Rock Bottom (The Gifted Realm #4)

by Jillian Neal

Logan stared at Clarence in disbelief as Rainer shook his head.

  “Wow! Daddy must be so proud. You’re following right in his footsteps. Maybe we could get you a double cell in Diapoley,” Rainer jerked Clarence forward by the collar of his shirt, spun him, and led him out of the building.

  Clarence spluttered all the way into the History Building.

  “Aren’t you Rainer Lawson?” he spun towards Logan. “Isn’t your dad the new Crown? Why are you bugging me?”

  * * *

  “What are you two doing here?” Mentor Durtrox looked none too enthused as Logan and Rainer entered her class.

  “Aww, we missed you, too,” Logan sneered. Rainer ignored her obvious disappointment and gestured to Clarence.

  “Found one of your students lost in the Admin building. We just thought we’d help him find his way back to class,” Rainer informed her kindly.

  Clarence scowled as Rainer forced him into the room. Mentor Durtrox shooed Clarence towards an empty desk.

  “We’ll just stand here in the hall and make sure Clarence doesn’t wander away again,” Logan raised his eyebrow at Clarence in an obvious threat.

  “Yes, fine,” Mentor Durtrox shut the door in Logan’s face before resuming her droning lecture.

  “I kept telling myself last year that if I just got through here, graduated, and got hired on at Iodex, that I’d never have to sit through one of her classes again,” Logan whimpered.

  Rainer gave him a wry grin. “Can you believe that kid? He’s only a sub-freshman!” He was still shocked that Clarence had thought quickly enough to offer to cut them in on his answer-key-selling plans.

  “Well, I mean, his dad is Wretchkinsides’ right-hand man and killed his own wife. I’m not thinking the prospect for our boy, Clarence, there, was ever very good.”

  Rainer wondered how long it would be before they would be arresting Clarence. He’d be an adult in the Realm in just one year’s time.

  A few minutes later, Fergus marched by, looking furious.

  Logan rolled his eyes. “And there is the source of this disaster.” He’d clearly come to the same conclusion Rainer had in Vindico’s office. “Fergus!”

  Fergus hadn’t even noticed them standing in the corridor. He spun, and gave Logan and Rainer a shocked smile as he furrowed his brow. The anger seemed to melt from his awkward features. Fergus’s slumped stature only added to his lack of height, and most of his face was his nose.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Clarence Pendergrath,” Rainer drawled. He watched Fergus closely to gauge his reaction.

  “Is he being arrested?” Fergus uttered hopefully.

  “No, he’s a minor. We’re just here to keep an eye on him. We’re trying to keep the Academy from suspending him.”

  “Oh,” Fergus’s face fell as he nodded dejectedly.

  “We heard Clarence has been giving some of the girls a hard time,” Rainer shared a quick glance with Logan.

  “Not some, just one,” Fergus spat furiously.

  “Why her?” Logan hedged, though Rainer knew they shared the same suspicion.

  Fergus glanced up and down the hallway nervously. “My office is right in there,” he pointed to a closet-sized room further down the corridor. “Wanna see it?”

  “Why not.”

  Rainer glanced at his watch. It was another half hour before lunch, so Clarence would be stuck in class a while longer. He was fairly certain he wouldn’t venture an escape from Durtrox. They followed Fergus down the all-too-familiar hallways.

  Rainer glanced out one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. He wondered if the biting pain would ever lessen its grip.

  The Histories building overlooked Ioses House and, there, on the lawn, stood the large statue of his father. He kept watch over the Academy. The eternal flame burned in the courtyard nearby. Ioses Predilects, like Rainer and his father, were supposed to keep the fire burning, work for what was right, and protect the innocent from being consumed.

  Rainer shook himself slightly and followed Logan into Fergus’s office. Fergus shut the door and spun back. He looked sick.

  “What’s going on, Fergus?” Rainer sighed.

  “I screwed up,” he sank down into the seat behind his desk. The room was very small, with hardly enough room for Fergus’s aged desk and chair. Logan and Rainer stood side by side in the cramped space and waited on him to continue.

  “Screwed up, how?” Logan quizzed.

  “Clarence is a monster. He’s in one of my entry-level science classes, and he’s always cutting up in class or not turning in his assignments. Anyway, he’s forever in detention with some mentor, and I accidentally double-booked him with one of my, uh…tutoring sessions.”

  Logan rubbed his temples. They knew what was coming.

  “I’m guessing this particular tutoring session was with Tilly?”

  Fergus nodded sheepishly. “Anyway, he was about fifteen minutes late to detention. Like I said, I’d forgotten I’d even given him detention, so he’s pretty sure he saw something he shouldn’t have.”

  “What exactly didn’t he see?” Rainer tried to determine the level of damage control this was going to take.

  Fergus grimaced as they awaited his answer. “Well, I mean, everyone was dressed. We haven’t done that yet,” Fergus appeared simultaneously embarrassed and terrified.

  “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t. Not here on campus, ever,” Rainer ordered.

  “I know,” Fergus vowed. “I wouldn’t do that, and I know I shouldn’t be seeing her, but I swear she’s the one. I know I was a total screw-up growing up and that you guys bailed me out more than I care to remember, but I would do anything for her. I’m really…” he drew a deep, steadying breath before concluding, “…I’m really in love with her.”

  In that moment, it appeared that Fergus might’ve grown up as well. He wasn’t the kid everyone had picked on. He seemed much more confident and sure of himself.

  “So, Clarence saw you…” Logan drawled, “…kissing?”

  Fergus nodded his agreement. “He thinks he did, so now he’s trying to prove it.” His pain over the situation was evident in his tone.

  “Prove it how?” Rainer quizzed.

  “By harassing her constantly. He’s hoping I’ll come to her defense and prove that we’re seeing each other, thereby getting me fired.” He shook his head in utter disbelief.

  As all of the puzzle pieces clicked into place, Rainer felt his stomach turn. This was a disaster. If Fergus defended Tilly, he would lose his job and be leaving Tilly alone at Venton, unprotected from the likes of Clarence.

  “Tilly’s filed several complaints with my mom and the Chancellor, but for some reason they won’t expel him.” Fergus was clearly hoping Logan and Rainer would fill him in on the reasoning behind the lack of discipline shown to Clarence.

  Logan grimaced. “Yeah, we can’t really go into all that.”

  “Yeah, I figured.”

  “But, we are here to keep Clarence from being such a prick,” Rainer offered hopefully.

  “I guess that’s better than nothing.”

  “We’ll do what we can,” Logan vowed.

  They spent the rest of the day making certain that Clarence went to all of his classes, and that he didn’t make anyone’s life miserable, until they deposited him in his dorm, and headed back to the Senate.

  They worked for several hours on all of the evidence Vindico had collected over the past ten years on Pendergrath. They were both disgusted as they read just some of the crimes he’d committed. Riddled with exhaustion, they headed home a little after nine.

  Logan had ridden into the office with Rainer so Adeline could use the Accord. He was thrilled to see it parked in the garage when Rainer pulled in.

  Rainer smiled as he watched Logan almost sprint into the house. He grabbed his phone as he heard the text chirp. After reading Emily’s text, Rainer replied:

  Hey there. I missed you today. Didn’t hear from you much.

  * * *


  Fionna and I helped the girls with their schoolwork, and then it was their night to use the one bath with running water here in the orphanage. We helped them with that and just got them to bed. This place is so awful. It just kills me that they have to live here. I want to bring them all home with me.

  * * *

  Rainer could almost hear the desperation in her typed response.

  * * *

  I read to Aida tonight, which she loved, so that was fun. She’s just so sweet, Rainer.

  Aida was a little girl in Emily and Fionna’s group that they’d both fallen head over heels for. The way Emily went on and on about how sweet she was, made Rainer want to be there with her all the more. He wanted to meet the kids she was helping.

  3

  Repercussions

  Wednesday, Rainer and Logan headed back for another day with Clarence at the Academy. Rainer’s nerves were frayed before he’d ever gotten up that morning.

  Emily had called him in the middle of the night from the bathroom in the orphanage. She was in tears. She loved working with the kids, Aida especially, but being in a place so full of desperation was wearing her out.

  Her ability to feel what each of the kids was feeling was so strong it broke her heart. She could feel the fear, sadness, loneliness, and hunger in all of the children she was working with.

  On top of all of that, Garrett had arrived Monday morning, and he and Chloe had been driving the other Angels crazy. It had taken every ounce of Rainer’s resolve not to get in his car, drive to the airport in the middle of the night, and purchase a ticket on the next Gifted flight to Rio.

  Vindico wanted them to keep their presence unknown, as much as they were able, on this particular day. He wanted to see what Clarence might do if he thought his guards had taken the day off.

  “Em ok? I heard your cell ring in the middle of the night,” Logan studied Rainer closely.

  “Not really,” he hoped Emily wouldn’t mind his talking to Logan. With a concerned nod, Logan waited for him to continue.

  “It’s just really hard for her. She feels everything every one of those kids feels, and she’s really taken with this one little girl. Emily’s casted her a few times when she was upset, so now, if Aida is sad or hungry, Emily feels it, too.” He felt better just sharing this with Logan.

  “Yeah, I figured that would happen. Em’s always been like that, you know? She’s tough, but sometimes I can tell everything just gets to her.”

  Rainer momentarily wondered how Fionna Styler was coping. She was a more powerful Receiver than Emily. She was supposed to be the most powerful Receiver of their generation.

  He assumed that Fionna, being nine years Emily’s senior, probably gave her a little more control over her powers and a lot more perspective. Everything Emily had sobbed over the phone the night before tumbled through his mind again.

  He pulled the binoculars from the center console and watched the students change classes. Clarence moved from the Sciences building to the Arts and Literature building just as he was supposed to, though he scowled the entire way. Satisfied that he was at least in the correct building, Rainer lowered the binoculars.

  “Apparently, Chloe and Garrett have been fighting ever since he arrived,” Rainer sighed. “I’m not so sure Chloe is as ok with not being exclusive as Garrett is.”

  Logan huffed, “I seriously have no idea how my brother can be with her one night, then call up Heather the next, then somebody else the next, and know that she’s calling up some other guy. I just don’t get it.” He shook his head in disgust. Rainer agreed with the assessment.

  “So, we gonna make our presence known at lunch?” Logan glanced at his watch. He was already thinking of eating.

  “Yeah, that’s what Vindico wanted.”

  * * *

  A short while later, they wandered into the dining hall without any enthusiasm. They returned a wave to Jeff Strenton and Becca Sapman, who were obviously still together. They’d paused from their kissing to wave, share pizza, and sip from a shared Dr. Pepper.

  Eating in the Academy dining hall wasn’t something either Logan or Rainer ever really planned on doing again. Mrs. Berbera, the woman who’d run the Academy cafeteria since she’d graduated as head of Occamy Order in the sixties, was very kind and certainly could provide food to the masses, but it was still cafeteria food. The lack of choices served on the yellow, melamine trays did nothing to pique either Logan or Rainer’s interest.

  They moved through the line just ahead of the students who poured into the building. They carried their trays of beef stroganoff to the far corner table where they’d always sat as students.

  Had Emily, Connor, Adeline, and Fergus been with them, it would have been just like any normal school day. Rainer felt the stabbing pain of missing Emily sear through him once again.

  Fergus waved to them, but didn’t join their table. He moved to sit with the other science mentors. From their vantage point, Logan and Rainer took in Tilly, talking with her friends as they seated themselves at a table very close by.

  Rainer was impressed. Fergus and Tilly never even exchanged a glance with one another.

  “Where’s Clarence?” Logan began shoveling the stroganoff into his mouth. After he studied the room, Rainer shrugged.

  As if on cue, Clarence entered the cafeteria, and he looked mutinous.

  “Here we go,” Logan warned. They watched Clarence, who was rather slight of stature, search the room incredulously until his eyes landed on Tilly. He began to laugh derisively as he took in Fergus’s nearby proximity.

  “Ah geez,” Rainer spun to watch Clarence saunter towards Tilly like a hawk circling his prey. Tilly cringed and scooted nearer her friends at the table. Rainer’s blood ran hot as he took in Clarence’s vindictive scowl.

  “If he touches her, I’m arresting him,” Logan stated firmly.

  “Agreed.”

  They kept a keen eye trained on Clarence as he made his approach. “So, Tilly…” he drawled her name pompously. “Where's Professor Boyfriend? Did he leave you all alone? Never know what might happen to girls who are left unprotected.”

  Logan’s jaw clenched tightly as he shook his head. After what had almost happened to Adeline on the night of their graduation, so many months ago, any man who mistreated a woman in any way made Logan furious. Rainer narrowed his eyes and drew a sip of his Dr. Pepper. They watched closely.

  Her friends didn’t seem as frightened of him as Tilly appeared to be, and they defended her.

  “Why do you keep saying that to her? She’s not dating anyone. Leave her alone. You’re such a prick.”

  Clarence gave off another derisive laugh, and grabbed the back of one of the girl’s shirts. “Then why don’t you tell me why she won’t go to the Fall Ball with me?”

  She jerked away from him, and Rainer saw Logan’s eyes flash dangerously. He shook his head.

  “Probably because you’re an ass,” she pretended to wipe his fingerprints off of her clothing.

  Clarence laughed haughtily; he didn’t seem to mind her assessment.

  “Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s it. I’ll bet Professor Boyfriend is in here,” Clarence shot Fergus a goading smirk, “somewhere, keeping an eye on his favorite student. Now, what would make him come out and play?” His sarcastic drawl made Rainer want to wrap his hands around Clarence’s throat, but he kept watch and didn’t make a move. If he’d learned anything from his months of intense training with Vindico, it was that patience is key when you’re waiting to strike.

  “So, Tilly,” Clarence drawled loudly, “got a hot tutoring session coming up? You let Professor Boyfriend tap that, or you taking things slow? Does he even know how?”

  Tears rimmed Tilly’s eyes.

  “Just leave me alone, Clarence,” shook from her mouth, but she didn’t have much volume.

  With a quick move, he slid into the seat beside Tilly and placed his hand on her thigh.

  “Wonder how high I’ll have to reach before Prof
essor Boyfriend comes to your rescue,” he jeered as he slid his hand up Tilly’s thigh until he pushed it under the hem of her skirt.

  Logan and Rainer were out of their seats, and Logan had Clarence by the collar of his shirt and out of the booth in a second flat.

  “I believe the lady asked you to leave her alone, you prick!” In one quick move, Logan spun Clarence, who was almost a foot shorter and had no muscle tone to speak of, up against a wall and had him cuffed.

  The entire cafeteria applauded as Logan and Rainer led Clarence out of the building. They threw him in the back of the Expedition.

  “You can’t arrest me!” Clarence taunted. “I’m a minor. I’ll tell Uncle Nic. He’ll tell my dad.”

  Rainer nodded. “Good, and in five to ten years when Daddy gets out of Diapoley, if he still has any freaking clue who you are, you let me know what he has to say about it.”

  “And you can tell Uncle Nic all of Iodex says ‘fuck off!’” Logan jerked the Expedition into reverse and flew out of the parking lot.

  Although Vindico wasn’t happy about their arrest, he agreed with their reasoning as he sealed Clarence in one of the holding cells and told him to ‘pipe down.’

  At five o’clock, he received a certified letter from the German government that had him mutinous. It seemed that Wretchkinsides had managed to bribe enough people in the German Senate and prison board, and they’d agreed to hold another trial for Pendergrath.

  Their prisons were overly crowded, and he had only been arrested for white-collar crimes. Vindico was to appear at the trial in Germany in just over two weeks’ time. The long string of curse words that flew from Vindico’s mouth were volatile in there doggedness alone. Rainer was oddly impressed, but he had no idea what to say or do to make this easier on his boss.

  “Can Dad do anything?” Logan suggested hopefully after Vindico’s long rant.

  “No,” he spat, “and I have exactly two weeks to come up with something more substantial than tax evasion and fraud to nail Pendergrath with, so that’s what we’re going to do.”