Darkest Powers fanfiction
EVERYONE'S SECRET
Derek Souza/OC: Mary Ralluber

Author's Note: Finally, finally, FINALLY have I got a chapter out. I'm getting in the mood to start writing again, so hopefully I'll get a lot of chapters done. Plus, I'm now on Thanksgiving break for a week, so that will give me plenty of time to get some chapters out. Okay well, hopefully this chapter will suffice for now. Enjoy and please review! Thanks. (:

Chapter O6.

Mary was rudely awakened the next morning by Mrs. Talbot's gentle shaking. She'd been having a peaceful dream about running in her other form, the wind slapping her face and flying through her thick black fur, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, and her paws beating against the earth. The last thing she'd wanted was to be taken away from that, but thanks to her personal alarm clock, she had been.

"Mary, sweetie, it's time to get up," the elderly woman whispered. Mary turned over onto her back and slowly tore open her eyelids. She met with Mrs. Talbot's smiling face, a grandmotherly essence illuminating her. Mary groaned and tore off her covers, sitting up. "Breakfast is ready. So get dressed and come on down, alright dear?" After that, she left Mary to her room.

There were many things Mary hated about Lyle House, but one of the main things she hated was not being able to sleep in. She wasn't going to school or to a job, so why did she have to wake up so early? She thought it ridiculous, but it was better than home with the abusive and annoying D. Jay, so she forced herself to deal with it.

Mary walked over to her closet, her footsteps muffled by the shag carpet. She rummaged through her few clothes and picked out a pair of small shorts and an old red t-shirt. She tied on her sneakers, brushed her hair briefly in front of the vanity mirror and tied it up into a ponytail, and then left for breakfast.

Mary was the last to arrive at the table. Even Simon was already feeding himself with a platter of fresh fruit and oatmeal. She met gazes with Derek, sitting next to an empty chair. She noticed him without his trademark sweatshirt. Instead, he sported a plain black t-shirt, witnessing his arms for the first time. And, Mary also realized his skin was really clearing up. She almost smiled at the sight of his almost acne-free face. She'd told him the miracle acne cream would work.

"There's sleeping beauty," Brady joked, stuffing a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth. "No fair you get to sleep in and the rest of us guys don't."

"Sleep in? Sorry Brady, but six thirty is not sleeping in," Mary corrected. "Waking up at six thirty is a crime."

Simon laughed and nodded. "Then all of us should be behind bars. I woke up around five fifty. Needed to take my insulin," he said. Mary gave him a sympathetic look as she sat down next to Derek. Sitting next to each other, it was clear as day how much their heights contrasted. Mary's head didn't even reach his shoulder, making her appear as a fifth grader. If her body wasn't so well developed, she might as well have passed for one.

"So, no sweatshirt today, Derek?" she asked, nudging his bare arm as she reached for a bowl. Derek said nothing and instead stuffed his mouth with oatmeal. Mary sighed and filled her bowl. Not too much longer, Mrs. Talbot came into the room.

"Oh, good, Mary, you're up," she beamed, combing a loose strand of grey hair behind her ear.

"Unfortunately," she muttered under her breath. Mrs. Talbot missed her comment.

"Boys, Dr. Gill is coming today. She'll be here during Ms. Wang's teachings, so afterward she'll be calling each of you in for a quick meeting, alright?" Mrs. Talbot explained. The boys mumbled their responses and continued their meals. "Oh, and Simon? It's your turn to clean up breakfast."

"Alright. Do I get a buddy to help out?" he asked. She arched an eyebrow.

"It's only oatmeal. Not much to clean up, sweetheart. I'm pretty sure you can do that on your own," Mrs. Talbot said. Simon shrugged and said no more. Afterwards, Mrs. Talbot left the kids to their breakfast.

"Who's Dr. Gill?" asked Mary, popping an apple chunk into her mouth.

"Just some 'psychiatrist,'" Brady said with quotation marks. Mary looked at him curiously.

"Why the marks?" she asked, copying his hand movements.

"Because I don't really believe what she says. But it's not just her; all these doctors are kind of sketchy. It's probably just my trust issues," Brady answered with a shrug, not meeting her eyes. Mary studied him for a while before averting her gaze to the brothers.

"Well, what about you two? Do you think the same about Dr. Gill?"

"Pretty much," Simon responded.

"What does she say? I mean, why don't you believe her?" Mary urged, lowering her voice. Her eyes involuntarily maneuvered up towards Derek's, and she noticed his eyebrows closely knitted together, almost creating a unibrow. He was in deep thought, and she wondered what he could be thinking about.

It wasn't until she noticed Derek's gazed directly locked on Brady that she realized that whatever Simon and Derek thought of Dr. Gill, he didn't want it said in front of Brady. However, that only raised the question as to why they were keeping this from him. Sure, Derek and Brady weren't on the best terms, but perhaps Dr. Gill was a part of that.

"Dumb stuff," Brady answered, shrugging his shoulder. "If she calls you in, just don't believe anything she says. She's so full of it." Mary arched an eyebrow, but let the conversation fall. Nobody said anything afterwards until they'd finished breakfast. Mary, Derek, and Brady filed out of the dining room, leaving Simon to clean up the table, and walked upstairs to gather their school things for Ms. Wang's lessons.

"Hey, Mary," Brady called as they were about to take their separate ways. Mary stopped in her tracks, and Derek paused briefly, turning his neck back to Brady. "Sit with me in Ms. Wang's class?" Brady flashed a smirk.

"Sure," she said monotonously. Her eyes glanced over Brady's shoulder where she spotted Derek watching, but he quickly turned away and towards his room. Her eyes glanced back at Brady as his smirk grew into a wide, egotistic smile.

After Mary gathered her books, she walked towards Derek and Simon's room, peeking her head through the doorway. Derek didn't have to turn around to know she was there.

"Mary," he murmured, clearing his throat.

"There's something you're not telling me about Dr. Gill," she said quietly. "I want to know." Derek rolled his eyes.

"Of course you do."

"Hey. Who's giving you werewolf tips, hmm? Changing tips for the wolf boy who hasn't even gone through the Change."

Derek narrowed his eyebrows and clenched his fists. "I told you not to call me that!" he hissed. Mary glared.

"Then don't leave me out. I want to know what's going on," she said. Derek sighed.

"Alright. But don't bring this up in front of Brady. Simon and I aren't sure if he knows why Dr. Gill's lying to us, as if Simon and I don't already know." Derek scoffed and Mary gave him a puzzled look. Derek shook his head. "I'll explain later. Come on, we have to get to class."

Derek walked passed her, his strangely familiar scent intoxicating her nose as he brushed her arm, and she fell into step behind him, shutting his door on her way out.

After Ms. Wang dismissed the four of them, Derek, Simon, and Mary left to the living room to do their homework. Brady was the first to be called in to Dr. Gill's office, so this gave the trio the perfect opportunity to discuss what was so wrong with Dr. Gill.

"Okay, so tell me now. Why don't you trust anything Dr. Gill says? And why don't you want to discuss this in front of Brady?" Mary asked quietly as she opened her math book. Simon and Derek mimicked her action. Simon looked back and forth, to check if anybody unwanted were listening, and then leaned in to the coffee table they sat at.

"Everybody here is lying to us, even though they know we're not normal," he whispered. Mary cocked her head to one side, her eyebrows knitting together.

"What do you mean? How are they lying?"

"Instead of telling us what we really are, they're labeling us with false mental disabilities. Well, they are for Derek and Brady. I don't have a file. I've never been in any trouble," he added with a smirk. Derek scowled at him.

"False disabilities? Why?" she asked.

"To convince us that we're actually mentally disabled," Derek muttered, head bowed and hunched over his paper. "They don't want us to discover what we really are, and then use our powers against them, so we're assuming."

"But … that's stupid. Don't they already know you know you're a …" Mary's voice dropped to the faintest whisper. "… werewolf?"

"I think they've got an idea, but they don't want to admit it. They just diagnose me as someone with violent rages, someone who should probably be in a straitjacket and padded room instead of a group home," he said.

Hearing this, Mary suddenly felt an empty pit form in her chest. Derek didn't have to explain these violent rages. She'd grown up with them, performing them herself, or watching her dad—even when sober—destroy furniture or other objects. It was all the lycanthropy, but of course they couldn't tell that to him, not if they wanted a logical explanation.

However, if they knew Derek was a werewolf, why would they want a logical explanation? If they wanted a logical explanation, why was Derek even here? Shouldn't he be in a lab, one very much like those Dr. Davidoff had showed Mary before bringing her to Lyle House?

Her eyebrows narrowed. Davidoff knew of Mary's lycanthropy too, and had even suggested she stay here at the group home, just for a little while. What were the odds of keeping two werewolves in the same facility?

"Are they collecting werewolves?" she suddenly asked, looking around.

"You're on the right track, but if they were collecting werewolves, I wouldn't be here," Simon said.

"So what are you doing here?" Mary asked.

"The doctors are collecting supernaturals," Derek whispered, interrupting Mary impatiently. "Simon's not a werewolf; he casts spells."

Mary's eyebrows rose to her hairline in shock. "Casts spells? Like a wizard?" Simon laughed.

"Sort of. We're called sorcerers. Female sorcerers are called witches, and it fits they're attitude as well," he added with a chuckle.

"Oh … that's right. I think I remember Dr. Davidoff mentioning something about that," Mary said.

"Dr. Davidoff? You've met him?" asked Simon.

"What did he say? When did you meet him?" Derek demanded.

"He found me on the streets after I ran away from my dad. He said he saw me in mid-Change, going from wolf to human. I'm hoping that perv didn't see me naked, though," she added with a snarl. Derek rolled his eyes.

"What did he tell you? He mentioned the races? Where did he take you?"

"Can you cool it with all of the questions? I already have to deal with all of that when you're asking me about the Change," Mary snapped. Derek glared, but held his tongue. "Anyway, he mentioned the races very briefly. I guess he didn't want to go too much into detail. He took me to a Denny's, treated me to dinner, and then mentioned something about a group … I think he called it the Edison Group, or something like that," she said. "He listed some supernaturals—as you guys call them—such as werewolves, witches—oh, and also demons and half-demons. He wouldn't tell me much more, even though I asked about a million questions, but instead took me to the Edison Group's lab. I stayed in this room that sort of looked like a hotel suite for a couple of days, and then he brought me here."

Derek and Simon exchanged glances and Mary looked at them, annoyed, as if they were sharing some sort of secret with each other. Once again, she felt left out.

"Do you guys know about the Edison Group?" she asked.

"No. We've never heard of it," Simon said, after a long pause.

"So, why don't you want to talk about this in front of Brady? If we're all supernaturals, shouldn't he be involved as well?" she asked.

"We don't know if Brady knows he's a supernatural or not. We know he is, according to his file, but even the doctors don't know what race he is. He does throw these annoying tantrums sometimes, but he's not a werewolf," Derek assured.

"Well, duh. We would know," Mary said.

"His person is just really mysterious … and annoying," Derek added, ignoring Mary's comment. Mary was about to open her mouth to ask what the doctors "diagnosed" him as when she sniffed his presence drawing near. She could hear his footsteps coming towards them and she shut her mouth. She looked back at Derek, who sent her a silent message with his eyes saying not to discuss this around him and she nodded.

Brady entered the room and his eyes lingered on the studying group. He snickered.

"Oh yuck. We're studying? Not fun. I think I'll play some Xbox for a while before starting on Wang's crap," he said and walked over to grab a controller. He dropped himself on the couch next to where Mary sat on the floor, perching his feet on the table next to her things. She glared at him and he grinned.

"Oh, and by the way, Mary, Dr. Gill wants to see you," he said. Mary's heart raced. She was going to be diagnosed. Had Dr. Davidoff already told her about Mary's lycanthropy? Were they going to create a file for her and include violent rages, since that's what they appeared to categorize werewolves as? She closed her book and stood from the ground, eyeing Simon and Derek one last time. When she reached the doorway, Brady called to her.

"Oh, and Mary? Don't believe a word she tells you," he said softly, and then turned back to his game.