by May, W. J.
Rae grinned. “I don’t know much about these tatùs, but I’m pretty sure you’re not gonna have to wait until it storms to figure out how to use your gift.”
“Can you take a closer look?”
Rae nodded and pushed her chair back. Squinting, she leaned in and rested a hand on Molly’s hip to steady her. “Sorry. My hands are cold,” she murmured when Molly twitched.
“It’s fine. I’m just wondering if anyone else has a lightning bolt.”
“Hmm…not sure. If it helps, my mother had a tatù of the sun.”
“I heard she was marked inked but couldn’t remember what it was. I wish she was here so she could explain mine.”
“Me, too.” More than you could ever know. She stood up to look more closely at the ink. The detail was ten times better than any real tattoo Rae’d ever seen. She stared at the circle-thing beside the bolt. She slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.
“I know what the circle-thing is!”
“What?” Molly twirled. “If you can tell me, that’ll be the best birthday present I’ve ever had -- besides this tatù, of course.”
“I think it’s supposed to be a kite. You know, like Benjamin Franklin when he flew his kite in a thunderstorm?”
Molly scrunched her face into a puzzled look, then suddenly she brightened. “Holy crap! You’re right. I’m going to be able to create electricity or something super cool like that. Oh my goodness, this is going to be so awesome.” She swung around and grabbed Rae’s hands as she jumped up and down.
Rae went flying across the room. She slammed into the wall and slid down onto the bed. She rubbed her head, just above her ponytail. Shocked, she stared at Molly who stood with her mouth open, surprise written across her face.
They both started laughing.
Molly offered Rae her hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think…I had no idea…”
Rae crawled around the outstretched arm, shaking her own hand. “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll avoid the hand contact for a bit.” She stood. “I’m fine. Just wasn’t expecting that.”
“Neither was I.” She spread her arms wide, bumping the wall. The lights dulled and then began flickering above them. “What the -- ?”
“Hand.” Rae pointed. “On the wall.” Shouts sounded outside the hall.
“Oops. Guess I’d better figure out how to control this.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets. The lights stopped flickering and the shouts outside stopped.
A knock at the door made Rae turn around. When she opened it, Haley came barging through, Maria trailing behind. Haley pulled Molly’s shirt up to see the tatù.
“I knew it was you.” Haley crossed her arms. “I knew if the walls starting shaking, or torrential rain storms started today, or anything weird happened, it’d be you not being able to control your gift.
“Ohhhh yeah, it’s me,” Molly squealed and jumped up and down, hands still firmly stuffed in her pockets. “This is gonna be sooo awesome!”
“Let’s go eat. I’m starving.” Haley pulled Molly and Maria out the door, ignoring Rae.
“Don’t worry ‘bout me,” Rae mumbled. “I’ll catch up.” She thought about Molly and her new skill. Hopefully, Molly didn’t end up frying somebody. This seemed a lot like giving a kid a gun, but not giving them any lessons in proper handling or safety.
She headed over to the Dining Hall.
The birthday cake was perfect – almost perfect. Julian walked in, carrying the cake with all the candles lit, and Nicholas, Andy and Riley began singing “Happy Birthday.” Molly raised her arms.
“Wait,” she said. “Something’s not right.” She spread her arms and knocked all the lights out in the dining hall. “Now sing.”
Rae giggled as Julian came by, his long hair standing straight on end from the static in the air.
Molly slapped Nicholas’ hand as he reached for a slice of cake and sent him flying about three feet backwards. “Wait your turn!”
Rae died laughing when Molly tried something on Haley, a crackling and popping noise whizzed by her ears. When Haley pulled her hand away, the air around them smelled crispy. Her hair looked like the picture from an old Bon Jovi album cover Rae’s aunt had from the 1980s. Rae couldn’t stop giggling every time she shot a glance at Haley’s frayed ends, or Molly’s constant apologizing.
“Does anyone want to head over to Aumbry House an’ hang out?” Molly blew her bangs out of her eyes, exasperation written across her face as Haley stomped away to drop her tray off.
The boys didn’t need convincing. The four of them stood simultaneously and rushed to clear the table.
“Let’s get everyone and we’ll have a games challenge,” Nicolas said. “Like a games competition of juniors versus seniors. That is, if you older boys are up for it?” He laughed, directing the last sentence toward Riley.
“Dude, you’re so going down. We’ll even let you have Devon to make the teams more even.”
“You can keep him. Just don’t give future-boy,” Craig nodded his head at Julian, “a pen and paper to show the outcome or you guys won’t even play.” He ducked as Julian threw an empty plastic cup in his direction.
“We’ll meet you there shortly. Pick some events, but make sure the rest of the girls actually want to play before you set up to destroy their game room,” Andy said.
Julian turned to Rae. “You interested in participating in this crazy challenge?”
“Heck yeah! But I’m supposed to meet Dean Carter after breakfast, and I don’t exactly know where his office is, or who he freakin’ is.”
Devon leaned his elbows on the table. “Dean Carter’s in charge of the school. Where Headmaster Lanford’s in charge of the students, Dean Carter takes care of the buildings, the alumni and the financial end of the school.”
Andy and Julian both cut into Devon’s academic explanation at the same time and blurted out, “I can walk you there.” “I’ll take you.”
Devon rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms, not saying a word.
Rae glanced back and forth between the two guys wondering who to choose, wishing it had been Devon who had offered. “Julian, if you don’t mind…I’d really appreciate it.” Seeing Andy’s disappointed face, she added, “Don’t you have to set up the competition?”
“It can wait. I don’t mind walking you.” Andy nodded, whether in agreement or defeat; Rae couldn’t tell.
Julian pushed back his chair like he had a tatù gift for speed. He grabbed his own and Rae’s trays to dispose of them. Andy stood and headed toward the front exit with the girls. Devon stayed in his seat, playing with the egg yolks on his plate. He kept his head down. Rae couldn’t see his eyes.
“You gonna play, too?” Rae asked quietly.
Devon looked up and grinned, showing Rae his dimple. “Wouldn’t miss it. Should be interesting to see how the young lads fair against us big boys.”
His attempt at smack-talk made her grin. “Hey, there’re girls competing, too! I’ll be in the young lads group and plan on kicking your butt!”
Devon’s smile turned sly. “Ohhh yeah. That’s why I think the younguns are going to struggle -- all this fresh, feminine DNA is going to confuse them.”
“And, of course, you big boys don’t have that problem?” Rae taunted.
Devon didn’t miss a beat. “Maybe just Andy and Julian.”
Rae saw the glint in his eye. “You’re going down for that.”
“Just don’t come sobbing to me afterwards when you lose.” Devon laughed back.
Julian returned, and Rae stood up to leave. She gave Devon a dirty look as she walked by, and, in return, he stuck his tongue out at her.
They left the Refectory, heading toward the main building of the school. Ten minutes later, Rae stood looking upwards. She marveled at the structural design of the main building. It reminded her of Hampton Court Palace her parents had taken her to when she was about five or six. The main entrance included a large, round tower on each
side with beautiful, probably original, leaded oriel windows in between on the second floor above the archway.
“The architecture of the building’s amazing, isn’t it?” Julian watched Rae.
“Totally awesome. Is the dean’s office inside?”
“It’s in the right tower of the main building. Enter these glass doors and go up the flight of stairs. There’s a main lobby where the dean’s secretary is, and you can wait there. It’s the room above us, with the big leaded windows.”
“Thanks.” Rae headed toward the door, then turned back. “Oh, one more question. Is there a place I can buy a stamp to mail a letter to America?”
“Lucky guy.” He sounded disappointed.
Rae felt her cheeks burn at Julian’s assumption. “No boyfriend. Just a letter to my uncle.”
Julian grinned, appearing happy and pleased once again. He pointed along the brick building. “The door with the small red flag hanging on the side is the student post office.”
Rae headed into the main building as Julian turned back to the dormitories. She ran up the now familiar-looking black and white checker marble steps into the lobby. Rae gave her name to the secretary and watched her disappear behind a door down the hall. She was too antsy to sit, so she walked over to the oriel windows and admired the view; so much so that she completely missed the secretary coming back into the room.
“Dean Carter will see you now, Ms. Kerrigan,” the secretary said in an extremely chipper voice.
Rae felt a knot settle between her shoulder blades. She wondered why she felt a vague sense of foreboding.
Chapter 8
Dean Carter
Rae turned to follow the secretary into the dean’s office. She stopped short just inside the door. The bright room was round and completely brick, like the outside of the tower. Ancient-looking portraits hung on the walls, alongside fleur de lis emblems etched into the red stone. Curved bookcases lined half the room. They must have been custom built a couple of hundred years ago, maybe when the vines outside had started growing. While warm and humid outside, a cool draft circled the room, making it feel like the frigid breeze from her aunt’s window air conditioner back home.
A thin gentleman sat in a black leather chair, his long, spidery legs sticking out from under the large oak desk. His expensive grey suit made his dark hair appear black. He wasn’t what Rae would call handsome, but his features were striking. He had a straight jaw shaved perfectly clean, a straight nose and dark eyes, which seemed slightly larger than normal.
“Good morning, Ms. Kerrigan.” His crisp, business-like voice punctuated his sentence. “I assume you’ve settled into your dorm and met a number of our students?” He didn’t glance up from the paper he was signing until he’d finished. The secretary took the documents and headed out of the office, closing the door behind her.
“Yes, thank you, Dean Carter. I appreciate being given the opportunity to finish my high school education here.” She babbled nervously. She continued to look around the room, concentrating on the paintings, probably past deans and headmasters, and not one of them smiling. I bet he fits right in.
The dean harrumphed. “Your parents would’ve wanted you to attend Guilder, so we had to find a way to make this work. It would have been easier, of course, if you had been a boy, but Mother Nature had to have her way.”
Rae stood silent, greatly insulted, but not sure how to respond. Cranky old geezer.
He rested his elbows on the edge of the desk, interlacing his fingers. “Seems the board thinks the school needs to modernize, allow women in.” He harrumphed again. “There was nothing wrong with the system being an all boys’ school. You’d have thought, with all our resources, they’d have built a separate one for females.”
Excuse me? Ouch. Seemed the dean wasn’t too pleased with the new enrollment rules. Rae swallowed, holding back a snide comment about being old-fashioned and chauvinistic. Not a good way to impress the dean and change his mind about girls being allowed on campus. An inner sense told her she didn’t want this man to know how he made her feel. It’d be like giving him ammo or something.
“What do you think of my office, the Round Room?” Dean Carter leaned back in his chair.
Rae bit her lip as she glanced around again, trying to think of something intelligent to say. “It’s interesting. Is there a reason it’s round or just easier for the builders, back in the day, to keep the inside circular to match the towers?”
“Round rooms were very important to the Catholic church, at least in Wolsey’s time.” He stared down at her. “Do you know who Wolsey was, Ms. Kerrigan?”
“Sure.” Maybe the man also thought females were dense, on top of not good enough for Guilder. “Thomas Wolsey was a Cardinal, and I think he became the Archbishop of York. He’s the guy who helped King Henry the VIII -- well, until he couldn’t get King Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon.” Score one for the GIRL, Rae inwardly cheered.
He snorted “It seems American schooling has taught you a bit of our British history.”
Surprised? Women not equal to men and now he considered America less developed than England? What was this guy smoking? “Actually, my mother and my uncle always had a fascination with the monarchy, especially the Tudor history. I guess the interest got passed down to me.”
Dean Carter leaned forward at the mention of Rae’s mother. “What else did your mother, or your uncle, teach you?”
Common courtesy, politeness, respect…stuff his parents obviously forgot. She shrugged. “Not much. My uncle has the habit of only saying what needs to be said.”
Dean Carter looked like he wanted to push the topic more, but apparently changed his mind. “So, do you have an idea as to the reasoning for this Round Room?”
Rae glanced around and out the window. “I’m not sure, to be honest. Is the other tower an office as well?”
He ignored her question. “The room is round because Wolsey felt these were the safest rooms in the college. Not for architectural reasons but religious. In here, the devil, or his demons, can’t trap you in a corner.”
The last sentence hung in the air. Is that supposed to mean something to me? Rae shifted her weight. What a miserable guy, and he looked like he was only forty. What bug crawled up his ass? It was just a stupid old tower room, not some sacred religious sanctuary. He hadn’t even hung up a cross or crucifix.
“Ms Kerrigan, is everything all right?” His concern didn’t sound sincere.
Oops. She must’ve been making some kind of face, probably a scowl. “Fine…sir. I think I’m just a bit jet lagged from my flight.” Rae knew it was a lame excuse, but she wasn’t about to tell him he made her, and probably the entire human race, feel uncomfortable.
“Be sure and rest up. Classes begin Monday. I’d hate for you to get behind even more since you already have quite a bit of catching up to do.” He looked at his watch and stood up. “I have a meeting with a trustee alumnus who likes to give a lot of support to this school.” He began walking toward the door. He turned just before reaching it. “You’re not inked yet, right?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Well, you will be by Christmas. That’s the reason I asked you to come by. There’s a festive dinner with the alumni before the holidays. I guess we’ll have to invite a few female students to it as well. Consider yourself on the list.”
Mortified at the thought of being the freak in a room full of tatùed adults, Rae tried to think of an excuse not to attend. Maybe she could go back to the U.S. a few days early and see her aunt and uncle.
“Relax. Don’t look so terrified.” He shook his head and muttered something that sounded like “women” under his breath. “We invite several of our students each year to attend the dinner. There’s food. You eat and talk to the trustees for an hour. Let them know their money is continuing to be well spent.” He buttoned up his jacket. “Please feel free to stop by any time if you have any questions. Have a good day.”
Like I’m ever going to come back here to see you.
I’d rather eat dirt. He pointed with his hand toward the door. Rae noticed his sleeve slide slightly up. She caught a glimpse of his tatù -- a hand with an eye inside. She guessed he had the ability to strike fear into the heart of everyone he met. Miserable old git.
“You, too…sir. Have a great day.” She strode to the door. It almost hit her behind on the way out. She quickly smiled at the secretary and headed straight for the stairs, determined to get outside. Rae walked the first few steps and then remembered the competition starting at Aumbry House. She ran down the rest of the way.
Once outside, she took deep breaths to clear her lungs and then continued jogging back to the dorm. She stopped by the little post office for a stamp and dropped the letter from her bag into the red post box inside. Hello Uncle, send answers, she thought as she jogged the rest of the way back to Aumbry House.
Chapter 9
Competition
Loud laughter and chatter greeted Rae as she slipped into the games room. Somebody had drawn a scoreboard on one of the chalk slates, naming the teams junior vs. senior. A snooker game between a pair of seniors against a pair of juniors had just started. Molly, standing beside Brady, threw darts, competing against Andy and twin girls Rae hadn’t met yet. Haley seemed deeply involved in a game of cards against Julian.
“Is there space for one more player in this challenge?” Rae asked to no one in particular.
Everyone paused in their competition to turn and stare. The silence in the room gave Rae an overwhelming sense that she didn’t belong here and made her shift and edge back toward the door. Maybe I’ll give Uncle Argyle a call instead. Just as she was about to cut and run, Andy grinned and waved. Shoot. Saved by a grinning wolf. That can’t be good. Now what?
“I’m, uh, I just need to use the phone. I’ll be right back.” She slipped back out the door as fast as she could. Her heart felt like it had plummeted into her intestines. She’d never fit in here.
