Chapter Seventeen
I slept late the next morning. Curled up in bed under my sheet with the open windows still letting in the breeze, I had no intention of getting up anytime soon. I was comfortable and I was exhausted from yesterday and I wanted to stay where I was until at least noon, and maybe later.
While I was still lying there with my eyes closed I heard my door creak open, but I refused to look and see who it was. A moment later a hand grabbed my shoulder and shook me rudely.
I opened my eyes to see Carley standing over me. She was already dressed in the uniform of white t-shirt and black shorts that UP UP and Away required us to wear for work.
"Oh, no," I said when I saw her. I had completely forgotten that we were working that morning. Work had started to feel like a far off idea, not like something I actually did or wanted to do. With everything that had been happening with the Roths and the Cheshires I hadn't been working much, and whenever I did, my mind was filled with ideas of Fairies. Going to work would completely ruin my morning of lounging in bed.
"Do we have to? I'm really comfortable." I knew I sounded whiny but I didn't care.
"Yes," said Carley. "We can't let Mrs. Fritters down." Right, Mrs. Fritters. The one who hated Holt and had probably called my mom.
Carley must have seen my face darken, but she misinterpreted what it meant. "Come on. Work isn't that bad. Get your ass out of bed and let's go."
"I know, I know," I said. Throwing off my covers, I shivered at the sudden exposure of my skin to air.
Then I remembered there was something I wanted to tell Carley. "Oh, my mom called," I said while I stumbled into the bathroom to brush out my bed hair.
"What'd she say?" asked Carley, plopping down onto my now empty bed.
"Oh, you know, the usual, no big deal . . . she told me I wasn't allowed to go to the Solstice Party," I said.
"What?" Carley gasped and almost fell off the bed. "Are you kidding me? Why?"
"She said she got a phone call from someone who said it was a bad idea. She refused to tell me who it was, though," I said bitterly.
"That's insane," said Carley. "Did she threaten you with a punishment or anything?"
"Ha, no. She basically just acted like she assumed I'd listen, but I'm sure if she caught me going she'd be mad," I said, relieved that Carley was on my side.
"What are you going to do?" Carley asked. "You have to go!"
"Oh, I'm going," I said. "There's nothing that can stop me." And it was true. I was going to that party. "Are your parents still getting home the day before the party?"
Carley shook her head. "No, they're planning to stay in London, so they're missing the party. They're pretty bummed about it."
"That's too bad," I said, but I was secretly relieved. If her parents had come home and talked to my mom, who knows what they would have told me to do. I probably wouldn't have liked whatever it was.
After Carley left my room to finish getting ready, I showered and got dressed. Downstairs, I grabbed some toast to eat while the two of us walked to UP UP and Away.
"It's supposed to be an awesome day," said Carley when we got outside.
"Yeah, being inside is going to suck," I said, enjoying the sea breeze I'd become so used to as it raced over my face.
"Yeah," she said. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the screen, then put it away again.
I glanced at her. She was being very quiet. Normally she never stopped chattering.
"What's wrong?" I asked. "Did you and Nick have another fight?"
"No," said Carley uneasily. She was looking anywhere but at me.
"So, what?" I asked. "You're never this quiet."
"It's Mrs. Cheshire," she said. "Nick and I ran into her yesterday on our way back from getting ice cream. She was with that awful Leslie girl."
My heart flip-flopped. First Lydia and Leslie come after Carley, and now Mrs. Cheshire. I didn't want Mrs. Cheshire anywhere near my friends.
"Have you met her?" Carley asked, peering at me. "I know Nick is friends with Samuel and all, but that doesn't mean his mother's nice. Because she isn't."
My mind went back to Samuel waiting for me outside the house just the night before, and what he had said about his family doing something bad. I had thought it was just Leslie he was talking about and hadn't really been worried about it, but what if it wasn't just her? What if it was his mother, too? If Mrs. Cheshire wanted to cause trouble, there wasn't anything Samuel, or anyone else, could do about it.
"So, what about her?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
"I saw her yesterday and she glared at me. She'd never even looked at me before. In fact, I've only ever seen her at the Solstice Party every year, and she has always basically stayed with her own family and left as early as she could without being too rude. I didn't even think she knew who I was."
That couldn't be good.
By the time Carley had finished telling me about Mrs. Cheshire's glare, we'd reached the coffee shop. "Maybe she was just having a bad day," I said. "Maybe it had nothing to do with you." I couldn't tell Carley the truth and I didn't want her to worry, so I was just trying to calm her down.
"Maybe she was having a bad day, but I'm pretty sure that if she was having a bad day, she thought I'd caused it. Seriously, it's a good thing looks can't kill. And Nick agrees with me," she said, as if Nick agreeing with her somehow made it true.
Since I knew the real reason behind Mrs. Cheshire's glare I just let Carley vent. She continued to talk as we grabbed aprons and set up behind the counter, but the conversation ended abruptly when Mrs. Fritters came out of the back room.
"Hello, how are you both?" she asked. Today she wore blue pants and a white shirt. Her dress code for her employees didn't extend to her.
"Good," we chorused.
"Ah, wonderful." She busied herself behind the counter as I took my place at the register and Carley started to make drinks.
"And Autumn, are you still hanging around that good-for-nothing boy?" I heard Mrs. Fritters ask from behind me. I stopped dead. The customer trying to hand me money was forced to grab my hand and place the money in it. I snapped back to attention, giving the customer a bewildered look before I figured out what was going on.
"Sorry," I said. "What?"
"That Roth boy," said Mrs. Fritters. "I hope you aren't still hanging around with him. That whole family is trouble."
"Mrs. Fritters, how can you say that?" asked Carley. "They're all so nice to you, and the party is tomorrow!"
"I don't give a darn about their party and if I thought enough customers would come in I'd insist the two of you work tomorrow night so that you couldn't go. It's a bunch of foolishness, if you ask me," said Mrs. Fritters as she furiously shined a glass.
"I didn't," Carley muttered in my ear. I tried not to smile.
Mrs. Fritters started to say something else, but I didn't hear her. She'd never actually given a reason for disliking Holt. It just seemed to be on principle.
The door opened and with it a slamming gust of cold air came racing in, very out of place on such a warm summer day. I felt my body shiver and tense, and I knew it wasn't Samuel coming. When Samuel was coming closer he felt like a pleasant cool breeze. This felt like I was inside a wind tunnel with ice for walls.
Through the door came Mrs. Cheshire. Her piercing dark eyes reminded me of glaciers floating toward me, filled with cold and malice.
I started to feel light-headed and realized that I wasn't breathing. I made myself suck air into my deprived lungs, but it took all the concentration I had.
Luckily, Mrs. Fritters had disappeared into the back. I didn't want her there for this. As soon as she saw Mrs. Cheshire Carley darted away from the counter, muttering something about bussing tables and leaving me completely alone.
"Good morning," I managed to say as she got to the counter. I was forced to yank my hands away from the register, because everything around it was becoming so cold my fingers were about
to freeze. Despite the summer heat Mrs. Cheshire wore a long red coat that went all the way down to cover her feet. The collar was pulled up so that it covered even her neck. If I had been outside in that thing, I'd be boiling hot.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
A smile crossed her lips. It was dark and hard. "Yes, I believe you can." Her voice sounded like wind skating over snow, bitter and whispery.
I waited, but Mrs. Cheshire didn't seem to feel any need to hurry her answer on my account.
She leaned forward and it took all my willpower not to turn and run away. Staying so close to something that cold was almost unbearable, but I held my ground.
"I want you to stay away from Holt. You are meant to be with my son. It is how it was written and nothing else matters. This is the last time I will tell you."
"Look, um, sorry, but um, I don't want to be threatened," I said.
It was the wrong thing to say.
Mrs. Cheshire let out a gasp and reached her hand toward me. I recoiled with a gasp and darted around the counter. I yelled to Carley that I was taking my break and tried to make a run through the front door, but Mrs. Cheshire blocked my path. I knew Carley was probably staring after me, wide-eyed. As I put my hand on the door handle it turned as cold as ice and I was forced to let go of it with a gasp of surprise.
"You will listen to me," she hissed. "You have no idea what you are doing. You will start a battle between the Winter and Summer Courts for no reason. Do you want that? Do you want to put the Roths through such pain? They cannot afford to go to battle over some common girl like you. Oh no, they can't."
Until now I thought I had been terrified by the Winter Queen, but now she started to smile, and suddenly I knew what true terror was. Who smiled at the talk of battle? How could this possibly be Samuel's mother? I knew Samuel was cold to me, but somehow I had the feeling that if he cared for you he could be very kind; this woman was nothing like that. I decided then and there that no matter now nice the Winter Prince is, the Winter Queen may be nothing like him.
I had no idea what to say to this vile woman. And if I weren't very careful she would probably freeze me to death in a matter of seconds.
Just when I thought I couldn't take the cold anymore, another customer opened the front door from the outside and I was able to dart through into the sunlight. But I didn't know where to go; I knew Mrs. Cheshire would come after me and I knew that she was too strong for me to fight on my own.
So I raced for the Roths'.
I fumed all the way there. If this is what Samuel had meant by his family taking action, I was pretty sure he should have warned me, but I'd deal with that problem later. Right now it felt like my main task was saving my life.
Looking over my shoulder while I ran, I could see Mrs. Cheshire following me. Seriously, Samuel needed to do something about his mother. Even though she looked more ordinary and less like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, as she had looked in the caf? a minute ago, I wasn't taking any chances.
I ran up to the Roths' front door and frantically rang the bell. Luckily, Holt answered and I dashed past him into the house.
"Close the door," I yelled.
"What the hell is going on?" he cried when he saw the sheer panic I was in.
"She, I . . . she . . ." I doubled over, gasping for breath. I hadn't run far, but panic does weird things to the body.
Mrs. Roth came into the hall. "What is going on?" she asked, staring at me. She forced me to stand up straight and put her hand on my forehead.
But I didn't have to answer, because there was a knock at the door.
Mrs. Roth and Holt must have known who it was, because Mrs. Roth looked stricken and Holt's face paled.
He looked at his mother for direction. Her eyes were glued to the door, but she nodded, giving him permission to open it.
Holt opened the door for the second time. If the knob was ice cold like the one at UP UP and Away, Holt's face didn't show it. Mrs. Cheshire probably wasn't as powerful on the Roths' property, or something like that.
But she was still terrifying as she strode into the Roths' front hall.
Somehow I wasn't prepared to see her again, and I gasped out loud.
"Patricia, how can I help you?" asked Mrs. Roth. I was amazed that her voice was steady. I was also amazed that both women were starting to look subtly different. Mrs. Roth's hair became more like vines, thicker and stronger-looking. Her skin had slight glittering lines just under the surface, which wouldn't have been noticeable if I hadn't been staring at her. Unlike Mrs. Roth, Mrs. Cheshire just looked harder, her skin more like marble than actual warm flesh.
Mrs. Cheshire pointed an imperious finger at me. "Her. She shouldn't be here. You know that as well as I do and just as well as this good-for-nothing son you spawned."
Obviously Mrs. Cheshire didn't exist in a world where if you wanted your son to marry a certain girl you at least tried to be nice to her.
"I am not going to tell Autumn or Holt what to do or who they may love. We've seen what happens to kings and queens when they are forced to marry against their will." Mrs. Roth might as well have slapped the Winter Queen, but I could see that her hands were shaking.
Mrs. Cheshire got even paler, if that was possible. I could see her nostrils flaring as she fought for air, hatred clear in every line of her body. The air around her had started to shimmer with cold.
"You like to throw that around as if it means something, but the fact remains that that girl" - again she pointed at me - "is destined to marry my son. To accept HIS Rose. Just because she can accept Holt's as well DOES NOT MEAN HE HAS ANY RIGHT TO OFFER IT." Her eyes blazed out as her voice rose to a scream.
Out of her robe she pulled something that was shaped like a staff but looked like a twisted vine of blue ice. With a movement so fast I could hardly follow it she pointed it at me.
"No," cried Mrs. Roth. She stepped between me and the blue tendril of Fairy magic as it snaked toward me. Instead of hitting me, Mrs. Cheshire's magic slammed into Mrs. Roth's outstretched hand. From my position behind her I could see Holt's mother shudder.
"No," cried Holt.
"Holt," said Mrs. Roth, stopping him. "I'm fine. Mrs. Cheshire knows better than to attack the Summer Queen at her own home."
The realization hit me that Mrs. Roth was a queen as well, at the moment a queen during her best time, summer, and I felt relish wash through my body.
Surely Mrs. Cheshire was not so crazy as to go against the wishes of the Summer Queen in her own house.
"It's time for you to leave," said Mrs. Roth to Mrs. Cheshire. "Now. Unless, of course, you want to declare war on the Summer Court."
I could see from the look on Mrs. Cheshire's face that that's exactly what she wanted to do.
Instead, she took a deep breath, continuing to hold her vine-shaped staff at a half-ready position. I decided I would have to ask Susan about weapons next time I saw her; I didn't remember her mentioning them during our picnic, but apparently Fairies had powerful ones.
Realizing she was outnumbered, Mrs. Cheshire changed tactics. To Holt she pleaded, "Don't do this to yourself. You will only be unhappy, and you will make everyone you care about unhappy as well. You think you care about her now, but in a few years you will get over it. You will meet the real girl who was destined for you and then where will you be? And you will have destroyed your family in the process."
Holt stepped forward. "Get out." His voice was low and dangerous and I could see that he was fighting to keep control of himself. "You have to go. Now."
Mrs. Cheshire stayed fixed to her spot for another breath, then turned away. She was out the door and slamming it behind her before I had a chance to breathe. In the ringing silence that followed I looked from Holt to Mrs. Roth. I had no idea what to say.
"I'm so sorry," I said finally. "I had no idea."
"No," said Mrs. Roth. "You didn't. But it's the sad truth that your being around only hurts my family and my son. It might be better
if you took her home, Holt."
Holt looked stricken. So did I, I was sure. I hadn't meant for any of this to happen. I had known that Holt's and my being together put us in danger, but I hadn't realized that the Winter Queen would actually try to kill me, even though that wouldn't do her any good if she wanted me to marry her son. I hadn't actually realized until now that she regarded me as her property. My knees felt weak and I started to sag. Holt darted forward and caught me up. Just his proximity, the feel of his arms around mine, his faint smell, made my head spin. I had thought that the Roths approved. Above all else they had always been kind to me, but the Winter Queen coming to their door had apparently been too much.
Mrs. Roth gave me an opportunity to explain what had happened at UP UP and Away, but while I talked she wouldn't even look at me.
"Holt," said his mother quietly when I finished, "take her home."
"But Mom, shouldn't we . . ." Holt started to say.
"No," said his mother. "What The Winter Queen did was unacceptable, but there's nothing else we can do about it at the moment. Take her home!"
Holt put his arm around me and led me outside. I was relieved when there was no sign of the Winter Queen.
"It will be alright," he whispered in my ear. "I promise, it will be alright.