"I shouldn't be here," I say to the people around the table I am sitting at, my head in one hand.
"Nonsense," David says. "We're all here for a reason."
There are four of us at a table in one of the rooms of the mansion. As well as me, there is David, Elvin and Gale, all of us having been put forward by the simul. We're all going to decide which one of us should be the next leader.
I make eye contact with Gale and her eyes appear to be puffy and red.
Charlie told me what happened.
Get out of my head, I warn her.
Derythian, I-
"So how are we going to do this?" Elvin says.
Our eye contact breaks and Gale's eyes snap to Elvin.
"What do you suggest?" David asks him.
"Unfortunately, I do have a whole faerie pod to keep under control. Unless I pass royalty onto someone else," Elvin suggests.
"Well I don't think it'd be wise for me to lead," Gale admits. "I may be on the simul, but I'm not a good leader. Everyone would hate me."
"That's not true," I say in disagreement, head still in my hand.
"I'll do it if I have to," Elvin tells us, "But I can honestly say that I really don't care."
"Well, if I don't do it," Gale says to him, "And you don't do it," she adds, "That leaves... Derythian."
After the events of last night, I punched a lot of things before calming down and sitting in my treehouse chair. I took a deep breath and tried to avert my thoughts from Charlie, thinking about this meeting instead. I thought long and hard and I came to the conclusion that I would have to be leader if it came down to it, because I could not- and would not- leave my people without one. I knew that I would never be able to leave Xenia if I became leader, but at least I'd be closer to Alex, and this is a role he'd want me to take on.
"I'll do it," I say slowly.
"You sound reluctant," Elvin says. "Are you sure?"
"Of course not," I tell him truthfully. "But this is something my family would've encouraged me to take on. Besides, if there's nobody else for the job, it's not like I have a choice."
"Everyone has a choice," David says, "And it looks like you people have chosen to forget about me. Nobody has asked me whether I'd be up for the job."
"He has a point," Gale says, agreeing with her godfather.
"Well," Elvin begins, "You'd know what you were doing, seen as how you've done the job before, and at least now you won't be able to banish anyone. You've no magic anymore though, Ally."
"One thing I've learnt from the new normal and supernatural rule is that you shouldn't have to have a certain set of skills that define you. It shouldn't be what you are that defines you, it should be who you are. So who cares if I don't have magic? I certainly don't care. I have a family again now," he says, looking at Gale and taking her hand.
"So that's settled?" Elvin asks.
"Yes," David says. "On one condition," he adds.
"What?" Elvin asks, sounding quite bored.
"Gale is my second in command," David says.
Gale looks at him in shock but squeezes his hand in thanks.
"Done," Elvin says. "Your new leader, everyone!"
David laughs. "Because I've not heard that one before."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I walk out of the room, ready to head back to my treehouse to do some more crying and punching, when Elvin grabs my arm.
"I need to talk to you," he says.
Although there is bags still under his eyes, Elvin doesn't look as terrible as he did the other day. I decide to take this as a good sign.
"What?"
"Firstly, I have something I need to own up to or else the guilt will drive me crazy."
"Hardly," I spit - I really just want to get out of here.
"Just listen to me. Can you remember that day," he begins, "When you lost Charlie and you fell onto the floor, unconscious?"
That seems so long ago now.
"Yes..."
He hesitates. "Well...I... I was the cause of that."
"What?! Why?!"
"You have to understand something, Derythian Kingsley," he says. "I loved Zanna. She was under my protection, even if she didn't know it. Or I thought she was, until... Until I couldn't save her. I respected and loved her very much."
"But why did you do it?" I ask, slightly softer.
"Zanna was the one who gave Leonardo his powers back, and eventually, she told me. She could've gotten into a lot of trouble, so after she stepped down from royalty with the guilt, I took her place. When Charlie arrived, I knew there was the risk that Alex and everyone else would find out who he was. Then you started getting close with him and your intelligence already scared me, so I knew that there was every chance you could figure out Charlie. By the time I had figured that out, Charlie went missing and you were looking for him, so I hit you, so you couldn't find him."
"But that didn't work," I say, feeling myself smirk. "I can't believe you, Elvin."
Elvin looks at the floor. "I loved her. Surely you know what it feels like to be in love?"
Yes. I do.
"Well, what did you do with me? There's no way you left me like that just... Lying there."
"I took you to a safe place and I used my magic to rifle through your brain to see what you knew. I planned on taking a few memories of you figuring anything out or noticing anything if it came down to it. But I didn't need to."
"I woke up in Quinn's house three days after she had last seen me, according to her mum. Explain that," I order.
Elvin sighs. "You were with me for a day and I left you on their doorstep the day after. Then the day after that you woke up."
I'm living in a cobweb of lies, only finding things out after bad things have happened. I no longer know who the spider is though.
I turn away from Elvin but he grabs my arm, pulling me back.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
"I don't want to hear it," I say. "You do realise how much you invaded my privacy, don't you? If your plan had worked, and if you had kept Charlie's identity a secret, I would've killed you."
"You wouldn't have known," he replies quietly.
"That's besides the point. Tell me something that might make me trust you, Elvin. Because right now, I've been hurt by every single one of my friends," I tell him. "Every. Single. One of them."
"I can't tell you anything," he says, "But I can give you something."
Elvin reaches inside his robe and pulls out an envelope with my name on it. He hands it to me and I take it carefully, getting ready to open it.
"Not here," he tells me. "Read it on your own. But I want you to know that I was given this envelope a while back, because this person trusted me. I'm hoping that you can again too."
I nod and walk back to my treehouse, ready to read.