One Black Rose - August Part 17

"Well yeah," I said.

Suddenly Nick sat upright. His eyes had gone wide. "WHERE IS CARLEY?"

"Samuel went to get her," I said. I had no idea what else to say, so the truth made sense. I just didn't know how I'd actually explain it to him.

"What? I have to go too." Nick tried to get to his feet, but he only made it to his knees before he started to sway.

"Autumn, why aren't you doing anything?" he cried, putting his hand on my shoulder. I'm not sure if he did that to steady himself or to encourage me to action.

"Because Samuel, Lydia, and Leslie have it under control," I said evenly. I hoped that was true. "We aren't any help to them."

"Help me up," said Nick, poking me in the arm.

"What? You can't stand. You have to rest," I protested.

"Autumn," said Nick dangerously. I had never heard him use that tone of voice before. "We are going to stand up and wait for Carley."

I realized he had a point. I was less help from an on-the-ground point of view.

Big Jake walked past us glaring, and I stuck my tongue out at him. Petty maybe, but it felt good at the time. He just raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. I would never be intimidating.

"They've been gone a long time," said Nick, chewing on a fingernail.

My phone buzzed. I glanced at the text. It was Holt, asking me which party I'd gone to. There was no way I was going to text him back, though, not until Carley and Samuel came out of the water safely. Lydia and Leslie could go with the Water Sprite for all I cared.

A girl ran up to Nick with some ice, but he didn't even notice her trying to hand it to him; his eyes were glued on the ocean. I had to take it from her and press it to his head. At the feel of the cold he winced, but he didn't look away from where Samuel had gone under.

"They're fine," I said. I noticed for the first time that a few people were around us, kind of looking around warily, but time hadn't stopped. Everyone else was still enjoying the party. They had no idea that Carley had disappeared.

How had it happened so quickly? I wondered. She hadn't even had time to surface. The second she was thrown in, that was it. How could the Water Sprite have been in the right spot so fast?

Now I could feel myself starting to panic. When I'd first seen Samuel go in after Carley, I'd felt better. Holt had saved me, so of course Samuel would save Carley. Although I would die before I admitted this to them, Lydia and Leslie going in after them had also helped calm me down. It was three against one, right?

But now, as the minutes trickled past and there was still no sign of life, I was starting to freak out. This was my best friend. A girl I'd spent all summer with. Yeah, she had her faults, but who didn't? It's the imperfections that make the person, or at least that's what I'd always been told.

"People can't survive underwater forever," Nick pointed out.

Splash.

"There they are!" I cried triumphantly, pointing out into the water.

Nick groaned with relief. His face transformed from a mask of pain and worry to one of desperate happiness.

"Do they have her?" he asked. He was shifting from one foot to the other on the sand. If not for the strong hold I kept on his shirt, he would have dashed into the water to meet them.

"Nick, that Big Jake guy punched you and tried to drown you. If you go back into the water the Cheshires are going to have another person they have to save."

Under Nick's pale exterior I could see him blush. He knew I was right.

I took a deep breath and watched the forms moving towards us. They were going very slowly. When they were all almost out of the water, I could see that Samuel was pulling Carley along, while Lydia was behind him, swimming backwards to keep her face trained out on the ocean, and Leslie was trying to support a head. Carley's head. I let out a moan.

Even from this distance I could see that she was pale and barely breathing. Nick had gone into hysterics and no amount of shirt holding could keep him from running to her. He did it on wobbling legs and when he got to her, Leslie blocked his path.

"She's going to be fine," she said in a voice that was remarkably gentle and persuasive.

Samuel came onto the sand and laid Carley on the beach. I dropped to my knees next to her.

"Has someone called 911?" I yelled.

I heard someone in the crowd say yes, but my focus was on Carley. She was breathing, but it was faint.

"What happened to her?" I asked, looking up into Samuel's troubled eyes. He was wet and his dark hair hung in his face. I could see the muscles of his chest through his wet shirt.

"She'll be fine."

"How do you know?" I yelled at him. "How do you know?"

He shook his head. "She just needs to get to a hospital, but she's not going to die, Autumn. I promise."

"Why did it take three of you?" I asked, glaring at them, while Nick knelt on Carley's other side and took her hand. "Holt didn't need help saving me." It was petty of me to point that out, I knew it, but it needed to be said. He'd been alone and he'd been a lot faster.

"Ungrateful little thing, aren't you?" spat Lydia. "Because if you must know, Holt is stronger in the summer, just as we are stronger in the winter. It doesn't seem like that should be a big leap for you."

Have I mentioned recently how much I hate her?

"Leave her alone," said Samuel gently, poking Lydia. She looked like she was about to say something else, but she thought better of it.

The rest of the evening went by in a blur. The paramedics came and took Carley away. I had no idea what they were doing to her, and I'm pretty sure Samuel performed Glamour on everyone, because they all thought she'd sprained her ankle when she was thrown in and that's how the current pulled her out: basically what people thought had happened to me, only with the ankle as an added touch. It's a good thing people were so gullible. Two best friends have the same accident a day apart. Yeah, that happens all the time.

I finally texted Holt back and he said he'd meet us at the hospital. Mrs. Hightower had a complete fit when I told her, but of course she'd be at the hospital too.

Lydia and Leslie, of course, refused to go with us, so Samuel drove Nick and me over. The drive was short, and once we were there we all waited for Mrs. Hightower, since they wouldn't tell us anything without Carley's family present.

Nick was blaming himself. He didn't think he should have let her go to the party, let alone drink. Samuel told him that girls were stubborn and always thought they knew better and didn't listen to guys. I had a feeling he was saying it to me as much as to Nick, but I ignored him; I would never tell him that sometimes he might have a point. There was nothing I could have said to Carley tonight to change the outcome. It's hard to see a friend heading for trouble and to have to sit back and watch it happen, but sometimes the mark of being a good friend is to just sit with someone after she's fallen flat on her face.

Finally Mrs. Hightower arrived and spoke with a doctor. By the time she came back to us Holt had arrived and I was sitting awkwardly in a waiting room with a panicked Nick, a drenched Samuel, and a very attractive Holt. Geez, I'd gone from having no guys at all to having way too many. I'd love to know how I managed that.

"She's going to be fine," said Mrs. Hightower, returning. "She's going to stay here overnight, but we can bring her home in the morning."

"Wonderful," said Nick. Breathing a sigh of relief, he let his head drop in between his knees.

"You should get that eye looked at, young man," said Mrs. Hightower sternly. "I mean it. You aren't leaving here until a doctor takes a look."

"No, really, I'm fine, Mrs. H.," said Nick.

"Don't call me Mrs. H.," she said.

"Right."

"Holt Roth, Samuel Cheshire, what are you both doing here?" she asked, turning to me with a knowing smile. I wondered if it was possible to disappear into the floor. At that moment I thought that if I could choose a superpower, that would be it. My face must have been SO red.

"You know, if you're going to be hanging around with Autumn so much you should both come to dinner sometime. How about tomorrow night?"

Before she gave either of them a chance to respond, she towed Samuel out of the room. He glanced back at me with a pained expression. I grinned. I yawned. We didn't have much in the fridge. I should probably offer to go grocery shopping for Mrs. Hightower.

Then it hit me. What she had just said. She'd just invited Samuel and Holt over for dinner. Tomorrow. Together. Oh, man.

Chapter Sixteen.

On the bright side, Mrs. Hightower had told us that Carley would be just fine. On the downside, doom waited for me the next night when both Samuel and Holt were expected for dinner.

Wow. I had thought it would be bad when my dad met my first boyfriend, but I was sure this was going to be tons worse.

Once Mrs. Hightower had made Samuel promise to come to the house, he reluctantly left. I don't think he wanted to leave, but I knew he wouldn't stick around with Holt there. He gave me one last look before he left. I was just as torn, because part of me wanted him to stay so that I could hear how he had rescued Carley. But I didn't want to ask in front of Holt.

He moved over to sit next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. He felt wonderfully warm and solid.

Soon after Samuel left, Nick came back. The doctor had told him that he just needed to rest and that he'd have "a real shiner." Instead of being upset or tired, Nick was ecstatic. He couldn't wait to show Carley.

Finally, when Mrs. Hightower shooed us away, Nick headed home to rea.s.sure his parents that he didn't have brain damage, and Holt offered to drive me back to Carley's.

"I don't know why he's so proud of that black eye," I muttered when we were walking to the parking lot.

Holt laughed. "You don't? He fought for the girl he loves and he's proud of it. Does that surprise you?" He held his car door open for me and I got in.

Once he'd started the car I said, "It's just stupid. Look at his face!"

"You think the idea of guys fighting over a girl is stupid?" asked Holt.

Suddenly I realized where he was going with that and blushed.

"I'd prefer guys didn't have to fight over me," I murmured.

"What was that you said?" asked Holt, leaning closer to me and pretending he hadn't heard properly.

"Oh, shut up," I said, slouching back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. "It's been a long night."

"How are you doing?" Holt asked. We hadn't had much chance to talk at the hospital. At first we'd been too worried about Carley, and then Mrs. Hightower had shown up. I'd basically been running on adrenaline and fear, and I still wasn't sure if there would be any lasting effects on Carley. Yeah, Samuel had said she'd been fine, but how could he know?

I slumped further down in the seat.

"You alright?" Holt asked again.

"Is Carley going to be okay?" I asked.

"Of course," said Holt. "Samuel knows what he's doing and they got to her in time."

"Yeah, but if she was really alright she wouldn't be in the hospital," I pointed out.

Holt sighed. "They're just making sure she's okay. Stable. That's all. She's going to be fine."

After that he asked what had happened at Chelsea's house. I told him everything. I even told him about Lydia and Leslie being terrible excuses for human beings. He pointed out that they had sort of redeemed themselves by helping Samuel get Carley out of the water, but I ignored that. I was convinced that they had an ulterior motive for helping him and weren't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, because at this point I was pretty sure they didn't have any.

I reached out and took Holt's hand. I felt him hesitate for a second, then relax. We drove the rest of the way like that.

Once we were at the house, Holt waited until I'd turned some lights on to drive his car home. He was coming right back, of course. Now more than ever I apparently needed someone with me, but he couldn't leave the car at the house without Mrs. Hightower knowing that he was there.

He told me to go inside and lock the door and that he would be right back. I thought he was being a bit silly. It wasn't as if there was an ocean in the living room for a Water Sprite to jump out at me from, but I did what he said.

I was too tired to want to do anything but crawl into bed, but I still had a lot of sand on me from sitting on the beach, so I took a quick shower. I hurried, because I really didn't want Holt to get to the house while I was naked. At least, I didn't think I did.

I hopped into bed as soon as I was dressed, and no sooner had I pulled the covers up to my chin than there was a soft tap on the door. I let him in, and in the light from the nightstand I could see that he'd changed into a plain t-shirt and workout shorts, more comfortable to sleep in than what he'd been wearing earlier. I found myself briefly wondering what he slept in, or didn't sleep in, when he was alone....

"How do you get up there?" I asked. "There are no trees out there or anything else to grab onto. Do Fairies have super strength?"

"Not exactly," said Holt. "But I do have a plant bring me."

"You...what?" I asked.

Holt shrugged. "It's summer. My connection with growing things is strong, so if I need to get up somewhere high...."

"Samuel said something about that earlier," I said thoughtfully. "But a plant isn't very superhero-like."

Holt looked at me sharply. "What did Samuel say earlier? And I'm not a superhero, so that's okay."

"He just said that he and the Cheshire girls weren't as strong in the summer, because it wasn't their time. Winter is their time."

Holt nodded. "It's true. They could still fight us in the summer because there are more of them, but it's not as easy. Not when we have all the wonders of light and life to draw on."

I scooted over in the bed so he could hop in. Instantly I felt safer with him there. I cuddled into his shoulder and put my hand on his chest, glad for his strong arm around me.

"I really don't see why I need protection when I'm not even swimming," I grumbled.

I could feel Holt's chest rise softly as he laughed.

"You want me to leave?" he teased.

I felt my cheeks warm.

"That's not what I meant," I murmured.