Page 43 of Twisted Gift

The room is silent. If anyone knows anything, they aren’t giving it up.

“Until we know more, there’s not much we can do,” I say. “Perhaps for tonight, we keep the focus on working together. We want you to feel as though your voice is heard, and to that end, you should choose several representatives that will sit in on any future meetings. While I propose this, I also assure you that anyone is welcome to join the meetings so long as they understand they are a place for peaceful discussion and resolution of issues.” No one seems to despise that idea right away, so I add, “We’ll give you some time to decide. These are peopleyouwant to represent you, which is why Tristan and I aren’t making the selection. We want you to trust them—and us.” I force a smile before stepping off to the side with Tristan and Nikolai at my heels.

Skylar joins us in the office while Allison and Max stay behind to make sure no one starts another fight.

Once the door is shut, I let loose a breath and voice the thought that’s been nagging at me since the fae said they weren’t attacking each other. “Do we need to consider the possibility that it isn’tfaemaking the fae disappear?” Maybe that fae had the right idea.

“Who else could it be?” Tristan asks.

“I don’t know. But think about it. Someone in that room would know which of the fae is attacking.”

“She’s right,” Nikolai chimes in. “Fae talk.”

Skylar crosses her arms over her chest. “So what? Even if someone out there knows about the missing fae, that doesn’t mean they’re going to open their mouth and share in a room full of their enemies.”

I nod. “That’s probably true, but this isn’t something we can focus on right now. We need to keep trying to bring everyone together.”

Skylar exhales. “Well, if there’s another enemy out there attacking the fae, maybe that’ll help bring them together.” She shrugs. “The enemy of my enemy is my ally and all that shit.”

“Nice,” Nikolai mutters, leaning against the door.

Sky scowls. “Do you have a better thought?” she snaps in his direction and doesn’t give him a chance to respond before she says, “Didn’t think so.”

“All right. We can discuss this more later on. For now, we need to get back out there and see what we’re working with. I’ll have the reps look into it after the meeting.” Tristan shifts his attention to me. “Okay?”

I nod. “Let’s do this.”

The four of us head back into the room where the fae are talking among themselves. Everyone is still alive, and no one is bleeding, so it’s already looking better than I thought it would. The room is less divided than when the meeting started. A few minutes later, both the dark and light fae groups put forth three representatives, who Tristan and I make a point to meet with individually. These are our people. We need to connect with them so they’ll trust our decisions. Part of me is relieved these aren’t any of the people from school that I recognized earlier, but I’m not sure why.

After talking for half an hour, explaining that the purpose of having fae reps at each meeting is to have both sides represented equally, I turn the room over to Tristan to close the meeting. He wraps it up smoothly, inviting anyone with questions to come forward tonight or at any time if something comes up later on. He also requests the fae reps and anyone else interested in helping look into the disappearances. The more ears we have to the ground, the bigger chance we have at figuring out what’s going on before more fae go missing.

The fae file out, and once the room is almost clear, I let myself breathe again.

Nikolai walks over to me, an unfamiliar, younger-looking man by his side. “Aurora, this is Daniel.”

I smile and shake his hand. “Good to meet you, Daniel.”

He nods. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

I have to mask the surprise from my face. “Oh, well we’re just getting started, but you’re welcome.”

“Daniel is Lucy’s brother,” Nikolai reminds me.

My eyes widen. Lucy is the light fae that came up to me after the initial meeting I held at the pub and asked for help in getting her brother back. I’d asked Nikolai to look into it, and he got him out.

Daniel smiles. “I really appreciate what you did for me—for my sister. She couldn’t make this meeting, but she’s very excited about having a new leader—especially one who’s female.”

I can’t help but smile again. “That’s really amazing. Please tell her to let me know if she needs anything else. The same goes for you. That’s what I’m here for.”

He nods, thanking me again before walking out of the pub.

I walk over to the bar, joining my friends around the counter. I put my arm around Allison’s shoulders and lean into her side.

“Want to hear a funny story?”

She glances at me sideways. “Always.”

“You remember my dead fae ancestor we couldn’t find anything about?”

---