Feudlings

by Wendy Knight

  Best of all, she had friends. Nev and Livi and Charity were always waiting to walk with her to the main building in the morning, and they always walked back to the dorms together after classes.

  Finally, she even gave up doing homework in her room and had joined them in the commons, where she didn't get much homework done. Nibbling on her pencil, she snuck glances at Shane and Charity while she was supposed to be working. No matter how much fun it is, though, it won’t last. Remember that, she told herself. That way, when they turned on her for whatever reason it wouldn't hurt. At least, it wouldn’t hurt as much.

  “Shane, can I use your laptop?” Charity interrupted Ari’s musings.

  “What’s wrong with yours?” Shane asked as he slid his computer over to her.

  “It won’t load. Spinning wheel of death.” She sighed.

  Ari pulled her pencil out of her mouth. “My brother is a computer genius. Next time I go visit him, I’ll take it with me. He’ll be able to fix it.” They all stared at her blankly for several seconds.

  As a rule, she didn't talk about herself. It was just safer that way.

  “I didn’t know you even had a brother.” Shane frowned, like the idea that he didn’t know even the most basic things about her bothered him.

  “Yeah.” She looked away, not sure what else to say. After that, she was more careful.

  ****

  Ari walked back to the dorms Friday night, Charity next to her. Neither spoke, but it was a companionable silence, not an awkward one. Charity didn’t chatter like Nev and Livi did. When she did talk, she had a reason for it. Ari appreciated it, since she was the same way. Every so often their shoulders would bump, and Ari didn’t feel like recoiling away in embarrassment. She just felt… safe. Charity was safe.

  The lawns were quiet, but it was Friday night and most of the students were elsewhere. Ari’s homework was done and she had the whole weekend to play. She couldn’t remember the last time she had looked forward to a weekend. It felt amazing. She was just going to change out of her uniform, and then they were going to go down to the city to watch a movie. And she was excited. Imagine that.

  Then her phone rang.

  Her heart turned to lead as she flipped it open and saw her grandfather's name on the caller ID. "Richard," she said, her voice flat and cold. Charity glanced over in surprise, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

  He got right to the point, as always. "Arianna, there's a problem. We need you in New York. Tonight."

  I’m fine, Grandpa. Thanks for asking. School is great. What is that, you need my help? Ari didn’t have to ask what kind of problem. She knew what kind of problem. And because she knew, it was pointless to argue. "Have you booked my flight?" She tried to hide the fact that her heart was sinking. No reason for Richard or Charity to know.

  "I'm sending the jet. We don't have much time." He hung up.

  Ari snapped the phone shut. "I've got a family emergency. Will you tell everyone I'm sorry?" Ari asked Charity, without looking at her.

  Charity put her hand on Ari's arm. "Sure. Of course. Is everything okay?"

  Ari tipped her head back and looked up at the sky. Her throat and eyes ached. No, everything was not all right. I don’t want to be a monster. "Yeah. It'll be fine. I'll see you later, okay?" Without another glance, Ari jogged toward the dorm.

  ****

  Ari burst into her room and dropped to her knees, searching under her bed for her duffle bag.

  "Well helloooo. I swear, she's so rude. She never even says hi or knocks or anything," Brittany said.

  Ari grit her teeth against Brittany’s voice but didn't look at her or the girl she could see out of the corner of her eye sitting next to Brittany on the hazardous bright pink bed. By the smell, Ari guessed they were doing their nails. She tried not to gag on the stench.

  She pulled her bag out and shoved some clothes in it, thinking randomly that at least her homework was done. "Good news, Brittany. You get the room to yourself for the next few days. Enjoy," Ari said as she threw her bag over her shoulder and stalked out.

  She picked up her car keys at the front desk. Students were required to hand over their keys when they arrived. They could check them out after school was out on Fridays, or if their legal guardian called and approved it. Thankfully, her mother had already called ahead and approved it. Lucky her.

  Ari settled into the seat of her small 4x4 SUV with mixed emotions. She loved to drive, and she loved her car — she even named it Beep. But she did not love where she was about to drive her Beep.

  Before Will had left, he had been the Edrens' go-to saldepement thrower, even though he was so young. Not everyone could do saldepements, just as not everyone could heal or attack with powerful offensive spells, called liriks. The Prodigy could do most of it, but even Ari couldn't heal. Saldepement was one of the rarest spells performed by Edrens; not only did you have to have one caster who was able to do it, but you had to have two — and they had to be able to do it at the exact same time. Ari's grandfather thought he was all-powerful, but he couldn't do saldepements at all, and neither could any of her step-fathers. Once, when Ari had been in trouble, her mother had been able to do it, but hadn't since. Ari had perfect faith, though, that if she was ever in trouble again, her mother would be there. As long as her grandfather allowed it.

  Because saldepements were virtually non-existent in the Edren upper circle, they had a private jet. It was waiting for Ari at the small airport in Park City, about ten miles from her school. She parked in the hanger and grabbed her bag, focused on what she was about to do. She had long ago realized that letting go of her alternate life was the only way to survive being the Edrens' assassin.

  Otherwise, she would lose her mind.

  ****

  Shane had been having a staring contest with the doorway for several minutes, waiting for Ari and Charity. He saw Charity as soon as she rounded the corner, her head down, eyes staring at the floor. She paused next to him and Hunter. Shane glanced at the doorway and back at Charity, confused.

  “Where’s Ari?” Shane looked back at the doorway. Come on, Ari. Please don’t ditch me.

  She glanced up at him. “Ari had a family emergency. She left.”

  Ari had said she had never been to a movie. Shane had been looking forward to seeing her reaction.

  “She left?” Hunter asked, folding his arms across his chest, frowning. He glanced at the doorway as well, as if hoping Charity was wrong.

  “Are you disappointed Ari’s not coming?” Charity’s eyebrows drew together and her fair skin paled even more as she studied Hunter.

  “Of course not. At least we won’t have to hang around waiting for her to show up.”

  Charity blinked at him in surprise. “That was harsh, Hunter,” she said, her voice tinged with a coldness that neither of them were used to.

  Hunter shook his head. “I’m sorry Charity. I… don’t know what’s wrong with me.” His voice softened as he met her eyes.

  “Well, just for that you get to tell Nev and Livi she isn’t coming. I don’t want to.” Charity sniffed, turning toward the two girls as they bounced into the room.

  Nev glanced at her and then at the doorway, confused. “Where’s Ari?” Livi asked.

  Hunter sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he nodded at Charity. “Yes ma’am.”

  ****

  Ari jumped out of Beep and marched toward the plane, watching as the door opened and her current step-father appeared in the doorway, framed by the light behind him. He wasn't a big man, and Ari towered over him in her boots. "Franklin," she said coldly as she climbed the stairs.

  "Arianna. It took you long enough." He stepped back and let her through.

  She didn't glance at him and didn't respond. Instead, she moved to the middle of the jet and perched on one of the plush leather seats that faced the giant TV screen along one wall. She was greeted by her grandfather’s scowl on the monitor.

  "What's the mission?" She didn’t bother to say hello.


  "Upstate New York. Troy and his partner were following a lead on the Carules Prodigy and walked into an ambush. They have valuable intel that we don't want to fall into Carules’ hands."

  "How do you know they're still alive?" Ari asked.

  "We've got eyes on them from the warehouse across from where they're being held."

  "Have you sent anyone in yet?"

  "No. We're waiting for you." Ari nodded. It was just as well. Fewer people to rescue.

  "What kind of intel do they have?" At this Richard hesitated, and Ari sighed, annoyed, as she leaned back into the seat. "Troy knows who I am, doesn't he?"

  He didn't immediately answer. "I believe so."

  "Then why on earth did you send him into an ambush?" She fought to keep her voice level.

  "I didn't know it was an ambush!" He slammed his fist on his desk. Clearly he wasn’t fighting to keep his voice level.

  She shook her head in frustration, already knowing the words that would come out of his mouth next. "Arianna, we don't know what he could have told them. You can't leave anyone alive."

  "If they have any information, it'll be out already anyway. There's no point in killing everyone there," she argued.

  “No one has left the building.” Franklin jumped in, panting like a lap dog waiting for his treat.

  Ari sighed. Did these men not live in the same technological age as she did? “Don’t they have cell phones? Or email?”

  Richard’s face darkened. He was tired of her questions. It was easy for him to send her in to kill everyone. She'd like to see him do it sometime and see how he handled it.

  “Your job isn’t to worry about what they may or may not have done. Your job is to eliminate the threat.”

  “My job is to find the Prodigy and kill him to end the war. Everything else you send me to do is just a perk for you. It will be a rescue mission. I'll get them out, but that's it." She folded her arms across her chest, leveling her brown eyes on him, her voice final.

  Richard looked over her head and she turned to see Franklin standing behind her, sparks tingling off his fingertips. He didn't bother with spells, instead swinging his hand and catching her cheek with his palm, the sparks on his fingertips scalding near her hairline. She felt the pain as if from a distance, but she welcomed the flames in her blood as they boiled to life, propelling her to her feet. Moving so fast he didn’t even see her until it was too late, she caught his hand when he raised it to hit her again, her eyes dark and angry.

  "Arianna, that was just to show you what your mother can expect when Franklin gets home tonight. Unless, of course, you do as I ask. It isn't such a hard thing, killing the people who are trying to destroy you, is it?" Richard's voice purred behind her.

  Ari didn't move, didn't alter her gaze. She'd heard all this before. But this time, her eyes burned and she let the flames flow through her blood and out of her fingertips, burning into Franklin's wrist where she held it. He jerked, trying to pull away, but she refused to let go, and she was much stronger than he was. He writhed and shrieked in pain until she finally released him, shoving him away from her, watching as he fell into the seat across from hers.

  "That was just to show you what you can expect if you touch my mother one more time," she said, teeth clenched, letting sparks fly from her fingertips.

  "Arianna! That's enough. You're going to light the jet on fire. Franklin, go get your wounds treated.” Richard sounded bored, but Franklin half-stood, leaning on the chairs as far away from Ari as he could get, holding his injured wrist. He scampered from the cabin and Ari slowly turned to face Richard.

  "If you're going to try to hurt me, you had better do it in person, Richard," she said flatly.

  "You're in quite a bad temper tonight." He smirked. He always seemed to consider it a triumph to make Ari lose her temper. At least it was when she wasn’t close enough that she could take her temper out on him.

  "Stop threatening my mother," Ari said.

  "Fine. Get Troy and his partner out. I'll leave the rest to the team that will meet you there." Ari frowned but said nothing. The TV went blank — he was gone. She sank down into the plush leather chair and put a hand to her face, wondering how her new wound looked with her yellow and blue bruises that still lingered from falling off the ladder. Same side even. Fantastic.

  Franklin wasn't even close to being as powerful as her grandfather. But then again, her grandfather didn't like to touch people. He never would have struck her with his hand, and never to her face. He was sneaky that way.

  For the thousandth time, Ari wished her mother would just defend herself. She was powerful —Ari knew she was powerful. And she didn’t understand it at all, but Vivian never stood up to anyone. If she would, just once, Ari could be free… at least, free-er. Without the constant threat of hurting her mother, Richard wouldn’t have anything to control her with.

  The plane touched down three hours later. Ari was standing at the door when it opened and descended the stairs with her mind going in at least twenty different directions at once. She needed Will's shroud for this. She glanced at the team assembling just outside, but none of them had noticed her in the dark of the hanger. She escaped to the ladies’ room and dug her cell out of her pocket. "Will? Can you send a shroud to me?"

  "Again?" Will's worry came loud and clear through the line. "Ari, how about I open a doorway and you just come to me? They—"

  "Will, I don't have much time. Can you send a shroud or not?" she interrupted, glancing at the door.

  Silence for several seconds, and then, "Yeah I'll send it. Open your doorway in ten, nine, eight… " Ari hung up and stuffed her phone into her pocket but kept counting down in her head. “One,” she whispered, drawing the saldepement spell in front of her. As the doorway shimmered open she could see Will on the other side, and as always she had to fight the temptation to just step through and hide there with him.

  Instead she held out her hand and his shroud spell blasted through, enveloping her. As it settled over her skin like a warm blanket, she whispered, "Thank you."

  He shook his head sadly. "Be careful, Ari," he answered as the doorway faded.

  Resolute, she turned her back on the remaining sparkle and marched out of the room.

  Will was a powerful shrouder. The whole colony he lived in was hidden in one of his shrouds so that no one on the outside could see what they were doing inside. Ari used his shrouds every time she went into battle. That way no one could tell what she looked like, or even where she was. Ari couldn't do shroud spells herself, but Richard didn't know that.

  She pulled the hood of her gray cloak up and stalked toward the team waiting for her. She watched as their eyes flickered up at her and away, and they all scuttled out of her path, clearing the way to the waiting black SUV. She slid inside and waited while the rest of them piled in behind her. It was a tight fit, but no one dared sit too close to the distorted shape of the Prodigy; they rode in uncomfortable, fearful silence the entire way. Ari just stared out the window, her reflection a gray, undistinguishable shimmer.

  She could see the sparkle of blue Carules magic traces before the building even came into view. It was a nondescript warehouse in a nondescript industrial district. She didn't care what it looked like. While the rest of the team jumped out of the SUV and moved stealthily toward the only visible door, Ari climbed out slowly, watching them with weariness. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to fight with anyone. But what choice did she have? Shoving the remaining traces of her humanity way down deep, she straightened her spine and slammed the car door shut behind her. Shocked and more than a little startled, they all whirled to look at her, but she ignored them and stalked straight up to the warehouse door.

  It was locked, of course. Ignoring the second-in-command of her team, who rushed forward with a lock pick, Ari stepped back and traced a sabate on the front of the door, pushing the spell with her hands. It was a minor spell that created a small explosion, but she shoved it a little too forcefully, p
erhaps, as the door blasted inside, its pieces smashing into the opposite wall. She heard yelling as the Carules in the building above scrambled to ready themselves. Didn’t they realize who must be coming? Didn’t they realize it was a lost cause to fight her? Why couldn’t they ever just run?

  Angry now, because they wouldn’t save themselves, she stormed in, turned left down the hall, and found the stairs. She could feel Troy and his partner above her, and in the back of her mind she wondered why no one had bothered to tell her his partner’s name. Probably because no one had ever considered that she might like to know who she was rescuing.

  At the top of the stairs she paused, getting a feel for where her Edren targets were. Blue flames blasted by her head and she turned, her fingers already up and throwing an alable spell. Fire shot from her hands, chasing the Carules warrior who had dared to attack her. He dove behind a wall but her flames blasted through it. She heard him scream as he was hit and horror tried to rise up from somewhere around her stomach, but she shoved it away as she turned her attention to a second, third, fourth Carules coming around the corner at a dead run. She traced the spell again and threw the flames at them, so fast they couldn't follow her movements, let alone get out of the way. Before the spell hit and she could see the terror in their faces, she turned away, looking for the next threat.

  Her team had caught up and swarmed around her, trying pointlessly to protect her. More Carules poured out of the rooms on either side of the hallway, throwing spells of their own. Blue flames assaulted her team and she watched two of them go down, taking fire for her.

  Please don’t lose your lives for me.

  "Get behind me!" she yelled. They, of course, didn't listen, desperate to protect their Prodigy. She couldn't throw any of her spells without fear of hitting her team. Frustrated, she darted forward, shoving them out of her way. Already tracing her spell into the air in front of her, she forcibly moved her second-in-command (shouldn’t I at least know his name?) out of her way and threw her spell, but not fast enough. Blue flames slammed into her shoulder, a powerful fireball spell that seared into her skin. She didn't pause, because acknowledging the pain would get her whole team killed.