Ash (The Underground Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  After History class Autumn made her way to the Numbers Tree, crossing paths with Luke, who muttered, “I think you’re right about Magister Monroe hating you more than me.”

  Autumn’s laugh was cut off as she was pulled into the hanging branches of a nearby willow tree by someone hidden within. Looking wildly around, she saw Alyssa Redfern leaning seductively against the bark of the tree with a sultry look on her face.

  “Uh—”

  “Come here, Prince Luke,” Alyssa purred.

  “Actually, I have to, uh, get to my Numbers class and—”

  Alyssa strode up to her and pressed her body against Autumn’s.

  “You can be a little late,” she whispered, biting her lip.

  “I really can’t—”

  Alyssa shushed her by placing a finger against her lips, moving in to kiss her. Autumn ducked under Alyssa’s arms encircling her neck.

  “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

  Alyssa hiked her hands on her hips and glared at Autumn as she rushed out of the hanging branches of the willow.

  Autumn saw herself—Luke—watching her from a distance with a quirked eyebrow and an amused smirk on his lips.

  After Numbers class, Autumn met up with Avery, Crystal, and Luke to go to lunch.

  “I still don’t get how you could all of a sudden not remember that entire book, Autumn,” Avery was saying to Luke, who was frowning guiltily at the ground. “You read it in two days and wouldn’t shut up about it all last week,”

  “Hey guys!” Autumn said, causing the other three to jump. “I’m starving. Let’s get going.” Luke flashed her a grateful smile. Not that she should be saving him from any humiliation when he hadn’t done anything to save her from the Alyssa Redfern situation. But this was her reputation as an avid and thorough reader that he was messing with.

  They ended up going to their favorite pizza place in City Circle with the rest of the Quinns. Thankfully, Luke remembered to eat in a slightly less disgusting way. Autumn tried not to grimace at the fact that he was eating twice as much as her body was used to, just out of habit. She hoped her clothes would still fit when she got her body back. If she got her body back. No, she couldn’t think that way.

  For the first time she was actually happy to have Edric Ogden around. He loved being the center of attention and spent the entire time talking about his many adventures and accomplishments. Luke disliked Edric more than anyone in the Underground, so Autumn made sure to roll her eyes and make disgusted noises in the back of her throat every so often.

  After lunch the Quinns traveled to Arbor Lake and sat in a circle in their usual spot near the water. Autumn watched with a mixture of humor and sympathy as Avery took a seat right next to Luke, sitting inches from him. Luke was lucky that the other Warriors didn’t know about Autumn and Avery’s relationship. He seemed uncomfortable enough simply sitting so close to Avery. His posture was rigid and it was clear he was holding his breath. Autumn forced back a laugh.

  “Oh—Autumn, Crystal,” Charlotte said suddenly. “I’m having a sleepover at my place tomorrow night for my birthday. You guys wanna come?”

  “Of course!” Crystal said.

  Luke’s face brightened considerably and he let out the breath he’d been holding.

  “R—really?” he said. “A sleepover? Like with girls?”

  Autumn shot him an exasperated look, which he didn’t notice.

  “Yeah…” Charlotte said.

  “Yes!” Luke exclaimed. “Yes. I will definitely be there. At the sleepover. With all of the girls.”

  “Great,” Charlotte said with a raised eyebrow at Luke. Avery was also flashing him a bemused sideways glance.

  “But tomorrow’s a school night,” Autumn cut in, trying to think of an excuse for Luke not to go.

  Luke glared at Autumn, and the rest of the Quinns looked at her in surprise. This statement was obviously out of character for Luke, but she didn’t quite care at the moment. She didn’t want her brother going to an all girl sleepover in her body.

  “So?” Kyndel said.

  “So,” Autumn began. “You’ll be really tired the next day…and stuff.”

  Kyndel snorted. “Weren’t you the one to suggest that we go up to the Outside for Halloween on a school night last semester?”

  “Uh, yeah, I guess. I just—never mind.”

  Well, this was just great. There was no way Luke was going to miss an opportunity like this. Even if he wanted to come to a decision about the next elf ruler he wouldn’t, just so he could go to that stupid sleepover.

  As they walked back towards campus Forrest nudged Autumn and the other guys, indicating that they should lag behind. The girls pulled in front of them, chattering excitedly about the sleepover. Luke was still positively beaming and walking beside Crystal with a bounce in his step.

  “I say we see just what goes down at this sleepover,” Forrest said slyly to the guys and Autumn. The others chuckled, nodding emphatically at this. Autumn quickly agreed. If Luke was going to go to this little all-girl sleepover in her body, then this way she could at least keep an eye on him. Autumn had never actually gone to any post-elementary school sleepovers in the Outside World. So, the only thing she had to go off of was what she’d seen in movies—and she seriously hoped Underground sleepovers weren’t anything like that.

  The Sleepover

  CHAPTER FOUR

  As the Quinns traveled to the Powers Tree, Autumn suddenly remembered what she had discovered last night when she used her Song, and cursed under her breath.

  “Did you say something, Luke?” Jastin asked.

  “No I, uh, I just need to talk to Lu—um—Autumn,” she said, jogging ahead. “Autumn. I need to talk to you.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow at her, but followed her off the path into the thick foliage. “Are you going to lecture me about going to that sleepover party because I don’t really want to hear it. I’m miserable here. I might as well take advantage of the situation. I mean, come on! It’s a party full of girls and sexy pillow fights and—”

  “It’s not about the stupid sleepover,” Autumn interrupted, resisting the urge to slap him across the face. “It’s our Powers. They didn’t switch with our bodies. I forgot about it until just now.”

  “Seriously?” Luke pointed his finger above them and a small raincloud appeared. “Damn. What’re we going to do? How are we supposed to do anything in Powers class or—or work with the Warriors?”

  Autumn sighed in exasperation. “Yeah. That’s the problem.”

  “We’ll just have to fight physically, I guess.”

  “That will be difficult enough as it is.”

  When they entered the Powers classroom Atticus looked from Luke to Autumn with an amused glance. Oh crap, Autumn thought miserably. He can see people’s Powers.

  “What are you two doing here?” he asked them.

  “What do you mean?” Autumn said, looking uncertainly from Atticus to Luke and back.

  “Olympus informed me that you would be absent during Powers classes this week. Something in regards to your coming of age celebration,” Atticus said. The twinkle in his eyes communicated that he knew exactly why they couldn’t participate in Powers class. Autumn temporarily wished she had Kyndel’s Power so she could disappear. “I assumed you knew,” Atticus continued.

  “Oh. Oh, right!” Autumn said, grabbing Luke by the arm. “We completely forgot about that. Come on, Autumn. Let’s go to the castle.”

  Luke still looked confused, but followed her anyway.

  “What the heck was that about?” Luke said as they left the classroom. “Olympus never told us anything about—”

  “Atticus was covering for us. He knows we’re switched now.”

  “What? How?”

  “His Power, idiot. He can read other elves’ Powers.”

  “Oh, right. Is that why he sent us away?”

  “Either that or Olympus must have known that our Powers would stay with us. He may have been trying to spare
us the humiliation.”

  “Oh. How very thoughtful of him,” Luke grumbled.

  LUKE hated to question Olympus’s methods, but he honestly didn’t see what good this situation was doing either him or his sister. They both still felt that they would be the better ruler, and with all the effort they were putting into trying to act like each other, there was no time to even talk about their decision. Unless Olympus was just trying to get one of them to surrender the position so they could get out of this mess—something Luke had seriously considered several times.

  At dinner Crystal reminded him of his promise to try on Autumn’s birthday ball gown, and he contemplated giving up right then and there. Okay, he thought desperately, you win, Autumn. You win. You be Queen. I’ll just be your humble servant. A man servant. Not wearing a ball gown.

  But then he pictured himself as King again—a mental image he conjured up regularly now to keep from going insane—and talked himself away from the ledge again. As King he had the chance to actually be something great. He could prove everyone who thought he was just a meat-headed heartbreaker wrong. He could rule the elves of the Underground and he could do it well. If he ever got through this.

  After dinner—which Luke drug out as long as possible, eating his dessert one tiny spoonful at a time—he begrudgingly accompanied Crystal up to Autumn’s branch so he could try on her stupid birthday ball gown. He would be a lying if he said that he’d never pictured Crystal in her bra and underwear, but he’d never imagined that she would be seeing him in a bra and underwear. This was the stuff of horror stories.

  “Here it is,” Crystal trilled, holding out a big, puffy ball gown.

  “Pretty,” Luke said hesitantly and Crystal’s face fell slightly. “I mean—Oh my gosh! It’s so amazing!”

  A smile lit Crystal’s face. “You really like it?”

  “Yes. It’s the most perfect, beautiful thing, like, ever,” Luke said, trying to make his voice all high-pitched and squeaky, the way girls’ voices sounded when they got excited.

  “Oh yay! I’m so glad you like it. Well, go ahead. Try it on.”

  Luke felt his face flush. “Uh, actually I can already tell that it fits. Besides, we have guard duty tonight and I really don’t think there’s a need to—”

  “Oh, come on, Autumn! We have plenty of time before guard duty. I know it’s a pain, but it’ll be worth it.”

  Luke disagreed with this statement quite a bit as he peeled off his clothes with his eyes focused on a random point in the room, careful not to touch anything that he didn’t want to touch. He allowed Crystal to help him into the gargantuan gown. Was it really necessary to have this much fabric? Honestly.

  Crystal spent a good ten minutes lacing up the back of the corset. Holy petalsies, Luke thought, this is freaking tight. He wondered why girls would willingly do this to themselves. Surely not to impress guys. Guys didn’t even really care that much. Not enough for this to be necessary. If he became King, the first thing he would do to help the elves of the kingdom was outlaw garments like this. He would be doing them all a favor.

  When Crystal finished torturing Luke, she pushed him in front of the mirror so he could “admire” himself. For the past two days, he had tried to avoid mirrors because, quite frankly, it scared the shit out of him to see his sister’s reflection staring back at him.

  But he made the obligatory comments to satisfy Crystal so he could get the hell out of the monstrosity of a dress and back into normal clothing.

  He would never complain about having to wear a suit and tie again. Ever.

  Once he was out of the stupid dress and into Autumn’s Warrior uniform, he and Crystal journeyed down to his old branch where Autumn and Avery were waiting for them.

  Autumn opened the door and looked like she was forcing back a smile at Luke’s obvious discomfort at what he’d just endured. He shot her a loaded glare and she adjusted her features.

  “Y’all ready?” she said, doing a pretty decent job at mocking his still-intact Texan accent.

  The four of them traveled through City Circle and up the dirt path to the waterfall boundary where they would be standing guard for the next 6 hours. Crystal rambled to Luke about how beautiful his gown looked on him and he went back to blushing profusely as he muttered a small “thanks.” Luke looked over to see Avery frowning at him with that same frustrated and confused expression he’d been wearing all day, making Luke extremely uncomfortable. He didn’t care if Avery thought Autumn was acting different or less loving towards him. Luke would not be reassuring him in any way whatsoever. Sorry, Avery.

  Guard duty sucked, in his body or otherwise. All they did was sit up in a massive tree and wait for something to happen, or nothing to happen, which was usually the case. The Quinns and Tetras were usually assigned to battles, but the surprise attack last weekend seemed to have shaken up the Atrums and Shadows. They were sure to be more careful about keeping information of their attacks from leaking to unwanted sources.

  The Warriors with guard duty were stationed in the Watch-Tree, which was a large Ash tree that had several bare branches with slots carved out for each Warrior to sit. The Watch-Tree was located at the top of the hill near the waterfall boundary. Luke, Autumn, Crystal, and Avery took their posts in their designated branches, which were close enough together so that they could see one another and even carry on a conversation. Usually that was a good thing. Unfortunately for Luke, though, Avery continued trying to make eye contact with him. All. Freaking. Night.

  An uncomfortable silence lay over the four of them, except for Crystal’s occasional attempts at conversation.

  “Hey, I didn’t know there were vocalamps up here,” she said, pointing down to a cluster of gelatinous flowers near the edge of the waterfall.

  “What are they?” Autumn asked, probably more to keep the normal conversation going than out of actual curiosity.

  “We learned about them in Lab, remember? They magnify your voice.”

  “Really? I should take those before Powers class.” Autumn laughed. Luke shot an irritated glare at her. Autumn wore a confused glance and then her eyes widened when she realized her mistake. Luke’s Power was Weather. Amplifying his voice wouldn’t change anything. And she thought he was the one who kept screwing up.

  “Why would you take them before Powers?” Crystal asked Autumn, sounding confused.

  “Well, um, because then my voice would be all loud and scary and it would be like having another Power. But, I guess it would be smarter for Autumn to take them, huh?”

  To Luke’s relief, Autumn kept her mouth shut for the rest of the evening.

  As they left their posts to return to Arbor Castle, Luke walked particularly fast in hopes of avoiding having to talk to Avery, who hadn’t stopped trying to make eye contact with him since that morning.

  Unfortunately, Avery caught up to him just outside of Autumn’s branch. Luke hastily attempted to sneak through the door, but Avery stopped him, putting a hand against his gateway to freedom. It was no use trying to battle against Avery’s Strength. The door would remain closed until he removed his hand. Luke was trapped.

  “Something’s different with you, Autumn, and it isn’t just because you and Luke have to make this decision. It’s something else.”

  “No, really—” Luke said, with a nervous laugh. He pressed himself back against Autumn’s door, attempting to put as much distance as possible between him and Avery.

  “I can see it in your eyes. You haven’t looked at me the same since that dinner with Olympus. Did he say something else about the Castle Rules?”

  “No.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I told you—”

  “Don’t say it’s about becoming ruler. I mean, you’re acting like a completely different person.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Kiss me, then.”

  Luke forced himself to ignore the wave of nausea that just washed over him. “Wh—what?”

  “Kiss me,” Avery
repeated in a low voice, moving closer.

  No, Luke thought, no, no, no, no, no.

  “I—I—No,” he said.

  “No?”

  Luke stood a little taller. “You heard me.”

  “Why?” Avery wore a hurt expression, though Luke didn’t particularly care at the moment. He just wanted to get the hell out of there. Fast.

  “Because, uh, because I’m mad at you,” he said, thinking quickly.

  “Why are you mad at me?” Avery asked as his hand fell from the door. Yes. Freedom.

  “You should know why!” Luke said in a dramatic tone. And, with that, he flung open Autumn’s front door and stormed into her branch, leaving Avery standing with his mouth agape on the landing.

  Luke breathed a sigh of relief. The sound of Avery murmuring “kiss me” to him would surely haunt his dreams for quite some time.

  AUTUMN let out a sigh of relief from behind the cracked door to Luke’s branch. That was close, she thought. She’d had a feeling Avery would confront Luke sooner rather than later. Luckily he did it when Autumn was close enough to eavesdrop.

  Once Avery had disappeared into his branch, Autumn rushed up the stairs and opened the door Luke had just slammed shut, slipping in quickly.

  “Dammit, Avery! I said I’m not kissing you!” Luke called from the other room.

  “It’s just me.”

  “Oh.” Luke walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. “I’m guessing you were listening?” Autumn raised an eyebrow at him and Luke rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, Rose. He wanted me to kiss him. I’m sorry, but I’m not about to kiss a dude. Telling him I was mad was the only thing I could think of that would keep him at bay.”