Feudlings In Smoke (Fate On Fire Short Story) by Wendy Knight Page B

settled for getting right to the point. “Ari's starting another new school.”
    Dani's lips quirked. “She's pretty used to the whole new school thing, Will,” she pointed out. “And besides, being at a new school is better than being at the estate with her grandfather.”
    He's my grandfather, too. But they never spoke of Richard having any relation to Will. It was too painful. Not to mention dangerous. Most of the colony members knew Ari was Will's sister, but they didn't know she was the Edren Prodigy. Dani was one of the few who still remembered. The rest had left… or worse.
    “Yeah,” he finally said when he realized Dani was still waiting for an answer. “Yeah, I know. But it's scary. What if she stumbles into a Carules hot spot? Remember Texas?”
    Dani winced. Oh yes, they all remembered Texas. Ari had nearly been ambushed. Richard had pulled her out just in time, and then sent in a team to kill them all. Teenagers. People Ari had known well.
    This was why she didn't make friends.
    Will had been powerless to help her. If he stepped foot outside the magical wards of the colony, he'd have not only Carules trying to kill him, but his own Edren people. For being a traitor to the war. For being too powerful. For standing up to Richard.
    “Why don't you try to call her?” She leaned forward on the couch and slid his cell phone across the coffee table.
    He paused in his pacing to stare at it, running a hand through his wild hair. He knew it stuck up all over the place and was only grateful that spikes were in style right now. Otherwise, he'd just look like a mad scientist — he even had the weird streaks, except his were black and red instead of black and white. Slowly, he reached for the phone, dialing half Ari's number before he put it back down. “No. She'll think I'm hovering.”
    Dani laughed, a bright sound that chased away the darkness Will was drowning in. “Will, you are hovering. And Ari expects it.” She paused, trying to rearrange her face into something resembling seriousness. “If you don't want to call her, then let's do something to take your mind off it.” Rising to her feet, she came across the room and grabbed his hand. He could think of lots of things they could do to take his mind off Ari, but Dani, apparently, already had a plan. She dragged him across the room, stopping to toss his boots at him, and then pulled him outside and down the stairs. He hopped after her, pulling his boots on and fighting a smile.
    She paused by his garage, which had an old cowbell hanging above the door. The garage itself was empty because he had absolutely no need for a car. He didn't even have a driver's license, and he was twenty-seven years old. Dani reached up and jerked on the string, and the bell rang out across the colony. Most of the Renegades were gardening. Since they couldn't just run to the grocery store here, they made most of their own food. Ari, and precious few other trusted loved ones, brought groceries and necessities when they could, but it wasn't steady enough to survive on.
    However, at the ringing of the bell, he saw many of them leave the fields and head for the training grounds, a stadium he'd built years ago at the far edge of town. These Renegades of his might not believe in the war, but they sure did love to train. Kids even came out of their homes — where hopefully most of them were working on their online classes — to learn the spells Will could teach them. “You couldn't have waited until evening?” he asked Dani and smirked as he walked past her.
    She grinned, dancing along next to him. Dani didn't walk. She danced. She had a dancer's body and a dancer's heart. Had they been Normals, she probably would have been famous, performing on stage in front of thousands of people. As it was, she danced here, for herself.
    The training grounds had seen better days, although to be fair, anything that got in the way of Ari and her powerful spells would have seen better days. This