A fairy came to Judah's house the following afternoon. His mother had one of her rare days off work and answered the door. Thankfully, she bought the excuse that Judah was attending a costume party at the Mayweather's house.

It's hard to turn down the mayor.

Now they were up in his room trying on clothes like one of those montages in a teen film. The only difference is he hadn't enjoyed it. He planned to use this time to get information from the fairy. He wanted to try and understand what it was he was going to have to complete in this trial.

There was so much he knew he could be doing, but Judah couldn't stop thinking about Selena.

The way that her lips connected to his when she kissed him. The way her hands squeezed his arms so tightly. He remembered the pain in her voice as she begged them to help her. He had failed her again.

In more than one way.

Elle flashed into his mind. The night they spent together in his room made his cheeks burn from the thought of it. He had never been so close to anyone in that manner. He could still feel her skin on his, his lips on her neck, her hands wandering freely over his body.

A tear rolled down his face.

Judah was never overly emotional. Even when his dad left he kept his cool. Not that he didn't have emotions, but he didn't let them rule him. With Selena, it was a different story. He missed her. He ached for her.

He betrayed her.

And now, when they finally rescued her, she would never forgive him.

Then there's the situation with Elle. Judah saw the way her face changed when Selena came into the room. He watched as she did her best to hide her facial expressions as he was having his mental breakdown in her living room. He cared for Elle.

This was too complicated.

Shame filled his stomach as he looked at himself in the mirror. The fairies had come and brought an assortment of clothes for them to try on. He was currently wearing a light blue floral shirt that hugged his chest snugly. He had a silver ascot around his neck. The bottoms were black shorts that also puffed out. The bottoms of the shorts wrapped tightly around his calf muscle. A pair of knee-high socks traveled up his leg and stopped at the base of the shorts.

"You look great," said the Desmia, the fairy who fitted him. She was a tan fairy with bright red hair. She had an assortment of freckles that lined her face and looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She was already dressed for the banquet in a seafoam green ball gown. "The only thing missing is the shoes."

Judah knew little about fashion, but if this is what great looked like in the fairy realm he was glad that he wouldn't have to be there often. The shorts were uncomfortable and the shirt was scratchy. Desmia wouldn't allow him to wear an undershirt because it "threw off her vision."

"You nervous for your trial?" asked Desmia as she dug in the large trunk she had brought.

"No," Judah lied. He hoped that he came across as confident as he was feigning to be. He was terrified. He would either succeed in obtaining the fairy's help to save Selena or he would let her down.

Again.

"Well, I hope that you pass," she said pulling out a pair of leather black shoes. "You guys have been all the buzz in Encantia. We speak of little else. We had scouts at each of your other trials and were impressed with how you handled them. It was about time those minotaurs got humbled."

She handed Judah the shoes and he sat on a chair to put his shoes on. They were tight but otherwise fit. He stood and held his arms out. He gave a fake cheery smile and let her look him up and down.

"Not my best work," she said clicking her teeth and circling Judah. "But it'll do. The queen knows that you humans are utterly unfashionable. We are good at what we do, but we aren't miracle workers after all."

A knock at his door made him jump. Judah's mother walked in and smiled as she saw her son. "Honey, you look amazing," she said. "You're going to be the shining prince at the ball!" She smiled at Desmia and took out her phone to take a picture. Judah smiled awkwardly and sat there quietly as his mother snapped photos.

"We still need to work on his hair."

Judah looked in the mirror and frowned. His sandy blonde curls fell in locks to his shoulders. He had grown his hair out for years. What did she mean she had to work on his hair?

"Well, I'll leave you two to it."

His mother closed the door and Judah looked at Desmia who pulled out a lot of hair products from her trunk. "They said you had a wild mane of hair. I don't know what I was expecting, but this looks like a rat's nest, kid."

Judah bowed his head in embarrassment. Hair care had not been his number one priority.

She grabbed his hand and walked him over to his bathroom. She placed him in front of the mirror and seconds later she rolled his office chair in and he sat down. "So are there any tips that I should know for tonight?" Judah asked.

With the outfit he had on, he hoped that he wasn't doing any kind of sport. He couldn't imagine comfortably doing anything physical in this attire.

"Are you asking me to deliberately go against my queen?" asked Desmia.

Judah felt his stomach drop. "No, no, no. It isn't like that! I just meant-"

"Relax," the fairy said with a laugh. "It was a joke. To answer your question, just do what you guys have been doing. You might not do it in the most," she struggled to find the word. Judah watched as she twirled her hand in the air as if to help catch it. "Politically correct in your endeavors, but we can all see it's coming from a place of goodness."

Judah winced as she took a brush and began to brush out his curls. "What a tangled web we weave," she said as she yanked the brush through his hair. "Have you ever heard of using a product?"

They sat in quiet as she painfully brushed his hair out. She then put a large glob of green gel on his head. She worked it into his tender head soothingly. Judah closed his eyes and relaxed. "Why does everyone else hate us?"

Desmia picked her head up and stopped rubbing the gel into his hair. She came around and sat on the counter and faced him. "What makes you think we hate you guys?"

"The other realms are rude to us," Judah said. "They call us cowards and they scream at Elora."

Desmia bit her lower lip. Judah could tell that she was weighing how much she wanted to say. She let out a long sigh before she got off the counter and walked behind him again. "You have to understand," she said as she reinserted her fingers into his hair. "We were in a war. Gedeon was at large and he was tormenting all the realms. He had special sights on Glorianna. When Queen Elora lost the power of the Dominions it put us all in danger. Sure, we had our magic, but the alliance was with the holder of the Dominions. Suddenly there were five of them and they needed to learn how to use them?"

She began to pull his hair back into a tight ponytail. She pulled a blue ribbon out of her pocket and tied his hair back. "We were all left vulnerable. Our most powerful allies had all of the power and none of the experience. Then we heard that you guys abandoned Glorianna and-" she paused. "We barely survived that war. We lost a lot, but we made it. We kept our freedom."

"While you let our people's fall."

"Your people's freedom was taken the moment he entered your borders," Desmia corrected. "You're the ones that ran. Not us."

"We didn't run-"

"Not intentionally," Desmia corrected. "But you still did. Some aftermath addendum seventeen years later doesn't change what happened and the feelings we all felt. So yes, there's bitterness, frustration, and callousness, but in our minds, you did it to us first."

Tears welled in her eyes and she walked out of the bathroom. Judah heard her packing her trunk up quickly. He didn't know what to do. It was the first time any of them had talked to someone from a different realm about what happened the night they were sent to the human world. Judah never stopped to think about how their absence could have impacted them.

He got up and walked to the bathroom door. "Desmia, I'm sorry," he said softly. "We are sorry. We've been playing victims here because of what happens and I think this was the first time I've seen it from another perspective."

She looked up and rubbed her nose. "It's okay," she said nodding. "It's honestly no one's fault but Gedeon. I think it's just easier to blame you guys," she closed the top of her trunk and softly smiled. "You look great. Queen Elora asked that we transport you when we finish to the Mayweather house. Are you ready?"

Judah nodded and walked to his bedroom door. "Mom," Judah called. "I'm leaving for the party!"

"Have fun, sweetie!" she replied.

He walked back to Desmia who held her hand out. "She closed her eyes and opened her mouth but then stopped. She looked at Judah and bit her lower lip. "Judah?" she asked.

"Yes?" he said.

"It meant a lot that you apologized."

She closed her eyes again and began to whisper something in a language that Judah couldn't understand. His room began to spin, and the colors and shapes around him begin to blur into one fluid blob. Judah felt his head begin to throb and he toppled over. His legs felt like jello as the room spun faster and faster. Desmia continued to chant in the language. The longer the room spun the louder the chanting came, and Judah felt his eyes begin to roll into the back of his head.

Then the spinning stopped.

He was in Elle's room sitting in the middle of the floor. His head was on his knees and when he looked up Desmia bit her lip apologetically. "I forgot that happens when you're not used to it," she said. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Judah replied not able to open his eyes. His whole body felt like he had traveled outside of it.

She nodded and muttered something in the unknown language again and disappeared. Judah took deep breaths and tried to get his bearings back.

"Oh get over it." Elle's voice came from behind him.

Judah jumped. He hadn't realized Elle was in the room with him. When he turned he saw that she was sitting on her bed in a beautiful pink ball gown. Ruffles and sparkles lined the bottom of the dress. She looked stunning with her hair tied up in an intricate bun. Tiny pink flowers decorated her hair and were held in place by a golden chain and wrapped in several different directions.

Judah's breath caught in his chest.

"I don't want to hear it," she said standing up. "I can barely breathe in this thing. Would you like to tell me why corsets were ever a thing? These had to be invented by a man because no woman would subject herself to this of her own volition."

She crossed over to the mirror and looked at herself. She gripped at the dress and frowned. "My mother would have a field day if she saw me right now."

Judah got up from the ground and walked over to her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, but he knew that would be wrong. Especially after what happened last night. He turned to walk away when Elle reached out her hand and grabbed his arm.

"What are we doing?"

"I don't know," Judah said honestly.

It was silent. Judah could have reached out his hand and felt the tension as he and Elle stared into each other's eyes. "I know this is wrong," she finally said. "I'm not an idiot. I know I'm betraying Selena, but," she stopped. "I feel-"

"Drawn to you," Judah said.

He could relate to the feeling. He knew that their hook-up was despicable to do, but something about Elle called to him differently than it did Selena. With Selena, it was nerves and wanting to impress her, but Judah didn't feel that way with Elle. When he was with Elle he felt a freedom that he wasn't used to. He could let his wall fall and trust that she wouldn't use it to burn him.

Selena was wonderful. She had a fire and a passion Judah adored, but if he cared so deeply for her, why could he not stop thinking of Elle?

"Last night was a mess," she said. "I can't believe that she was here," she looked at Judah with tears in her eyes. "Do you-" she began and stopped and turned away. She started to cry and Judah turned her around and brought her into a tight hug.

"Hey," he whispered. "It's okay."

"Do you want to be with her?" Elle asked finally through quiet tears. "Did I betray my friend for nothing?"

Judah looked down at Elle and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. If he was honest, he wasn't sure.

All he knew was his heart was with two different people.

A light wind began to travel across the room and Judah and Elle quickly separated their embrace when Jayden and Asher appeared in the room. They were in similar outfits to Judah. The only difference was Asher's shirt was red and Jayden's was yellow.

"Who's ready to party with Tinker Bell?!" Asher called from the ground. He held onto his head and laid with his back on the ground. "Jesus, this travel is going to kill me."

"Get over it," Elle said as she sniffled. "If I have to wear a corset, you can feel dizzy for a few minutes."

She walked back over to her bed and sat down. Elora appeared seconds later and smiled at all of them. "This is a big night," she said. "The fairy queen does not take guests often. Are you ready to woo her?" Her words were addressed to the group but her eyes were trained on Judah. He felt his chest tighten.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Judah mumbled to himself as she motioned for them to form a circle.

Elora mumbled something in that unknown language used by Desmia and the room began to spin.