Feudlings (17 page)

"Ready?" he asked. Ari looked up at him, surprised that he was there and surprised that he looked so somber. He too looked grim and serious, which wasn't like Shane at all.

"This is the girls’ dorm. Don’t you ever just
call?
And how do you get in here all the time anyway?" she asked, standing up. He just stared at her, his mouth open but no sound coming out.

Charity shook her hand with a small smile. "The girl at the front desk likes him. She lets him do whatever he wants," she said.

Ari looked from her to Shane, forcing herself not to think about another girl liking Shane… or heaven forbid, him liking her
back
. She changed the subject. "Charity, I feel like I should carry you." She followed Charity out of the room. Charity broke into a weak smile as she looped her arm through Ari's. Ari couldn't help but notice that Charity leaned on her quite a bit.

As Livi predicted, Ari was blasted with several menacing glares as she walked in with Shane. In her opinion, it was ridiculous since she had barely spoken to him in over two weeks
and
because she wasn't even next to him when they came through the door.

The music was pounding off the walls, and it sounded more like screaming than singing. Ari winced a little as it attacked her ears. The middle of the gym was teeming with dancing, sweaty bodies. Ari stopped in the doorway and regarded it with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows. General chaos. Interestingly enough, battlefields and high school dance floors looked amazingly similar.

Shane's hand was at her back, slowly guiding her inside. "People are staring," he said quietly.

She glanced over at him with a smirk. "Aren't you used to that by now?"

There was barely a spark of his usual self as he gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, when it's me they're staring at."

Ari wasn’t sure how to respond to that, besides trying to squash the butterflies going nuts in her stomach. Instead she said, "I've never been to a dance before. It's… busy." Her eyes returned to the mass of kids. Shane stopped, and Hunter, who had appeared on her other side, stared at her too.

"Never?" he asked in disbelief.

"No. Never wanted to," she said with a careless shrug.

Charity cleared her throat next to them and gave Hunter and Shane a meaningful look. Ari, realizing she was about to be dismissed, decided to beat them to it. "Well, have fun guys." Then she sauntered off. She didn't saunter, usually, but she thought the situation warranted it. Luckily, as soon as she left Shane's side she was accosted by boys dragging her out to the dance floor, despite her towering heels. She didn't even have a chance to give the people she had thought were her friends a second look.

****

“Shane, we’re running out of time!” Charity said as soon as Ari was out of earshot, whirling on him in panic. Her eyes frantically scanned the room; there was no sign of the boy or the girl she kept seeing over and over in her vision. It was coming so often she barely had a chance to see the present before her eyes swam and she was overtaken by that horrible scene again. She grasped Hunter’s arm to keep from falling over.

“Okay Charity, sit. We’ll go look. If you see him, yell,” Shane said, guiding her to a chair at an empty table. Hunter hurried over to the refreshments and returned with punch, pressing it into her hand.

Charity’s eyes were already glowing silver, lost in the vision again. If they didn’t find him soon, she’d go mad. Shane’s eyes swept the room, wishing he knew a spell or something that would help him, but he didn’t and there were so many kids. He glanced at Hunter, who nodded once. They split up, Shane heading one way, Hunter the other, leaving Charity alone at the table with her terrified glowing eyes, staring at nothing.

****

Ari assumed that dances might be fun, if she ever got a chance to dance with someone she actually liked. Since she hadn't, and because she didn't like to be touched much at all, she found herself bored and annoyed and looking for an escape after a few minutes.

As soon as her current dance partner let her go, she seized the opportunity to flee to the refreshment table, filling her little plastic cup with a weird-looking green punch. She spilled some over the side and watched it drip onto her hand, muttering under her breath at the sticky mess. Staring at it, she wondered how horrible it was going to taste, and cautiously stuck her tongue out. Mid-lick, she glanced up and saw Charity, sitting alone at a table in the corner, sobbing.

Several kids around them were staring at her; some were snickering. Ari abruptly lowered her hand, baffled. She had never seen Charity cry before. She always seemed serene and controlled.

For a second, she argued with herself about going over there. She knew they didn’t want her around. But one more glance at Charity's pathetic face and the sound of her heart-breaking sobs, somehow carrying over the music, and Ari was rushing to her side.

There was something strange about Charity's eyes. Squatting down in front of her, Ari stared up at Charity's face, but Charity seemed to look right through her.
She can't see me,
Ari realized with a start. "Charity," she said quietly, reaching for her hands. Charity jumped and jerked away.

"Charity, it's Ari. What's going on?" Soothing was a new attempt for her.
And it so isn’t my thing,
she thought, scowling
.

"Ari?" Charity whispered.

"Yes. What's wrong? Do you need me to take you to the nurse?"

"Noooo," Charity moaned, tears still rolling down her face. Ari shoved her hair away from her face and tried again.

"Do you need to go back to the dorms?"

"No. I can't." Charity covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

Ari bit her lip, studying Charity, not sure what to do. She looked over her shoulder toward the crowd of kids, but couldn't see Shane or Hunter anywhere. Desperate, she searched for Nev or Livi, but there were just too many people.

"How about for a walk? Fresh air might help.” Charity stilled, so Ari rushed to continue, hoping she was making progress. “We could take that path that goes up to the pond." She was unsure what else to do but keep talking.

"The pond?" Charity asked, jerking upright. The weird light in her eyes faded and she focused on Ari, scrubbing her face with her fists.

"Yeah. Remember we went there a couple of weeks ago and fed the ducks those rolls we stole out of the cafeteria?" Ari sat back on her heels, relief surging through her.

"The pond! Ari! Help me find Shane!"

"What?" Ari asked, confused.

Charity jumped to her feet and started toward the room without her. Ari frowned and stood slowly, watching her go.
You're welcome,
she thought. She picked up her punch and took a long sip, then gagged. It was not as good in mass gulps as it had been in small lick-quantities. She looked up to see Charity racing toward her, tears again streaming down her cheeks.

"Ari! I need your help! Please! I can't do it alone!" she said.

"Okay! Okay, I'll help you find Shane," Ari said, more than a little baffled.

"We don't have time. The guy's going to… He's going to…" Charity sobbed harder.

"Charity, did someone hurt you?" Ari grabbed her shoulders and forced Charity to face her.

Charity closed her eyes, as if in pain. "Not me, Ari. Someone else." Ari pulled her chin in, more confused than before. "I can't explain. You'll think I'm crazy. But I can't find Shane or Hunter and neither of them are answering their phones, the morons! I've got to help her but I can't go alone. He's too big for me!" Charity wailed.

"What? Who?" Ari asked.

"Ari, I can't. You'll never believe me and we don't have time. Please, please just trust me?" Charity pleaded, her big silver eyes, wavering with tears.

"Okay. I'm in. What do you want me to do?" Ari said with barely a hesitation.

Without a word, Charity grabbed Ari's hand and whirled, racing toward the door. They burst into the cold night air and Charity ran as hard as she could toward the path. "This way!" she yelled at Ari.

They flew up the path, hearing nothing but their own ragged breathing and their feet pounding on dry, dead leaves. Suddenly, Charity crashed to a stop, Ari right behind her. They had both heard it, the deep rumble of a mocking laugh and terrified whimpers. And then a shriek of pain.

"This way." Ari spun toward the trees. Leading the way now, she barreled through the forest, following the noise, and burst upon them just as a boy she had never seen before shoved a red-headed girl to the ground. Her face was already bruised and bleeding.

Without even pausing to think, Ari dove at him, hitting him from behind and crashing to the ground on top of him. He rolled, throwing her off, but she was on her feet much faster than he was, throwing herself at him again. This time he landed on his back and she hauled her fist back and punched him, knocking his face sideways and breaking his nose. He lay still.

Charity was on her knees next to the girl, who sobbed and gasped for breath. Ari pushed away from the boy and hurried over, crouching next to her. It was obvious that the girl had more injuries than just a bruised face.

"Where does it hurt?" Charity kept asking, her face composed, no sign of the frantic tears that had consumed her before.

"My back. My back!" The girl wailed as she gasped. Breathing seemed to be a problem for her. Ari crawled around behind her and saw blood soaking the whole back of her shirt. Then she froze. Pounding of heavy footsteps in the distance. Someone else was coming.

"He broke her ribs.” Charity jerked off her soft jacket and ripped it into strips. "Where are you when I need you, Shane?" she muttered angrily.

Ari wished fervently she could heal, or that Will was here. She wasn't used to feeling powerless as she watched the girl's lips turning blue. “Charity, she can’t breathe. Why can’t she breathe?”

"A rib punctured her lung," Charity said, her control cracking.

Ari took the strips as Charity held the girl, and together they started wrapping them as tightly as they could, trying to stop the bleeding. Whoever was racing through the forest was close now, and Ari rose to her feet, her hands ready to throw a defensive spell. She could take on one boy by herself with no magic, but judging from the noise, there was more than one person coming

"Shane!" Charity yelled, and Ari whirled to stare at her in surprise as the crashing came toward them. Charity didn't look at her, and Ari turned back toward the trees just as Shane and Hunter's big forms took shape in dim light of the forest.

"Where have you been?" Charity snapped at them without looking up from tying the strips of cloth.

"We didn't see you leave. We had to ask like ten people where you went before we found someone who saw you come this way," Hunter said as Shane wordlessly dropped to his knees next to the now-unresponsive girl. Her face was pale and sickly blue.

"She's not breathing," Charity whispered.

"Shane," Hunter said, looking from Ari to Shane and back again. Shane and Charity both froze, looking up at her.

"What?" Ari asked. She had her phone in her hand, holding it up toward the sky. "I'm trying to call nine-one-one but my phone doesn't have a signal here." She dropped her arm in frustration.

"There's no time," Shane said. He started to draw in the air above the girl's wound.

Ari's chin dropped.

"Ari, whatever you're about to see, you can't tell anyone. Anyone! Do you hear me?" Hunter yelled as Ari ignored him, staring in shock as Shane repeated the spell and then pushed it toward the girl. Blue flames seeped into her skin, threading over and under, healing her.

"Oh my…." But Ari never got to finish. Hunter grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her none-too-gently. Her head snapped back and she reached up to grab her neck, glaring at him.

"If you tell anyone, you could get him killed. Do you understand me?" Hunter barked at her. She stared at him, her mind racing. Charity was suddenly at her side, pushing Hunter's hands away.

"I saw this a… a .. .a couple of weeks ago. We've been looking for them ever since. We've spent every waking hour looking for them. But we couldn't find them."

"That's why you've been acting so weird," Ari murmured.

Charity nodded.

Ari looked over at Shane and the girl, whose color was returning."She's breathing," she said dumbly.

Shane raised his eyes to meet hers, his blue gaze pleading with her for understanding. "I healed her."

Ari could see the blue magic pulsing through the air, rippling away from them. Slowly she turned her eyes back to Hunter, who still stood in front of her, breathing hard, his hands fisted at his sides.

Hunter stared back at her. Her gaze swept to Shane again, then to Charity. Her mind raced. She could tell them who she was. They might understand. Or… they might kill her. An eternity passed in a few seconds as she battled within herself.

"Ari!" Hunter yelled, jerking her again.

Her head snapped back and forth like a rag doll.
Oh yeah, they'd kill me
.

"Okay! Hunter, who would I tell? Who would believe me if I wanted to?" she yelled back, shoving him away from her. She rubbed her temples, where a headache was forming, and closed her eyes.

"We need to get her to the nurse. And call the police," Charity said. No one moved.

Shane stood up, leaving the girl's side to come over to Ari. "Hey," he said quietly. She opened her eyes, dropping her hands to her sides. He reached up and tucked a wild red wave behind her ear. "I know it's unbelievable. But there are people out there who want to kill us for what we can do. If you tell anyone…"

"I won't, Shane." She met his gaze and held it. He studied her for a long minute. Ari didn’t breathe, her eyes lost in metallic blue. How had she never noticed before that his eyes were the color of Carules flames?

Charity yelped, breaking the spell. "They don't go to this school. That's why we couldn't find them," she exclaimed. Her eyes were glowing again.

"So Charity can see the future? She's a psychic?" Ari asked, playing dumb. She knew perfectly well what Charity was, although Edrens didn't have any Seers. Ari had never even met a Seer before. They weren't sent out to battle, probably because they would see their own imminent deaths.