Autumn in the City of Lights (19 page)

I led Grey off the main road and up a narrow one-lane. “We’re close,” I said. “Just a little bit farther.”

I began to recognize the houses of my grandparents’ friends — people who had known my mother when she was a little girl here. The road straightened and rose above the heaving sea to give us a view of the humpbacked island called Ireland’s Eye.

I paused at the end of the lane, looking down on the roof of a small cottage nestled just below the road. A path led from the road down around its side. It looked just like it did in summers past.

“This is it,” I said, though a feeling passed through me that it wasn’t. Mamó had always been waiting on the path above the house, sitting on the low stone wall that ran along the road. No one sat there now.

I was surprised to find I wasn’t scared of finding her or my grandfather’s bodies. Being here was like physically touching my past.

I let go of Grey’s hand and made my way down the path, my legs swishing through the overgrown grass on either side. The path curved around the side of the cottage, and the front porch came into view, along with the sea cliffs far beyond the house. Wide stone steps led up to the front door, closed firmly against the wind coming off the ocean.

I mounted the steps, passing into the shade of the porch roof. I swore I could smell Mamó’s potato soup. I touched the handle of the old door and gently tried to open it. It didn’t budge. Locked. I stepped to the left of the door and knelt in front of a small stone statue of a rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a picnic basket. I tilted it to one side, revealing the spare key. I smiled and picked it up.

I opened the door, and we passed into the dark, chilly interior. All the shades were drawn, so I left the front door open to let in some light. Everything was still in order. I sighed in relief. No one had looted the house. The tall brass coat stand in the corner still held a collection of wool coats and scarves, an umbrella stand almost buried in its depths, and below, a clutter of various Wellington rubber boots like gifts under a Christmas tree.

I followed the hallway to the back of the house, where it opened up into the kitchen and main living room. Everything was just as I remembered it. I stood still and looked around, trying to soak up all the sights and the memories they brought back to me. The couch in the middle of the room, piled high with folded blankets and fluffy pillows, the walls crowded with pictures of our family through the years, the windows looking out over the sea cliffs. The pots and pans still hung from hooks in the kitchen ceiling. My dad used to bump his head on them, sending them clanging against each other. Mamó had a small stool she used to drag across the floor so she could access whatever kettle or pan she needed.

I almost expected to see my grandfather dozing in his Barcalounger in the corner.

“Autumn,” Grey’s voice cut through the stillness in the room, and I turned around, startled to hear alarm in it. He walked silently but quickly toward me and bent his head to whisper. My heart jumped as he clasped his hands on my arms.

“There’s sand on one of the pairs of boots by the front door.”

I shrugged and opened my mouth, but he continued in a hushed tone. “The sand is wet. Someone is living here.”

I swallowed, a feeling of unease spreading through me. I didn’t like the idea of someone other than my grandparents living here. I didn’t want to leave, but my bad feeling was growing.

I looked around the familiar room once more and saw something in the fireplace. I pulled away from Grey and bent to look. A few glowing embers were visible in the mostly dead fire. Goosebumps prickled my skin.

“You’re right,” I whispered. “Someone is here.”

Before I could say more, a clang shattered the deafening silence in the room, and I spun around in time to see Grey tumble to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

I rushed forward to where Grey had fallen, his limbs sprawled across the floor. I reached for him but stopped when I saw a figure standing in the hallway, silhouetted against the block of sunlight coming through the open door.

I slowly looked up, my eyes adjusting. The features of the figure standing over me became clearer. My heart stopped.

“It canna be,” a familiar voice said.

I slowly stood, not taking my eyes from the wrinkled face of Mamó. My Mamó.

“Autumn?” Her tiny voice cracked.

I covered my mouth with both hands, too stunned to speak, as she reached for me and pulled me against her. It was too real to be a dream. I could
smell
her. Her wool sweater was infused with eucalyptus, and her wrinkled cheek pressed against my own. When she pulled away, tears dripped down her face, and she shook her head.

“How an God’s green earth are ye here, child? How is it possible?”

“We walked... we walked from the castle,” I said, gesturing in the direction of Howth’s Castle. “We were in Paris... I’m immune, and so are you?”

I wasn’t making any sense to her, I was sure. To her knowledge, I’d been in Los Angeles with my father when the Crimson Fever broke out. How I’d come to be 5,000 miles from there a year and a half after the apocalyptic plague had completely changed the world wasn’t a question I was prepared to answer.

“Looks to be so, yes,” she mused. “And who is this lad?”  She motioned to Grey with the cast iron skillet I just now noticed she was carrying.

I gasped. “Did you hit him with that?”

“Of course I did! These are mad times, and he was an intruder in me hoose!”

I knelt and tried to shake him awake. He was knocked out cold. I pulled his head into my lap and looked up at her.

“Mamó, this is Grey. He’s my boyfriend,” I said, the words feeling clunky in my mouth. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I’d be introducing Grey to my grandma, particularly while he was unconscious after she’d knocked him out with the skillet she made soda bread in.

“Ahhhh, you have a boyfriend, now do you? Are you old enough to have a boyfriend?”

I looked up at her, perplexed by the question, but then I saw her eyes were twinkling. She crossed the room to the kitchen and set her skillet on the table.

“I dinna have any ice, but I have well water, if you think it would help him come to.”

“Yes, water would be good. Thanks, Mamó.”

She brought me a glass of water and a clean dishtowel. I tried dabbing his forehead and cheeks with the damp towel. It seemed to do the trick, and he opened his eyes, moaned, and raised his hand to the back of his head.

“He’s terribly handsome if you dinna mind me saying so,” Mamó mused.

His eyes found me above him, then strayed to Mamó, and back to me.

“Grey? This is... uh... well, this is Mamó,” I said.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and stared at her. “You’re Autumn’s grandmother?” he asked in disbelief.

She nodded, smiling. “And yer Autumn’s beau!”

I stared at her as she smiled at both of us.

“Have you eaten?” she asked.  Then, before we could answer, she was bustling into the kitchen.  “I’ve nay any meat, but I’ve potatoes!” she called.

I helped Grey up, and we followed her into the kitchen.  In a matter of minutes, she was frying potatoes for us. Grey seemed groggy but was recovering quickly.

“Yer grandfather passed on the second day of the Great Fever, but I wasna sick meself.  Then the whole town seemed to disappear.  But I planted some potatoes, and all’s been well since. Now tell me how you got yerself here all the way from the States? Surely yer not hiding wings under that sweater, are you?”  Mamó poked the wooden spoon she was using at Grey.

“No, ma’am,” he answered, smiling. “But we did fly here in a jet.”

“Ahhhh, well, that’s almost as impressive.”

“We live in Burbank now,” I explained.  “Well, now it’s called New Burbank. You remember Burbank?  We took you there to the Baker Brothers lot when you visited us a while back, remember?”

She nodded, then expertly flipped the contents of the pan onto two waiting plates, which she then handed to us.

“Come, come, sit down an’ eat,” she said, bustling us toward the table with her wooden spoon.

“What about—” I started.

“I’ve already eaten, don’t worry. Come sit an’ tell me yer adventures.”

I filled her in on the past two years of my life while we gorged ourselves on her fried potatoes. I skipped over certain parts regarding Grey’s past and his link to Karl. Then I finished with the Summit of New Nations going on in Paris.

“And how did you get here from France?” Mamó asked, raising an eyebrow at Grey. “Dinna tell me you can turn into a fish, and you swam her over here?”

Grey smiled. “No, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

Mamó laughed.

“We had some extra time between meeting sessions, so Autumn and I decided to come visit. Autumn’s told me so much about you. It sure was a surprise to find you here.”  Grey grimaced, feeling the back of his head where she’d hit him with the skillet.

Mamó laughed again. “Well, that should teach you to never surprise an Irish woman!”

We talked nonstop for another two hours before noticing the sun beginning to set.

“Mamó, I really, really hate to say this, but we’re going to have to get back. We’ll come back for you in a couple days when the Summit is over, and you can fly back to New Burbank with us. There’s plenty of room where we live, and you’d just love Connie, and you have to meet Rissi, and Ben, and—”

“I love you so much for offerin’ to bring me with you, but I’m perfectly happy here, and here I’ll stay.”

I shook my head and took one of her hands between mine. “You can’t mean to stay here. Please, you have to come with us. You can’t stay here by yourself.”

“I’ve been here by meself for two years, and I’ve done just fine. This is the only home I’ve ever known, an’ I’d like not to leave it before I have to.”

“Then I’ll stay here with you,” I said suddenly, meaning every word of it. I couldn’t stand knowing she was here by herself when she was alive. We should be together, it didn’t matter where. She was my grandmother.

She patted my hand. “It soonds like you’re needed much more in Paris and in the States. But you can come back anytime you like for more fried potatoes. Believe it or not, I had quite a bumper crop o’ them!”

“But Mamó... I won’t get to come back as often as I’d like to. The jet we used to get here, well, we don’t have a lot of fuel for it. It was a miracle we could manage enough just to get here and back home.”

She stood and cleared our plates, shaking her head and smiling.

“What?”

“I think ye know.”

“Know what?”

“Your young man there will get you back here often enough, dinna you worry.” She plunked the plates into a bowl of water in the sink and began washing them.

“Please come with us,” I pleaded.

“Your na listening, my child,” she chided, shaking a soapy finger at me. “He will bring you back; I know this.”

I shook my head, confused.  “We can’t just—”

“
Fòmhair
,” Grey whispered, touching my hand.

“I had an inkling, but you jest confirmed it,” Mamó said, grinning at Grey while she dried the plates and set them back in the cupboard.

“Confirmed what?” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing,” she said, fluttering her hands at us.  “Go on now, get back to your meetin’.”  She hugged me tightly, then pulled away and put her hands on my cheeks. Her eyes were sparkling with tears. “Come back as often as you wish.”

My own eyes filled with tears at the thought of leaving her. “Okay,” I whispered. “
Fortiter
.”

“
Fortiter
,” she whispered back, then patted my cheeks with her palms and kissed me.  She did the same to Grey, smiling and patting him on the back almost as if to encourage him. “I’m sorry about your head,” she said, then shooed us into the growing darkness in her front garden.

“I’ll come back,” I promised.

“I’m sure ye will. An’ much sooner than we booth expect, I’m sure!”  She waved as Grey and I followed the path around the corner of the house, and sooner than I would have liked, we were striding away from her cottage. We went around a bend, then I stopped and sat down on the low stone wall.

“Do you think she’s okay there all by herself? I mean, she was thinking we could come back whenever! Do you think being alone for the past year and a half has affected her?”

Grey chuckled and shook his head. “I think she’s probably just fine. Let me ask you a question. Has your grandma ever talked about any kind of Celtic or pagan religion?”

I stared at him, confused. “Not that I’m aware of,” I said.

He shook his head again. “It’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just that the Celtic people, or Neo-Druids, as they’ve been called in the past century or so, have always been better at sniffing me out, if you know what I mean.”

“Sniffing you out?”

“Suspecting I was different, not from here, or had some kind of mystical power.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Seriously?”

He nodded. “But they also respect it and don’t shout the news from the rooftops, so it’s usually not a problem.”

“So you’re saying my grandma might be a Druid?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s possible. Does she celebrate the Solstices and Equinoxes?”

“Yeah, but isn’t that kind of a common thing around here?”

“More so than Southern California,” he agreed. “Look, she’s expecting me to bring you back, so I will, as often as we can spare it. And I doubt she’ll ask questions.”

I stood and leaned my forehead against his chest. “This is nuts. I still can’t believe she’s alive. And that I’ll get to see her again.”

He wrapped his arms around me. “Isn’t that a wonderful thing?” He kissed me and rubbed the back of his head with a grin. “You ready to go back?”

“I guess so,” I said, turning my face into his shoulder.

“Hold on tight.”

When I opened my eyes, Grey and I were back in Versailles, but it wasn’t my room, it was his. I looked around for a moment, examining it. It was almost identical to mine, except the bedding and accents were a burnt orange color.

“It feels like a week since the meeting this morning.”  I let go of Grey and sat on the bed. “My grandmother is alive. I just can’t fathom it.”

Grey sat next to me and put a hand on my leg. “This is amazing news, but we can’t dwell on it right now. We’ve had our day, but now we have to turn our focus to Karl.”

He was right, and we both knew it. I had to get votes for tomorrow’s elections. “Do you think Shad and Daniel won any favor with the delegates on my behalf?”

“One way to find out.”  Grey stood and offered me his hand. “Let’s go find them.”

Dinner service was underway when we found Daniel and Shad, along with the rest of the delegates. The room was less formal than the Hall of Mirrors, but it was still very stately. There were round tables with plush fabric chairs around them, and candelabras and fresh cut flowers in the center of each table.

Despite the elegance, the air was thick with tension. There were countless debates going on at every table, and as Grey and I walked past, I could feel the conversation quiet and eyes bore into me. Apparently my intention of running for president pro-tem was widely known. I tried to reassure myself this was a good thing, and I held my head high, until I saw two open chairs at a nearby table. I recognized a few of the faces at it, but not all of them.

Grey and I sat next to Roslyn, from the Virginia settlement, and Cheri and Joe, from Washington. I remembered Ben had flagged Cheri as possibly untrustworthy, and felt a little awkward, but I was careful not to let it show on my face. I was going to win as many delegates tonight as possible.

“Did we miss the main course?” I asked, cordially.

“Not yet, dear. Just a little fruit and cheese to start,” Cheri said. “Now what’s this I hear about you throwing your hat into the ring?” That roused the attention of the whole table.

“It’s true,” I said, reminding myself confidence was the key here. “I believe we can’t allow Karl to gain control. I believe in what we’re trying to do here. And I think it’s of the utmost importance, for humanity, that we succeed.”

“So are you running because you want to lead, or because you want Karl not to?” Roslyn asked point blank.

“Honestly, both.”  I figured the truth was the best way to go. “I’m used to being in a spotlight, thanks to my mother, and I want to help. And I also think Karl would be a dangerous leader for us to have. So I hope I can count on your support tomorrow.”  I smiled, feeling like a stereotype, an actor pretending to be a politician just like in my mom’s movies. But I’d grown up around the best of the best, so I tried to embody them.

“Well, you have my vote,” Cheri said. “I’m too old to handle more people than I’ve got in Washington, and I think Karl’s a wretch. I didn’t even need your speech. As soon as I heard you were running, you had me.”  She smiled warmly. Maybe Ben was wrong about her, I thought.

“I appreciate your support,” I said. “And what about the rest of you?”  I took a moment to catch the eyes of everyone around the table. “Any other votes out there for the taking?”

I saw Cheri’s companion, Joe Boo, laugh at my little joke, as Grey squeezed my hand, approvingly. Maybe I could be good at politics after all, I thought.

“I’m still on the fence,” Roslyn said in earnest. “I’m sorry, Autumn, but you’re just so young to be thrust into this kind of position. I’ve heard the stories about Karl from your friends, but I don’t know who to believe right now. I’m not sure I’ll be voting for him either. Maybe I’ll nominate myself. I don’t know.”

“With all due respect,” I interjected, “I think it might be too late to run. The vote is in the morning. There’s not much time to gain any backing. I know, because I’m under the same deadline. But at least I’ve had the day to work on it.”  Thank God Shad and Daniel had already started rallying the troops while Grey and I took some time together, I thought. “The best you can do now is back the right person. I may be young, but I’m honest, and I’m good at gathering the right people around me for the best advice. Trust me when I tell you, if Karl wins, he’ll never relinquish power. He wants to rule. I want to lead. There’s a big difference.” Roslyn’s gaze broke off, and I saw her take a moment to consider.