Oaken (The Underground Series Book 1)

by Melody Robinette

  She gave him a small smile. “It’s probably just an effect of the Outside. Let’s get out of here,” she said, moving a little closer to the doorway.

  “You don’t like this room, do you?”

  Autumn shook her head, glancing over her shoulder at her small room. “I associate it with a bad time in my life, I guess.”

  “Maybe this will help you associate it with something good,” he said in a low voice, approaching her slowly. She smiled coyly up at him and he kissed her lips softly, running his fingers through her hair. A shudder moved through her like before, but for a much different reason this time.

  Autumn heard footsteps in the hallway and took a quick step back from Avery, who moved swiftly to a corner of the room, pretending to examine her old computer just as Luke entered the doorway.

  Luke glanced at Avery, but fortunately seemed unconcerned by his presence in Autumn’s room. “You ready to go?”

  “If they’re finished turning the lights on and off,” Autumn answered with a forced laugh.

  “They’ve actually moved on to the—”

  Luke was interrupted by the sound of a vacuum cleaner being turned on and a high-pitched scream emitting from the living room.

  The three of them hurried out of Autumn’s room to find Kyndel standing on the couch and Cera laughing hysterically, vacuum cleaner in hand.

  “What kind of creature is that?” Kyndel shrieked at them.

  Luke looked at the vacuum and a sly smile spread across his face. “That is the notorious cleaning monster—the vacuum. It eats people’s toes and anything else it can get its mouth on.”

  Kyndel’s eyes widened and she climbed even higher up the couch, away from the vacuum monster. Autumn shook her head at Luke, laughing. “Calm down, Kyndel. It’s just a machine that cleans the floor and it’s about as dangerous as a petalsie. Get a hold of yourself. Aren’t you supposed to be a Warrior?”

  “We can’t use our Powers up here, Princess,” she spit. “How am I supposed to know how to kill a vacloom monster?”

  Autumn had to leave the room before she exploded with laughter.

  “Hey, Elves!” Luke called throughout the house. “Are we going to party or what? Let’s go!”

  Once all the lights had been turned off and the vacuum put up, the nine of them filed out of the cottage. Luke locked the door and hid the spare key back under the rock.

  “Are we going there?” Charlotte asked, pointing to the pub next door.

  “No,” Luke said. “They don’t like me there. We will take a cab to Cork.”

  They were able to fit into two cabs by squeezing five people in one car and four in the other. Autumn rode sandwiched between Crystal and Avery. Luke sat on Crystal’s left side and Cera rode in the front seat.

  “Nice costumes,” the cabdriver said, looking Cera over.

  “Thanks,” Cera said.

  “What’re you supposed to be?” he asked.

  “Elves,” Cera stated as if this should be quite obvious.

  “Elves, eh? Your ears are a bit small for elves, though, aren’t they? Elves’ ears are ‘spose to be really massive.”

  “No. They aren’t,” Cera said, “They—” Autumn cleared her throat loudly and Cera stopped talking, crossing her arms and leaning back against her seat in moody silence. The cabdriver looked confused as he pulled onto the main road to Cork.

  Cera, Crystal, and Avery seemed impressed by the car and the fact that it could move without being pulled by a magical creature. It felt strange to be back in the Outside. Autumn had become so used to traveling by foot…and sometimes pegasus.

  Once Cera had taken in enough of the Outside scenery, she turned around in her seat to face the others. “Did you see Kyndel’s face when I turned that vacstoom thing on?” The cabdriver glanced at Cera with a bemused look on his face. Cera, however, didn’t notice this and continued on. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the vision of her squealing and jumping onto the couch. I’m going to store that in my memory for the next time I need a good laugh,” she said. “I need to bring one of those vacrooms back to—”

  Luke faked a hacking cough to cover up the last of Cera’s sentence. Cera raised an eyebrow at Luke, who nodded his head towards the cabdriver. A look of understanding crossed her face and she turned back around and went silent again.

  “Where did yeh say yeh were from?” the cabdriver inquired.

  They all exchanged panicked looks before Autumn said quickly, “We’re from all over, actually. We’re part of a foreign exchange program.”

  “Yeah,” Luke added. “My sister and I are from Texas. Texas is a state in America, you know. Although some Texans think that it should be its own country. It’s definitely big enough to be a country, like much, much bigger than countries over here. Can you tell we’re from Texas because of our accents?” The cabdriver opened his mouth to answer, but Luke prattled on. “I don’t think I have that strong of an accent, but then again, I bet you don’t think you have an accent either because you’re used to it and all.

  “You know, lots of people think that Texans ride horses everywhere, but we don’t. We drive cars too. We drive on the other side of the road, though, and our steering wheels are on the other side of the car. You know how you have all those sheep everywhere? Well, in Texas we have cows everywhere, but they don’t walk across the streets like the sheep do here. Y’all should really consider fencing them in. It could be considered a driving hazard.”

  Luke continued on like this the rest of the way to Cork. The look on the cabdriver’s face made it clear that he was extremely sorry that he had asked where they were from.

  “Well played,” Autumn told Luke once they arrived downtown and had paid the weary looking cabdriver.

  “What was well played?” Cera asked.

  “Luke did his Texas rambling bit,” Autumn said. “He used to do that with girls he was trying to hit on. Only, it actually worked to his advantage this time.”

  “Oh! That’s why you kept talking about Texas,” Cera said. “I was about to tell you to shut it, but I didn’t want the cabdriver to ask me more questions.”

  “I thought it was actually pretty interesting,” Crystal said.

  Avery, Cera, and Autumn raised their eyebrows at her and Luke puffed out his chest. “Why thank you, Crystal. I knew I had the smartest partner of all the Warriors,” he said ruffling her blonde hair. Crystal blushed as she smoothed her hair back down.

  The other cab pulled up then. Charlotte, Jastin, and Forrest climbed out of the car with exasperated expressions. Kyndel emerged with pursed lips. “What happened?” Autumn muttered to Charlotte as Luke paid their cab fare.

  “Kyndel kept criticizing ‘Outsiders’ and their world and we kept shushing her. Needless to say, the man driving looked pretty confused by the end of the ride.”

  Autumn shook her head wearily and said, “Cera slipped up too, but luckily Luke has a gift of incessant rambling.”

  “Luckily?” Cera said.

  “Hey, I saved your—” Luke began.

  “Okay,” Autumn interrupted. “Let’s go already.”

  “I’m down with that,” Luke said, forgetting what he was about to say to Cera.

  As they made their way downtown they could hear the uproar of people celebrating. Halloween had always been somewhat of an extravagant celebration in Cork. All of the pubs and clubs filled up with locals and tourists alike, wearing crazy and creative costumes and drinking until early in the morning. Autumn and Luke had gone the previous year. They didn’t drink, of course, though Luke probably would have if Autumn hadn’t stopped him.

  The others’ heads whipped back and forth as they tried to take in everything around them. Charlotte had a firm clasp on Jastin’s hand due to the staring eyes of the Irishmen they passed. Kyndel walked beside Charlotte, keeping her eyes on the ground. Autumn noticed that Crystal was walking particularly close to Luke, who was talking animatedly to Forrest about the Halloween costumes that Outsider girls their age typi
cally wore. Forrest listened intently, with wide eyes. Cera looked unconcerned about her safety in this new world and studied the architecture of the buildings surrounding them with a look of interest upon her face. She looked more like a pixie than an elf in her costume with her spiked, glitter-covered, blonde hair.

  Autumn and Avery walked side by side at the back of the group. She wished she could reach over and grab his hand, but she had to restrain herself. She suspected Avery was thinking the same thing because his left hand kept twitching slightly towards hers. She folded her arms across her chest so as not to temp either of them. She’d thought that admitting their feelings to one another, and sharing secret, stolen kisses, would lessen the physical tension between them, but, on the contrary, it seemed to have grown in intensity.

  The street became gradually more crowded as they neared the strip of pubs and clubs. The elves unconsciously squeezed more tightly together so as not to lose anyone.

  “Autumn,” Luke called over his shoulder. “How ‘bout that one place we went last Halloween? The one with the bar in the middle and you can go downstairs into that dance area. Pretty sure they don’t ask for ID.”

  “Yeah, they’ll probably just let us in,” Autumn agreed.

  Autumn heard Luke tell Forrest that they had cheap drinks. She narrowed her eyes at him, but chose not to say anything. He was a big boy. He could make his own decisions. She hadn’t had another drink since that night…

  “Do elves drink much alcohol?” Autumn asked Avery.

  “Wine, mostly, but not usually in excess. Though there are some who do.”

  “But no one in our group has?”

  “I doubt it,” Avery said.

  Autumn frowned. If anyone did drink tonight, they were sure to become intoxicated far more quickly than the average seventeen-year-old Outsider since their bodies had not been exposed to alcohol. She hadn’t really thought of this when she agreed to come.

  They approached the door of the bar and were immediately let in without having to show any form of identification. The place was completely packed full of people in various Halloween costumes. As Luke had promised Forrest, most of the girls wore costumes that left little to the imagination. One wore what could only be described as lingerie with a pair of rabbit ears on her head.

  “I love Halloween,” Luke sighed as they traveled down a staircase to the lower level of the bar to find an empty space to stand.

  Autumn chuckled at the expressions on the others’ faces. The males in the group stared, wide-eyed at the Outsider girls’ costumes—or lack thereof. The girls were both looking disapprovingly at the girls’ costumes and blushing as they glanced fleetingly at the many Outsider men who were wearing rather lewd costumes themselves.

  “Alright!” Luke said, clapping his hands together. “Who all is having a drink?”

  Autumn gave Luke an exasperated look, which he ignored.

  “I’ll try something,” Forrest said, not taking his eyes off of the girl in lingerie and bunny ears.

  “Me too,” Cera said.

  Jastin and Charlotte exchanged glances and then nodded at Luke. Seeing this, Kyndel agreed too.

  “Crystal, Avery?” Luke asked.

  They both glanced at Autumn before turning to Luke, shaking their heads. He rolled his eyes, but didn’t push them.

  “It’s okay,” Autumn said to them. “I don’t mind.”

  “I really don’t want anything,” Crystal assured her.

  Luke went to the bar and ordered the drinks, soon returning with his arms full of pints.

  “I got you three some Bulmers ‘cause I didn’t think you’d like Guinness very much,” he said to Cera, Charlotte, and Kyndel. Cera glowered at this, obviously offended that he didn’t think she could handle what the guys could.

  Everyone took tentative sips of their drinks, the majority of them making disgusted faces. Cera downed hers and smiled widely. “Still think I can’t handle a Guinness?” she said to Luke, whose eyebrows rose in surprise.

  The more sips the elves took, the more they seemed to lighten up and actually start enjoying themselves. The DJ began to play a fast, upbeat song and Cera pulled Charlotte onto the dance floor, leaving their empty pints on a nearby table. A guy dressed as a vampire approached Kyndel and began talking loudly over the blaring music.

  “I like your costume,” he said, half shouting.

  “Thanks,” Kyndel said.

  “Would ya’ like to dance?” he asked.

  She glanced towards Cera and Charlotte who were dancing and laughing before turning back to the vampire guy and nodding demurely. He took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. Luke left soon after Kyndel to try dance with the lingerie girl, but his prince status was left behind with the Underground and she soon shook him off.

  “Want to dance with me, Crystal?” Forrest asked.

  Crystal nodded and followed him onto the dance floor. It was humorous watching them dance together because Crystal was about three inches taller than him. None of the elves were accustomed to Outsider music and looked a little out of place trying to dance to it. They didn’t really seem to know how to move with the beat. Autumn noticed a few people shooting them funny looks.

  Autumn laughed out loud and shook her head at them. “I’m going to go help them,” she told Avery, leaving him with Jastin, who was nursing his Guinness as he kept his eyes trained on Charlotte.

  Autumn approached the others with a look of suppressed humor on her face.

  “We look ridiculous,” Crystal grumbled as she glanced at the Outsiders dancing around them.

  “No you don’t,” Autumn said. “You’re just dancing a little offbeat. I’ll show you.”

  Autumn swayed her hips to the pulsating beat and raised her arms letting her inhibitions go. Being musically inclined had its perks on the dance floor as well. She had no trouble moving fluidly to the music, waving her hand at the others, telling them to join her. They looked a little uncomfortable at first, but eventually let loose and began mimicking Autumn’s moves.

  “That’s it!” she said, laughing.

  Luke, Jastin, and Avery exchanged glances before joining the girls on the dance floor.

  Unconsciously, the Initiate partners paired up just as a base-heavy song with a fast beat came on. Autumn looked over to see that most of them had really caught on. Crystal, being so tall, was still having trouble and Luke offered to help her, putting his hands on her hips and moving them with the beat. He clearly didn’t notice that Crystal’s face was bright red.

  “I sort of wish you were a bad dancer so I’d have an excuse to put my arms around you,” Avery murmured in her ear, sending a chill coursing across her skin.

  Then a popular hip hop “line dance” song came on that everyone knew the moves to—everyone, but the Undergrounders, that was. Luke and Autumn coached the others through it, laughing hysterically at Forrest, who was too frustrated to follow along, so he just started doing what Outsiders would call a poor attempt at break-dancing.

  The song ended and they walked off the dance floor wiping at their foreheads and fanning their faces.

  “That was actually fun! Lucky everybody was here so we had our partners to dance with,” Charlotte said, winking at Jastin.

  “Victor’s not here,” Autumn noted.

  “Oh yeah,” Charlotte said, giving her a sheepish look.

  “Victor is Kyndel’s partner, though,” Cera said. “But where is Kyndel?”

  Everyone looked around, craning their necks to see over the horde of dancers. But it was no use. Kyndel had disappeared…and she wasn’t Invisible either.

  Fight Like a Girl

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Panic began to set in as they searched the club for Kyndel.

  “She wasn’t dancing with us,” Crystal noted. “She must have disappeared before that.”

  “We have to find her,” Cera said.

  “Let’s split up and look for her and meet back here in a few minutes if we haven’t found h
er,” Luke said.

  They dispersed throughout the club in search of Kyndel. Autumn may not have liked her all that much, but that didn’t mean she wanted anything bad to happen to her. She went into the girl’s restroom and called out her name, earning a few annoyed looks from the girls reapplying their makeup. Leaving the bathroom, she climbed the stairs into the rest of the bar and walked past a doorway that led outside. Its doors were propped open to let some fresh air into the stuffy, packed club.

  She peeked out the doorway, looking right, then left. And that’s when she heard Kyndel’s panicked voice from around the corner of the building in a deserted alleyway.

  “No! Stop! I have to go find my friends!” Kyndel shouted, followed by a quickly muffled scream.

  Autumn’s stomach dropped and she burst into the alley, looking wildly around. She spotted Kyndel being pressed up against the grimy wall of the club by the man dressed as a vampire. He had his hand pressed over her mouth and was in the process of pulling her skirt up.

  Running at a dead sprint, Autumn kicked him hard in his side. He let out a grunt of pain, stumbled, and released Kyndel, who was trembling and sobbing uncontrollably. The guy bent over holding his side. Autumn took this opportunity to kick him again, but this time where it really hurt. He let out a yelp and fell to his knees. She then proceeded to punch him, hard, in the jaw.

  “Don’t you EVER touch a girl like that again!” she yelled, kicking him in the side again, causing him to collapse onto the ground. She grabbed a handful of his hair, yanking his head back. “You are scum,” she growled. He glared painfully up at her, but didn’t say anything. His lip bled freely. Autumn punched him in his Adam’s apple causing him to take a loud, rasping breath. One of his fake vampire teeth came loose, falling onto the cobblestones. “And if you do touch a girl like that again, it will be the last thing you do. Trust me. I know people much more dangerous than vampires,” she said darkly before pushing him to the ground and kicking him once again for good measure.