Storm and Stone by Joss Stirling
He grinned, loving it when she got bossy with him.
She frowned at him, sensing he wasn’t in a serious mood. ‘Now try going for me—any way you like.’
‘But I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘You won’t.’
He made a fairly obvious attempt to grab her arm. She used a neat jujitsu move to defeat him, lunging down and bending her elbow towards him so he had to let go of her wrist. ‘And now I’d run.’ She mimed a dash for safety. ‘You try it. Pretend I’m Adewale grabbing you.’
He’d let her grab him anytime she felt so moved. ‘Do your worst.’
She darted forward and gripped his wrist. ‘Now lunge and break my hold.’
Where was the fun in that? Instead he pounced on her waist and lifted her off her feet. ‘Give up?’
‘Put me down! You’re supposed to be trying to get away!’
Not a chance. He spun her in a circle. ‘I am in your power.’
She batted him over the head. ‘Idiot! I’m in your power.’
‘Say that again.’ He kissed her chin.
‘No, never!’
‘Ah, a challenge!’ He dropped her on her back on the crash mat and began tickling.
She wriggled. ‘Stop it, no fair!’
‘Say it!’
She tried another jujitsu move, hooking his wrist, holding his elbow, trapping his foot, which was the first part of the manoeuvre to reverse positions, but her laughter stopped her following through. He started peppering kisses over her face. ‘Say it!’
‘All right, all right—I am in your power, you great heffalump.’
He stopped tickling her and stared down into the depths of her eyes. Nutmeg with dark chocolate streaks. ‘And I am in yours.’
Her smile wobbled a little. ‘Really?’
He twisted to bring her on top and on to his lap. ‘Yes. I just want you to put up with me for a few more weeks.’
She drew back. ‘I can’t just be a temporary amusement and you won’t explain what’s really going on so I’m worried we’re … screwed. I kinda thought the prom date was a goodbye—a sweet ending.’
That was what Joe thought too but Kieran wasn’t satisfied with that: he’d found his girl and no way was he letting her go. ‘I don’t mean it like that. I’m asking you to put up with me not being straight with you. Not telling the truth. In the summer holidays, when we meet up, I’ll explain anything you want to know.’
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity but an even heavier dose of doubt. ‘You mean about Isaac?’
He nodded.
‘And the YDA—and Gloria?’
‘Yes, the whole sad saga if you’ve got patience to hear it.’ He just hoped she wouldn’t walk away when she learned the details of his disastrous background. But Raven wouldn’t care about ancestry—he was fairly confident of that. One thing he decided he could straighten out right now. ‘The posh thing—that was just Joe pulling your leg.’
‘I have to admit I didn’t think Gloria looked like someone from the upper classes.’
‘Joe has an active imagination.’
She wrinkled her nose, smelling a rat. ‘And his druggie mom and imprisoned dad?’
That was for Joe to explain. Poor old Mr and Mrs Masters were the sweetest couple in Manhattan and Carol wouldn’t know her aspirin from her crack cocaine. Her expertise was quilting and pot roasts. ‘Can we leave that until August?’
Raven looked at his face for a long time, scrutinizing his expression. Somewhere along the way, she had learnt not to trust and he had unintentionally reinforced the lesson. She took a breath, coming to a decision. ‘OK, my man of mystery, I’ll reserve judgement. You’re making me act against my instincts, you know?’
‘But I’m worth it?’
‘Yes, you’re worth it.’ Raven twirled a lock of hair. ‘I’m in your lap.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’ He thought that was obvious.
‘No, Kieran, I am in your lap.’
‘Oh yeah.’ He got it now. ‘And I was right about my deduction: our height issue is cancelled in this position.’
‘So what are you going to do about it?’ She looked up at him through her lashes.
‘I’ll show you one of my self-defence techniques.’
‘You mean aside from tickling?’
‘Yes. This one is called distraction. If you are still thinking about attacking me when I’ve finished then I’m not doing a good job of it.’
‘And does it go something like this?’ She leant forward and kissed him.
‘What? You know this one too?’ He pretended surprise.
‘I do. But I don’t think I’m very good at it yet.’
‘Ah. I beg to differ. But they do say practice makes perfect so I think we’d better try for perfection.’ He closed the distance between them.
Kieran found Joe studying hard when he got back to their room.
‘How was self defence?’ Joe asked.
‘Perfect.’ Kieran smiled into the depths of his cupboard as he put away his sports bag. He didn’t like keeping his renewed relationship with Raven from Joe but, if he told his friend, then he would be asking him to hide it from Isaac, introducing a conflict into Joe’s loyalties. Kieran had every intention of telling Isaac himself. Eventually. When he had got his miracle in place.
‘Don’t want to be a buzz kill but Isaac has told us to call as soon as you get back.’
A few days ago Kieran had asked for Isaac to consider his proposal on miracle-making. Isaac had said he would think about it and put the phone down on him. Kieran wondered if this was the reason for the unscheduled call now. ‘Let’s get it over with then.’
Joe put through the call. Isaac’s face filled the screen. Kieran knew he wasn’t the most astute at reading expressions but even he could see that their boss was beyond angry. He hadn’t somehow found out about the resumption of his relationship with Raven, had he?
‘Hey, Isaac, it’s us.’ Joe tugged a chair alongside his so Kieran could share the screen.
‘Boys.’ Isaac gave them a nod. ‘I received an email from the head teacher today with that promised report on you two.’
Relief swooped through Kieran. So it wasn’t about Raven—not yet.
‘What have we done wrong now?’ asked Joe in a resigned tone.
‘As far as I’m concerned, nothing. No, it’s her who has really wound me up. She sent me a letter about your forthcoming enrolment in the personal development course.’ Isaac shook out the pages he had printed off. ‘She wanted to make sure it was crafted to my specific requirements. There follows a detailed character assassination—sorry, analysis—of each of you with suggestions of areas in which you might improve. You mentioned the possibility of them fabricating evidence for blackmail, Kieran—well, we’ve just hit jackpot.’
‘Sweet!’ Joe cracked his knuckles. ‘OK, what’s wrong with me?’
Isaac smiled sourly. ‘She was complimentary about most aspects of your character—good team player, cheerful disposition, intelligent—but you lack, and I quote, “suitable deference for authority” and “will to succeed”. Here’s the killer: you also drink and drive.’
‘Do not.’
‘I know—but here’s the police report, all typed up and official looking. You took one of the school buses for a spin apparently. If I thought there was a shred of truth in it, I, as your concerned and corruptible godfather, would be eager to keep that off your criminal record.’
Isaac chucked the page aside. ‘I could’ve told her about your lack of deference myself. She asked me for any additional suggestions so they could be included in your personalized training programme.’
‘I hope you told her you couldn’t improve on something that was flawless.’
Isaac laughed darkly and turned to a second, much bigger printout. ‘Kieran, I’m afraid Mrs Bain isn’t a fan of yours.’
Kieran folded his arms. ‘I take that as a compliment.’
‘She suggested that you might need a longer and more
‘Yeah. Turns out I’m not bad.’ Kieran rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the skin heat with embarrassment.
‘He’s the Fred Astaire of the twenty-first century, Isaac,’ Joe chipped in. ‘You should’ve been there.’
‘With this girl he likes?’ Isaac’s laser gaze was uncomfortable.
‘Yes, with cute Miss Stone. They made a great team.’
‘Hmm. That’s behind you, right, Kieran?’
Kieran rearranged his paperclip tower. ‘I know about your red line, Isaac.’ Truth—just not the whole truth that he was bopping on the wrong side of it.
Isaac tapped his fingers on the papers. ‘As I was saying, Mrs Bain finds more to censure than to praise. She told me you were caught pirating videos and music—a plausible lie—but she added hacking into the US military to get me really worried.’
Kieran frowned. ‘It’s possible but I don’t think I’ve done that yet.’
‘I hope not. I would sign off on this intensive course she recommends to find out what they do, but I’m worried that might leave you open to mistreatment. Their techniques have to be pretty heavy duty to get kids to change so quickly. I don’t want to put either of you at risk. What’s your judgement, Key?’
‘Going in armed with the knowledge they’re going to attempt to brainwash us means that neither Joe nor I would make susceptible subjects.’
‘Is what they’re doing illegal?’ asked Joe.
‘Tricky.’ Kieran had wondered this same thing. ‘If the students agree to be there and the parents request it, unless they hold us against our will, it might be completely above board.’
‘Ethically, it sucks,’ said Joe.
‘Yes, but bruised ethics aren’t enough for a conviction. The exchange of favours if we could prove it—now that would be illegal as it is a form of corruption. And the missing students—Johnny Minter and Siobhan Green—I’m wondering if they aren’t being held against their will. They may have turned out too difficult to influence.’
‘And I guess once they pass a certain point, the trustees wouldn’t accept failures as it risks the whole scheme coming to light. Isaac, Key’s right as usual. We’ve really got to find that pair and we can only do that from inside the manor.’
‘OK, I give my permission for you to try this. The case against them is building so just don’t mess it up. No heroics. Call for extraction at the first hint of anything that puts either of you in danger.’
‘Understood.’ Joe’s hand hovered over the mouse, ready to end the conversation.
Isaac’s gaze dipped back to Kieran. ‘Oh, and Kieran, we’ll be expecting a repeat performance here when you get back to base.’
‘I’m not the kind to dance solo.’ Kieran hoped Isaac got the message.
‘I’m still thinking about that. Goodnight.’
Joe closed the window on the screen. ‘What was that last part about?’
‘I made Isaac a suggestion.’
‘What kind?’
‘Oh, just about making sure Raven’s OK at the end of this.’
‘That’d be nice. But you know the rules—you can’t be part of her life.’
‘I’m not talking about breaking rules,’ though he was already doing that, risking his YDA place if found out, ‘more expanding them.’
Joe chucked a pen at him. ‘Did you know that speaking in riddles is an annoying habit?’
‘I’m achieving the impossible, Joe. Just another day in the office for Kieran Storm.’
‘And when did you get so arrogant? Oh, I forgot: you were born this way.’
Kieran smirked.
‘I just hope this big head of yours isn’t going to mean we’ve underestimated what they’ll do to us at the manor.’
Kieran stopped smiling. ‘Yes, you’re right. But we’ve got to make a breakthrough and this is our best hope. Watch my back?’
‘Do you need to ask?’
‘No. And I’ve got yours.’ They bumped knuckles.
‘Six pages.’ Joe started laughing.
‘I’d be more worried that Mrs Bain rather likes you.’
That comment led to a pillow fight. After tipping over the coffee table, knocking over Kieran’s paper clip tower and bursting the seams of the cushions, they reduced the room to chaos.
Joe blew the feathers from his mouth as they settled like snow on his head. ‘Hope you’ve got a genius way of clearing this up?’
‘Naturally.’
Joe perked up.
‘It involves the creation of a vacuum in a specially designed device.’
Joe flopped back on his bed and groaned.
Raven’s last exam was an English literature paper on the set poetry text. Kieran also took it in the hall with her, only a seat away thanks to the alphabet. Never one to shine academically, she felt it went well, as being near him settled her jitters and helped her concentrate. Maybe he was sending her clever vibes or something. Nice if his intelligence was catching. More likely he just made her feel happier. After their papers were collected in, she got up, hoping to walk out with him. He started moving towards her.
‘Mr Storm, could you come here please?’ Mrs Bain was waving to him from the front of the hall.
‘Uh-oh, bad luck.’ Raven narrowed her eyes at her nemesis.
‘And I was hoping to celebrate end of the exams.’ Kieran brushed a kiss over her cheek. ‘Catch you later.’
‘OK. I’ll be at the cottage.’
She didn’t have long to wait. Kieran rushed in, a backpack in one hand. ‘I’m sorry, Raven, but the course my godfather wants Joe and I to go on has been brought forward. It starts today. The minibus leaves,’ he checked his watch, ‘five minutes ago. But I told them they had to wait. I couldn’t go without saying goodbye.’
‘You’re going on a course?’ Raven felt a heavy sensation in her stomach: dread. Not him, please—not when she and Kieran had just been getting back on track. ‘Where?’
‘The manor. For two weeks.’
She swore under her breath. ‘Please, don’t go. That’s where Gina went. People change there—in bad ways.’
He ran his fingers over the tense muscles of her neck. ‘Sssh, it’s OK. Really it is. I won’t change. I’m too pig-headed. Joe and I will look after each other.’
‘No, listen to me. That place isn’t normal—it can’t be if they come back good girl and boy zombies.’
Kieran sniffed in disdain. ‘I wouldn’t call them good.’
‘You know what I mean—good from their parents’ viewpoint.’
‘Now that would be interesting—coming back in a form Gloria would approve.’ He smiled wryly. ‘When I get bored, I’ll think about what that might be.’
‘Kieran, please, listen to me: you’ll go in as a prince and they’ll turn you into a frog.’
‘I always thought the guy in the story was more interesting as the frog.’
‘That’s not what I mean and you know it! Please take this seriously.’
‘Don’t worry about me.’
‘I can’t help it.’ She buried her head in his jacket, just wishing she could wave a magic wand and stop him going. ‘I’m afraid for you.’
‘No need to be. Trust me.’ He soothed her by running his palm gently up and down her back. ‘I’m your Frog Prince, am I?’
‘Maybe.’ She hadn’t meant to admit that. She didn’t want him to distract her from the warning she was trying to give.
‘Interesting. In that case, I know that I get a kiss from the princess—it’s in the small print.’
‘But … !’
‘Ah-uh. Kiss first.’
He was trying to tease her out of her worry and, foolish though it was, she couldn’t resist him. ‘You want a kiss? Where? Nose?’
He pretended to frown. ‘Nope. Frogs don’t have noses.’
‘Webbed toes? I’ll te
‘Not my webbed toes.’ He pointed to his big smiling mouth. ‘Here.’
She moved forward, then stopped. ‘No, I can’t.’
‘Yes, you can.’
‘No, I mean, what if you change?’
‘Then you’ll just have to kiss me again to change me back. Problem solved.’
She hesitated.
‘Ri-bik.’
She smiled.
‘Ri-bik.’
‘Are you going to keep croaking until I kiss you?’
His eyes twinkled. ‘Ri-bik.’
‘OK, OK, two kisses—just to be safe.’ She closed the gap. Somehow the kisses merged into each other—there could have been four or fourteen, she was no longer counting. The teasing game was forgotten and it became a heated exchange, an exploration of mouths as first his tongue caressed hers and then she reciprocated. For a moment it felt as if they were one person, almost sharing the same skin. Finally, he let her go.
She took a moment to recover. How did you come back from that? Sass was her usual answer.
‘So, frog or man?’
‘You tell me.’ He pressed a kiss to the tender spot below her ear, sending renewed shivers down her spine.
‘You’re still Kieran.’ My Kieran, she added to herself.
‘That’s right.’ He tucked her hair behind her ear and met her eyes, expression solemn. ‘Please don’t worry about me. I promise I’ll be back for the prom. If anything really serious crops up before then, I’m giving you this.’ He pressed a piece of paper in her hand.
‘What is it?’
‘Don’t open it unless you have to. It’s Isaac’s number. For emergencies when I’m not around.’
‘You’re giving me Isaac’s number?’ She clenched her fist around the paper. ‘You really do trust me, don’t you?’
‘One hundred per cent. I’ve never lied to you about that.’
She had to say it. If he was going to change, she had to say this now, before anyone got hold of him. ‘I’m falling in love with you, Kieran Storm.’
He wrapped his hand around her fist. ‘So am I.’ He frowned. ‘Not the Kieran bit—Kieran is a fool sometimes—especially when it comes to his girl.’
‘Kieran,’ she said gently.