Autumn Storm (The Witchling #2)(53)
“No worries there,” she said with a snort. “You’ve ignored me all week.”
“Do me a favor. Don’t leave the house today.” He was distracted again.
Shaking her head, Autumn went to the stairs and made her way up them. She walked down the hall and opened the door to her room. Dawn was sitting on her bed, laptop on her thighs. She glanced up, uninterested.
“Let me guess. It was you at Beck’s cabin,” she said in a tone that said she didn’t think Beck would stoop so low.
Autumn rolled her eyes. “Grandpa Louis makes killer crepes.”
Dawn appeared startled. “You really were there. So it wasn’t Tanya.” For a long moment, she was silent, almost pensive.
Autumn crossed the room, hoping she’d shut up the moody girl.
“You know we’re gonna have a baby girl, don’t you?” Dawn demanded.
“You can have him,” Autumn replied. “Actually, you can have both the Turner twins.”
“I’ve been at Decker’s all week.”
Autumn almost missed a step. She caught herself with her cane. She knew Decker had girls over, but Dawn? Everything she learned about Decker made her think she needed to run the next time she saw him. But she wouldn’t. As hard as it was to hear all the things he was doing, she couldn’t shake her growing concern for him or the need to help him out of his tailspin. She wasn’t sure it wasn’t too late.
“He’s as crazy as they say.” There was an uneasy note in Dawn’s voice. “Totally worth it, though.”
Irritated for multiple reasons, Autumn hoped she’d have some peace sitting on the couch watching television. She crossed to her closet and paused. She’d thought to change into her clothes, but the clothes she wore fit like they really were hers. Fingering the soft sweater, she noticed it was the same cut, material and quality as one of those she already had. The color was different, but they were identical otherwise.
“I’m going to marry Beck,” Dawn continued. “All you are is a fling.”
Talk about crazy. Autumn half-listened, her attention on her clothing. She hadn’t checked the brand of jeans, but she suspected they’d be the same as at least one of those in her closet. Did it matter?
Yes. Only she didn’t understand why. She tugged off her coat and hung it up in the closet, unable to figure out why her sweaters made her head hurt more.
“Are you even listening to me?” Dawn demanded, her anger growing. “Beck and I are getting married.”
Fed up with her, Autumn shoved her closet door closed. “Right. Because he’ll marry you when you’re sleeping with his twin, and I’m staying at his cabin. Grow up, Dawn. He doesn’t want anything to do with you. This isn’t the sixties, where you could force someone to marry you by getting knocked up. You sure it’s his and not Decker’s or someone else’s anyway?”
Dawn was quiet. A glance showed she was surprised and furious. Autumn gripped her cane and left before the girl had time to recover. She reached the top of the stairwell before she heard Dawn slam the door hard enough to make the windows shudder. She was screaming something behind the door. Autumn cringed and made her way quickly down the stairs.
She didn’t want to be around when that train wreck left. Instead of going to the couch, Autumn went to the back door leading into the Square. She paused, gazing out the window. Much of the Square had been cleared of snow that was now piled on the sides of the boys’ dorms, reaching the roofs. The students remaining for the holiday were gathered around bonfires or throwing snowballs at each other in the snowy area, farther back in the Square near the tree line. Amber, Matilda and Michael Turner stood with the students at one fire. By the pounding in Autumn’s head, the former Mistress of Night was somewhere out there, too.
Autumn’s hand dropped from the door knob. The people in the Square seemed … unburdened. She felt more at home with Sam in his tree stump than she did here. Though it was midmorning, the scents of turkey, ham and pies tickled her nose already. Amber told the class the day before that they’d have a lunch at noon.
The front door slammed. She turned and caught a flash of Dawn’s blond hair through the window in the door. Relieved the girl was gone, Autumn went to the couch. Troubled by what Beck and Dawn told her, she turned on the television without any real interest in watching.
The crowd out back moved indoors a few minutes after she sat down. Autumn moved to one side of the couch. There were a couple dozen people who filled the living area and dining room. Board games emerged, and talk from cheerful players soon drowned out the television.
Her head ached along with her leg. Autumn rose and caught sight of the twins’ mother in the dining area. Unable to explain the strange effect the former Mistress of Dark had on her, Autumn chose to go outside for air.
She exited onto the porch. The cold day was cloudy, though no more snow had fallen. Autumn descended the stairs and walked to the gravel driveway then followed it around the dorms. She glanced at the forbidden trail without stopping, instead continuing to the small bridge over the stream.
Leaning over the bridge, Autumn was fascinated by the way water still flowed, though the edges of the creek were frozen.
“Hey.”
She looked up at the husky voice, knowing whose it was before she saw him standing at the edge of the bridge, like a shadow. Her heart quickened. Tall and strong, Decker’s steady gaze made her stomach flutter from the distance.