Autumn Calling (15 page)

Autumn wrapped her arms around her knees,
watching the tiny flame consume what items Summer had found.

“What was it like, growing up all alone in
the orphanage?” Autumn asked.

“I don’t know how to answer that. I mean, I
don’t know what it’s like to grow up any other way.”

“But you had no mother or father to look
after you,” Autumn said with sadness.

“No, but I did have Sister Mary Louise, who
was like a big sister looking out for me. And I had my best
friend.”

“So, you’re not bitter?”

“No. As far as I knew my parents had died.
It wasn’t until recently I learned the truth and found I had all
kinds of family alive.”

“What explanation did the Midnights have for
dumping you into an orphanage?”

“I wouldn’t say they dumped me in an
orphanage. In fact, there were many involved who looked after me
without my knowing, and for that, I’m very grateful. Many kids
don’t have anyone. Our grandmother thought she was doing the best
thing for me and if she could have taken you with me, she would
have.”

“Why, did they think that would be the best
thing for both of us?”

“I suppose with all the anger and animosity
the two families felt for one another, taking us away from that
might’ve given us the ability to see the conflict for what it
really is.”

“And what is it? This conflict.”

“I can’t say for certain, but I think it’s
hate fueled by years of revenge inflicted upon each other. I expect
the Macabres feel they are in the right as much as the Midnights
do, which makes for a crappy situation for all the weight and years
of war to land upon the two of us to resolve,” Summer relayed.

“I know, right? No pressure or anything. I
don’t even know half the people I’m supposed to hate.”

“And I imagine that’s probably the way it’s
been for years. Each family’s bigotry towards the other inflamed by
the murder of members on both sides.”

“Hmm. You know you don’t seem to be Satan’s
spawn to me.”

“Glad to hear that,” Summer laughed. “Of
course, even if I was, don’t you think I’d probably be lying?”

“You’re not helping your case,” Autumn
chuckled. “So, if my mother IS actually my aunt,” Autumn said,
shaking her head as if she wished she hadn’t said it. “Then what
happened to our mother?”

“The way I heard it is that Grandmother Ivy,
our mom Violet’s mother, worked out a plan with Violet and
Great-Aunt Myrtle, Ivy’s sister, to get out from the clutches of
the Macabres. Sorry,” Summer explained.

“I understand,” Autumn said.

“But the plan was botched. Somehow Yvonne
caught on to what was happening, and Violet and Ivy were killed in
the fight. Only one baby was taken instead of both.”

“You mean Violet was okay with this? She
wanted us both to be taken? But why would she want to take us away
from our father.”

“The story goes back a ways, but the gist of
it is that Marcus put a spell on Violet in order to have a child
with her. This would combine the powers of the two families and
thus infiltrate the Midnight’s more powerful magic into the
Macabres. That’s what all this has been about is greed for a more
powerful magic.”

“That’s a bunch of bull. The Midnights
aren’t more powerful than us. We’re more powerful. It was probably
Violet that put a spell on Dad to get the more powerful magic of
the Macabres.”

“Therein lies the problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Which is the lie and which is the
truth?”

The light from the tiny fire grew dim, and
there was no indication that anyone had found the smoke to direct
them to Autumn and Summer. The battery of the keychain light was
also growing faint. It was cold, it was damp, and hope seemed
fleeting. But it was the word ‘hope’ coming to Summer’s mind that
made her think of her beautiful angel, and she wondered if his
magic was strong enough to pierce through the darkness and save
them.

Summer stood and yelled. “Daniel. Daniel can
you hear me?”

“Are you going psycho on me?” Autumn
asked.

“No. I’m calling for a friend.”

“Oh, in that case, can you order me a
Starbucks non-fat raspberry mocha with no whip,” Autumn said
sarcastically.

“Very funny,” Summer answered, but at the
same instance Daniel appeared.

Summer jumped into his waiting arms.

“I take that back. Instead of a coffee, I’d
like one of those,” Autumn said, referring to the angel.

“Lunette, it’s very nice to meet you,”
Daniel said.

“Lunette. Nobody calls me that. Not even my
dad.”

“I’m sorry. Isn’t that your given name?”

“Well, yeah! But everybody calls me by my
middle name, Autumn.”

“My mistake. Autumn, I’m Daniel.”

“So I gathered,” Autumn said.

“Daniel, can you get us out of here?”

“Well, technically yes, but should I, is the
question. You know how this works, Summer. I’m not supposed to
change a person’s destiny.”

“Please, Daniel. I know it’s against the
rules, but couldn’t you make an exception just this once.”

“Yes, Daniel, just this once,” Autumn
interjected.

Daniel smirked at Autumn’s plea.

“I suppose, but you can’t breathe a word of
this to anyone,” Daniel said.

“And how will we explain our escape without
the angel story?” Autumn asked.

“We’ll say that…when we came to, we found a
tunnel we were able to dig our way out of.”

“Aren’t they going to want to see it?”
Autumn asked.

“Chances are they’ll be so glad to see you
alive and out of danger, they’ll forget all about the where and
how. If they pursue it you can say you can’t remember where or it
caved in.”

“Whatever,” Autumn said standing up and
swaying a little from the woozy feeling she had from her
injury.

“Take my hand,” Daniel said reaching for
each of the sisters. When they took his hand a warm rush of
sunlight washed over them that made them both close their eyes in
relief. When they opened their eyes they were near the curb on
Shadowbrook Drive, a few feet from where Summer had left her bike
leaning against a tree. Voices could be heard of worried chatter on
the other side of the hedge, as well the beeping of a tractor or
some other heavy equipment moving around.

“I guess this is goodbye, then,” Autumn
whispered.

“I guess so,” Summer answered.

“Thank you, Daniel,” Autumn offered.

“No problem, but not a word as agreed,
right?”

Autumn pretended to zip her lips and throw
away the key, which later Summer would have to explain to him.

“See you around, Summer.”

“I hope so, Autumn. Be sure to keep Vixen
off her feet for a while. Call me if—” Summer snapped her mouth
closed, forgetting their situation.

Autumn headed into the yard, where Summer
could hear excited delight in the voices of the Macabres in seeing
her safe and alive. Summer straddled her bike and kissed Daniel.
“I’ll see you at home?”

“Yes, you will,” he smiled at her and
vanished.

* * *

Summer went home and washed off the soil and
dust in a long hot shower. The heat felt good on her sore muscles
from the fall, and slowly melted the tenderness away. Her thoughts
lingered on the conversations she had with Autumn in the cave. With
so much damage and death to both sides, could there ever be peace
between the two? It sure didn’t seem so. Autumn had been raised to
hate the Midnights as did each generation before them. It would
take a miracle to get past the tangle of prejudices weaved in and
out of each side. Was there a right and wrong side? If so, it was a
very blurry line in between.

Out of all of the people involved, Summer
was the only one who had not been subjugated to the madness. She
wondered if that was the hope Ivy had when she’d given Summer to
Myrtle to hide away. Did she envision Summer’s growing up without
the influence of either side could somehow bring harmony amongst
them? If so, it was a tall order for just one person to accomplish.
Even if she could sway Autumn into helping her, it would be nearly
impossible to achieve.

Summer wished she knew what Ivy’s plan had
been. Had Henry really meant to kill off the Macabres that fateful
night when half the mansion burned to the ground? Or had his plan
gone horribly awry? Was he just an enraged father trying to save
his only child from what he thought was some horrible fate? Or was
there more to it? If she could only see into the past and find
evidence of what the Midnights had conspired to do.

But the biggest question Summer had was what
horrible act had started the feud between families in the first
place. Was it fiendish at all or just an accident that had sped out
of control?

She dried off, put on her robe, and sat on
the bed, mulling over her thoughts while combing her wet hair. One
conversation with Daniel and all these answers could be revealed,
but she knew better than to ask. His principles would never let him
answer her and she’d already had him step across that line today.
Best not put him in that position.

Before that very thought drifted from her
mind she heard the front door open and a familiar voice announced
his arrival. “Hello. It’s me,” Daniel said.

“Come on in. I’m in the bedroom. Were you
listening to my thoughts?” she asked.

“Some, though I do try not to. They’re just
so fascinating.”

“I doubt that very much.”

“They are to me,” he said, stroking her
hair.

“I wish I knew what it is I’m supposed to
accomplish. I wish you could give me some insight, since I can’t
ask Aunt Myrtle.”

“I know it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating
to me too, but if I don’t have my honor, what do I have?”

“I do understand, truly. I’m sure I’ll work
matters out somehow. Things just seem a little hopeless right
now.”

* * *

That evening Summer pulled Morti, Aunt
Myrtle, and Hunter together at the big house, and updated them on
the earlier events of the day. It was hard to imagine that just
eight hours earlier she’d been trapped underground with her
sister—the enemy. It was even harder to think of Autumn as the
enemy, since she reminded her of Tori in many ways.

“What a harrowing experience, my dear. Are
you quite all right?” Aunt Myrtle asked.

“More importantly, did you learn anything we
can use to defeat them?” Morti interjected.

“Mortimer Xavier Midnight, you’ve got to be
the most insensitive and socially inept person I know,” Aunt Myrtle
said with intolerance.

“She’s standing here, with no bandages I can
see. Easy to assume she’s fine,” Morti retorted.

Aunt Myrtle clicked her tongue in a tsk and
shook her head.

“I’m fine. So is Autumn, though she got a
pretty good cut on her head. Truthfully though, I don’t have a lot
of new information.”

“Autumn? She goes by her middle name, hmm,”
Myrtle mentioned.

“You spent three hours trapped and you have
nothing to show for it?” Morti snapped.

“No. I don’t. I hadn’t gone there for
reconnaissance. I went there as a veterinarian. I treated Autumn’s
cat once and when she was reinjured this morning she called me to
help. I had no idea she was my sister, or that I was headed to the
Macabre mansion. I was just out on a call. It wasn’t until the
fireballs were shot at me that I put two and two together. For that
matter, neither did Autumn know.”

“What a waste,” Morti said.

“Personally, I feel that Autumn is in the
same spot I’m in.”

“What spot is that, dear?” Aunt Myrtle
asked.

“In the middle of a war we don’t really
understand or want to be in.”

“What an ungrateful little beast you are,”
Morti said in a huff.

“What?” Summer said.

“Now, Morti, that’s hardly fair,” Hunter
said. Aunt Myrtle just covered her mouth and shook her head.

“We’ve been spending night and day teaching
you the craft, and you have the gall to announce you don’t want to
be involved? Well, you are involved. You were born into
involvement, little girl. Now show some backbone and quit your
whining.”

“Now hold on, Morti,” Hunter defended.

“I’m tired of her complaining and taking all
this so lightly. People have died for you to be here. She doesn’t
take the craft seriously, and she certainly doesn’t put her whole
heart into it.”

“No,
you
wait just a minute, Morti,”
Summer stepped forward. “Maybe if you all had told me how this all
came about in the first place instead of being thrown into training
without the barest of information, I’d be a little more
enthusiastic. But you people are asking me to
kill
my father
and my sister. Family members I only knew were family by asking the
right question at the right time. I can’t get a straight answer out
of Aunt Myrtle without her going off the deep end, and you, Morti,
have been less than friendly from the get go.”

“WE’RE your family, Summer,” Aunt Myrtle
said, angered by Summer’s comment.

“Yes, but so are they. The Macabres, despite
how you feel about them and what they’ve done to you and the rest
of the Midnights, are my family. After talking with Autumn, I feel
she is in the dark about much of what’s going on. She didn’t seem
to know anything about a dragon.”

“You mentioned the dragon to her?” Hunter
said in shock.

“Perfect. Now they know we know. Smart
move,” Morti said sarcastically.

“It wasn’t like I was trying to reveal any
hidden secrets. She asked why we couldn’t use magic to get out of
the cave. I surmised it was due to the dragon sterilizing the earth
in her nesting process. She seemed appalled by the thought that an
egg had been used to capture the dragon.”

“Oh, Summer, I wish you hadn’t relayed that
to her.”

“Look, you weren’t down there, looking for a
way out. You don’t know what you would have said or done if you
were in my shoes, so don’t judge me,” Summer reprimanded
Hunter.