Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (19 page)

“It’s fine.
We were just, uh, studying.”
He rubbed his lips with the back of his hand.
Devon
stood in front of Julian, politely blocking his view of Rae.

Very chivalrous. I’ll have to
find a way to
thank him later
.
She
grinned.

“No worries.
I’ll leave you to get back to your
studies
.
” Julian laughed, punching
Devon
in the shoulder.
“
I was thinking you might want to go for pizza or something.”

“Pizza?”
Devon
’s posture straightened.
Now
that’s odd
, she thought.
Mention food and he snaps to attention like a soldier? Hmm
—
.

“We can go another time
.
Y
ou’re busy.” Julian’s head dropped to the side and he winked at Rae.
She suddenly knew with absolute certainty that “pizza” was code for something.
Code is only necessary when they’re trying to cut me out. But of what?

Rae jumped out of the chair, eager for the chance to escape
,
because she had a plan
.
“You guys
go eat
.
It’s almost curfew for me
,
anyways.”

“Are you sure?”
Devon
asked
.

She didn’t miss the excitement in his eyes
. It only
solidified
her determination to find out what they were actually doing
.
“Positive.
I’ll see y
ou tomorrow.” She kissed him on the cheek
and elbowed Julian lightly in the ribs as she walked by.
Let Julian think I’m in a mad dash
to get outta here
because I’m embarrassed.
“Good night, guys.
Enjoy the food
.”

“Thanks.
See you
later
.
”
Devon
sound
ed
distracted
.

She
grabbed her backpack
by the door
and
closed it behind her
.
O
ut of sight
from the boys
, she took off running
.
Using a cheetah tatù, she raced
to
Aumbry
House and up to her dorm room.

Once inside, she dropped her
school bag
and
pulled
her clothes off.
Not daring to turn on the lights
, she opened the
large, Oriel
window and
glanced
around
. She
saw
Julian and
Devon
heading down the path towards Julian’s car
in the parking lot
.
Putting a foot on the window ledge, Rae lean
ed forward and let herself fall.

Chapter 10

Bet
’
chya

R
ae’s stomach lurched into her throat a
s the
air rushed by her face.
A moment later, she
stretched her arms out and
shape
-shifted
into an eagle.
She swooped down before flapping her wings to get some height and remain unseen.
Eagle
shape shifting
was one of the best tatù
s
she had
ever experienced.
There
weren’t
many kinds of shifters
,
and to be able to change her body into something else was amazing.
She had
learned how to do it
the previous year
,
and i
t
ha
d been a
while since she
had
last changed.
Spreading her wings wide, she
took a moment to bask in the
incredible
feeling
of freedom
.
The wind whipping by her eyes and lashing under her outstretched feathers allowed her to rise and swoop down and fly high into
the
sky again.

Focusing
on Julian’s car, she
flew high above the
treetops
and watched
it
pull out
onto the main road.
She felt a moment of guilt
for
following
them
, but
then
curiosity
, and niggle of worry and distrust
got the better of her.
If they went for pizza,
she
would
leave it alone.
If they went somewhere else, it was worth the risk.
I’m tired of being excluded from the details, tired of only being told tiny bits of the story, tired of being ‘protected’ into ignorance. I can handle myself, but to prove that, I need to know what’s actually going on.

The boys drove about five minutes up the road to a football pitch and play park.
The fields were
black
, the park lights shut off hours ago.
Rae
found a perch on a cast-iron lamp post, and had time to settle her feathers before the boys got out of the car.
.
With eagle night vision, s
he watched
them
get something
long
out of the trunk and
head to the
grass
field.

“You know, Rae’s no dummy.
She’s going to ask me tomorrow why you wanted to go for pizza so late.”
Devon
laughed and
lightly shoved
Julian.

“Don’t blame me for the phrase.
You’re the one who made it up last week as the
code
.”
Julian pulled his hair into a low ponytail.

“Yeah, and I was an idiot.”

“Can’t be that stupid
. Y
ou got the smartest and prettiest girl at
Guilder
.”

“
Let’s hope I d
on’t screw it all up
.
You should’ve seen the look on her face when
Carter
told her about Anna. She
was so mad
.”

Julian lightheartedly thumped him on the back. “
Told you I should’ve offered to do the job
.”

“And let the Privy Council raise their eyebrows at me and jot little notes in their binders? No thanks. I can handle Rae.”
Devon
’s voice sounded strained. “
I’m just waiting for her to realize the mistake she’s making.
”

Rae’s heart thundered against her ears.
Here it is.
She
held her breath.

Devon
sighed as he stretched his muscles.
“She
could do so much better than me.
”

Rae
didn’t think she could fall
more in love with him
at
tha
t
moment. She
wished she could jump off the
lamppost
, shift back and hug him.

“Dude, she’s not going to
--
unless it’s with me, of course
.
”
Julian
snickered and
tossed a weird
metal
bar at
Devon
. He
headed
o
nto the field. “
Come on, let’s get jo
u
sting.”

Wait.
They’re practicing?

“Y
ou’re so getting
whooped
now for that comment.”
Devon
twirled the bar expertly in his hands.
“You want
to tell me why you felt the urge to say the
pizza
-thing
right
in front of Rae?
She wouldn’t have cared, you know
.”
He
squatted into a ready position.

“I know.
” Julian paused. “
I just didn’t want you to invite her.
She’d kick my ar
s
e
.
Don’t laugh.
I had a vision of her coming with us and being way above us.
Guess it was just a dream
,
not a future-vision
,
‘cause s
he’d
be kicking
both our
arses
.”

The boys stopped talking and began fighting.
Rae watched for a short while and then leapt off the post to fly bac
k to Guilder. She felt a twinge of guilt for eavesdropping but
was
content
that she had at least gained a little information
.
It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but at least
now,
I know they weren’t trying to hide a problem from me. Plus, I can’t believe what
Devon
said!

She cawed. Now she couldn’t wait for
the next time they allowed her to train with the
m
!
She
would
get to try out the
battle sticks.
Julian
,
you are so
dead meat
.

Taking a longer route back to the school, she enjoyed the sounds of the night.
When Guilder
’
s lights and buildings came into view, she glided straight
in
to her opened window.
Landing
on the floor
of her room with a soft thud,
she
shape-shifted
back into human form.
Naked, she stood just as a knock sounded on
her
door.
Grabbing a towel and wrapping it around
her
, Rae
opened the door and peered out.

Madame Elpis nodded and headed down the hall.
“Just doing room checks.
Good
night
, M
is
s Kerrigan.”

“Good night Madame Elpis. I just wanted to clean up real quick.” Rae’s heart beat double time for a moment as the
sharp-eyed
housemistress
, looked her over.

“Fine, just don’t make a ruckus.” Madame Elpis spun on her
smartly heeled
shoe and moved on to the next room, leaving Rae to practically wilt against her
doorframe
with relief.

She
headed to the bathroom to have a shower, grinning as she thought about the
boys’
conversation.
Julian’s vision had been correct
--
she had
definitely been above them, and they had no clue
.

The
week before the
joint
dance with
Roe Hampton
Girl’s Boarding School, a flushed Molly came running into Rae’s room.

“
Re
ece
is
definitely coming to the dance
!”
she
squealed. “
He said
he
’
d
come months ago, but I wasn’t entirely sure he really wanted to.
I asked him once or twice but he kinda seemed to be avoiding the topic so I let things be for a few days.
Then I asked him again today and he said sure
!
”

Rae
,
sitting at her desk
,
watched
as
Molly
dramatically dropped onto
Rae’s
bed
, a huge smile brightening her face
.
“That’s awesome.
”
She
closed the binder that held the Privy Council information.
Their group hadn’t done their oral presentation
yet
.
They were the last ones
to go
, almost two weeks
after
the first group had presented.
I
t was scheduled for tomorrow.

“
Totally! I
t makes the feeling
so
much sweeter
knowing he wants to come
.
I can tell
Reece
to find
a buddy
to bring
along
.
We could double date
!
” Molly
pushed
up
onto her elbow
s
.

Rae thought furiously
for
an excuse, any excuse.
She shifted her weight in the chair
and played with a loose page sticking out of
her
binder
.
“I kind of told Desiree
, Alecia
and Maria we’d all go together.
Is
Reece
meeting you here, at the dorm?”

“Probably.
He isn’t going to know where to go when he gets
in
.
I’ll just tell him a bunch of girls are
coming with us.
He won’t care.
He’s really
easygoing
.”
She sat up and dropped her legs over the
edge of the
bed.
“I’ll have to let Haley know, as well.”

“Sounds g
ood.
”
Considering the fact that Haley had done her best to ruin Rae’s experience the previous year, Rae though
t
she did fairly well keeping the dislike out of her voice. Molly, however, didn’t miss the expression on her face.

Molly, held up a hand, trying to smooth it over.
“
I know.
Haley’s weird.
She’s always complaining about her
family
or that her Dad’s still mad she got
tatùed
instead of her brother.
She needs to grow up.”

Rae said
nothing
,
just raised her eyebrows
at
Molly.