August Read online

  Holt was back. I was content. Everything else fell away.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’d never been so happy to wake up in the morning. All night I had felt warm and protected. I rolled over onto my side, wondering what Holt looked like while he slept. It was then that I realized that he wasn’t there.

  Disappointment swept over me. I stared sadly at the spot where I thought he’d be, wondering if I’d just imagined the whole thing or if it really had been Susan who had stayed the night.

  No, no, that wasn’t possible. Holt had definitely come last night. I might have been tired and a little out of it, but I wasn’t crazy. He’d climbed into bed, put his arm around me, and let me fall asleep. I picked up his pillow and was about to toss it away in frustration when a small piece of white paper fluttered off it.

  Greedily I picked it up. The note was simple: I’ll come to UP, UP and Away for lunch today. Holt.

  It wasn’t a love note, but at least it was a promise that I would see him.

  He knew I was going to work, so even though Carley had told me I should rest, I couldn’t. Between the Water Sprite attack and Holt’s return I had too much to do. There was so much we needed to talk about. At least I’d have something to look forward to through all of Mrs. Fritter’s complaining.

  I jumped out of bed and went to shower. I tried to move quickly; I winced. My muscles were protesting having to do anything more than lie still. Considering the beating I’d taken under the water yesterday that made sense, but I wasn’t going to let it get in my way. As I hobbled to the bathroom, I was certain of one thing: that I didn’t want an attack like that to happen again. I would have to think long and hard about how to prevent it, especially since I wasn’t sure that always having someone around to protect me was the answer. I was starting to think that knowing how to protect myself was a way better idea.

  Once I was dressed in the black pants and white top of UP, UP and Away, I hurried downstairs.

  There was no sign of Mrs. Hightower or Carley or Nick, so I just ate and headed to work. I was relieved that I hadn’t seen anyone; I didn’t want to have to argue about whether or not I felt good enough to go.

  If I was thinking I’d get a little sympathy from Mrs. Fritter about yesterday, I had another thing coming.

  She stood behind the counter with her hands tucked into fists on her hips, both her flower apron and her horn-rimmed spectacles colored with eye-watering shades of green and purple.

  Apparently, because Holt had done Glamour to hide what happened, she just thought I’d slipped on a rock and gotten pulled out by the tide. She said that it was entirely my fault and that I should be more careful. She wondered what I’d been thinking given what had just happened with Mary and Katie.

  I had no idea what to say, so I simply got to work and listened to the lecture about safety. Any time I tried to defend myself she simply cut me off. She said, “If you aren’t going to be responsible when you go swimming then you just shouldn’t go swimming.”

  Well, she had that right. I didn’t think I’d be going swimming for the rest of my teenage years, at the very least. Not unless I could fight off a powerful Water Sprite.

  “Sure thing, Mrs. Fritter,” I said to her while I dried off some mugs.

  “And I’m going to tell Mrs. Hightower I said so,” Mrs. Fritter continued. “If she can’t keep a better handle on you then she should just send you home.”

  A shot of red-hot fear went through me. I knew Mrs. Fritter was crazy to suggest it and Mrs. Hightower would never listen to her, but…what if she did? I wasn’t sure I could deal with being sent away from Castleton. At least, not when everything was so confusing. Not when Holt had just come back.

  “Hey, Autumn,” said Holt, standing in front of the counter grinning at me. He was wearing a white button-down and shorts. Pushed up on his head were some bright blue shades that brought out the color of his eyes. Now that I saw him I couldn’t believe I had ever thought he and Logan looked alike.

  Guys have it so easy, I thought. He probably hadn’t spent ten minutes getting ready and he looked gorgeous.

  “Holt Roth,” said Mrs. Fritter. “So the prodigal son returns. Wonderful.” She sounded about as pleased as the time she discovered she had bought a basketful of rotten apples.

  “Morning, Mrs. Fritter. How are you?” Holt said politely.

  “I’d be a whole lot better if your family would stop scaring off my customers,” she retorted.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked before Holt could shush me.

  “You know, that monster of a house they have on the hill with all the flowers. It makes customers nervous,” said Mrs. Fritter, glaring at Holt.

  I highly doubt that, I thought.

  I would have said that to her, too, except that Holt gave a tiny shake of his head.

  “Sorry to disappoint you, Mrs. Fritter,” he said.

  Mrs. Fritter harrumphed and then disappeared into the back.

  As soon as she was gone I forgot that she’d ever been there. Holt was giving me a bright smile and I returned it with one of my own.

  “How are you doing?” he asked. “Sleep alright?”

  I blushed. It was the first time I’d actually slept in the same bed with someone. I wondered if it made me a bad person that Samuel was the first guy to sleep in my room and Holt was the first guy to sleep in my bed and both had happened in the same week. Not that I was ever going to tell Holt that. I knew we couldn’t do anything, not until we figured everything out, but it had been wonderful to have him there.

  “Yes. I feel a lot better today,” was all I said.

  “Good. I knew you would,” he said, beaming. I wondered if he’d given me something to help the healing along.

  “What can I get you to eat?” I asked.

  Once Holt had ordered he sat down at the counter to wait for his food.

  “Is your family happy to have you back?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” said Holt. “Logan wouldn’t leave me alone this morning. He wanted me to spend the entire day playing video games with him.”

  “Nice,” I said.

  Holt grinned. “Yeah, so I’m going to go back this afternoon and play.”

  Somehow, I knew before it happened who was going to walk through the front door next. Holt saw me tense and looked over my shoulder.

  A split second later, in walked my two least favorite people in the world: Lydia and Leslie. Leslie’s dark hair shone, almost like it had a light sheen of ice over it. Her lips were a dark blue and she wore knee-high, black stiletto boots and a short skirt. Lydia looked similar, only her skirt was red instead of black.

  Even though they acted surprised to see Holt and me there, I didn’t think they were.

  I glared at them, but they ignored me.

  “Holt, fancy seeing you here,” Leslie sneered.

  Holt hunched his shoulders like he was bracing for an attack. “How are you, Leslie?” he asked.

  “We’re good. It’s always great to be up all night freezing on the beach,” said Lydia.

  “Well, if you’d caught the Water Sprite the first time like you said you did, we wouldn’t be having this problem,” I pointed out.

  Lydia glared at me. I knew that if I didn’t want her to hate me I was going about it the wrong way, but after the Water Sprite nearly killed me, I didn’t care if she hated me or not.

  “Pity it didn’t get you,” she mouthed to me over Holt’s head.

  Leslie stepped up to the counter and ordered a sandwich. I glared at her dumbfounded for a second, because she had the nerve to come in here and order food when she’d almost gotten me killed yesterday and I hadn’t even heard an apology. But I couldn’t make a scene in public, so I just clenched my teeth and didn’t respond.

  “Don’t spit in it,” she told me.

  “It’s a good thing other people are around,” I told her quietly.

  Lydia smirked. “Or you’d do what?” she asked.

  I found myself wondering
if she would know if I had spit in it. Probably. It still might be worth it though….

  I turned on my heel and went to place their order while I listened to their soft titter of laughter at my back.

  When I came back from the kitchen I could see Leslie leaning over Holt, speaking into his ear. When she saw me she blew me a kiss, then turned around and walked out the door.

  Leslie stood next to Holt for a second and said, “I guess we won’t be having those sandwiches,” and walked out after Lydia.

  “I hate them,” I said, coming back up to the counter. My entire good mood at seeing Holt had evaporated.

  “Don’t let them get to you,” said Holt. “There’s no point. They just like being unpleasant.”

  “Easy for you to say,” I replied. “You’re a Fairy too.”

  Holt looked surprised, but he didn’t say anything.

  “What was she saying to you?” I asked.

  Holt shrugged. “The usual stuff. She wanted me to know that it still wasn’t safe to be in the water and that they’d had no luck finding the Water Sprite.”

  “How nice of her,” I said sarcastically.

  I had to leave and go help customers for the longest time after that. By the time it had quieted down again, Holt had finished his lunch and was getting up to leave.

  “Don’t you think we should talk?” I asked, coming over to grab up his plate and cup.

  Holt sighed as he stood up. “Yeah, tonight?”

  “I thought you were hanging out with your brother,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, but someone has to be at your place tonight,” he said, and I was sure I could see the faint blush creeping up his cheeks. “I’ll come after I see Logan.”

  “Alright,” I said. “Tonight it is.”

  I had no intention of arguing with the idea of Holt joining me again to sleep.

  Once he was gone I turned my attention to the other customers. It took me a while to realize that the police chief had come back, along with the guy he’d been talking to the night I’d been waiting for Susan. This time they were at the counter, so as much as I could I tried to be down by their end so that I could hear what they were saying.

  “She doesn’t remember a thing,” said the police chief quietly into his mug. “Just thinks she hit her head, but the doc said there wasn’t anything wrong with her head.”

  “She probably just ran away for a few days to have time with her boyfriend,” said the other guy. “And lied about it so her parents wouldn’t find out. Girls do it all the time.”

  Scared of getting caught eavesdropping, even though in my defense they were in a public place, I moved away.

  For the rest of my shift I was aware that I’d be spending the night with Holt. Not even seeing Lydia and Leslie could ruin my mood with that to look forward to. Try as I might to think about Mary, or Water Sprites, or even Samuel, my mind kept coming back to Holt. I had thought that when I saw him I’d be mad, but I wasn’t. Maybe it was just because he’d saved me, but all I felt was overwhelming relief. For the rest of my shift I was smiling.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “The time has come,” said Carley imperiously as she swept into the living room. Nick was in the middle of a forkful of spaghetti. As he paused, a bit of red sauce dripped onto his lap.

  “Shit,” he said, getting up to grab a napkin.

  Carley stared at him for a second, squinted her eyes shut like she hadn’t just seen that, and said, “Yeah, that’s who I’m hooking up with. Awesome.”

  Nick pretended to glare at her, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. Of course, Carley was too busy talking to see it. “We have to go to a party,” she said.

  “A what?” asked Nick.

  “You know, a party. Those things like everyone has in the summer.” She sat down next to Nick in a huff. “We’ve barely been out.”

  “There have been some good reasons for that,” I said carefully.

  Carley chewed her lip. She knew I was talking about her and Nick being lost in their own little world and my own minor depression over my first real potential boyfriend leaving without saying goodbye. Not to mention a girl dying.

  “What party did you have in mind?” I asked. I glanced at Nick. He’d cleaned up his pants and was now busying himself on his phone.

  “The party at Chelsea’s tonight,” said Carley.

  “Who is Chelsea?” I asked. Carley knew a lot of people in Castleton that I still hadn’t met.

  “She’s a girl with this massive house over on the other side of town,” she explained.

  “On the other side of town where?” I asked. I had a bad feeling about this.

  Carley fluttered her hands dramatically. “You know, over by the Cheshires’ house.”

  Nick said, “Well, I’m game for the party tonight.” He looked down at the stain on his pants. “I think I need to go home and change first, though.”

  Carley, who was busy texting, didn’t respond. “How does that sound, Carley?” I asked when she didn’t reply.

  “Who are you texting?” Nick asked.

  “Samuel,” said Carley, giving me a huge shit-eating grin.

  “What?” I cried, jumping off the couch. I was going to see Holt later, in my room; I didn’t want to spend the evening with Samuel. Somehow I knew I would feel guilty, although about what I had no idea.

  “I told him to meet us at Chelsea’s later,” she said happily.

  “Why would you do that?” I said, trying not to yell.

  “Autumn, you don’t have a monopoly on friendships with Samuel,” she said, pulling her cardigan more tightly around her shoulders and sitting up straighter.

  “Yeah, okay,” I muttered. I hadn’t seen Samuel since he’d come in and yelled at me yesterday, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.

  “Anyway,” said Nick. “I’m going to get going. I’ll be back in like an hour to pick you up.”

  After he left I grabbed my stuff and went upstairs. Carley called after me, “I hope you’re not mad!” I ignored her. I was mad, so there. I knew that in reality she had a right to text Samuel and that she probably wouldn’t have done it if she had known the truth about our relationship, but couldn’t she at least have asked me?

  Once I was in my room I looked in my closet. This would be the first big party I’d gone to since Katie died. Not that it mattered, but I wanted to look cute. At least, as cute as I could. Chelsea apparently wasn’t the kind of girl who had parties where adults were there to supervise.

  Finally, after glaring at my closet for a long time and vetoing several options, I chose a jean skirt mini and a red tank top that I knew complemented my brown hair.

  “Autumn, Nick’s going to be back soon,” Carley yelled to me from somewhere else in the house.

  It occurred to me that I should tell Holt where I was going; I didn’t want him to show up to a dark house. He should at least know I’d be out tonight and home late.

  “HEY,” I said. I still hadn’t figured out when to talk to him about becoming a Fairy. I didn’t really know what I would need to do, like, if I would have to accept a Rose or if I could become a Fairy without one, but I was scared to bring it up to him.

  Holt didn’t answer, so I just texted him that I was headed to Chelsea’s and would be back later. Then I grabbed my purse and a hoodie and headed downstairs to wait with Carley on the porch.

  “It’s nice that we have this little ritual,” said Carley.

  “Of sitting on the porch?” I asked, taking my usual place in the hammock.

  “Yeah,” said Carley, pushing herself gently in the blue rocker. “I’m going to miss it,” she added.

  “When?” I asked. It was a cool night, even though the sky was perfectly clear and the day had been warm, so I pulled on the hoodie. So much for looking hot.

  “When the summer’s over,” said Carley, as if it was obvious.

  “Oh,” I said.

  I stopped in the middle of pulling on the hoodie. This was something I hadn’t th
ought about at all, that the summer was going to end soon. We were already into August and my school started early in September. Holt had only just come back and I was no closer to figuring out anything about the Rose. And I was going to have to leave.

  I could feel a lump rising in my throat. “That’s going to suck,” was all I managed to say.

  “Yup,” said Carley. “I was thinking that you could come back next summer, though.”

  I grinned at her. “Try and stop me!”

  “Ha-ha. I was hoping you’d say that,” she said.

  Once Nick got there and we were on our way to Chelsea’s, I had a minute to think about what Carley had said. The thought of summer ending hadn’t really occurred to me. That sounds ridiculous, I know, but somehow I’d been picturing having everything figured out by the time I went back to school. So much for plans and expectations.

  I thought about the Roths and the Cheshires. I had come here this summer for a little fun in “Vacationland,” as Maine was known, and had ended up in the middle of a potential Fairy war with me as the cause. Yeah, expectations could definitely be thrown out the window.

  I had never been to Chelsea’s house before, but I realized once we got there that I’d passed it. It was right next to Samuel’s, so I’d seen it when I’d been at his place.

  Having seen Samuel’s house already, I didn’t find Chelsea’s as intimidating as it might have been – nothing would ever be as intimidating as the Winter Queen’s house – but I was still shocked by the size of the place. The white-columned house looked like it sprawled for miles and I could already hear music blaring from somewhere inside.

  The place was lit up like a Christmas tree. I wondered what Chelsea had going on in there.

  “See, if I had a party like this my parents would kill me and dispose of the remains,” said Nick thoughtfully. “Might use me as mulch for the flowers.”

  “Charming,” said Carley.

  “Then they’d probably get drunk,” Nick teased her.

  “More charming,” she said.