Lasted • Tuck Everlasting

The Wise

The crowd of the fair was much larger than it had been in 1893. The August air blew in the wind as Jesse walked around with his Golden Retriever following close behind. "Appa!" Jesse yelled as the dog came bounding towards him with a smile on his face. "Good boy." Jesse praised as he scratched the dog's head.

As Jesse walked, he noticed a tent that didn't seem very busy. The sign in front was painted in cursive letters that he could barely read. He shrugged and approached the tent, only to stop and see a familiar face enter.

Kerena looked down at her phone as she entered the tent, only to be met by an older woman. "Hi, is this-"

"Ah, yes! I've been expecting you!" The woman cheered as she sat in a velvet chair. "Come! Take a seat." Kerena was unsure but sat across from the woman anyway. "I heard you need help with something from the past?"

Kerena nodded and held up her cracked phone which showed a photo of Charlie and Miles at the graveyard. "These people are immortal. They've been around for a long time. We need to find what made them immortal since it could still be in the woods." The woman gasped as she looked at the photo of Miles and Charlie.

"Ah, yes. I've seen them before. When I was a child." The woman explained as she stood up and walked towards a filled bookshelf that towered over her. "I have never forgotten a face in my life. That's the face of two people who were at one of the craziest mysteries in Treegap's history." Her shaky hand reached for a book that was covered in dust but still held itself together even after all these years. The fortune-teller opened the book to a specific page and set it on the table before Kerena.

The old stained page had a large newspaper title right at the top. "Foster daughters go missing?" Kerena read aloud as she looked over the newspaper article. The names in the article struck her in surprise as she flipped the page to a part about the most legendary stories in Treegap. "There is believed to be a spring in the woods that's water gifts the drinker immunity, and they will never age or die. This, however, has not been proven to be true." Kerena smiled as she quickly began to take photos of the article with her phone, preparing to do more research on this odd family. "This will help me a bunch. Thank you, Mrs. Wren."

Mrs. Wren smiled as the young girl ran out of the tent to continue her studying. Jesse stayed as quiet as he could after hearing all that happened inside the tent. Appa rubbed his fluffy head against Jesse's leg to try to calm him down, but Jesse quickly dug into his pocket and grabbed his phone. "Hey, Miles. I have some good news and bad news." Jesse spoke slowly into the phone as he looked around to make sure Kerena didn't notice him.

The Tuck couple drove down the streets of Treegap as Miles and Charlie listened to Jesse's voice over the car speaker. "Yeah? Good news first." Miles asked as Charlie rested her head against her seat's headrest, not feeling very well herself.

"Okay, cool. Good news, I found Kerena. Bad news, she wants to expose our family secret to everyone and wants to find the spring." Jesse explained as Miles' face quickly became laced with frustration. Charlie's eyes widened upon hearing the news and ushered for her husband to find somewhere to park so they could talk about this with all of their attention.

Miles pulled over as Charlie let out a deep sigh of frustration. "We'll call you back Jesse. Keep following her, and text us updates." Charlie instructed as the boy hung up and continued walking with his dog around the fair, trying to maneuver in a way where Kerena didn't notice him.

The Tuck's sat in their car as silence surrounded them. "I can't believe you actually convinced us to tell her our secret." Miles groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Charlie scoffed and held up an accusing finger towards him, but was interrupted before she could say anything. "You said, 'Oh! She'll never tell anyone. I trust her!'" Miles sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

Charlie's cheeks began to turn red as she tried to formulate words. She wasn't used to arguing with Miles. "It's not my fault! She reminded me of Winnie too much and I just was blinded into believing we could trust her." Charlie tried to explain as Miles chuckled at her words.

"God! What is with you? Why are you still hooked on Winnie? It's been 126 years since you've last seen her!" Miles angrily fought back as Charlie gasped at how he was acting.

"She's still my sister! If you have a problem with me not being with her anymore, then maybe I just shouldn't have drunken the water in the first place. Hell, we only knew each other for a day before you proposed to me!" Charlie exclaimed as she let anger fuel her since she needed to fight against Miles' anger!

"Well, because of you, my family's secret that we have kept for well over 200 years is about to be revealed because my idiot wife decided to tell a child that looked like her dead relative that we were immortal," Miles complained as Charlie began to get out of the car, not wanting to be around her husband anymore. "Sometimes I just-"

Charlie's eyes darted to Miles as she stood outside of the car with the door wide open. "Finish that sentence. I dare you." The girl threatened as Miles took a deep breath and broke eye contact with her.

"Sometimes I regret marrying you," Miles mumbled, regretting his words as Charlie slammed the car door and began walking away from the car, walking in front so she could give him her middle finger.

Yup, this day was not going so well for anyone.

A/N: Oh goodness me, I never do Author's Notes. So, It's been a minute. Uh- I have no idea why this story is still getting comments and votes. I wrote this book on a whim forever ago when I first remembered that Tuck Everlasting existed. I never expected it to get this popular. I'm actually beginning to run out of ideas for this story, but I don't want to let my babies go yet. If you comment down below some stuff that should possibly happen in the story (I've been throwing around ideas like new jobs, marriage problems, babies????)

SO YEAH! I hope you all aren't too mad at me, but I am so thankful that you all enjoy this story as much as I do. Make sure to vote and comment and feel free to message me at any time about this story! I love talking to you all! Happy Holidays! Stay safe out there! ~_AWildSuicidal_ (or Natalie if you want to call me my real name ;D)