ALDER

by Melody Robinette

  “What’s taking them so long?” he said impatiently.

  “It’s five AM,” Luke answered.

  “Well, you’re the king, and you sent them an urgent message. That should communicate that something serious has happened.”

  “Something serious has happened?” Kyndel said as she, Ember, and Crystal entered the field wearing their black Warrior uniforms and equally as dark expressions.

  “Yes, but we will wait to tell everyone at the same time,” Luke answered. “Or else we'll just have to explain ourselves over and over.”

  The girls nodded and moved to sit a few feet away on the grass, Kyndel lying in Ember’s lap and closing her eyes.

  Luke’s body was still, but his brain was whirring fast enough to start a car—if they had cars in the Underground…which they didn’t. His sister could be alive. Could be. He didn’t want to get his hopes up too much. Not just yet. Not until he saw her. If he saw her. For once, his body was completely filled with hope, and a little bit with terror at the thought of losing her all over again. She had supposedly been dead for months. Now, he had no idea where she was, which was both unsettling and hope inducing all at once. Victor could have already killed her for whatever reason—though Avery’s rose remained alive and whole.

  The others arrived in groups and pairs, some still looking half asleep, others looking nervous about why they were meeting so urgently and early. Atticus entered the field looking from Avery to Luke and then to the crowd of Warriors and Casters who lacked only a few. He clasped his hands before him and stood a few feet to the boys’ right, communicating his support in whatever it was they were about to say.

  Finally, Edric and Zane stumbled onto the field wearing exasperated looks. Avery and Luke exchanged a sidelong glance and silently decided that Luke would be the one to speak.

  He nervously cleared his throat. “It would appear…that it was not Autumn’s body we buried—” Luke was immediately cut off by the uproar from the Warriors.

  “What do you mean we didn’t bury her?”

  “I was there…”

  “Yes, we did!”

  “What?”

  “What’re you talking about, Oaken?”

  “LET HIM FINISH,” Atticus bellowed, effectively silencing the crowd.

  “Um, thanks,” Luke muttered, slightly embarrassed that he had to let Atticus take control. He was the king, after all, but his mind was also about to explode, so… “Yes, you heard me correctly. Avery had a premonition that Autumn was still alive and when he discovered that their binding rose was still intact, he—and I—decided to dig up her grave to be certain. What we found there were not Autumn’s remains, but a Shadow. Meaning we never buried her at all.”

  Crystal raised her hand, and Luke forced back a chuckle before calling on her. “How can that be? I mean, we all saw her body in that glass coffin.”

  “Victor is an Ellock,” Avery answered. “He could have easily transfigured a Shadow to look like Autumn so as not to raise an alarm.”

  Kyndel spoke up then, not bothering to raise her hand. Luke didn’t blame her. “So, does this mean Autumn is still alive?”

  “Yes. She’s alive,” Avery stated resolutely.

  An excited murmur ran through the group.

  “So, Victor has her then?” Ember asked, her arm strung around a shocked and tearful Kyndel. “What, is he just…keeping her prisoner or something?”

  Luke and Avery exchanged another wary glance before Luke finally said, “That is the best case scenario at this point.”

  The crowd of Warriors and Casters grew restless again, some bursting into tears, some letting out angry, unintelligible shouts, and it took even longer to calm them down. Atticus, Luke, and Avery had to shout over them all at once.

  “So, let’s go save her!” Kyndel shouted after everyone else had mostly calmed down. “What are we waiting for?”

  “As much as I wish we could just go rescue her from a tall tower guarded by a dragon, it isn’t as simple as that,” Luke said. “We all know how powerful Victor is, not to mention the sheer volume of Shadows on that island. We’re going to need help from all sides.”

  “Um, we already tried that on our little quest, remember?” Ember noted. “The other creatures still aren’t exactly our biggest fans.”

  “The warlocks came around, though,” Wyx piped up, Zane and Leon nodding their agreement.

  “That’s different,” Ember said, rolling her eyes at the Casters. “Your leaders were all buddy-buddy with Autumn.”

  “Which means,” Luke interrupted. “I’m going to have to get buddy-buddy with the other leaders. All of the other leaders.”

  “What’re you going to do?” Crystal asked, her voice filled with trepidation.

  “I’m calling a Leadership Conference and meeting with every single ruler in the Underground all at once.”

  “That hasn’t happened since the last Underground War,” Jastin noted.

  “Well…” Luke said with a small shrug. “Looks like it’s time it happened again.”

  “When?”

  “Now.”

  38

  The Spirit of the Theatre

  VICTOR exited through the door, but he didn’t leave. He wanted to know what Autumn would say about him to someone she trusted. Someone who was on her side, rather than his. It was another minute or so before either of them spoke.

  “Autumn?” Forrest said, waiting for her to answer his earlier question.

  Autumn spoke with a forlorn voice. “We aren’t going home, Forrest.”

  “Um…what do you mean we aren’t going home?”

  “Well, I suppose you could go back if Victor modified your memory. But then I don’t know how you would explain to them how you’re suddenly alive.”

  “What does Victor want with us anyway?” Forrest asked. “I mean, I get why he would kidnap you. You’re the queen. But I’m nobody. Why bring me back to life? Why keep me here?”

  Autumn was quiet for a moment, and Victor increased his hearing ability slightly to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. Then he realized he could see through solid objects—something you wouldn’t think he would forget, but it happened more frequently than he thought it should. Activating this ability, he squinted through the solid, iron door to see Autumn looking at her lap and biting her lip.

  “What is it, Fall?” Forrest asked more gently.

  Keeping her head tilted downward, Autumn looked up at him. “I’m not sure how to say it without you thinking I’m crazy.”

  “Fall, I’ve died and come back to life. The evilest Ellock in the Underground—the only Ellock, that is—brought me back to life. Trust me, I’m not going to think you’re crazy.”

  Autumn bit her lip—something that drove Victor positively crazy in the best possible way. Then she sighed, the words tumbling out of her mouth. “Victor is in love with me.”

  “What? You’re crazy.”

  Autumn hit him with one of his pillows and Forrest threw his arms up in defense, chortling. “Hey! Reanimated corpse here! Be gentle, woman. So, you were saying Victor is in love with you. Go on.”

  Autumn rolled her eyes. “He is in love with me, Forrest. I didn’t believe it at first either. I thought he was keeping me here for some sick, twisted reason—”

  “And keeping you here because he’s in love with you isn’t sick or twisted?” Forrest said dryly.

  “Not if you had gotten to know him like I have. He’s actually very kind…selfless. Gentle, even.” She smiled slightly at this and Victor felt his heart swell. “Sure, he has some anger issues, and he went about this the completely wrong way.”

  “Ha. No kidding. Oh! You know what this reminds me of?” Forrest said, snapping his fingers. “It reminds me of that Outsider play we read in Literature one year. Oh, damn, what was that called? The Ghost of the Musical? The Spirit of the Theatre? Something like that.”

  “The Phantom of the Opera?” Autumn said, laughing.

  “Yeah, that. Remember? Have
you read it?”

  “Yeah, I’ve read it…”

  “Well, this is just like that. There’s the tragic, misunderstood monster who’s in love with the beautiful singer. Holy petalsies and your Power is Song! Whoa. I feel like a philosophical genius. Anyway. The tormented monster is in love with the beautiful singer, and he kills all of these people because—well, I’m not sure why. He’s just insane, I guess. But he doesn’t kill the beautiful singer because, duh, he loves her. Then, in the end, he takes her prisoner. But then he lets her go. Ah…there’s the difference.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Victor can’t love you,” Forrest stated, shaking his head.

  Autumn’s brows met. “What? Why?”

  “Because the Phantom lets Christine go.”

  “So?”

  “So. The Phantom lets Christine go because he loves her too much to make her unhappy. He just wants her to be happy, see? That’s why he let’s her go running off into that annoying fairy-boy Raoul’s arms instead of keeping her forever locked up in that creepy dungeon with a million candles that would be impossible to light without magic. Have you ever thought about that? I mean, Outsiders just really don’t think these things—”

  “Oh, my gosh, Forrest,” Autumn interrupted. “Get to your point.”

  “Right. Well, I thought I’d already made it. Anyway, my point is—Victor can’t love you. Because, if he really, truly loved you…he would let you go.”

  The last thing Victor saw was Autumn frown deeply, looking at her lap before he stumbled backward, away from the iron door. He clutched at his aching chest. He clutched at his chest because he knew Forrest was right. Autumn wasn’t completely happy here, and he knew that. He knew she missed her brother and her friends—and Avery.

  It had taken everything he had to convince himself otherwise. After all, Autumn had started taking a liking to him, even laughing and smiling at times when they talked. But, deep down, he knew it was because she had no other choice. She was growing to like—no, tolerate—him because she was starved for a connection, any connection. Other than Eris, she had no one to talk to. Of course she would end up breaking down and letting him in. But that didn’t mean she was actually truly happy.

  He flashed back to when they had visited Arbor Falls. Her face had been so full of misery, of pain. Especially when they left. And he knew, he knew she was only humoring him because she thought he would unleash his army of Shadows on her town like he said he would.

  This had been a lie on his part, of course. Because he knew doing that would hurt her—and that’s why he had worked so tirelessly to protect her, that’s why he saved Forrest’s life—to keep her from hurting. That had always been his goal, to keep her safe. Keep her from pain.

  Yet he couldn’t do the one thing she needed him to do for her to truly be happy…

  Let her go.

  39

  One for All

  LUKE was actually sort of shocked and a little overwhelmed to be surrounded by all of the Underground leaders. He had expected a few to agree, a few to say they would come when they really wouldn’t, and a few to vehemently reject his invitation. Yet, here he was on the shore of the Shining Sea, in the presence of seven other rulers, each more intimidating than the next.

  He had already met three of them during the Warriors’ quest—Sam, the leader of the warlocks, Aecorex, the king of the merpeople, and Eugene, the head of the vampires. How could he forget the nerdtastic, red-haired, chunky-glasses-wearing vampire who was now refusing to emerge from the shade of the tree line because he didn’t want to get a sunburn?

  Then there was Destry, the leader of the centaurs. Luke and his fellow Warriors were supposed to meet her before Ember had opened her big mouth and let slip that Victor was an Ellock. Then all literal hell broke loose, and a wildfire spread throughout the grasslands the centaurs called home. Destry’s skin and the lower half of her body was a sleek ebony, except for the hair on her head and her tail, which were a blinding white. She eyed Luke with distrust, and he tried not to feel intimidated by the horsewoman.

  The most impressive and unapproachable of the leaders, though, was probably Jessica, the ruler of the giants. She put Outsider Amazon women to absolute shame, her height matched only by the surrounding trees. To Luke’s surprise, though, she was not at all unpleasant looking with her tan skin, shining black hair, and electric blue eyes. Proportionally, she was just like a regular human…multiplied by, like, a hundred.

  Then there was Quon, the leader of the trolls, who was a lot larger and grayer than Luke would have pictured him to be. That’s what he got for thinking trolls were going to look like those so-ugly-they-were-almost-cute dolls Autumn used to play with. Quon was actually about half the size of Jessica, which was still pretty substantial. He had cat-eyes with slits for pupils, nubs for teeth, and a head full of gray hair pulled back into a low, sophisticated ponytail. Oh, and he was wearing a suit.

  A troll. In a suit.

  The only leader smaller than Luke, Sam, and Aecorex was Kizmet, the ruler of the leprechauns. He stood as tall as Luke’s hip, maybe a little shorter, and had ears half the size of his head. Kizmet seemed a little crazy, mumbling to himself and then letting out a loud cackle, clapping his stubby, clawed hands together. His hair grew in patches, which he had attempted to conceal with a yellow bowler hat.

  The leaders all stood in a circle that spanned from the trees, where King Eugene stood beneath the shade, to the shore, where Aecorex waded in the water. Luke knew Aecorex could transform his fins into legs if he wanted to, because he had seen him at Autumn’s funeral—or Shadow Autumn’s funeral—but he assumed this was only saved for particular occasions. The mer-king had only agreed to meet with the other leaders if it could be held near water. So Luke obliged.

  “I know you’re all aware of the situation with Victor Vaun," he began. "And you have also known for some time that a battle against him has been brewing. So, I’ve gathered you all here today to tell you that the time has finally come to act.”

  “Why now?” Destry asked, shuffling her hooves in the sand. “The Shadow attacks have all but disappeared as of late.”

  “We believe there’s a reason for that. Many of you attended the funeral for my sister, the Queen of the Elves, Autumn Oaken.” Several of the leaders either bowed their heads or put a hand over their heart as a sign of respect. “Well, we have discovered that we may have been mistaken. The body we buried was not my sister’s, but a Shadow’s that had been transfigured to look like her. We have every reason to suspect that Victor Vaun is behind this. We also feel the lack of Shadow activity is just temporary, and that Victor will soon attack, if not attempt to come after more Underground leaders. It’s time we stopped living in fear. All of us—not just the elves and the warlocks. So, we ask for your support and your help in battling against Victor Vaun and his army of Shadows once and for all. If we unite as one, we may have a shot at winning.”

  “Why would Victor come after other leaders?” Jessica asked in a booming voice.

  “His ultimate goal is to take over the Underground. That includes all of you. Vyra was nothing compared to Victor. You think this is just a fight with the elves and warlocks? No, this is an issue that is threatening to change the entirety of the Underground as we know it. I know you’ve all come a long way in opening your minds to one another, including towards me—the new, inexperienced elf ruler that came from the Outside. But we still have a little ways to go. We shouldn’t be thinking, ‘How does this affect me and my kind?’ We should be thinking ‘How can I help?’ Otherwise, we are no wiser than before. Victor has to be stopped once and for all. And I hope you will join me in the fight against him.”

  “I would listen to him,” Sam said, wearing a serious expression. “I have had the privilege of working side by side with Luke and the rest of the elves, and it is an understatement to say that my eyes have been opened. Those of us who have been around for much longer, who have ruled for much longer, are relucta
nt to go about things differently, to change our way of thinking. But that is something we can learn from these young elves. Without change, there can be no growth. Change is a necessity, and it’s how we came to be in the Underground in the first place. If the first leaders hadn’t decided things needed to change, we would still be living in hiding in the Outside, unable to flex our powers, unable to be who we are in the open. Don’t be ignorant to new things. Listen to Luke.”

  “It’s true. The elves are rather innovative,” Eugene said from the shadows. “We learned that much during our week of research with them in our observation chambers.”

  “I agree. It’s time we thought of someone other than our own kind,” Aecorex said from the sea. “It’s time we acted for the benefit of the entirety of Underground.”

  The others were quiet for a while before Jessica said, “So? When do we fight then?”

  A slow smile spread across Luke’s face. “As soon as possible.”

  40

  Let Her Go

  AUTUMN spent every waking moment by Forrest’s bedside. She’d missed him more than she’d even realized. Not just him, but any Warrior, a friend who understood all she had been through, who wasn’t dark and stormy on the inside. She did feel bad that she hadn’t spent much time with Victor since her discovery of Forrest. But what did he expect? He had been more distant lately anyway. It seemed like he wanted to tell her something, but every time he had her alone, he changed his mind. She wasn’t too concerned about it, though, because she knew he would talk to her eventually. He always did. And she had Forrest to keep her company while Victor sorted through his thoughts.

  “How’s Willow doing?” Forrest asked her one morning as they shared breakfast at a little table set up between his bed and Autumn’s chair.