Ash (The Underground Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  “I don’t know. He sure styles that blond hair of his all perfectly and stuff. Maybe all the girls he hooks up with are a cover up.”

  “The same could be said about you,” Autumn teased.

  “Please. I don’t style my hair at all.”

  Autumn laughed and then, after a little while of silence, said, “So?”

  Luke looked at her expectantly. “So…what?”

  “So, what do you think about Crystal having a crush on you?”

  “Well, I don’t blame her,” Luke said with a forced laugh. When he saw Autumn’s exasperated frown he sighed and turned serious. “I don’t know, Rose. I’ve never really looked at her like that before. She’s been like a sister to me since we came to the Underground. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s really attractive and everything, but I’m worried it would ruin our friendship. Besides, we’re Warrior partners and—”

  “And you still want to make out with as many girls as you want?” Autumn offered.

  “Well…”

  “You’re pathetic,” she said with a chuckle and then sighed sadly at the deep, foreign sound. “Ugh. I want my body back.”

  “Me too.”

  “You know,” Autumn said after a while, “Avery’s kind of right. Both of us would be good rulers in different ways. Your strengths are your energy and charismatic personality. Everyone would listen to you. You could probably get any Underground ruler to agree with you.”

  “I’m not very good with helping people like you are, though,” Luke said. “I mean, I care about the elves, but not like you do. You care about everyone, even the other magical creatures. You don’t give up on anyone. You could actually make a difference.”

  “I wish both of us could be rulers. Together.”

  “Together…” Luke said absently before jumping up and striding into Autumn’s small library.

  “What’re you doing?” Autumn said as she followed to find him searching the shelves until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a book they had read in Magister Parkey’s Underground History class.

  He flipped through the pages and said, “Here it is. I knew it. There have been co-rulers in Arbor Falls before—a really long time ago. The technical term was called a diarchy. One ruler had certain duties and the other ruler had different ones. They worked together in a sort of partnership. That’s the answer. We can both be rulers. Together.”

  Luke looked up at her, beaming.

  At that moment, a wave of vertigo crashed over Autumn, and her legs suddenly went weak, eyes blacking out. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground.

  Sitting up, she looked blearily around the library. Luke was beside her doing the same. Autumn gasped as she took in her brother with his messy red hair and dazed expression—in his own body. They were back. She looked down at her body and let out a shout of happiness.

  “I’m a girl again!” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and nearly falling back down. She grabbed onto the corner of her desk to remain upright.

  “And I’m not!” Luke said with a laugh. “About freaking time. I was so close to cutting all of your hair off.”

  “We should go tell Olympus that we’ve made our decision.”

  “Right. And maybe yell at him a little bit.”

  Autumn and Luke burst out of her branch and hurried down the staircase. It felt so unbelievably good to be back in her body, but also a little strange. Unknowingly, she had become accustomed to Luke’s height and weight in the short time she had occupied his body. She was feeling exceptionally short and light at the moment.

  When they reached Olympus’s living quarters, the guards smiled warmly at them, allowing them entry. Olympus was reading in his library, sitting in his armchair beside the fire. When he saw them enter, he set his book down and his face broke into a smile. “Ah, I see you’ve made your decision.”

  “We want to rule together,” Autumn said.

  Olympus beamed and said, “I was hoping you’d come to that conclusion.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell us we could do that in the first place?” Luke asked, sounding more than a little frustrated.

  Olympus chuckled and said, “I figured this way would be more fun.” Autumn and Luke frowned at this. “Though I see you do not agree.”

  “Not quite,” Luke said.

  “One day you will feel otherwise, I’m sure,” Olympus said. “I will make preparations for your decision to be announced during your birthday ball. Until then, enjoy being back in your own bodies.”

  Autumn and Luke made the journey back to their branches with a bounce in their steps.

  “So, what happened after we left the party last night? Were the girls really mad?” Autumn asked.

  Luke nodded, laughing. “They were furious. They complained about y’all for the rest of the night. Crystal was mostly embarrassed, I think. Little did she know I would have heard what she said either way.”

  “I wonder why she never told me she liked you,” Autumn said, slightly hurt that her best friend hadn’t trusted her with this information.

  “She apologized to me, well you, about that last night,” Luke said. “She said that she didn’t know how you would feel about it.”

  “I just feel concerned about her mental health is all,” Autumn said, laughing as Luke shot her a glare.

  “You’re right, though,” Luke said as they began climbing the winding staircase. “She can do way better than me.”

  “Whatever, Luke. Once you get over your man whore phase, you’ll be a great catch.”

  Luke shot her a look of feigned shock. “I am not a man whore.” Autumn raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled saying, “Well, maybe a little bit.”

  When Autumn entered her branch she sighed contentedly. Never again would she take her own body for granted. Everything was finally back to normal—except for one thing.

  Autumn skipped through her bedroom, throwing the glass doors open, and sweeping out onto her balcony. She Sang an echoing melody toward Avery’s branch, hoping he was able to hear it. To her relief, the sound of his balcony doors opening and his smooth voice calling out, “Autumn?” soon met her ears.

  “Down here.”

  He leaned over his balcony railing to peer down at her. “What’re you doing?”

  “Waiting for you,” she said, stepping back as he jumped easily over his railing and landed with a thump next to her.

  He stood before her for a moment, studying her face before smiling widely. “You’re back.”

  “Wh—what do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. You just haven’t been yourself these past few days.”

  That was for sure. “Well, Luke and I made our decision tonight.”

  “And?”

  “And we’ll be ruling together.”

  “Really? I didn’t know there could be two rulers.”

  “Yup. Luke looked it up.” Autumn smiled.

  “Well, that’s great. I’ve always said you’d make an amazing queen,” he said, smiling crookedly.

  His face turned serious as he pulled her closer to him, kissing her softly on the lips and then more deeply. Autumn’s hands traveled up his strong arms, encircling his neck, as she breathed in the musky, familiar smell of him. Avery broke the kiss, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I missed you,” he murmured against her neck, causing an involuntary shiver to course through her.

  She breathed out a sigh of contentment. “I missed you too.”

  Royal Birthday Ball

  CHAPTER SIX

  Everything was nearly back to normal. Luke, Avery, Crystal, and Autumn were all back to hanging out again, though Crystal was still not speaking to Luke. Avery and Autumn were both acting as if their little “fight” never happened, which was how she hoped it stayed because she honestly didn’t know how to explain why “she” had been angry with him in the first place.

  Autumn’s clothes were slightly tighter now than they had been the last time she’d worn them, thanks to Luke’s three day eatin
g binge in her body, but this was nothing a couple of Warrior training sessions wouldn’t fix. Now that they were no longer Initiates and had the occasional guard duty and battles to fight, Warrior training with Atticus was only three times a week.

  The castle buzzed about the upcoming ball being held in honor of the royal twins. The decorating process had already begun for Saturday’s celebration, even though they didn’t actually turn eighteen until Monday. Crystal talked nonstop about the gowns that she had made for the celebration, several for the Tetras, and one for each of the Quinn girls—that was, except for Kyndel, who thought she deserved the most expensive gown in Arbor Falls, and Ember, whom Crystal greatly disliked.

  Luke was back to his daily routine of making out with his many admirers, which Autumn thought was rather insensitive given the fact that he knew how Crystal felt about him. Maybe he was trying to show her that she could do better than him. As much as Autumn hated to admit it, she thought this was partly true. Her brother was an amazing, funny, kindhearted guy, but he was just not ready to commit to one girl, and Crystal deserved someone who was.

  The Quinn girls had decided to forgive the Quinn boys for spying on them at the sleepover. This was mostly because it was tradition that all of the Warriors come with dates to a royal ball and they couldn’t very well do that when they weren’t speaking to any of the guys. Avery had already asked Autumn, and Jastin had obviously asked Charlotte, but the rest were up for grabs. Autumn knew Luke would have asked Crystal if the sleepover incident had not happened, but she wasn’t sure if he was brave enough to ask her now that she was angry with him.

  Autumn knew for a fact that he wouldn’t ask Kyndel, and none of them had spoken much to Ember because she had such a short temper and didn’t seem to like any of them. So, that left Crystal or one of his many obsessive followers, though she doubted he would want to bring any of them. He just kept them around when he wanted a make out partner.

  “So how long are you and Luke going to keep up this silent treatment?” Autumn asked Crystal during Friday’s Powers class.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Crystal said, feigning ignorance.

  After school, all of the Quinns traveled to Arbor Lake for the rest of the afternoon. Charlotte and Jastin lounged by the water, Charlotte’s head resting on Jastin’s chest. Kyndel sunbathed in one of the hovering hammocks. Ember secluded herself from the others in the shade of an oak tree, keeping busy by setting insects on fire. Luke and Forrest played the Underground version of basketball, a sport that consisted of throwing an oversized acorn into the holes in various tree trunks. Crystal, Avery, and Autumn watched them from a soft patch of grass.

  Avery lay down, resting his head in Autumn’s lap, and she began running her fingers through his soft, golden hair. They’d decided to drop the act around the Warriors, as they clearly weren’t fooling any of them. The only person who really needed to be in the dark was Olympus—until graduation, at least.

  Crystal watched their interaction with the shadow of a frown on her face.

  Edric soon approached their little trio biting his lip and ducking his head—both rather uncharacteristic for him. “Crystal?”

  She looked up at him in surprise. “Yes?”

  “Could I, er, talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure,” Crystal said, shooting Autumn a quizzical glance.

  Autumn watched Crystal and Edric stroll away from the group and come to stand near one of the sap-covered maple trees, its leaves blowing in the gentle breeze. She glanced down at Avery, now fast asleep in her lap, and smiled to herself at how peaceful he looked. She continued to absentmindedly run her fingers through his hair as she watched Edric and Crystal’s exchange. She couldn’t tell what they were saying, but Crystal seemed to be flushed all of a sudden and Edric wasn’t acting like his usual cocky self. His shoulders were slightly turned in, his head tilted down with his platinum blond hair falling into his eyes, and his hands were shoved self-consciously in his pockets.

  Autumn tilted her head to the side in confusion as she saw Crystal glance towards Luke and then back to Edric before nodding slightly. His face broke into a smile and he waved at her as he left Arbor Lake with a slight bounce in his step. Autumn watched Crystal with a quirked eyebrow as she shuffled slowly back to their spot in the grass, a small smile playing on her lips now.

  “What was that about?” Autumn asked.

  “Edric just asked me to the ball.”

  “WHAT?” Autumn exclaimed, feeling Avery awake with a start. “Oops, sorry,” she said with a chuckle as he squinted up at her. He sighed and laid his head back down, closing his eyes once again. “Edric Ogden asked you to the ball?” Autumn said much more quietly this time.

  Crystal nodded bashfully. “He told me that he’s had a crush on me for a while and that he finally worked up the courage to ask me.”

  Autumn glanced at Luke and Forrest, who were now wrestling over the acorn ball, laughing loudly.

  Turning back to face Crystal she said, “What about Luke?”

  “What about him?”

  “I thought you liked him.”

  Crystal shrugged. “Well, he doesn’t like me like that so I’m not going to waste my time. Edric’s a nice guy and he’s really cute. I just figure why not, you know?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Autumn decided to keep her opinion about Edric Ogden to herself. He’d always been much like Luke when it came to the amount of girls he hooked up with, only he was quite a bit more arrogant about it. He was also a know-it-all, but Autumn figured if he liked Crystal, then there was at least something good about him. “Well, I’m happy for you, Crys.”

  Crystal’s eyes moved to Luke and Forrest, her lips slightly downturned. “Thanks.”

  At dinner that night, Crystal was especially quiet, even compared to how she had been the past week, though Autumn caught her smiling to herself every so often.

  “You know the ball is tomorrow, Luke,” Autumn said to her brother as he stuffed his face full of potatoes.

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So, you don’t have a date yet.”

  “Oh, right.” He swallowed his mouthful of food and turned to Crystal. “Hey, Crys, wanna go to the ball with me?” he asked her with a wry smile and a wink.

  Avery and Autumn raised their eyebrows at this and looked at Crystal to see her blushing profusely. She stood suddenly, looking angry.

  “No. I don’t.”

  “You don’t?”

  “That’s what I said. You know, some guys actually look at me as more than a sister,” she said, whipping around and marching out of the dining room.

  “What is she talking about?” Luke said, looking bemusedly at Autumn.

  “Edric asked her to go with him to the ball today.”

  “Ogden?” Luke exclaimed with a look of disgust.

  Avery chuckled. “Do you know another Edric?”

  “And she said yes?” Luke asked in disbelief.

  Autumn shrugged. “Apparently.”

  Luke’s eyebrows met in consternation. “But I thought she hated that fairy.”

  Avery laughed. “Fairy?”

  “Yeah. He looks like a fairy with that stupid blond hair.”

  Autumn chuckled. “It’s the same color as Crystal’s.”

  “No it’s not. Her hair is more of a silvery blonde,” Luke stated matter-of-factly, then when he noticed Avery and Autumn smirking at him said, “Never mind.”

  He was quiet for the rest of the meal, frowning at his plate rather than eating. Avery and Autumn exchanged several amused glances. It appeared that Luke had just developed a serious case of “wanting what you can’t have.”

  The next day, Luke wasted no time in searching out Ember Burns and asking her to the ball. To Autumn’s surprise, she actually accepted. Apparently the fact that Luke was the prince of Arbor Falls had not escaped her notice.

  “I can’t believe you asked Ember Burns to the ball, Luke. She’s sort of crazy, you know,” Autumn said, shaking her head.<
br />
  “So? She’s hot and she’s a redhead. We’re perfect for each other.”

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that Crystal can’t stand her?”

  Luke appeared to have suddenly developed a hearing problem and ignored her question.

  Crystal came up to Autumn’s branch before the ball to get ready. Autumn slipped into her pale blue ball gown. It had a sheer, shimmering gold overlay, and was another perfect creation of Crystal’s, who wore a delicate lilac gown with white flowers running through her platinum hair. Autumn’s hair was pulled softly back with the small tiara Olympus had given her resting atop her auburn curls.

  “Has Luke found himself a date yet?” Crystal asked as she laced up Autumn’s corset, trying unsuccessfully to sound indifferent.

  “Um, yeah. He asked Ember Burns.”

  Crystal snorted. “Wow. He really must be desperate.”

  Crystal parted from Autumn at the base of the stairs, where Avery and Luke were waiting. She walked straight past Luke without so much as a nod to acknowledge his presence. He watched her walk away with the shadow of a frown on his face. Avery kissed Autumn softly on the hand with a crooked smile dancing on his lips before leaving for the grand ballroom. Luke and Autumn were to wait outside for Olympus to introduce them before they entered.

  They waited behind the upper level entrance in nervous anticipation.

  “Have you seen Ember yet?” Autumn asked.

  Luke nodded and said, “Yeah,” in a dull voice.

  “How does she look?”

  Luke shrugged indifferently. They could hear Olympus speaking from inside the grand ballroom. He was welcoming everyone and bragging extensively about Autumn and Luke.

  “And now, to announce the future ruler of Arbor Falls. Or should I say rulers?” Olympus paused dramatically. “Residents of Arbor Falls, I am pleased to announce that both of my grandchildren will be taking their place on the throne as co-rulers. May I present to you, Prince Luke Alexander Oaken and Princess Autumn Rose Oaken.”

  Two castle guards opened the double doors from inside the ballroom and Autumn and Luke stepped onto the top landing of the stairs leading down to the dance floor. There was a collective intake of breath and much murmuring from the crowd at this unexpected news. There hadn’t been a pair of elf rulers for hundreds of years.