va Stu

acking the

or, Bella's wardrobe spilled designer labels past the door. I packed my

old wooden box. I pulled

sures I had cherish

l duel in their name. A yellow slip of paper, soft with age, holding a rare

e these were pro

at they were. Bait. L

betrayal ran throu

ielder, I could coax a flame from the smallest spark of elemental

e-colored flame flickered to l

fire leaped, took the wood and every "m

wn I was carrying lif

uitcase and w

goodbyes. As if a servant we

d on the handle, when Bella's v

n the shimmering new cloak Father had just

"Oh-you're really going? And here I thought you'd b

ly looked at her, my

nce grat

. "In a place like the School of Myriad Races, packed with

ou won't last a month before they throw you out. And when they d

e same collapse she had engineered

st looke

gry. Not sad. Not even hateful. It

ed harder than any ret

oment longer, then

open. Sunlight poured

e over the threshold and stepped out of th

her stare-triumph and

wilted and dull, a fitting portrait of this family's future. The wrought-

Its ordinary noise made the mansio

air tasted of exhau

uart. Me, and the Silver Cloud Socie