Feudlings (30 page)

She squared her shoulders, glaring at the man dragging her best friend across the grass like she was nothing.

"I'm Charles, head Council member. We haven't been introduced but I feel like I know you already. I've heard so much about you." His voice was high and false.

Ari ground her teeth together, letting the sparks fly from her fingertips, turning into flames. The grass around her feet ignited, but Charles didn't seem to notice. "Here's the thing, before you attempt to kill me, you should realize that there is a portal right here. You send a spell at me, and I'll just step right through. The only thing for your spell to hit… will be your little friend here."

The sparks at Ari's fingertips died. "What do you want?" she asked, although she already knew.

"Give yourself up and I'll leave the little failure of a Seer here for our failure of a Prodigy to take home. No harm done."

"What good will that do you? You can't kill me," Ari pointed out.

"No. But I'll figure something out. So what's it going to be, Edren?" he asked, jerking on Charity's arm. Charity moaned. She was coming around.

"Ari…" She groaned. Charles raised a cruel eyebrow.

"They trusted you," Ari said, her eyes moving to Shane and Hunter, still trying to get through the wards.

"Well, the thing is, if I left it up to them, we would have lost this war. And I can't let that happen." He jerked Charity again and Ari heard a sickening crack as Charity's arm gave way. Charity shrieked in pain.

"Okay." Ari held up her hands. "Let her go and I'll go with you." She could feel Will's scream echoing through her head, through her heart. Shane was frozen on the other side of the wards, as if he could hear her too. Hunter was shaking his head frantically, but there was nothing any of them could do. She had led Charity right into this trap, telling them how tough she was, how she was a better fighter than any of them.

She was surrounded by Carules warriors prodding her toward the portal. Ari resisted the urge to shove them away, watching Charity's crumpled form at Charles' feet.

"Let her go." Ari’s voice was frightening. The warriors around her flinched away, but Charles only raised his chin.

"Of course. As soon as you are on the other side of the portal and unable to kill me." He waved his hand toward the shimmering doorway, falsely chivalrous.

Ari glanced down at Charity as she walked past, but there was nothing she could do. One wrong move, and they would kill the only real friend Ari had ever had. She raised her eyes to glare at Charles. "I may be a killer, but using your own people as leverage? You're the monster. Not me."

She had one foot through the portal when she heard Charles' voice again. "Oh, I've changed my mind. I think I'll keep this little thing with me. Just to make sure you
behave
in your new home. I wouldn't want you hurting any more of my warriors."

"What?” Ari screeched, whirling as the
saldepement
spell died and the portal shimmered shut. She had a spell in her hands, ready to throw. And then she heard Charity's scream, filled with pain and fear. The spell died in Ari's hands.

****

The wards died as soon as Charles dragged Charity, kicking and screaming, through another portal that shimmered to life as soon as Ari disappeared. Shane and Hunter raced in from one side as Will came running from the other, but the doorway closed before any of them could get there.

"How did this happen?" Shane exclaimed. Will stared into the space his sister had just disappeared through, willing the portal to open.

"Will.” Dani was still sobbing, limping toward them. In the fury of the attack, she had been left, forgotten.

Will spun on her, his face full of such fury, even Hunter stepped back to give him space. "You did this!" he bellowed. He stalked toward her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"I didn't have a choice! They have my family, Will!" she cried. Shane and Hunter both leaped forward, jerking Will away from her. Released, she crumpled to the ground like a rag doll, burying her head in her arm, sobs shaking her shoulders.

"What do you mean they have your family?" Shane asked, trying to keep his voice calm as he crouched next to her, although he wanted to grab her and shake her like Will had. She was the reason he had just watched the girl he loved and his cousin, the two most important women in the world to him, disappear.

Dani lifted her head. Her face was a disaster of puffy bruises and crisscrossing scratches and welts. Burns, too. "My family was still loyal to the Council, even when I left. But a few months ago, the Council took them into custody and told me if I kept them informed… if I heard anything, they wouldn't hurt them. So I mentioned that Will was… was trying to find out who you were."

"That night when Ari was attacked at school, that was because of you, wasn't it?" Will asked, staring out at the darkness as he paced the empty clearing like a caged leopard. The Council had what they wanted. All their warriors were gone now.

"Yes. I didn't think she would get hurt. She's s-so s-strong." Dani choked on sobs. "I made sure you couldn't leave. T-t-to keep you safe." She looked up at him, her cheeks wet with tears, but Will narrowed his eyes, glaring at the trees.

"Will, they have her family. What else could she have done?" Hunter asked, his voice quiet and defeated.

Will's shoulders slumped, and his head dropped to his chest. "And now they have mine."

"They were going to murder my little brother, Will. If I didn't lure Ari out tonight, they were going to kill him. He's only ten, Will!"

Shane stood up. "It’s okay, Dani. They won’t hurt them now.” Turning to Hunter and Will, he said, “We have to go after them. I've got a lot of contacts. We can start making calls." He cracked his knuckles, anxious to do something.

Will nodded. "I'll put out feelers too. But they have our Prodigy. If she's not dead by now…" No one wanted to finish that thought, but they all knew what he meant. They were torturing her. Ari was strong, but could she endure that?

"Or I could tell you where she is," Dani whispered from the ground. They all jerked toward her, like puppets.

"You know where they are?" Shane asked, hope and disbelief warring on his face.

"No. I know where Ari is. The other girl, I didn't know about her. I didn't know they were going after anyone but Ari."

"Well, wouldn't they keep them in the same place?" Hunter asked. His eyes were as hollow as his voice.

"No. They're using Charity to keep Ari docile. If they kept her in the same place—” Shane started.

"Ari would attack and try to free her. If Ari doesn't know where Charity is, then she has to behave," Hunter finished.

"Where is Ari?" Shane asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Hunter's face was white and he was shaking. Shane had never seen him afraid of anything before, but he was overcome with terror now. And that only made things more hopeless. If it was bad enough that the stoic Hunter, Guard to the Carules Prodigy, was giving up hope, then…

"Shane, stop it. We're going after them. We'll get them both back," Will said, reading his face. "Dani, come back to the compound. We'll get the Healers to help you, and you will tell me where they’re keeping her."

****

Less than twenty minutes later, Dani was on Will’s couch, surrounded by healers they had woken up in a hurry. Will, Hunter, and Shane were in Will’s office, watching as Will’s fingers flew over the keyboard.

"Will, this is a Carules compound. Just you setting foot there is suicide," Hunter pointed out, jabbing his finger at the computer screen. Will had somehow found the blueprints for the building where Ari was being kept, and they were poring over them, trying to make plans.

Will glanced around the corner. Dani lay asleep on his couch, still surrounded by the Healers who were also acting as guards.

"Will can stay here and coordinate—”

"No. That is my
sister
, Shane. Yeah, you might have been in love with her for a couple of weeks, but she is my whole life. You're out of your mind if you think I'm staying here where I'm safe," Will snapped.

He met Shane's eyes; their gazes clashed and held before Shane nodded. "Okay. Okay, we'll all go together.”

“We want to make sure they call the Council,” Hunter said thoughtfully. Shane and Will both looked at him like he had lost his mind. “No, I’m serious. We tell Charles if he hurts her… it won’t go well for him. It could protect Charity,” Hunter explained.

“That’s insane,” Shane said, but after a second he nodded. “But… yeah, it might work.”

Will also nodded in agreement. “It might work better than us sneaking in and killing everyone. Once they found out everyone was dead, they’d take their vengeance out on Charity”

"So we go in and what?" Hunter asked, his eyes scanning the blueprints again.

"We go in there and do whatever it takes to get her out." Shane’s voice was cold and hard.

"First we have to get there.” Will sighed. “Do you have any friends in the area?" He pushed back from his computer, facing Shane.

Hunter and Shane exchanged a look. “Yes,” Hunter said, pulling out his cell phone. A few seconds later, he gave them both a quick nod as he said, “Hey, Mom, it’s Hunter. Can you do me a favor?”

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Okay Hunter," Shelley, Hunter’s mom, said briskly through the phone, "I'm ready. But why way out here? And do you have any idea how dark it is in the middle of New Mexico this time of night?"

"Yeah Mom, that's the plan. Now promise me, you open this portal and get out of there. Run as fast as you can and don't look back." Hunter’s voice was deadly serious.

"But I want to see you! It's been so long,” she objected. When Hunter had been chosen as Shane’s Guard, he had lost all contact with his family, or at least, he should have. But he still called and sent letters as often as he could.

Shane could hear her sadness through the phone. “The area is dangerous, Mrs. Millen. But I promise you Hunter will come to see you all as soon as we’re through here.”

Will’s head jerked up. “Tell her to move,” he whispered urgently.

Hunter clapped his hand over the receiver and looked at Will like he had lost his mind. “What?”

“Tell her to move. Dani said they took her family. They could do the same thing to Hunter’s family to get him to cooperate. She needs to come to the colony. She could be in trouble.” Will leaned forward, his eyes intent.

“Hey, Mom, can you grab the rest of the kids? Things aren’t going well… I know you believe in the war and all—”

“I don’t believe in the war, Hunter. I believe in
you.”

Hunter closed his eyes, fighting some emotion he may or may not have known existed before this point. “Then believe me when I say you could all be in trouble. Get the family and come to this Renegade Colony we’ve been living at. They’ll keep you safe,” he said, his voice strained. He hadn’t even thought about the trouble his own family was in. What kind of a son did that make him? Shane watched him, fingers drumming against his black pants. Shane didn’t know his family. He never had. He had been raised by the Council and boarding school teachers. Charity was the only constant in his life until Hunter had come along.

But Shane knew how much Hunter loved his family, and he must know how awful Hunter felt right now.

“Okay Hunter. I’ll do it. I’ll go get them as soon as you come through,” Shelley said, without more than a moment’s hesitation. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Hunter said. He glanced at Will and Shane, both standing restlessly next to him, dressed all in the same black combat gear he was wearing.

In a fluid movement they had the portal open.

"Now, Shell. Run, now!" Shane said as he jumped through the doorway first.

Although Hunter’s mother nodded, she still hesitated, waiting until Hunter came through. Standing on her toes, she gave Hunter a brief kiss and patted his cheek, just once, before turning and jogging away.

The red desert was hidden in the night. There was hardly any moon, and even the billions of stars didn’t give enough light to see much of the stark New Mexico beauty.

"Ready?" Shane turned to the other two. Hunter still watched his mother run in the opposite direction, but one last, long look and he turned to Shane. He and Will both nodded, faces determined. Together they stepped through the portal, melting into the shadows on the other side. Will's hand flew through the night, red flames melting the air, and pushed a shroud spell toward both of them, letting one also settle on himself. Shane wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but an Edren shroud felt just like a Carules shroud.

The building in front of them didn't look like much. Lights set into the bushes lit the place up, showing a one-story squat, square red brick building. No windows, except for the small squares in the double doors at the front entrance.
It might as well
be
a government office building
or something. Not a holding cell for the most dangerous warrior to ever fight in this stupid war,
Shane thought, frowning.

They advanced silently on the building, walking shoulder to shoulder, but someone was watching for them. Carules warriors piled out the doors, throwing spells. Hunter and Will broke off to the sides, shoving spells back at them, taking down everything in their path. Shane stormed the front door. He could see the guard on the inside, clicking the lock into place, his face smug.

Furious, Shane flung his hand out. Sharp blue flames exploded toward the door, blasting it inward and knocking the guard into the wall. He slumped to the floor and lay unmoving as Shane stepped over him, Will and Hunter at his back.

Alarms sounded as red light flashed through the building. Another guard stood behind a window, a phone to his ear.

"Stop! Stop!" he screamed. Seeing he had their full attention, his eyes lit up with unmistakable cruelty. "If you ever want to see your cousin again, turn around and walk out of here." He waved the phone at them like it was a weapon they should fear.

In one fluid movement, Hunter bashed his hand through the window, grabbing the phone out of the man's hand and hitting the speaker button. "You listen to me, Charles." He hissed as Shane and Will went after the guard who scrabbled against the far wall as fast as he could. "If Charity has even a hangnail, we'll come after you, and it will not be pleasant. Do you understand me? We are coming after you next, and she better be as unharmed as she was when she went to bed last night. Got that?"