Chapter 20
If I Ruled the World
Sitting on the floor, Rae frowned at the dorm windows. Although it was already half past seven, the sky still seemed like it hadn’t woken up yet. The grey clouds from yesterday’s rain hung like a heavy curtain, keeping the morning in miserable dimness.
She tucked her right leg underneath her and extended her left. As she reached for her toes, the tightness in her hamstrings protested, proving how badly she needed to stretch. Julian had offered to teach her some training exercises last night, and she had accepted the challenge without hesitation. She might be stiff and sore now, but she had beat him the last six times, making the pain totally worth it. She grinned. Not that I was counting.
A few minutes later, she brought her foot behind her and started working on her quad muscles. She straightened her back and a long, slow yawn escaped. Her eyes closed as she dropped her head side to side to ease the cricks and stiffness. After blinking several times, she refocused and caught sight of the mail still sitting on her desk from the day before.
Walking on her knees, she shuffled over and picked up a business-size padded envelope. The return address showed her uncle’s name. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, suddenly completely awake.
The sudden plink of raindrops resonated against the window. Her nerves were strung so tightly, the sound was like a guitar pick, plucking at her. With damp hands, she ripped open the package.
Rae gasped. She held the old, leather string-tied journal away from her body, like it might possess some kind of curse. A sheet of paper drifted towards the floor. She snatched it just before it touched the ground. She set the journal on the desk, and then she reached up to flip on the light above her. Her uncle’s extremely neat, handwritten message reminded her of her mother’s writing.
Dear Rae,
While sorting through a case of old files, I came across my old journal from Guilder. It is just boys dreaming they could change the world. I doubt it will help you very much, but it may give you some insight into your father. These scribbled writings belong more to you than me. It’s been years since I’ve looked at them.
Enjoy your last term at Guilder and let me know how things get on. I’ve received an invite from the headmaster for your graduation ceremony. It’s been over forty years since I’ve set foot inside those halls. Maybe it’s time to return.
I shall leave you with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the things you think you cannot do.
Your uncle,
Argyle
Rae set the letter on her desk and stared at the cover of the journal. The title, HOC Notes & Minutes, was written in the same calligraphic penmanship as Argyle’s letter. Taking a deep breath, she untied the string and flipped to the first page. Only two sentences, in a different penmanship from that of the cover, were written on it, messy and printed, not cursive.
The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers—Erich Fromm.
The last sentence was underlined. Simon Kerrigan had entered the quote into the journal. Rae recognized her father’s tight, distinctive handwriting. She had been six years old the last time she had seen anything he had written. But the quote represented his thoughts precisely.
She turned the page and saw her uncle’s writing again. Meticulous, even then, he had written the names of each member of the group, included their year, indicated those already marked with tatùs and he had also indicated who represented the board. The next few pages showed minutes from meetings with short notes on where the group met and what they discussed. Boring stuff. The only interesting point appeared to be that the boys seemed younger, probably fourteen or fifteen years old. She skipped some pages and saw her father’s lecture at one meeting. His plans, before his tatù, were far more elaborate and mature than the thoughts and ideas of the other boys.
Rae checked her watch. Nearly eight o’clock. She still had to shower and grab breakfast before her first class. Reluctant to leave the book, she closed it and pulled her bottom desk drawer open. She flipped the journal open to stuff the letter from her uncle inside.
“What the heck?” She froze when she read the title on the page: “When I Rule the World, by SK” hand printed in capital letters. She wondered if her uncle had ever bothered to read this—or even seen it.
“No way I’m gonna rush now. I so gotta read this.” Dropping onto her bed, she drew the book close to read:
Ruling the World is not as hard as one would think. This school is a joke and most of those already tatùed here don’t even realize they are just pawns in the Council’s game of power. The school’s too stupid to clue in. The oh-so-sacred and oh-so-secret Privy Council wants to control and keep the power under their command.
All it takes is one individual with a rare ability to change this. The kids in our dumb little club already hang on to every word I say and until this month, I didn’t even have my tatù.
The stage has been set and I have been gifted with my talent.
The professors here know nothing of my mother--that she and my father were both tatùed. They are all so scared of the consequences—like the bloody Tudors, terrified of mixing the royal blood lines or, heaven forbid, their religion.
I shall be like King Henry. I will start my own group of followers, and rule (or should I say, control) the world. My father taught me the endless possibilities in mixing tatùs, and how to choose the right women to produce the strongest heirs. I plan on continuing his dream, but to my advantage. His dream was to create powerful men to battle for and protect England. But why stop there when we’ve got mere mortals and machines to do the work (and die) for us.
I’ve already created the perfect weapon of power. If I’m this talented now, how much more so will I be at twenty? Thirty? The plan is almost too easy now with the tatù I’ve received. Brainwashing, overtaking the Privy Council (and destroying them), and following my own destiny. And therein lies the mystery—What is my destiny?
Rae sat back in her chair, stunned. This is huge. It appeared her dad had written this shortly after his sixteenth birthday. Her mind whirled. Her grandparents had died before Rae had been born and neither of her parents had spoken of them much. Where could she find information on Grandpa and Nanny Kerrigan?
Her beeping watch distracted her. She glanced at it and jumped off the chair, knocking it over. Nine o’clock. Very, very late. Even a speed tatù couldn’t get her to class on time now. Tossing the journal in her top drawer, she threw on a skirt and blouse and dashed out the door and to the Oratory.
She used a cheetah tatù for the speed, moving too fast for the rain to bother her.. She tried to slip into the back of the Grand Hall without being noticed, and stood behind Nicholas.
“Hey, Missy, you’re half an hour late.”
“Yeah, I—I overslept.” She peeked over his shoulder to Carter explaining some task he wanted the students to do. “What’d I miss?”
“Not much.” Nic stared ahead but turned his head slightly to whisper, “Devon talked about the Privy Council. There’re opportunities to work for them, but they only accept a few. He encouraged everyone to apply, since we’re seniors.” He snorted, in a friendly way. “Not that you need to bother filling out the forms. I’m sure they want you, like, yesterday.” Devon was here and I missed it?
“Mr. MacGyver,” Carter spoke loud from the front of the room. “Is there a reason why your conversation with Ms. Kerrigan is more important than mine?”
Nic coughed. “No, sir. Sorry.”
Rae’s ears grew hot. She glanced around the room and saw Kraigan standing by Molly, throwing an annoyed look in her direction. Crap. I forgot to talk to him last night about standing him up. She dropped her gaze to the floor.
“Alright then. Now that I have everyone’s undivided attention, I’d like to get on with today’s activity. We haven’t much time left in class but if you can all partner up, we can get started.” Carter checked his phone and then tapped one of the students with a levitation tatù. “Focus on your defense mechanisms today. Talk to your partner to see what skills you can use with each other’s tatùs.” He said to a student, “Levitate the box full of three-foot bamboo sticks towards me. “Everyone, use these sticks to practice some physical combat.” He pulled his cell out of his back pocket. “I’ll be right back.”
Nic groaned. He shook his head and pointed to his eye. “Please don’t give me another black one. The last one was embarrassing enough. Can we just admit you’re gonna kick my ass and not bother with the drill?”
Rae giggled and lightly punched his shoulder. “Come on. Don’t be such a wimp. They’re just bamboo.”
“Yeah and I remember trying to high jump with bamboo sticks for gym class. I landed on the bar and broke it. I still have the welt line on my back and that was like, two years ago.” Nic rubbed his spine. “Do you want me to show you the scar?”
“Only ’cause I don’t believe you.” She watched Molly walk to the front and grab two sticks and then head back towards Kraigan. Rae chewed on her lip. How am I going to figure out a way to talk to him alone?
“Rae? You listening?” Nic tapped her gently on the forehead. “I said, Devon asked me where you were. He seemed pretty worried you weren’t here. Is something going on again, like last year?” Nic’s eyebrows scrunched together in genuine worry.
He was so sweet to worry and he need not have. Yet, that wasn’t the thing that struck her most. Devon was looking for her. She felt almost giddy over that. Her cheeks started to redden, but she tried to play it off. “Devon’s such a goodie-goodie about attending class. Since he’s mentoring me, he’s probably paranoid Carter’s going to give him crap if I’m not here.” Rae tucked a stray stand of hair behind her ear. “Did he say where he was going when he left?”
Nic shrugged. “Probably back to his dorm. He looked exhausted.”
“I’ll give him a shout after class.” Her heart-rate picked up. She couldn’t wait to see Devon. Kraigan can wait a couple more hours. “Let’s duel.” She turned and walked to grab two sticks from the front of the room.
Passing Molly, she heard Kraigan say, “Yeah, my buddy Randy’s got this wicked tatù. Dude’s got awesome hearing. If he concentrates hard enough, he can hear a conversation on the other side of a football pitch.”
“Why listen to some boring conversation on a sports field? There’d be nothing interesting,” Molly said.
“That’s not what I meant,” Kraigan replied. “I’m just trying to give you an idea of the strength of his tatù. I—”
“Can he hear through walls? Do they have to be made of drywall or what about brick? Or can he only hear in open fields? That’s what it sounds like you’re saying. He can hear in big, open room, with no obstructions. What about if there are a lot of people? Does he get distracted from everyone talking or can he focus on, say, the one person he wants to hear?” Molly shook her head. “It doesn’t seem like such a great tatù if you ask me.”
Rae grinned. Leave it to Molly. At least the look of frustration and annoyance on Kraigan’s face wasn’t directed at her.
After class finished in the Oratory, Rae headed over to Devon’s dorm. Stopping along the way, she grabbed a couple of sandwiches and a packet of potato crisps for each of them. She knocked on his door, wondering if he might actually be sleeping.
The door opened and Rae lost her breath. Devon wore a pair of pants and nothing else, looking like a Greek god.
He stepped forward and enveloped her in a tight hug. “Missed you like crazy.” He unwrapped his arms then pulled her into the suite, closing the door behind them.
The happiness on his face made Rae giddy. “I brought lunch. I figured you might be hungry, and it saves me having to run and grab something before I have to head back to afternoon classes.” She couldn’t stop grinning and felt a bit like Molly babbling away.
“Starving.” Devon’s eyes traveled up and down Rae. “For you and for food, too.” He pulled her close again and pressed hungry lips against hers. “I—missed—you—this—morning,” he mumbled between kisses.
Rae laughed, excited to be the one more in control at the moment. “If someone bothered to e-mail me they’d be in class this morning, I’d have made sure I was there early.” She pretended to give him a scowl. “Actually, I lost track of time.” She remembered the journal and slapped her forehead. “Wait till I tell you what my uncle sent me.”
Devon leaned towards her again, slipping his arms around her waist. “Is it better than not seeing me for almost five weeks? Can it wait ten minutes?” He nuzzled her neck.
“If you keep doing this, I’m going to forget what I should tell you. Trust me, it’ll get you points with the Privy Council.” Rae pressed closer to his firm body, enjoying his aftershave scent and shirtless upper body.
Devon groaned. “An angel knocks on my door and then tempts me with words, on top of her hot body?” He stepped back, running his fingers through his hair. He chuckled and threw his hands in the air. “You win. Let’s eat and you tell me all the good gossip.”
Rae put her backpack on Devon’s desk and pulled out the sandwiches and crisps. She tossed him one of each, then grabbed the other and settled on the couch. Unwrapping her tuna sandwich, she waited for him to sit beside her. She smiled when he raised his eyebrows at her, obviously impatient for her to talk.
“Over the holidays, Argyle told me he was part of a fraternity while he attended Guilder. My dad was the president, Argyle the secretary. He wrote the minutes in a journal. I guess it wasn’t much of a gathering. It only lasted one term.”
Devon reached for the second part of his sandwich. He finished a bite. “Does your uncle remember anything important from it?”
“Not really. Well—” Rae couldn’t resist building up to the big finish with the information she had. “He couldn’t remember the name—thought it had to do with some kind of card game.” She ate a crisp. “He looked for the journal while I was home but couldn’t find it.” She chewed on another chip. She was unable to stall any longer. “Argyle posted the journal out to me. He found it in some old files or a box and, get this, the fraternity was called ‘House of Cards,’ or HOC for short.”
She grinned when his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “I missed your talk about joining the Privy Council ’cause I was reading some of it. Argyle kept meticulous notes and my dad actually wrote about the brainwashing thing in it. He had planned the whole thing out at sixteen! I haven’t read everything yet, but you have got to read the notes at the end.”
Devon sat up straight. “What’s it say? Does it describe how the brainwashing technique works? In detail? How to set it up or dismantle it?”
Rae shrugged. “I don’t know. I just opened the post this morning and only read a few pages. The stuff at the end though, my dad was crazy even back then. He figured he’d be able to rule the world.” She waited to see if he would react to her last words. She wasn’t disappointed.
Devon jumped up, crisps flying everywhere. Oblivious, he stepped on the ones on the floor, their crunching suddenly loud in the quiet room. He walked over to the desk and opened Rae’s backpack. “Do you have it here?” He dumped the bag’s contents onto the desk.
“Slow down!” Rae was surprised. She had missed him, and had been excited to share the news with him, but his reaction seemed a bit extreme. “I don’t have it on me! Imagine if someone found it in my bag! I left it in my dorm. I don’t want the entire school to know I’ve got it. They’d go nuts. Rumors would start flying that I’m picking up where he left off, or something equally ridiculous. I spent all of last year being treated like a freak. This year, I finally feel somewhat normal and I don’t want to give that up.” She grabbed her bag, stuffing the contents back in. “Next time, just wait till I answer your question! You didn’t have to empty my bag—you know, go through my stuff. I don’t have anything to hide.”
“Sorry.” Devon grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. “Let’s go to your room and get it. We need to get it to the Privy Council right away.”
Rae hesitated. It was one thing for Devon to see it, another for the Privy Council to take ownership. If they had it, she doubted she would ever see it again, and she wasn’t entirely sold on the whole “trusting the PC completely” thing yet, not like Devon was. “No...at least, not yet.” She watched him about to argue and then stop himself. “I just want to read it first, okay?” She reached for his arm, wishing she had kept quiet and enjoyed his kisses instead of telling him about the dumb journal.
Devon tapped his foot, crunching another crisp. “I guess that would be okay. You should read it first. Maybe we could make a copy of it. We’ve just been having such a hard time figuring this brainwashing device out and then someone stole part of what Carter had hidden. It’s frustrating, like someone knows our plans before we make them.” He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m sorry about emptying your bag. That was really stupid of me.”
“No worries.” Rae checked her watch, feeling guilty for mistrusting him. “I’ve got about ten minutes before my next class. Do you want to go to my room and see the journal? You can read it while I’m in class, and then we can check it out when I’m finished at three?”
“Definitely. This needs to get to the Privy Council pronto.”
Rae held her hand up, not liking the look of determination on Devon’s face. Had he heard anything she had just said? Anything at all? “Hold up. This is my book. I’m not ready to hand it over yet. I haven’t even finished reading it.”
Devon shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. It’s way more important to give it to the Privy Council. Lives could depend on it.”
She wanted to tell him to back off, to think of her instead of duty. However, he was right—in a small way. “Fine.” She glanced down, feeling drained. “You can read it while I’m in class but I get to read it before you turn it over to the PC. I’m not going to budge on that point, and you’d better get a vacuum before you start. You made a mess and I’m not cleaning it up.” She pointed to the floor and despite being ticked, laughed at the look on Devon’s face.
“Crap. How’d that happen?” He glanced down at his tapping foot. “I got one of those little Dust-buster here somewhere. I’ll clean it up when I get back. I won’t put a drop of chip fat on the book. Come on. Let’s go.”
They raced over to Aumbry House without talking. Pulling her room key out, she realized she forgot to lock the door in her mad dash to class this morning. Shaking her head, she stepped into the room with Devon right on her heels.
“I think I stuffed it in my desk when I realized how late I was for class.” She pulled the drawer open and reached inside.
Devon leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, watching quietly.
Rae scratched her head. “I thought I put it in here.” She bent down and looked in the drawer again. She glanced on top of the desk, lifting papers and binders as she tried to find it. “Maybe it fell.” She dropped down to the ground and felt Devon crawl beside her.
“Can’t find it?” he said.
She caught the worry in his voice. “I—I had it this morning, but I was running late for class so I didn’t really pay attention to where I put it when I headed out.” Rae pushed up into a kneeling position. “It’s dark brown leather, tied by an old leather string.” She bit the inside of her cheek, her heart rate accelerating. “Maybe it’s on the bed or hiding under the sheets.”
“Or—” Devon let the statement hang in the air as he shuffled over to the bed and looked underneath it.
“No! I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way someone took it. No one even knows I have it! I just got it and only told you twenty minutes ago. I forgot to lock my door…maybe Molly came by and saw it, thinking I needed it for class.” Rae winced. That sounded like a really weak stab in the dark.
Devon stood. “I doubt it. Someone stole it.”
“Who? It’s impossible!” But the hairs rose on the back of her neck, confirming Devon’s words were truth. She didn’t know how she knew, and it was nearly impossible to believe, but he was right.