by Wendy Knight
She drew another spell, and as it burned in the air before her she thought randomly that her nacinin was a pretty spell. The Carules, however, didn’t agree. Once they recognized it, they fell all over each other trying to get out of the hallway. As if watching from a distance, she shoved the spell forward and it flew away from her, the red flames growing, expanding into an awful form, distortedly canine, fangs dripping venom, so big it enveloped the entire hallway. It slashed forward with razor-edged paws, and they didn't stand a chance, falling prey to the flames. She thought the screaming would never stop, and then all at once, it did. The hallway was silent.
Ari moved forward, resisting the urge to hold her wounded shoulder, her eyes flicking over the rest of the warehouse for any more traces of Carules magic. She turned to her team, motioning them to come, wanting to scream at them for being so stupid and forcing her to kill the Carules. But her team didn't deserve to be screamed at, and she knew it. She was the only person in the history of Edren or Carules magic who could throw that spell, and she was the only one to blame.
"Secure the building," she said woodenly as she turned the corner into a large lobby-like area. Troy and his unnamed partner sat, tied, beaten and unconscious, in the middle of the room.
She hurried over to them, squatting and putting a hand to each of their necks. "They're alive," she murmured to no one, but one of her team stood silently behind her.
"I'll alert the healers. We should get them out of here before more Carules show up." He motioned to a few of the others standing nearby and they scurried forward, glancing at Ari and then away as if she would throw that spell again at them, just for looking at her.
I did it to save you, she thought sadly.
But they didn’t see that. Ari stood and moved away just as her team commander came, announcing that the building was secure. She stood near the wall as the rest of them made fast work of freeing the Carules restraints that bound their two captives. When they were free and it was clear she was no longer needed, she left, slipping down the stairs.
She left the building before any of them even realized she was gone. She climbed in the SUV. The driver started the engine and pulled away. "What about my team?" she asked, her voice hollow as she glanced behind her at the warehouse.
"Another transport is on the way. We've been instructed to get you back to the hanger." Ari nodded and turned to stare, unseeing, out the window, leaning her forehead against the cool glass.
Their best Edren healer met her on the jet and worked on her all the way home. However, for some reason no one could ever heal Ari properly, so the healer did the best she could and left her alone. Ari spent the rest of the flight staring out the window at the dawn. She did her best not to think, but she failed. When they landed at her family's estate in Pennsylvania she went straight to her room and locked the door without speaking to anyone. She should have said hello to her mother, at least, but just couldn't muster the energy. She took the pain pills the regular Normals doctor had left for her and fell gratefully into a drug-induced sleep.
Chapter Eight
"The Prodigy attacked last night in New York." Hunter hung up his cell phone as he approached Shane and Charity in the shade at the far reaches of the school property — it was Charity’s favorite place on campus. Shane threw rocks desolately in the small pond, watching the ripples fade.
"What happened?" Shane leaned forward, frowning. Next to him, Charity's eyes started to glow; Shane and Hunter both fell silent, watching her face, waiting for her to tell them about her vision. After a moment, the light faded and her glittering silver eyes returned to normal. She bit her lip.
"What do you see?" Shane asked.
When Charity didn't speak right away, Hunter cleared his throat. "They attacked, but the Prodigy had a whole team with him. No one survived. They didn’t even have time to make the captured Edrens talk before — “
Charity interrupted him. "The Council knew he would come. They knew everyone there would be killed, and they didn't care." Silent tears slid down her pale cheeks. Shane and Hunter both jerked toward her in surprise.
“How do you know that?” Hunter asked.
“I saw it! The Council figured they would be able to catch him, but he walked through the wards. Somehow he must have known about them and disabled them.” She paused, her chin quivering. “But the Council knew when they set up the ambush that no one would survive."
"That can't be right." Hunter glared over her shoulder, unwilling to meet her eyes. Charity said nothing, dropping her gaze to stare at the ground, a pink blush spreading across her cheeks.
Shane shook his head. "How many?"
"Thirteen," Hunter and Charity answered together.
Shane jumped to his feet. "That should have been me facing him! Not them!" He slammed his fist into the rough bark of a tree trunk. The bones cracked and the skin tore but he didn't care. He welcomed the pain. Physical pain he could handle.
"The Council wants to make sure they know what they're dealing with before they send you after him. This isn't a battle where we can take chances." Hunter’s voice was deceptively bland as he edged himself between Shane and any more defenseless trees.
"They send their Prodigy out every chance they get. And I sit here and pretend to be a normal person!" Shane’s chest rose and fell as he sucked in ragged breaths, staring at the ground, unwilling to look into the face of Hunter’s calm.
"Yeah, and their Prodigy gets injured. And weakened. And we learn more about him than they know about you. When you do go against him, you'll have the advantage. It won't even be a real fight," Hunter said.
"Yeah. And while we're learning, our people are getting killed. Because of me!"
"It isn't because of you. It's because of this stupid war. When they're ready, the Council will send you out, and the war will be over. It will be worth it,” Hunter told him. Shane looked away, chest heaving.
“I see it sometimes,” Charity whispered. They both looked over at her, startled. She was staring into the pond, and Shane wasn’t sure she was even talking to them.
“See what?” he asked.
“The original Charity. Her vision. Her… prophesy that started the war.”
Hunter leaned forward, studying Charity like he could read her mind. “Tell us.”
She blinked up at him, surprised. Maybe she’d thought they would laugh at her, but Shane was just as anxious to hear what she’d seen as Hunter. She chewed the inside of her cheek for a second, and then nodded. She closed her eyes as they started to glow. Her voice took on an odd, dislocated hollow tone as she recounted what she was seeing.
“With a gasp, her silver eyes flew open and stared, unseeing, at the ceiling above her head, her vision still racing through her mind. Her eyes focused and she heard the howling of the storm through the closed shutters. She fumbled for the candle on the stand beside her, and clambered out of bed, wrapping the bedcovers around her slender shoulders for warmth. The thin walls of this place didn’t keep the heat in. Or the cold out. She peeked through the window but drew back at the chill. There weren’t storms like this at home. Storms frightened her. They always seemed a forbearer of bad things to come. Turning away, she crouched and dug through her satchel on the roughly hewn wood floor, emerging with a quill and paper, then sat at the worn desk and began to write, her mind flitting from her vision to the storm and back again.
Long after her hand throbbed with the effort and her candle had burned low, she continued to write. Finally, exhausted, she sat back, massaging her aching hand and re-reading the last lines she had written. “There will be a great war between those whose blood run with flames. Blue as the deepest ocean and crimson as a pierced heart. It will be unstoppable until the day two will rise up, more powerful than any before or any to come after, and the one soul who houses both will be put to rest and bring an end to the war.”
“But what was the betrayal?” Hunter asked.
Charity jerked, startled out of her vision. Blinking several times,
she stared owlishly at Hunter before her brain caught up. “The betrayal was the Edren Duke and his daughter Ada torturing Christian, who was a Carules. And… and his cousin, Charity.” She shuddered. The original Charity had lost her mind because of spells the Duke had practiced on her. She threw herself from a bridge not long after the war had started.
“It won’t happen to you, Char. The Duke of Adlington has been dead for hundreds of years,” Shane said.
It was as if he hadn’t spoken. Charity said nothing, watching ripples race across the pond.
****
In History Monday, Shane walked into class, his feet dragging. It was a constant battle to fight the images in his head of his people being murdered.
He was anxious to see Ari, hoping she would provide a much needed distraction. He was surprised when her seat was still empty, and although he kept watching the door all through class, Ari never showed up. Even Hunter seemed preoccupied, glancing from her empty seat to the door as if he could conjure her into place. Although… it was Monday, and they had a football game that day. Knowing Hunter, he was probably worried about losing the game without her.
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 h
ead 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.
