Chapter 3: Clash at Langley House

If Autumn was the president of Silver Hollow Society, then all the previous suspicions made sense.

Looks like Damon must’ve tracked down and robbed the other folks Xavier sent for the jade—all on Autumn’s orders. Because when Xavier told us his theory about the jade, Autumn was there too.

Also, back on Old Crow Hill, the Three Fiends obviously had a chance to finish off Autumn, but only wounded her.

Looking back, it was all just for show.

I saw Big Mike was also deeply shocked. His mouth hung open, eyes wide, like he’d just seen a ghost step out of the shadows. You could almost hear the gears grinding as he tried to wrap his head around it all—his whole worldview getting scrambled.

After Autumn finished speaking, Damon and the other four all stepped in front of her, clearly ready to protect her.

Now that Autumn had admitted her identity, they didn’t bother hiding it anymore. The air in the room shifted, the boundaries between friend and foe suddenly clearer than ever. You could feel the temperature drop as the two sides squared off.

“President, are you alright?” Damon quickly took out a small medicine bottle for Autumn.

“I’m fine,” Autumn said, taking the pill from Damon and swallowing it right away. Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled a little as she uncapped the bottle.

But I could see from her pained expression that she wasn’t really fine. She winced as the medicine went down, sweat beading on her forehead. The three-headed hellhound had really done a number on her.

The three-headed hellhound had really done a number on her.

“Very good. I admit, I still underestimated all of you.” Autumn popped the pill, then turned to Harper. “But there’s one thing I can’t figure out.”

“Harper, what did Jackson offer you that made you turn on Silver Hollow and team up with him? What could he possibly give you?”

We all looked at Harper. When she first showed up, I thought she was hunting us to keep the balance between humans and monsters. The way she smiled now, you could almost see the mischief flickering in her eyes.

Sure enough, Harper smiled charmingly:

“He can’t give me anything. But President, now that all the jade relics have surfaced, would you still keep us around? After wiping out the Sunrise Circle and the others, wouldn’t your next target be us monsters?”

“Do you think I’d just let you rule alone?”

Autumn’s gaze turned cold. “So you agreed to work with him just to keep us in check?”

Harper’s red lips curled into a sly smirk:

“At least this way, the balance isn’t broken. There are no permanent friends—only permanent interests! Isn’t that right, President?”

I had to admit, it’s a good thing Harper saw the bigger picture, and Jackson could only convince her with this reason. In a world like ours, where trust is rare and survival is everything, that’s the kind of logic that keeps you alive.

Otherwise, we’d have been goners!

Alliances built on survival are the toughest of all! It’s something you learn early in a small town—sometimes the only thing keeping folks together is the trouble waiting outside.

After listening to Harper, Autumn didn’t say anything else. She suddenly looked at Jackson, her eyes sharp as daggers. The room seemed to darken, her glare nearly sucking the light out of the air.

“Jackson, I admit you all guessed right, and I admit my plan to make you fight each other failed, and Damon really did come to save me, just as you predicted.”

“But so what?”

“Of course, we fight to the end.” Jackson’s voice grew even calmer, the steel in it unmistakable. There was a resolve in him now that made you want to stand a little straighter, just to keep up.

Damon’s other hand suddenly manifested a seven-foot ice blade. He stood in front of Autumn, glaring at us with deadly intent. “Just you lot?”

Jackson slowly drew the butcher’s knife from his back, his eyes flashing blood-red, cold as ice.

“We... want to give it a shot.”

As soon as Jackson finished speaking, Big Mike swung his sledgehammer, Savannah raised her long knife, and Harper stood beside Jackson. The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the old house, raising goosebumps on my arms.

I hurriedly pulled on the Titan Claws, and with a thought, my eyes turned blood-red, just like Jackson’s. The familiar rush of power surged through me, hot and wild.

Damon noticed my eyes and frowned, clearly surprised.