The Many Faces of Tully

I fetch my book and go into the kitchen to find something to eat. Nash is in there with the twins. They’re laughing about something. Nash looks up at me as I walk into the room.

“Hey Tuls!” he says with his mouth full of the apple he just took a bite out of. “That was quite the show.” He pulls out the chair next to him and pats the seat. I sit in it.

“Fruit?” Edmund says, pushing the bowl of fruit towards me. I grab a pear from it.

“I think I can take you next time,” Nash says to me.

“What makes you think there is going to be a next time?” I ask him, taking a bite from my pear.

“We have to help you train, and you can make us stronger. It’s what we do. We use our powers against each other and we get better at them,” he says.

“Yeah. When I first got here I could only suggest someone to do something and they would consider it and do it about half the time,” Damon interjects. “Now I can make people do stuff. Watch this.” He stares at Nash.

Nash glares at him, but he lifts his hand up, and then slaps himself.

“Why are you hitting yourself?” Damon teases him. Then he stares at me and I am suddenly terrified. What is he going to make me do?

Throw the pear at Edmund. I think to myself. C’mon. Just cock back your arm. And I do. Now throw it. And I do.

Edmund sees my intent and he holds up his hand. The pear bounces off an invisible shield.

“How did you do that?” I ask both of them. They laugh simultaneously. They can’t really answer though. It’s their power, that’s how they did it.

“Do you want to see me do something?” Nash asks me. He wants to show off his powers too.

“I already saw you be shot yesterday, and survive my explosion,” I say to him.

“But that’s not all I can do! I can’t break any bones. I can’t be cut. Look, watch.” He leans back onto two legs of his chair and grabs a large knife from the rack. I see his intent a second too late and he drives the knife towards his thigh.

I gasp, but the knife glances off his leg. He puts it to his wrist then, and saws it back and forth. Nothing happens. The kitchen door opens and the knife flies out of his hands. It zooms back into the rack.

“Stop messing around,” Zazu demands in his deep voice.

“Just showing her our powers,” Damon says defensively.

“Do you think she came in here for you guys to show off? I’m sure she wants to eat,” he snaps back at him.

“I don’t mind,” I try to tell them, but they ignored me.

“You just showed off your power,” Nash retorts.

“To make you guys stop showing off so she can eat.” He crosses his arms over his chest.

“Thank you, Zazu,” I say loudly so everyone stops. “I’m going to go read now.” I get up and go out to the front room. Haides and Mirage are in there watching the TV. It’s some doctor show.

I settle into one of the squishy chairs and start reading. I end up falling asleep in the late afternoon.

No one touches me or bothers me and I wake up in almost complete darkness. I light up the screen on my watch. 4:23. My stomach grumbles and I realize I’m starving. I return my book and change my clothes.

I walk into the kitchen and jump when I see Jace. I already forgot that he gets up this early. He looks up from his bowl of cereal at me. He covers it protectively, and his mug of coffee.

“Please don’t shatter anything. I don’t want to clean up another mess,” he teases me.

“Ha, ha,” I say to him. I open up the cupboard and see that the bowls are on the second shelf. I’m too short to reach them now. I sigh and think about the options. I can climb up on the counter, or I can stand on a chair.

I heave myself onto the counter and I grab a bowl. I hear Jace chuckle behind me. I ignore him. I pour myself a heaping bowl of Captain Crunch again. I set it on the table gingerly and hunt down a spoon. After I do that, I look for the mugs. I open three drawers before I find them. They’re on the top shelf.

“Are you kidding me?” I say under my breath. I put my hands on the counter but I see Jace’s arm reach over me as he grabs a mug for me.

He’s smirking at me when I take the mug from him. “There you go,” he says.

“I hate it when I’m short,” I grumble at him. He laughs slightly. I pour myself coffee to the very brim of the mug and I carry it carefully to the table and I set it next to my cereal.

Jace has his eyes trained on me as I sit down. “What?” I demand.

“Well no wonder you spilled everything everywhere yesterday,” he scoffs, eyeing my overflowing cereal and full coffee mug.

I frown. “It’s how I’ve always done it.” I got it from my parents. My dad would have the overly full cereal bowl of Captain Crunch and my mom would always fill her mug to the very top.

“Then why don’t you pour your cereal and coffee at the table so you don’t spill it?” he questions me. He takes a bite of his Cheerios.

I shrug and start pushing down my cereal with my spoon. I use my hand to help, so none spills over, but some does anyways. I pick up the fallen pieces and toss them back into my bowl. He wrinkles his nose. I ignore him and pull my mug towards me slowly. I bend over it and sip it until its empty enough for me to pick it up and not spill it. Jace is shaking his head.

“How weird is it?” he asks me suddenly. My mouth is full of cereal.

“How weird is what?” I ask him when I have less food in my mouth.

“Changing? Becoming a different person? You were six foot yesterday and today you are five foot, five one?” He has that glint to his eye again. New information.

I shrug. “I’m still me. I just don’t look the same. Sometimes it’s weird because I’m suddenly a lot shorter than I was before, but it’s not hard to get used to.”

“How about looking completely different. I mean, someone gets used to their appearance and I think they would kind of be shocked to see themselves look suddenly different.”

“I’m used to it now. The first time was horrible. I was pretty much crazy for a few months. I had just murdered my boyfriend, erased myself from my parents’ memories, watched my suitcase miraculously pack itself, had my car start without keys, and then to top it off, I looked completely different. I was terrified of myself and I shuddered every time I saw my reflection,” I tell him. His eyes are wide open in shock. Or fear.

“The first person you killed was your, your boyfriend?” he whispers. I see the sympathy in his face.

I touch the shark tooth absentmindedly. “Yeah. Jack,” I say sadly.

“That must have been horrible.”

I shrug. The third time was the worst. That was agony. I touch the watch on my wrist. “I was only sixteen. It’s not like we were serious or anything,” I brush it off.

“Sixteen?” He chokes on his coffee.

“Is that a 'you were so young' or a 'your powers didn’t show until then' 'sixteen'?” I copy his tone.

“Both I guess,” he says. I keep eating my cereal. I don’t know what to say. I’m almost done with my cereal when he speaks again.

“I want to show you something.” He gets up and rinses out his bowl. “Meet me in the living room when you’re done.” And he leaves, with me staring after him.