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
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