Autumn (5 page)

“So?” I asked. “Aren’t the two of you dating? Like, you’ve been together half the summer, haven’t you?” I tried not to sound too accusatory, but it still burned me a little that she hadn’t told me about them. I had to catch them making out, which had sucked and had ended up being the most awkward thing to happen, ever.

“That’s not the point,” Carley scoffed.

“No?” I asked. “What is the point?”

Carley stammered for a few seconds, then said, “He should have talked to me about it first.”

She had me there. He probably should have.

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re probably right. He should have.”

“Thank you,” said Carley, nodding. “That’s what I told him. And I told him you would support me.”

“Carley!” I said, even though she was right. Of course I would support her.

“So, anyway, we ended in a fight. It sounds like you had a much better night, but I told Nick to stay away from me. I mean, what’s the point?”

“There’s always a point to love,” I said desperately. “You can’t just give up on it, especially not with Nick.”

Carley laughed. “Of course, silly. That’s not what I mean. What’s the point to Nick and me? Like, I’m leaving soon, less than a week now, and he’s staying here. We’ll never be able to be together.”

“New York really isn’t that far,” I told her, trying to be positive. I couldn’t imagine Nick with anyone else.

“Yeah,” said Carley, “but I’m going to be really busy and stuff, so maybe next summer. Of course, who wants to have a boyfriend when they head to college?”

“Lots of people,” I muttered. “Plus, next summer’s a really long way away.”

“O-M-G I am SO going to miss you!” With that, Carley suddenly lunged forward and hugged me, but she was forced to pull away when her computer almost went tumbling down off the bed. Giggling hysterically, she set it on the floor.

“That reminds me, your mom called, said you should call her as soon as you could.”

“Did she say what she wanted?” My mom tried not to call a lot. Instead, she tried to let me call her. It was the whole growing up and independence thing, I guess.

“No, just to call,” said Carley.

“Did she sound worried?”

“Nope.”

“So, you and Nick are just going to be friends?” I asked. I really felt sorry for Nick, but Carley looked determined.

She nodded. “For now, yeah.”

Once we had finished talking I headed to my room. It wasn’t too late to call my mom, since she was always up until at least eleven. I was worried that something was wrong, especially since she hadn’t told Carley what she wanted. More importantly, I wasn’t ready to be alone with my thoughts yet.

My mom answered on the first ring. “Hi, honey,” she said, sounding even more bizarrely cheerful than normal.

“Hey,” I said. “How are you?”

“Oh, good. Same old same old. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Carley said I should call as soon as I could. Is everything okay?”

“Of course. Well, mostly. I don’t know if that’s how I want to describe it. I mean, yes I think it’s okay.”

“Mom?” I asked. She was being confusing, as usual. I hated it when she rambled.

“Well, I didn’t want to break this to you over the phone, but then again I didn’t want to keep you in the dark, either. You’re going to be seventeen soon. Wow, aren’t you growing up... and I...well, I just thought I should tell you, so it isn’t a surprise.”

“Mom,” I started, “what are you talking about?”

“It’s me and your father,” she said, sighing. “We have agreed to a trial separation.”

I would have liked to say I was surprised. Or to yell at her. Or some of both. I had thought they were doing well. The whole reason they had let me come to Castleton in the first place was so they could have some time alone.

After I left the Cheshires’ place I wouldn’t have thought I could feel any more numb, but it turned out I was wrong.

“You guys are getting a divorce?” I asked. My voice sounded small and frail. Everything was piling up, one thing after another.

“Oh, no, Honey, nothing like that,” my mom insisted. “A trial separation is far from a divorce. That’s not what we want at all.”

“So, what is it?” My voice rose in panic. I might not be able to yell at the Roths or the Cheshires, but what was family for?

“Well, Honey, the trial separation means your dad and I aren’t going to be living together,” she continued.

“Okay....” I still didn’t get it. “Wait, do I have to choose who to live with?” I asked, horrified. One more choice between two people I cared about the most. Only this time instead of two guys it was my mother and my father.

“We will see your dad a lot,” my mom said. “He’s going to visit and we are going to visit him.”

“So, are we going to get an apartment or something?” I asked, upset.

“Actually,” she said, “after I talked to Carley this afternoon I talked to Mrs. Hightower.”

Oh.

“Oh?”

“And she said it would be fine if we lived in their place this fall, and maybe beyond. We would pay rent, of course, but she offered a very reasonable rate. Basically, just utilities.”

I was pretty sure I understood what my mother was saying, but I needed to hear her say it.

“So, we would be living in Castleton this fall?”

“Yes, at least for the next few months. You would have to transfer schools, which I know will be hard since Carley isn’t there, but I hear you have a friend named Nick, a boyfriend?” I heard a note of hope in her voice and shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “And so it sounds like you won’t be totally alone.”

Just almost totally alone. What was the point without Holt?

“But Mom, you know that means you’ll have to live in Maine?”

I didn’t think my mother had ever lived in such a small town before.

“Oh, Honey, you know me. I can do my work from anywhere.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, and if we hate it we can always go home. I’m most worried about you leaving your friends.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” I said. Oh, the Fairies were good. Very good. They had gotten all the way to my mother, and she didn’t even know it.

“When will you be here?” I asked. My mind was racing, but amazingly my voice was steady.

“I’ll be there over the weekend, just to have a night when Mrs. Hightower is still there. I don’t want to crowd the house, but of course it would be lovely if we could spend an evening together.

So, my mother was moving to Castleton so that I could live there. The Fairies had needed me to be around, and now I would be. I hadn’t realized that their reach extended to my family far away, but I should have known that nothing was sacred with them, not when they thought I had broken the law. I flinched. I wondered what else Mrs. Cheshire had in store for me.

I barely slept that night, just tossed and turned.

Holt’s face constantly appeared before my closed eyes, but instead of his customary smile he looked defeated. I wondered if the image was somehow a connection between us, or just my imagination. I wished I could imagine him smiling.

I knew Carley would leave me alone, which was a relief. I needed time, but I wondered if any amount of time would be enough.

I glanced at my phone. I wanted to text Samuel or call him, or even to hear from Susan, but I didn’t dare. I had seen what Holt’s saving me had done to Susan, and I couldn’t imagine what Samuel was going through. We had started to be friends and I had really liked him. He had taken care of me while Holt was away and I didn’t want to think about what Mrs. Cheshire was putting her son through at this very moment.

A sweet breeze blew into my room. My window was open even though my curtain was drawn. How could anything be blooming when Holt was locked away?

I needed to know where he was and when I would see him.

The Supreme Council had insisted that I learn more about what it meant to be a Fairy from the Roths while they decided what to do with Holt.

I wondered if Mrs. Roth would decide to speak up for her son. She didn’t seem inclined to, not with Logan still missing. But maybe after the initial shock of what her two children had done she would come around? I could only hope against hope.

For now, what I needed to do first was to know where Holt was, and really, I already did.

No doubt he would have to stay in the basement of the Cheshires’ house until we were summoned to answer for our crimes. I didn’t know why he was being held prisoner, though, since it wasn’t like he was going anywhere.

Sick and tired of the same dark thoughts running through my mind, I threw off my covers and got dressed as soon as it started to get light outside. I needed to see Susan. If I was lucky I would also be able to see Samuel.

I snuck out of the house. I couldn’t let Carley see me; she would ask questions about why I looked like crap and I wouldn’t be able to answer.

The day was clouded over and cold. I had put on jeans and a sweater and was glad of both as I walked to the Roths’ house. Luckily it was early enough in the morning that I didn’t see anyone on the way.

I wasn’t supposed to use my Fairy magic, but I didn’t want to call at the Roths’ front door, because Mrs. Roth was likely to kill me. Each plant and flower and blade of grass I passed, I asked for Susan. I hoped she would know I was calling her and would come.

I was in luck.

As the house came into view I saw a girl with white jeans, a blue top, and long blond hair walking towards me. Susan, who always looked happy and warm, looked faded and withered.

I had caused that.

A little piece of my heart broke again.

“Susan,” I started to say, but she held up her hand. “Let’s get coffee,” she said. “I could use it.” She eyed me as if I could as well. Of course, even in the middle of a crisis Susan looked wonderful, while I looked like I’d been riding on a boat and we’d gotten shipwrecked. In short, I was a disheveled mess. Served me right.

Instead of going to UP UP and Away, we went to a little diner on a side street. Despite the lack of restaurants in the area this place was never full. It was probably because the plastic menus stuck together as if they were made that way. The place was too old and too greasy for comfort. When the waitress, who had probably been there since the place was built, offered us menus, we both declined.

“Can’t mess up my manicure,” Susan murmured to me. She held up her bright pink nails.

I just plopped into a seat in the booth, but Susan examined her place meticulously before she sat down, checking for anything that would tarnish her perfectly white jeans.

“Do you know where Holt is?” I asked, barely giving her a chance to sit down. She let out a long sigh, sitting down heavily as if she was carrying a great weight.

“He’s at the Cheshires’.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” I started. I had to hope that at least she would believe me.

Susan shook her head. “Yes,” she said. “He did.”

“Caring about someone is wrong?” I demanded. “Not wanting someone you love to die is wrong?”

“It’s more complicated than that and you know it,” she said. “All the Fairies thought this would be a passing fancy between you two.”

“What?” I gasped. The waitress, who was standing at the counter doing nothing, looked over. I leaned forward and lowered my voice.

I felt as if I had stepped into the twilight zone, and not in a good way. Everything I had thought was true, like the idea that the Summer Fairies supported us and Holt and I would be fine, was turning out to be a lie.

“You are supposed to be with Samuel,” she said to me. “It was destined long before you came here. You and Holt threw everything off. That’s never happened before and it could be disastrous. It’s not like Samuel can just marry anyone.”

“He never wanted to marry me,” I pointed out with frustration.

“He would have come around,” said Susan, checking over her shoulder as if we might have been followed by Fairy secret agents or something.

“Even if he would have,” I said, “no one could have planned for Logan’s trying to kill me. Why isn’t anyone concerned about that?”

Susan shook her head. “They are concerned. Of course they are, but he’s disappeared, and to be honest, we can deal with Logan. What we can’t deal with,” she said pointedly, glaring at me, “is having a Rose given.”

“Right, so this is all my fault?” I demanded. Tears threatened to well up again. Under the table, I pinched the back of my hand to keep them from coming.

“He’s at the Cheshires’,” I hissed at her, trying to make her understand. “I can’t think of a worse place they could have made him stay. Mrs. Cheshire probably won’t even feed him.”

“He will be fed,” said Susan. “The other Supreme members wouldn’t stand for a Summer Prince’s being starved to death, even if he has broken the law.”

“Wonderful,” I said, “now I have nothing to worry about.”

“Look, no harm is going to come to Holt, at least not because he’s being held at the Cheshires’. It’s the only place around here where he can be held.”