Autumn Awakens

by M. J. Padgett

  “I remember hearing Parker tell Isla it would be okay, then Jordan ran into the field. After that, nothing. Did... Did I hurt anyone?” Ethan said.

  “You singed my brother a bit, but no one was seriously injured,” I said before anyone else could step in. The kid didn’t need a rundown of the people he had hurt, including several soldiers. What he needed was a way to stay in the moment, to connect with the present when he was in dragon form. They all did.

  It felt like Heidi read my mind when she said, “I’ll search the books for an enchantment or spell that might help you and your mind stay as one when you shift. You were a fierce fighter with us before, and I believe you mean us no harm now.”

  “I don’t. I swear, and my sisters don’t either. Isla is just so scared. When she woke up, she had all these memories. Kirsten and I don’t remember, though, not yet anyway.” Ethan’s pulse was so fast I could see his jugular pulsating in his neck.

  “Did she share her memories with you,” Gerald asked, glancing at the still-unconscious body of Isla Gregory.

  “Not really, she only freaked out. Well, she did say what Rose said was partly true, that we are Protectors, whatever those are,” Ethan said.

  “She also said something about a vault filled with magical items, and that we can’t let Rose find it,” Kirsten added. “I’m sorry, that’s all she said before she lost control. I’m not sure how that happens, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to... I-I’m sorry.”

  “I believe you, but I also think we better get the villagers and children to safety as soon as possible. We can’t have this happen again. Too many lives are at risk,” I said.

  “I agree,” Calla said, appearing by my side. “My brother’s wishes will hold true. We won’t harm any of you, but we must find a better way to contain you until we can help you control your abilities. If not, we must force you out of the kingdoms somehow. Do you understand?” she asked Ethan.

  “Y-yes, ma’am.” Ethan stood fully and turned his attention to his fallen sisters. “I can carry Isla if someone wouldn’t mind helping Kirsten. I will go willingly back to the cell.”

  Jack aided Kirsten as she limped along, and Ethan carried Isla. As they went, Ethan dejected and exhausted, a thought entered my mind. In many ways, I hoped I didn’t retrieve my memories. I couldn’t imagine what had happened in my life before Rose sent me away and wiped my memories, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. My parents, Jeanine and Gerald Benson, were the only reasons I had to regain those lost memories. Besides them, I already had everything else I needed.

  Calla smiled at me, then bumped my shoulder with hers. “I heard you are a great detective, but I gotta say, your face reads like a book. Wanna go visit our mom and talk?”

  It was the first time Calla had really reached out to me. I could understand her position, stuck with two mothers and another surprise brother. I found I wanted to view her the same way I did Sierra, Cecily, and my brothers—like real siblings I cared for and trusted. There was only one way I could ever achieve that with Calla, and that was by putting in the time to get to know her.

  “Sure. I think that’s a good idea. Maybe you can tell me about your family, and I can tell you about mine, from earth, I mean,” I suggested.

  She chuckled. “From earth?”

  “I meant... Ugh, you know what I meant,” I said, feeling my cheeks flush from embarrassment.

  “It’s okay. Sometimes I feel like I’m waking up in an alternate universe, too. Marcus is the one who handles all this stuff well. He’s a good king,” she said, her voice cracking when she spoke of her twin.

  “Hey,” I said, pausing to put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s going to make it. We’ll figure something out, and if I must go to the ends of the earth to find it, I will. There is something out there that can save him, I know it.”

  She smiled weakly. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll tell you about the night I first met my twin?”

  “I think that would be great. Come on, I’ll lead the way,” I said, offering my arm. She linked it with hers, and we strode toward the room where our mother was slowly recovering. I tried not to worry about vaults filled with magical items the dragons swore to protect. I’d leave that for the witches to figure out while I kept trying to keep the people I loved alive. I meant what I said to Calla. I knew there had to be a cure, and I’d find it no matter what.

  I didn’t know it then, but there most definitely was something that could save King Marcellus. It was the same cure that would heal Jeanine, awaken the sleeping Royal Guard, and help the dragons control their abilities all in one fell swoop. We just didn’t realize it wasn’t a spell or a remedy, but a person—someone we had all but forgotten.

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Calla and I entered the infirmary, we found Queen Ava already at Jeanine’s bedside. She clutched my mother’s hand as if it were the only thing keeping her grounded. I wasn’t sure I should intrude, but Ava lifted her head and saw us both standing just inside the doorway.

  “Is everything under control?” Ava asked. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her voice trembled.

  “Ava, I’m so sorry I dragged you into this,” Calla said, taking me by surprise. “This is all my fault. If I had kept my secret better all those years ago, then you wouldn’t be here going through this now.”

  Ava sucked in a breath and stood. “Are you serious? Calla, I love my husband, and I’d never ask for a different life than the one I have with all of you. Yes, it is difficult to maintain, but I’d never trade it for anything in the world. Surely you know our friendship can weather anything?”

  Calla nodded. “Of course, but—”

  “No, Calla. I don’t regret anything, and neither should you. We have been best friends since we were seven. A few monsters and crazy princesses won’t change that.”

  “Ditto,” a male voice said from behind us. Brody had entered, and neither Calla nor I had heard him. “Ava and I both knew what we were getting into when we stayed on for the ride. Maybe we’re just mere humans with zero powers whatsoever, but I like to think we keep things balanced around here.

  Calla smiled. “You two are amazing. Have I ever told you that?”

  “Not recently. I think you probably should do that right now because you’ve been a bit slack in that area,” Brody said. He looked over to Jeanine still sleeping soundly, though her burns had improved significantly, and she looked well. “How’s our favorite Super Mom doing?”

  Ava giggled. “Hanging in there. I needed to talk to someone who knew me as well as my own mother, and that’s Mrs. Benson.”

  “She’s like everyone’s mom, isn’t she?” Calla asked rhetorically then looked from her mother to me. “She used to do this thing that annoyed us all half to death. If we so much as sneezed, she’d come at us with her wrist checking for fever.”

  “Oh, she still does that,” Ava said. “Marcus had to hide from her last winter when he got the flu.”

  I chuckled, wishing I had a fond memory of my mother to share, but all I had were memories of Rebecca. In a sense, knowing Rebecca was Jeanine’s twin made me feel closer to Jeanine. I smiled, thinking of Rebecca’s routine whenever one of us got sick.

  “Rebecca would always make up the bed with tons of blankets and hot water bags, then she’d make homemade soup and literally spoon feed it to us,” I said, earning a few chuckles. “Seems like they really are cut from the same cloth.”

  “I’m sorry about Rebecca,” Calla said.

  “Sorry? Why?”

  “Sorry she’s not with you. I wish I could have met her,” Calla said, reminding me only a few people knew Rebecca’s secret.

  “Oh yeah, well, it was nice while we had her,” I said, hoping my secrets wouldn’t bite me in the butt later.

  “Remember how Jeanine took in the triplets after their parents kicked them to the curb?” Ava asked, giving me even more insight into the situation with Caroline Manchester and the Salien triplets.

  “How could I forget? Seline and Elizabeth used a
ll my make-up, and Ely ate everything in the house. It was insane.”

  “It was one night,” Brody said.

  “It was the longest night in existence,” Calla said, smacking his chest. “I was planning to tell Parker about the night I met Marcus.”

  “Oh, you know I’ve never actually heard the whole story of how you met either,” Brody said.

  “Really?” Calla asked, her forehead creased, and her eyebrows raised.

  “There wasn’t a lot of time with Snow White hunting you down, then I guess I sort of forgot to ask,” Brody admitted. I liked Brody, I decided. He seemed like a solid, trustworthy guy. So did Thaddeus, but it appeared Brody and Thaddeus were nothing alike. Where Thaddeus was cocky and proud, Brody seemed to genuinely care for each person in the kingdom. He’d been kind from minute one.

  Calla pulled up a chair and sat beside Ava, while Brody and I hovered over my mother listening intently.

  “It was a blue moon, which was the only time the Salien children shifted. The other families shifted every full moon. Anyway, I was out hunting and had just killed a deer. Marcus came out of nowhere and started growling at me. We ended up in this horrible fight to the death, I mean, not quite to the death obviously, but he nearly did me in. I’ll never forget the moment our eyes connected. Realizing he was human was like an instant heart attack for me. Caleb was there, too. Between the two of them, I truly thought I would die that night.”

  Ava seemed shocked. “Marcus tried to kill you?”

  “Mmm hmm,” Calla hummed. “Doesn’t seem quite so sweet now, does he?”

  Brody chuckled. “I always knew he had a rebel streak, but I never knew he nearly killed you.”

  “I remind him of that on family game nights,” Calla teased. “But on a serious note, even after everything that has happened, I still think meeting him was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not just because he’s my twin but...” Her voice wavered, tears sliding down her cheeks. “He’s my best friend, my absolute everything.”

  Brody reached over Jeanine’s sleeping body to gently squeeze Calla’s shoulder. He tried to lighten the mood a little by teasing her. “I thought Wil was your everything? I mean, you did drop me like a hot potato for him.”

  “Brody!” Ava scolded, but Calla only laughed.

  “You two dated?” I asked, slightly amused.

  “For, like, five minutes,” Brody said. He shrugged while the ladies laughed at the memory.

  “You married a great woman, so be glad we broke up,” Calla said, a bit happier. “Everything turned out okay. I met the others soon after the incident with Marcus in the forest, and you know the rest of the story.”

  “Yeah, I’m familiar. It’s the one where my girlfriend turned out to be married to a fifteen-century old recordkeeper from a fairy tale land, shifted into a wolf, and chased down a homicidal princess like it was just another Wednesday,” Brody teased, earning himself a shove to the shoulder. I couldn’t help myself. I laughed thinking of how that must have played out. Perhaps one day I’d hear the whole story, but Calla had other plans for the evening.

  Calla smiled at me, soft and warm. “Tell us your story, Parker. Tell me about Ophelia.”

  I could feel my cheeks burn at the very thought of my fiancé. I ducked my head to hide my blush, but it was useless. They’d already seen it. I heard them all chuckle, so I shrugged and told them what they wanted to know.

  “It’s one of those things that hits you upside the head, you know? Like it was always there just hiding under the surface, but I guess it took this insane situation to force me to see it. Ophelia has been in my corner for a long time, and after what Chris, Ross, and I went through in that house with Sierra and Cecily, I needed someone like her. Someone sweet and kind, but feisty and stubborn. She’s like the perfect place to fall after a hard day.”

  It was quiet for a moment, then I heard a sniffle. I looked up to see Brody swipe at his face.

  “I’m not crying. They’re crying,” he insisted, pointing to Ava and Calla.

  “We don’t deny it. It’s sweet,” Calla said, then swiped another tear, stood and pulled something from her pocket. She sat again and cleared her throat, worrying me though I couldn’t say why. “May I see your hand, Parker?”

  I hesitantly offered my hand palm up, and she placed something in it, then covered my palm with her own hand. “My mother, our mother, gave this to me a few years ago. She’s given me plenty more since, but I think she would want you to have this. It belongs to your family.”

  She released my hand, and I peered down at a sapphire ring. It glistened under the soft lights in the room. “Calla, I can’t—”

  “You can, and you will. If you love Ophelia and you really want to marry her, you should give her that ring. It was the one your father gave your mother centuries ago.”

  I gasped, surprised by her generosity. Still, there was one thing she’d said that bothered me.

  “You’re part of that family, Calla. If I’ve learned anything at all as a foster kid kicked from home to home, it’s that family is what you make it. We might not be related biologically, but you’re my sister. At least, that’s how I feel. I’d like to keep getting to know each other.”

  She smiled and a couple of stray tears slipped down her cheeks again before she responded. “I’d like that very much.”

  Brody checked his watch. “Geez. Not to break up the bonding party, but we should be getting ready for the ball.”

  “That’s tonight?” I cried, shooting to a standing position. “I’ve had like eight hours of sleep in days!”

  Brody shrugged. “With any luck, this’ll be over tonight, and you can sleep for days straight.”

  Ava sighed and squeezed Jeanine’s hand. I wanted to say something to my mother, but I still didn’t know what. We reluctantly left the room to prepare, splitting our separate ways in the hall. Calla followed me to the same hall of bedrooms until she approached one with double-doors.

  “This is me. See you soon?” she asked.

  “Yep. Let’s hope this is it.”

  “Fingers crossed,” she said, then shut the wooden door behind her.

  A couple doors down, Ophelia was already prepped for the ball. I had expected her to wear a giant ballgown or something like my date wore to prom, but she was wearing black leather pants and a snug fitting top. Her hair was braided and tucked up out of her face. I decided we would have to throw another ball soon, a real one so I could see her all dazzled up.

  I sidled up behind her and hugged her as she put the final touches on her hair. She smiled and pecked a kiss on my cheek. “Where have you been all day?”

  “I talked with Gerald, then spent some time with Calla. You?”

  “Believe it or not, I got archery lessons from Henry and Felix. They said I’m a natural,” she said with a huge smile. “Jordan has been with Petra ever since the dragon fiasco.”

  The way she brushed off a giant lizard nearly scorching her brother to death surprised me. I turned her in my arms. “You seem to be taking things remarkably well today. Any reason I should know?”

  She shrugged. “Honestly, Park, I think I’ve just accepted this is my life now. I was a princess in line to be queen, and somehow, I must figure out how to make that work. Who knows where we’ll end up, but fighting for something bigger than myself seems like... It feels like something I was meant to do if that makes sense.” It did. It was exactly how I felt about being a detective.

  “Yeah, it sure does. I remember—”

  “I don’t feel so good,” Ophelia said, her hands clutching my shoulders. “I’m... Park, this is strange. I feel—ow! Ow!” she screamed. She fell into my arms, grasping at her head. She screamed and writhed in pain. I lifted her and tried to get her on the bed, but it was difficult. Calla and Wil burst through the door, panic-stricken.

  “What happened?” Wil asked. “We were just leaving our room and heard Ophelia scream.”

  “I don’t know!” I cried as I finally maneuvered Oph
elia onto the bed. She kept screaming and writhing on the bed, clutching her head. “We were just talking about how she’s accepted this is life, and then she fell screaming!”

  Wil and Calla shared a look of concern. “In all the confusion, I think we might have forgotten to warn you about the pain from the memory recall,” Wil said.

  “The memory what?”

  “The memory—getting your memories back, Parker. Ophelia remembers her past life. I’ll go get Julianna. She’s the best at alleviating this sort of pain.” Calla darted from the room. Wil gave his attention to me.

  “There is a chance Jordan is also remembering. That said, there is also a slim chance that you, too, will—”

  “Ah!” I screamed when something split my skull wide open. I never saw it coming, and it took me to my knees. At first, I thought I’d been shot.

  “Okay, not a slim chance,” I heard Wil say, then, “Try to relax Parker. Help is on the way.”

  Wil faded to black as I lost consciousness.

  “Mother!” I yelled across the field, hoping to get her attention before she descended the hill. She turned, her bright smile calling me to her. I darted forward with my wooden dragon, moving it through the air like a mighty beast. “Roar!”

  My mother giggled when I approached, then lifted me in the air and spun me around. When she placed me back on solid ground, she kissed the top of my head and bent over to speak to me.

  “Now, Tristan, I told you I would return in a few minutes. I’m only going to Eight’s house to retrieve your birthday present my brave little knight.”

  “Really? Can I go with you, please?” I begged.

  “Oh, I suppose that would be fine. Come along, don’t lag,” she said, then reached for my free hand while the other flew my wooden dragon up and down, roaring the whole way to my aunt’s house.

  It wasn’t a long walk, but my mother filled the time with my favorite story, the one about my father fighting the sea creatures that used to invade our small village on the coast.