Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (12 page)

             
“Anatha, are you okay?” he asked.

             
“I’m fine,” she said, pulling away from him.  Her head did hurt, but the force of the push actually hurt more mentally than physically.

             
“Your nose is bleeding,” he said.

             
She blinked at him as her hand went to her nose. It came away wet with blood. “It happens,” she murmured before walking away.

****

             
“Autumn?” Rowan asked, noticing her silence.

             
She turned her eyes away from the window, feeling a bit lightheaded. “Was just lost in thought. Where were we? Oh, yes. You were telling me about pranks you’ve pulled. I want to know more.”

****

             
“Can you believe her?” Envy said, angrily. “I’m pissed off. She gets drunk, and she’s buddy buddy with two of the group members already. I can barely get a word in with Drake. Ugh.”

             
“I could care less about Rowan, but River
  
” Anatha paused; the two were sitting on one of the futons.

             
“She makes me so mad,” Envy said.

             
Richard joined them, overhearing the conversation. “Autumn is just being Autumn, and when is it a crime in this family to be a drunk? Maybe she needed it. You know her; she holds everything inside.”

             
“She has two guys in her store,” Envy said, hoping to get her cousin angry.

             
He shrugged and sighed. “Wish I had two guys in my store.” He looked longingly in the direction of the Pillow Shoppe.

             
An hour later the bottle was gone, and they were all three equally drunk, as they sat chatting. The air was comfortable as they felt the alcohol pound around in their heads making them lightheaded. They talked about family and life before the infected. River told them about behind the scenes movie acting, and Rowan told them how nasty J-Pop was, his co-host on Celebrity Job Hunt. A show where down and out celebrities work jobs they never thought they would do.

             
“You know, I don’t think we ever thanked you,” River finally said.

             
“For what?” She said as she leaned against his shoulder.

             
“Saving us,” Rowan said on her other side.

             
“I had to,”

             
“Because of who we are?”

             
She shook her head. “No. Because of what you are. You all are living creatures. I had to help. It’s in our human nature to do so, at least it is in mine.”

             
“Hold on a second,” Rowan said and slipped out of the store.

             
“I owe you one now,” River said.

             
“You guys shouldn’t even be here. There could have been other places, safe houses just for celebrities and their families.”

             
He nodded. “We were up north, and the rumors and calls we heard were all different stories. We hit California, and things became more serious. And then we got here and we were just really checking on things. The northern states have no real idea how bad it is.”

             
“Well they do now,” she said.

             
“They do,” he said as Rowan showed back up with another bottle.

             
“Hey, I’m not ready for this party to end. Are either of you guys?”

             
Autumn shook her head. “I can drink both you guys under the table.”

****

             
Outside at the hidden trailer Mabon’s eyes lost focus for a second as he stumbled with the wards. He leaned his hand against the trailer and looked at the mall. “Aarawn, I think you need to come finish the wards,” he called out, slurring his words.

             
Aarawn stuck his head out the door. He looked at his cousin, confused. “What the heck is wrong with you?”

             
He turned to look at him, a small smile on his lips. “Autumn is getting drunk.”

             
“Really? Damn this being so close. I have bursts of freaking anger which I believe are coming from Anatha. But nothing like what you are feeling.”

             
“I think I am going to lie down for a bit,” he said and walked inside, passing Aarawn.

             
“That would be shitty if you got a hangover too,” he said, shaking his head, going out to finish up the wards.

****

             
Autumn felt the need to pee, but she was so comfortable she didn’t want to move. Finally, her bladder wasn’t going to wait. Her eyes slowly opened to find herself nestled between River and Rowan. She quietly stood up without waking them and went to the bathroom. She had a bottle of aspirin already sitting on the sink. She remembered her and River going into a store to get the bottle. Rowan said he had something to do.

             
She remembered taking one but decided to take another. She used the toilet and went back out. She looked at the clock: five o’clock. She looked at the sleeping guys. She didn’t want to wake them, but she also didn’t want people to notice that they were coming out of her room the next day.

             
She went over and shook them both. They looked at her with hung-over eyes. “Hey, guys. I think you should go to bed now.”

             
“We were sleeping,” River said.

             
“In your own beds. It’s still early enough,” she said.

             
Rowan nodded. “Goddamn, my head hurts.”

             
She handed them the aspirin bottle. “See you two later,” she whispered at the door. They nodded, and she watched them both amble to their room. She smiled as she went back to lie down and soon fell back to asleep.

****

             
Some of the new people were pitching in, cooking down in the food court. Janice came over to Envy and Anatha. “Hey guys.”

             
“Hey,” Envy said as she flipped over some hamburger patties.

             
“So I saw Autumn, she still mad at me?”

             
“Yeah, you did call her a fat cunt. That tends to, you know, piss people off,” Anatha said.

             
“I was on some heavy shit,” she said, looking away.

             
Envy shrugged. “Grab us some buns. Who knows, maybe you can make it up to her. After all, we will be stuck together for a while.”

             
“Where is she?” she asked, grabbing two packs of buns from the other counter.

             
“Probably still sleeping off her hangover. She was drinking with some of the guys.”

             
“Oh, yeah? She always had a way to be able to do that easier than any of us.”

****

             
Even the smell of food didn’t tempt Autumn to go down. Rowan spotted her sitting by the edge, looking down at the infected at the door. She picked up the bottled water beside her and drank it. He must have stood there watching her for a good ten minutes, before he noticed something about her had changed.

             
“Come on over. Make it easier than you staring at me.”

             
“Sorry,” he said and gave a little laugh. “That’s a pretty good trick.”

             
She shrugged. “It's okay.”

             
“So what are you doing just sitting here when there is food below?”

             
“I might be hungry, but I really can’t get myself to go down there. You know I tried to kill one of my exes. Little bastard! Anyway, I kinda get mean when I drink vodka. And look at me, stuck here with not only two of my ex-boyfriends but my ex-best friend as well. I’m just not in the mood to face them.”

             
“How about I grab you some food and bring it back up here?”

             
“Nah, it’ll be okay. I’ll grab some later.”

             
Rowan got to his feet. “I’m going to get us something to eat.”

             
“Count me in,” River said, yawning and walking over to them. “And some water. I really need some water.”

             
“Drinking is a bad habit,” she said, flashing them a smile. She handed River a bottled water and went back to watching the infected. “If I’m not here, I’ll be in the bookstore.”

             
“Bookstore?” Rowan said.

             
“You gotta see it,” she said, and for a second he could see the joy on her face.

As they left to get food, he thought abo
ut her. She looked; not overly pretty but no dog either. And usually it was looks. He admitted it, he liked a hot chick, but there was something so different about Autumn. She gave off this feeling that he couldn’t place, but he liked it
   
liked her.

             
“She is something, huh?” River said. He thought of the feel of her next to him last night. Those leafy green eyes were all he could think of. He left his last girlfriend after he found out she had at least three other boyfriends. Hurt, he immersed himself into his work. Even though he had just met her, there was something he really liked.

             
“Huh? Yeah,” he said, his mind coming to as they entered the noisy food court.

             
“Damn, there are a lot of people in here,” River said, eyeing everyone as they walked past. They stopped at the table where their friends sat.

             
“I see you guys are alive,” Stefan said.

             
“Yeah, we’re going to grab some food and go back to the top.”

             
“Why?” Anatha said. “River, you can eat down here with us.”

             
He gave her a small smile. “It’s okay. I want to go back up. Drank too much.”

             
“Hey, guys,” Hazel said, coming up to them, still looking green from drinking last night. “You guys look okay too. Autumn never gets a hangover, sheesh.”

             
River nodded. “If she had one, she hid it really well.”

             
“She’s up, huh?” Envy asked as she sat at the table next to them with Ivy Lee and Janice.

             
“Yeah, excuse me,” Rowan said, breaking out of Janice’s eye grip. He knew that look. Hell, he’d given that look plenty of times. That look gets people in trouble.

             
“Me too,” River said, following him.

             
“What I need is water,” Hazel said. She stepped in closer to them. “You guys have to see what she did to the bookstore.”

             
“What did she do to the bookstore?” Anatha said behind them.

             
“Nothing,” she said, grabbing a bottle of water from the counter and leaving.

****

The guys started making plate
s, and Anatha decided she wanted to see what Autumn had done to the bookstore. She walked down to the other end, watching as Hazel disappeared inside. She walked in but then stopped. She wasn’t welcome here. Autumn had done something. She heard buzzing in her ears as she started to walk. The store looked normal then a headache hit, and it felt like a hive of bees was in her ears. She stopped and walked back to the entrance. What had she done?

             
“Autumn?” she called out.

             
Autumn came to the entrance. She was dressed in her usual jeans and t-shirt. Her hair curled in long tight ringlets past her shoulders. Maybe it was the leafy green eyes of hers they like? Anatha wondered, judging her cousin.

             
“What?” she asked, looking at her cousin suspiciously.

             
“How did you do it?”

             
“Do what?”

             
“Not let me in?”

             
She shrugged. “I just set my intent on who I didn’t want in.”

             
“But a bookstore? You know I like to read too.”

             
She rolled those leafy green eyes. “There is another one up on the other floor which is bigger than this one. I need my space. And even though this mall seems big enough, it’s beginning to feel smaller and smaller to me each minute. You have no clue.”