One Black Rose - August Part 7

"Fine," I said. I wanted to tell him that I was frustrated about Susan, but didn't. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Want to come over?" he asked. He tried to give me a rea.s.suring smile.

I looked at him, dumbfounded. I'm absolutely certain my mouth was hanging open like an idiot. He had never invited me to his house. I mean, how could he, considering that his mother wanted me dead?

"What? No," I said.

"Why do you always have to start off by saying no?" Samuel asked. "You know you'll come around eventually." His blue eyes lit with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Well, first of all because of your mother," I shot back. "Second of all..." I tried to think of something else to say while he waited expectantly, but I couldn't. "Well, she's enough of a reason," I finished lamely. He hadn't been here three minutes and I was already blushing.

"She's not home," he said. "No one's home tonight but me."

"Oh," I said.

"So you'll only have me over if you're hiding it? When no one knows?" I knew I was being totally unreasonable, since I had just gotten mad at him for wanting to have me when people were there.

"Everyone just so happens to be busy tonight," he said. "Everyone but me. I thought it would be nice, since you've never been over. Understandably," he added when I looked ready to protest again.

It was true, I hadn't. I had almost gone over once to talk to him, but on that occasion I had chickened out before I got anywhere near the place. Good thing, too, because his mother would probably have turned me into a glorified lawn ornament if I'd gone.

"You promise no one else is there?" I didn't want to say Lydia's or Leslie's name, but I knew he would know who I was talking about.

"I promise," said Samuel, grinning. "It's just the two of us. I know you like that idea better."

Now I was really glad it was dark and he couldn't see me blush. "Fine," I said. There was no way for me to say no, and I realized that I didn't even want to.

I got in the car, which was completely decked out with black leather. Samuel moved some stuff out of my way so I could sit comfortably.

"Oh, s.h.i.t," he said. His hands tightened on the wheel.

"What?" I asked, looking around frantically.

"I sort of lied about no one else being home," he said, rubbing his chin with his hand.

"Alright, that's it. I'm going home," I said, and started to get out of the car. I had managed to avoid Lydia and Leslie all these weeks, and there was no way I could do that if I was in the same house with them.

He stopped me with a hand on my arm. His fingers felt warm and comforting and I was momentarily distracted by his touch. "What?" I glared at him, hand poised on the door handle. "You lied. I'm leaving."

"It's just my grandmother. My father's mother. She's harmless," he said. "She's probably already asleep."

I a.s.sumed that he had said it was his father's mother so that I would know that she wasn't directly related to the Winter Queen. At least, I hope that's why he said it.

"Fine," I grumbled, and off we went. His house was a five minute drive from UP, UP and Away in a part of town I had rarely seen, because it was mostly just summer houses and I didn't know anyone over there. Unlike Holt's house, I had never even walked past Samuel's.

The house was about as I expected from the outside. Huge black iron gates guarded the entrance, and Samuel had to press a code to get us inside. Once we slid onto the driveway I could see the house again.

It was a large stone structure, which didn't exactly go with a lot of the rest of the houses in Castleton, most of which were wood and many of which were painted in bright colors. But it was set far enough back from that road that no one could see it who was driving past anyhow.

The trees surrounding the yard made the real size of the house hard to guess at, but I could tell that a first floor light was on and that there were at least two floors above that. Large bay windows overlooked a perfectly manicured lawn. I had a vision of Mrs. Cheshire practicing throwing ice spears in her free time.

Samuel parked in front of the house. At first I didn't want to get out of the car, but he came around to open my door and handed me out. My hand slid easily into his but I refused to look into his eyes, even though I knew he was staring into mine. He went to the door and instead of inserting a key, merely touched the lock. It sparked to life, then swung open soundlessly.

"Comforting," I muttered. I was beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea after all. Samuel used magic so casually.

He stood aside to let me go in first, and I nearly died of fright. I gave a small terrified scream before clamping my hand over my mouth. Standing in front of me was a tiny figure, no taller than my elbow and wearing a black robe.

Samuel rushed in behind me. "What is it? What's wrong?" Then he saw the woman standing in front of me.

"Grams," he said, exasperated. "What are you doing still awake?" I had a feeling he hadn't planned on mentioning my visit to her. She was smiling at us and leaning on her cane. At least, I think she was.

"Just thought I'd come see how you were getting along," she said. "It's not every day that I get time alone in the house with my only grandson." Her smile broadened.

"I'm fine," Samuel muttered. "Gram, this is Autumn." I could see him giving her a warming look and wondered what that was all about.

"Pleasure," said his grandmother, inclining her head slightly. "Any news?" she asked Samuel, her white eyebrows raised.

Samuel shook his head slightly. "It doesn't look good."

"No," she said. "It doesn't."

As usual, I was kept totally in the dark. Of course, maybe it had something to do with his mother, so I probably didn't want to know anyway.

"I should be off to bed, I suppose," she said. "Now that I'm over eighty everyone thinks that if I'm up past nine I must be about to die," she said to me.

"Nice, grandmother," said Samuel, laughing. I didn't see him laugh much. He had a nice laugh.

She gave me a long look before she headed up the stairs. I could see that despite how old she looked, she had no trouble walking or moving at all. I wondered if that cane was just for show, or protection.

Once she was gone, I had a chance to look around the entryway.

As I expected, everything was in dark, muted colors, except for pops of red here and there. The walls were either gray or off-white, with black or midnight blue velvet drapes. I guess given what I knew about Mrs. Cheshire, the decor shouldn't surprise me.

"Were you expecting to see frozen heads mounted on the wall or something?" Samuel teased.

I grinned at him. "Something like that."

"We only have those in the bas.e.m.e.nt," he said, still grinning. "Come on, let's go to the living room."

Unlike at Holt's house, I saw no flowers anywhere. Of course. Holt's family designs lay in flowers, whereas I was pretty sure Samuel's family design lay in ice and snow.

"Do you have those tattoos?" I asked suddenly.

"What tattoos?" Samuel asked me cautiously.

"The ones I saw on Leslie and Mrs. Cheshire," I replied. I couldn't bring myself to call her his mom. "The ones that mark you as Fairy." It was odd to be saying that to anyone but Holt.

"Of course," he said as he pushed open a door.

Beyond the hallway lay the living room, full of black leather and dark wood floors. All of the images on the wall were of winter landscapes and there was a mounted ice pick in the corner, among other things that looked like they would be used in the cold.

"That's useful for burglars," I said, pointing to the ice pick. "I bet your grandmother picked that one out."

"So is being a Fairy," said Samuel dryly.

My eyes widened and he laughed. "You're so gullible." For the third time tonight I blushed.

He offered me a seat on one of the couches.

"Do you want anything to drink?" he asked.

I shook my head no. "Thanks."

"Want to watch a movie?" he asked.

I nodded. I really didn't feel like going home, and the Cheshires' house minus almost all the Cheshires was kind of nice. I sank further into the couch.

"What do you have in mind?"

Samuel got up and hit a b.u.t.ton. Instantly the top of the table in front of me pulled away to reveal rows upon rows of movies. Samuel came to sit next to me and said, "They're organized by genre."

"Wow," I said. "Nick would love this."

"You should all come over sometime," said Samuel. "Maybe tomorrow. My aunt loves movies; she collects them like some people collect stamps."

As Samuel pulled his hand away from the b.u.t.ton I saw an ever so slight tracing of lines shimmering under his skin. His eyes met mine and I got up to examine his arm. Without hesitating I touched him. His skin felt cool under my hands, but not cold. I traced the lines with my fingertip. Samuel had gone very still, watching my hand, watching me. Where the lines were felt warmer than the rest of him, but I still couldn't make out what the designs were.

"They're of cliffs," said Samuel. His voice was a little hoa.r.s.e. "And winter forests. Sometimes of a frozen ocean. They mark us as part of the Winter Court."

I nodded, fascinated by the beauty of the markings. Finally, I realized that I still had hold of his arm and dropped it like it was on fire. I was breathing hard, so I busied myself studying the movies he had just revealed. When I settled on Inside Man with Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster, Samuel was shocked that I hadn't seen it and rattled off five or six other movies I'd also never seen that he thought I had to watch or hide my face in shame.

We both sat comfortably on the couch for the movie. I found myself glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, but he never moved closer to me. At one point he disappeared for a few minutes, and I got a little panicked when I heard some weird popping noise nearby, but when he came back he was carrying popcorn and two gla.s.ses. He offered me some soda to go with it, but I opted for lemonade instead. I informed him that it was the best summer drink ever, unless limeade was available. We argued about that for a while, but soon the movie engrossed me again.

"That was good," I said when it ended.

"Yeah," said Samuel. "I'm so glad you finally got to see it."

"I wonder if I could rob a bank," I mused, fiddling with my gla.s.s.

"Ha, no way. You're too honest," Samuel replied with a laugh. "You might get the loot, but then you'd start to feel guilty and return it all."

I laughed. I still didn't feel like going home, but I didn't want Samuel to get sick of me either. I had had fun tonight. I just sat on the couch and kept munching on popcorn, hoping he would invite me to stay longer.

"Want to play cards?" Samuel asked. "My family plays all the time."

"Sure," I said. "But I'm not very good." Nick had gotten us to play cards a couple of times that summer, but I had always lost. I wasn't even good at Hearts, which was all we'd played.

We ended up playing cards for hours. Samuel knew all kinds of games that I'd never heard of. He said he was modifying some of them for two people to play.

"Don't you ever go out to parties or anything?" I wanted to know.

"Sometimes," said Samuel. "But I've been busy recently." He looked uncomfortable and I waited for him to say something else, but he didn't.

"What were you and your grandmother talking about?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Samuel. He never took his eyes off his cards.

"I mean," I said, "what were you being so secretive about? AND," I continued quickly, trying to keep my momentum going before he cut me off and told me he wasn't going to tell me anything, "Carley thinks you don't want me to go in the water because you care about me...."

I let that trail off and waited to see what he said. "And you don't think I care about you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows "The thought has crossed my mind," I muttered, thinking of how callous he had been all summer. "You haven't exactly been Prince Charming."

Samuel tossed the cards on the table. I watched them scatter. "Prince Charming doesn't exist. I told you not to go in the water because it's not safe for you. What have I ever done to make you think I wished you harm?" he asked more quietly.

I felt bad for offending him. I hadn't meant to and he did have a point. He'd saved me from tumbling off a cliff that one night. That had to count for something. He could have just let me fall.

"No a I mean, I know you do, but...." Now I'd made a mess of it. If foot-in-mouth was a syndrome, I'd be the poster child for it.

Samuel frowned as he gathered the cards. "Sorry. I can't tell you what we were talking about. It's a matter of national security."

"It is not," I said, glaring. He laughed and dealt another hand.

I instantly perked up. I wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. "So there is something! I was wondering what you and Susan were talking about!" I said victoriously.

"Wait, what?" yelped Samuel, almost dropping all his cards.

"What?" I asked, all innocence. "Aren't you two plotting something?" I was getting nervous, because Samuel was looking at me like I had two heads, neither of which was working right at the moment.

"How do you know I talked to Susan?" Samuel asked.

"I, um, I saw you two together," I said. "What difference does that make?" I was allowed to ask him about talking to other girls, wasn't I?

Samuel scrunched up his face. He did not look happy, but I wasn't going to stop asking until I got some answers.

"Well, if you recall the events of earlier this summer...." He didn't have to say that some of the Cheshires and the Roths were at odds. I knew that. The Winter Queen had made that clear at the Solstice party.

"So?" I asked. "That was your mom, not you." Finally we'd gotten around to actually talking about the Solstice party and what had happened that night.

"You blamed me for it," said Samuel quietly. "Maybe not at first, but you do now. Since he's left." He didn't have to say who "he" was.

I could feel the tension in my shoulders as I said, "That was different."

"Sure it was," said Samuel.

"My family and the Roths aren't on good terms right now. Susan would get in trouble if anyone knew she had seen me, even though she was doing the right thing," he said. "If you want to know so badly, why don't you ask her?"

I knew he was saying that so that I wouldn't accidentally mention that I'd seen Susan with Samuel, but who would I tell? Normally I'd probably have already asked Holt about it a which Samuel must realize a but Samuel also knew that I had no idea where Holt was.

"What was she doing the right thing about?" I asked.