Oaken

by Melody Robinette

  Instead of going inside when they reached the castle, Avery led Autumn into the courtyard, a fairyland of blossoms and soft green grass. They sat on a marble bench among a patch of strange white flowers with buds that resembled swirling clouds.

  “What are those?” Autumn asked.

  “Puffinellos,” Avery said as he bent to pick one and handed it to her.

  Their fingers brushed and Autumn’s heart fluttered. Her physical reactions were becoming a little ridiculous. She was beginning to think Avery felt them too because every time they touched or locked eyes, his square jaw clenched.

  She rolled the puffinello back and forth between her fingertips. The white, cloud-like substance swirled with the motion.

  “Have you always lived in Arbor Falls?” Autumn asked, still watching the flower spin and swirl.

  Avery sighed. “My whole life.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “It’s not really. I just envy people who’ve had the ability to travel. To see all of the Underground and even go to the Outside.”

  “Why weren’t you able to?”

  “My father. He was the Head Warrior and he felt it was his duty to protect the elves of the kingdom. So we never left.”

  “He was Head Warrior? Did he retire?”

  Avery was quiet for a second. Autumn abandoned her puffinello and glanced sideways at him. His brow was furrowed and he stared unseeingly ahead.

  “No,” he said, not looking at her. “He died in battle.”

  Autumn’s heart hurt for him because she knew exactly how it felt to lose a father. Forgetting her grandfather’s rule for the moment, she reached over and grabbed Avery’s hand.

  “I’m so sorry, Avery.”

  He turned to face her, their eyes locking. Tingling warmth pulsed through their clasped hands. Their faces were inches apart. Her gaze moved from Avery’s eyes down to his mouth and she swore her heart stopped for a moment.

  Then someone burst through a jumble of bushes a few feet away from them. Autumn jumped and pulled her hand from Avery’s. They turned to face the source of the commotion. The girl Luke “saved” in Healing was pulling him along through the courtyard, giggling. Luke looked their way and did a double take.

  “What are you two doing out here?”

  “We could ask you the same thing,” Autumn said, shooting a disapproving glance at the girl trailing behind him.

  Luke wore a sheepish expression as he said, “Oh, uh, Julia just wanted to see the castle.”

  Autumn raised a suspicious eyebrow at the girl.

  “I’ve actually got to get home, Prince Luke,” Julia said, sending Autumn a wary glance. “Thanks again for saving me. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Oh, uh, yeah sure,” Luke said. Julia’s face fell a bit as she walked off through the bushes. “Shut up, Autumn,” Luke snapped when he saw his sister looking at him with a repressed smile.

  “I didn’t say anything, Prince Luke.”

  The Brawl

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Autumn and Avery were silent all through breakfast the next day. She could tell Luke and Crystal sensed that something was off, but was pretty sure they were clueless otherwise. She’d had all night to think about how close she had come to breaking her grandfather’s rule and felt horrible about it.

  So, she made a new promise to herself to keep her distance from Avery, but in Literature he sat in the seat beside her and kept asking questions and cracking jokes when Magistra Hart wasn’t paying attention. She answered his queries and laughed without hesitation at his jokes, mentally kicking herself afterwards. Aside from Luke, her grandfather was the only family she had left and she didn’t want to disappoint him by disobeying one of the few things he’d asked of her. She could control herself. Really.

  “Hey, do you want to go to lunch with me? Just the two of us?” Avery asked her as the bells rang in the distance.

  Oh great, Autumn thought. “Um…yeah?”

  His smile faltered a bit. “Is that a question?”

  “Yes. I mean no, it’s not a question. Yes, I want to go to lunch—with you.”

  Just then Luke and Crystal bounced up to them.

  “Ready to go?” Luke said. “I’m feeling like pizza.”

  “I think Autumn and I will be having lunch alone today, actually,” Avery said.

  “Wha—” Luke began.

  “Okay!” Crystal chimed in before Luke could finish. Though, for once, Autumn had been hoping that her brother’s over-protective nature would save her from herself. “We’ll just see you in Powers,” Crystal said, pulling Luke with her down the path to town. Luke turned to flash Autumn a suspicious look with a hint of warning.

  So bad. Not a good idea. Autumn kept telling herself this, but she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of excitement as Avery led her down a path off campus.

  “Where are we going? The path into town is the other way.”

  “We aren’t going into town,” Avery said slyly. “This place is really close.”

  He led her through a thick patch of trees and into a large clearing that held nothing but a petite tree café. Avery took a seat at one of the round, cast iron tables outside under the leafy awning.

  The little tree café was actually really nice. Autumn liked the fact that it was so secluded and removed from the town. She watched as two squirrels chased each other up and down a tree.

  “Ever wonder what they’re fighting about?” she said.

  “Huh?” Avery asked, looking away from Autumn to the two squirrels.

  “I always wonder why squirrels chase each other like that. Like, maybe they’re fighting over the same girl squirrel or something. Or one of them stole the other one’s acorn.”

  “We could always ask Forrest.”

  “Oh, yeah! I forgot he talks to animals. I think I’d really like that Power.”

  “Maybe you will have an animal-related Power. You never know.”

  “Or maybe I won’t have a Power at all.”

  “You will,” Avery said. “You have royal blood. Royals are known for discovering their Powers very early, but because you and Luke have been in the Outside for so long, it will take a little while for your bodies to adjust to the Underground.”

  Autumn nodded, hoping he was right.

  The little café offered all kinds of different sandwiches and soups, served on the freshest bread Autumn had ever tasted. And the tomato basil soup was smooth and creamy. So far, things were going pretty well. Although the pull in the pit of Autumn’s stomach was working non-stop, she hadn’t asked him any personal questions, she hadn’t giggled like an idiot at everything he said, and she hadn’t batted her eyelashes at him. Just a friendly lunch. That’s all it was.

  “So, did you leave a boyfriend behind in the Outside,” Avery asked, trying to sound casual, but Autumn could hear the interest in his tone.

  So much for a “friendly lunch.”

  “Nope. This soup is really good,” Autumn said, trying to steer the conversation away from relationships.

  “Have you ever?”

  “Have I ever what?”

  “Had a boyfriend.”

  “Um, not technically.”

  “Technically?”

  “Well I had a couple of relationships, I guess, that lasted only a few weeks at a time. Nothing serious, though.” Avery opened his mouth to speak again and Autumn quickly interrupted. “We should head back. Class starts soon.”

  “We still have thirty minutes,” Avery said.

  “Well, I want to be early for a change.”

  Avery frowned. “Okay…”

  They paid for their food and walked back up the trail in silence. Avery opened his mouth a few times like he wanted to say something, but then quickly shut it. Finally he said, “So, are you interested in anyone here then?”

  Autumn tripped over her feet, and Avery grabbed her arm before she could fall.

  No. No. No. Why did he have to ask that? Lie, Autumn told herself. />
  “Uh, I mean, I—”

  Autumn ran into the back of someone as she and Avery emerged out of the thick patch of trees onto campus. It was Victor Lavigne, once again, who she was now eternally grateful to.

  “I apologize,” he said, looking only at Autumn. Avery stared daggers at him. “You seem to run into me quite a lot.” He smiled at her and then caught sight of Avery’s expression.

  “Avery,” Victor said, nodding politely.

  “Victor,” Avery returned not so politely.

  Autumn glanced back and forth between the two of them.

  “Well, I’ll see you guys in Powers then,” she said, walking through the gap between them and down the path towards the Powers Tree.

  Autumn heard them both turn to follow her. She couldn’t make out their words, but they were definitely bickering with each other under their breath.

  Crystal joined Autumn when they had reached the middle of campus. She glanced back at Avery and Victor and gave Autumn a questioning look.

  “Don’t ask,” Autumn grumbled. Crystal raised her eyebrows and looked back at them again.

  In Powers class Autumn and Luke sat out again to observe. Atticus decided to switch things up a bit and paired boys with boys and girls with girls. And, of course, Victor and Avery were partners. Autumn had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good.

  “Guys, you will not behave like you did last time you were paired up,” Atticus warned, looking at all of the males in the classroom.

  The boys nodded without hearing him as they were too busy cracking their knuckles and sneering at one another.

  Atticus approached Autumn and Luke and said, “Getting tired of just watching, eh?”

  They nodded glumly.

  “It won’t be much longer, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

  Autumn and Luke perked up at this. Atticus could determine elves’ Powers. Autumn assumed he could probably tell when an elf would be discovering their Power as well.

  Then the battles began.

  Luke watched the guys fight with extreme concentration, noting every move, probably trying to get some tips for future reference. Autumn watched Victor and Avery with apprehension.

  Victor shone a particularly bright light before him, forming a shield of sorts. Avery tried to get past it without being blinded so that he could attack.

  A high-pitched voice rose above the noise and Autumn turned to see Kyndel screaming at Crystal for getting ice shards in her hair. Crystal didn’t seem too sorry about this, and Autumn chuckled to herself as she watched Kyndel shake her head wildly to loosen the ice crystals from her hair.

  Then a loud crash sounded from the other side of the room. Avery had broken through Victor’s light shield and rammed him across the room into a stack of wooden chairs that tumbled loudly to the ground as Victor smashed into them. He scrambled to his feet with a look of rage on his face, which was now bleeding profusely.

  Atticus shouted at him to stop, but Victor charged at Avery, who pulled his arm back to punch him.

  “Stop!” Autumn yelled. Avery turned to look at her as Victor plowed into him.

  Forrest, Bryan, and Drake rushed over to pull Victor off of Avery. Atticus and a few others attempted to restrain Avery. He could’ve easily thrown all of them off, but he just stood there with clenched fists, fuming.

  “Detention! Both of you! Victor, go to the campus healer. Autumn—” Autumn jumped as he shouted her name, “go with Victor. Avery, leave my classroom. I will be sending Olympus a message about this.”

  “Gross! Atrum blood,” Drake shouted. “Everyone stand back. Don’t want to get infected.”

  Autumn shot Drake a mutinous look before she led Victor down the spiral staircase and out of the tree. Avery was a few steps behind them.

  Luke and Crystal watched them go with shocked looks on their faces. When they emerged from the Powers Tree, Autumn and Victor went one way and Avery went the other.

  Victor was fuming. Autumn walked silently along next to him, letting him lead the way seeing as how she didn’t know where the Healer’s Tree was located. He clutched his arm, which had a deep gash in it, and he had a shallow cut across his cheek. He led her to a small tree behind the main office and pushed forcefully through the door.

  A gray-haired woman, who Autumn assumed was the campus healer, sat behind a desk reading what looked like some kind of Underground romance novel.

  She stood up quickly when she saw them enter and said, “Oh, my.”

  The healer gently moved Victor over to a wooden medical table before rummaging in her medical cabinets. She pulled out a number of flasks and bottles, pouring and mixing various liquids faster than Autumn could read the labels. The healer handed Victor a glass of a milky liquid and said, “Drink.”

  He threw back the concoction and a blank look came over his face.

  “How did this happen, dear?” the healer asked Autumn.

  “Attic, uh, Magister Attribold paired the boys with the boys and—”

  “Ah! I should’ve known. This happened the last time. Honestly, I don’t know why Atticus continues to attempt pairing the boys together. It always seems to end in disaster.”

  She dabbed some green paste on Victor’s arm and poured a blue liquid over it. Autumn watched the wound close before her eyes. The healer did the same to the cut on his cheek and then gave him a clear liquid to drink, which brought him out of his trance-like state. He seemed calmer now.

  Autumn and Victor thanked the healer and left the tree.

  “I’m sorry,” he said after a minute of silence. “I wish you hadn’t seen me like that.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong. Avery shouldn’t have used his Power like that. It would make anyone angry.” Autumn wasn’t just saying that either. She was unhappy with Avery for what he did to Victor. She wished he would just get over his little issues and move on.

  Rather than going home, Autumn and Victor went to Arbor Lake and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. She noticed that he seemed to keep his guard up even more so than Avery. Everything he said was spoken with extreme caution and thought. He didn’t talk freely and openly like Autumn did. She felt sort of guilty that she hadn’t put more effort into being Victor’s friend because she had been so consumed in Avery. Though after his behavior today she doubted that would continue to be a problem.

  AVERY charged out of the Powers Tree, parting from Victor and Autumn at the base of the stairs. He chanced a glance over his shoulder at the pair of them. Victor’s eyes were that charcoal black they changed to when he became angry, and Autumn was looking up at him with concern.

  Avery turned back around and punched a nearby tree, causing it to crack down the middle. Real smart, he thought, way to show Autumn who Victor really is. Now she thinks I’m the crazy one. If only she knew what he did… Avery shook his head to rid himself of his unwanted thoughts.

  He didn’t understand why he even cared so much. He barely knew Autumn. He’d thought that she might have feelings for him too, but she had been acting strangely towards him lately. One minute she’s holding his hand in the castle courtyard, and the next she wants nothing to do with him.

  As he approached Arbor Castle a feeling of guilt and dread washed over him. Victor Lavigne was not worth losing his job at the castle. He couldn’t afford to lose his job.

  He walked straight to the king’s living quarters and waited outside the door. Rupert and Donald, the king’s main guards, looked at him in surprise.

  “Everything okay, Burke?” Rupert asked. Avery just nodded.

  He sat there for a long while before the door opened to reveal Olympus wearing a warm smile. Maybe I’m not in as much trouble as I thought, Avery hoped.

  “Come on in, Mr. Burke,” Olympus said. Avery did as he was told. Rupert and Donald gave him encouraging looks as he passed by.

  “Have a seat,” Olympus said, waving a hand at a nearby armchair. Avery sat straight-backed on the edge of his seat. “I just received word from Magis
ter Attribold. It would appear that there was a situation in Powers class.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Between you and Mr. Lavigne?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I know I don’t have to remind you that, as a worker here, you represent this castle.”

  “I know, sir. I’m really sorry. I—”

  “This is your first warning, Mr. Burke. If it happens again I’m afraid I will have to find somewhere else for you.”

  Avery’s stomach dropped at this. “Yes, sir.”

  “Think about what your father would want, son. He wouldn’t want you to lose your head over nothing, would he?”

  “No, he wouldn’t.” Avery frowned, feeling even worse.

  “All right. Well, from this point on, I don’t want to hear anything but praise about you from Mr. Attribold.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How is your new job assignment treating you? Are my grandchildren behaving?”

  “Yes, sir. They are adjusting very well.”

  “Excellent. Well, Mr. Burke, I believe dinner is being served soon. Try to keep your anger under control, all right?”

  “I will, sir.”

  Avery left the king’s quarters with the heavy feeling of guilt and regret resting on his shoulders. When he entered the dining room he spotted Autumn, Luke, and Crystal already seated at their usual table.

  Autumn looked up, her brow creased in worry. “Did he—?”

  Avery shook his head and Autumn seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “No, but he said that if I break another rule he will be forced to let me go. I can’t believe I got myself into this because of that scum.”

  Avery noticed Autumn’s jaw clench at his words. Maybe she was still mad at him after all.

  Steam Springs

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The next day in Laboratory, Autumn and Victor spoke in hushed whispers so that they didn’t bother Coach Holt, who was again reading his sports magazine. The night before, Autumn had made up her mind. She definitely had to distance herself from Avery, not only because of the castle rules, but because she did not want be responsible for getting Avery fired. Getting closer to Victor seemed like a good way to prevent this.