Changes weren’t only being made with the Warriors, but with many of the other laws as well. Luke had enlisted the help of Crystal, Avery, and Kyndel to pour over the books of laws and point out the ones that were clearly outdated or needed to be re-evaluated and re-written, which were unsurprisingly plentiful.
“Ugh, what is this, 1843?” Kyndel said in disgust as she read through one of the books. “Female elves may not visit the living quarters of a male elf after nightfall. Seriously? Ha. They would’ve rethought this law if they’d known me. Can I scratch this one out please?”
“Yes,” Luke said distractedly, reading through the law about arranged marriages for royal elves, which had caused him and Autumn so much grief on their 18th birthday. Olympus had overruled it before his death, but it was still in the book. And, in most circles, writing meant more than words. “Taking this out.”
Crystal leaned over to look at what Luke was drawing a line through and rolled her eyes. “Thank you.”
“So, when are you two going to exchange golden roses anyway?” Kyndel asked bluntly. An uncomfortable silence fell over them, and Luke and Crystal glanced up at Avery, who was now frowning down at the page he was reading, his eyes frozen in place. Kyndel looked up from her book and said, “What? Don’t tell me you’re still pretending your engagement isn’t inevitable.” Then she followed their gaze to Avery and smacked herself in the head. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Avery. I’m such an idiot. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s fine,” Avery said dully, not looking up from the page. “Just because my life has virtually crumbled around me, doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t be allowed to go on with theirs.”
This was the first time Avery had outright admitted this, and Luke wasn’t sure what could even be said—the answer was nothing, really. No words could bring Autumn back. And that’s the only thing that would make everything better. Which was impossible.
Kyndel shot Luke a distressed, apologetic look, but he didn’t blame her. They couldn’t tiptoe around life just because they all missed Autumn. That’s not what she would have wanted.
It remained awkwardly quiet for another minute until Crystal threw her head back in uncontained laughter, officially breaking the silence.
“What?” Kyndel said, apparently thinking Crystal was reacting rather inappropriately for the situation.
“I’m sorry,” Crystal said, wiping away tears of laughter. “I just read this law that says ‘When defecating near a tree residence, the elf must first dig a hole and cover the feces properly before abandoning the feces.' Ahahahaha! Who writes a law for that?”
Avery glanced slyly up from the book in his hands and muttered, “That is a pretty shitty law.”
A beat of silence, then all four of them were rolling, tears of laughter streaming down their faces.
23
Seeing a Ghost
The more Autumn thought about that shadowy room, the more suspicious she became about what Victor was keeping in there—or who Victor was keeping in there. After a night of strange dreams of opening the door to the secret room and finding flashing green eyes and waves of ruby red blood, Autumn decided that she would spend the day reading his journal, waiting until after nightfall to venture back out to see exactly what was in the forbidden chamber.
After a long bath, Autumn decided she would put on another set of pajamas and read in bed until she grew sick of Victor’s journal—or before it made her sick, either way. What was the point of getting dressed when she wasn’t going anywhere? So, with damp hair and a new, white cotton nightgown, Autumn climbed back into bed and pulled out Victor’s journal. She’d decided to hide it within one of the larger books in her bookcase so Eris wouldn’t suspect anything if she suddenly walked in on her.
The timeframe between Victor’s last entry after killing Avabelle and his next entry spanned over several months to when he returned to school as a 2nd quarter elf. And, even then, he’d only written two short entries that were both wildly depressing, and left Autumn glad to turn the page.
A knock sounded on the door, and she hastily shut the oversized book of Underground Fairy Tales with Victor’s journal nestled inside.
Eris peeked her head around the door. “Care for some breakfast?”
“Yes, please,” Autumn said with a smile.
“Do you not feel well?” Eris asked upon entering the room, taking in Autumn’s lack of care put into her appearance.
“No, I’m fine. I just wanted to be lazy today. Read, eat, wear pajamas. You know.”
Eris chuckled. “Sounds like fun to me.”
“You can join me if you’d like,” Autumn said brightly, though secretly wanting her to refuse so she could continue reading the journal without distractions. Ah, the problems with being an ambivert.
“I wish I could,” Eris sighed, placing Autumn’s breakfast tray on the small, circular table by the window. “Too much work to do, I’m afraid.”
“Okay. Well, maybe some other time?”
“I’d like that,” Eris said with a genuine smile before she swept from the room.
Autumn realized that she was yet again making an Atrum friend. Would she ever learn? Probably not. Which was basically why she was being held hostage in this hollow mountain in the first place.
She carried the oversized Fairy Tale book to the breakfast table and propped it up so Victor’s journal was completely hidden from view. For two whole years of his life, Victor had only written in his journal a handful of times, and the few entries he’d taken the time to write grew shorter and darker with each turn of the page. Entry Twenty-Six was only five fragmented sentences.
Entry Twenty-Six
I am an Atrum. People here know I’m an Atrum. They hate me for it. I’m starting my 4th quarter tomorrow. I’m ready to become a Warrior so I can do what I need to do and leave this place.
Autumn’s heart started inexplicably racing. Then, she realized it was because, in the back of her mind, she knew what was coming up. If this was the entry before his first day as a 4th quarter elf…he was about to meet her. She wasn’t sure why she was nervous, but there was no denying that she was.
Entry Twenty-Seven
I met Autumn Oaken today. It’s a strange feeling to meet the person you’ve been taught to hate the entirety of your life, and then feel no such feelings towards them. In fact, I felt awe. Her innocence and sincerity are palpable, and she is nothing like the monsters Vex and Vyra always said the Oaken are. In fact, I am the monster here. Everyone knows it, except it would seem, for Autumn.
She saw me today, not as an Atrum, but as an average elf sitting next to her in Numbers class. I wonder if anyone has told her what I am yet. Surely they would, to protect her from me. Especially Avery, who seems to have already developed feelings for her. I would judge him, but then I would be judging myself.
For the first time in two years…I’m looking forward to school tomorrow.
Autumn paused after this first entry. Her confusion over the past few days had grown exponentially, but now she was positively mystified. After what she’d learned during her short time as Vyra’s prisoner, she had assumed Victor had been acting the entire time he’d lived in Arbor Falls. This journal, however, said otherwise.
Eris came to retrieve her breakfast then, and Autumn hurriedly shut the giant Fairy Tale book, pressing it to her chest as she moved back to her bed.
“Enjoy your day of reading,” Eris said with a breezy smile as she carried the tray out of the room.
Autumn was still too bemused to speak, but she flashed the Atrum girl a small smile that felt more like a grimace before taking a deep breath, opening the Fairy Tale book and journal inside it, and continuing to read. The next several entries did prove that Victor was learning everything he could about the last female Oaken. He wrote long-winded prose about every detail he could think of about her: the way she walked, the way she laughed and spoke, her strengths and weaknesses, her overwhelming need to help others, and her love for her brother a
nd her friends.
He scribbled notes that seemed like afterthoughts in the margins of the journal. Random things like, Her middle name is Rose, or slightly deeper things like, She appears to be rather observant, studying me nearly as much as I do her. Though, if Victor’s assignment was to watch both of the Oaken twins, then he had done a poor job of it because there was next to nothing written about Luke, save for a few short notes about his weaknesses and what his Power was.
Entry Thirty-Three
I’ve decided to offer Autumn a red binding rose at her Melodies concert tonight. There is no other way I can think of to keep her with me. My fear is that she will grow to hate who I am and want to get away. But, of course, she will hate me eventually if I continue on with Vyra’s plan…
Vyra, who will definitely not endorse this gesture. Vyra, my last remaining family. The only one foolish and self-righteous enough not to fear me. This, above all reasons, is why I still listen to her, why I still follow her. I would be a fool to think she cared about me. But after nearly two decades of people looking at me with terror in their eyes…I can’t imagine losing the one pair of eyes that look at me as an equal, though I am, in fact, stronger than her. However, if Autumn accepts my rose, I may be able to let go of Vyra. I may be able to be what Autumn thinks I am…
Good.
Autumn closed the journal again, her stomach filling with a familiar feeling. Guilt. Was Victor actually being genuine when he said he would leave Vyra if Autumn stayed with him? Would she have been able to prevent the deaths of so many innocent people simply by selflessly staying with Victor? A parade of faces flashed before her eyes: Cera, Olympus, Lucian, Forrest, Crystal, Charlotte, and so many others. So many people whose lives had either been lost or forever changed because of Victor, Vyra, or one of their followers. And, if what Victor was saying in his journal was true, she may have had the power to prevent all of it.
Beginning to feel rather sick to her stomach, she marked the page in the journal and stuffed it under her mattress before kicking the covers off of her and immediately leaving her room in the direction of the forbidden chamber. She wanted to find out what he was hiding in there if only to distract her from her possessed thoughts.
She wasn’t sure what time it was, and she didn’t care. As it usually did when she read, time had slipped away from her, and she’d lost all sense of its passing. But what did time really matter when there was no one to spend it with?
When she reached the door to the secret room, it was closed this time. Her hand was damp from sweat. Apparently, she was more nervous than she realized. She considered knocking in case there was someone in there but figured that was sort of defeating the whole purpose of sneaking in. She turned the doorknob, her slick palm slipping on the cold iron. The door swung inwards.
A small fire was lit in the grate. Squinting her eyes at the bed in the shadowy corner, she swore she could make out the shape of a person. A man.
And then the faceless form spoke.
“Son?”
Autumn jumped about a foot out of her skin. Had the man in the shadows just called her son? “Uh—Um. I’m sorry, I—”
“Autumn?” he said. “Autumn Oaken? Is that you?”
Okay, this was weird. The voice that belonged to the man in the room was familiar. Very familiar. In fact, she knew who she would have thought it belonged to…if he had been alive.
But he wasn’t.
“Who’s there?” Autumn whispered, clutching at her hammering heart.
The man leaned forward enough so that the dim, flickering light of the fireplace illuminated his features.
Gasping, Autumn backed out of the room and pressed herself up against the wall, not believing what she was seeing. Her chest felt like it would explode from the violent beating of her heart. Convincing herself that she may have been wrong about who she saw, Autumn stepped forward again and peered uncertainly inside the door.
Nope. She had been right. Looking up at her with amused, emerald green eyes was none other than Victor’s real father, Rion Lavigne, who Autumn had last seen dead on the ground, bleeding out from the gaping hole Vyra had stabbed through his heart.
24
The New Lawkeeper
LUKE was slowly and painfully growing used to life without Autumn. He knew his sister would want him to go on living, to go on helping people. So that’s what he was going to do. But it didn’t mean he hurt any less. He had just found better ways of managing his pain, of putting it in a nice, little hidey-hole in his brain or heart or wherever pain was stored in the body. It always amazed him how something so intangible could cause so much physical grief.
In addition to writing up new laws, Luke was trying his hardest to connect with the people of Arbor Falls. He extended his visitation hours so that more elves were able to speak with him about their concerns, and he offered as much help as possible. Autumn had been the one who dealt with the “people.” Luke had dealt with other leaders and the Warriors. When it came to empathy, she had always been the twin to go to. Now, Luke had no choice—and he had to say he was getting pretty good at it. That was, until Kyndel’s father, Kyle Butler, stormed in to speak with him. Actually, to speak with someone there must be two people contributing to the conversation.
Mr. Butler—as Luke had always thought of him—looked every bit as wealthy as he was. His salt and pepper hair was combed perfectly to the side, held in place by whatever elves used as a natural alternative to hair gel. His mustache was impeccably shaped and trimmed. A rather expensive looking suit and definitely expensive dragon skin boots topped off the look. He couldn’t look richer if he pasted golden leaves all over his clothes.
“I need a word with you, Son,” Mr. Butler said.
Did he seriously just call the king “Son?” Luke swallowed the insult that rose like bile in his throat and said, “How can I help you, Mr. Butler?”
“I just discovered that you are harboring a known homosexual, and I’ll have you know that I can not live in a town where that sort of unnatural behavior is not only tolerated, but encouraged.”
Actual bile made an appearance in Luke’s throat this time from the disgust he felt towards this man. “You are perfectly free to leave Arbor Falls if you wish.”
“No. I’m sorry, I believe you misunderstood me. I don’t wish to leave Arbor Falls, seeing as my business, my home, and my family is here. I have no desire to move my family somewhere else. I wish for you to do something about—”
“Surely not all of your family? Because I believe the homosexual you are referring to is your daughter.”
“Not anymore,” the vile man said, enunciating each syllable through gritted teeth.
“Yes, well, that works nicely for me as she has recently been appointed the kingdom’s…” he was thinking on his toes here, “Head Lawkeeper.”
“Lawkeeper? Kyndel? Ha!”
Kyndel chose that moment to enter the throne room, her hair pulled back into a tight bun and arms full of the law books she and the others had been helping Luke edit. “I’ve finished editing and revising these. Would you like me to begin re-writing the new laws in the—”
Her tawny eyes landed on her father, and she stopped dead in her tracks, knuckles whitening as she squeezed the books more tightly to her.
“Re-writing the laws?” Mr. Butler said with a look of horror. “You can’t just—”
“Yes, that would be great, Kyndel. Thank you,” Luke said, cutting Mr. Butler off. “And the first law I would like you to add is: ‘No elf business is permitted to discriminate against any client or customer based on their sexual orientation.’ In fact, put that at the top of the first book—in bold lettering.”
Kyndel bit her bottom lip and her eyes shined with tears she was clearly trying to hold back. But she smiled gratefully up at him, her head rising assertively into the air as she said, “Yes, Sir.”
Mr. Butler balked. “You’ve got to be joking.”
“No, you’re the only joke here,” Kyndel spat at him.
“You little—” Mr. Butler moved towards Kyndel. Luke hit him with a hurricane-force wind, causing him to stumble backward, and ruffling his perfectly coifed hair and suit.
“That will be all, Miss Butler,” Luke said to Kyndel. Once he had let up the wind, Kyndel’s father furiously attempted to put his disarrayed hair right.
Kyndel nodded and then turned to speak over her shoulder, “Oh, and you can call me Miss Caroline now. Kyndel Caroline. I am no longer a Butler.”
With that she breezed from the room, her head held high, leaving her father to gape after her in shock.
25
You…What?
“Would you like to come in?” Rion asked as Autumn stared at him with an open mouth and wide eyes.
“I—How—I’m…” Autumn couldn’t form a coherent sentence. How could she when she was talking to an actual real live ghost? “Are you—?”
“I am alive,” Rion answered her unasked question. “If you will come in, I can explain in a bit more detail.”
Autumn stood stationary in the doorway, looking over her shoulder down the dark hallway and moving her gaze back to the shadowy room full of secrets she sort of wished she’d never discovered. Just for sanity’s sake.
“I just don’t understand,” she said finally, moving slowly into the room and closing the door behind her. She remained standing there, not sure what to do. “The last time I saw you, Vyra had stabbed you in the heart with a dagger. An actual blade. In the heart. I watched the light leave your eyes. I saw it.”
ALDER (The Underground Series Book 3) Page 14