One Black Rose (17 page)

I squinted in the sun. “I’m fine,” I lied.

“Uh huh, and I was born with black hair,” she said with amusement.

I laughed. “It’s just a lot to take in.” She’d brought a picnic basket, and I grabbed the handle and picked it up while she carried a blanket.

“So, Holt told you that he told me?” I asked timidly. I wondered how Holt had described my reaction. I’d been in shock, so I could barely even remember what we’d said. I just remembered the gist, the main point: two Fairy princes were fighting over me.

“You must be overwhelmed,” said Susan sympathetically, putting an arm around my shoulders for comfort.

“I guess a lot of people would think it’s a good kind of problem to have,” I joked.

Susan laughed long and hard. Her laugh was always lovely, like a jingle of bells.

“I don’t know about that,” she said with amusement. “Actually, it’s very odd that it even happened at all. It’s not supposed to.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Susan had found a soft patch of grass and was laying the blanket down.

“Well,” said Susan carefully. “Normally two princes are not born at the same time. For a long time people just thought that the Winter Queen, Samuel’s mother, couldn’t have children, then she had Samuel, but she was much older than Mrs. Roth was when she had Holt. I looked it up in our histories. Nothing like this has ever come close to happening before.”

“But why me?” I almost wailed. It was the same question that I’d asked Holt the day before. I wanted an explanation for the feelings I was having. I’d never been a wishy washy girl. I knew that I cared about Holt. I knew that was real, but apparently I was supposed to be with Samuel. But since Samuel wanted nothing to do with me AND his family didn’t think I should be with Holt, I had no idea what to do. Apparently, as long as Samuel was in the picture Holt and I could never be together, which filled me with dread. Carefully, I tried to explain my fears to Susan.

We walked while we talked, and at the picnic area where she had been heading there was a stunning view of the lake surrounded by trees. She laid the patchwork blanket down on a soft spot of grass right by the water’s edge. There was a gentle slope of dirt falling into the lake in front of us, and there was no one else in sight except for a fishing boat off in the distance.

While I kept talking, she set out all sorts of food. It looked like she’d bought an entire grocery store.

When I had finally told her everything, she nodded understandingly. “I don’t know what to say,” she said sadly. “It’s never happened before. You are destined for Samuel and every other time that’s happened it’s never even been a question. Basically, you shouldn’t feel for Holt the way you do.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered. “But I do feel that way.”

Susan chewed her lip. “We’ll figure it out,” she promised. “Everyone’s just trying to understand right now.”

“Yeah, but while you’re busy doing that the Cheshires are busy threatening Holt, and me too,” I said hotly.

Susan looked alarmed. “That shouldn’t be happening,” she insisted. Then her shoulders slumped. “But it doesn’t surprise me. That’s how the Winter Court handles things. Violently.”

Now it was my turn to look alarmed.

Quickly Susan said, “Don’t worry. It doesn’t mean anything. I promise. I shouldn’t even have said it. I know they won’t hurt you. This is just upsetting for me as well.”

I took a closer look at Susan. She had dark circles under her eyes, and beneath the bright smile I could see worry.

 “The thing is,” I said, “I don’t like Samuel and he definitely doesn’t like me.”

Susan nodded. “It would just be so much easier if you liked him and didn’t care for Holt at all. And he liked you.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” I cried, starting to jump to my feet.

“No, no,” Susan said, reaching out her hands to stop me. “That’s not it at all. It’s just that…the Cheshires sort of think that they own you. Not Samuel, but the others. They think Holt is trying to steal you away.”

“No one owns me,” I told her stubbornly. “I’m a person, not some piece of meat.”

“I know that,” said Susan, “and so does Holt. I even think so does Samuel.”

I did realize that somewhere underneath all that sarcasm Samuel was a decent guy. Even if his family had threatened the Roths and me, he hadn’t. And I was sure that he wouldn’t.

I could see that this conversation had upset Susan. In an effort to cheer her up I said, “Why don’t you tell me about Fairies?”

Susan’s face instantly brightened.

“What do you want to know?” she asked. In her excitement she almost spilled the pitcher of lemonade she’d brought for us, but she caught it just in time and giggled.

“Well, for starters, in books Fairies can use Glamour or something like it and Holt said something about it too. Is that true?” I asked.

Susan laughed. “Yes, well sort of. It’s not exactly the same thing. We can’t really make people see stuff that isn’t there. Not for very long anyway. But we can sort of…change what they see. If we have to. We can change their memories. If they see something we don’t want them to, us performing magic for example, we can make them forget. Just give them a happy memory in its place.”

I nodded. Instantly an image of Holt performing Fairy magic popped into my head. It was hard NOT to think of Holt whenever I saw Susan or talked about Fairies. Thinking about him always had a calming effect on me.

I suddenly had an unsettling thought. I knew Holt hadn’t tried to use Glamour, but  maybe one of the others had. “Has anyone used that on me?”

“Oh no,” Susan cried, shaking her head so that her ponytail waved back and fourth. “We would never use that on family. Plus, one of the reasons Holt knew you were special was that you could see his magic.”

I was touched. “You want me to be family?” I asked softly.

“Oh, Autumn, of course!” said Susan. “If that’s what Holt wants then the rest of the family is going to support him. You know about us. After he showed you what he could do back there at the airport you never said a word about it. You already are family, whether or not you and Holt ever marry.”

I felt my heart skip a beat. Marry. Holt. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” I muttered, blushing fiercely.

Susan gave her bell laugh. “Of course not. Not yet. You’re both young, but when you know it’s forever you just know.”

I didn’t want to think about forever. I could barely think about this coming school year, let alone next summer or the rest of my life.

“Anyway,” I said, wanting desperately to change the subject. “What about the stuff under your skin?”

“What, this?” asked Susan, holding out her arm. One second all you saw was pale smooth skin; the next instant thin rivers of light were flowing under it. The designs didn’t detract from her beauty, they enhanced it. She looked more otherworldly, more Fairy, I guess, when she did that.

“Wow,” I breathed.

“Don’t be afraid to touch them,” she said, holding out her arm. “It’s still just my skin. These are the designs that mark me as a Fairy.”

“How do you get them?” I asked.

“Through experiences,” she said, lowering her arm. “The more powerful and important Fairies have more designs if they choose to show them. Fairies who are just starting out don’t really have a choice. Some gave gotten into trouble, because people have seen their designs and thought they were a new sort of tattoo.”

I grinned. “Seriously, people thought this stuff was tattoos?”

“Yeah,” said Susan, smiling. “Disappearing ink or something like that.”

“They’re beautiful,” I said, and meant it. I wondered how they looked on Holt. Everywhere…. Then the thought of Samuel snapped the idea out of my head.

“Thank you,” said Susan. “They are what make us, us. It is a great honor to have designs.”

I nodded. For the first time since I had found out about Fairies I realized what it might be like to be one. Susan had started to fill me in on Fairy powers and she even showed me how Fairies honored accomplishments.

For the first time I realized I might some day be one of them. The thought made me smile.

When I woke up the next morning I checked my phone and was relieved to see a text from Holt. I read it quickly; Holt was asking if he could see me today. I texted him back that I had to work for part of the day, but would let him know when I was done.

I hadn’t slept well. Images of Fairies and Holt and Samuel had been running through my mind all night. I knew I should be grateful that I now knew what was going on, but I almost felt worse. Finding a guy to like was hard enough, but throw in choosing between two and having both of them be princes? And Fairy princes? Yeah, I hadn’t slept well.

What had made it all the more difficult was that I cared about Holt so much, and now that Samuel had helped me out of the woods I couldn’t hold a grudge against him anymore. I didn’t want to hurt either of them. On top of all of it I knew that my parents’ fighting had been stressing me out, because I just wanted them to be happy, but imagining them happy and not together upset me. It was hard to think about having a boyfriend when my mom and dad were a mess.

Once I had showered, dressed, and put on a little makeup I felt better, less like a zombie and more like a human. I’d be going about the day on only a little sleep, but I could deal with that. Coffee would be a dear friend.

As I passed Carley’s room I could see that the door was still closed. She wasn’t scheduled to work that morning, so there was no way she’d be up before ten. Unless Nick called it’d probably be closer to noon.

In the kitchen I quickly ate a bowl of cereal and left the house. The air was chilly, with dark clouds lumbering overhead, filling the sky. As I walked to work I made sure to avoid the Roths’ house. I wanted to see Holt, but I wanted to see him when I was ready. I didn’t think I could take any more surprises that day.

Since I hadn’t bothered to check the forecast before I left the house, I didn’t know if it was supposed to rain. But it definitely looked as if another storm was rolling in. Getting soaked wouldn’t help my mood.

I hope it holds off until I get back home, I thought.

Sometimes not having a car was a pain. My mom had promised to teach me to drive this summer, but that was before my parents’ marriage hit trouble. Now she’d pushed it back to Christmas vacation. At the rate she was going I would be a college graduate and still not know how to drive.

When I had said so to her, she said she didn’t see anything wrong with that. I told her that if I ended up at college still not knowing how to drive, I’d get a college friend to teach me and I knew she didn’t want that. She had just scoffed and said she’d get to it. Now I wished she’d gotten to it before this summer.

By the time I got to work my state of mind was hovering somewhere around the gutter. Even Mrs. Fritters, normally a self-involved twit, noticed that I was in a bad mood.

When she asked me about it I just shrugged it off. “Careful, dear,” she said, “you don’t want your face to stick in that position.”

I imagined sticking my tongue out at her and that made me feel a little better.

An hour before I was supposed to get out of work I heard the first boom of thunder, followed quickly by a crackle of lightening.

A few people came in to get shelter from the storm. One of them happened to be a woman with dark hair, wearing a long red coat. I didn’t pay much attention to her at first because there were a lot of customers to ring up. When it was the dark-haired woman’s turn I looked up and really focused on her for the first time. Instantly I felt a jolt. She looked so much like Samuel, except that she didn’t radiate a cool breeze. She radiated ice cold.

 I could feel my eyes going wide and I was finding it hard to breathe.

“Autumn,” she said. Her voice was dry, icy, like wind swept off snowy mountain peaks.

“Yes?” I said, trying to hide my fear.

“You and I should talk,” she said, folding her hands in front of her.

“About what?” I asked. “Is there something you wanted to order?” I pointed towards the menu behind me.

Judging by her reaction it was the wrong thing to say.

Her eyes turned to slits of white anger. “No. And I would suggest that you speak to me with a little more respect.” The last couple of words came out as a hiss.

I knew who this woman was; from the bitter cold to the dark hair she reminded me of Samuel. An older, female, and very nasty version of him, anyway.

“You’re Samuel’s mother?” I asked, trying to be more polite, as she had suggested, and to reference our connection. The whole café and all the other customers in it faded away as I focused on her. I felt like I was entering into a massive battle, but no one else in the café had any idea that anything out of the ordinary was happening.

“No.” She leaned in to me and it felt like winds were whipping around her and pulling at my skin while my hair started to pull free of its ponytail.

“I am the Winter Queen, and you will address me with respect,” she said.

Forget idiotic pleasantries. “What do you want?” I asked quietly. My hands were still on the register, so I dropped them to my sides. I didn’t want her to see them shaking.