Abigail Gibbs - Autumn Rose

I gave her a quick hug. She withdrew before my hands had even met behind her back, a very visible shiver passing up her spine.

‘So how was your summer?’ I asked, rueful, knowing I would not have to ask that question if I had spared the time to meet up with her.

‘I have so much to tell you.’ She didn’t wait for me to answer, but continued, her words merging into one excited gush. ‘I kissed someone.’ She snatched the sleeve of my blouse, tugging me beneath the privacy of the tree, lowering her voice. ‘I didn’t just get my first kiss though.’ She pointed to the top button of her blouse, resting on her totally flat chest and petite frame.

I inhaled a sharp breath, sensing images from her conscious of what she and this guy had been up to.

‘And look.’ She swept aside her tight, dark brown curls from the back of her neck, revealing several blotchy red marks, coated in what looked like powder. ‘I tried covering them with foundation, but it hasn’t really worked, has it? It just felt so, you know, nice, when he kissed my neck, I didn’t want to stop him.’

‘Sure he wasn’t a vamp?’ I asked, intending it to be a joke.

She shot me one of her glares and a sarcastic smile, her shoulders hunching like they always did when she was getting defensive. ‘I think I’d know a vampire if I met one.’

‘Not necessarily,’ I replied, but let the subject drop as I heard the high-pitched cackle of Gwen and the quieter chuckles of the other two, Tee and Christy, as they weaved their way between the benches towards us. Gwen’s dark hair shone against the late summer sun, a grin spread across her face from ear to ear as she made squeezing – and not very subtle – motions with her hands in the air, opening her mouth to speak as she got close.

‘So how is our deflowered girl today then?’

Tammy blushed bright red. ‘I didn’t actually do it with him! Honest!’

‘Sure.’ Gwen nodded, proceeding to make crude gestures with her fingers that I hoped the younger students could not see.

‘I didn’t! Gwendolen, stop it!’

Gwen stopped immediately and scowled as she always did when someone used her full name.

The two of them descended into bickering, their circle closing. I gladly stepped back, focusing on filtering the chaotic thoughts of hundreds of teenage humans and allowing the barriers I had relaxed over the summer to rebuild, brick by brick, back around my mind. I did not even notice my eyes close as my thoughts cleared and I was able to break past the excited chatter of students and the coffee-fuelled grim resolve of the teachers. I felt my conscious skim the green pasture of the fields that surrounded the school and rush like a torrent down the rolling hills towards the river that separated me from home. In the town, perched on the mouth of the river, the cobbled streets were lined with tourists and a second ferry had been laid on to cope with the rush. On the railings that lined the embankment, the gulls waited like vultures, knowing an easy feast was on its way.

The sound of my name forced me to release the image my conscious had formed and like the tide rushing out to sea, I returned, opening my eyes.

A hand much darker than my own tugged at my fingers and round brown eyes stared up at me from behind a mass of tightly curled black hair, partly twisted into braids.

‘Tee,’ I said, greeting the younger student beside me. The girl, barely twelve, wrapped her wiry arms around my middle, clutching me like I was a sister – sometimes I felt like I cared for her as though she were a sibling. I might be inadequate at preventing the bullies from taunting me, but I hadn’t been able to stand the racist remarks that were casually thrown at Tee by the older students. In return for my sticking up for her, Tee’s cousin, Tammy, had sought me out as a friend and steered me towards Christy and Gwen.

‘How was your summer?’ I asked as Christy stepped around the chattering group, joining me.

‘Quiet with lots of rain,’ Christy replied, referring to the particularly bad summer we had endured – endless storms, broken by odd days of sunshine like the one we were lucky enough to be experiencing, lightening the blow of returning to a school regime. Tee nodded in agreement, lips raised at one corner into a glum expression I was sure I shared.

‘I keep telling you, I didn’t do it !’

A shiver travelled up my spine. My gaze darted to the blossom of the autumn-flowering cherry tree, eyes trailing the frail pink petals as they descended, spiralling in slow circles towards the ground. A breeze stirred my hair.

‘Gwen, I don’t want to talk about it.’

I wrapped my arms around my middle, feeling the chill the breeze brought tease out the goose bumps along my uncovered wrists. Above, the sun was snuffed as low, callous clouds clawed their way across the blue sky, leaving behind an ashen trail that betrayed them as coming from the direction of the sea.

Tee shuddered. Tammy untied her school jumper from around her waist and slipped it on.

‘Tammy, you don’t need to—’

‘Gwen, shut up!’

‘I was only—’

‘No, look at Autumn!’

The outlines of the tree and the people blurred, air gathering where there should be white shirts and bark. Only the falling blossom remained crisp: a rotating plume, falling, slow, slower, slow enough that I felt I could reach out and catch each petal from the air.

‘Shit! Autumn, say something!’

I could hear every step of every student, falling into a rhythm, regular. The rise and fall of my chest filled in the pause between each beat, struggling to remain steady. My hand tightened, a finger at a time, around the hilt of my sword, tips tracing a ridge, feeling the grip worn from the years of practice mold to the shape of my palm. Between the metal and my flesh, sparks sprung, words forming on my lips as I prepared to cast.

‘Autumn!’

In my empty hand I held a heart, grip tightening and slackening to the rhythm of its pumping, knowing that the beat I felt belonged to something – something that wasn’t human; something that was nearing, fast.

Death danced on my lips and I allowed my magic to drain from my system into shields around as many of the students as I could manage. Then without tearing my eyes away from the falling blossom, I let go of the sword and slipped a small knife out of the scabbard instead. I gripped it in my right hand, curse balanced in the left; waiting.

Panicked, fearful babbling faded away, leaving only the thumping heartbeat of whomever – whatever – was coming.

I didn’t have to wait long. I heard breath behind me; felt another’s magic; heard a voice.

‘Duchess.’

I spun around, lifting the dagger until it rested beneath the defined jaw line of a man not much older than me. But it didn’t get any further.

Half-formed on my lips, a curse that would kill was snatched away by the wind that whipped past, replaced with a sharp intake of breath; then a silence that was only broken by the clatter of my dagger striking the ground. Thrust forward, my hand hung in mid-air, fingers sprawled from where I had let the blade fall.

I wet my lips, shock turning to realization. The seconds fell and neither of us moved. After a minute, it occurred to me to drop into a deep curtsey, onto one knee, aware of how high my skirt was hitching; aware of how the trees whispered treason.

‘Your Highness,’ I managed, eyes fixed firmly on a blossom petal, partly crushed below the edge of my shoe.

‘Duchess,’ he repeated quietly, so only I could hear. I raised my head, risking a glance, but did not allow our gazes to meet.

Always remember your place, Autumn. Etiquette, child, is everything.