Autumn Awakens

by M. J. Padgett

  She stood staring in amazement, fascination covering her face. Her eyes twinkled, and her mouth fell open. She showed no fear or hesitation whatsoever as she reached for me. She pet my face gently, which was quite the feat considering my head was larger than her entire body.

  “Oh my gosh. I’ve heard of your kind, but it doesn’t make sense. Chimeras are Greek lore, not German.” She continued to study my face, then said, “Perhaps your father? I’m not sure, but I can help you, Parker. Come, we have a lot to discuss.”

  She backed away so I could shift again. When I was human, she smiled and offered her hand. I took it, and she shook it firmly. “Let’s try this again. I’m Jemma. I’d like to help you uncover your past and help you save your kingdom from a vengeful ruler.”

  I chuckled, finding it very easy to not only trust Jemma but to think of her as a kind of kindred soul. “I’m Parker, and I think maybe I’d better hear that story again.”

  Chapter Three

  Jemma was more relaxed without her friends around. I almost asked her about them but decided against it since we were getting along so well. Bringing them up might have changed the dynamic, and I still wanted answers. I doubted Thaddeus would like the idea of Jemma spending one-on-one time with me, which made me chuckle a bit.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked, keeping a slow and easy pace beside me as we walked back to my house.

  “Nothing, just thinking. I hate to ask, but would you mind sneaking through the window with me? I want to hear what you have to say, but I doubt it will go over well with the whole family staring at you,” I said.

  “Sure, I don’t mind.” She smiled, and I totally understood why Thaddeus had a thing for her. Jemma was beautiful inside and out. That was evident in the short time I’d spent with her. She seemed to genuinely care about how I felt though I wasn’t sure I could say if she asked. When she smiled, it lit up her entire face. More than that, she seemed to float on air.

  I led her back to the house and offered her a boost into my room. She climbed through easily enough, then turned to offer me a hand. I’d climbed through that window so many times I was an expert, but I took her hand anyway so as not to be rude.

  “It’s like a high school flashback,” she joked.

  “Did you often sneak out?” I asked, glancing around my room for anything embarrassing. Thank goodness I had recently cleaned up.

  “Not really, but the few times I did were interesting. My parents always knew, though. They died,” she said as an afterthought, almost as if it were just a random thought. “Anyway, should I just jump right into the story?”

  I nodded as I pulled my desk chair out for her to sit, then sat on the edge of my bed. I gave her my attention, and she began a more detailed version of her story.

  “The stories you’ve read by the Grimm brothers, they’re not exactly true. I guess you could say they’re polished versions of the true events. My story was Cinderella, who happened to be my wicked aunt. Your mother is one of the fairies from the tale Sleeping Beauty.”

  I interrupted. “Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella? I’m not sure I follow. It seems a little far-fetched, even to someone who can turn into another species. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. It’s a crazy story,” she said with a laugh. “I’m just glad you’re willing to listen. I’ll try not to drag on, but there’s a lot to the story. I guess to sum it up, the tales aren’t really tales at all. They are real people, Parker. Snow White, Cinderella... Rose.”

  “She’s the one you said cursed me, right?”

  “Well, I’m not so sure cursed is the right word now that we’ve spoken a bit. I’m not sure what she might have done, because the curse turns us into wolves, not what you are. I’m afraid we’ll just have to put a pin in that and explore it later. So, as I was saying, there’s a sort of magical forcefield around Weisserwald. We can’t get in to see exactly what’s going on. We know something fishy is happening since you and your mother have no memory of the past, but we don’t have a clear picture of what that might be. We’ve already saved three kingdoms from what I can only describe as the evilest evil of all, and now we hope to help Weisserwald, your home.”

  “What exactly do you want me to do?” I asked, sure it would be something insane.

  “I hoped you might be willing to come with us back to Schwarzwald. Seeing your mother might trigger your memories of your past life. I’m not sure how many you might have lived. Your situation is vastly different from ours, though if Hayden taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.”

  “Who’s Hayden?” I asked.

  “Sorry, she’s the last person we helped. Some bad stuff happened when we helped her kingdom of Schattenland, but it’s okay now. There are a lot of us fighting for the side of good, and we could use your help, Parker.”

  “I’m not sure what good a police detective might be,” I admitted. I wasn’t much good at anything else, and I wasn’t sure I completely believed her story.

  “You have no idea. We can use all the help we can get,” Jemma said. “Oh, hey, I have some photos if you’d like to see everyone?”

  She was excited to show me the photos, so I nodded even though I knew I’d have no clue who any of the people were. I was far more interested in the information she had yet to present but felt it would be rude to interrupt her process. She grappled with her purse for a few minutes, then pulled out a thick stack of photos. There were many more than I anticipated, especially since I fully expected them to be on her phone and not actual, printed photos. She handed them to me and proceeded to explain each one as I flipped through them.

  “That’s Calla and Wil with their son and a couple of the orphaned children we rescued on our last mission,” she said. I glanced at Jemma, her dark, shoulder-length hair just grazing my cheek as she leaned in to point to the photos. “That next one is... Well, it’s your mom and her husband. She adopted Calla when she was a baby. Jeanine is special, too. She can shift.”

  I could tell she was hoping I’d see the picture and suddenly remember everything, but I still wasn’t convinced I was the person she thought I was. I studied the photo of the woman she said was my mother. I could see the similarity between Jeanine and me, but anyone could force a resemblance into their mind if they really wanted to see it. I flipped to the next photo.

  “That’s Heidi and Brody. Heidi is—”

  “Who is that?” I asked, pointing to a girl with long, dark hair in the background. I felt the adrenaline start to rush, that familiar roller-coaster feeling that tells you your life is about to get interesting whether you want it to or not. I held my breath waiting for her to state the name of the girl in the photo, but truly it didn’t matter. I already knew who she was. I could never forget her face, not ever.

  “It’s Princess Saskia. She went by Sierra Monroe in—”

  “I know her,” I stated. I stood and started pacing the floor. “I know her and her—is her sister okay, too?” I asked, glancing at Jemma.

  “Cecily? Yes. They’re great. How on earth do you know them?” Jemma seemed confused, perhaps a little hopeful, but mostly intrigued.

  I stared at the photo. The beautiful, happy girl was a drastic contrast to the one I knew long ago. Back then, she tried to hide as much as possible. We all did. We survived utter misery together. For as long as I lived, whenever I felt pain, I would think of Sierra Monroe and the amount of pain she endured to save her sister. My mind wandered back to that old house, the crappy three-bedroom pile of junk with the rusty chain-link fence and the awful yellow paint job.

  “Parker?”

  I blinked, and my mind snapped back to the present. “Um... I haven’t always lived in Jacksonville. Chris, Ross, and I, we used to live in Philadelphia. It’s how we met. We all ended up in the same foster house with Sierra and Cecily.”

  Jemma gasped, and I assumed that meant she’d already heard the stories of what we endured there. “They’re my cousins,” she said softly. I glanced up at her again, feeling yet anot
her connection to her. “How did you end up here?”

  I let my mind go back to that day, reluctantly. “It was a bad day. Our foster father came home drunk and angry as usual, but this time...” I squinted my eyes closed, feeling the pain of the moment as if it were yesterday. “He went for Cecily first, but Sierra... Sierra was just incredible. She took every whip without so much as a peep. Not us. The other guys and me, we cried like babies with each lashing, but not her. Every time he hit her, she just got stronger, but that was it. We couldn’t take it anymore and Chris... It was an accident, Jemma. You cannot say anything to anyone. What I’m about to say does not leave this room. Am I clear?”

  She nodded; her breath held until I finished my story.

  “The girls, I guess women now, they don’t know this happened. A woman had approached us not long before that day. She said she was their aunt and started asking all sorts of questions about them shifting and other stuff, then she started making threats.”

  “Did this she have a name?” Jemma asked, but it seemed she already knew.

  “I don’t remember what it was. She was tall and blonde with eyes this crazy color blue. Anyway, the next thing we knew, she was telling our foster father we stole from her and a boatload of other things we never did. He knocked us around a little, then went out and got drunk while our foster mother, well, she was no saint, I’ll leave it at that.”

  “She was trying to get him to kill you all, wasn’t she?” Jemma asked, already on the same page as me.

  “Yeah, I think so in hindsight.” I hated to admit it, but it was beginning to make sense.

  “So, you knew Sierra and Cecily could shift?”

  “Oh, no. I thought the crazy blonde woman discovered my secret. I had no idea the girls could shift until now. Long story short, after he got wasted, he came home and started in on us. Chris had enough and started fighting back, then...”

  When I went silent, Jemma spoke up. “It’s okay. I can put the pieces together, and I’m sure whatever Chris did was in self-defense. What happened after that?”

  “We ran. The three of us, we just took off. I wanted to bring the girls, but Sierra swore they’d be okay. For some reason, she didn’t want to leave the city. I haven’t seen or spoken to them since. We got all the way to Miami before we got picked up by child services. We lied about what happened in that horrible house. As far as the state of Pennsylvania knows, the guy tripped and fell down the stairs, then we got scared and ran away.”

  “What happened after that?”

  “We were put in a home for a while, then Chris aged out and met Rebecca. She basically saved our lives and took us all in one at a time. We moved here to Jacksonville, and that was it.” It felt good to share our story with someone else. Not even Ophelia, who had been with us since day one at the group home in Miami, knew what really happened in Pennsylvania. She knew about the girls and running away, but the reason was always left vague.

  “I need to show this to Chris. If I’m going to help you, then he should have a say in this too,” I said.

  “Wait, you want to help? Really?” she asked, surprised.

  “Yes. If Sierra and Cecily are involved, then I want to help. I always wondered what happened to them, and now... Now I just owe them anything I can give them,” I admitted, wishing I’d insisted they come with us all those years ago.

  She placed her hand on my arm gently. “Wait. Let me show you something first,” she said, then took the stack of photos and flipped through them. She found what she searched for and handed the photo to me. “They’re happy now, Parker. See? They’re okay.” I took the photo and stared at their smiling faces. They were flanked by two men, and a child sat in front of them, the picture of a happy family. “Both are married. Sierra married Ely, and they have a son, Hans. Cecily and Felix just got married a couple months ago. They’re all royalty, by the way.”

  I instinctively jerked my head up, but at that point, I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. I chuckled. “Good for them. They deserve nothing but the best.”

  We both heard a slight scraping sound on my door at the same time. I looked at her, and she looked at me, then I went to the door and opened it. My entire family tumbled through the door, piling on top of each other as they fell. I stared down at them as Ross stared back up at me. From under the pile, I could hear Ophelia cursing them all. I began lifting them off her one by one until the fiery brunette was able to stand up.

  All four of them lined up and started firing off questions. I couldn’t make out a clear question, so I just shoved the photo of Sierra and Cecily into Chris’ hands, silencing him immediately. His eyes narrowed as he brought the photo closer to his face.

  “Is that...” Chris looked up at me with desperation in his eyes. “Is that Sierra and Cecily?”

  I nodded, then said, “They need our help. We have a lot to talk about.”

  “What’s going on in here?” Ross, who had been distracted with picking on Jordan, asked as if he’d never had a girl in his room before in his life. Still, I understood his confusion. I didn’t date. It was just more trouble than I wanted to deal with on top of everything else in life. Finding a beautiful girl in my room was not only unusual but shocking. Chris handed Ross the photo. Ross looked at it for several minutes then it dawned on him.

  “It’s the girls from that crappy house in Philadelphia! Look at them! They’re so happy,” he said, pointing to the photo.

  “Maybe we should all go somewhere more comfortable to talk?” Jemma suggested. Ophelia eyed Jemma for a moment longer, then led everyone to the living room.

  Ophelia meant well, but her strong personality was off-putting to a lot of people—most people. She protected her family like a mama bear, and there was no doubt she would eviscerate anyone who tried to harm us. From the moment we met her, Ophelia was our closest ally. The three of us absorbed her and Jordan into the fold, and together, we became an unstoppable family. However, I knew immediately Ophelia wouldn’t have any of Jemma’s nonsense, no matter what I thought about it.

  “Where did you come from?” Ophelia asked sternly.

  “Literally, or just before I came here?” Jemma asked, unwittingly annoying Ophelia. “I mean, Parker made me climb through the window, but if you want a super technical answer, I’m from Germany.”

  “You don’t sound like you’re from Germany,” Ophelia snapped.

  Jemma shrugged. “I lived in Pennsylvania most of my life, but I was born in Germany and live there now.”

  The rest of us watched the exchange between the two women with caution, even Jordan, who had no clue what was going on. Jemma was totally at ease, but Ophelia was on high alert. She examined Jemma top to bottom, then back up again.

  “What are you doing here?” Ophelia asked.

  “I came to discuss important things with Parker. I’m happy to divulge that information but only if he approves,” Jemma responded, finally beginning to pick up on our sister’s hostility. Jemma stood her ground.

  Ophelia squinted and took in Jemma once more, then she glanced to Chris and Ross. “What the heck is going on?”

  Ross wasn’t much with words, never had been, so he only shrugged and pointed to me. Chris shook his head at our brother and took the photo of our former foster sisters, then handed it to Ophelia. He pointed to Sierra and Cecily.

  “These are the women we told you about, the ones from the yellow house,” Chris said. “They need our help, and whatever this lady says we should do to help them, we’re gonna do.”

  Jemma seemed taken by surprise but said nothing. Ophelia took the photograph from Chris and stared at it for a while before handing it back to him. I could feel the tension radiating from our sister, but I wasn’t sure when I should step in. Dumping everything Jemma had told me on her, or any of them for that matter, would probably end in disaster. However, I also knew whatever it was Jemma wanted me to do was probably urgent.

  “I’m not sure I follow. Aren’t they in Pennsylvania?” Ophelia asked.

>   “They were, but...” Jemma faded and looked at me, requesting permission to drop the bomb on my family. Before I could voice my approval, she spoke again. “This isn’t a game, Parker. People have died, and before we drag your family into something—”

  “Wait, what is happening right now? Who died and what are you trying to drag Parker into?” Ophelia snapped.

  “Ophie, calm down,” Chris said, earning a heated glare from her. “It’ll be okay. Let’s just hear what the lady... I’m sorry, what’s your name again?”

  “Jemma,” she responded.

  “Let’s listen to what Jemma has to say, then we’ll talk it out like we always do, okay?” Chris urged, always the reasonable one among us. I felt like a doofus just standing there, but I was truly at a loss. I had no clue how to tell my family who and what Jemma thought I was. I also didn’t know how to explain I was probably going to Germany at some point, probably soon. Sierra and Cecily were in the middle of something, and if I could help, I wanted to.

  Ophelia scanned Jemma a third time, then asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “No, but thank you. I appreciate the offer, but I’d really like to tell you what I came for since Parker is okay with it. I know finding me in your home is off-putting, but I come with pure intentions, I swear,” Jemma defended, but her words only soothed Ophelia’s nerves a fraction.

  “Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen. You’ll sit and eat pizza with us because if I have pizza in my mouth, I won’t say mean things. I feel like I might want to say mean things to you and probably shouldn’t. Understand?” Jemma chuckled and followed Ophelia’s lead. She sat on the floor and grabbed a slice of pizza from the open box just as casually as you please. “Thanks,” Ophelia said, then sat cross-legged on the floor across from Jemma before stuffing her face with food.

  It felt like a crazy book club meeting or fantasy role-playing game, but I hoped since my family knew I could shift into another species, they might be open-minded enough to believe Jemma’s story. It was a big stretch, especially since I was still trying to decide if I believed her. Once the rest of us were settled, Jemma gave her pitch.