The Many Faces of Tully

I catch myself staring at Jace a lot. I can’t stop myself. I memorize the way he walks; I can pick it out in a crowd of people. If all of the guys are arguing, I always hear his voice over theirs, even though he’s never talking as loud as them.

If I hear the clicking of a laptop, I smile. I watch his fingers fly across the keyboard as he types something, or fiddles with footage. I know the facial expressions he makes, and I can feel my face mimicking them sometimes.

I know what he is thinking or feeling most of the times. I watch him, study him, and learn all about him. I know him, he is familiar, he is safe, he feels like home. But I always run away from home. I always run, but I’m not running from him. I don’t want to run from him. I have a feeling that I can’t run away from him.

I find myself thinking about him at night, before I fall asleep. I always think about the conversations we have had recently, and I try to figure out how he feels about me. I realize that I’m having less nightmares. I have dreams of Jace, or fantasies are more like it. I beat them down. I can’t like him. But I do.

Every morning, when I walk into the kitchen, a wide smile breaks across his face as he says, “Good morning.” to me. I get the butterflies every time. Whenever I catch his eye, actually, I get butterflies. I find myself automatically smiling if he is. His mood is infectious to me.

I’m dreading today. It’s been a month since I morphed into the panther. They have finally convinced me to go up against someone else. I’m going up against the twins today. I don’t want to, but I know I have to. I have to help them get better at their powers, and they’re going to help me control mine.

“So all we have to do is get your heart rate up, right?” Edmund asks me.

Jace answers him through the speaker. “Yes. Make her angry, nervous, scared, anything.” He understands my powers as well as I do, maybe even better. He knows me too.

“All right, good, we came up with a plan the other day. It will work perfectly I think,” Damon says. His eyes almost look malicious. He makes me nervous.

Hi Tully. The words pop into my head. Why am I saying hi to myself?

“Hello,” I say back to myself.

How are you? I ask myself.

“I’m good. How are you?”

I’m a little hot. Isn’t it hot in here?

“Yes, it is,” I say. I do feel a little warm. It’s sort of uncomfortable.

How about you take off some clothes? That would help.

That would help. But something tugs at my mind. Do I really want to take off my clothes? I kick off my shoes.

That’s not enough. It’s still hot.

I frown, but I take off my socks. I feel like I’m hot, but I also don’t.

More.

I sigh. I grab the hem of my shirt and pull it up over my head. Wait. What am I doing? My shirt drops to my feet.

“What are you doing Damon?” I hear Jace’s voice.

Jace? I forgot about him. I forgot where I was. I gasp. I’m in my bra in front of all of them. I cover my chest and look at Damon. He’s smirking at me.

“Raising her heart rate,” Edmund says. I look at him and he’s smirking at me too. Anger flashes through me, and also embarrassment. My heart stutters and picks up its pace slightly.

Come over here. I walk towards Damon without thinking. I don’t like the look in his eyes. I stare back at him wearily. A small thought pops up in the back of my head. He’s making me do this. I have to fight it.

“Do you want to elevate your heart rate?” Damon asks me.

I nod. Why did I nod? I really don’t want to raise my heart rate. Nothing good comes from my heart beating faster.

“Do you want me to help you with that?” he asks.

I nod again. He has too much control over me. I don’t like it. My heart is beating faster.

He suddenly grabs my face and starts kissing me. My heart starts sprinting. What is he doing? I gain control of my body again and I push him away from me. He has no power over me when I’m like this.

I wrap my arms around my chest again and start gasping for air. They shouldn’t be in here. I’m going to kill them. They can’t survive me. Damon won’t be able to control me like they think he might be able to. Edmund will probably not be able to shield himself from the pure energy that surges from me.

What if I morph though? Maybe Edmund can protect himself from whatever I morph into. Maybe Damon can control me if I’m not human. I search around for something to morph into. The first thing I see is a dragon on Damon’s shirt. Oh no.

I feel myself changing. Scales erupt all over my body. My fingers and toes become talons. Wings and a tail sprout from my body. I feel horns grow out of my head and my nose becomes a snout. I’m huge. I take up three quarters of the room and I have to keep my neck bent so my head doesn’t hit the ceiling.

I look down at the two men at me feet. They both are shocked into place. This isn’t what they were expecting. I smell their fear.

“Tully,” one of them says. His voice shakes. “Calm down Tully. Just slow down your heart, and turn back into a human.”

I can feel the power behind his words. But they can’t reach me. They annoy me. I swipe my hand at him so he shuts up. He goes flying across the room and slams into the wall. The sight makes me uneasy. But why?

I try to think around my powers. I don’t want to hurt them. That’s why I morphed. It’s not working.

“Holy shit,” the other one says. I whip my head towards him. My powers take over again. I go to hit him too, but my hand bounces off this invisible wall. Anger flashes through me.

I feel the heat start up in my stomach. I force it up my throat and spit it out. Flames shoot from my mouth at him. They curl around the invisible barrier. I roar in anger.

I swing my arm towards him. It bounces off. My wings start flapping in anger. The force of the wind knocks him down. I reach forward but my claws grasp around the invisible shield. I roar again and start swinging my arms at him. I spin around and swing my tail at him but it doesn’t work. I try spitting fire at him, but it doesn’t work.

I stop trying for a second, and I can think clearly again. This is good. He can protect himself from me. This is good. I start calming down. My breathing slows. Then I realize I’m cold. I’m freezing. I start blowing fire on myself. It burns off my scales, but it feels good. My body is charcoaling, but I like it. It’s soothing. I keep breathing fire on myself and I start shrinking as I start burning away.