Luke frowned looking embarrassed. “Oh. Well, you didn’t have to call a carriage. I could’ve walked. I was just joking, really.”
Autumn snorted.
The clomping of hooves met their ears and a large stagecoach drawn by what looked like an over-sized deer with antlers appeared.
“Is that…a reindeer?” she asked.
Crystal giggled and said, “Yes. It’s a little inside joke of our ancestors.”
“Elves and reindeer. Nice. Where’s Santa hiding?” Luke said.
“Didn’t your grandfather tell you?” Crystal stated seriously. “Olympus is Santa Claus.” Autumn and Luke’s mouths dropped open and Crystal burst out laughing. “I’m kidding! But you should really see your faces.”
On the short ride home, Autumn looked out into the oversized forest, in awe of everything her eyes encountered. It was remarkable how enchanting nature could be. She had never appreciated it on the Outside. Then again, the most beautiful trees and flora on the Outside looked like weeds compared to everything here. She could feel Avery’s gaze on her throughout the ride, but each time she tried to catch his eye he turned his head.
When the carriage pulled up to the castle, Avery jumped out and reached a hand up to help Autumn down. The moment their skin touched, a surge of energy coursed through her, coming to rest in her core. Autumn looked into Avery’s eyes, wondering if he’d felt what she had. A confused expression appeared on his face. When his gray eyes met hers, she knew. He had felt it too.
The four of them journeyed up to the dining room, Luke grumbling something about “more stairs” as they climbed.
When they entered the dining room, a hush fell over the area. Autumn could feel hundreds of eyes trained on her as she followed Crystal to a vacant table. Clearly, word had quickly spread throughout the castle that the royal redheaded twins had finally arrived in the Underground. The castle workers watched in apparent curiosity as Autumn and Luke joined Crystal and Avery at a vacant table.
“They sure stare a lot here,” Luke muttered.
Crystal surveyed the room with a stern look, giving a crisp clear of her throat, and the interested eyes turned away.
Four wooden mugs filled with a steaming amber-colored liquid sat beside perfectly carved plates and flatware.
“What’s this?” Autumn asked, peering into the mug. She was beginning to feel like Jack Skellington when he’d first discovered Christmas Town. What’s this? What’s this? What’s this?
“Honeysuckle Cider,” Crystal said. “Try it. It’s delicious.”
Aromas of honeysuckle and cinnamon wafted up from the mug. Autumn inhaled deeply before taking a tentative sip. She was pleasantly surprised when the sweet, slightly tart liquid hit her tongue. “That’s amazing.”
“Told you,” Crystal said, taking a swig of her own.
“So, where’s the food?” Luke asked.
As if he had conjured them, a line of castle workers dressed in white came streaming out of a set of swinging double doors, each carrying trays filled with food. A long table ran along the perimeter of the dining room. The workers placed the food on the tables and left the dining room in the same orderly fashion in which they had entered.
“Right there,” Crystal answered.
“Why is no one getting any?” Luke asked.
“I think they are waiting for you two to get your food first,” Avery said.
Autumn ducked her head, feeling embarrassed. “They don’t have to wait for us.”
“It’s okay,” Crystal said. “They’ll get their food after you do. Come on. Let’s check out the spread.”
Carrying their plates, they approached the tables filled with food. Autumn only recognized a few things, like pasta and vegetables. The rest was a mystery. Luckily, though, there were little signs behind the food explaining what it was.
“You eat dragons here?” Autumn asked, peering at what looked like green-tinted steaks.
Avery chuckled and said, “Only the mean ones.”
Autumn glanced over at Luke and stifled a laugh as his face grew more and more disgusted the longer he examined the food.
“Dandelion Stew… Blackened Piranha… Smoked Serpent… Um, ever heard of steak?”
“Cows are very rare in the Underground,” said Avery. “But we do occasionally have beef at the castle. The menu changes daily. Dragon is actually very similar to beef. If you tried it, I bet you’d like it.”
Luke made a face indicating that he did not agree with this statement. “I’ll just have some pasta.”
Autumn loaded her plate with pasta and vegetables. Avery piled his with dragon steak.
They brought their plates back to the table and the rest of the castle workers stood and went to fill their own.
“So. Dragons,” Luke said through a mouthful of pasta. “Any other sorts of fire breathing creatures here we should worry about?”
As Avery explained to Luke the different types of dragons, Autumn ate her food and watched him talk, studying his features. He had a strong face and square jaw that would clench every so often. Autumn wondered why that was. And while he was undeniably handsome there was a dark quality to his looks. Something in his eyes. Their stormy gray color was mysterious, like a violent sea full of secrets and hidden pain. Her obsessive need to help people began to kick in, and she longed to know what had caused him to become so hardened.
Suddenly he glanced up at her through his lashes, their eyes locking on to one another for a brief moment before Autumn broke the connection, looking down at her lap.
“Are you taking the Warrior Test, Avery?” Crystal asked.
“I am. Are you?”
Crystal nodded. “So far, everyone I’ve talked to is.”
“What’s that?” Luke asked.
“The Warriors protect the city from Shadows and Atrums, among other things,” Crystal explained. “They’re basically an army of sorts. Every five years the Warriors hold a sort of practical test in order to choose the next generation of Warriors. Only the best fighters with the best Powers are selected.”
“But you’re taking the Test?” Autumn said. “So elves our age can be Warriors?”
“How old are you?” Avery asked.
“Seventeen.”
“We turn eighteen in March,” Luke added.
“Perfect. You will be 4th quarter elves like us,” Crystal said. Autumn and Luke gave her a confused look. “I mean you’ll be in the last year of elf school. The 4th quarter elves are the only elves allowed to that take the Warrior Test because we’re—obviously—the most advanced of the school-age elves and we haven’t started training for any other jobs. I was so excited when I found out that my class would be in 4th quarter the year of Warrior Test.”
“That doesn’t seem fair to the other elves,” Autumn said.
Avery shrugged. “Our ancestors see it as destiny. They think the Warriors are pre-destined to be chosen. So, if they are meant to be Warriors, they will be eligible the year of the Warrior Test. Though a lot of elves will purposefully hold themselves back in school until the Warrior Test.”
“Could we try out?” Autumn asked.
Crystal and Avery exchanged uncertain glances.
“I don’t know… I don’t think a royal has ever been a Warrior.”
“Well, if we’re royals, and we say we want to test, don’t they have to let us?” Luke asked.
“I suppose so,” Crystal said, still sounding unsure.
“Then I’m taking the Test,” Autumn said, earning another surprised look from Avery.
“Me too,” Luke agreed.
“So, how does it work?” Autumn asked. “You just take this Test and then you’re a Warrior?”
“No, it’s much more thorough than that,” Avery said. “If you pass the Test, then you become an Initiate, which is sort of an in-between period. You’re essentially a Warrior-in-training. After a few months of that, if you prove you are Warrior material, then you are officially initiated and you will become a Quinn Warr
ior.”
“Quinn?” Luke said.
“There are five rotations of Warriors,” Crystal began. “Each set is about five years older than the next and they all have nicknames. The first and oldest rotation is the Unum Warriors, then you have the Duos, the Triplexes, the Tetras, and finally, the Quinns. Once the Quinns are initiated, the oldest Warriors retire and each rotation moves up in rank.”
“Sort of like high school,” Luke said.
Autumn and Crystal shot him a confused look.
“You know,” he said, “like, when the seniors graduate, the juniors become seniors, the sophomores become juniors, the freshmen become—”
“Okay, I got it,” Autumn said, holding a hand up to silence him.
“Well, I’m totally doing it,” Luke said. “Killing Vyra will be a lot easier after some Warrior training.”
Crystal’s brow knit together. “Er…it won’t be that easy…”
“Well, losing our parents wasn’t that easy either,” Luke said darkly. “But we managed to live through that.”
The conversation had quickly taken a depressing turn, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the table—at least until the kitchen workers brought out the desserts. Luke had a sweet tooth and he immediately rushed to pile his plate with a variety of the cakes and pastries. Crystal looked relieved.
After dessert, Autumn and Luke said goodnight to Crystal and Avery before trudging up the stairs to their new rooms. Autumn couldn’t help but notice Avery’s eyes lingering on hers longer than would be considered necessary for a casual goodbye.
Autumn entered her branch, ambling through the dimly lit sitting room and into her bedroom. Pulling back her petal-soft comforter, she climbed in to the enormous canopy bed. The day’s events ran through her head like a movie reel until she drifted off to sleep.
And for the first time in months there was no waterfall, no magical forest, no gray-eyed boy to greet her behind a sheet of water.
Her sleep was dreamless.
Zero to Hero
CHAPTER EIGHT
A beam of sunlight landed on Autumn’s face, awakening her. It took several seconds for her to realize that she hadn’t been dreaming and that she actually was an elf princess, sleeping in the branch of a giant tree castle.
After a bath that felt more like sitting in a giant hot tub, she pulled open the doors of her wardrobe and took in all of the clothes that were now hers. All of the clothing seemed to be made from the finest fabrics: silk, cashmere, intricate laces, and some made from the same petal-like material of her bedspread. While there were several gowns in her wardrobe, there were also skirts, pants, casual dresses, and shorts. She was thankful she wouldn’t have to wear heavy gowns every day like the princesses of fairytales.
Many of the clothes looked like they could have been from the Victorian era, but with a modern twist. The word “steampunk” came to Autumn’s mind, but without all of the gadgets and clocks. If she were to wear them in the Outside she would have been the envy of every girl in her school.
The common teenage girl problem of having nothing to wear wouldn’t be an issue here. She had everything to wear, which was almost as difficult. How could she choose? After standing before the wardrobe feeling slightly overwhelmed for several minutes, Autumn reached in and pulled out a flowy, white top with butterfly sleeves. She scanned the variety of pants and decided on the navy blue ones.
As she was in the process of pulling her loose curls back away from her face with pins made from pearls, there was a knock on the door. She expected to see Luke or Crystal—she didn’t let herself hope it would be Avery—but, instead, there stood a nervous looking castle worker. He wore the same green uniform Autumn had seen several other workers wearing yesterday, and she imagined that each section of the castle had a different colored uniform. Guards wore red, kitchen staff wore white, and castle servants wore green.
“Hello, Miss Autumn,” he said. “The king sent me to give you this.” He held out a hand and Autumn glanced down to see two leather pouches stuffed full of—
“Leaves?” Autumn said, peeking into one of the pouches.
“Gold, silver, and bronze leaves,” he said. “They are elf currency, Miss. Twenty silver leaves to every gold leaf and fifty bronze leaves to every silver leaf.”
Autumn pulled out a gold leaf and examined it. It was thin and pliable, about the length of her palm.
“That’s incredible… Is the other one for Luke?”
“Yes, but Prince Luke would not come to the door when I knocked, Miss.”
“I’ll get him to answer,” Autumn said with a wink as the castle worker handed over Luke’s bag of currency with a relieved look upon his face.
It only took a few minutes of pounding for Luke to answer the door wearing an exasperated scowl.
“Was that really necessary?” he grumbled. “For once we don’t have to get up early for work and you wake me up at the crack of dawn.”
Autumn flashed him an unapologetic smile and held out his pouch full of elf money. “Here.”
He opened it and peered in before shooting Autumn a bemused look. “Why are you giving me a bag of leaves?”
Autumn explained what the servant had told her and he raised his eyebrows, looking down at the contents with a different expression. Then he let out a bark of laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Autumn asked.
“Money really does grow on trees here.”
“Clever. Okay, go get ready,” Autumn said, pushing past her brother and plopping down on the fluffy couch in his living room to wait.
“What’s the r—r—rush?” Luke said through a yawn.
“No rush. I just figured you’d want to meet some more of those elf girls like the ones fawning over you last night, but if you just want to go back to sleep then—”
“I’ll be ready in five minutes,” Luke said, practically running into his room.
It actually took him four and a half.
Luke counted the leaves in his pouch as they traveled down the stairs into the massive dining room.
“Fifty gold leaves, a hundred silver leaves and two hundred bronze leaves. I don’t know exactly how much that is compared to human money, but I’d say it’s way more than I’ve ever had before. Including that summer I mowed all the lawns in town.”
Autumn spotted Crystal and Avery sitting at a nearby table and hurriedly told Luke to put the pouch of leaves away.
“I hope you slept well because we have a busy day ahead of us,” Crystal said, wearing a bright smile.
“Where all are we going?” Luke asked as he spread a generous amount of honeysuckle butter on his toast.
“Everywhere!” Crystal said. “I want you to see all of downtown: the archery range, the shopping center, more of City Circle, and then—if you want—we can go back to Arbor Lake.”
“As long as there are girls there, you can take me anywhere you’d like,” Luke said through a mouthful of toast.
“Do you have guard duty today, Avery?” Crystal asked.
He nodded. “Yep. All day. I’m in the throne room again.”
Autumn tried not to look too disappointed that he wouldn’t be joining them.
After breakfast, Crystal took the twins on a tour of downtown. It was still hard for Autumn to think of it as downtown seeing as how all of the “buildings” were trees. It felt more like a forest than a town. A rather large forest. Blisters covered Autumn’s feet from the previous day of walking and hiking and stair climbing, but she knew she would have to develop tougher skin if she was going to make it in the Underground. Especially if she was going to take the Warrior Test.
As they walked, Autumn noticed that most of the elves they passed stared at them as they walked by, and some even pointed shamelessly.
“How does everyone already know about us?” Autumn asked under her breath.
“Probably from last night at Arbor Lake. Word spreads like fire in the kingdom. Especially when Kyndel Butler is the source.”
&nb
sp; The three of them spent the majority of the day downtown shopping, walking, and eating. Luke had never been the frugal type so he spent a large portion of his silver and bronze leaves in the first hour. Autumn was so used to not having much money that she felt guilty spending more than a couple of silver leaves, especially since Crystal didn’t have much money herself.
They ate lunch at a small teahouse called The Tea Tree where they filled up on delicate sandwiches, scones, pastries, and various kinds of tea. Luke started to complain about it being too girly, until a table full of attractive girls started flirting with him. That shut him up.
After lunch they went by the archery store to buy bows and arrows for Autumn and Luke. The store reminded Autumn of a library, but instead of books the shelves were filled with bows. Hundreds and hundreds of bows made from various Underground trees. And, like a library, the bows were categorized by type, arranged in order from darkest to lightest ranging from ebony to a bone white. Luke browsed the darker bows while Autumn scanned the warm, golden tones.
Luke quickly settled on a bow that was smooth and black, made from the wood of an ink tree, whose bark was as black as the ink it produced. Autumn took longer to decide but eventually chose a bow made from the golden wood of an ash tree. The finish made it so the bow would shimmer in the sunlight.
“So, you fight with these?” Luke asked as he examined a black quiver.
“Only Warriors fight with bows and arrows,” Crystal said. “The rest of the elves just shoot them at the archery range for fun and some use them to hunt.”
“I thought Warriors would fight with, like, swords and machetes and stuff,” Luke said in disappointment.
“I don’t know about machetes, but if you become a Warrior, you’ll learn how to fight with swords and knives and other weapons. Regular elves, though, hardly have any real need for weapons like that,” Crystal said.
“Honestly, though, what are the chances of us making the Warriors when we’ve only just come here? We don’t even know what our Powers are yet,” Autumn said.
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