Feudlings (12 page)

At lunch Nev and Livi were at their usual table, but Ari was not. "Where's Ari?" Shane asked, sitting in an empty seat. Hunter showed up soon after, thunking his tray down and glaring around the room. Several sophomores shrank away in fear, quickly finding other tables.

"She's not here. Brit said she hasn't come back yet," Livi said.

"Speaking of not here, where's your lunch?" Nev asked, pointing her spoon at the empty table in front of Shane.

"Not hungry." He leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"I just tried her cell. She's not answering." Charity appeared next to them, moving on silent feet even with a cafeteria tray. She sat down next and nibbled on her apple. Other than that, her tray was empty, too.

"She had a family emergency. They don't always fit in nice little weekend timeslots," Livi pointed out.

Shane nodded and looked across the cafeteria toward the window. It was deceptively beautiful outside. It should be dark and rainy. Lightning and violent thunder would be appropriate, too.

She had been to thirteen different schools. What if she left this one too?

*****

Ari stepped off the plane in Park City. Her Beep was still there, waiting patiently. She climbed inside, started it up. And then she just sat there, staring out the windshield at the empty hanger for several minutes. She switched the key off and dug her phone out of her pocket. "Will? Can you draw me a door?" she asked meekly.

Ten minutes later, she was sitting on Will’s couch, her legs curled underneath her, staring out the window to the forest beyond. The developers had plopped this subdivision in the middle of a forest in northern Washington. They hadn’t gotten around to paving the roads before the bottom on the economy dropped out, so it had an older-world feel, and Will had gotten an amazing deal on the whole subdivision. The developers must have had some fairy-tale vision in mind when they built it, because all the houses looked like tall cottages. They were built over the garage, so to even get to the front door meant climbing a rather long flight of stairs.

They weren’t big houses. In Will’s, the living room, kitchen, office and bathroom were on one floor, and three smaller bedrooms and another bathroom were on the second floor. When Ari sat on Will’s couch looking out the window, she had a good view. And she loved it.

"Here. This will help." Will handed her a cup of something hot and awful smelling. She wrinkled her nose and looked up at him dubiously. He was taller than she was, with the same big, dark eyes and red and black hair.

"Where'd you get hit?" He paced back and forth in the small room, unable to sit still.

"How do you know I got hit?" She peered into the cup with a concerned frown. It didn’t look at all safe to drink.

"It's a Carules recipe. It will help, I promise." He paused with a pointed look at her cup. "Rumors. We might not be able to leave but we all still have someone on the outside that keeps us updated. It was all anyone talked about yesterday."

Ari sighed, shook her head. "It's a miracle the whole world doesn't know who I am."

"These people are better than family. They aren't going to tell, Ari. You know that," Will said, his voice firm.

"If we just let them capture me, the war will be over, Will," she said. "You could leave."

"Yeah, I could. But how long before the Council captured us all and had us killed?"

Ari sipped the tea and puckered up, trying hard not to spit it out. This was a conversation they had had many, many times before and was easier done without a horrible taste in her mouth.

"We'd still be living in colonies like this, but without our Prodigy to bring us hope," he continued.

She sighed, leaned against his couch. "I forgot your pizza," she said as she stared at the ceiling.

"I see. Well, you're not welcome here then. Out ya go." Will gave her a crooked grin, making shooing motions with his hand. She rolled her eyes without lifting her head from the back of the couch.

“Why, Will?”

He gave her an amused quirk of his eyebrow. “Because you forgot my pizza?”

“No, no.” She frowned at him. “Why do we have this stupid war?”

Will sighed, running a hand through his wild hair. It reminded Ari of Shane. She smiled, despite herself. “Because Ada Aleshire was a spoiled, rich brat who hurt the wrong guy one too many times.”

“What do you mean, hurt?” Ari should have known this. With the dream she had ten thousand times a night, she should have known.

“He was in love with her. She refused him and married a rich guy named William. Where my name came from, by the way. I bet he was stunningly handsome.”

Ari rolled her eyes. “So this guy… this Carules, he did it all because he got shot down?”

Will shrugged, still staring out the window. “Some of the Carules say he lost his mind. Some even say that Ada and the Duke were torturing him with experimental spells.” He glanced back at her. “I don’t know. A lot of people have died for a cause that no one believes in but the ones in charge.”

Ari frowned. “The Family. And the Council.”

Will plopped down next to her, spilling her tea, thank goodness. Less for her to drink. "Tell me about your friends," he said, nudging her good shoulder with his.

She rolled her head to the side to stare at him. She didn’t want to talk about that life. She wanted to wallow in self-loathing. He raised his eyebrows hopefully at her, and she sighed. "They're different than everyone else," she said. "Persistent. Nev and Livi are best friends. Every time I turn around I'm tripping over them, and they talk a lot. But they are the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Hunter is this big… I think he’s a Texan… who thinks he's Lord and Ruler over everyone, but he has a soft spot for football. And Charity and Shane are cousins, but they look absolutely nothing alike. Charity looks like an angel. She's tiny and her hair is so blonde it's white and her eyes are silver!" Ari sat up in her excitement and looked at him. "Really silver, not gray. It's weird." Her eyebrows furrowed and she flopped back on the couch, letting her head fall back again. "Shane is tall. Probably as tall as you. And he's got these amazing blue eyes. And dark hair…"

She trailed off and Will snickered. "Oh yeah? Do I need to meet this Shane and have a talk with him?"

With a groan, she smacked him. "Of course not. We're just friends. I don't have time to date anyone. Besides, it seems like almost every girl in the school wants him. Especially my roommate, Brittany. She's obnoxious," Ari said. She paused, trying to think of something else to say about Brittany. But, when explaining Brittany, obnoxious pretty much summed it up.

Will’s lips quirked. "Right. So what makes these guys different than the kids at all your other schools?"

"Well, it's been a week. They're still around. And so far, I haven't caught them doing one evil thing behind my back," she said optimistically. She rolled her head sideways again to look at Will. "I'm skipping school right now."

Will squeezed her good shoulder. "Get some sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up. I tell ya, Ari girl. These Carules are better healers than we are."

Will was right: she did feel better when she woke up. Her shoulder wasn't so stiff and throbbing. Her Edren healers had sealed the wound but the pain had still been there when they were through with her. She sat up and gingerly tested it out. "Hmm. I do believe I'm going to make it," she said aloud, mostly to herself because she couldn't see Will, but she was pretty sure he was close.

"I figured," he said from the other room, confirming her suspicions.

"Whatcha doin?" she asked, shoving the blanket off and standing. She stretched, felt the flames roll through her, and smiled at the ceiling. She didn't love being the Prodigy, but she did love being an Edren.

"Working. Some of us have to earn our keep." He arched his eyebrow at her as she padded around the corner.

"Right. Curse my lazy hide." She rolled her eyes as she tried to finger-comb her wild waves.

Will owned his own company and ran it entirely from his home. Most of the members of this colony worked for him, because coming and going to a job in the “real” world just wasn't possible.

“I’m going for a walk. Wanna come?” she asked, balancing on one leg as she pulled her shoe on.

“Sure. I could use a break.” Will pushed away from the computer and stretched, his fingertips brushing the ceiling.

“A break, or a chance to talk to Dani?” Ari teased with a sing-song lilt.

Will squinted at her. “What are you, five? I talk to Dani all the time,” he said with the same lilt to her name.

Ari loved the colony. Not just because it was like stepping back in time to a medieval village, complete with dirt roads, but because the people here were all close, thrown together and tightly woven due to one commonality — the need to escape the war. Having people hunt them made them appreciate the friends they had. They were like a huge family, and they loved her, at least as much as they could love someone who came and went from the colony seemingly without consequences.

“I want to see Ember’s new baby,” Ari said as they ambled along the road.

Washington was wet enough that the road was rarely dusty. Ari waved at a few kids, all three shrieking as they raced through sprinklers. “Hi Ari!” they squealed before darting back into the water.

“Knock knock. Are you napping?” Will whispered as he stuck his head through Ward’s door. Ari stood back, hesitating.

“No Will. Come on in. Is Ari with you? I heard she was in town,” a voice called, and Will opened the door wider.

“Yeah, she came to see the baby.” Ari followed him in.

“Ari girl! It’s been too long!” Ward enveloped her in a bear hug as soon as she crossed the threshold.

“Ari! I’ve missed you!” Ember cried, shoving Ward away and handing the small pink bundle to Will so she could hug Ari too.

“Wow. You get more gorgeous every time we see you. Look at her, Ward!” Ember exclaimed.

Ward grinned, an infectious grin that lit up the whole room. “Nah, she’s still just a bratty little kid with messy hair.” He tugged on her curls.

“Thank you. I’m planning on never growing up.” Ari edged closer to the baby. “She is beautiful! Can I hold her?” she pleaded as she peeked in the blanket at the angelic face.

“Of course! Will, share with your sister!” Ember teased. Ari carefully took the baby and snuggled her close to her chest. A light knock on the door, and Dani peered around the corner. “I heard Ari’s here — Ari!” She burst into the room and threw her arms around Ari, baby and all. “The rest of the colony is coming too. I just beat them here,” Dani said as she squeezed Ari’s shoulder.

“I’m so glad. I’ve missed them,” Ari said with her heart in her throat.

****

Two hours later, she forced herself to part with the baby and the Renegades and go back to Will’s. Will went to his computer to check something; Ari followed him in, dragging her feet. "I need to get back to school. I can jump back through the portal and pick up your mail and some pizza first though."

Will cleared his throat, glancing at her and then back at his computer screen, and Ari resisted the urge to groan. "Ari, I can protect you here. When you're here I'm doing my job." He pushed his chair back from his computer and stretched his arms behind his head. Out-of-the-blue but not unexpected. They had this conversation a lot.

She just shook her head at him and walked out, snatching up her cell phone. "Find me the number for the pizza place nearest the airport. And did you forward your mail to a PO Box by my school?"

She could hear him typing as she came back in. He turned the screen so she could see the phone number. She had several missed calls and texts, but she didn't want to check them. Her other life could wait.

"Yeah. I've got as much as I can coming electronically, but some people just won't get into the technological age." He shook his head in disgust, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

She grinned. "I'll be right back." The
saldepement
still sparkled in the living room, waiting to be lit. It was dangerous leaving the
saldepement
spell burning, but otherwise she would have no way to get back. And she always hid her end of the doorway with painstaking care.

"Be safe," Will called as she touched a spark to the portal. It shimmered and widened, allowing her through.

"Always," she said as it closed behind her.

After she dropped off the pizza and his mail, she headed back to school, a little bit healed, both emotionally and physically. Will had pouted for a minute, but it was a battle he knew he would lose, so he didn't try very hard.

When Ari had been born and they realized she was the Prodigy, Will had been named her Guard. In the seer's original vision, she had said each Prodigy had a Guard, one whose power nearly equaled the Prodigy's. It was obvious to everyone that Will was hers.

Ari swerved to avoid a deranged deer darting across the road, swearing under her breath, but her thoughts traveled back to Will. When he had left, he tried to take her with him. He thought the seer was crazy. He thought the vision and the prophesy were crazy. But Richard had stopped Will and banished him from the estate. Then, her grandfather had brainwashed Ari and sent her to kill her brother.

Now, it frustrated Will to no end that he couldn't protect her. He couldn't re-enter the war and fight at her side; the Edrens would kill him before the Carules did. In an attempt to protect her however he could, he invented her shroud, but it wasn't enough. For him, anyway. Ari thought the whole idea of the Prodigy, who was supposed to be undefeatable by anyone but the other Prodigy, was ridiculous. She did not need a protector.
As the events of the previous weekend have illustrated,
she thought with an unladylike snort,
having anyone to 'protect' me just gets everyone in trouble
.

Her phone buzzed. She glanced at it, vibrating on the passenger seat, but it was a text and it was common knowledge that it’s stupid to text and drive. She didn't answer it, just turned her attention back to the road and tried her best to avoid killing any suicidal wildlife.