True to his word, we stayed there basically all night. Near the morning, we saw some weird flashes and went to investigate but didn't find anything. By then we were both so cold and shivery that we just jumped back into the water. (Enchanted lake---who knew it was like a hot tub?) Neither of us cared that we were in regular clothes. (Though I did take off Evie's new jacket.) We just splashed around and maybe kissed a couple times... but that's not important. I think I may have ruined all the makeup Dizzy spent an hour on, not to mention probably washing half the dye out. Carlos assures me I still look awesome. But he has to say that. Otherwise he'd be a Carlos-icle.

I giggle suddenly at that thought. I think Sera may have rubbed off on me a bit too much. 

Carlos swims over. "What's so funny?"

I put a hand over my mouth to stop. "Oh, nothing." He's soaking too, but I don't think he cares. "Were you planning on getting actually in the water when we came here?" I ask, treading closer so I don't have to yell. 

He laughs. "Actually, no, but when you shoved me in I thought we may as well."

"Well, now I feel bad! What were we originally going to do?" I ask. 

"I had no idea. That's why I'm glad you pushed me." He says, grinning. 

"Oh!" I laugh. "Okay, now I don't feel bad." I look up at the sky, which is just starting to turn light blue again. "Should we be heading back?"

"Yeah, they probably think I murdered you in the middle of nowhere by now."

"Uh, excuse me, but if anybody was murdering anybody, I'd kick your butt in a fight."

He laughs. "Yeah, you totally would." Then he starts swimming towards the pavilion. I follow him, climbing up next to him and wringing my sopping hair out. 

"Evie and Dizzy are going to kill me," I laugh, looking down at my dress. Only then do I notice I still haven't even taken off my sneakers! "Oh, my gosh, they really are going to murder me."

Carlos scoffs. "Nah, they'll probably be too busy geeking out over Carlie."

I turn to stare at him. "Oh, my gosh, even you've accepted it!"

He flushes. "Sorry. I got used to everybody saying it while you were gone."

"It's okay. My mom even uses that name. Did you hear her the other night?"

Carlos laughs loud, it ringing across the lake. "I thought your dad was going to kill me. I really thought he would."

"Believe me, I thought he would too. I'm surprised he didn't show up here. Wait..." I jump up and run over to where we saw the bushes. My feet go squish, squish, squish. "Do you think that was him?"

"Ellie, if it was him, I'd be dead by now."  Carlos says, taking off his sneaker and literally wringing it out. 

"Does that work?" I ask. 

"How should I know? I've never gone swimming in regular clothes." Carlos says. "Well, no, there was the time Jane dropped us in the middle of the ocean. Remember?"

I laugh. "And Sera freaked."

Carlos laughs with me. We keep talking back and forth until we're at least a little dry, then Carlos helps me up. "The limo should be here by now. Let's go."

We walk back the trail and over the bridge holding hands, and the driver gives us a weird smile. I feel my face flush red, and I duck into the car before the driver can say anything. He drives us back and pulls up to the entrance. And my jaw drops. 

A HUGE, and I mean HUGE crowd of reporters are waiting at the entrance, holding cameras and microphones and notepads and recording devices. 

My stomach squirms as I look at Carlos, whose jaw is dropped as well. "What are they doing here?"

"They can't know about---" I start, but he cuts me off.

"No. There is no way they could know. I only told Mal, Evie, Jay, Diz, and Ben. That's it. And none of them would rat us out."

"Then they can't be waiting for us, can they? Maybe some new VK's are coming or something." I throw out. I tap the window and the driver pulls it down so we can talk to him. "Is there any way you could drop us off somewhere else?"

He looks around. "Look behind you, Miss."

So I do. Reporters have crowded around the car, blocking off every possible escape. The driver gives me a pitying look. "Sorry, Miss. I didn't think they'd crowd around."

I groan and bury my face in my hands. "There's no way out of this, is there?" I ask Carlos. He shakes his head, his skin ashen. 

So I take a deep breath and open the left door, stepping out. Reporters start yelling instantly, but I can't hear any of them over the snapping of pictures and screams of other reporters. Carlos gets out behind me and everything explodes once again. I take one look at his face and knows how much he hates this. So I take his hand and push through the reporters, keeping my head down and not listening to any of their questions. 

Until I hear, "And here she is, the daughter of Death itself! Tell me, Elicia, who have you sent to their proper place yet?"

I look up to see a snobby-looking blond guy in front of me. I find my limbs seem to have gone rigid. "I'm not quite sure I know what you mean by that." I say through gritted teeth. I note the multiple cameras taking it in. 

"I mean, who's dead yet? You haven't been here for over a year, since the explosion, and suddenly you're back?" His eyebrows wiggle. "Like this young fellow here! Carlos, how'd you do it? How'd you get little miss Death here to fall for ya? You kill her old boyfriend?"

Carlos stares at the guy, openmouthed. "No---I---we--She--"

"Aaaah, she swore you to secrecy? Good, good, we understand, lad."

"No! She wouldn't---I never---"

"Elicia, where've you been for a year?" A new reporter yells. 

"Why was your father hidden for years?"

"Do you in fact have any powers from him?

"Where did the daughter of Ares go?"

"Did you kill her?"

And here, in the middle of a thousand cameras who will twist it, I sob. I can't help it. Sera... I may as well have killed her. Ares used them to try and get to me.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THE BLACK EYE?"

"WHY ARE YOUR EYES DIFFERENT COLORS?"

"WHERE ARE THE SCARS FROM?"

"Stop it!" Carlos yells, but it's no use, they're pressing in, yelling questions, and I press my hands against my ears as though I can block them out. I feel Carlos wrap his arm around me and push the reporters away, but their questions, their accusations follow me with every step. I hear many questions about why we're so wet, some people speculating that we buried our latest victim underwater. We finally get inside but there's still reporters, and at one point I can feel someone else holding me with Carlos, but I don't open my eyes or take my hands off my ears until someone makes me sit down on what feels like my bed and takes hold of my wrist, forcing them off of my ears. 

I open my eyes to find Maira in front of me, not glaring, but actually looking genuinely concerned. "Are you okay?"

I give a hollow laugh. "Sure."

"You are so lying." I hear Mal say. I look up to find Mal, Evie, Jay, Ben, Dizzy and Brit standing across the room. I look next to me to find Carlos still with his arm around me. 

"How'd they find out?" I ask. 

Ben shrugs helplessly. "I have no idea. I didn't even realize they were there. Like, it was almost as if they only appeared on our cameras after you got here."

Mal looks murderous. "I can't understand it! Carlos, you didn't tell anyone but us, right?"

"Right." Carlos says. 

Maira raises her hand. "I literally only found out a few minutes ago. And so did Brit. We promise it wasn't us."

"It wasn't me and Diz." Evie says, putting a hand on Dizzy's shoulder. "I promise we didn't talk about it. Even here, we stayed quiet."

Jay shakes his head. "Wasn't me. I spent all day yesterday fencing with Lonnie and some team members."

"And I didn't tell anyone else, Ellie." Carlos says. "I promise."

"I know. I believe you." I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. "This doesn't make any sense. Why were they so fixed on us? They weren't this bad when Mal started dating you, right Ben?"

"Well, they still kinda clung to us, but no, it wasn't this bad." Ben says.

"They took pictures on a couple more public dates, but----" Mal starts.

"Oh, no." I interrupt. 

"What?" Carlos asks. 

"The flashes! We saw last night!!" I yell, standing up. Carlos groans and puts his face in his hands. 

"Flashes?" Ben asks.

"We saw these weird lights, but when we went to investigate there was nothing there." I explain.

Everyone in the room groans. "Why are they so fixed on you guys?" Brit asks.

"Probably because of who her dad is." Maira points out. "Remember, nobody remembered until he showed up again. So if they think you've been trying to hide it... and he's your dad... It doesn't look good."

I sigh. "You'd think I'd be used to this stuff by now."

"You never get used to this stuff." Mal says. "Especially the things they were asking you!"

"I didn't even hear half of it." I admit. 

"Yeah, we know." Carlos says, mimicking my hands-over-ears pose. "You're lucky. Some of the stuff they were yelling about you was awful."

"Uh, De Vil, there's a time to remain silent." Maria points out. 

"Sorry."

Ben sighs. "The point is, I'm going to find out who spilled it. And who was there last night. That spot is for the royal family only. And people we say can use it. If someone trespassed there, that's a serious offense."

"Think it's Uma?" I ask. "She and Harry have done stuff like this before."

"No. Fairy Godmother is keeping tabs on all the major villains. They're all on the Isle still." Mal says. "Jane is helping, too. That's one of the reasons she wasn't at your welcome-back party. Ares' little tracker-blip thing had disappeared. But don't worry, he's back. And very angry."

I laugh. "Well, that's good at least."

Ben glances out the window and yelps. He runs over and closes the curtains. "Okay, this is getting out of hand. I'm going to go make Fairy Godmother make them go away."

"Are they outside our window?" Brit demands. When Ben nods, she shoves him aside and opens the window up. She sticks her head outside and yells, "LEAVE US ALONE!!!" and then brings her head back in. We all stare at her. "What?" She asks. 

"Um, nothing." I say. 

Ben leaves the room, promising he's going to find Fairy Godmother and advising us to stay inside for now. At one point one of the reporters keeps tapping on the window and yelling questions through, so Maira starts firing arrows out the window. They scream and run after that, but then they keep coming back. Finally she climbs through the window and screams at them for ten minutes straight, also using one her enchanted ball things to short-circuit all of their cameras and mics. Then she'd climbed back in and locked the window. 

We watch through the window as Fairy Godmother runs out screaming at them. It's the angriest I've ever seen FG. Her face is flushed pink and her wand-waving is out of control. By the time he crowd leaves, half of their hair colors and styles have turned neon and feathery. FG comes in afterwards while we all scramble to make it look like we weren't watching and cracking up.

"If they come back, please tell me." FG says sternly. "Really! A school!" she mutters to herself, walking off. And we all lose it again. 

_________________________________

"Princess of Death---" Flip.

"Dating Carlos De Vil---" Flip.

"Killings suspected---" Flip. Flip. Flip. 

Every single news channel on this stupid television is overflowing with pictures and videos of Carlos and I yesterday. Videos of me covering my ears while Maira and Carlos shove through reporters. Videos of us getting out of the car, still sort of wet. (To my surprise, all of my dye and makeup was still completely intact. Dizzy whispered earlier that she had put a tiny spell on it since she knew where we were going.)

But the worst ones were the four separate pictures of Carlos and me at the lake. Every channel that showed them said they had been given by an "anonymous source" that preferred to remain unnamed. The first one was Carlos and me on the bridge, laughing while I stared down at the ravine. The second one was right before we fell into the water, we're inches from hitting the surface of the lake. The third one was when we climbed out onto the pavilion so I could make my wish with the spiky rock. 

And the last one is us kissing. We're both in the water, and I have my eyes closed with this weird smile on my face, with Carlos' back to whoever took the picture. 

And as you can imagine, the last one has been exploding all over the internet. 

Ben has been using his status as King to get into every site he can, deleting the pictures and videos, but there's only so much he can do when it gets posted again and again every minute. Carlos and I have both locked away all our electronics because we keep getting notifications for every social media account we have, people won't stop harassing us. The first few times I actually looked, half of them were people telling me to go to Hell because of all the people I've killed, another bit was people saying we looked cute together, and like three people sympathizing. 

We both stopped looking. 

I basically have stayed holed up in my room with Brit, reading and watching my favorite movies with her and Arson and Carlos. Even then, people find ways to get to us. I've had at least fifteen people send me letters, while Carlos has had maybe four or five. One of them was enchanted to burst into flames when I touched it, but luckily Jane happened to be the room and felt the spell before I got the letter. 

Something like that did get Carlos, though. All of his fingertips turned red, and the letter inside said You hands are stained as much as hers, now. The red won't wash off, no matter what spell we try.

Ben told the messengers to stop giving us whatever someone sent us. 

I'm miserable. I can't even go to my classes without fellow students and reporters swarming around me. Most of the teachers have been pretty understanding, sending me homework in my room along with detailed instructions. Even Mr. Deley sent me a short note telling me and Carlos that we didn't need to come to class until this all blew over. 

All of my friends stop by every day, filling me in on their attempts to stop it all. Only Ben is getting anything done. He had to stop my mom and dad from coming here because when they tried someone fired a few shots around their direction. 

I've been stuck inside for seven days. 

It's been a long week. 

On the beginning of the eighth day, I'm in my room with Brit, Carlos, Arson, and Maira, watching the first Hobbit movie. I can't stop myself from cracking up when Bilbo runs off yelling "I'm going on an adventure!" We're at the part where Bilbo finds the Ring when our door bursts open and Mahina and Ben come running in. 

"Ellie!" Mahina reaches over and grabs the remote, stopping the movie. "You need to hear this."

"What? Why? Did you find out who that unnamed source was?" I ask.

"Actually, yeah!" Ben says. "Mahina found it. Another unnamed source sent her a note, telling her that she felt bad for what you and Carlos were going through, and she told Mahina the source's name. Mahina---" Ben gives her a dirty look. "---refused to tell me until she told you. Now who IS it, Mahina?"

Mahina pulls out the note. "Well, this person said it was the daughter of a villain on the Isle. Her name is..." She scans the note. "Endora."

Ben goes white. "Oh, no."

_________________________

Okay, fun fact: While I was looking up names that started with "E", I found out that "Ellie" sometimes means "beautiful fairy woman". HA!

By the way, anybody who gets where I got the name "Endora" from, I love you. BeautyBeastRose you are not allowed to answer since I already told you what it meant. AND NO HINTS, EITHER.

Okay. I'm done! Bye! Hope you guys enjoyed!