Oaken (The Underground Series Book 1)

by Melody Robinette

  Autumn felt herself blush. Avery smiled crookedly at her then and the magnetic pull within her suddenly kicked in to high gear. Her skin tingled in anticipation. Though, what she was anticipating, she wasn’t sure.

  “I should go to bed,” he said.

  “Okay,” Autumn breathed.

  They stood at the same time, putting them inches from one another.

  “Well, goodnight,” Autumn said, looking bright-eyed up at him.

  “Goodnight.”

  His pupils dilated, alerting her to what was about to happen. Without warning Autumn reached out and pulled him forcefully to her. His lips met hers and the magnetic sensation intensified. He wrapped both arms around her and pulled her closer to him so that they were pressed right up against each other. Her hands moved up and she ran her fingers through his soft, golden hair. His arms tightened around her. They stayed like this for some time before they broke apart, chests heaving. Autumn looked into his torrential gray eyes, the flickering firelight reflected in them.

  His breathing was shallow and she leaned forward, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He held her like this until his breathing slowed.

  “You should probably go to sleep now. You have guard duty tomorrow,” Autumn whispered.

  “Probably,” he said. She could feel his vocal chords vibrate as he spoke.

  “But?”

  “But I don’t want to.”

  “Me either,” she said. “But we need to.”

  “I know,” Avery sighed, kissing her softly on the lips, lingering there for a moment. “Goodnight, Autumn,” he whispered.

  “Goodnight.”

  He left her branch slowly with the shadow of a smile on his face. Autumn watched as the door closed behind him and sank back into her armchair. “Goodnight,” she repeated to the empty room.

  The Rules Are... There Are No Rules

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The next couple of weeks, Victor made a clear effort to hang out with the rest of the Initiates. He talked to everyone during Warrior training and went with them to Arbor Lake and City Circle. His stormy mood seemed to have disappeared along with his introverted tendencies and everyone seemed to think he was the coolest elf they’d ever met.

  As the days passed, though, the Initiates had less and less free time with the finals coming up. They still found time to spend together by forming a study group, which met every day after Warrior training. One afternoon they met in a coffee house called Sugar Brown’s in City Circle because it was too cold to meet at Arbor Lake. Today they were studying Laboratory, which was Victor’s best subject and most everyone else’s worst, except maybe Luke, who’d always loved and excelled at Science.

  Notes were spread out all over three tables that they had pushed together. Sugar Brown’s felt more like a cozy living room than an actual shop, and Autumn’s steaming cup of honeysuckle cider warmed her from the inside out. The comforting atmosphere wasn’t enough, though, to soothe her pre-exam nerves.

  Forrest threw his leaf quill forcefully onto the table. “I’m never going to get this!” he exclaimed in frustration.

  “If Coach Holt would teach instead of read sports magazines all period maybe we would actually learn something,” Autumn grumbled.

  “It’s really very simple,” Victor said patiently. “You just have to mix a precise dose of uquarium with the rose extract before adding it to the mixture.” He wrote out the formula for the Hydrating Salve they were studying, which was a substance elves put on dry skin or lips for hydration. Autumn thought of it as a sort of cross between lotion and lip balm.

  “Obviously. Jeez. Y’all are acting like this is rocket science or something,” Luke stated.

  Autumn scowled at him.

  The next day they met at Sugar Brown’s again to go over Literature, which was Luke’s worst subject. Now it was Autumn’s turn to be slightly smug about her extensive knowledge on the written word. Luke glared moodily at her as she explained all of the detailed theories they’d gone over in class. She discussed the common theme of “forbidden love” in the three novels they’d read that semester.

  Everyone seemed to understand Autumn’s explanations and took copious amounts of notes. She even noticed Luke grudgingly pick up his leaf quill and scratch out a few pages. She read a few excerpts from each of the books and, as she read, her voice took on a sort of dreamy, rhythmic quality as it usually did when she read anything out loud. When she looked up, Avery was watching her read with a lopsided smile. As was Victor.

  Autumn wrapped up her discussion and everyone began stuffing their notes and leaf quills into their satchels.

  “We should do something this weekend since our finals are next week and we won’t have any free time then,” Charlotte suggested. “I think we’ve studied enough to deserve a little fun.”

  “How about ice skating on Arbor Lake?” Crystal said.

  “Ice skating is boring,” Cera complained. “We should play that Outsider ice game we learned in Sports.”

  “Hockey?” Luke clarified.

  “Yeah, that,” Cera said.

  “How do elves know about hockey?” Autumn asked.

  “Lots of adult elves go up to the Outside just to learn new things that they can bring down here,” Jastin explained. “One of our coaches went up there specifically to learn some new sports. He learned that one for us to play during the winter months.”

  “They go up there to learn from Outsiders?” asked Autumn in surprise.

  “Yeah,” Crystal said. “My mom goes up there every couple of years to study all the clothing fashions that the Outsider’s wear.”

  “How did we get from Sports to fashion?” Cera asked. “So hockey Saturday, then?”

  They met up at Arbor Lake, which had completely frozen over, a few days later. Just to be on the safe side, though, Crystal reinforced the ice with another smooth layer on top.

  “Good thinking, Crys,” Luke said, pulling on a pair of ice skates that he’d borrowed from the Sports supplies closet. Forrest had originally asked to borrow them and was instantly refused. That’s when they sent in “the prince” to ask again. Coach Holt had no problem with Luke taking ten pairs of ice skates for the weekend.

  “I can’t get away with things like that,” Autumn had said when Luke was boasting about this.

  “You don’t have my natural persuasion skills and charisma,” Luke had laughed.

  After they all pulled on their ice skates, they split into two teams of five. Cera and Luke were appointed team captains.

  “We need team names,” Luke said.

  “I call Petalsies!” Cera exclaimed.

  “Petalsies?” Luke laughed.

  “They are the meanest creatures in the Underground,” Cera said seriously.

  “Okay. We are the Dragon Slayers,” Luke said in a growling voice.

  “Pretentious much?” Cera muttered.

  Luke picked Avery first, and Autumn glared at him for not picking her, his twin sister. Cera got Victor. Luke then picked Autumn, lucky for him. Cera picked Jastin. Luke chose Crystal. Cera picked Charlotte and then, of course, Luke’s team was left with Kyndel, who did not seem at all pleased to be picked last.

  Since Crystal was the quickest of the Dragon Slayers, she was appointed the goalie. Jastin was the goalie for the other team.

  Luke had also managed to borrow ten hockey sticks and a puck from the Sports supplies. He passed a stick to everyone and they all moved onto the ice. As Autumn stepped onto the frozen lake, she tripped over a small rock on the edge of the lake and Avery caught her just before she hit the ice. She laughed as he pulled her smoothly to her feet, but quickly stopped when she spotted the look on Victor’s face. The goalies took their places and the rest spaced out around the lake.

  “Don’t we need a referee?” Autumn asked.

  “What’s that?” Cera said.

  “Someone who calls penalties on people who break the rules,” answered Autumn.

  “There are no rules today,�
�� Forrest said, grinning.

  “Oh good,” Autumn said sarcastically. The others laughed.

  “Are we allowed to use Powers?” Crystal called from her goal, which was made up of two large rocks spaced evenly apart behind her.

  “No, but we will anyway,” Luke said with a laugh.

  Autumn felt they were in for an interesting game seeing as how no one really knew all of the rules and there was no one to enforce them even if they did. It was basically a group of elves using their Powers and whatever means they had to get their puck into the goal.

  As the game began, Autumn was immediately proven correct. Cera didn’t even use her stick, but threw out her hand, using gravity to push the puck to Forrest. He passed it quickly to Charlotte who attempted to shoot it into the Dragon Slayers’ goal. Crystal shot a jet of ice at the puck, knocking it away.

  Charlotte scowled at the ice as the Dragon Slayers took possession of the puck. Luke shot a gust of wind at the puck, aiming it towards Avery, who lifted his hockey stick to shoot the puck into the other goal. Autumn aimed a stream of song at Jastin, a dazed look crossing his face as the puck shot right past him. The Dragon Slayers let out a cheer and Autumn and Luke high fived as Jastin shook his head, looking confused as to what had just happened.

  “Keep your ears covered!” Cera shouted at Jastin.

  “So I’m supposed to protect the goal with just my legs?” Jastin asked, irritated.

  “Here.” Victor tossed Jastin his earmuffs.

  “Thanks,” Jastin called, stuffing them quickly on his head.

  The Petalsies were now in possession of the puck. Forrest skated quickly towards the Dragon Slayers’ goal, passing it to Cera who shot the puck forcefully at the goal. Crystal sent another jet of ice, but this time Victor melted the ice with a hot beam of light, allowing the puck to sail straight into the goal. The Petalsies let out a round of cheers and the Dragon Slayers were back in possession.

  Autumn had never witnessed such a fast paced hockey game. It made Outsider hockey look like tee-ball, which was technically related to baseball, but she didn’t know what little kid hockey was called. Tee-puck?

  Autumn played more defense than offense, sending streams of song at random players on the other team. Though, she did manage to score one goal. It was an accident, but no one needed to know that.

  Kyndel had proven Autumn wrong by scoring four goals on her own, skating expertly around the lake, even pulling off a double-helix or two.

  After about another hour of playing, the Dragon Slayers and the Petalsies were tied 14-14. Before the game started, they had agreed to play to 15, so the next team to score would win it all.

  Things were getting ugly. Cera tripped Kyndel, Luke rammed Forrest, and Charlotte surrounded Autumn in a thick column of fog so she couldn’t see anything. Autumn attempted to skate out of it, but the fog moved with her.

  She listened intently to the game around her, trying to decipher the sounds of people’s voices and the scraping of the skates on the ice. Suddenly she heard a groan from Crystal and a resounding cheer. The fog around Autumn dissipated and she saw the Petalsies surrounding Victor, clapping him on the back and ruffling his perfect hair. He wore a wide grin on his face and Autumn assumed it was safe to say that he had just scored the winning goal.

  Autumn and Avery couldn’t help but exchange triumphant glances because this was another small step in the right direction with Victor. The rest of the Dragon Slayers, however, were not too pleased about their loss. Crystal and Luke grumbled to each other under their breath and Kyndel rolled her eyes at the other team, hands hitched up on her hips.

  Everyone’s faces were red and Autumn couldn’t feel her fingers or toes. Victor told everyone to close their eyes and he shone a warming light over all of them. As everyone got ready to leave, Autumn heard Jastin and Forrest make arrangements with Victor to study Laboratory some more the next day. She smiled to herself.

  Victor approached Autumn and pulled her into a warm hug.

  “Congratulations on the win,” she said happily.

  Victor beamed and pressed his lips against Autumn’s, taking her by surprise. She had to force herself not to pull away because she knew Avery was watching from five feet away. She was not just surprised by the suddenness of the kiss, but by the fact that Victor didn’t usually kiss her in public. Even in private they rarely kissed.

  They broke apart and Autumn tried her best to smile up at him, but she wasn’t sure the smile reached her eyes. Whether Victor noticed this or not, he didn’t comment and left soon after, talking with Jastin and Forrest on the way.

  Taking a deep breath, Autumn turned to face Avery and the others. Avery’s face was strangely blank, but his eyes were hard and trained on the ground. Luke and Crystal didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and waited for her, looking glum about losing the hockey game.

  Autumn, Crystal, and Avery helped Luke carry the hockey sticks and skates back up to the castle to keep until he could bring them back to the Sports coaches. Autumn and Avery kept silent the whole way there. Luke and Crystal complained about the obvious unfairness of their loss, though they had only lost by one point.

  Autumn didn’t even bother asking Avery what was wrong because she knew very well what was bothering him. It was bothering her too. They couldn’t keep this up much longer or both of them were going to fall apart. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t so empathetic towards people and that she could just focus on her own happiness, but helping people did make her happy. She couldn’t explain the elation she had felt seeing everyone cheering for Victor and his big, goofy grin, when not long ago he was completely alone and rarely smiled.

  When they reached the castle, Autumn frowned slightly as Avery simply said goodnight to her and continued to climb the stairs to his branch. She supposed she didn’t blame him.

  Dragging her feet all the way to her room, she pulled her Numbers notes out of her satchel. She knew that she was going to have the most trouble on this particular exam and Magister Monroe would show her no mercy. She worked and re-worked the equations until her eyes refused to focus on the numbers any more. She rested her head in her hands and then nearly fell off the bed when a loud THUMP resonated from her balcony followed by three knocks on her balcony door.

  “Come in,” she called.

  Avery opened the door slowly then leaned back against it, looking somber.

  “Avery, I—”

  “No. You don’t have to say anything. I knew what I was getting myself into when I told you how I felt.”

  She frowned up at him. He came to lie back on the bed beside her so that he was looking up at her, and she down at him.

  “I’d rather have half of your heart than none at all,” he said.

  Autumn gave him a half smile. “You have more than half of my heart, Avery.”

  “You have all of mine,” he replied.

  Leaning down, she kissed him gently at first and then more deeply until they broke slowly apart. She laid her head on his chest and smiled to herself. She knew she should probably get back to studying her Numbers notes that were now strewn all over her floor, but the gentle rising and falling of Avery’s chest was too peaceful for her to resist. So she stayed like this. At some point their breathing synced. They said nothing. Just lay there. Breathing in time with one another.

  Jumping on the Bed

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  December is the best month, really, because it both wraps up the end of a year and introduces a new one. Plus, it has snow, hot chocolate, fire in the fireplace, and candy cane flavored everything. Well, the Underground didn’t have candy canes, but it had peppermint. Not that they had time to enjoy any of that due to semester exams. Though, they were not as difficult as Autumn had expected. This was partly due to the fact that she and the rest of the Initiates had studied at least 80% more than the other students, and partly because the magisters had made them seem more difficult than they actually were.

  The magisters look as re
lieved as Autumn felt when the exams were all over and done with, which was understandable. Autumn wouldn’t want to deal with a bunch of unruly teenagers day in and day out either. She thought magisters probably had more challenging jobs than Warriors sometimes.

  The Initiates said goodbye to Atticus, who’d given them most of the break off. They would start training again December 27th.

  “I still expect you to train on your own,” he called as they ran off of the practice field.

  “Sure thing, Mr. A!” Forrest called back.

  “Let’s go to Sugar Brown’s,” Charlotte said cheerfully.

  Everyone ordered a coffee or cider and took a seat in their normal corner talking excitedly about their plans for the break.

  “We go visit my grandparents in Windy Meadows every holiday,” Forrest said, sounding less than enthusiastic.

  “Is that another elf town?” asked Autumn.

  The others nodded. “It’s very small,” Forrest said. “Like, you wouldn’t even see it if you flew a pegasus right over it. And there is approximately nothing to do there.”

  “We never travel,” Charlotte said glumly.

  “My mom told me that she’d take me up to the Outside this Christmas to see their clothing styles. She’s making a huge deal of it because it will be my first time in the Outside—well, that she is aware of,” Crystal said, looking guilty.

  Everyone laughed.

  “So you have Christmas here?” Luke asked.

  The others looked at him with raised eyebrows.

  “What?” he said.

  “Why wouldn’t we have Christmas here?” Kyndel said.

  “We assumed it was a Outsider holiday,” Autumn said.

  “You’re forgetting that elves lived among Outsiders for many years before their disgusting actions forced us to relocate,” Kyndel scoffed. “We’ve celebrated Christmas just as long as they have.

  “When did the magical creatures come down here, anyway?” Luke asked.

  “In the mid 1600s,” Victor spoke up. “Elves had long since hidden their identities by using their magic to hide their pointed ears. They were tired of hiding their Powers just because Outsiders were too intimidated by them. The elves were the first to suggest the creation of the Underground to the warlocks and the witches. They agreed and, using their combined powers, created the Underground together with the help of the rest of the magical creatures. Some stayed behind, but most moved to the Underground for good.”