Autumn Storm (The Witchling #2)(42)

“These are for you,” Biji said, oblivious of her thoughts. She held out a smooth, blue stone and an elephant-shaped charm made of jade. “They’ll help you focus the elements. You won’t need them after awhile.”

Autumn took them. She recognized them as hers, like the amulet. Nothing else in her world seemed to belong to her, but these three things did. Holding them gave her a strange feeling that had nothing to do with the elements. It was the difference between a memory and reliving something she’d done before. She didn’t like the sensation, but she wanted what belonged to her.

Mine.

It didn’t seem possible that Decker belonged to her, too. Growing frustrated, she stared at the two stones, willing them to tell her their secrets.

“I hate being snowed in. I hate snow. You want to get some cocoa?” Biji asked.

“Yeah.” Autumn put the stones in her pocket.

Biji led her down to the kitchen, where a staff of five worked. Autumn lingered in the door, aware she’d be in the way with her inability to maneuver through the busy kitchen. Biji smiled sweetly at the cook she addressed. The cook nodded and motioned to the dining room.

“Okay, they’ll bring us some,” she said, returning to Autumn. “What’s your name again?”

“Autumn.” She suppressed a smile.

“Autumn.” Biji gazed at her closely. “Not sure I like that.”

Speechless, Autumn watched her turn and retreat to the living area. She followed at last, uncertain why Biji and Beck both had such a negative reaction to her name. Biji was texting when she sat down on the couch beside her.

“Beck says hi,” Biji said without looking up.

“Hello to Beck.” Autumn watched her. She found herself trying to remember if she ever had a cell phone. No, the orphanage wasn’t going to pay for something like that, if they weren’t willing to pay for the brace she requested. It was half the size of the one she had now and would stabilize her knee area without making it so hard to move.

Biji muttered at the phone as she typed. Autumn smiled, at home with the girl. The cook brought out two mugs of hot chocolate and set them on the ottoman where Decker had sat last night.

Autumn shuddered at the memory. She recalled the way the fire had stretched to reach him, as if it, too, wasn’t able to control itself around him. How could someone affect everything around him and not have any control over himself?

“It stopped snowing at least,” Biji said.

Autumn glanced out the window. A plough was working its way down the driveway while a couple of the students shoveled the walkway.

Biji laughed. “Beck says your iPad didn’t survive the snow. He’ll bring you a new one.”

Face warm, Autumn sipped her cocoa, uncertain how to respond. She didn’t like the idea of taking charity, especially from Beck. He’d done enough for her already by helping her with her pain. She didn’t know what to think of his kindness. He’d been sad last night when she hugged him and held her tightly, as if afraid to let go. Yet he flirted with every girl around and seemed to have as little restraint for sleeping around as his brother, if Dawn was any indication. She didn’t think she was anymore special in his eyes than she was in Decker’s.

The twins were making her head spin.

“How on earth did he end up with Dawn?” she puzzled out loud.

“Beck was a jackass until…” Biji drifted off.

“Until what?”

“I guess until he became the Master of Light. I used to talk to Decker more but then he went batshit crazy. Beck’s trying really hard to be more grown up, I think.”

“What happened to Decker?”

Biji paused in her texting to glance up. Her gaze grew dark. “He shoved his girlfriend into Miner’s Drop.”

Autumn gasped.

“She broke the Light and Dark Laws. Matilda says he had to do it. I just…” Biji’s chin trembled. “She was my best friend. She wasn’t bad. She was the best person any of us knew. He went crazy afterwards.” Biji shook her head and returned her attention to the phone. “We’re not supposed to talk about it. Don’t tell anyone I told you.”

Autumn didn’t pry. The information Biji gave her was enough to leave her reeling. Decker really did push the dark-haired girl into the canyon. Not only that, but he must’ve loved her, if he went crazy afterwards.

She relived her trip to the cliff the night before, recalling how the girl had gazed into the canyon at the ghost of her own body. Decker accused Autumn of following him to the cliff; it didn’t seem like the place he’d be, if he’d killed someone he loved.

She wanted to know more. The story still didn’t make sense. It made her feel like hyperventilating, though, knowing that the girl in the mirror wasn’t a hallucination. She’d existed. She’d died here at the school.

Knowing what happened, Autumn wasn’t any closer to knowing why the stranger was haunting her. Her anger at Decker faded. He was in the kind of pain that didn’t heal. Her body was broken but mending. With elements that didn’t lend him to any sort of stability, he wasn’t as lucky. She wanted to help him. Sleeping with him, however, wasn’t the right way to do it. Decker needed an intervention more than she’d realized initially.

Saddened, Autumn drank her cocoa and stayed with Biji, watching television most of the day as she tried to think of ways to help someone who didn’t want help at all.