Gifted #Wattys2015

Chapter 20

Adult Tula

Tula wandered around, looking for some way to figure out what was going on. This seemed different, yet almost exactly like the time that she had traveled into Jay's mind. She was mainly looking for May, but she wanted to find out as much as she could, knowing that this was her chance to find out things that May wouldn't tell her willingly.

Tula was trying to look as far as she could as she walked, but she didn't look down- that was her mistake. She tripped over something, someone at second glance, that looked remarkably like May. Not knowing whether she was hoping it was May so there wouldn't be a third identical person, or not May, because that would mean that she had been compromised. Upon closer examination, Tula was shocked. This person wasn't May, but she wasn't a third identical person either. Tula was apprehensive to wake her up, but she did anyway. This was the time for answers. The sleeping girl woke up with a start.

"No! No! Mom let me go! Please! I never did anything wrong!"

Tula looked around, but there was not a soul in sight. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's her! She's in you! Stay away from me!"

"What? You have-" before she could say another word, Lennor ran away. Still in-comprehensive, Tula kept walking. Or at least, she would have kept walking if she hadn't been thrown unceremoniously back into her body. A being suddenly filled her and Tula shrunk away. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gone!"

The pretty little lady took form and said, "Oh you recognize me. That's nice to see."

"Look here, Belle. I'm done with all your nonsense. I've waited ten years for an explanation from you. You are either going to help me understand everything right now, or you're going to leave all of us alone."

""I guess I'm leaving then. Before I go, I have one thing to say. Listen carefully, or you'll pay dearly." She waited till Tula nodded tersely before continuing. "You made a mistake by reveals the Gifts to one of the ignorant. For that, I am going to make him pay. Unless you give me the one thing I need the most."

"Anything," Tula said. "He doesn't deserve any punishment."

"I'm taking May."

"Sorry, what?"

"I'm taking May. Away. Forever. You'll never see her again. I'll leave too, and I'm never coming back."

Tula just stared at her as if she was considering her choices, but in the end, there was only one choice. She couldn't let anything happen to Ethan, ever. She knew she shouldn't have told him anything, but she had needed to talk to someone and he was there. Knowing that she was losing her only chance to get all the answers, she said, "Go! Just leave, and if I ever see you again,-"

Before she could form a threat, Belle disappeared. And May never woke up again.

***

"Tula?"

"Tula?"

"You okay?"

"I guess."

"Can someone please explain what's going on?"

"We lost May."

"Seriously?"

"No!!"

"I'm not kidding guys. May's gone, and I need to talk to you guys."

Okay, let's take a walk, then you can explain it to me.

Tula took a deep breath and shook her head at Jay. "I've got something to tell you. Ethan knows."

"What?! Since when? And why didn't you tell me before?"

This is what Tula had been trying to avoid. She looked at Ethan, who gave her a look that said that he would go along with whatever she wanted to tell Jay.

"I told him the day Erika got mad at me in Ethan's party. He was just talking to me and it slipped out."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Jay asked, looking hurt.

"I honestly don't know. I'm sorry."

"I need to think," he said, "I'm going for a walk," he continued, turning on his heel and walking out before anyone could say anything.

"I didn't want him to remember," Tula said, about to break down. It seemed like a small issue, even to her, but then she began to figure out how Jay felt. He had had to hide his biggest secret from his own brother, when all along, his brother had known. It was pretty hard to take in, and Tula accepted that. Shaking her head, she joined Ethan and Albey's conversation.

"-she'll be fine, Albey. I can't tell you anything unless Tula lets me."

"Okay."

"Ethan, go find Jay, please. Tell him I didn't mean to keep it from him, but don't say anything about the real reason."Ethan nodded and walked out, pulling out his phone to text Jay as he walked.

Both Tula and Albey watched Ethan's retreating figure until he was out of sight, and then Albey pulled Tula in for a hug. "Don't worry about Jay. He tends to do things for attention sometimes. He's just over-reacting."

"Mhmm."

"Let's get out of here, then you can explain if you want to." Hand in hand, the two girls walked out.

***

"Are they having a funeral for May?" Jay asked, tilting back the chair he was sitting on.

"Yes. It's tomorrow morning,"

Tula replied, "I really want to meet her sister. I've forgotten her name."

"Tula?" Jay said, shaking his head, "I don't think there was ever a sister."

"How do you know?" Ethan asked.

"I didn't really believe her the first time, so I went back to talk to her later, and something felt off. I knew she didn't have a sister because no one except us visited her."

"Oh wow." Albey said.

"Tula? What's wrong?" Ethan asked, watching Tula, her face showing a mixture of emotions.

"I need to talk to Lennor."

"Tula! It's 2:30am, you can't talk to her right now."

"You're right. What was I even thinking?"

"Tomorrow, for sure."

"Tell us your theory," Jay said.

"I think May was being controlled by Belle. I don't know how long the real May existed, if at all, but I'm pretty sure the May we knew was Belle all along."

"Do you have a guess for why they looked so similar?"

"Yeah. I know Lennor and Mrs. Wentzell are related-"

She was interrupted by Albey, "This is the lady who founded the corporation right?"

"Yeah. I think Mrs. Wentzell might have left something behind for Lennor. Something that will revolutionize the powers of the Gifts. I think Belle was after that. She might have eventually pretended to be Lennor and taken whatever it is. We need to talk to Lennor so she can find whatever it is."

"We'll do that in the morning. First things first, we should all get some sleep."

***

A/N: finally finished! Sorry I took so long to update. I was extremely tied up. I'll try to do the next few faster. Comment your thoughts and vote if you liked it!