Autumn Dawn (#2.5, Witchling Saga)

by Lizzy Ford

  Summer raised her head to watch the sunrise, one hand still clasped by the air and the other on the furry form the earth had chosen to take.

  Welcome home, she thought she heard the earth whisper.

  With trepidation and hope, Summer prepared herself to face her newest set of challenges.

  “Can you hear me?”

  Summer blinked. It wasn’t the sun she stared at but a glaring, fluorescent light. Her companions and the cold morning air were gone, replaced by a warm room and two more familiar faces. She almost panicked when the all-too familiar scent of antiseptic-laced hospital air reached her.

  Not again! There was no way she’d spend another eight weeks in the hospital. Dear god, what was wrong this time? How did she end up here?

  Slowly, the memory of her fight with Dawn in the clearing returned to her. She’d been stabbed twice, before Decker showed up and almost finished the job.

  Summer focused on her body, trying to determine how bad the damage was. Oddly enough, she felt … good, and not the kind of good that stemmed from medication numbing her. Her body was healthy, though fatigued.

  Further evaluation told her why: healing earth magick was thick in her body, its source the Master of Light, who sat beside her bed and held her hand. If he was here, was Decker, too?

  She sat quickly, heart soaring at the idea of seeing him again.

  “Whoa. Don’t do anything that might freak me out.”

  Summer frantically tugged her hair forward over one shoulder to make sure the vivid dream was real. It was dark. She was herself again, though she and the world around her had changed dramatically over the past few months. She recognized the woman on the other side of the bed. Summer was momentarily lost in her thoughts as she recalled her interaction with her elements and everything they’d shown her about the people currently seated in her hospital room.

  “You okay or are you some sort of zombie I should be worried about?” Beck, the Master of Light, asked, bringing her out of her mind.

  She focused on the speaker and saw the mix of surprise and concern on the handsome face of her friend and the Light’s protector. His brilliant blue eyes were sharp, his athletic frame seated in the chair beside her bed. His magick crept through her body, healing her.

  “I don’t know,” she replied honestly.

  He squeezed her hand. The earth’s memories of how he’d offered up his soul in exchange for her second trial made her eyes burn with tears. Summer wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “I’m afraid to ask why.” He returned her hug, his strong arms holding her tightly.

  “For saving me and Decker.”

  “Just doing my Light Master job,” he joked then sighed. “I’m so happy to see you, Summer.”

  “I’d say she remembers,” a woman’s voice murmured.

  Summer withdrew from Beck, trembling and confused. Her body felt weak, and she was hungry. She wiped her face before facing the twins’ mother. Uncertain what to say or think of the woman who risked so much for a stranger, Summer simply gazed into eyes as dark as Decker’s.

  “We haven’t been properly introduced,” Rania, the former Mistress of Dark, said with a faint smile. She glowed with power that shadowed her movement and rendered her appearance ageless. Her dark hair was clasped at the base of her neck, her snug sweater and leather pants adding to her sultry air. She held out her hand. “I’m Rania.”

  “Summer.” Summer shook it, the familiar flare of fire-water magick reminding her of Decker. “I think. I’m kinda not sure.”

  “Nurse, Beck,” Rania said with a glance at her son.

  “I’m on it.”

  Summer arranged her pillows and rested back, nervous to be around the mother of the twins. She drew her knees to her chest instinctively, the shadows of the powerful Dark woman prodding her.

  “What do you remember?” Rania asked, a note of wariness in her voice.

  “Everything,” Summer replied, her chest tight. “The earth showed me.”

  “Something tells me it showed you more than your own memories.”

  Summer nodded.

  Rania considered her for a moment. “Well, you’ll fit right in. We are a family of secrets, if nothing else.”

  Summer wasn’t certain if she should smile or be worried. Rania lifted something into the air, and Summer’s breath caught. Her amulet. She reached for it. The amber was still streaked with black.

  “Oh, god. I didn’t pass?” she asked, confused.

  “You did. I lifted the memory spell, but not the one that hides you. It takes time to reinvent someone’s identity,” Rania said ruefully. “The hospital has no idea who Summer is. You’ll have to wear that until you can leave. Beck can remove the spell Sam put on you to dampen where the soul is in the balance.”

  “I’ll be Light again?” Summer asked.

  Rania nodded.

  Summer sighed in relief. She clenched the amulet in her hand.

  “I still don’t understand…” she drifted off. “I mean, I’ve been two people. Or it feels like it. How do I go back to being me?”

  “Mentally or on paper? On paper, I’m working on undoing what I did. The rest will be up to you,” Rania said. “The school officials know. Beck knows, and Decker will soon. It’ll be a challenge, but it’ll be much easier than coming between my son and the Darkness.”

  “You did a lot,” Summer said. “I mean, how do I repay you for anything? The hospital, the physical therapy, everything.”

  “You owe me nothing,” Rania replied firmly. “I didn’t know you when I did those things, and I wasn’t certain you’d survive. I did them for my sons, and because of my role in growing the Darkness to the point that it overwhelmed Decker.”

  Summer sensed rather than saw Rania’s pain. The confident woman who fought Darkness and overnight created an entire new identity for a stranger held a streak of raw emotion very similar to Decker’s. Summer relaxed a little, suddenly understanding that Rania had spent most of her life in the same struggle Decker was in now. Rania was strong, but she was also hurting in a way no one outside the Dark would ever understand.

  Like Decker, Rania needed the type of Light and strength only Summer saw to remind her why she fought the Dark.

  “It was a lot to do for a stranger,” Summer murmured. “You didn’t have to do some of those things, like buy me clothes. Something that small couldn’t make you feel better, but you still did it.”

  “Next you’ll tell me I’m capable of good,” Rania said.

  “You are. Like Decker,” Summer replied. Though uncertain who she was, she understood what it was to struggle against something she couldn’t control, like the pain and sense of helplessness that stemmed from her injuries after her fall.

  “You sound like my husband.” Rania looked away. “You’ll be good for Decker.”

  Summer’s heart sped up as she debated whether or not she should ask what she yearned to know. The silence between them grew uncomfortable. She toyed with her amulet, recalling the night Decker came to claim it and all he’d been through since then. She feared to discover that she had failed to save Decker from the Darkness, that he was now broken and somehow a different man than she last knew.

  “How is he?” she asked at last.

  “Struggling.”

  Summer nodded, dismayed but not surprised at the news.

  “Summer, it’s not going to be easy. Your path is going to be as brutal as his for awhile. I know how rough it was for my husband to accept what I am,” Rania’s voice was quiet. “It’s one thing to know and another to see.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Summer replied. “I made Decker a promise months ago, before I… messed up. I told him I’d always come between him and the Darkness. I can do it now. I know that.”

  “I believe you.” Rania gaze was warm. “Beck knew. It must be part of his power. I see only Dark in people. He sees the depth of their Light. If my sons survive this, it’s becaus
e they – and you – are stronger than I ever was.”

  “The earth showed me how strong you are,” Summer said, hearing the bitterness. She pitied the woman who nearly lost everything. “I wouldn’t be alive without you. They would have been lost without you.”

  “You’re sweet. I definitely don’t deserve your kindness,” Rania said. “Save it for Decker. He needs you.”

  “Summer or Autumn?” Summer joked weakly. She didn’t even know if Decker wanted anything to do with her. After all, he thought it was Autumn who saved him.

  “It took love and courage to come between him and his Darkness. You are one and the same now.”

  “I hope so.”

  “As a former Mistress of Dark, I can assure you he won’t let go of his match once he sees you,” she said. “I’m already trying to figure out how to get him back to his school in Washington after he finds out you’re okay. I have a feeling he’ll demand we transfer him back, or he’ll drop out. You and he need to finish school, and God help me, I don’t need both my sons knocking up their girlfriends. Do me a favor: no kids until you’re married, okay?”

  Summer stared at her, understanding where Beck got his blunt honesty from. She giggled nervously, embarrassed by the inference to sex. The memory of Decker’s naked body and what they’d done at the cabin thrilled her. Would he still want her that way? It was torture not knowing! Images the earth showed her returned, and her spirits dampened. He’d slept with so many girls since then. Was she even able to trust him with her heart? Had he fallen for someone other than her or Autumn?

  Frustrated, she centered herself and cleared her throat before answering,

  “One day at a time.”

  Rania eyed her. Summer was grateful for the advice Rania’s husband, Michael, had given her about how he dealt with his wife’s Darkness.

  “Beck’s coming. Amulet on,” Rania said after a lengthy pause. “I’m supposed to tell you Michael and Grandpa Louis say hello.”

  Summer pulled the amulet on. She felt the same flash of magick that she did in the dream and glanced down. Her brown hair turned blonde, and her body grew slight again.

  Rania rose.

  “As soon as you’re up to it, you’re invited to dinner. Consider yourself part of the family.”

  “You’re all so wonderful,” Summer said in a tight voice, awed by the words. She’d never had a family, since hers was killed when she was four. “Tell them hello.”

  “I will. You’ve got your work cut out for you. Decker’s a mess. Rest up while you can.” Rania paced to the door. “Take care, Summer.”

  “You, too, Rania.”

  Beck replaced his mother in the doorway. He was trailed by an attractive, blonde nurse.

  He did a double-take as he saw Summer, once again disguised as Autumn. She forced herself not to smile, recalling his obsession with blondes after her interactions with him over the past couple of weeks. He eyed her and sat down in the chair next to the bed. His calming earth magick inched towards her as Rania’s shadows had. Summer relaxed.

  Chart in hand, the nurse checked Summer’s vitals.

  “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “A little tired. Hungry,” Summer replied. “I have a taste for pie.”

  “Whatever you do, don’t eat the pie out of our cafeteria,” the nurse said with a conspiratorial wink. “It’s awful!”

  “I’ll ask Grandpa Louis to make you some,” Beck said. “His is better than even the school’s.”

  Summer recalled meeting the small, African-American man who was the husband of Rania’s grandmother, the Mistress of Night preceding Rania. Grandpa Louis and Autumn compared scars and drank tea together one evening.

  “When can she leave?” Beck asked.

  Summer only half-heard the question and didn’t hear the response. Struck by the thought of her visit with Grandpa Louis, she pushed down the sheet covering her and pulled up the hospital gown to her thighs.

  “Ah, I can leave,” Beck said, though his eyes dropped to her legs.

  “They’re gone,” she said, astonished.

  “Gone?” the nurse asked curiously. “Your socks? Clothes? Cuz we stripped those off you when you got here. They’re in the closet over there.” She pointed to a door tucked near a corner.

  “Yeah. I think she means her favorite, uh, shoes,” Beck said.

  Summer giggled at Beck’s lame response. The nurse, however, seemed satisfied. When she left, Summer turned to Beck expectantly.

  “Sam taught me a few things about healing,” he said with a shrug. “I needed a crash test dummy to experiment on.”

  She stared at him then laughed. It was hard to be offended by his brutal honesty when his smile was charming. He’d hadn’t just cured the stab wounds Dawn gave her, but also fixed what doctors hadn’t been able to address after her fall.

  Misty-eyed, Summer moved the leg that the doctors had told her would prevent her from ever walking or running again. It worked the way it should, and there was no more pain. The scarring was faint, barely visible.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said. “They told me I’d never walk again a few months ago. I did, but I knew I’d never run or jump or…” She stopped, tears in her eyes.

  “Are you okay?” Beck asked, growing serious. “Like, really okay?”

  She hesitated and wiped her eyes.

  “Yes,” she said at last. “I think so. I mean, you fixed my body. I’m a little worried about going back to school and I’m kinda scared that Decker isn’t…” she flushed, embarrassed to tell his brother her fears. Summer twisted her hands in the sheet.

  “If there is any doubt in your mind that he’s in love with you, you’re loonier than Dawn.” Beck rolled his eyes. “He’s been out cold for two days. I wanted to wait until I could check up on you before bringing him here.”

  “The protector,” she murmured, studying him. Beck had grown up in the past three months. Still sweet and upbeat, he was also more confident in what he was. “I owe you so much, Beck.”

  “You owe me nothing but to keep my brother from trying to kill us all again,” he said. “Deal?”

  “I’ll do what I can,” she replied. “Can I ask if your baby is okay?”

  “Yeah. She’s fine, and so is Dawn.” A shadow crossed Beck’s face. He shook it off. “After babysitting you and Decker the past few months, I think I can handle a kid, assuming it’s mine.”

  “You’ll make a good father,” she said warmly. “I’ll take Decker off your hands, if things work out.”

  “He’s all yours.” Beck winked. “Alright. Get some rest. I’ll bring you pie when I come back.”

  Summer wiped her eyes again. Cheered by her visit with Beck, she couldn’t help wishing she was able to see Decker right now. She needed to know if they had a future or if the things he’d done were going to change how either of them felt, when they met again.

  The thought of him in pain made her restless. She stared at the wintery sky, visible through the window. Hopefully, Beck was right, and she and Decker were able to be together. She wasn’t certain what she’d do, if her mistake three months ago or the Dark acts he committed since then came between them.

  Chapter Two

  Decker’s sleep was dreamless and deep, the first peace he’d had in months. When he woke, the clamor in his head replaced the peace with the roar of voices and magick. He was in his bed at his parent’s cabin. It was morning, and sunlight streamed in through the windows along one wall of his room.

  He was rested, unlike the weeks in which he relied on valium to knock him out. Still, Decker dwelled on the odd sense while his eyes settled on the round star maps on his ceiling. The two shaded constellations – Scorpio and Orion – brought back the painful memory of Summer. Her favorite constellation was Orion; he’d chosen Scorpio, not knowing the creature from Greek mythology was responsible for killing Orion, just as Decker had killed Summer.

  The Darkness pushed at his mind. Anger filled Decker, and he pushed back. Th
e voices in his head were screaming. He hated them for what they made him do and hated himself more for letting them.

  His world was hopeless, or had been, until Autumn. Whatever she told her elements to do, they wouldn’t leave him alone. The earth magick hummed within him. He felt her inside him, helping him. Her magick – and his fury – were all that stood between him and the Darkness.

  He wanted to know how she was and yet feared seeing her again. Summer was gone. Autumn was not. Such bleak truth never seemed so difficult to acknowledge or accept. Was he ready for what that really meant?

  Restlessness filled him once more. His moment of relative peace was over. Whether or not he was ready, he needed to know that the girl who saved his life was okay.

  He sat then stood, wobbling. Vaguely, he recalled taking his brother, Beck, and Beck’s ex-girlfriend, Dawn, to the hospital after the earth swallowed him in the clearing. He returned to the clearing for a third time to help Autumn. She wasn’t there, and his strength gave out. His father had been there with Sam, before Decker slid into unconsciousness.

  Starving and agitated by the memories of what he almost did to those he loved, Decker stumbled into the bathroom for a quick shower.

  He studied his reflection when he got out, perplexed by how he felt ancient, but looked young. Dark hair, strong jaw, wide shoulders and chest, caramel skin stretched over a frame rendered lean by thousands of laps around the pool. He was almost too lean. He’d lost weight on the daily routine of swimming, drugs, and sleepless nights. He didn’t eat often, and it showed in the shadows of his hollow cheeks.

  Still, his body appeared to be that of a normal athlete, except for the soulful brown eyes and thick shadows that traced every movement. He abused himself for three months – including the suicide attempt where he ran his motorcycle into a mountain – and came out of it relatively healthy. He wasn’t certain if he should feel fortunate or disappointed.

  Other kids turned eighteen and viewed their future with excitement. What kind of future did he have, battling the Darkness daily? It never gave up trying to pull him back into its fold. Even now, it was alternately trying to lure him back with promises of peace then railing at him for ruining the lives of everyone around him.