Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (8 page)

             
“Fine, I will,” Richard said, going over to get a soda and some popcorn.

              “So, Autumn, you know who we are; baby sister a fan?” Rowan asked.

             
Her cheeks flushed, and she could feel her face heat up. “She’s a fan, but that’s not why I knew who you guys are. Me and the other girls are kinda fans as well. I secretly was excited about the comeback.”

             
“Oh, really?” River asked. She looked over at him, noticing his hair. River’s hair was a brown, curly mop on his head. It was almost as bad as hers. It looked good on him, although he looked equally good with it cut very short. She had recently seen his newest movie with Hazel, and thought it was one of his better movies. Her eyes got wide. She was sitting with a movie star.

             
“It could be worse. We could be stuck with a bunch of diehard fans. Can you see them shrieking and chasing you around. River, I love you! River, I want a piece of your hair!” Linden said.

             
“Shut up,” River said.

              “Make me,” Linden smirked.

             
“Cat fight,” Stefan called.

             
The group snickered. “You are all a bunch of silly people,” Richard said.

             
“Richard here is my cousin, if you didn’t already know. Frank over there is his brother,” she motioned to Frank who had left to play a shooting game.

             
“Tune N’, huh? Man, these girls were screaming fans,” Richard said, giving her a wink.

             
“Sure, and we weren’t the only ones,” she said, rolling her eyes at him.

             
“Who are the other ladies in the bumper cars?” Drake asked.

             
“The one with the tame curly hair,” She knew Richard said it, making fun of her hair, “Is Envy. She’s Autumn’s middle sister.” Autumn nodded. “The short one is Envy’s friend Ivy Lee. The one with the blue shirt is Hazel, Autumn’s friend.”

             
“You guys already know Anatha,” she said butting in.

             
“She’s your cousin too?” Linden asked.

             
“Yeah, but not related to Richard’s side,” she said after finishing her soda.             

             
“This is sort of a close family and friends thing?” Drake asked.

             
Richard nodded, “Yeah. We had checked out a safe house, but we didn’t like it very much.” Autumn thought about it, and then thought of Ryan. She looked down at the ground. Guilt bubbled up. She got up and left.

             
“Autumn?” Richard called after her.

             
She put up her hand. “Just have to use the restroom.”

             
She couldn’t breathe as she rushed into the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and watched the water run. She splashed some on her face. The water helped soothe her. But
   
She looked at her reflection. “He did love you,” she told herself. “I know.” She hated feeling so guilty.

****

              “Is she okay?” River asked.

             
Richard nodded. “Autumn likes to take on too much responsibility sometimes.”

             
“She is probably crying over Ryan,” Envy said as she lumbered over.

             
“Envy, shut up, you know that is no one’s business.”

             
“It’s all of ours. Her fiancé is probably out there with the other infected.”

             
The guys all looked at each other. “Envy, please drop that before she comes back out,” Richard said, lowering his voice. “Where is Hazel?”

             
“She was here a minute ago,” Ivy Lee said, looking around.

****

             
“Hey,” Hazel said, making Autumn jump. She looked at her friend in the mirror.

             
“Hey. I’m sorry.”

             
“Thank you. I am sorry too,” Hazel said, and Autumn turned, grabbing her friend in a tight hug as they both cried.

****

             
“Well, what should we do now?” Envy said, drinking her soda and eyeing the guys from head to toe.

             
Richard rolled his eyes at his cousin. She had no shame. “Someone should go check on Autumn,” he finally said.

             
“No need,” she said, walking over with Hazel. “We were talking and let time get away from us.”

             
“You guys want to go into the funhouse?” Anatha asked.

             
Autumn stood up. “Let’s check it out. I was just thinking about it too.” There was a loud buzzing noise in her head, and her ears popped. She shook her head and looked at Anatha.  Her cousin looked away from her. She walked by Anatha.

             
“Stay out of my head,” she whispered.

              Walking over to the funhouse, they talked about this and that. Nothing of any importance.  After Autumn turned on the power, it still wasn’t fully lit up. She went over to the switches and flipped on the rest. The whole thing came screaming to life. Music poured out of the doors and windows, and you could see strobe lights inside flashing different colors. She guessed it was almost three stories high and suddenly thought about the elevator. Fear hit her.

             
What if there’s a zombie in there?
She asked herself as she bit her bottom lip.

             
“Autumn?” Envy asked.

             
She looked at her sister. “I think we should go in groups,” she said.

             
“Sure,” Envy ran in followed closely by Ivy Lee. Before she knew it, she was the only one standing out in front of the funhouse.

             
“Well, damn,” she muttered to herself. Even Jaime had gone in. Slowly, she climbed the stairs. She paused for a minute, looking into the entrance. If someone jumped out at her, she was going to knock out his or her upper teeth.

             
The first area she walked into was brightly lit. Looking around, she noticed the area looked like most funhouses. The entrance had a few circular spinning panels on the floor and those moving horizontal panels too. It reminded her of the movie Grease. She walked over them, spinning around once, tempted to sing.

             
She spun around again and stopped at the stairs. Rowan and River watched her, smiling.

             
“All alone?” River asked.

             
“Yeah, everyone took off.”

              “Well come with us then,” Rowan said.

             
Autumn smiled at them. “Sure.” Rowan noticed her green eyes. They were the color of fresh green leaves; a green he had never seen before in a person’s eyes.

              They both heard voices behind them. They turned in time to see Anatha, Jaime, and Drake walking over. By the looks on their faces they were enjoying themselves.

             
“Rowan, been through yet?” Drake asked.

             
“Nope.”

             
“Why not? We barely made it through last time. It was a miracle Anatha came by and rescued us.”

             
Anatha didn’t like Drake much. He reminded her of someone she’d known back in junior high. She quickly glanced at River, and saw him looking at Autumn.  She looked over to her cousin.

             
“We were just going, right?” River asked.

             
“Yes,” Autumn said. “Plus what is the rush? There is no competition on how many times you can make it though.”

             
The three looked around.

             
“So which way are you going?” River asked Drake.

             
He looked at the passageways. “I think straight,” he said, looking at him. Jaime shrugged and nodded.

              “You want to tag along?” Anatha asked River.

             
“Maybe next time,” he said and turned, going down the opposite way Drake said.

             
“See you guys soon,” Drake said. He turned to Anatha, “So?”

             
She shrugged her shoulders, “Whatever.” They followed after Drake. Autumn shook her head, watching them disappear.

             
Anatha walked into the right passage, side by side with Jaime. They turned left, and the hall went black. “Shit.” She smiled in the darkness. It was not a nice smile, and her anger flared as she reached out to Autumn’s mind.

             
Shaking her head, Autumn stumbled. Behind her, River placed a hand on her back. “You okay?”

             
She nodded. “I will be,” she said and closed her eyes. She pushed Anatha away, slamming shut the door to her mind.

             
“Anatha, can you see anything?” Jaime asked as Autumn sent her jolting back to her own mind and body.

             
“Sort of.” She could see well in the dark. Something to do with the pigment of her eyes. The dark burgundy worked fine in the dark, though people swore she wore contacts. Her mom just told her to let people believe it.  That was sort of strange, but then again, her mom was strange.

             
“I can’t see at all,” he said.

             
“Give me your hand.”

              He reached his hand out, and she grabbed it. He was a little bit afraid of the dark; who wasn’t? Everyone feared the dark at some point in their life. Who knew what could be hiding and waiting for them. She dragged him into the next passageway. This one led them to Drake who was looking at the two different sets of stairs.

             
“So?” Anatha asked.

             
“I don’t know?” Drake said. “Right?”

****

             
Autumn walked in front of Rowan. “Do you know where you’re going?”

             
She stopped, looking around. “No. If I did, I doubt I’d be here.”

             
Rowan turned left, not the way she would go. Oh well, she shrugged and followed him. River walked behind her. She could feel him close. She glanced down at Rowan’s butt, bad habit. He had one of the nicest butts she had ever seen. She had no shame saying she was a butt girl.

             
They entered the room of mirrors. Rowan laughed at his reflection as he danced around, looking like a chubby midget. Autumn looked into the one in front of her which made her look like a giant. Hell, she was already tall enough. River made a funny face in the oblong one. Laughing, Rowan grabbed her pulling her over to him, and they made funny faces in the kaleidoscope mirror. River joined them and made it look like they had three heads. They were in tears when they entered the mirror maze.

             
Autumn paused, looking around. There were four other Autumns standing there looking at one another. Creepy.

             
“River?”

             
“Yeah,” he looked around at his many reflections.

             
“You choose. Right or left?”

             
He looked both ways. He didn’t know which way to go. He decided to just pick one. “Left.”

             
“You sure?”

             
He looked left and then right. “No. Right.”

             
“Okay.” They turned right. They walked a little while longer, and the three agreed to turn left. Autumn stopped again. “I get to choose this time.” she turned right.

             
“I don’t want to run into a mirror and break my nose,” Rowan said. She glanced behind her and gave him a small smile. Looking from side to side, he put out his hands to make sure there was no mirror there.

             
“Stick with me. I can get us out quickly,” She said and ran face first into a mirror. “Ouch!” she pulled away, rubbing her nose.

              “You okay?” River asked. “Let me see.” She tilted her head up, and he touched her nose gently. “It doesn’t seem broke.” His fingers lingered.

             
“You a doctor?” she asked teasingly.

             
He smiled, looking into those leafy green eyes. “Maybe, for you.”

             
“Good one,” Rowan said laughing.