool.

“The annual interaction with the Roe Hampton students isn’t far off. I’d like to remind you all: there’s to be no tatù use during the evening. I expect you all to be on your best behavior.”

Rae could’ve sworn he was staring directly at the female students. She averted her gaze when his eyes rested on her.

Molly’s hand skyrocketed into the air, and she waved it furiously.

“Yes, Ms. Skye?” Lanford said.

“Will there be normal boys coming as well? Maybe we could invite the students from Oxford.”

“No.” Carter spoke sharp and swift. “We’ve enough trouble with you lot.” He harrumphed and turned to leave.

Molly, sitting by Haley, whispered loudly. “It’s not fair. We should get a dance of our own then.”

Carter paused in his walk, pulled the end of his jacket down crisply and puffed out an exasperated breath. “Yes, let’s do that. Let’s spend thousands of pounds on a special evening just so the female students of Guilder can be happy. Let’s address the alumni board that two dances a year are not enough. Our female students need to have an evening every weekend so they can find a suitable spouse since they cannot do it on their own time.” He scanned the room, his gaze resting directly on Rae. “Heaven forbid we have a catastrophe of one of you falling for one of our Guilder boys.”

Every pair of eyes shot over to her. She didn’t know where to look or what to think. Part of her wanted to disappear and another part wanted to throttle the dean for singling her out. He had no right. She hadn’t asked the question. She hadn’t made her parents fall in love. She didn’t want more dances, or to cost the school tons of money. Feeling persecuted and madder than hell, she refused to drop her gaze and stared at each student until they glanced away.

“All right,” Lanford spoke. “Let’s get back to work, shall we?”

Dean Carter made his way to the door, but not before Rae saw the grin on his face.

What a chauvinist.
He had purposely embarrassed the girls and got a kick out of it. Rae turned her shoulders, deliberately showing her back to the dean. She focused on Lanford, already missing part of what he’d said.

“…each ink is different, like a snowflake in a way.”

Rae watched Lanford as he spoke. She cocked her head to the side and tried to see what he sat on. “What’s your tatù?” she interrupted. “…sir.”

“Levitation.” He pushed up his sleeve to show his tatù. A man sitting in a yoga position, floating above the ground, rested neatly on his large forearm. He motioned for Rae to come forward.

She walked up to the front and stood to his right. Lanford stayed in his seated position, and raised up both of his arms slowly.

“What the -- ?” She felt weightless and lightheaded. Looking down, her breath caught. She hung suspended in the air, her feet dangling three feet off the ground..

Lanford wiggled his index finger, bringing Rae up so her feet dangled slightly above his head.

It turned out to be the weirdest sensation, not so much feeling suspended, but more like gravity had left her body. Lanford floated her across the room. She was almost disappointed when the feeling of gravity returned as he set her back down gently. Like jumping on a trampoline for an hour and then trying to walk on the hard, flat ground.

“Next time, Ms. Kerrigan, please raise your hand to ask your question.” Lanford smiled and pointed to where Nicholas stood. “You can return to your spot.”

Not long after Rae jumped, surprised to hear the buzzer sound to signal the end of class. She reluctantly grabbed her bag and walked out into the rain.

What if she woke up on her birthday with no mark ink on her back? A claw of worry tightened her stomach as she realized that it might always remain blank. No one seemed to know what would happen. What if she really was just a normal, boring teen? She couldn’t go back to the way things had been before.