“I guess this is goodbye, then,” Autumn whispered.
“I guess so,” Summer answered.
“Thank you, Daniel,” Autumn offered.
“No problem, but not a word as agreed, right?”
Autumn pretended to zip her lips and throw away the key, which later Summer would have to explain to him.
“See you around, Summer.”
“I hope so, Autumn. Be sure to keep Vixen off her feet for a while. Call me if—” Summer snapped her mouth closed, forgetting their situation.
Autumn headed into the yard, where Summer could hear excited delight in the voices of the Macabres in seeing her safe and alive. Summer straddled her bike and kissed Daniel. “I’ll see you at home?”
“Yes, you will,” he smiled at her and vanished.
* * *
Summer went home and washed off the soil and dust in a long hot shower. The heat felt good on her sore muscles from the fall, and slowly melted the tenderness away. Her thoughts lingered on the conversations she had with Autumn in the cave. With so much damage and death to both sides, could there ever be peace between the two? It sure didn’t seem so. Autumn had been raised to hate the Midnights as did each generation before them. It would take a miracle to get past the tangle of prejudices weaved in and out of each side. Was there a right and wrong side? If so, it was a very blurry line in between.
Out of all of the people involved, Summer was the only one who had not been subjugated to the madness. She wondered if that was the hope Ivy had when she’d given Summer to Myrtle to hide away. Did she envision Summer’s growing up without the influence of either side could somehow bring harmony amongst them? If so, it was a tall order for just one person to accomplish. Even if she could sway Autumn into helping her, it would be nearly impossible to achieve.
Summer wished she knew what Ivy’s plan had been. Had Henry really meant to kill off the Macabres that fateful night when half the mansion burned to the ground? Or had his plan gone horribly awry? Was he just an enraged father trying to save his only child from what he thought was some horrible fate? Or was there more to it? If she could only see into the past and find evidence of what the Midnights had conspired to do.
But the biggest question Summer had was what horrible act had started the feud between families in the first place. Was it fiendish at all or just an accident that had sped out of control?
She dried off, put on her robe, and sat on the bed, mulling over her thoughts while combing her wet hair. One conversation with Daniel and all these answers could be revealed, but she knew better than to ask. His principles would never let him answer her and she’d already had him step across that line today. Best not put him in that position.
Before that very thought drifted from her mind she heard the front door open and a familiar voice announced his arrival. “Hello. It’s me,” Daniel said.
“Come on in. I’m in the bedroom. Were you listening to my thoughts?” she asked.
“Some, though I do try not to. They’re just so fascinating.”
“I doubt that very much.”
“They are to me,” he said, stroking her hair.
“I wish I knew what it is I’m supposed to accomplish. I wish you could give me some insight, since I can’t ask Aunt Myrtle.”
“I know it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating to me too, but if I don’t have my honor, what do I have?”
“I do understand, truly. I’m sure I’ll work matters out somehow. Things just seem a little hopeless right now.”
* * *
That evening Summer pulled Morti, Aunt Myrtle, and Hunter together at the big house, and updated them on the earlier events of the day. It was hard to imagine that just eight hours earlier she’d been trapped underground with her sister—the enemy. It was even harder to think of Autumn as the enemy, since she reminded her of Tori in many ways.
“What a harrowing experience, my dear. Are you quite all right?” Aunt Myrtle asked.
“More importantly, did you learn anything we can use to defeat them?” Morti interjected.
“Mortimer Xavier Midnight, you’ve got to be the most insensitive and socially inept person I know,” Aunt Myrtle said with intolerance.
“She’s standing here, with no bandages I can see. Easy to assume she’s fine,” Morti retorted.
Aunt Myrtle clicked her tongue in a tsk and shook her head.
“I’m fine. So is Autumn, though she got a pretty good cut on her head. Truthfully though, I don’t have a lot of new information.”
“Autumn? She goes by her middle name, hmm,” Myrtle mentioned.
“You spent three hours trapped and you have nothing to show for it?” Morti snapped.
“No. I don’t. I hadn’t gone there for reconnaissance. I went there as a veterinarian. I treated Autumn’s cat once and when she was reinjured this morning she called me to help. I had no idea she was my sister, or that I was headed to the Macabre mansion. I was just out on a call. It wasn’t until the fireballs were shot at me that I put two and two together. For that matter, neither did Autumn know.”
“What a waste,” Morti said.
“Personally, I feel that Autumn is in the same spot I’m in.”
“What spot is that, dear?” Aunt Myrtle asked.
“In the middle of a war we don’t really understand or want to be in.”
“What an ungrateful little beast you are,” Morti said in a huff.
“What?” Summer said.
“Now, Morti, that’s hardly fair,” Hunter said. Aunt Myrtle just covered her mouth and shook her head.
“We’ve been spending night and day teaching you the craft, and you have the gall to announce you don’t want to be involved? Well, you are involved. You were born into involvement, little girl. Now show some backbone and quit your whining.”
“Now hold on, Morti,” Hunter defended.
“I’m tired of her complaining and taking all this so lightly. People have died for you to be here. She doesn’t take the craft seriously, and she certainly doesn’t put her whole heart into it.”
“No, you wait just a minute, Morti,” Summer stepped forward. “Maybe if you all had told me how this all came about in the first place instead of being thrown into training without the barest of information, I’d be a little more enthusiastic. But you people are asking me to kill my father and my sister. Family members I only knew were family by asking the right question at the right time. I can’t get a straight answer out of Aunt Myrtle without her going off the deep end, and you, Morti, have been less than friendly from the get go.”
“WE’RE your family, Summer,” Aunt Myrtle said, angered by Summer’s comment.
“Yes, but so are they. The Macabres, despite how you feel about them and what they’ve done to you and the rest of the Midnights, are my family. After talking with Autumn, I feel she is in the dark about much of what’s going on. She didn’t seem to know anything about a dragon.”
“You mentioned the dragon to her?” Hunter said in shock.
“Perfect. Now they know we know. Smart move,” Morti said sarcastically.
“It wasn’t like I was trying to reveal any hidden secrets. She asked why we couldn’t use magic to get out of the cave. I surmised it was due to the dragon sterilizing the earth in her nesting process. She seemed appalled by the thought that an egg had been used to capture the dragon.”
“Oh, Summer, I wish you hadn’t relayed that to her.”
“Look, you weren’t down there, looking for a way out. You don’t know what you would have said or done if you were in my shoes, so don’t judge me,” Summer reprimanded Hunter.
Summer could tell Hunter didn’t like what she said by the look on his face, but he didn’t argue with the logic and that was enough to satisfy Summer.
“Aunt Myrtle, I’m not blaming you for anything. It’s not your fault the subjects I want to know about bring on these episodes for you. You are just a victim in all this, and I do appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Looking af
ter me from afar, giving me a home and a family I never had. I love you for that. But Morti, on the other hand, could have been more accessible to me at filling in the blanks where you could not. He’s never once spoken to me as an uncle might to a niece. He is the one I blame for this miscommunication.”
“She’s right, Morti. You could be a smidgen more personable.”
“I—you—how did I become the bad guy here?”
“Maybe it has something to do with your attitude, Mortimer,” Aunt Myrtle chastised.
“Well, I’ll be a—” Morti started.
“A crabby, fat cat? Or a cantankerous old codger?” Aunt Myrtle interrupted.
“You’re no spring chicken yourself, Myrtle.”
Hunter and Summer took this bickering as a sign to leave and headed outside.
“You’re right, you know. One can never know what they’ll do or say in a given situation. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”
“It’s fine. It was just she was asking about a million questions while I was trying to find a way out, and well, it just didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.”
“I’d rather they not know we know, but they probably would have figured it out sooner or later. It doesn’t really change anything. We just don’t have the element of surprise we thought we had. I know things have been hard for you with Jackson and Tori, not to mention being thrown into this Midnight-Macabre thing. I hadn’t realized just how much had been piled on you.”
“I appreciate your understanding.”
“As for our mission, I think we should keep on target. Our best leverage at winning this is finding that egg. Any chance you could try scrying for it?”
“I really suck at gypsy magic, but I suppose I could try. I wish Tori were here. She’s much better at it.”
“Any chance she’d be willing?”
“I doubt it, but even if she could I don’t know if it would be wise to drag her back into this.”
There was a long pause. Summer felt sure Hunter was disappointed by her comment. “Do you ever think that maybe there’s a way to avoid all this…war stuff?”
“I don’t see how. So much hatred lives within both sides.”
“Are you sure we are on the right side?”
“What?” he said, disturbed by her question.
“I mean, do you ever wonder? What if there’s more to the picture than we know? I know all involved have been hurt and seen loved ones die, but sometimes misunderstandings can become bigger than they should be.”
“There’s no misunderstanding, Summer. The Macabres want the powers the Midnights have, and they’re willing to kill everyone to get it.”
“But how do you know that?”
“I’ve seen it for myself in all the deaths,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were so unsure about what side you were on.”
“I’m not. I mean…”
“Your little chat with your sister seems to have you questioning a lot about our cause.”
“I was unsure before I talked to her. Maybe it’s because I didn’t live within the family, it’s given me a different perspective of things; a view as an outsider. I sometimes puzzle over the notion that there’s someone fueling this fight for their own purposes.”
“That would be the Macabres.”
“You’re probably right, but what if not all the Macabres have the same agenda?”
“Your logic is confusing me. The Macabres have a plan, and it is to kill you, Myrtle, Morti, and any other Midnight they can find to acquire their magic.”
“Right,” Summer said disappointedly. Maybe he was right. Either way, Hunter’s mind was made up: Macabres, bad, Midnights, good. Summer just wished she had his conviction, and could see it in black and white as he did, instead of the massive gray area she saw.
Chapter 15
The following morning Summer felt brave and voracious, and picked up the phone to call Nick. She knew he’d be at the Mausoleum, since they had signs posted all over town about a zombie party they were holding the following night. She figured he had a lot to do to get ready for it.
“Nick?” she said.
“Yeah. What do you want?”
“How’s Tori?”
“Nice of you to ask. She’s good.”
“It’s not like you’ve allowed me an easy avenue to inquire, but I’m glad she’s doing well. How’s her foot? Will she be off the crutches in time for her grand opening?”
“It looks that way, but that’s up to the doctor when he takes the cast off. She might have to have physical therapy for a while.”
“I wondered if she would. And you? How is business?”
“Is this a social call?”
“No. I’m just being polite.”
“Don’t bother. What is it you want? I’ve got a million things to get done today.”
Summer was put off by his attitude, but she tried to keep the conversation pleasant.
“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Your answer will probably be no, but I thought I would ask. I was wondering if I could contact Tori about scrying something for me.”
“No! You’re not dragging her into your crazy world again.”
“It could be totally secret. No one would ever know we met.”
“I would.”
“You do realize when Tori finds out you had a hand in all this she will be pissed, right? And not just at me, but at you too.”
“How do you figure?”
“You know her pretty well.”
“Very well.”
“Fine, very well. Number one, she doesn’t like feeling she’s been manipulated. And number two, she really doesn’t like people making decisions for her, both of which we’ve done in orchestrating this charade.”
“What charade?”
“Don’t be that way. You know what I’m talking about.”
“Whatever comes, comes. I’ve kept her safe and I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Doesn’t hurt you have her all to yourself now, with me out of the picture.”
“Nope, not a bit.”
“What exactly is your problem with me, Nick? I’ve never done anything to you or spoken ill of you in any way, except to start the argument to push her away.”
“My problem is that you go on with your life oblivious to how your actions affect others.”
“Excuse me? Like what?”
“Like Tori’s involvement with magic. It’s because of you she started learning all this stuff. She wanted to support you in this crap you got her involved in with your family feud. Not to mention you leading Jackson on with your on-again, off-again attitude.”
“Hold on a minute, Nick. I didn’t force Tori into anything. Maybe she wanted to support me, but she also was enjoying herself and it gave her insight into her ancestry. She seems to have embraced that in opening this shop, which I think is great even though I miss the hell out of her not being at the office.” But Jackson? You think you’re blameless in this when it comes to Jackson?”
“Damn straight. All I’ve ever done is look out for him.”
“So you don’t think that your constant ‘looking out for him’ is the reason he stayed in Japan?”
“No. Definitely not.”
“You might want to rethink that theory. Don’t you think Jackson can take care of himself? Don’t you think it might be a tiny bit demeaning that his best friend feels he has to constantly ‘look out’ for him? He’s had a tough life and it’s sweet that you care about him so much, but it could be he needed to distance himself for his own ego. Do something he loves without you watching every move he makes.”
“He’s been hurt a lot in his lifetime by his family, by you—”
“And by you hasn’t he?”
“What are you talking about?”
“What about the time you took off after school, when you made all these plans with him, and then dropped him like a hot potato to move to the south and ‘find yourself.’”
“What? I…He…”
“Yeah, he told me all about it. You’re not the innocent best friend you make yourself out to be. You’ve made mistakes too.”
“And I’ve made it up to him. I’ve been there every time he needed me since then.”
“You have. But maybe in your ‘making things up’ you smothered him.”
“You’re out of your mind. That’s a bunch of bullshit.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Are we done here?” Nicks said angrily.
“Not quite yet. Look, you’ve been a great friend to Jackson. I’ll never say otherwise. But you might be hovering too much. I accept that Jackson may have stayed in Japan to stay away from me. I’ve moved on, and I’m sure he has too.”
“He has.”
“Fine. I’m happy for him. But don’t make the same mistakes with Tori. Despite your nastiness towards me, I think you’re wonderful for Tori, and that’s all that matters to me. If she’s happy, I’m happy. It’s always been that way. She doesn’t attach herself to just anyone. They have to be worthy of it, and she’s a very good judge of character. I had my worries when she met a vampire. I had more worries when she told me she was in love with a vampire, but you and she both put my worries to rest, and I think you’re good for one another. Don’t foolishly mess that up by deciding things for her, because it will come back to bite you.”
“Are you done now?”
“Yes. I love her, Nick. You do know that, right?”
“In your own way. Yes. I do.”
“Keep her safe.”
“That’s all I want,” he said.
Click went the receiver, and then the dial tone sounded. “That was a waste of time,” she said to herself.
“Maybe not,” Daniel said, standing in the doorway of the bedroom and leaning against the door jamb, looking absolutely divine.
“You heard that?”
“Yes,” he answered, making his way to her and sitting on the bed.
“I don’t think it went very well.”
“Why? Because he didn’t agree to let you see Tori?”
“No. I figured that much.”
“Then why?”
“Because he was so hostile.”
Autumn Calling Page 12
