ALDER

by Melody Robinette

  Autumn completely forgot about Kyndel and the Newsleaf and Victor and everything else in the world as she moved towards her twin. She paced gradually onto the field until she was only a few feet away from him. It felt strange that he didn’t turn to greet her or give her one of his trademark, body-crushing hugs.

  He looked different somehow. Older. His eyes appeared a little more tired, but also a little wiser. All in all, though, he looked fine. Crystal too. She seemed to have adapted to her new leg rather well. They both looked great. So, Autumn wasn’t sure why she felt worse than she had before seeing them. Was she really so self-absorbed to think that everyone would simply fall apart without her? This was what she had wanted right? For them to be safe and healthy and alive because of her sacrifice.

  “Here, Anna, let me show you what my sister used to do,” Luke said, approaching the girl sporting short black hair with a streak of blue running through it.

  Autumn’s heart leaped. So, he hadn’t forgotten about her.

  Luke showed the girl named Anna one of Autumn’s trademark moves where she would do a sort of side roll to escape an oncoming attack. She had done this to Candi during her Warrior Test, and it had worked rather well. Shadows fell for it too.

  “That’s really cool,” the girl named Anna said. “Your sister is pretty smart.” Then her face went pale, and she muttered, “Was, I mean.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence before Crystal said, “Yeah, she was. Autumn also taught me this.” She showed the boy with piercing blue-green eyes and golden brown hair another favorite move of hers where she threw her head back on her attacker’s nose and stomped on their instep. Crystal didn’t do this fully to the boy, though.

  Victor waited patiently as Autumn watched her brother and best friend train the young Warriors for an undetermined amount of time before Luke said, “Jeez, I’m starving. Y’all want to go get some lunch downtown? Pizza, or something?”

  “Y’all?” Anna said with a quirked brow.

  “I’m from Texas,” Luke answered, and Autumn laughed, feeling a small sob rise into her throat.

  “Do you want to stay with them while I go help Charlotte?” Victor asked gently from behind her.

  Autumn shook her head, causing a few tears to dislodge and fall. Wiping them away, she turned to face Victor.

  “No, I’ll come with you,” she said.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go.”

  Autumn and Victor, and Luke, Crystal, and the new Warriors left in opposite directions. Autumn wasn’t sure if she felt better or worse after seeing them. A little better, she supposed. Maybe. She was happy to see that Luke and Crystal were still together and seemingly happy and healthy. She was glad, at least, that they hadn’t forgotten her.

  “Are you okay?” Victor asked her with concern as they traveled down the path towards the Healing Tree.

  Autumn shrugged. “I’m not sure. I guess so. I don’t know.”

  Victor nodded in understanding, a shadow of pain passing across his features.

  They made it to the Healing Tree and managed to sneak through the door without being seen. It was quiet. Too quiet. The only person left in the sick room was Charlotte, and she was yelling at the Healer.

  “Just release me, dammit! I’m not sick, I just don’t remember anything!”

  “Precisely, dear,” the Healer said, trying to remain patient. “And, until you do, I’m reluctant to let you leave. It would be too—”

  Charlotte threw her pillow at the Healer, who cursed under her breath and left the room. Lying back on her flat bed now, Charlotte let out an exasperated sigh. How frustrating that must be, Autumn thought, to have no idea who you really are, where you came from, or who you loved.

  “I’m going to put her to sleep now,” Victor said. “It’s much easier to fix her that way.”

  Autumn nodded and watched as Victor sat in the wooden chair beside Charlotte’s bed, put two hands above her head and squeezed his eyes shut. Charlotte’s eyes immediately closed, her body going stiff. The air around her moved and undulated like waves of heat coming off of a bonfire. Her eyes fluttered as though she were in deep, REM sleep. And then she started convulsing.

  Victor didn’t move from his position and Autumn approached the bed, her heart pounding out her chest. She began to question what Victor was doing, and all the dark thoughts about the Ellock before her came flooding back into her mind. What if he’s hurting her? Killing her? What if he really wanted to come to Arbor Falls to destroy it? What if—

  The convulsing stopped, and Victor removed his hands and opened his eyes. He looked positively exhausted.

  “Did it work?” Autumn asked tentatively.

  “We will soon see,” Victor said weakly. “Jastin is almost here.”

  As if on cue, the door to the sickroom swung open, and Autumn turned to see a wary looking Jastin entering the room. She had to admire his dedication to Charlotte after everything that had happened. After everything the non-Charlotte had said to him.

  Victor moved away from the bed, coming to stand beside Autumn as Jastin approached Charlotte’s bedside, completely oblivious to their presence. He seemed almost relieved to find her asleep. When he noticed that she didn’t have a pillow, though, he swiped one from the empty bed beside hers and gently tried to lift her head to wiggle the feather-filled cushion beneath it.

  Charlotte startled awake, her eyes flying open and Jastin removed his hands, taking a step back.

  “Sorry,” he muttered. “I just thought you might want—”

  “Jastin?” Charlotte whispered, the hardened snap to her voice completely gone now. “What happened?” He stopped speaking, his eyes going wide. “Are the Shadows gone? Is everyone okay?” she asked, looking around the empty room in confusion.

  “Char…?” Jastin said, his voice wavering and hopeful. “Are you back?”

  “Where did I go?”

  Jastin laughed, a sob rising in his chest, as he swept to her side, pulling her tightly into his arms. Charlotte looked slightly confused, but she hugged him back.

  And, yet again, Autumn’s hate for Victor slipped just a little bit more, her wall crumbling ever further until there was a rather sizable hole allowing all kinds of potentially dangerous things to creep inside.

  31

  Magnetic

  AUTUMN and Victor sat together outside of the Healing Tree in silence. Victor was recuperating from healing Charlotte’s memory, and Autumn was battling a multitude of feelings, which was equally as exhausting.

  “What’re you thinking about?” Victor asked.

  Everything, Autumn thought, but instead said, “How easy that was for you. If only we had access to Ellocks who used their powers for good. We would be able to change the Underground. No offense,” she added at Victor’s surly look. “I mean, just imagine if we had Ellocks that could heal like that. Especially mental maladies. Like with Avery’s mom. It would be so amazing to have access to that kind of healing power.”

  Victor frowned, appearing deep in thought. Then he stood suddenly. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you go—?”

  “Just wait for me here, okay?” Victor interrupted, offering no further explanation.

  “Okay…”

  Victor walked briskly away from the Healing Tree and down the path, leaving Autumn in a cloud of confusion, which only lasted for another few seconds before being completely obliterated by surprise, awe, pain, and gut-wrenching heartache. Because walking down a different path was none other than Avery Burke.

  * * *

  VICTOR appeared on the balcony of Avery’s branch minutes after leaving Autumn at the Healing Tree. But he wasn’t there to see Avery. He was there to fix something he had messed up long ago. Passing through Avery’s room into the central portion of the branch, he paused at Penelope Burke’s room.

  They had met before. Long ago. When she had gone looking for her daughter and found her being strangled by Victor. He had been young then and i
nexperienced in the art of altering memories. He had tried, unsuccessfully to alter hers, causing more damage than he had ever intended. But he’d been too afraid to do much more, so he sent her back to Arbor Castle with a muddled mind and no memory of what he had done. He’d never thought to fix his mistake…until now.

  He entered the room feeling a wave of hatred towards himself wash over him. The woman was a skeleton. Literally skin and bones. And it was his young, amateur self’s fault, and his older self’s fault for not fixing it sooner. He just hoped it wasn’t too late.

  * * *

  AUTUMN immediately stood from her seated position and followed Avery. He looked preoccupied, his eyes unfocused and legs moving forward mechanically. She followed him, keeping a safe distance, wishing more than anything that she could call out his name or run up and hug him, kiss him, tell him how sorry she was and how much she missed him. But she didn’t. She just shadowed him with shaking limbs.

  As they went further and further and the forest grew darker due to the tightly spaced trees, Autumn soon realized where he was going and faltered slightly, not sure she wanted to continue onward. He was walking in the direction of the Warrior Burial Grounds. On one hand, she was morbidly interested in seeing her own grave, but on the other hand, the thought of it was rather disturbing and almost repulsive.

  Yet she couldn’t help but follow after Avery. It was like the magnetic pull within her, the gravitational force that connected them, wouldn’t let her stop tramping down the path after him, as much as she knew she wasn’t going to like what she was about to see. Avery moved quickly, with determination, and Autumn nearly had to jog to keep up with him.

  The sea of tree stumps doubling as grave markers appeared over the next hill, taking Autumn’s breath away. Avery made a beeline for a newly cut stump, one of the larger ones that had been freshly sealed. It was hers. The sight of her name carved into the wood in a swirling gold script made her stomach feel like lead.

  Avery knelt down beside it, being careful to kneel to the side of the freshly covered grave that only Autumn and Victor knew held the remains of a deceased Shadow that probably no longer looked like her. Avery reached into his coat, pulling out a fresh diamond rose, and placed it on the tree stump.

  “Since I never got to give this to you,” Avery began in a hollow voice. “I figured I should do it now…before the frost comes.”

  “You were going to give me a diamond rose?” Autumn heard herself say aloud, moving around the grave until she could see his face.

  His features were contorted in grief. Angular jaw clenched, eyebrows turned upwards in sorrow, eyes shining with tears. Autumn physically hurt for him.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there…when you needed me,” he whispered, the tears in his eyes spilling down his cheeks.

  Without thinking, Autumn’s hand shot forward to clutch his—an act of ignorant desperation to somehow take away his pain. She felt the magnetic pull in her core awaken and spread through her entire body. Avery’s eyes widened and flashed upward, almost connecting with hers. She gasped, jerking her hand back and falling backward onto the ground, which thankfully made no sound.

  “Autumn?” Avery murmured aloud, looking around. Her breathing ceased. She didn’t move. She’d just made a fatal mistake. Avery had felt their connection when she touched him. He continued to look around and then down at the grave before saying, “I swear I felt it.”

  Autumn ran away then. Far away from the Warrior Burial Grounds. She couldn’t risk Avery finding out about her. Not that he would. She was sure he probably thought he had sensed her spirit there and that he’d felt the magnetic pull of her ghost or something. Even still. It wasn’t fair to him. He needed to move on like Luke and Crystal had.

  She kept running until she made it to the Healing Tree and literally ran into Victor, something that she’d had a habit of doing since she had first met him.

  “Where did you go?” he asked, holding her up, almost unfazed by her crashing into him.

  She thought about lying, but knew he could probably just read her mind if he really wanted to anyway. “My grave,” she panted. “Avery was there.”

  “I see,” Victor said, an unreadable expression masking his features.

  “We should go.”

  “Why in such a hurry?”

  Autumn turned to look over her shoulder at the dark path leading to the Warrior Burial Grounds where Avery likely still sat, waiting to feel her presence again. “I just don’t want to be here anymore.”

  This was the truth. Being there, but not really being there was even more maddening than staying cooped up in her little room in Bluff Bastion. So, when they left on the dragon with no name, Autumn didn’t even want to look back at the place she was leaving behind. The town to which she no longer felt she belonged.

  * * *

  AVERY stayed at Autumn’s grave until darkness fell, hoping to feel her presence again. He’d only felt it once, and briefly, but he was sure he had. There was no convincing him otherwise. Not that he would be telling anyone anyway. They already thought he was crazy enough as it was.

  The darkness in the Burial Grounds was crushing and, soon, he would no longer be able to see a foot in front of him, as he hadn’t thought to bring any fay light with him. He hadn’t been planning on staying as long as he had. Stumbling through the woods, with his mind somewhere far away, he made his way back to the path that led to Arbor Castle. The magnetic pull he felt had been like a jolt of electricity awakening him fully for the first time since he’d lost Autumn. He wanted to feel it again. And again. Thoughts of speaking with the warlocks about their knowledge on contacting the dead consumed him, and he almost didn’t see the group of people waiting for him on the steps of Arbor Castle.

  “Avery! Where have you been?” Crystal called, sounding overly excited about something.

  He wasn’t sure he wanted to answer that. “Er…”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Luke cut in. “Look, Avery.” He stepped aside revealing a frail-looking woman with mousy, brown hair and dark shadows beneath tired, yet aware eyes.

  Avery stopped in his tracks, for he knew this woman well, but he hadn’t seen her outside of her room in over two years.

  “Mom?” he breathed.

  Penelope Burke smiled weakly, but with complete cognizance. “Hello, Son,” she said. “It’s been awhile.”

  32

  In Your Dreams

  AUTUMN and Victor had grown closer than ever after their journey to Arbor Falls. She knew now that she’d never be able to return to her old home. They had moved on, and Avery needed to move on too. Victor had made significant progress, Autumn was happy to say, because of her presence. There had been nearly no Shadow attacks since she had arrived at Bluff Bastion, though the Shadows were growing increasingly restless and completely covered the island.

  “You know, they’re just going to keep multiplying,” Autumn said one night in the library. They were both set up on the couch with books in their hands, except they had been talking more than reading.

  Victor sighed. “Yes, I know. I’ve tried to come up with a solution to that. I’ve considered creating another island to keep them on, but they would soon overpopulate that as well.”

  “Can’t you just destroy them all?”

  Victor shook his head. “It’s not as simple as that, I’m afraid. There are too many in too many places. It’s taking up most of my energy as it is to control their actions. You can’t know how much I regret letting Vyra experiment with my blood like she did. I was a fool for trusting her.”

  “She was your sister,” Autumn said, placing a hand on his. “I…I think I understand why you did some of what you did now.”

  Victor’s emerald eyes shot up to Autumn’s. “You do?”

  She nodded. “After seeing Luke again…yeah, I do. My brother was my whole world for so long. He was the only family I had for a little while there. And, if he’d told me to do something horrible or if he had done something horrible—I’ll ad
mit it would have taken a little convincing—but I think eventually I would have followed him wherever.”

  “But, as you said, Luke would never do such things. And you knew that.”

  “Yes, but Luke and I were raised in a loving home with loving parents who taught us to be good people. They taught us morals and right from wrong. You were taught the opposite of that growing up. You were taught that you were bad and, therefore, needed to do bad things. The mere fact that you fought against that for so long says a lot about you, Victor. And, don’t forget, your elf Power is Light. I know you’re an Ellock and that you have lots of powers, but your strongest is Light. Don’t you think that’s a sign of your inner goodness?”

  The slightest of smiles lit Victor’s features as he looked down at his clasped hands.

  “You’re one of the only people who has ever seen me in that way, you know,” he murmured before locking eyes with her. “I can’t tell you how much you mean to me, Autumn Rose. Words can’t explain. They aren’t enough to convey the depths of my gratitude and love for you.” Autumn gave Victor a small smile but said nothing. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sure I’m coming on a little too strong.”

  Autumn chuckled. “Victor, you essentially kidnapped me because you loved me. I’d say that was a tad bit stronger than what you’re saying right now.”

  “I suppose that’s true,” Victor said with a small smirk as he ran a hand across the shadow of facial hair on his chin.

  Autumn’s eyebrow quirked at him, and she leaned forward to brush the stubble of his cheek with the back of her hand, noticing the squareness of his jaw, the tiredness beneath his eyes. Victor’s breath caught in his chest as she did this.

  “You’re not eighteen, are you,” she stated, pulling her hand back.

  He let out the breath he’d been holding and chuckled. “No, I’m not.”