Five Shades of Fantasy

by W.J. May

Chapter 18

  Alumni Dinner

  November, like the snow, drifted into December. End of term exams were around the corner. Talk of Christmas holidays soon filled the halls of the school.

  Class in the Oratory became more intense. Lanford tested each individual, pushing them to learn and understand their ability in more detail. Rae made a conscious effort to only perform skills which copied what others thought her tatù could do. She still hid the fact that she could mimic abilities like her father. It amazed her that no one caught on. She swore a red light started flashing over her head each time she touched someone, even though she tried to keep it as subtle as possible.

  She continued tutoring with Devon. Nothing had changed between them since the C-O-P party. She never mentioned the evening, and neither did he. The only thing they really talked about was her tatù. Only he knew her true capabilities. He promised to keep silent until the end of the year, but encouraged her to tell the headmaster, especially after reading the letter from her mom. Rae refused, but wouldn’t explain why. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure why she felt the need to keep it a secret. She told herself it was because she didn’t want to be hassled and wanted the freedom to learn her tatù on her own, like anyone else. But deep down, she felt it might be another reason altogether, she just wasn’t sure what.

  The five days before the Holiday break were crammed with exams. Monday morning, Rae wandered toward the Refectory for breakfast so firmly focused on her study notes that she didn’t notice Dean Carter until she almost ran him over. He stood rigid, dressed in a long, black leather jacket, matching gloves and a pair of expensive sunglasses. “Good morning, Ms. Kerrigan.”

  Like a vampire stepping into the daylight. She stifled a giggle at the thought and took a careful step back to keep distance between them. “Good morning…sir.”

  She wished she’d touched Molly this morning instead of Maria. The dean would probably feel thought projection would need closer examination. Ironically, he actually needed to get his own head examined, at least in her opinion.

  “Don’t forget the alumni dinner on Friday evening. You’re expected to attend. I’ve been informed you’ll be staying with Ms. Skye’s family over the holidays, so I’ve extended the invitation to her as well. She is, apparently, over the moon with the invite,” he said sarcastically. “I trust the two of you will be on your best behavior.” Rae knew it was a rhetorical question, but she couldn’t resist the urge to poke fun at him a bit.

  “I’m honored to have been invited and I’ll do my best not to chew with my mouth open.” She’d rather rip a fingernail off than go, but she knew she had no choice. “If you’ll excuse me, sir, I need to grab some breakfast before my exam.”

  Rae stepped wide to pass the dean, but with lightning quick reflexes, he reached out and grabbed her arm.

  She froze as a new hum spread through her body. Unable to stop it, Rae felt panic settle into her core.

  A vision played before her eyes. It was the morning of Rae’s real birthday, when she looked into the mirror and saw her tatù. Then the vision fast forwarded through the day, pausing when she realized her talent in the bathroom and ending on her shape-shifting back from an eagle.

  The dean now knew she’d lied about her birth date and the power of her tatù. Terrified, she was afraid to move, not knowing what he would do. She’d never really trusted him and now he knew what she’d been trying so hard to hide. Rae cringed inwardly as she waited for his reaction.

  Dean Carter leaned forward and hissed in her ear. “I knew something was amiss! You didn’t think I’d believe you that incapable with an ink this original?” He huffed as he shoved her arm back. “You should have told me. This may have dire consequences,” he finished ominously. Then he walked away without glancing back.

  Rae couldn’t breathe right away. It took a moment for her to remember how to suck air in and her stomach churned so much she lost her appetite. She stumbled to lean against the wall of the Refectory.

  What would happen now? Would he tell everyone she was like her father? She knew she had the ability to be, but had absolutely no intention of letting her father’s legacy rule her. Besides, her tatù was different from his anyway. Wouldn’t everyone see that? Not here. They’re all too blinded by the past.

  Plus, they were about to find out she’d been lying all this time. She wanted to run and hide, but knew she couldn’t. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of going back to having everyone stare at her, and treat her like an outsider or a leper again.

  This whole tatù business is complicating my life on a level normal teens don’t have to deal with! It’s not fair! Just a few months ago she’d been invisible in New York, living with her cryptic, riddle-loving uncle and her clueless but loving aunt, going to school and not being noticed by anyone at all. She’d been nothing special. Then Uncle Argyle had shipped her off to this place where the walls had eyes and it seemed that everyone waited breathlessly to see if she turned into a monster like her father. Special powers or no, she just wanted it all gone from inside her, to go back to being invisible. That was so much better than the alternative. Her shoulders drooped as she shuffled off to class.

  Dropping into a chair at the back of the room, she pulled a book out of her bag and stared blankly at the pages, not knowing what to do next. There was no way she could focus on the test now. She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to accept the fact she was basically screwed. After all, now that the dean knew, there was no way he’d keep his mouth shut. She thought him entirely too greedy and cruel to keep her freaky ability a secret. Besides, he’d love to make her the main attraction at the Alumni Dinner and she knew it well. All her hard work to fit in here would go up in smoke at the dinner.

  She wondered idly who would turn on her first once they knew. Molly? She hoped not. It would be more than she could bear. At least she knew without a doubt that Devon wouldn’t turn on her. But I can’t go through life clinging to him as my only friend in the world. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.

  “Rae!” Nicholas came by and held up his hand. “Good luck.

  I hear this one’s going to be a killer.”

  She automatically high-fived him, a social knee-jerk reaction she couldn’t have stopped herself from doing. She instantly felt better with Nicholas’ gift coursing through her body, easing the weight of Dean Carter’s mental invasion. And I’m back! She managed to focus just in time for the exam.

  When she finished the exam, she dashed out the door to find Devon leaning against the wall waiting for her. She skidded to a stop

  “Hey! What’re you doing here?”

  He smiled and pushed off the wall to stand close beside her. “You up to anything right now?”

  He flashed his dimple and Rae’s breath caught. “N-No. My next exam’s in two days.”

  “Lucky you.” Devon began walking toward the exit. “I’ve got a whopper of one tomorrow night.” He held the door open for her. “So, that means you’re free for the afternoon?”

  “Sure. What do you want to do?” She almost started skipping. He wants to hang out with me!

  “Can we do our study session now? I’ve got to study later, and Beth wants to take me out for dinner.”

  Poof! Her happiness balloon just popped. “U-Umm…sure.” She glared at her shoes. “We can skip it if you want. Start up again after the holidays.” She refused to look him in the eye as she had no intention of letting him see how much the mention of Beth’s name bothered her, but then she remembered the dinner. She brought her head up. “Hey, are you going to the alumni dinner?”

  “No way.” He laughed. “Good food, but so boring.” When she didn’t laugh too, he glanced at her. “Oh shoot. You’ve gotta go?” He nudged her with his shoulder. “Don’t look so worried. It’s not that bad.”

  “Easy for you to say. You don’t have a rare ink.” Or an evil father, or the weight of the world on your shoulders...the list goes on.

  Th
ey headed into Aumbry House, going straight to their usual spot in the library.

  Devon tossed his backpack on the chair beside him. “What do you want to go over today? I’m all yours…” he checked his watch, “for the next fifty minutes.”

  All hers? I wish! Rae dropped into her seat and tried to come up with something interesting to discuss. She tapped the heel of one sneaker against the toe of the other. “What do you know about the dean?”

  Devon’s eyebrows came together. “What do you mean?”

  “He doesn’t like me.”

  “He doesn’t like anybody. He’s a miserable git.”

  “Yeah, but the guy’s seriously mental. You weren’t in the room on my birthday and…and again this morning.” She stared at her fingernails, absently thinking they needed a trim.

  “What happened this morning?” Devon tilted his head, his forehead creased.

  Rae sighed. “I-I guess nothing. He just has a weird gift…and he t-touched me.”

  “What?” Devon straightened. “How, or where?”

  She glanced up and started laughing. She hadn’t intended to, but he looked so worried for her and she suddenly realized how her words had sounded. “I don’t mean like that. I just meant he grabbed my wrist.” She rubbed her temple. “It seems kinda silly now. I guess it’s no big deal. He’s just weird.”

  Devon fell back against his chair and gave her a slow smile, showing his relief. “I’ve never seen his gift in action. I’d probably be freaked if he used it on me.”

  “You know what he can do?”

  “Something about being able to see the past.”

  “It’s like a video. He can fast forward, probably rewind and pause it as well.”

  Devon glanced at the clock on the wall. “Okay. Now that we’ve cleared that up. What’d you want to do?”

  She knew exactly what she wanted to find out. “I want to see if there’s a link between Carter and my dad. There’s got to be some history to make him hate me.” She watched the corners of Devon’s mouth twitch. “It’s not funny. The guy knows I lied about my birthday and he knows the truth about my gift. Maybe he wanted to date my mom and she shot him down? I don’t know…”

  He leaned forward. “Here’s the deal. I think you’re being paranoid. You think there’s something behind a guy who’s just a male chauvinist. If we look stuff up and find nothing, you promise to just try to ignore him?”

  Rae twisted her fingers together considering the option. She balked at the idea of leaving the dean alone if they didn’t find a link. She was positive there was something that made him focus on her with such intensity. He seemed to despise all women, so maybe, the idea of her having something rare just irked the hell out of him. Plus Devon was someone she trusted completely, and he seemed to think there was nothing to find. Maybe she was making too much out of this, but she needed to know and he did offer to help. With her head still tilted down to her hands she looked up at him through the fringes of her lashes. “Fine.”

  They went through the school’s enrollment, searching the Web and anything else they could think of to find a link between Dean Carter and her dad, or mom. They came up empty-handed.

  It wasn’t a total loss though. Rae learned more about the bullying and other more illegal things her father had done and was shocked no one had tried to take him down. Like a modern day Hitler, his plans went undetected until it was too late to stop him. He had wanted to rule the world and, according to the documents in the files, had created a large group of followers to help him achieve his goal. He had done everything secretively. Even now, very few of his chosen entourage would admit to what they had conspired to do.

  Rae remembered the men her father had always kept around him. He’d referred to them as bodyguards. She looked into that, but again came back with more questions than answers. According to the information, very little was known about his mysterious service men. Most of their names, and even some their inks were unknown. It became clear to Rae her mother had been the only one able to get close enough to her father to stop him.

  It put more proof to Rae’s theory that her mother had used her tatù to start the fire. It made perfect sense. Why else would her mother have written the letter to her and made campaigns for Rae’s future if she hadn’t planned something big? Like her father’s death?

  Did she sacrifice everything to save me? Rae craved answers but had no idea where to find them.

  The rest of the week went by faster than Rae would have liked. She felt fairly certain she had done well on her exams, but had no real time to worry about it with the dreaded dinner looming over her head like an executioner’s axe. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t calm her nerves that night as she let Molly dress her and fix her hair.

  The six students invited to the alumni dinner were required to greet the guests at the front entrance of the Refectory, as they entered for the meet-and-greet cocktail hour prior to the meal. The mess hall had been converted into an eloquent dining room. Rae, Molly and Riley were positioned at the east entrance, with Charlie and two other boys Rae didn’t know at the west entrance.

  Shaking hands with each person who came through became a nightmare. She kept flipping through abilities faster than she had a chance to realize what they were. It felt like flipping through TV channels too fast to actually see what was on. The buzz in her veins became almost too intense to handle as her tatù tried desperately to mimic every one she came in contact with. She was on the verge of either having her head explode or running way, when one of the professors got on stage and asked everyone to find their seats. Rae wanted to hug him. She sat at a table with Riley while Molly sat with Charlie on the other side of the hall. She tried to remember the names of the ten adults sitting around her, but couldn’t, so she continually had to lean over to ask Riley in a whisper what their names or inks were.

  Riley acted the perfect gentleman throughout the evening, even looking hot in his tuxedo. He introduced Rae to many of the alumni, got her punch and constantly had a hand on her arm or back. He never left her side. Rae was grateful for all his help, but annoyed with the over-caffeinated feeling his cheetah tatù kept giving her.

  After dinner, Dean Carter rose and moved to the podium. Headmaster Lanford waited quietly beside him, absently smoothing down his combover with his hand.

  Dean Carter cleared his throat, rested both hands on the podium and looked intently at the audience, making sure he had everyone’s attention before he started speaking.

  “I’d like to thank everyone for attending the dinner this evening. Headmaster Lanford and I are pleased with the turnout and, of course, we are thankful for all of your support. Your financial support has been a wonderful credit to this school. It’s amazing how generous each talented individual in this room has been in giving back to the school which helped all of you to reach the incomes you’ve attained. It’s like every one of you have a secret power.” He finished the sentence with a lascivious grin.

  Rae didn’t really think it was funny, but most of the adults got a kick out of the comment and laughter floated across the room. She leaned back and relaxed, expecting more stupid comments, but she froze when she heard his next line.

  “It’s a credit to have the Kerrigan name back at Guilder. Many of us thought all had ended with the terrible fire. How fortunate for us, and for Rae, that Headmaster Lanford was able to locate her and invite her into the school. It’s a new experience for all to have females attending classes. From the comments our male students have made, it’s a positive improvement.” This elicited another round of chuckles in the room. Again, Rae wasn’t at all amused.

  She scratched her head. Could Dean Carter be schizophrenic?

  He hates having women here. She huffed. The guy obviously wanted to put on a show for the parents.

  “Ms. Kerrigan turned sixteen just a few weeks ago, around mid-November.” He looked directly at Rae. “She’s inked with a very unique tatù, one which is new to all of us.” The lights dimmed as he s
poke. “But she is her father’s daughter. And, it appears, has his ability.” The dean held up a small remote and pointed it at a projector set up in the back of the room.

  Mortified, Rae saw her tatù appear on the big screen behind the dean. She wanted to crawl under the table to hide. The ability to teleport would be really handy right about now. The quiet murmurs of her father’s name and the whispered remorse over her mother’s tragic death burned into her brain, but the part she couldn’t stand to hear were the questions of whether or not she was “dark” like her father had been. She wished Riley hadn’t been touching her all night. She could use a disappearing tatù right now, not some hyped up cheetah. She felt trapped and needed to run.

  Lanford moved in front of the podium, cutting off the Dean, and raised his hands. He shushed everyone with his words. “Thank you, Dean Carter. I’m sure the alumni are interested in Ms Kerrigan’s tatù and are concerned with her well-being.” He turned to the audience and slipped a hand into his pocket. “Rae has settled into Guilder with grace and a willingness to learn. She spent most of her first term at a disadvantage to the other students in her class, yet still managed to maintain a perfect 4.0 GPA, without the use of her tatù. She’s a very talented student. There has only been praise from her professors. Well done, Ms Kerrigan!”

  The headmaster began clapping. The audience, like sheep, reluctantly joined in.

  Riley leaned over to Rae and whispered, “You should stand up.”

  Her face burning and her heart hammering away, Rae shyly rose. A sea of heads turned her way, making her instantly nauseous. She quickly sat back down and kept her eyes trained on her hands, refusing to look up again.

  Thankfully, Headmaster Lanford changed the subject. “Now, shall we consider the new matters at hand? There has been keen interest in some upgrades to the school’s grounds. I have hopes for building a new football pitch which includes heating pipes underground so the teams would be able to play on the field year round…”

  Rae listened to the crazy suggestion. Only professional football teams did that sort of thing. Then again, at Guilder, ordinary just wouldn’t do.

  The remainder of the evening continued at a snail’s pace for Rae. Thanks to Dean Carter, she felt like the main attraction at the freak show. Alumni came up to shake her hand again and offer words of encouragement and also words of criticism. Again her tatù made it nearly impossible to handle the contact. Riley continued to stand by her and lend his support – emotionally and physically. By the end of the evening, Rae wasn’t sure what she looked forward to most: getting away from the alumni, or from Riley. She swore she’d never drink caffeine again.

  At half past eleven, Molly found her. “Hey, are you ‘bout ready? My dad wants to get going. We’ve got a long drive to Wales and he wants to do it all tonight. I think he’s had enough socializing. He’s kind of the quiet type.”

  Rae had a moment to wonder how anyone related to Molly could be “the quiet type”. The party looked like it was just beginning to liven up for the old people and Rae could have hugged Molly for finding her. She felt more than ready to leave. If she could, she’d have used Riley’s cheetah skills to peel out of there. “Heck yeah! Let’s go get our stuff.”

  “I’ll walk you ladies to the door.” Riley stepped between the two of them and kept his arm around Rae’s waist. Near the front door, he leaned down toward her. At the last moment, she realized what he planned to do and quickly turned her head. Riley’s sloppy lips landed on her jawline. She had no intention of her first kiss being with him.

  “Thanks for helping me out, tonight. Have a good winter break.” After gushing the words out, she grabbed Molly’s arm and dragged her outside, not caring that it was a less than graceful exit.

  Molly laughed when they hit the sidewalk. “That was awesome!”

  Rae glared at her. “I didn’t think he’d ever leave my side.”

  Molly interlaced their arms. “Riley’s got a huge crush on you.”

  “Ya think?” Rae wiped her cheek, making a sour face. It still felt wet.

  “Don’t be so grossed out. The guy’s good-looking and smart. He’s also got great family connections. You know,” Molly said, elbowing Rae lightly in the ribs, “you could do a lot worse.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. I think I have enough on my plate.” Rae sighed. “I don’t really want to deal with a relationship on top of everything else.” Except with this one, totally unattainable guy with the perfect dimple…

  Molly, for once, didn’t say anything. She just shook her head.