Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (18 page)

             
“He’s gonna help me with a tune for one of my songs.”

             
“I am so hot,” Ivy Lee said, walking by. “Has anyone seen Envy? I can’t find her anywhere.” Autumn and Stefan locked eyes. They were the only two who knew where both Envy and Drake were. They were together and not getting away from the heat. Autumn laughed to herself. The heat was getting to her.

             
“Why are you laughing?” River asked.

             
“Nothing.” She fanned herself with her left hand. “My skin is going to ooze off.”

             
“When is that air conditioner getting fixed?” Joe asked.

             
Autumn didn’t want Joe to be here in her little group. But she was way too nice to say anything about it. A habit she hated but couldn’t help. She liked being nice to people. Even if that person had been mean or rude to her. She caught him looking at her. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Rowan moved. She glanced up at him, noticing he was looking at Joe. He had a vacant expression on his face, and she was wondering what he was thinking. She raised her hand out of the fountain and touched his hand. He looked down at her and smiled, wondering if she still had feelings for Joe.

             
River watched the two look at each other. He felt a pang of jealousy. He and Rowan were very close. They had done things together that he had never done with the other guys. He didn’t know what to think about Rowan liking Autumn as well.

             
They watched Anatha walk over. Autumn noticed she actually had on shorts; she rarely showed off her legs. Anatha walked over to her cousin and saw her using the guys as pillows. Anatha shook her head, stopping in front of her. “My turn?”

             
“Ha-ha.” She said, moving her head a little on Rowan’s leg. “Nope.”

             
“Well, fine then. Get wet.” She pushed Autumn, but she didn’t budge.

              “Can’t push me in unless you take out my pillow first,” Autumn said, holding onto Rowan’s arm.

             
“Is that so?” She took a small step towards Rowan. She looked at him “Sorry,” She said and pushed him backwards.

             
“Damn,” He managed to say before he fell into the fountain, taking Autumn along.

             
She sat up, shaking water from her, smoothing down her halter top. “I’m cooled down   a little at least.

             
How about you?” she said, turning to Rowan.

             
He lay back in the water. “Yep.”

             
She looked at Anatha. “Want to join us?”

             
“I think I’ll pass.”

             
She got onto her knees and moved over to River. “Hey.”

             
“What?”

             
She winked at him. “I’m not going to ask for forgiveness,” she said, grabbing him and pulling him in.

             
River fell back into the water, not expecting it. He sat up, spitting water. “You could have at least yelled surprise first,” he said, splashing her.

             
She splashed him back. “Feel better?”

             
He nodded, “This is nice.”

             
“It is,” Rowan said.

             
She rested her head on Rowan’s chest. “I’m staying right here until the cooler is fixed.”

             
“Me too,” River said as he laid his head on her stomach.

             
“I would tell you to get off, but I’m too damn lazy.”

             
“I’ll tell him,” Rowan said.

             
“Shut up,” she said, splashing him weakly.

              “I actually came down to tell you guys that the cooler is almost fixed,” Anatha said

             
“Really?” Joe said.

             
The cooler came on. They could hear it as it came to life. It began with a loud buzzing sound, and then died down to a soft purr. “Great, now I have to change,” Autumn said, getting up and making her way out of the fountain.

             
Drake came over to them. “What did I miss?”

             
“Fountain people and the cooler is fixed,” Stefan said, laying down a card. He, Joe, and Jaime were playing blackjack.

             
Envy walked over. She tried her best to avoid Drake. Ivy Lee went over to her. “Envy, the cooler is fixed. Where have you been?”

             
She grabbed her arm and led her away, motioning for Anatha to follow. Autumn watched Drake as he watched her lead Ivy Lee away. Stefan watched Drake too, and then looked over at Autumn. They stared at each other and both nodded, knowing what was going on.

             
Autumn sat on the edge of the fountain. “Need help?” Stefan asked, getting to his feet and offering her his hand.

             
“No.” She swung her legs out of the fountain. “Want to talk?”

             
He lowered his voice, “No. I know what you know. Should we talk to them?”

             
“Make sure Drake is being careful,” she said, lowering her voice too. “We don’t need any medical emergencies or babies right now.” He nodded and went over to Drake. She watched how Stefan pulled Drake away without giving anything away. Good man, she thought, scrunching the extra water from her hair.  

             
“What were you two talking about?” River asked, getting out of the fountain.

             
“Nothing important,” she said, “I need to change. If I know the parents well enough, they’re going to blast the air conditioner.”

             
“So we’re going from sizzling bacon to icy popsicles?”

              She watched Adair run by screaming while he swung his flaming tail back and forth. The snake chased after the monkey, laughing.

             
“Yep.” She went to her room to change.

****

             
Instead of going back down after changing, Autumn decided to stay in her store and read a book. She felt as if she needed some words of wisdom. The book she read didn’t help much.  The main characters had more problems than she did. But it still helped ease her mind, and she could think better about what to do with Rowan and River. She decided on a nice sci-fi fantasy. Fifty pages into the book, she noticed the book wasn’t so nice; a war had broken out, and the main characters were killing each other. She decided to read it for a while longer, even though the books plot was terrible. Finally, after she could take no more, she closed the book.

             
“Yuck,” she said, looking at the cover. This book needed a new pile; the need to be burned pile. Screw that, she was going to toss it to the infected.

             
“Bad book?” Drake asked.

             
She jumped. “You scared me!” She said, tossing the book at him.

             
The book hit him in the arm and bounced to the floor. “Ouch! Sorry.” He picked it up and read the back. “Rowan wanted me to give this to you.” He handed her an envelope. “Mind if I take this?”

             
She shrugged and took the envelope from Drake. “I was going to toss it to the zombies. What’s this?”

             
Drake opened the book, “I don’t know. The book can’t be that bad.”

             
“If you like those kinds of things then the book ain’t that bad. So Rowan didn’t tell you?” She examined the envelope.

             
“Nope. Some things are better left unsaid between us. But if it’s incriminating, tell me. I might be able to blackmail him later on.”

             
“And what do you want from him?”

              “Nothing. We have everything we need here.”

             
“Yeah, but then why would you need evidence to blackmail him?”

             
“For later. I gotta go.”

             
She turned to look at Adair as he left. She spoke out loud only when she was sure he was gone. “What do you think this is?” She held up the envelope.

             
He looked at her over his book, “Open it.”

             
“You know?”

             
He shook his furry head. “I only know what people feel.”

             
She opened the envelope and pulled out a small piece of paper. It said, ‘Meet me on the roof at ten.’

             
When the clock struck ten, she made her way up to the roof. She was going to be a little late.
I’ll blame it on traffic
, she thought. It got colder towards the top floors. She opened the door that led out to the roof, and the heat sucked at her. It was dark. She didn’t like certain darks, and this was one of them. Autumn couldn’t see anything and didn’t want to leave the doorway. In books and movies, monsters liked these darks. Not zombies, but things brighter and scarier. Things that would scare her to death before eating her, and she had a sudden need to turn and go back inside where it was cool.

              “Rowan,” She called out in a small voice. She waited, her hand resting on the knob to the roof door. She heard nothing. She took in an unsteady breath, and then another. She was sure he was using this time to scare her; she decided to turn and leave.

             
He grabbed her around the waist and held her. She let out a yelp. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, struggling to get away from him. “Scaring me like that could get you hurt!” She hit him on the arm, but he wouldn’t let go. She stopped struggling. She could feel his body pressed up against hers. Her body reacted to the closeness.

             
He let go of her body and took her hand. He pulled her away from the door, which was the only light on the roof at the moment, and into the darkness. “Rowan, what’re we doing?”

             
“Trust me.” She could not see him, but his hand on hers was enough to remind her he was there. He stopped, letting go of her hand. She panicked slightly.

             
“Rowan, I really don’t like this,” she said into the pitch-black darkness that surrounded her. Her eyes adjusted to the dark enough so she could barely make him out.

             
“Come here,” he said, touching her hand. He sat down and gently pulled her along. “Look at the stars.”

             
“They’re so bright tonight,” she said in awe as she looked up.

             
“Check this out.” He handed her something. Under close examination she saw it was a star chart. She put it up and tried to match the holes to the stars. She moved it from side to side, flipping it upside down. She couldn’t get anything to match.

             
“No, you’re doing it wrong. Lay on your back,” he said. She did, and he held up the star chart, turning on a small flashlight. “This way.” He gave it back.

              “It fits now,” She told him as she looked up at the stars through the holes. “Neat.”

             
“Over there is Drago, and that one right there is the Archer. See it?” He pointed out the star patterns.

             
“Yeah. That’s my astrological birth sign. How do you know so much about astronomy?”

             
“I’ve been reading a lot about it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to know about but never got that far into it. You’re not the only one around here who visits the bookstores.”

             
She turned on her side and used her arm to prop herself up, the rooftop warm against her skin. “So you’ve been studying all by yourself?”

             
He turned on his side, mimicking her. “Yep.”

             
“This is why you brought me up here?”

             
“I wanted to spend some time with just you with no one sneaking in on us.” His hand touched her arm; he let his fingers slide gently down her skin, making the hair on her arm stand on end.

             
He leaned in and kissed her, slowly. They were testing each other, and when neither pulled away, the kiss grew. He gently pushed her onto her back, his body moving so it partially covered hers. Her hand traveled to his wild black hair. The kiss became fevered. Finally she pushed him away gently. She was so confused. She had kissed River, and now Rowan, with a fire she had never felt before. Her mind scolded her for it.  It was wrong. He ran is hand along her arm, and she shivered.