One Black Rose - August Part 4

"Why wouldn't the two of you just tell me if you're dating? Why keep it a secret?" I wasn't sure if I was more hurt that they hadn't told me or that they'd let me think that their being weird was really my fault.

"Because we aren't officially dating," Carley broke her silence and snapped at me, "and we didn't want you to feel even worse about Holt and whatever is going on there."

"There isn't anything going on there. Stop trying to protect me from everything. How could you not tell me you're...wait, so you're...." A little belatedly, I realized that Nick was getting more and more embarra.s.sed and Carley was getting mad, and that I should stop. And Carley hadn't wanted to see Friends With Benefits....

"Okay, well. Um, sorry to have interrupted and stuff," I said awkwardly. Now all I wanted to do was get out of there. Right then. "I'm going to go to bed." With that I dashed away. Carley called out to me but I ignored her, leaving my two friends standing there on the porch.

I hurried into my room and closed the door. Once I'd showered and gotten ready for bed by putting on a ma.s.sive t-s.h.i.+rt and brus.h.i.+ng my teeth, I grabbed the same magazine I'd been looking at the night before and tried to read it.

I knew I shouldn't be angry. Even though my two best friends here had basically lied to me. They hadn't come to my room last night because they had wanted to hook up. I hadn't been a lot of fun most of the summer and they were probably worried about me, but how could I have missed that they were together? And why weren't they actually dating? I knew for a fact that Nick was so completely in love with Carley that he'd probably marry her if she'd agree to it. I had been so wrapped up in my own love life, or lack of one, that I hadn't seen what was right in front of my face.

I still felt bad. I wished that they had felt comfortable telling me, but it explained a lot. Like why they hadn't come to my room and why they were always disappearing by themselves.

My eyes had become unfocused on the magazine, and I tried again to focus on the article. It was aptly t.i.tled "What to do When Friends Lie to You?"

I snorted.

There was a soft tap on my door, and from the other side Carley called, "Autumn? Are you still awake?"

"Yeah," I called back.

Carley came into the room. She looked a little timid and her face was still red, but she tried to smile at me.

"Sorry you had to find out like that," she said. "It was just so new and we weren't sure what was going on with you and..."

I sat up in bed.

"Let's just forget about it. I'm sorry you didn't feel like you could confide in me," I told her.

Carley nodded. "Thanks. I'm sure I could have. I just didn't know what was going on."

"So, what is going on?" I asked. Now that Nick wasn't around to be embarra.s.sed, I was sure Carley would tell me.

"I just don't want anything serious," she said. "We're going back to different schools in the fall a and I mean, come on, it's Nick!"

"So what if it's Nick?" I protested. "He likes you."

Carley blushed. "Yeah, I know. And we're having fun together, but that's all I want. Fun."

I nodded, but I felt a little bad for Nick.

"I'm glad I know now," I said.

Carley grinned. "Yeah, me too. I was paranoid about getting caught, but it really wasn't that bad."

I tossed a pillow at her and she caught it and laughed.

"We're going to have fun the rest of the summer," she said. "I don't want you to feel awkward around us. He really likes you and wants you to keep hanging out."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically. "I'll make a great third wheel."

Carley rolled her eyes. "We wouldn't do that to you. Plus, it's just casual. It's not like we're going to start holding hands in front of you or anything."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because," said Carley. "I don't hold hands."

I laughed. "Right. Poor Nick."

"Hey," said Carley, throwing the pillow back at me. "You're supposed to be on my side."

I grinned. "I always am." And I meant it. Carley's friends.h.i.+p was important to me and I would support her whenever she needed me.

"Alright," said Carley. "I'm tired. I should head to bed."

Right when she opened the door she turned around and said, "I told Nick about what Samuel said. He thought it was weird, but said he'd go along with it."

"Great," I said. "Samuel will be thrilled."

Carley laughed. "Yeah, anything to make Samuel happy. Night."

As soon as she left I put the magazine down and turned off the light.

I fell asleep and dreamed of roses.

Chapter Four.

The next day was sweltering and hot. I got up around ten and the heat was already pressing down on my skin and making me sweat. I threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top, and when I pa.s.sed Carley's door it was open, so she must have already been up. I went downstairs to find her planted in front of a fan; the house didn't have air conditioning anywhere.

Normally when we had a morning at home we'd hang out on the porch and chat and look at magazines, but it was just too hot today. Instead, after I'd got my breakfast of cereal and a cup of iced lemonade, I joined Carley in front of the fan in the living room.

"Today would be a good day to go swimming," Carley said wistfully.

"You can go," I said. "Samuel would probably never know. I think he's being ridiculous anyway."

"He just wants you to be okay," she said.

"Yeah, but you and Nick don't have to listen to him," I said. "It's too hot not to be at the beach."

Carley stuck her head closer to the fan. "I agree," she said, the whirling propellers of the fan distorting her voice. She grinned at me.

"Maybe I'll see if Nick wants to go. You're seeing Susan this afternoon, right?" she asked as she got up and started hunting for her phone.

I stretched out in my chair. "Yeah, we're going to meet at UP, UP and Away."

"Do you think she'll tell you anything about Holt?" Carley asked. She had found her phone and was starting to text even as she talked. For most of July she hadn't mentioned Holt, probably because every time she did I looked stricken. But since we'd had such a good day yesterday I guess she felt comfortable bringing him up.

"I guess," I said. "I just want to talk to him."

"Yeah," said Carley. "I know."

Almost instantly after she'd sent the text and sat back down in front of her fan, her phone lit up. She looked at the text from Nick and said, "He says he'll be here in ten. Are you sure you don't want to come? You don't have to go swimming; that way you won't break your promise to Samuel."

"I promised him I wouldn't," I said. "And there's no point going outside in this heat if you can't go swimming."

"That's true," said Carley, getting up again. "I'm going to go get ready."

I stayed in front of the fan, just relaxing, until Carley came back a couple of minutes later. I heard the honk of a horn outside that meant Nick was there. Carley waved to me and said we'd be in touch before dinner. Then she was out the door and gone.

The morning dragged on until Mrs. Hightower came home. I helped her around the house for a bit, but it was literally too hot to move, so we both ended up in the living room watching TV.

When it was time to go meet Susan I went up to my room, put on some makeup, brushed out my hair, and changed into a cami top and jean shorts. The walk to UP, UP and Away was so hot that when I got there I was sweating. I'd never been so relieved to walk into air conditioning in my life.

Susan wasn't there yet, so I ordered an ice coffee and sat down to wait. I found a seat by the window, but there were no police sitting around me this time.

A few minutes later Susan came in and waved to me. She was wearing a white dress that seemed to be a summer favorite for her. Once she'd gotten her cold drink and joined me, I felt more relaxed. I'd been worried that she wouldn't come.

"Hi," I said.

"How are you?" she asked, sliding into her seat.

"I'm good," I said, although I could see that she didn't believe me.

"That's good," she replied.

"How's your summer?" These mundane questions were so awkward.

"Good," she replied. "Yours?"

She looked tired and drawn and I wondered if the strain of having Holt away was wearing on her. "Good."

"Look, Autumn," she started and my heart sank, "I know you're upset about Holt." Try devastated. "But it's really for the best. The Winter Queen is not someone you mess with." She said all of this leaning towards me, her voice low and urgent. I knew she was right. I just wasn't in the mood to listen. "He is really just trying to protect everyone involved. While she doesn't want him seeing you it's best if he stays away."

I leaned towards her and said, "I just want to talk to him. I want to know he's alright." I want to ask him about becoming a Fairy.

"He's fine," she a.s.sured me. "We would all know if he wasn't. And as for talking to him, I don't know where he is. He's only been in touch with his mom and maybe Logan, and they haven't told me about it."

I frowned. I had been picturing long chats on the phone every night and emails a few times a week back to all members of his family, and I'd been getting very jealous that he wasn't doing the same with me. "You haven't talked to him? You don't know if he's okay?" Panic was starting to rise in my chest like a bottle being filled up.

"I would know if he wasn't okay," Susan repeated. "Everyone in his Court would."

Well, she probably had a point there. The Heir to the Summer Throne probably wouldn't get killed or beaten up without a big deal being made of it.

"Alright," I said. "So you don't know a way I can get in touch with him?"

Susan shook her head. "Just give him time. Maybe he'll be back soon; maybe Christmas, maybe next summer."

I knew she was trying to be comforting, but even Christmas seemed like decades away. Just at the mere mention of Holt my heart had started to thump painfully in my chest. I wanted to know where he was, but apparently Susan either didn't know or she was an excellent liar.

"You and Samuel have been talking?" she asked me. I hadn't expected her to bring him up, not after what had happened at the Solstice Party, but then again I hadn't expected them to be friends, either. And they clearly were.

"Yes, a little," I said. I wasn't sure how I felt about that information getting back to Holt, but she had said she wasn't talking to him. And he was the one who had left.

"He said he had talked to you." She was trying to tell me something, but I didn't know what.

"Yeah," I said. "Surprising because he's as cold as ever." I was thinking of his bodily yanking me out of the water and not even apologizing.

Susan's eyes lit with surprise. "He's the Winter Prince," she said, like that explained everything.

It didn't.

"So?" I asked.

"So, Fairies in the Winter Court aren't like Fairies in the Summer Court. We are always warm, especially when it's our time of year. We enjoy color, music, games and dancing. There is more light and levity."

"That all sounds good to me," I said. She smiled, but continued. "The Winter Court is never like that. But that doesn't mean they are bad. Just because Mrs. Ches.h.i.+re has old ideas does not mean that all Winter Fairies are bad. Far from it. The Winter Fairies are more solid, less likely to turns in mood. They won't be batted about by the wind. You can depend on them. They are there for you no matter what. That's what the Winter Fairies are known for."

Susan was actually speaking well of the Winter Court, and it made me suddenly realize that what I had a.s.sumed most of the summer, that they all hated each other, was not true, that in fact maybe nothing at all as it had seemed to me on first acquaintance. Just because a few Fairies didn't get along didn't mean they were all fighting. In fact, from the way Susan was talking, she really cared about the Winter Court and thought well of its members.

All of a sudden I had a lot to think about.

The door burst open and the people inside UP, UP and Away cried out in surprise. A pale young girl, no more than ten years old, was standing there in her bathing suit with her hair dripping water onto the clean wood floor. I realized with a start that Susan and I had been there so long it was getting dark out. The girl was pale and sobbing. "I can't find her," she wailed. There was something familiar about her, but I wasn't sure what.

"Who? Who are you talking about?" asked Mrs. Fritter, racing around the counter to the girl.

"M-my sister," she said. "We were swimming and now she's gone." She cried in despair and collapsed into Mrs. Fritter's arms.

"Someone call 911!" Mrs. Fritter yelled as she caught the girl. She must have asked her where they were swimming, because next she called out the name of a beach not far from the cafe.

I watched in horror as the girl continued to sob. I couldn't hear what she was saying to Mrs. Fritter, but I could guess. She and her sister had gone swimming and her sister was now missing.

"Who is her sister, do you think?" asked a woman in front of me. The lady that was with her looked upset.

She managed to reply, "Mary Camden. She works at the ice cream shop."

I was stunned. I had just seen her last night when Samuel had bought me ice cream. She was the girl who had put my sundae together. I felt like someone had just punched me in the stomach, but when I turned to Susan to express my horror, to my surprise she wasn't there. Her drink still sat on the table, perspiring like everything else in Castleton, but she herself was nowhere in sight. A quick look around the restaurant told me that Susan wasn't anywhere at all. She had disappeared.

In total confusion myself, I left the cafe as soon as I was sure that Susan was gone. There was nothing I could do there anyway. Every other customer in UP, UP and Away had gone to help the distraught girl, but I was just a teenager. No one would listen to me even if I did have something useful to offer, which I didn't.

All I kept saying to myself was that Samuel had been right. He had been right to tell me to stay out of the water. I shuddered in a kind of frozen horror and wondered what on earth was happening in Castleton.