Feudlings by Wendy Knight

Ari didn’t answer it.
    “Nice kid,” she said instead, and Shane laughed.
    “He’s… a little extreme,” Shane said with an easy grin.
    Ari’s breath caught in her throat. She had heard about devastating smiles before, but never seen one.
    Until now.
    She struggled to focus on something that didn’t make her knees weak, reminding herself that she was the Edren Prodigy. She had faced armies of Carules by herself without so much as flinching. This random boy was not going to make her shake in her boots, no matter how attractive he was.
    Several girls walked by, cooing over Shane. “Hey,” he answered them, but he never took his eyes off Ari. Belatedly she realized he was waiting for her to say something. She grasped at a coherent thought.
    “Ya think?” was all she could come up with.
    Shane’s lips quirked up.
    “He’s not so bad once you get to know him. Sometimes.” He gave an amiable shake of his head, chuckling as he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.
    “Right.” Ari drew out the word with mild sarcasm. “Well, I would love to sit and debate it with you, but I’ve got a labyrinth to be lost in.” She gestured at the offending halls before turning back to him. “But thanks, for taking me to the nurse. I would never have found her on my own. Especially unconscious and being stuck under a ladder.” She smiled.
    “No problem. Saving damsels in distress is something I try to do at least once a day, and” — he paused with a mischievous smile, — “I haven’t filled my quota for today. Lost?”
    She glanced over at him, felt her knees wobble, and gritted her teeth. “Of course not. The hallways make perfect sense. I’m just enjoying the parallelism of these two particular halls.” She returned her attention to the safety of the corridors, eyeing them in annoyance. Most of the students had found their way to class by now, which left Ari hoping Shane couldn’t hear her pounding heart in the sudden quiet.
    “What class ya heading to?”
    Ari wordlessly handed him her schedule.
    “Hey, me too. And I happen to know the way. Wanna tag along?” he asked, and she sighed at his smirk.
    “Sure. Why not?”
    Shane pointed out all the school landmarks she should know while they walked, but it did about as much good as when Nevaeh attempted it. Ari wasn’t even trying to make sense of it all now. Instead she focused on not focusing on Shane, which was harder than it should have been. She distracted herself by watching for traces of Carules magic.
    She was startled when the bell rang, compelling her to point out the obvious. “We’re late. I made you late.”
    “It’s okay. Teachers love me. And no one will blame you for being late. You’re the new kid.” Shane glanced at her and then away as he led her through hallways that all looked alike. His lips quirked in that smile again. “I have to mention… you’re face looks horrible. How ya holdin’ up?”
    “Yeah, thanks for mentioning. I hadn’t realized.” She grimaced “I’m fine. Sore, but fine.” Truthfully she had a headache that wouldn’t quit and her shoulder and ribs still throbbed, especially when she had three floors of stairs to climb up and down. But she was used to headaches. She had them a lot and the Edren healers couldn’t seem to get rid of them. Her brother had told her it was stress. And guilt. If she would quit fighting she’d get rid of the headaches. Like that was even possible.
    A minute later, she watched Shane breeze through the door to their classroom. Ari hesitated outside, sucked in a breath, and followed him.
    “Ari, I saved you a seat,” she heard Charity call. She resisted the urge to ask why and murmured “thank you” as she slid in next to the silver-eyed girl, confused again by the kindness of these people.
    The teacher was calling roll, and other than glaring at them when they walked in, he ignored their tardiness. “Arianna Delacour,” he called. More like announced;