Oaken

by Melody Robinette

  The girls’ Melodies costumes were all white and made out of a lightweight, airy material. The dresses had a corset-like bodice with flowing skirts that sparkled in the light. Autumn pulled the front of her hair away from her face with pearl clips and applied a small amount of shimmering makeup before hurrying back to the campus, her nerves beginning to overtake her. She started to think of all of the things that could go wrong: she could trip and fall on her face, her voice could crack in the middle of a note, or she could forget all of the words. It didn’t help that all of her friends had promised to attend the concert.

  All of the Melodies students had been instructed to arrive an hour early at the outdoor amphitheater where they would be performing for dress rehearsal. Magistra Halphnote bustled about, making sure everything was running smoothly. Due to time constraints, they only practiced the group songs and went over the order of the soloists. So Autumn was only able to walk through her entrance and exit without practicing her solo.

  She entered backstage to find most everyone sitting alone, nervously fidgeting or practicing their solo under their breath. Autumn found a bare spot backstage and sat focusing all of her energy on not passing out or throwing up.

  “Nervous?” a voice said behind her.

  She turned to see Charlotte, wearing her silky chestnut hair up in an elegant twist and a dress that was identical to Autumn’s.

  “A bit,” Autumn said.

  “Don’t worry. Everyone is a little nervous—even me—and I’ve been doing this since I was five.”

  “Five?” Autumn said.

  “Yeah. My mom put me in all of these elf talent competitions when I was little,” she said, rolling her eyes. “She was furious when I told her I wanted to be a magistra instead of a singer. That is, if I don’t make the Warriors.”

  Just then, somebody called for the singers to line up for the group song. Autumn and Charlotte moved to stand in line and Magistra Halphnote led everyone onstage. Autumn’s stomach flipped as she glanced out at the immense audience staring up at them. Magistra Halphnote greeted the audience and then turned to conduct her choir.

  Autumn scanned the crowd as they sang, looking for familiar faces. She spotted Luke, Avery, Crystal, Forrest, Jastin, and several others she knew from her classes. Victor sat alone, a few rows behind Luke, Crystal, and Avery.

  When the choir finished singing, they walked silently offstage to the sound of polite applause from the audience. Magistra Halphnote stayed onstage to announce the 4th quarter soloists. Charlotte was first. Autumn listened to her sing backstage and couldn’t help but envy her slightly. Her voice was powerful and smooth. Each note sounded effortless and her delivery was flawless. She could see why Charlotte’s mom would force her to compete in talent shows.

  Enthusiastic applause rang out as Charlotte finished her solo and she came to sit beside Autumn.

  “Your voice is amazing,” Autumn admitted. “I’m going to sound like a dying cat compared to that.”

  Charlotte laughed. “No you won’t! You have a very nice voice. And I heard you practice your solo in class. The lyrics were beautiful.”

  “Well, I had a little help…on the music, at least.”

  “Are you dating Victor Lavigne?” Charlotte asked, hitting Autumn with the unexpected question.

  She blushed. “Um, no?”

  “Is that a question?” Charlotte laughed.

  “Well, we’ve been hanging out a lot lately, but we’re just friends, I guess.”

  “I’m surprised he even talks to you,” Charlotte said.

  “Why wouldn’t he talk to me?” Autumn asked, a little offended.

  “He doesn’t talk to anyone.”

  “I think it’s more the other way around.”

  “I suppose that’s probably true,” Charlotte conceded.

  “So, do you know why Avery told everyone about Victor in the first place? Weren’t they friends?” Autumn asked, voicing the question Victor never answered.

  “You mean you don’t know?” said Charlotte, clearly surprised.

  “Know what?”

  Just then a stage manager called out, “Autumn Oaken! You’re on next.”

  Autumn’s stomach dropped at this and she scrambled out of her chair and over to the edge of the curtain to wait.

  “Good luck!” Charlotte called.

  Autumn’s palms began to sweat, her mouth went dry, and her heart was beating loud enough for her to hear. Her stomach turned constantly making her grateful she had skipped dinner. As William Nash finished his song, Autumn’s legs began to feel like jelly and she was unsure if she could make it on stage without collapsing.

  The stage manager pushed her forward as Magistra Halphnote called out, “Autumn Oaken, singing Once Upon a Time.”

  Autumn felt hundreds of eyes on her as she walked slowly to the center of the stage. There was no microphone because somehow the magical amphitheater could project the singer’s voice out into the audience. The band began playing the music Avery had written and Autumn anxiously waited for her cue to begin.

  She took a deep breath and began to sing.

  An ethereal, haunting voice escaped her mouth on the first note and her eyes widened in surprise. This couldn’t be her voice, yet she knew it was. It was breathtaking and otherworldly, like an echoing song of a magnificent bird. The way it sounded, however, was nothing compared to the way it made her feel. Light. Like she could fly if she tried. Calm. Happy. Powerful. Like she could do anything at all. And she knew—this was her Power. The Power of Song.

  Autumn sang the whole piece and, as she neared the end, she regretted that she would have to stop because she wanted to keep feeling that way forever. The audience stared at her with open mouths and dazed expressions, as if hypnotized.

  She finished the last notes of the song, her voice still echoing eerily around the amphitheater, and stood before the audience, breathing heavily and beaming down at their awe-struck faces. It took a few moments for them to shake off their trance-like states before they stood and broke out into tumultuous applause.

  Autumn bowed and glided off-stage, smiling from ear to ear. Charlotte rushed up to hug her. “You found your Power!” she exclaimed.

  “That was marvelous, Autumn, dear. Simply perfect,” Magistra Halphnote said, smiling tearfully as she went back onstage to introduce the next two performers, who were shooting Autumn resentful looks.

  When the last person performed, all of the Melodies members walked back onstage for the finale song. Autumn lip-synched the words because she didn’t know how to control her Power yet and didn’t want to hypnotize her fellow Melodies students. Once the finale song had ended, she barely had time to walk off stage before her friends and people she’d never met were swarming around her. Autumn tried to remain humble as everyone hugged and congratulated her, which was difficult when her face was stuck in a permanent smile.

  Avery, Luke, and Crystal pushed their way to the front of the gathering crowd. Luke pulled Autumn into a tight hug, and ruffled her hair saying, “I knew you’d find your Power, Rose.” Crystal hugged her, repeating over and over again how beautiful her song was.

  Avery embraced Autumn too, though in a different way than Luke and Crystal had. He pulled away slowly, his face inches from hers. “I knew your Power would be something incredible,” he said barely louder than a whisper. Autumn’s heart stuttered as she looked into his raging gray eyes.

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” she said.

  Luke cleared his throat loudly and Avery broke apart from her, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking at his feet.

  Just then Victor appeared through the crowd and wrapped Autumn in a tight embrace. “That was exquisite,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she said, aware of the many eyes on her.

  He then pulled out a stunning red rose from inside his shirt and held it out to her. An intake of breath reverberated through the crowd around them.

  “Will you accept this Rose?” he asked.


  “Um, yeah,” Autumn said, taking the rose from him. “Thanks, Victor. It’s beautiful.”

  Several people in the crowd gasped at this and Autumn looked up to see Crystal’s mouth hanging open, her eyes wide. Luke stared at the rose indifferently and Avery’s face was difficult to read as several emotions passed across his features at once before settling into a hard, stony, detached look.

  “Autumn!” Crystal said. “I just remembered that I really need to talk to you…about a dress that I’m making. For you.”

  Autumn wore a bewildered expression as Crystal dragged her out of the crowd and behind a hefty tree trunk.

  “What’s going on?” Autumn asked when they reached the silent refuge of the foliage.

  “You just accepted a Red Rose from Victor Lavigne!”

  “So?”

  “I’m so sorry, Autumn! I should’ve told you about all of the elf traditions, but I didn’t think to—I mean you’ve only been here a few—”

  “What are you talking about? What do you mean elf traditions?”

  Crystal took a deep breath and said quickly, “Roses are very symbolic in elf culture. Black Roses are for death, White Roses are for peace, Yellow Roses are for friendship.

  “And what is a Red Rose for?” Autumn asked warily.

  “A Red Rose is one of three types of roses that elves offer to one another…romantically. If an elf offers another elf a Red Rose and they accept, they are then bound together as a couple.”

  “WHAT?”

  “I know! It’s okay, though. It’s not too late. You can still give the rose back, it isn’t permanently binding. Not like a diamond rose.”

  “I can’t just give it back, Crystal. He’ll hate me.”

  Crystal stared at Autumn with wide eyes. “What are you going to do?”

  “I guess I’m going to be bound to Victor.”

  Avabelle

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The next Monday, Autumn could hardly wait until Powers class, partly because she was excited about finally getting to use her Power and partly because she needed to get her mind off of Avery. He hadn’t spoken to her all weekend and went to dinner with Jastin or Forrest every night, rather than eating at the castle.

  Autumn continued to go to lunch with Victor so she wouldn’t have to worry about bothering Avery with her presence. It was hard for her to think of Victor as her boyfriend because she could never get someone that attractive in the Outside to talk to her much less date her. The crazy thing was, she didn’t know if she even wanted to be bound to him. Beautiful or not.

  Victor was a quiet being. Normally Autumn would think someone so quiet to be shy, but Victor wasn’t shy by any means. He just seemed to think quite a lot. Besides, he was probably used to not talking to anyone. When he did speak, he usually asked Autumn questions about herself and listened to her answers intently as if making a mental note on every single detail. He still wouldn’t talk about himself, though, even now that they were dating. He dodged all of the questions Autumn directed at him, so she finally gave up asking.

  Anticipation filled Autumn as she and Victor walked towards the Powers Tree. They were the first ones to the classroom and Autumn sat on the edge of her seat, shaking her foot anxiously. The room slowly began to fill up around them. When Avery entered the room Autumn felt a twinge of guilt, though she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong. It was for Avery’s own good, really, that Autumn was dating someone else. That way he wouldn’t be tempted and neither would she.

  When Atticus entered the classroom, Autumn nearly fell out of her chair as she rushed up to him, announcing that she had finally found her Power.

  “I know,” Atticus said, smiling.

  “Oh, right. So, can I fight today?”

  Atticus thought for a moment and said, “Yes, I think I will start you out with someone who has a Physical Power, though, and then work you up to a fellow elf with a Mental Power.”

  “What’s the difference?” Autumn asked.

  “There are two types of Powers,” Atticus said. “Physical and Mental. Physical Powers are Powers that can physically harm someone like Ice, Strength, Weather, and so on. Mental Powers affect someone cognitively, like Jastin’s Power, and now yours.”

  After Atticus assigned pairs, the class traveled up the spiral staircase to the practice room. Autumn had been paired with Noah, the fair-haired boy whose Power was Water. He was quite shy and congratulated her in a small voice before they began battling. When Atticus called for everyone to begin, Autumn let out a wordless melody. Noah instantly became still with a blank look on his face.

  The note rang out and the room fell silent. Autumn chanced a quick glance around and ceased singing when she saw that the others were standing completely still with dazed expressions. Once she stopped singing everyone seemed to snap out of their stupor. Some shot her impressed looks, while others, mainly Kyndel, merely looked annoyed.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “Don’t worry about it, Autumn—” Atticus began, but was interrupted by Forrest.

  “Autumn! You can hypnotize everyone who hears you! Now we can go after Vyra and finally win!” he exclaimed as a few others emitted cheers of delight.

  “Uh, not if we are hypnotized too, genius,” Kyndel said.

  The people who had cheered frowned.

  Atticus cleared his throat. “Autumn cannot hypnotize all of Vyra’s army. It is much too large.” Atticus turned to face her. “You just need to learn how to focus your Power on one person instead of everyone who can hear you. We’ll work on it after class. How about you and Noah practice your physical fighting skills.”

  After waiting and waiting to get a chance to fight with her Power, Autumn had to wait even longer. On the bright side, her frustration fueled her physical fighting abilities. Noah was not a very strong fighter—especially compared to Avery—so Autumn was able to escape every hold. She practiced all of the offensive techniques Avery had taught her and, by the end of class, she had Noah doubled over, panting. When the bells rang he looked more than relieved, wiping sweat from his brow.

  “Autumn and Luke, stay here, please,” Atticus called over the commotion of the students stomping down the stairs.

  When everyone had left the practice room, Atticus addressed the twins. “All right, I don’t normally do this, but in this case I will make an exception. You both have a little under a month before the Warrior Test. In this time you will have to learn how to control your Powers properly, when and how to use them, and most importantly how not to use them.

  “Your fellow classmates have had years to slowly learn this. However, with my training you should be able to reach their level quickly. Plus, you are royals. I’m offering you both private lessons with me every day after school until the Test. Do you accept these terms?” Autumn and Luke agreed emphatically. “Excellent. Luke, I’ve been watching your technique. For having only learned your Power a week ago, you’ve already exceeded my expectations, but, like Autumn, you need to learn to focus your Power on only the person you are battling. All right, let’s begin. Autumn, I want you to practice focusing your Power only on Luke. Imagine that your Song is a physical force that you are pushing into him. Go on.” He waved a hand from Autumn to Luke.

  She turned towards her brother and tried to direct her song only at him.

  “That was much improved,” said Atticus, “but I could still feel your Power’s effects. Try again.”

  They continued like this until Atticus could hardly feel her Power’s effects at all. Then it was Luke’s turn and Autumn was not thrilled about being his guinea pig. When they finished, she was sopping wet, along with Atticus and everything else in the room.

  “Well done, both of you,” Atticus exclaimed, wringing out his shirt. “There’s no doubt in my mind that you two can reach and even exceed the level of your peers. Your father would be very proud.”

  “You said on the first day of class that you knew our father well, right?” Autumn said.

  Atticus nod
ded, smiling sadly.

  “How did you know him?” Luke asked.

  “He was a 4th quarter elf when I was in 1st quarter. He saw some kids picking on me one day and stood up for me. From that day on, he was somewhat of a mentor to me, teaching me how to fight and how to stand up for myself. Most everything I learned about fighting I learned from your dad.”

  Autumn and Luke exchanged a glance of surprise. Atticus didn’t look like someone who would’ve been bullied. He was so…tough.

  “Your father was a good man. Now go on home and change into some dry clothes. You both look like you went for a swim in Arbor Lake,” he said, laughing at the state of their attire.

  When they left the Powers Tree it was nearly five o’clock. Autumn’s feet squelched around in her shoes as she walked.

  “Your Power is actually pretty cool, Rose,” Luke said.

  “Thanks. So is yours, only I wish you wouldn’t use so much rain,” she said, wringing out her hair.

  “Oh, sorry. Here—” He created a strong gust of wind to blow her clothes and hair dry.

  Autumn chuckled and said, “Nice. That could come in handy.”

  As they walked down the path towards Arbor Castle, Autumn realized that this was the first time since they’d arrived that she and Luke had been alone together for more than a few minutes. She hadn’t been aware of how much she had missed this. Luke had been her best and only friend back in Ireland.

  They laughed and talked like they used to all the way back to the castle. To Autumn’s surprise, Luke even asked her how things were going with Victor.

  “Good, I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “Well, it kind of sucks sometimes because I feel like I can’t ever be around both him and you guys at the same time because of something Victor can’t help. Avery needs to get over his stupid grudge.”