Autumn Girl

Chapter Two

I freeze. In my arms, Kobi squeals sharply as my grip on him tightens.

My brain is still stunned and refusing to work, as are my legs. Eventually this wears off and I walk towards the stage. Everyone is staring. I can't mess up.

Reed's arm is extended towards me. I climb up the stairs and move to his side. Kobi starts freaking out, rolling left and right in my arms, shaking his head in more directions than I thought possible.

'You look young. How old are you?'

'Fourteen.' A few people in the audience, mostly towards the back, frown.

'She's fourteen, everyone!' booms Reed. They applaud, but awkwardly. You can see that every fifteen-to-eighteen-year-old thinks it's stupid that I was chosen instead of them.

'Now, let's get to the bit that you're all interested in the most...' Reed suddenly point at Kobi, making him jump. 'Who's this?'

'He is a cat.' I pause. 'His name is Kobi. He likes climbing. Er, and livers.' I curse myself inside my head. This is all a mistake. It's all a very, very big mistake.

Unexpectedly, the audience applauds. Kobi looks about as comfortable as I feel. Reed just looks confused. In the front row, I see Flint and Gwinn silently laughing their heads off. It occurs to me that I would probably do the same. I will go down in history as the youngest ever Guard, and I'm talking about the eating habits of a supremely intelligent but vain cat.

The supremely intelligent but vain cat leaps from my arms and goes to sulk in a corner of the stage. Reed hands me a tightly-bound scroll and tells everyone that the ceremony is over. I climb down from the stage, ignoring Kobi - he'll get bored of sulking and follow me eventually - and then everyone lines up in front of me.

I have to shake people's hands. I completely forgot.

Flint is first in line, and naturally he's going to a lot of trouble to get me to notice him, even though he is right in front of me. I can't shake everyone's hand - no one ever gets to - but I try.

'You realize you get to skip school now, right?' yells Warren in an obnoxiously loud voice lower than his usual tone. I ignore him.

After what seems like hours, I reach the end of the line and the crowd disperses. My mother, father, Asa and Kobi all appear by my side soon enough. Everyone is silent except for Asa. He goes on and on and on about all the reasons being a Guard is awesome, followed by all the reasons I'm not good enough to be one.

'Careful, Asa. In a few months I'll have the power to arrest you.'

'Lexi! You do not joke about things like that!' My mother turns to my father. 'See, this is why fourteen is too young... but if your child is told to be the Guard, you don't just say no! No one just says no!'

'Actually, you aren't allowed to say no.' I say. 'If you're chosen, it's compulsory to become Guard. Unless you're really badly wounded. Or really ill. Or dead.'

'I wish that was the case.' Asa kicks my ankle.

'Asa, need I remind you that you just threatened and kicked a trainee Autumn?' I kick him back and my father pulls me away from him.

'If you're going to be the Autumn, then at least ACT like you're mature enough.'

'Okay, okay.' I pick up Kobi, which makes him grumpy, and stride a few steps forward so that I'm ahead of them. I accidentally drop the scroll, because it's hard to carry both of them at once, and Asa laughs.

'Silly Lexi.' He picks it up and whacks me with it.

I am at my wit's end. I'll happily become the Autumn if it means more time away from him.

When I arrive at home, I take the scroll from Asa and head up to my room to read it. As I open it, Rupert and Kobi run into my room - well, Rupert doesn't run, he sorts of waddles quickly.

I unroll it and it says:

For the next seven days, you will be given two-hour training sessions. These will begin at noon. This will be followed by several patrols with the Summer and/or their squad, continuing for the remainder of the season. Intelligent working dogs may be brought to accompany you.

I look down at Rupert, who spins around three times and falls face-first on a pillow. We own no intelligent working dogs. I continue reading.

You will be provided with the weapon you wish to use, but any kind of armour must be paid for.

Great. My mother will love that.

I read the last sentence out loud. "From Heath, captain of the Border Guard."

Whoever is the eldest out of the Border Guards is the captain. Therefore, when Heath turns twenty-two, a new guard will replace him as captain.

This means that some guards are captain for longer than others. Unfair, but that's the way it is.

After dinner, I head straight up to bed. Kobi wants to sleep on my pillow, but I make him lie on his table with his own pillows.

I don't fall asleep. I panic. I wonder if I will have nightmares. Probably. I consider every possible way tomorrow could go wrong. Asa is included in more scenarios than he probably should be. Eventually my brain is like 'Ugh! Enough thinking! I am DONE for the night!'

At which point, I do fall asleep.

Being the thoughtful person that he is, Asa wakes me up by jumping on me and whacking me with his shoe.

I get dressed. I decide on wearing my favourite jacket - it's a pretty jade colour, and I never seem to grow out of it - a grey shirt and plain black jeans.

After heading downstairs, I say goodbye to my father and Kobi. My mother gives me a map to HQ and we set off towards it.

HQ is the headquarters for both the Evergreen Heights council and all seasonal Guards. It is divided into two grey buildings, which are, on the outside, perfectly symmetrical. We enter the southernmost one and Reed is waiting for us, along with another woman who must be an ex-Guard.

She has mud-brown hair pulled tightly into a bun, and her eyes are the same colour. She wears a red shirt and tights, with a golden chestplate over the top.

Reed gestures to her. 'This is Elaina, a previous Guard of Autumn and the woman who will look after you, therefore making sure you do not die at any point during the events of your training sessions.'

I have no idea if he's joking. Neither does my mother. We don't ask.

Elaina glances behind me. 'While I myself am a cat person, we do not permit animals inside HQ unless they are extremely well trained - which is virtually never the case with any form of feline.'

It takes me a ten full seconds to work out what's going on. I spin around.

Kobi gazes at me innocently, like 'Oh, you said "Goodbye?" I thought you said "Kobi, you are the most amazing cat and you did such a good job of causing trouble yesterday, so please follow me and my mother to HQ while staying completely out of sight until our arrival." Well, I guess I was wrong. I'll just have to stay here and judge everyone.'

I groan. 'Why does Kobi always follow me?'

Elaina frowns. My mother, looking distressed and kind of embarrassed, carries Kobi away. 'Bye, Lexi.' Elaina shoes Reed away and turns to me.

'It might be possible for you to take your cat on patrols, as long as it doesn't hinder your progress. All it is going to do is follow you, anyway. And eventually it might get tired and go home. I will clear it with the board, see if that can happen.'

I grin. 'Thanks. Wait... is your chestplate real gold?'

'Guess.'

'No.'

'Good job. For a fourteen-year-old, you're not that naïve.' Elaina grabs my wrist.

'Gee, thanks. I'm really looking forward to being a Guard now, if that's what you guys think of me.'

'Please don't be sarcastic. It antagonises Heath. Trust me, I should know.'

Elaina pulls me through a maze of hallways until we reach a balcony overlooking a big, open room.

I was expecting seven, maybe eight people. But there had to be twenty people in here at least. All of them wear dark grey bodysuits with a shred of coloured fabric tied around their left arm.

'I thought there'd be... less.'

'Their squad members have the choice of coming with them. In most cases, they will. It's the reason that they never get any work done.'

Work? None of them are working right now. They are all leaping up and down ledges, or running up and down racetracks, or punching pillows, or beheading mannequins, or shooting targets down from the roof. I remember what a squad is, though. It's the people they choose to help them when they become Guard.

Gradually, the people in the gym start to look up at us. One girl, whose fabric armband is a vibrant grass green, climbs up a ladder to meet us. 'So... is this the Autumn? Is this Lexi?' She's really... tiny.'

'She's fourteen, you idiot.' A muscular boy with spiky dark-blonde hair smirks as if he's told the funniest joke ever.

'I know, I know... but I thought she'd be a bigger fourteen-year old. Like, she'd be Noa's size at least.'

'Come on, she's much bigger than Noa!'

A boy with straight, evenly-cut hair and ashen skin lunges at the other boy and starts insulting him with such a loud voice it makes me jump. He is pretty small. I can't remember him being chosen in a handover, so he must be a squad member.

In fact, I think last year's Summer picked a guy named Noa.

The largest girl starts to push them away from each other. 'You're going to make her nervous. She's a lot younger than your guys.'

'And a lot smarter, too, I'm guessing.' A girl with long black hair is immediately subject to about fifty objections from the others.

'So, what do you think?' Elaina smiles at me.

'Insane.'

'Good. Now go down there and make friends with them. It'll make you life easier.'

Just like that, Elaina is gone.