Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (49 page)

When the
others
looked down the hall, Rae
leaned behind
Kraigan
,
pulled the journal out of
his
back
pocket,
and shoved it behind her, tucking it into the back of her jeans
, and hastily pulling out her shirt to make sure it was fully covered
.

“Cavalry?”
Carter
raised his eyebrows, creating lines on his forehead
.

“I figured when I sent you the telepathic messages
,
you
and the PC army
’d come to my rescue.”

Carter
nodded.
“I received your messages and we rushed to the hotel, only to be too late.
When we knew you were in the Oratory, we rushed to the Privy Chambers to get the weapons and plan
the
assault.”

“You went
to the Privy
Chambers
instead of coming here?”
Rae couldn’t keep the frustration out of her voice.

Julian laughed.
“Rae, you’re
in
the Chambers.
It’s directly below the school.”

“What?”
She scratched her head and
glanced
around.

“This part is more like the bowels of the chambers
.
It’
s an older hallway.
The
Training
Academy
is a couple of miles from here but the main offices of the Privy Council are here
.”

Rae looked at the headmaster, who nodded.
“So
—
” she said slowly,
“
the Privy Chambers are like some underground chamber
s
?
The
bowels
of the building?
”
She laughed at the irony.
“Privy Chambers is a toilet
,
you know?
Y
ou have some
Batman
cave underground for the Council?”
She laughed again, this time it sounded
almost
hysterical.
“I’m sorry.
It’s been a really, really shitty day.”
She
tried to stop
giggling
by
cover
ing
her mouth with her hand.

Clicking the walkie-
talkie to his belt, Julian
put his boot on Kraigan’s chest and knocked him over. Then he
began climbing the stairs.

“Where do you think you’re going?”
Carter
asked.

“
Devon
’s upstairs
.”
Julian didn’t stop, or even pause as he continued up.
Good for you, Juls
,
Rae thought as she feebly tried to follow.

“I already notified the
medical staff
.
There are men in the Oratory with
him on
a stretcher.
The doctor says he’s going to be alright
.”

“
To the school
Infirmary?” asked Rae.

“
The
Training
Academy
has a
top
-
notch
hospital
.
T
he best tatù doctors are
on call there
.
” He murmured into his
walkie-talkie
.
“We’ll explain more to you later.
Right now, we need to get you
and
Devon
there
.
You need looking after.”
He pointed to her swollen wrist.

M
en appeared
at the top of the stairs.
Two of them carried
a stretcher.
Several others carried
cuffs, chains,
and more
strange-
looking weapons.

“I can walk up the stairs.
I want
Devon
to be alright.
Leave me be a moment.
” She held her hand up
to stop their offers of assistance
and
barely
made it up on her own.
She moved into the room
she had
put
Devon
in
, now
empty of people
.
Rae glanced
around
and
saw
no one at the door.
They’d all stayed away.
Probably scared ‘cause I’m a Kerrigan.
She
sat on the bed and
as quickly and quietly as she could, she
slid the journal
far
under the bed.
Knowledge for a later day.
Not sure why, she didn’t want anyone to know she had the journal back in her possession. When she felt better,
she would
decide what to do.

Releasing a groan
,
she rolled away from the bed and closed her eyes. The pit-patter of shoes on the marble floor let Rae know someone was coming to help her.
She had a million questions
to ask
but now
wasn’t
the time.

She could barely stand but stumbled towards the door.
K
nowing
Devon
was safe;
she collapsed
on
a
stretcher and allowed herself to fall into the
darkness once again.

Chapter 2
7

An End and Beginning

R
ae woke
with
the glare
of
the sun shining through the window.
It seemed
like
she had
slept
for days, but
she
still felt exhausted.
After
that
first coherent thought, confusion set in.
Then everything came flooding back
:
Kraigan, her bruises, her missing
tatùs
and the realization
that
her
tatù
was
not as invincible
.
Depressed, she scowled at the cheery morning outside and rolled away from the picturesque view. She grimaced as pain shot through her body.
However, her breath caught when she noticed
Devon
in the infirmary bed across the room.

He sat leaning against pillows, reading some kind of document.
His face had faded purple and brown
bruises
around his eyes and mouth.
His nose
was
straight,
with only
just some slight swelling
left behind
.
His injured shoulder had been bandaged, and his arm
was
tightly wrapped against his chest.
But he looked
—
healthy
and alive and like the most beautiful thing she had ever seen
.

“’Bout time you decided to come back to the land of the conscious.” The dimple on his face
shone
through the bruises.
He set the papers aside.

“M-
M
orn-
n-
ing.” Her voice cracked and she swallowed to saturate her dry mouth.

Devon
swung his legs over the side of his bed.
Rae couldn’t help but notice he only wore light green hospital bottoms.
His bare chest had a few light bruises but
the sight of
his muscles made Rae tingle.
His delicious body brought the water back to her mouth.

She tried to focus her thoughts.
“Be careful.
You might fall.”

Devon
laughed.
“I was wobbly
this morning
,
but the doc here has some kinda magic healing vitamins.
His tatù can help speed up the healing process.
I should have this wrap off by tonight
.”
He raised his sore shoulder, grimaced then smiled.

Rae
tried to push herself into a sitting position and discovered a cast on her left wrist.
She stared at it in wonder.
“How long have I been…out?”

“
A few hours then you fell asleep and snored all night
.”
Devon
laughed and
shuffled over to th
e chair beside Rae’s bed.
“
You needed stitches in the back of your head and your broken wrist set.
I’m not sure if you or I came out worse for wear.”
He leaned forward and caressed her cheek.

“I think I did, but not because of the beating.” She searched for her tatù and only felt its quiet hum.
It still felt different
—
wrong.
“Seems Kraigan knew how to screw my
tatù
up.”

Devon
gave her a sympathetic look.
“
Carter
filled me in.
I’m sure it’ll all come back, or you’ll figure out a way.
”

Rae grabbed his wrist with her good hand.
The familiar hum, ran through her.
“I can feel
your tatù
.”
She checked to see if anyone was about. “I actually got it when
you
touched my cheek but I figured any excuse to touch you was good enough for me.”

Devon
leaned over and
,
after glancing towards the door, kissed her.
Not a soft, gentle touch, but one full of desire.
His lips melted her insides and
made her stomach flip pleasantly
.
Slowly, he pulled away and rubbed his nose against hers. “By the way, thanks for saving my ass.” He
smiled, his adorable dimple showing
.

Still staring at his lips
, she said,
“Anytime
. It’s an ass worth saving
.”
She grinned. “I kinda like it.”

He reached
above
her
by the wall
and then stood straight.
“I just pulled the call button for the nurse.
You…uh, should let them know you’re awake.
Carter’s
probably gonna want to know.”

Rae nodded.
He was right. Y
et
,
at the same time
,
she worried
more
how bad her breath smelled
or
how chapped her
lips were
.
She watched
Devon
’s muscular back and derriere as he made his way back to his bed.
“Glad I saved that nice ass.” She smirked when
Devon
turned around with a surprised look on his face.

The nurse and doctor came in, followed shortly after by
Carter
.
While the medical staff checked her over,
Devon
spoke quietly with the headmaster. He then got up and began stuffing his things into a duffle bag.

“You’re being discharged?” Rae tried to make her tone joking but heard the pleading in her voice.
She leaned sideways to see around
Carter
.

“’Fraid so.
I
’ve
got some reports to write up and the Privy Council needs me back in action.”

Carter
turned and made his way to Rae’s bed.
“
Sorry
, but you’re staying.
We want to run a few more tests and make sure your tatù continues to absorb other powers.
”
He patted her leg.
“
If all looks normal and functional, we’ll get you discharged first thing
in the
morning.
I’ve asked Raymond
—
the student with the healing
tatù
—
to pop by after lunch.
The doc here has already done wonders, but it won’t hurt to have that ability back
.”

“Is it okay if he comes here?”
Where ever here is
.

“Raymond knows about the Privy Council, about the Academy’s trai
ning facility and the infirmary.
He works for
us
, I mean the
Privy
Council now
.
”

Devon
let out an intentional “A-hem.”

Rae watched him sling his backpack over his good shoulder.
Something about
Devon
leaving made her chest feel tight.
She wanted to beg him to stay and wished
Carter
would leave the room.
She knew she was being silly, but after the fiasco with Kraigan
,
she wanted him close by.

Devon
lingered, waiting for
Carter
to finish.
He finally wal
ked over to Rae’s bed and touched her shoulder, his hand
pausing
a second longer.
He shifted slightly to block
Carter’s
view and lightly brushed his fingers along her chin
.
“I’ll pop by your dorm tomorrow
around
noon
, before I head out to the train station.
Have a fun night.”
He winked and then was gone.

Carter
stepped to the side of Rae’s bed and blocked her view of the door.
“I’ll be off as well.
I just wanted to ask a quick question.”

“Sure.” Rae hoped it had nothing to do with
Devon
.

“Kraigan had your uncle’s journal.
The Privy Council tried to question him…”

Shoot, had Kraigan told them she
took
it?
Had the
y
found where
she had
h
id it?
Rae’s heart beat erratically.
“Where is he?”

“In
lockup
.
He won’t be bothering you or anyone else for a very long time.”
Carter
chuckled. “It appears his
tatù
has not come back. He’s simply stuck in a room with no
power
.” He
shift
ed
his weight and
tugged his shirt cuffs into place
.
“We haven’t been able to locate the journal, nor is Kraigan giving us any information.
Did he happen to tell you?”

“Have you tried your
tatù
on him?” She didn’t know if he wanted her to tell or if he simply didn’t know.
Her breath caught as she had another thought.
It seemed Kraigan had two tatùs last night. He stole people’s tatùs, but in my
room,
he’d pretended to be Nic. No one here has that ability. Could he possibly have been able to camouflage and steal tatùs? He has two tatùed parents. Could I have two abilities?
She had no
intention of sharing her thoughts out loud at the moment.

Carter coughed.
“I have a very useful ability, unfortunately it has limits. I
don’t know why but I’m completely
useless
on
Kraigan
. I can get no past memories from him.
I don’t know what’s happened.”

Well then, it seems like the lock and key approach actually works. This may be the only information I’ve garnered from Kraigan that
I’ll be
keeping to myself
.

“Did he say anything last night?”
Carter asked.

Rae stared at her hands neatly folded.
She planned on sharing the journal
eventually,
but
she
needed to read it first.
Guilt flooded her chest
though
she lied despite it.
“S
-S
orry, he didn’t tell me anything.”
Heat rose to her cheeks.

The room was quiet
.
Rae couldn’t look at him.
Carter
finally spoke.
“Not to worry.
We’ll find it.”
He
squeezed her
shoulder
and left the room.

Why
didn’t
Kraigan
tell
them?
Sh
e sighed and dropped her head back onto her pillow.
She had
suddenly grown
exhausted.