August Read online

  We headed up the stairs. This was the first time I had been to the second floor, and I couldn’t help but think resentfully that if I weren’t somehow destined to marry Samuel, I would have been upstairs to see Holt’s room by now and none of this mess would have happened.

  When we got to the top of the stairs, Logan went to the first door on the right. It was closed, but he said, “This is my room if anyone needs me.” He went in and shut the door behind him.

  “He’s playing video games,” said Susan. “We should only interrupt him in dire emergencies like the house collapsing. Water Sprites killing people does not count as a dire emergency in his world.”

  Susan rolled her eyes. There was a door on the left, also closed.

  “That’s Holt’s room,” said Susan when she noticed me looking. But she didn’t stop.

  “And this is my room,” she said, stopping by a room with double glass doors, both of which were thrown wide open.

  Susan’s room was covered in white and flowers, as I would have expected. There were flowers on everything, from the pillows to the curtains to the rug, all with a blinding white backdrop. I smiled involuntarily. This was so Susan. She liked everything clean and beautiful.

  She closed the doors behind us. Samuel had followed us in without saying a word, but I said, “I love it. You should decorate for a living.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “I love designing and of course I love flowers. I’ve been thinking about going to school for it, actually.

  “There’s lemonade and cookies,” she said, waving at a silver tray on the glass coffee table. She’s like my grandmother, I thought.

  “Where’d you get this homey streak?” I asked.

  Susan sighed. “Well, in another life my mother was an interior decorator. I always used to follow her around and ‘help’ her with fabric and color choices and everything when I was young. After I joined the Summer Court -” and I had a feeling she was glossing over that joining for my benefit – “I was stressed and I baked a lot.” She grinned. “Mrs. Roth was worried that I would make all of her children fat from testing the cookies on them, but they survived.”

  “And how did you come to be part of the Summer Court?” I asked.

  She fiddled with her hair, inclining her head ever so slightly towards Samuel. “I’ll tell you some other time.”

  “What?” asked Samuel. “It’s a girl thing? Or do you think it’s possibly a bit more important if we talk about the reasons we’re all here...?”

  Susan grinned and playfully tossed one of the colorful pillows towards him. I was reminded that there was a rumor that Susan liked Samuel. “Um, no, it’s just a girl thing.”

  I remembered Holt telling me something about how other girls at Court had to choose new members, but that was all. Yet another thing that no one would explain to me. But I wasn’t going to get a chance to ask her right then.

  “Anyway,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Autumn, we have some stuff to tell you.”

  “What?” I asked. Instantly I forgot about the Water Sprite and thought of Holt. Was he coming home? Shouldn’t he have told me himself?

  “It’s about the Water Sprite.” My heart sank. “Samuel said he filled you in the other night while you were watching a movie,” she explained with a slight edge in her voice.

  “Yeah, actually it was after the movie if you want to be technical,” said Samuel. “Autumn is usually technical about that sort of thing.”

  “Well, we got the Water Sprite last night. Actually, Lydia and Leslie got it. We had found Mary yesterday in the water, but we didn’t think she’d make it. We did some pretty powerful workings to keep her from remembering any of the parts she was actually conscious for, but we just wanted to let you know. Neither Samuel nor anyone else will have to stay with you from now on.”

  “I don’t know why he had to stay with me in the first place,” I grumbled.

  “For your own protection. The Water Sprite knew how important you were to the Fairies. A girl who is valuable to either the Winter Court or the Summer Court here is basically doubly valuable.”

  I didn’t want to hear this again. “So how did Lydia and Leslie catch this thing?” I asked. I hated asking about Lydia and Leslie, because Leslie was completely evil and Lydia was just as bad, but my curiosity got the better of me.

  “Water Sprites are very attached to certain locations. It’s not like you’re going to find this Water Sprite off the coast of Texas, so judging by where the girls disappeared, we were able to track it down. Plus, we knew what it was after.…” Samuel said.

  “What was it after?” I wanted to know.

  “Well, we think a mate,” said Samuel, shrugging. “Because it doesn’t make sense that the girls made it angry. There are tons of swimmers in the water and most aren’t young women.”

  “So how’d you find out about this in the first place?” I asked. What I really wanted to know was why I’d been kept out of the loop. I might have been able to help. Why were they always trying to protect me from everything?

  “As soon as the first girl went missing we realized something was wrong,” said Susan.

  “Were you working together from the beginning?” I asked.

  There was such a long and awkward silence that I almost started whistling. “Well?” I asked.

  “Kind of,” said Susan.

  “They put aside their differences to make it work,” said Logan from the doorway.

  “What?” Oh. The Long Awkward Pause was because of me or maybe because of Mrs. Cheshire.

  “Hi, Logan. Perfect timing as usual,” said Susan, glaring at Holt’s younger brother.

  Logan sidled into the room and sat down next to me. “No offense,” he said to me, “but for a while they hate each other’s guts because of you.” He patted me on the shoulder as he sat down next to me.

  “Ouch!” said Logan. I’m pretty sure Samuel kicked him.

  Chapter Ten

  As the other three talked, I slipped out. I wouldn’t have been able to do it unless Logan had shown up, but he took up a lot of the air space and focus, which left me free to get away. I didn’t want to hear anything else about the Water Sprite, and being in Holt’s house reminded me so strongly of him that I was having a hard time breathing.

  I half-heartedly wanted to stay and listen to what they were talking about. It would be interesting stuff – how could talking about Water Sprites be anything else? – plus it was one of the few chances I would have to learn about Fairies and supernatural beings. It was just that the pull to see Holt’s room, to be close to something that was his, was stronger.

  Over the past few weeks I’d found myself wishing that one of the nights we had gone for a walk it had been cold outside and I had happened to borrow his jacket. Then I would have something of his instead of just that damned letter to remind me of him. Of course, if Carley knew of my secret desire, she’d tell me I was an idiot. I had to get over the whole Holt thing, and mooning after his discarded belongings probably wasn’t the way to do it.

  I’ll keep telling myself that, after I check out his room.

  The door wasn’t locked and there was no one in the hall, so it was pretty easy to slip in: just turn the knob and push.

  I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I found wasn’t it. Most guys’ rooms I had seen had posters on the walls of sports or hot girls, and maybe a movie poster here and there. Holt had none of these things. Against the backdrop of white walls he had several pictures in dark frames, all of friends – or family. I wouldn’t know which since I hadn’t met all of his friends or family.

  His bedspread was a light green, with black pillows. He had a writing desk that was perfectly clean and organized. There were three shelves in the room: two were filled with books and movies while the other just held random stuff. Along one wall was a closet. The doors were closed, but I was sure that if I opened them I would see a regiment’s worth of button-down shirts, all perfectly ironed and hung.

  Carefully
, as if I was about to activate lasers or set off a trip-wire, I stepped through the door. I was relieved that the soft white carpet muffled my footsteps. I wasn’t sure whether I was doing something bad, I just knew I was doing something that I had to do.

  My eyes landed on the drawers, and now I knew for sure that what I was about to do was wrong. I’d freak out if someone looked through my stuff, especially my papers, but I was desperately hoping to find a clue to where Holt had gone, so that maybe I could get in touch with him.… I headed towards the desk.

  “You aren’t going to find out where he is,” said a voice from behind me.

  I swear if it were possible to jump out of your own skin I would have done it. Instead, I spun around and saw Logan standing behind me.

  “I had a feeling you’d come this way. Don’t worry. Susan and Samuel haven’t noticed you’re missing yet,” he said.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I know I’m not supposed to be here.”

  Logan’s face softened. He came into the room and pulled out one of Holt’s chairs and flopped into it, pushing aside a pile of blond hair that fell into his face.

  “It’s alright,” he said. “I was hoping to get to talk to you at some point.”

  “About what?” I asked, sitting down on the bed.

  “This whole mess,” said Logan, waving his hand.

  “What mess?” I asked. He had tried to talk to me once and failed miserably. I was wary.

  “You know, the mess where my family is risking war for you and now there’s a Water Sprite attacking everyone,” said Logan. His green eyes never left mine, but I couldn’t read his expression.

  I felt hot and cold all at once. Everyone else had carefully avoided mentioning what Samuel’s mother had done at the Solstice party, and how the Roths had been forced to react. It could have been very ugly. Instead, I still hadn’t seen the full brunt of Fairy power. I still just saw this façade of kindness and gentility.

  “You think the Solstice party was my fault?” I asked.

  “Well,” he said. “But it wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t exist.” He still sat there in his chair, relaxed and easy, but his eyes had turned cold and hard. This was not a side of Logan I had seen before.

  I didn’t know what to say to that. Then Logan grinned. “Oh well. It will create some family drama, anyhow!”

  I stared at him and realized, not for the first time, that I really didn’t know much about Fairies.

  “Do you think he’s coming back?” I asked, meaning Holt.

  His smiled faltered a little. “Yes, I do. He’s not going to let something like this ruin the family.”

  “Something like what?” I wanted to know.

  “Something likes fighting over a silly girl. There are more important things,” said Logan simply.

  “I thought the prince had to have a queen to continue to rule,” I said. I could feel the sweat on my palms, but I didn’t want to give Logan the satisfaction of knowing that he was unnerving me, so I just continued to sit there with my hands clenched in my lap.

  “The prince does need a queen, but he needs the respect of his Court – and to not get murdered by another Court too,” said Logan. “Holt isn’t even supposed to be with you. Samuel is.”

  At that moment I realized something that I had been refusing to face all summer: that Logan was nothing like his brother. I had been going along, blissfully assuming that all Summer Fairies liked to dance and drink and have pretty things and give hugs and be kind, because Susan was a lot of those things. Holt wasn’t all of those things (I had never seen him knock back bottles of wine like I knew Susan could), but that’s still what I had thought.

  But Logan definitely wasn’t kind. In fact, beneath the physical resemblance he wasn’t much like Holt at all.

  I abruptly stood up, not sure what I was going to do, but just then Holt’s door opened and in walked Samuel and Susan. Logan was still in the chair, quietly laughing.

  My legs instantly gave and I landed hard back on the bed. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Samuel; I didn’t want to even imagine what he thought of me. I was there at his invitation to see Susan, and now he had found me sneaking into Holt’s room and getting caught by his mean little brother. I couldn’t even imagine how awful I would seem.

  Wow. Good day for me.

  Susan’s smile didn’t falter for a second. “So, here’s where you got to.”

  “Yup. Right here,” said Logan. “I invited Autumn in here to have a little chat. She was kind enough to humor me.”

  Some of the waves of embarrassment rolling over me slowed. I dared to look at Samuel and Susan. They both seemed to believe what Logan was saying. I couldn’t understand why he was lying to cover for me.

  “What were you talking about?” asked Samuel, his voice tight. “We were sort of having an important conversation before.”

  Logan snorted. “Don’t worry about it. You can have her back now. I’m not going to be the third prince to fall in love with her.”

  I hadn’t really realized that Logan was also a prince, but if his older brother was, then he would be too.

  “I should get going anyway,” I said. I wanted to take one last look around Holt’s room, but everyone was watching me and I didn’t dare, so I stood up again and walked towards the door.

  “Have a great day,” said Logan after me.

  “Yeah, you too,” I murmured.

  “I’ll walk you home,” offered Samuel.

  “Yeah, I’ll see you out,” said Susan.

  The three of us walked down the stairs, stopping at the front door. Susan gave me a hug and said, “It was nice to see you. You should come again sometime. And I don’t know what Logan said, but you shouldn’t let it bother you. He just misses his brother. He is a little young to understand what’s going on and we’ve kept him out of the loop about all the Water Sprite stuff. He wouldn’t know how to help anyway.”

  I nodded. I was suddenly very tired and just wanted to go home. “Thanks for having me,” I said.

  Once we were outside, the late afternoon sunshine cheered me up. There was just enough of a breeze that it felt good, without making me want to rub my arms from the chill. Of course, it probably didn’t help that I had a Winter Prince next to me, but he was doing a good job of not giving off any cold.

  “It’s still probably a good idea if you stay out of the water,” said Samuel. “At least for now. We need time to check some stuff out.”

  “Uh huh,” I said.

  “Are you alright?” asked Samuel, peering at me.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “I just realized some stuff.”

  Samuel laughed. “Yeah? Like what?”

  “Like, I don’t know much about Fairies,” I said. “Any of you.” Like I had thought Logan was nice, I told myself silently, and look how wrong I was about that.

  When we got to my house Samuel didn’t seem ready to hurry away, but for some reason I my desire to ask him more about Fairies had vanished. Maybe I was worried it would encourage him to think that I wanted to marry Holt instead of him, but whatever it was, I was just ready for him to leave.

  “So I’ll stay out of the water,” I said. “And make sure Carley and Nick do too.”

  “That’d be good,” said Samuel.

  Once he was gone I headed into the house with every intention of taking a nap, but I ended up talking to Mrs. Hightower for a while. She was really relieved that Mary had been found. She wasn’t with the party that had found her, but she knew all about it.

  Just as I was throwing myself on my bed, my phone beeped. I wasn’t going to answer it. I wasn’t even going to look and see who was calling.

  They hung up.

  Good.

  It rang again.

  Damn it. Persistent person.

  I picked it up without bothering to see who it was, bringing the phone close to my face on the pillow. “Hello?”

  “Hi, honey,” said Mom.

  “Oh, hi,” I said. If my eyes hadn’t been p
ressed against the pillow I would have rolled them.

  “How’s it going there?”

  Oh, super. Girls are getting kidnapped and drowned, Holt left, and Nick and Carley have their tongues down each other’s throats half the time. How could it get better?

  “It’s great,” I said. If no one had told her about the girls and everything else that was going on, I sure wasn’t going to volunteer the information.

  “Oh good. Listen, your father and I want to talk to you.”

  In my mind immediately flashed: that’s never good – but all I said was, “Oh? About what?”

  “Well, it’s sort of a surprise. A good news thing,” she said.

  “You and Dad are not getting a divorce and will stop fighting in front of your child?” I asked. It wasn’t fair of me to say it. Normally I didn’t try to guilt trip them about that, but I was tired.

  There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.

  “No, nothing like that,” my mother said finally.

  “Okay,” I said. “Look, I was about to go to sleep.…”

  “Alright,” said my mom, trying for cheer. “Well, we’ll talk again soon. Sometime when your dad is home.”

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “Still at work,” she said.

  “Love you,” I said. We always end our conversations that way.

  “Love you too, sweetheart,” said my mom.

  Before I fell asleep I sent Carley a text asking where she was. I didn’t immediately get a reply, so I rolled over and was out like a light within five minutes.

  When I woke up I checked my phone. Carley still hadn’t answered. The clock said it was past my dinnertime, but I was barely hungry. I was too caught up in everything that had happened that day. Most of all I wondered what was happening with the Water Sprite. I was glad that Lydia and Leslie had caught it; even though I would have much preferred that they completely fail at life, they seemed to have done a good thing.