Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (35 page)

Staring down at his book,
Argyle scratched his beard.
He made no effort to answer Rae’s question.

She shifted her weight from foot to foot and heard the shower water shut off.
Closing her eyes as she shook her head,
she gave up
,
turned and
reached for the door
.

“Your father attracted people.
He was very charismatic.”

Rae
stopped
—
hand on the
brass
knob, shocked
that
her uncle
had
made the effort to answer.
Slowly, she stepped back and sat
on
the
love seat
by the wall
,
waiting
.
She set her breakfast plate on the end table beside the
love seat
.
The huge, fat cat crept out from under the
love seat
and began purring as it rubbed itself against Rae’s
calf
.

Argyle cleared his throat.
“Wisdom i
s wasted on the young
.”
He glanced at Rae.
“
Sorry
. W
hile I attended Guilder,
your dad
butted heads with certain teachers
,
but I
don’t
remember
anything that
might have shown the path
he would
take.
I’ve asked myself that many times. I believed in him. It was easy to.
” He continued to pull at the whiskers of his beard
and stopped talking for a few moments
.
“We did start a youth group, kind of like a fraternity
. B
oys did those sorts of things at the time.
Our little society had strategies to change the world, you know, make it a better place.
I acted as secretary
.” He chuckled.
“I even kept minutes
of our secret meetings.”

“Secret?” Rae straightened at the word
, sending the cat shooting back under her seat
.

Argyle smiled,
and in that moment, Rae saw a flash of her mother
.
They have the same expressions.
Unaware of Rae’s distraction, Argyle continued.
“Not much of a secret.
We thought of ourselves as covert world changers
,
but nothing was
truly
hush-hush.
The entire school knew
,
and other students teased us about our hopes
to fix
the world.
”
He shrugged. “I think the little group lasted one term and died out over the summer holidays.
” He chuckled. “We
even had a name for ourselves.”

Rae grinned, thinking it funny her uncle had been part of a fraternity.
He didn’t
seem the type
.
“What did you call yourselves?
Sigmund
Beta Freud
?
”

“No Greek, just simple English for us Guilder boys.”
He
tapped
his temple.
“What did we use?
It was a pseudonym
—
something
silly
.
I think I may still have the
notebook of minutes
tucked away in some old trunk in the attic, or maybe it’s down here on one of these bookshelves.”
He swept his hand around the room, indicating the nine antique cases full of books.
“I
should look for it one day.
One
might get a kick out of reading it.”

So much for getting
usable intel
.
“Thanks.”
Rae stood. “I appreciate you taking the time to tell me.
I should go warm up my plate of eggs and check on Molly.
She really wants to go shopping today.”

His head bent,
her uncle
already back to reading his book. “Have a good time.”

She opened the door and
stepped
halfway through when her uncle spoke again.

“
House of Cards.
That’s what we called ourselves.
”

“Why House of Cards?”

He chuckled. “To show how big things can be built on a flimsy foundation. How the greatest assets can come tumbling down. We, as kids, thought we could change the world, or at least the authority at Guilder or the Privy Council.” He shrugged. “We were boys, pretending to be men. We called the group
HOC for short
.”

The plate of eggs
slipped from
Rae’s
fingers and
plummeted to the floor. The porcelain shattered and eggs exploded down the hallway.
She dropped to her knees
, scooping up
the
scattered breakfast
and cupping
the bits
into her
shaking
hand.
HOC? House of Cards? H.O.C. Holy crap!

“
Are you okay
?” Molly came down the stairs.

“
Is everything alright
?” Uncle Argyle called from the study.

“Fine. T
he plate slipped from my hand.”
Rae looked
around
, grabbing an antique sterling
dish off the small table nearest to her.
She tossed the eggs and bits of plate into the potpourri mix and set it back on the table.
She stood,
shaking inwardly,
trying to appear relaxed.
Inside, she felt like the scattered eggs.
“Let me get dressed
. Y
ou want to get going?”

“Definitely
.”

Rae reached for the study door, sticking her head inside just before closing it.
“Uncle Argyle?”

“Hmmm?” He didn’t glance up.

“Do you think you could
find that
old
minute
s
book
?” She
ran her tongue against the inside of her cheek
.
“I think it’d be
kind of cool to read.”

Argyle half-heartedly waved a hand at her in acquiescence.
“
Sure.
I’ll have a look
over the holidays
.”

“Thanks.” Rae closed the door, determined to find the old journal before she flew back to Guilder.

Chapter 1
9

Rain, Rain, Go Away

B
etween shopping and “girl time”,
the holiday in
New York
went faster than Rae thought it would. Part of her wanted to be back in
England
, but the other part loved being with her aunt and uncle. Both
parts of her
enjoyed Molly’s constant chatter
,
and it gave Rae the time to think and daydream about
Devon
. She wondered what
he had
been up to and if
he had
spent Christmas at home or working.
Ha
s
his dad said anything?
If he
does, what will
Devon
do
?
It drove her nuts with worry and the fact that her
cell phone
refused to
work in
America
didn’t help.

Uncle Argyle didn’t find the notebook with the minutes from his time at Guilder.
Rae had been too scared to ask him to look again.
If she placed too much emphasis on it, there was no telling how Argyle would react. The one thing she didn’t need was for Argyle to know anything about what had happened last year at Guilder and what they were up against now. So instead of hounding him for the notebook, she backed off.
As he dropped Molly and her off at the airport, she mentioned posting the notebook to her if he c
a
me across it.
He gave
her only a
curt nod
.
S
he had no idea if
he would
even
bother
.

Molly and Rae returned to Guilder the day before classes resumed.
They took the same bus
she had
taken to Guilder
the
previous
year.
Rae couldn’t wait to get back to her own
room
, for
a bit of peace and quiet.
Dean Wardell’s
demand
constantly nagged at the back of her mind. She
needed
to see
Devon
and
let her insides flutter as they always did when she was around him.
He would
show her the strength of their relationship and
nothing and no one
could crumble it… she hoped.
She
k
new neither
Devon
n
or Julian were back
,
and from
Devon
’s lack of replies to
her
texts
, she figured he was working.
Guess the HOC-thing will have to wait until I have something solid to share with Carter, or
Devon
.

“Thank goodness this is our last semester,” Molly said
Thursday
morning
as they walked to
their first class.
“
I can’t wait to sleep in and not have to leave the building to eat
.”

“What’
re you planning
on doing next year?” Rae
shifted
her umbrella so the January downpour didn’t leave her soaking wet inside the Oratory.
The weather match
ed
her mood this morning
;
dark, dreary and depressed.
An email from
Devon
, furtively checked before class, advised that he and Julian would not be back until the end of the week
.
More work for the Privy Council.
“Do you want to work for the Privy Council?”

“
Heaven
s no
!
Well, I shouldn’t say that. I just don’t think it’s something I want to do right now. Secrets,
espionage,
and all the double-oh-seven stuff doesn’t seem
like my kind of
thing.
I applied to
Cardiff
University
.
I
can’t imagine carrying on the family mechanic shop business, too dirty. I’m not sure yet what I want to do
.” Molly pulled her raincoat tighter around her. “This weather sucks
.
If it weren’t for Reece, I’d be applying to the
University
of
Florida
or
somewhere in
Spain
, anywhere hot.”

“You’
re pretty serious about Reece…
Does he feel the same?” Rae
asked.
How are
you
supposed to know how serious someone
feels
about you
?

“Yeah, he does
!
We had this
big talk
just before
Christmas break
.
He’s gonna
try and
get a job transfer to the area and
he’s got
family
there. I
want to
take
the next
logical step.” Molly’s
tone changed from her normal babble, to a leading hint of secrecy at the end, as if she would not say, but really wanted Rae to ask what she meant.

Rae smiled and
then
stepped aside to avoid a large puddle.
She
scowled at her Mary Jane flats
.
S
he
should have worn welly boots
today.
It wouldn’t surprise her if someone
, probably
Carter
,
had
buil
t
an ark in the field behind the Oratory
with all this rain going on
.
“What’s the next step, Molls?”

“
M
arriage
.”
Molly rushed the words, leaning under Rae’s umbrella. “
If he’s
willing to
com
e
to
Cardiff
with me, he’ll be buying me a honkin’ diamond ring next
!
”
Molly gushed on in typical Molly
style.

Rae
grinned, trying to appear happy,
rather than
amused at her friend.
Only Molly would
think that was the next,
logical
ste
p
–
at seventeen?
“I really hope it works out
.” She
sincerely mean
t
it.
“Let’
s get inside the Oratory.
I’ve had enough of this wet
weather
, plus
we’re going to be late
.”

By the time they shrugged out of their rain gear,
Carter was clapping his hands
, calling for everyone to get into their groups.
He glanced at his phone. “I’ll be right back
,
”
h
e said
,
as he
stepped out of the room.
Rae noticed Kraigan and Nicholas towards the back of the large room.
Making her way over, she hugged her arms and s
hivered in
the
frigid
air.
Almost like
New York
.

“H
ow was break?”
Nicholas
asked
Rae
.

“Good.
Molls came with me to
New York
. We
wore
grooves in
the cement from all the shopping she did.”

“
You
went to
New York
?” Kraigan interrupted.

“Her uncle and aunt live in
America
,” Nicholas told Kraigan.
“
She moved
there after her folks died.
” Rae wished she had a tatù that would shut Nic up. He seemed to be entirely too open with her personal information. Not that she would have hidden the
fact that she lived in
America
from Kraigan. It was common knowledge, there would be no point. However, the day hadn’t started well for her and she was feeling unnaturally grouchy. “Nic, would it be possible for you to stop telling every living being my personal business?” As soon as the words left her lips, Rae regretted it. The flash of hurt on Nic’s face made her stomach turn. This wasn’t like her. She needed to fix it fast.
I just don’t want everyone to know…wait…that’s it
. “If I see my face on any tabloids, I’m coming after youuuu!” Rae made a face and wiggled her fingers in a ridiculous imitation of
a Scooby Doo Ghost
. Nic
just
looked confused.
Why do I try? Honestly? Nobody gets me.
Rae sent him a thought using Maria’s tatù.
I’m just kidding, or trying to. Sorry if I missed the mark.

Nic, hopped back and held his breath for a second. “Rae! That was weird! Do it again!”

“What happened?” Kraigan asked, completely missing the by-play between them.

“She just talked in my head! Do it to Kraigan! Tell him something.”

Rae laughed, relieved Nic wasn’t ticked at her. “Fine.”
What did you do over the break?”

Kraigan blinked then mumbled something. Rae thought he said ‘Maria’ but wasn’t sure.
“
Very cool. I t
ook a road trip all over
Britain
. Saw
the
sights and did some wicked
stuff.”

Molly came over just as Kraigan spoke. “How does an orphan afford a car?”

“I don’t have a car.”
He exhaled a long exaggerated breath.
“Just
’
cause I grew up at the
o
rphanage, it doesn’t mean I don’t
know people outside of this
crap-hole.”
Kraigan
folded his arms
. “I had
a great break.
I met this guy
,
Randy, and he’s got this
younger
sister.
Her name’s
Annabelle
.
We
totally
hit it off.”
He shot a glance at Rae, as if waiting to see her reaction.

Rae
resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Why would I care that he met a girl?

“Is she hot?”
Nicholas
asked.

“
Hot
with
very nice
ass
ets
.
She was on the rebound from a guy who
totally screwed
her over after
the
summer
.
”
Kraigan
looked at Rae again.
“No
tatù
, but
she’s got this cool
tattoo
on her…” He
grinned slyly
at Rae
. “I’ll tell ya later, Nic.
” He snapped his fingers. “
Oh,
and
her brother’s got a tatù.”

“No way
.
Did he go to Guilder?”

“Nah, he’s from one of those mega-rich families who don’t bother with this crap-hole.
He
said he
felt bad for me when I told him I atten
d
.”