The Many Faces of Tully
Meeting Rozen

The time passes by pretty quickly. I look at the large watch on my wrist and it reads 8:27. I’m nervous but excited. I take deep, even breaths to keep my heart rate down. I walk out of my new room. I’ve already unpacked all of my stuff.

“Tully!” Edmund says, running towards me with Damon on his heels. “How you doing Triplette?” he asks me, throwing his arm around my neck. Damon pops up on my other side and throws his arm around me too.

“A little overwhelmed, but good,” I say. I’m almost as tall as them now, and our three thin bodies don’t take up much space.

“You’re not going to explode on us, are you?” Damon jokes.

“I’ll let you know if I’m getting close,” I can’t help but laugh. They make me feel at ease.

“That was a pretty neat trick,” Edmund says. “Couldn’t see much though. Maybe we will be able to tell what happens when we record it.”

“I bet you it looks awesome,” Damon says. And then they start talking nerdy and I lose track. We’re walking into the front room shortly.

There are bright, plushy chairs everywhere with all of the men sitting in them. The twins sit me down between them on the lime green loveseat. We fit comfortably on it. A small Japanese man walks up to me then and holds out his hand. I shake it.

“Toshi, mirror image,” he says.

“Tully, powerful people,” I say back to him. He nods his head and walks off.

The Native American man that I saw flying earlier today walks up to me then. “Elsu, flying falcon.”

“Tully, powerful people,” I repeat myself. He smiles a wide smile at me and then sits in a chair at the opposite side of the room. I notice Jace staring at me then. He doesn’t look happy.

Then the two guys who were in the room I exploded in walk up to me.

“Gunther, battler, warrior. I never got to officially meet you.” He has orange hair, light blue eyes, and freckles sprinkled across his crooked nose. He shakes my hand.

The Indian boy takes my hand from his then. “Avinash, the indestructible. Nash for short. You’re Tully, powerful people.” He beats me to it, and I am grateful. I’m tired of introducing myself like that. “You are pretty powerful if you can knock me out. I didn’t know that was possible. I’m sure you are exactly what we’ve been waiting for.”

I don’t know why, but I like him. I smile at him. I think I like him because he is indestructible. I can’t hurt him that bad. I didn’t kill him when I exploded. He is the kind of person that I can hang out with without being constantly afraid of hurting him.

Then, out of a side door, Calchas, Kato and a man I haven’t seen before, walk out to the center of all of us. I can only assume that the last man is Rozen, seeing as he is the only guy I haven’t met yet. He is bald and has a silver hoop dangling from one of his ears. His eyes are blue, and he’s large. He has thick muscles covering his entire body, and I automatically don’t like him.

“Our final member has joined us today,” Kato says. “I know she wasn’t quite what we were expecting, but that is my fault. I never knew she wasn’t going to be a boy, I just assumed. So be angry at me for expecting a man, not at her.” Did I imagine it, or did he look pointedly at Jace?

“Tully. I know I say I know all, but that is untrue. I know all that I need to.” Kato turns to me. “I knew all of our names, and our powers. I knew when each and every one of you would join me. I know that in exactly a year a great power will try to destroy the earth. I don’t know what kind of power, or who it is. I don’t know what their motive is, I just know that we have been brought together to stop this person from doing great evil. And he will do just that if we can’t stop it. You are our last member, and I know you are one of the most important pieces to this battle.”

I just stare at him. How can I, someone so destructive, be the most important piece? I can’t control my powers. I can’t help them.

“Tully, this is Rozen,” Calchas says to me, pointing to the bald man. “He is the leader of our group. The only reason Kato and I aren’t the leader is because it’s his power. He can keep us together more easily and what he says just makes sense. We are sure he’ll lead us to victory.”

“Thank you for that Calchas,” says Rozen. I don’t like his voice. It’s grainy and it feels like it’s scratching at my soul. “Now, Tully. We are going to put you through all of the tests tomorrow so we can better understand your powers. We need to see what you are capable of. You don’t need to worry, none of these tests should hurt.

“After these tests, when we get a better understanding of what you can do, we will be testing your powers against everyone else’s. It will hopefully help you gain better control of your powers and help them grow. We need everyone to train, so they are at the best they can be when we go up against this unknown force,” he tells me.

I don’t want to go up against the other guys. I will hurt them. I will kill them. They can’t handle my powers.

“Okay everyone. Time for bed. We have a long day tomorrow, especially you Tully,” Calchas says, dismissing us. The three of them walk back into the door they came out of. Everyone gets up then and starts walking down the hallway. I follow after them, feeling like the black sheep of the herd.

I notice that I’m walking next to Jace. He has his hands shoved into his pockets and his head is lowered, staring at the floor. The feeling of safety washes over me again, and I realize that I don’t want him angry with me. I want him to like me, and we didn’t get off on the right foot.

“I don’t think we were properly introduced,” I try to say to him. He peeks up at me, with a frown already on his face. “Tully, powerful people,” I hold out my hand. He looks at it for a second, and then back up at me.

“Jace, the healer.” He doesn’t shake my hand. I let it fall awkwardly to my side. We walk quietly with the rest of them.

When I finally get the courage to say something to him again, to confront him about his behavior, we are in the hallway where our rooms are. I turn to face him, but he had already walked into his room and is slamming the door in my face. I stand there, shocked for a moment.

“Don’t worry about him,” Nash says, at my side. “You’re just not what he was expecting, or hoping for, but he’ll get over it,” he smiles at me. “He’ll see that you are just as powerful, or maybe even more powerful than the guy he was expecting.”

“I’m sorry I’m not a super buff dude that can control my powers,” I say to him.

“That’s all right. I think I prefer you like this. That way, no one would see it coming. He’ll come to his senses tomorrow when he sees what you can do,” he smiles again. “Next time you won’t knock me out. Goodnight Tuls.” He walks into the room after Jace.

His nickname stings. My parents called me that. I sigh heavily and go to my room next to theirs.

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