Chapter 16
Disclosure
The weather changed overnight. Dark, dreary clouds full of rain and cold drifted in by the wind. What had felt like Indian summer turned into instant bitter winter. Rae spent the weekend in her dorm room, not bothering to answer the door when any of her friends knocked. She needed time alone to think and decide what to do about Dean Wardell.
There had been no contact from Devon. The only e-mail she had received came from her uncle. Argyle had bought a desktop computer and was making an effort to learn how to use it. He wrote a short message, saying he looked forward to seeing her at Christmas and Aunt Linda thought it would be lovely if she brought a friend. Molly was more than welcome to come to New York. But, he warned in italics, please no tatùs in front of Aunt Linda.
When Monday morning arrived, Rae debated feigning illness but knew it would only bring more people to her door. Going to class would be easier, even if it meant forcing herself to face other people. The one thing that made leaving the room seem not quite totally unbearable was that over the weekend, it had become clear and Dean Wardell had not told anyone else about his conversation with her. If he had, the news would have spread all over campus and there’s no way she would have been left alone. That meant that all the knocks on her door, and kind entreaties to come out were due solely to the fact that her friends cared about her. Unfortunately, it didn’t really make her feel better.
What difference would it make if friends are worried about me? I can’t mention Dean Wardell’s threat, nor can I talk about me and Devon with anyone but Devon--and, well, maybe Julian. But both of them were gone and since she hadn’t heard anything from them since the dance, who knew when they’d return?
Sighing, Rae slipped her rain jacket on and headed out of Aumbry House’s main doors. She timed it perfectly: early enough for class, but too late for breakfast. It allowed her to avoid her classmates at the tables in the cafeteria. She had no appetite anyway.
She slipped into the Oratory, pleased to be the first one there. The Grand Room always made her feel better. The Tudor decorations from the dance had been taken down, but the room still held its ancient appeal. Remembering her feelings as she had danced with Devon, she walked along the edge of the black and white marble floor, tracing her hands along the carvings on the wall.
Three quarters of the way down the far side, her fingers snagged on a loose piece of wood. She stopped to push it back into place, and jumped back when a soft rustling noise disturbed the silence of the room. Timid, she glanced back and blinked in surprise. A secret door had opened and a gust of musty air swept past her.
Checking over her shoulder to make sure no other students had come in; she turned her attention to the secret compartment. Unable to resist, she stepped into the short, narrow opening. Presuming there would be some sort of light, she reached for a switch or something to make the darkness disappear. She couldn’t find anything on either side of the tiny door, so she used the hum of Molly’s tatù and flickered her fingers towards the ceiling. She breathed a sigh of relief when an antique, brass light flickered on. The ornate light had once been oil but someone over the years had wired it for electricity.
Rae stepped farther into the space, the musty, stale air not nearly as strong as it had been since the door had first opened. The room was quite large, probably the size of her dorm. She harrumphed when she saw the Tudor bed, fit for a king, on the far side of the room. All the furniture also matched the same pattern with King Henry’s royal emblem carved in each. She slapped her forehead when she remembered Devon joking about King Henry building a private bedroom for his personal use back when Carter had appeared from a different hidden door.
A pang of guilt reminded her that she shouldn’t be inside here. She slipped back out, wondering how Carter managed to squeeze through the other door with his tall frame. As she reached for the loose piece of wood on the wall, she snapped her fingers to extinguish the light. She spun round to check if anyone had seen her and relaxed when she realized the Oratory was still empty. She traced her fingers over the detailed scene trying to remember something about this picture that would set it apart. It looked so similar to all the others.
She walked back along the same wall, trying to spot other tiny pieces of jutting wood. They were impossible to find. She reached the second corner of the Oratory and still hadn’t found another hidden room. The she noticed it, another tiny piece of wood standing out. She started to reach for it.
Rae jumped when a cold hand squeezed her shoulder.
“There you are!” Molly’s voice bounced off the walls and floor like a shout.
Startled, Rae reached for Molly’s hand and accidentally sent a strong shock between the two of them. Molly hopped back, surprise written across her face.
“Sorry.” Molly laughed, shaking her wrist. “I figured you heard me come in.” She blew on her hand. “Remind me not to sneak up on you, ever. I think that shock of yours is three times stronger than I can do.”
“I’m so sorry,” Rae gushed. “Are you alright?”
“Fine, just feels like I caught a baseball in my bare hand. Good thing it was me. If you did that to someone else, you’d probably stop their heart.”
Rae glanced at the tiny piece of wood sticking out. It seemed so obvious to her. “I must’ve been lost in my own little world.”
Molly patted her arm. “I didn’t see you all weekend—and you’re pale. Everything okay?”
Rae shrugged, in no mood to lie or tell the truth, but she knew Molly wouldn’t let it be. She had to come up with something. “Maybe I’m coming down with a bug. I felt exhausted all weekend and didn’t feel up to breakfast this morning.” Rae figured that would stop Molly’s tirade of questions before they started. She hoped.
“Are you pregnant?” Molly crossed her arms over her chest. She leaned in and sniffed Rae.
“No!” Rae swatted at Molly’s nose. “That’s impossible and for the record, you can’t bloody smell if someone’s pregnant.”
Molly shrugged and stepped back. “I’ve got an aunt who can tell if someone’s knocked up just by smelling them. She says pregnant women have a certain glow about them, a tenderness and they smell radiant. She says she’s guessed as many pregnant people right as she’s guessed wrong. I didn’t think you could be, but I figured I’d ask anyways.”
Rae couldn’t help it. She laughed. It was adorable that Molly didn’t realize the flaw in her aunt’s logic. Crazy Molly could brighten anyone’s day without even trying.
“Don’t know why you’re laughing, but good.” Molly slipped her arm through Rae’s and dragged her towards the center of the room.
“I got here early and was checking out the carvings.” Rae had to show Molly the hidden room. It was too cool to keep a secret. She giggled, knowing what Molly would want to do with the room. About to show her best friend the tiny piece of misplaced wood, she stopped when three students came rushing in from the rain.
It would have to wait for another day.
That evening Rae returned to her room after studying in the library. Someone had slipped a note under her door. She didn’t recognize the hand writing on the envelope so she opened it cautiously and checked the signature.
Meet me at 9pm. Same spot outside.–K
Kraigan
She checked her watch. Almost nine now. Rae stood in the middle of her room, undecided what to do. Devon might call but was she the kind of girl to wait for him to contact her? His record wasn’t too hot in that category. Maybe Kraigan needed to get something off his chest. It would be silly not to go. However, what if Dean Wardell thought she was sneaking out with another guy, he would accuse her of cheating on Devon or something worse instead of being happy she wasn’t with his son. This is ridiculous! Kraigan’s just trying to discover who he is as a person, like I had to last year.
Tossing her backpack and books on her bed, she closed the door behind her. Not seeing anyone in the hallway, Rae dashed down the stairs and outside without stopping. She slowed when she hit the sidewalk and turned right to walk along Aumbry’s building. Using Devon’s tatù ability, she spotted Kraigan leaning against a tree. She glanced behind her and saw no one so she burst into a sprint using a tatù and stopped easily in front of him.
“I just got in from studying and saw your note. What’s up?”
He dropped his backpack off his shoulder and unzipped it to pull out papers. “Nothing really.” He looked uncomfortable.
“What’s going on?” Rae could tell he wanted to say something or ask her a question and apparently didn’t know how to start. “Hey, if I’m going to be your mentor, you need to be willing to ask me stuff you want to know. Even if you don’t think you’re going to like the answer.” He needs a mentor. The least I can do is try to help.
Kraigan hung his head, shuffling the toe of his sneaker into the dirt, a nervous habit Rae immediately recognized as one of her own. “I heard the headmaster last year was a good guy. What happened at the spring dance last year? No one wants to say exactly, but the way people talk, it’s not hard to figure out something happened between him and you.”
Rae sighed. Carter, Devon, Julian and Molls were the only people who really knew. And probably the entire Privy Council. No one had asked her and Carter had done a great job at covering everything up. Truth or lie? “It’s kinda complicated.”
“I’d like to know if you’re willing to share.”
“Lanford seemed like a really good guy. He really tried to help me deal with my tatù, set Devon up as my mentor.” Probably knew I’d be attracted to him and was hoping we’d hook up. “He really pulled one over on me, on everyone at school. It turned out he worked for my father and had hoped to brainwa—convince me to continue my father’s plans. It didn’t work out in his favor.” There. Basic truth, with little detail.
“And he got killed?” He stared at her, and she nodded very slowly. “Is he really dead? You know that for sure?” Before Rae’s heart could add another beat, he spoke again. “What about your dad?”
Rae scoffed. “He didn’t like me very much.”
Kraigan’s eyebrows rose. “You really think that? Maybe he was just mad you weren’t a boy. Maybe he thought like Guilder and believed guys held more ability with their tatùs.”
“Guilder used to think like that. They don’t anymore. Simon Kerrigan was like…like a dark nebula. With him, nothing was as it seemed. He had everyone fooled and kept everything hidden.” Rae shook her head. “It’s frustrating to not have known what he really was, and now have everyone expecting you to turn into the monster he was. Everyone is always waiting for me to turn into that chic from The Exorcist or something. Sometimes, I just can’t stand it.”
“You are not a monster! Far, far from it.” Kraigan stuffed whatever papers he had been holding back into his knapsack. “You’re more like a kitten.”
Say what? The statement caught her off guard, but it also lightened the mood a little. “Thanks, I think.” She laughed. “It doesn’t matter what other people think in the end. The only person you need to answer to, at the end of the day, is yourself.”
“But don’t you think that with our tatùs, we have a right to do something with them? I mean, why have these powers otherwise? Man didn’t evolve without reason. They evolved to ensure survival, to rise above other life forms. Tatùs are the same! Otherwise, what’s the point?” Kraigan gestured wildly, making it obvious this was something he felt strongly about. It gave Rae a moment’s pause.
She took a few seconds to carefully formulate her next words. She understood his questions and concerns— she had often wondered these things herself. It was easier to talk to Kraigan about this than it was with Devon. Kraigan seemed more open minded. So it was easier to tell Kraigan what she thought, even if she didn’t think it was prudent to spill all. “I think that’s why the Privy Council exists, and other agencies like it around the world. It gives us a chance to do something good with our powers, without being exposed.”
Kraigan scratched along his jaw line. “I’m not so sure about the Privy Council. No one knows anything about them. How do we even know what their true motives are? Maybe they’re the dark nebula.”
Dare she share her opinion? Rae weighed the pros and cons. In the end, sharing didn’t seem to pose much of a risk. “Maybe you’re right. But maybe everyone is, to a degree. Guess we’ll find out as we get older.”
Kraigan glanced up behind Rae. She turned around to look as well. Someone was walking towards them. She squinted. “It’s Madame Elpis.”
“She’s tight with curfew, isn’t she? Get going and I’ll hold her off. She shouldn’t be able to recognize you from that distance. I’ll cover for you.” He grinned. “I owe you one.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t want to deal with a lecture from Elpis, or to have any rumors to start flying around that she was meeting Kraigan. Last thing I want is people thinking we’re on the sly and have that get back to Devon, when it’s so far from the truth. “See you around tomorrow then. I’m glad we talked tonight. It’s nice to know other people wonder about stuff like me. A…A lot of students, who’ve been here since being a kid, seem a bit more close-minded.” She slipped into the forest and took off running. Once she cleared the other side of Aumbry House she cleared out of the trees and ran to the front of the building. Slipping as quietly as she could to the stairs, she levitated up and into her room. At the window, she stared down. Madame Elpis walked on her own around the building, glancing left and right. Safe – for now.
The rest of the week took an eternity to pass. The entire, long, drawn-out, boring summer of awaiting her return to Guilder had moved quicker. Rae tried to fill it by keeping busy with schoolwork, a challenge in itself since her education courses came easy and she had no trouble keeping up with all her assignments. She thought a lot about her conversation with Kraigan and wished Devon was around to ask him what he thought. Thinking about Devon only made her miss him more and make the time go slower. In the end, the only thing she could do was give herself extra homework.
She practiced the skills and challenges she had learned with Devon and Julian, but they were boring to do alone. She talked Nicholas into scrimmaging with her, but after one session and Nicholas’ black eye the next day, he refused to practice again.
One night, after dinner, as Rae strolled up the stairs to her room, she heard the phone in her room ring. Funny, no one’s ever called me on it. She paused as it rang again, trying to consider who might be calling and how important it might be to take the call. Uncle Argyle! She dashed down the hall, frantically trying to get her key into the lock before the phone stopped ringing.
Worry filled her. What if something terrible has happened to him in New York? Uncle Argyle and Aunt Linda were the only family she had left. She flew into her room. Flicking the light, she grabbed the receiver and tried to catch her breath.
“I’m here! It’s me, Rae. Uncle Argyle? Are you there?” she shouted. “Hello,” she tried again in a normal voice.
Silence greeted her. Rae swore under her breath. Shoot! I reached the phone too late. Yet, she didn’t hear a dial tone. She kept the phone tight against her ear. “Is somebody there?” Walking towards her desk, she squinted and cocked her head, thinking she heard a swirling noise.
The churning sound grew louder, along with a weird continuous bashing, like something slamming against a wall. Rae switched the phone to her other ear. Her heart pounded against her rib cage and she glanced frantically around. Is someone trying to scare me?
“Rae?”
Devon? His voice shouted through the phone, above the noise.
“It’s crazy noisy here. Can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” she shouted back in relief, and then lowered her voice, “Everything okay? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. The conn—nection here’s terr—ble, and between the wind and crashing waves, even with my tatù, it’s hard to hear.”
“Do you want me to shout?” she yelled again.
“Not if everyone there’s going to hear you.” There was laughter in his voice. Hearing that, the tension drained out of her body. He’s okay.
“Why didn’t you call my cell?”
“I tried but it kept going to voice mail.”
She reached in her bag and checked it. The screen was blank. It must’ve bounced around in her bag during or after class and turned itself off. She pressed the power button to let it restart.
“Hey Rae?” Devon said. “Happy Birthday.”
It’s not for another two days. As soon as the thought completed itself, she realized that she was wrong. She blinked. How could she have completely forgotten? Who forgets their own birthday? I’m dumb as a stump. Due to a snow storm that had forced her mother to give birth to her at home and kept her from reaching a hospital for two days, in addition to an error made by the doctor, her birth certificate stated she was born on the fifteenth of November, but it was actually the thirteenth. After the awful confrontation with Dean Wardell and missing Devon, she had stopped paying attention to the days as they passed, totally forgetting about her own birthday. Last year she couldn’t forget. This year she couldn’t remember. “Where are you?” I miss you.
“Most northern part of Scotland. It’s awesome, I wish you were here.” Devon’s voice dropped at the end.
He’s not alone. “Me, too,” she whispered, not sure if he heard. The longing inside her made her eyes fill. Mimicking a tatù, Rae closed her eyes, focused on the communication lines and cleared all the static away that she could. She heard the swirling wind and water on Devon’s end.
“The buzzing stopped.” Devon chuckled. “You did that, didn’t you?”
She imagined him shaking his head and grinning so his dimple appeared. “Yeah, sort of.” She coughed, clearing her throat and holding back the tears that wanted to fall. She stared at the map pinned on the wall by her desk. “What’re you doing in John O’Groats?” She remembered going there with her parents one summer long ago.
“I’m actually about ten, or eleven miles north of there. If I can find a postcard, I’ll send it to you.” He sounded like an excited little school boy.
Rae leaned over her desk to get a closer look of Britain. She found John O’Groats and slid her finger up. She saw a little town just to the west. “Dunnet Head? What’re you doing there?” In the recesses of her mind, the place sounded familiar. She tucked the name in the back of her mind, to analyze later.
“Smartie pants.” He laughed. “Just finished work.”
“Are you coming home now?” Guilder felt like home—sometimes.
“No, we’ve got another place to go. Julian’s here with me. He’s mouthing Happy Birthday as well.”
Rae sighed. She tried to avoid doing it into the receiver, but Devon’s pause proved he had heard it.
“We won’t be much longer. Probably back in a week, or so.” He paused before changing the subject. “Hey I know how to make you feel better.” He cleared his throat. “I’m standing on Easter Head, facing west towards Cape Wrath, watching the sun set. It’s amazing. Can you do that tatù thing you did before--you know, when you touched my forehead and saw what I was looking at or thinking?”
“I don’t know if I can do it through a phone. I’ve only been able to do that through physical contact.” She sniffed and closed her eyes as she spoke, trying to do as Devon requested. He was quiet on the line.
The first image she had looked like a painting. Then the image changed slightly when Julian walked into view. Rae smiled and squinted as she focused on Julian. He stood near a cliff, his hair blowing in the wind. The rays of a beautiful pink setting sun lay behind him. Pressing her eyes shut tighter, the image changed. She caught glimpses of darkness and then a tiny, dim light. Hands reached for the combination on a box and turned the dial. She felt a weird taste in her mouth—fear—and then relief when the box opened.
“Devon, what’ve you been doing? Are you okay?” She couldn’t hide the worry in her voice. The flashes were Devon’s thoughts. Something bad or dangerous had happened in Dunnet Head.
“Rae, it’s cool. Stop worrying.” His neutral tone did little to calm her nerves. “I just wanted you to see the sunset, that’s all.”
“Tell Julian to put his hair in a ponytail. He looks like a girl with the pink sky behind him.” She tried to change the disappointed tone in her voice. The last thing she wanted was to make Devon feel bad for letting her into his head.
She managed a smile when she heard him tell Julian what she said. She couldn’t make out Julian’s muffled reply.
“Were you able to see the view?” Devon sounded amazed.
“I caught a few glimpses--not much but, between the bits I saw and the noise of nature on this phone, I get a bit of the idea.”
“Cool. Everything alright at Guilder?”
Rae shifted the mouth piece away when she sighed. “It’s empty without you.” No need to tell him about the meeting with his dad. If he already knew, he could bring it up himself. If he didn’t know, well—he had bigger things he needed to concentrate on.
“I’ll be back soon.” The longing in his voice was unmistakable and it soothed her battered emotions a little. “Listen, I’ve got to go. My phone isn’t going to last much longer. The battery’s living on fumes right now. Have a great birthday. It’s—” The phone went silent.
“Bye, Devon,” she whispered to the dead line and slowly hung up. At least he was safe. What’s he doing for the Privy Council up in Dunnet Head?
A quiet but firm rap against her door scattered her thoughts. Her friends would say who they were and call out her name. The knock came again, more intense and harder. A hoarse, low voice hissed, “Kerrigan!”