Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series) (17 page)

I pulled out the vial hanging around my neck.  It looked old.  It was round, about two inches long and capped with a dark metal lid.  I tried to fight the urge to open it but lost my internal battle and unscrewed the metal top as silently as possible.  Inside the vial, the crystal reminded me of grayish white moss. I held it under my nose and sniffed carefully. It didn’t smell of anything really.

A wave of guilt washed over me, and I knew I overstepped my bounds.  So I replaced the top and took it off my neck.

I tiptoed into the living room with Grey’s things in hand to see if he was awake, but he was sound asleep.  He lay on the couch with no covers.  His frame was too long to fit on it, so one foot was propped on the arm, and the other foot was still on the floor, as if he’d plopped down and fallen asleep before even settling in.  My eyes grazed up his long, jean-clad legs to his bare chest.  One hand cradled his head, and the other rested on his lower stomach, a narrow trail of soft blonde fuzz just visible between his fingers.  I blushed and reminded myself I hadn’t come in here to ogle him.

I folded his sweater onto the coffee table next to him and gently curled the chain and glass vial into a coil on top.  Then I stared at him for a moment.   I examined his face carefully.  Even in sleep he seemed ill at ease, his eyebrows slightly knitted together with worry.  I wondered if he was dreaming about The Front, or Karl... or me.

As I watched him, the room went from gray shadows to a light shade of pink.  I looked through the window.  The sun was rising, blushing the sky with color.  My heart lurched with a sudden rush of excitement.  We would be going for Sarah soon.  I pulled out my phone and re-read the few texts we’d exchanged, and typed one more to her.  “not long now. will be there soon.  i can’t wait to see u!”  The text didn’t immediately go, but I hoped it’d find her soon, and give her enough hope to hold on a little longer.

I left Grey to sleep and headed for the suite’s bathroom.  It hadn’t been long since my last shower, but I thought the water would stimulate my senses and prepare me for the day.

The shower water was frigid, and even though I hurried, I was covered in goose bumps, and my teeth rattled by the time I finished.  Once I was done, I grabbed the complimentary bathrobe, still folded perfectly next to its mate on the shelf.  It was strange to think this had been laundered, folded and placed here by someone before The Plague a year ago, back when the world was normal.

Shivering, I tied the belt, closing the robe warmly around me.  I looked for my bag with my change of clothes in it and realized it was in Rissi’s room.  I eyed my dirty clothes and decided I couldn’t bear to put them back on after going through what I had to get clean.

I bent to pick them up off the floor, quietly opened the bathroom door and stopped short.  The couch Grey had been stretched out on was empty.  He was gone.

 I crept toward the couch, and the rest of the living room came into view.  The floor-to-ceiling windows let in brilliant streaks of orange from the rising sun.  Illuminated, slow-moving dust motes drifted through the still air.  I found Grey sitting on the desk with his back to me, watching as morning spread across Las Vegas and the surrounding desert and mountains.  The glowing light bathed his bare shoulders in warmth and glinted off his golden hair like sparks off a blacksmith’s forge.

I think I forgot to breathe.  He had never been so beautiful.  And he wasn’t even facing me.  My eyes traced the soft curve of his spine up his back to his neck, then out along his shoulder to the hard angle down his arm to the pleasant curve of his bicep.  His forearms rested on his thighs, and his bare feet dangled beneath him.

He must have heard me, because he turned suddenly, looking over his shoulder at me standing in the doorway.  His gaze didn’t leave my face, and I was pinned to the spot.  I grew increasingly aware that I was wearing only a bathrobe and my wet hair was dripping onto the floor.

“I thought you left,” I said, half-turning back to the bedroom, but staying in the doorway.  I reached up to my soaked hair and tried to comb through it with my fingers.

“No,” he said.  “I didn’t leave.”  His words carried more meaning than the immediate implication.  “Come sit with me.  You have to see this.”  He gestured to the panoramic view.

I walked to the glass and stood beside him.  Las Vegas was lit with fiery color.  Yellows, reds, tans and oranges splashed across the desert and melted into cool blues and grays where the mountains still held onto the night’s shadows.  The city was an intrusion of reflective glass and right angles.

“It’s going to be a beautiful day,” I said.

“Mmm-hmm,” Grey murmured softly.

I looked at him while his eyes were focused outside.  His blue eyes squinted slightly against the bright sun, and I noticed the little glass vial hung in its rightful place around his neck, bumping gently against the center of his chest with every slow breath.

I sat down on the couch where he’d slept, my chilled skin soothed by the warmth the cushions still held from his sleeping body.  I curled my legs underneath me, tucking the robe in, and flicked my long, wet hair behind my shoulders.

“Grey?” I asked, when I was ready.

“Hmm?” he said, dragging his gaze from the window.

“Will you still take me to LA to get Sarah?  Today?”

He was still for a handful of seconds, then slid off the desk and came to sit next to me.  I tried not to react as he settled onto the couch beside me, not touching, but still very close.  It wasn’t any different from any other time I’d sat next to him, except he wasn’t wearing a shirt this time.  I had a hard time concentrating on his face when that much of him was exposed for me to appreciate.

“I promised you I would.  But, Autumn, how sure are you that this is what you want to do?” he asked carefully.

“She’s alive, Grey, and I have to get to her.  Sarah is my best friend, and I thought she was dead.  But she’s not.  Do you know how wonderful that is?  Do you know what a miracle that is?  That I still have someone from my previous life?”

The thought of seeing her again brought me immeasurable joy.  I couldn’t wait to hug her again.  See her face.  Laugh with her.  Introduce her to Grey and take her back to Hoover with me where she would be safe.  She could live with Connie and me; share my room if she wanted.

Grey placed a warm hand on my shoulder, paused, then slid his hand around to the back of my neck, his fingertips tangling in my wet hair.  He sighed heavily.

“All right,” he finally said.  “I’ll take you to LA in an hour.  I need to check in at the clinic first, though.  Meet me there, and after I’ve looked in on Connie and the rest of my patients, we’ll go.”

I breathed in, ready to squeal with happiness, but he held up a finger in front of me.

“I have one condition, though,” he said sternly.  I nodded, waiting.  “If there’s anything suspicious, or if we can’t find her, we’re leaving, got it?”

I nodded, unwilling to do or say anything that might make him change his mind.  I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face at the joyous thought of seeing Sarah again.  Wonderful, beautiful Sarah.  Sarah, someone who knew me.  The real me.

The back of Grey’s fingers gently brushed my cheek.  He was so close.  His whole body was turned toward me on the couch, and he was leaning in.  One hand tangled in the wet hair at the nape of my neck; the other rested on my throat.  His lips parted.

I felt myself leaning in.  I had no control over this movement.  I was being pulled into him.  He was going to kiss me, I thought. 
Finally
...

The slow-moving sun suddenly reflected in the glass tower of the Flamenco across the street, filling the room with a violent, sharp light, and I stood up quickly, rearranging my robe.  The space I just vacated looked small and warm beside Grey, who now shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness.

“I’ll need to get dressed, and then I’ll meet you at the clinic,” I said.  “I want to check in on Rissi and Connie before we go.”  I tucked my hair behind my ears awkwardly, trying to cover up my ineptitude.  “I’ll see you in an hour?”  Before he could respond, I turned and fled the room.

What had just happened, I wondered?  How had I nearly let that happen?  When he was probably leaving soon.  I couldn’t let myself fall completely in love with him again, no matter how much I wanted to now.  I bit my lip as I made my way to room 212.

I wondered what might have happened if I hadn’t jumped up when I did.  A flood of scenarios blazed through my head all at once, and I shook my head to make them go away.

“Stop it,” I whispered to myself, but couldn’t help the muscles in my cheeks pulling my lips into a smile.

Blushing, I reached room 212 and inched the door open.  All the children were still asleep, minus Rissi, who was at the medical center with Connie.  I breathed a quick sigh of relief and snuck into the bathroom to change.

I was at the medical center in no time.  It wasn’t far, and at this time of morning, there was hardly anyone to stop me on the way.  I quietly opened the door to Connie’s room and saw Rissi curled up in her arms, fast asleep.   When I pushed the door open wide, I wasn’t surprised to find Shad splayed out in a chair across from them, snoring loudly.  I noted Ben’s absence and, with an involuntarily grimace, imagined he’d be wherever Sam was.

I quietly found an empty seat and heard a big yawn come from the bed.  I looked up and saw Rissi, her eyes slightly parted and staring in my direction

“You don’t have to get up yet.  I couldn’t sleep,” I whispered.  Rissi sleepily stumbled to me and climbed up onto my lap.  Though she was a small girl, she was starting to get too big to sit in my lap, I thought, and winced as her knee pressed into my hip.

“I had a nightmare,” she whispered.  I put my arm around her and pulled her closer.

“What kind of nightmare?”

“There was an earthquake, and the bad man was there.  The one Ben used to make me hide from.”  I frowned.  She dreamed about Karl.

“It was just a dream.  He’s not here,” I said and instantly thought about his group of infiltrators.

“I know.  But I don’t want to go back to sleep.”

“Well, if you two aren’t going back to sleep, neither am I,” Connie’s muffled voice purred.

“Morning, Connie.  Sorry we woke you.”  I squeezed her hand.

“I can’t seem to stay asleep. He’s certainly a delicate baby rose, isn’t he?” she asked, as Shad snorted a particularly loud snore. Rissi covered her mouth, giggling, and slid down from my lap to return to her place in Connie’s bed.

I leaned down to hug Connie.  I noticed her arms felt stronger than before as she hugged me back.

“You seem
good
,”I said.

“I feel good,” she replied.  “Grey and the other workers here are tireless.”

I looked around the room, surprised when I noticed the bed beside hers was vacant and the sheets gone.

“Where’d your roommate go?” I asked.

“Grey’s been getting a lot of us out of here.  Kathy told me only about fifteen are left in the clinic.  Most everyone else has been allowed back into their rooms at the Egyptian or were moved into the Palmetto.  I knew Grey was an accomplished doctor, but he’s really impressed a lot of folks here.  I don’t know what we’d all do without him.”

I nodded, remembering The University ship calling him home, and that he’d probably be leaving us soon.  I tried not to let the melancholy show on my face.  Would he still leave after trying to kiss me this morning?  Surely that meant he still cared about me.  But did the ability to finally go home have more pull for him than I did?  I didn’t know.  If The Crimson Fever first appeared after he’d been able to go home, would he have stayed to help if he could have escaped immediately?  I used to think he stayed for three reasons: because Earth reminded him of Andros, because he started to allow himself to feel emotions again and felt compassion for us, and because of me.

I wasn’t sure about all those things anymore.  He might have just felt that way at the time because he
couldn’t
go home.  Now that he could, those reasons might not seem so important anymore.

I decided to think more on it later.  I was going to rescue Sarah in less than an hour, and I could only allow myself to focus on one worry at a time these days.  Sarah was too important to get distracted by anything else.

I stayed with Connie for the rest of the hour.  Rissi woke Shad with her giggling at his snoring, and before long, I nearly forgot we were in a hospital room.  It felt like old times.  I was surprised when I heard a familiar voice come from the doorway.

I turned and found Grey, standing there.  Radiant was the only way to describe him.  He looked so much better after the little rest he allowed himself.  He entered and took out his stethoscope to examine Connie.  He made small talk with us all as he examined the burns on her legs and changed the bandages.

“Connie, I’m really happy with the progress here,” he said.  “The skin is healing nicely.  Some of these pinker areas might not even scar.”

“I have a good doctor,” she said.  He smiled and flipped his stethoscope back around his neck.

“Autumn, do you have a few minutes?  I’d like to talk to you.”

My stomach jumped.  It was time to go.  I excused myself from the others and followed Grey out into the hall.

“Are you ready?” he asked.  I nodded and tried to calm my nerves.  I took a deep breath and clutched my hands behind my back to hide their trembling, but I was sure he could hear my heart thudding in my chest.

“Have you given any thought to what happened?” he asked very quietly.  His eyes stared steadily at me, and I suddenly felt uncomfortable.  He wanted to talk about our relationship now?

Grey’s posture changed suddenly, and he nodded a greeting to someone behind me.  I turned around and saw Daniel walking toward us.  He held flowers in his hands, and he blushed slightly when he saw us.

“Hi, guys.  I was just going to check on Connie.”

“She’s already awake and has a crowd, so beware,” Grey said, smiling, and gestured toward Connie’s room.