Capella

The dark abyss of a hideout turned out to be incredibly nice. Victoria did an impeccable job. It was a cutting image of the castle. The rooms were all furnished with maroon and gold trimmings, and expensive furniture. There was even a grand piano in the center of the large conference room. Speaking of rooms, I don't even know how many there were. There were hallways and hallways of rooms. I mean, I know the whole kingdom was supposed to fit down here but I had no idea anything could be this enormous.

Anyway, back to what was happening in the present. The majority of us were having a 'meeting' in the conference room. It was the middle of the night and all the children and mothers had settled down into the rooms of their choice.

"How many do you think survived?" Caleb asked the question no one dared to ask so far. We all looked down into our laps as Gavin cleared his throat.

"2,000 or so." He spoke quietly. There were small gasps and sobs coming from the crowd, and I felt like I was going to faint. That was less than half of the population. We were truly going to have to start over.

No one talked for a while. We sat and thought about how we would run this. The king, the queen and all his advisors. The chancelor, The Head Knight, everyone but me was dead. We needed an entire knew hierarchy.

"We should vote for new officials." Someone from the crowd read my mind. He was a man, looked around 40 years old. I had no idea how old he really was.

Gavin nodded. "I guess we should."

I figured it was my time to say something. "Gavin, you're rightful place is king. And Victoria should be your queen. It's what your father would have wanted." There were agreements in the crowd to back me up.

"Does anyone disagree?" Caleb scanned the crowd and noone moved an inch. It was settled. I took a breath, Gavin was completely ready to run this kingdom, I knew it.

"Chancelor?" Victoria chimed in. Who would be Chancelor? That job was an intense responsibility. If anything should happen to Gavin, the chancelor would take the place as King. We needed someone who could be trusted to lead us rightfully.

"I nominate Caleb." Gavin spoke up. He smiled at Caleb's shocked expression.

"I second that." It was Edward.

"Third." Craig.

"You can do it." I whispered under my breath. He nodded, obviously too floored to speak. "Does anyone disagree?" I scanned the crowd and again no one moved an inch. Caleb sat back in his chair, his mind running frantically. I could always tell when he was lost in thought.

"What's left?" Edward asked. Of course, he had no idea this world even existed until a couple months ago.

Gavin answered. "The Head Knight. And of course, assistant General now that Caleb is Chancelor."

"What about the General?" My head shot up to who spoke. It was the same 40 year old look alike that had spoken before. I took a closer look at him this time. He had black hair, short and cropped. His lips were pressed in a hard line and a scar ran diagonally across his face.

Caleb spoke up for me, his tone was guarding. "Our General is alive and well. There's no need for a replacement."

The man stood up now. He was staring directly at me with a horrible stare. A stare of pity, disappointment, and disgust mixed together. He spoke to Caleb but never took his eyes off of me. "What if the present General isn't competent anymore? We might as well replace her now while we're replacing everyone."

To my horror, people around him started nodding in agreement. The man saw this and it gave him courage to continue speaking. "She didn't even really win the war. Craig did. Craig should be the general." My heart was falling. I put everything I had into this kingdom. And now the people didn't.. want me anymore?

And it wasn't even a fundamental reason. I gave Craig the iron bar to kill Ryan. That part of the story was just left out. There was no possible way I could tell people I could move things with my mind. So far, the only people we know who could do that are the Bellatorians. It would bring too much suspicion.

Caleb stood up from his chair. His hands were balled into fists. No, we can't be fighting now, not during this time.

"Enough!" A new voice spoke, one I'd never heard before. Everyones eyes focused to him. He appeared to be around my age, maybe a little older. I think I'd seen him around before. Something about his auburn curls and striking green eyes stuck out in my head. His soft features gave you instant calmness when you looked at him. Instantly, the room quieted down as he continued. "I think this is too soon to be starting a new government. Obviously, we are all stressed and bitter about what happened today. We need time to rest. We can deal with the details of this tomorrow." He stared down the 40 year old man as he spoke, as if speaking directly to him.

"He's right." It was Edward this time. As if on cue, Craig stood up next to him. The tension in the room was so thick, I couldn't breathe. They were right. I was going to lose my title.

Gavin stood up suddenly, he made eye contact with almost everyone in the room."Why don't we all get some rest. It's been a long day. We'll figure this out in the morning."

No one dared to object to Gavin. They'd have to be out of their mind. So one by one, the crowd disintegrated into a mass of people moving in different directions. I was vaguely aware of Caleb squeezing my hand and whispering something like 'I'm gonna go find a room.' But my mind was racing.

The people around me moved like blurs. I was aware of them but I couldn't recognize their faces. Just one person stood out of the crowd. His figure was defined in the far back of the room. Everyone around it was blurred, making his cold glare seem all the more intense. It was the man with the scar. What could I have done to him to make him despise me so badly?

"Hey, are you okay!?" A voice shook me back into reality. The blurs turned back into actual people and the man turned and walked away. My head turned to the voice and I found the boy who'd stuck up for me. Instantly, I was taken back by his eyes. They were even more striking up close. I was wrong, the outer parts were green, but around the center was a ring of gold. He laughed and my attention was brought to his lips. Woaah, alright slow down there Mel.

I stopped focusing on his features, gorgeous as they were, and tried to have a decent conversation with the person who stood up for me. He stood there with a smirk on his face, patiently waiting for me to stop staring. It wasn't a cocky smirk, it was more of a genuine understanding smirk.

I really needed to say something. "So um, thanks for defending me." He just stood there, still smirking. It was like I didn't say anything. "From the creepy old guy back there."

He reacted this time, his mouth formed an ''o''. His hands were in his pockets and he rocked back on the heels of his feet. "Oh, you mean my dad?"

Alright, not the best thing to say. My hand instantly flew up to scratch the back of my head as I laughed awkwardly. My eyes wandered around trying to find a reason to escape the situation I threw myself in. Before I could, he was leaning in. I froze, locked in place. I don' think I could move if I wanted to. His lips grazed my cheek before they got to my ear. "Just a joke."

"Meli! Baby!" Before I could comprehend what was going on, a hand wrapped around my wrist and Edward whisked me away. I turned back to take one last glance at the strange encounter I'd just had with the boy. He was still standing there with his hands in his pockets, smirking and staring directly at me. My cheeks flushed as my head turned back around to face edward who was glaring at me.

"What!" I defended myself.

"Why are you talking to that guy?" His voice formed disgust around his words. He looked away from me to behind my head. Obviously he was glaring daggers at the stranger kid.

"Edward, I don't even know who he is." I wish I did.

"That's Jake." I herd him before I saw him. In a half a second, Craig ws standing beside Edward, his hand on the small of his back.

I raised an eyebrow and turned around to put the name to the face. When I finally found him, he was talking to the creep man. "Who's the guy he's talking to?" I ws curious.

"Sorion." Craig answered a little too quickly. "His father." He was angry about something, but I couldn't tell what. So tht guy ws his fther? Why'd he sy it ws just a joke then?

We stared at the two for a long time, we must have been so obvious. "Whatever." Edward said after a couple minutes, "Caleb is looking for you. Down there." He pointed down one of the corridors. I suddenly felt guilty for being so interested in this Jake character.

My heart took off and I set down the corridor he explained. The walls were dark down here. It wasn't as flashy as the main conference room. Instead of plaster, there was a reddish rock surrounding. It felt more like a tunnel now then a castle. As it became darker and darker, I grew nervous.

But before I could turn around I saw him. Well, his shadow. He was leaning against the wall outside a whole in the tunnel walls. I sprinted halfway up to him and he threw his arms around me. I felt his lips on the top of my head and then he pulled away.

"I got something for you." He whispered as he headed down the corridor. My hand was in his. A light clicked on once we got inside. It wasn't much in here, a single bed and a table with a lamp. I imagine all the rooms were like this.

Caleb's back was turned to me and when he turned around there was a small Hawaiian Punch juice box in his hand. "You need it." He still whispered even though we were alone. I took the juice box and slowly drank from the tiny plastic straw. We both knew it was blood inside, but for some reason calling it 'blood' freaks me out. It wasn't always like this, maybe it's something I brought with me from my human year. That year changed me, maybe I wasn't still qualified to be General.

I finished and my eyebrows sank with worry. I just had this sinking feeling that everything was going to change tomorrow. On the table beside the bed there was also two changes of clothes. It looked like a small purple nighty, a little too revealing for my taste, but next to that were jeans and a nice shirt. I glanced down at myself and realized that I was covered in dirt and dust. "Close your eyes." I mentioned to Caleb as I grabbed the clothes.

"Melissa, I've known you for -"

"Close them!" I yelled but I couldn't help laugh at his puppy dog expression. I stared him down till he turned around, victory for me! I think that was the fastest I've ever changed, in a second and a half I was done. When I turned around Caleb was in the bed facing the ceiling with his eyes squeezed dramatically shut.

I laughed as I climbed in next to him. He must have noticed the bed move beside him but he still kept insanely still. He was like a statue. I crawled over to him and bent down to leave small kisses on each of his closed eyes.

His lips formed a small smile. "Mmm," he rolled over suddenly till he was halfway on top of me. He held himself up though, so he didn't crush me. "You're beautiful," he whispered as he trailed soft kisses down my jaw.

"You looked, didn't you." I whispered, too distracted to be really mad at him.

"I love you." he whispered back and I felt his hand run up the inside of my thigh.

I wasn't falling asleep anytime soon.