The Many Faces of Tully
Damage Control

I wake up in a pile of ash. I gasp, but that proves to be a mistake. I start coughing to I try to get the ash out of my lungs. They must have noticed I am awake because my shirt lands right in front of me.

“There you go,” Edmund mumbles.

I look up at him, but my eyes are watering so I can’t see him clearly. I pull on my shirt quickly and search the room. Jace is crouched next to Damon. He has one hand on Damon’s chest, and the other on his head. His hands are glowing green.

“Oh no.” My voice is hoarse. My throat burns, but I ignore it. I stand up and hurry over to them. “Is he all right?” I croak. I start coughing again. I can’t clear my throat.

“He will be,” Jace says, not looking at me.

“Are you sure?” Edmund says, dropping to his knees on the opposite side of Jace. He’s staring at his unconscious brother with a look of longing and desperation.

“Yes, just collapsed lungs and head trauma. Nothing too serious.” He’s staring at his hands but not seeing them. He’s feeling them.

I drop down next to him.

“Nothing too serious?” Edmund nearly shouts. “You die from those!”

“But he won’t. I’ve healed worse than this.” Jace finally looks up at him. Edmund is staring at him desperately now, but I see in his eyes that he believes him.

I reach forward and touch Damon’s arm.

“Don’t touch him!” Edmund shouts at me. I look at him, shocked. “You did this to him,” he says angrily.

“You guys knew this might happen,” Jace says calmly, only half paying attention to us.

“No we didn’t! We had no idea she would morph into a freaking dragon!” he shouts at Jace now.

“It pretty much resulted in the outcome we knew might happen. You’re okay and Damon is unconscious. What’s the difference?” Jace is still calm, calculating.

“The difference is that she’s a monster!” I flinch. “We weren’t expecting to fight a dragon! You did this to him,” he says again and points at me. He leans over his brother and pushes me away from him. Hard. “Stay away from us,” he says angrily.

I fall backwards and just stare at him in shock.

“Hey!” Jace yells, breaking his calm. “What did you do that for?”

“Were you not watching?” Edmund screams at him. “She turned into a dragon! There is no such thing as dragons, but she turned into one! She breathed fire! She’s a monster!” I flinch again.

“No she’s not. It’s her power,” Jace says, trying to control his anger. His hands are still glowing green on Damon’s head and chest, but they seem dimmer.

“And her power is evil! It’s bad! She kills! She can’t control it! She’s not good!” His words sting and hit right at home.

The next thing I know, Jace is punching him in the mouth. He takes his other hand from Damon, and I can see it is starting to glow red. Edmund doesn’t seem to notice. “I can’t heal your brother if you continue to be a jerk!” His hands clench into fists.

Edmund stares at him in amazement. He clutches his face, and then spits out some blood.

“What the Hell was that for?” he demands.

“Like I said, you were being a jerk. She is good. She doesn’t mean to do it. You two are the ones who are bad. You were making her strip for your own pleasure. That was a perverted way to provoke her. If anything he deserves this for what he did!” Jace shouts.

I don’t know why he is so angry about what they did. True, it wasn’t nice, but it worked. That was what they had to do. I sit back up and touch Jace’s shoulder. He’s breathing heavily.

“Heal my brother,” Edmund says after a moment.

“I can’t.” I hear the shame in his voice. I know why he can’t. He’s too angry.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Edmund demands.

“Jace?” My voice is still really scratchy. I cough slightly again. He looks at me. “It’s okay,” I tell him.

“No it’s not. They shouldn’t have done that to you. He shouldn’t have said that about you,” he says to me, softer.

“And I shouldn’t have turned into a dragon. I forced myself to morph instead of explode, because I knew they wouldn’t survive it.” His eyes burn with curiosity.

“You morphed on purpose this time?” he asks me. He is calming down. The researcher in him is surfacing.

“I’ll explain later. Heal him. Don’t let my efforts to not kill him go to waste,” I order him. He nods and puts his hands back where they were. They start glowing green and I hear him sigh with relief.

It takes a minute or two but Damon’s eyes flutter open. He stares around the room for a moment and then he gasps.

He looks at me confused but then recognition colors his face, and then fear. He scrambles away from me and into his brother. The gesture is more painful than Edmunds words. He looks terrified. I stand up.

“I’m so sorry,” I croak. I turn and leave the room. I barely hold myself back from sprinting to my room. I pass by Nash on my way.

“Hey Tuls, I was just going to come see how it went. I heard a really loud noise. It almost sounded like roaring.” He laughs slightly.

“I did roar, a few times,” I say quietly. I cough again.

“What do you mean?” Confusion colors his voice.

“I morphed into a dragon,” I admit.

“Really? Cool!” he shouts in excitement.

“Scary is more like it. I need to go though.” I walk away from him.

I make it to my room and climb onto my bed. I lean against the wall and hug my knees into my chest. I look into my mirror that’s hanging on the wall. My dirty blonde hair looks like it has a perm, and my eyes are light blue with a dark blue ring on the outside of them. My face is clear still, but it’s soft. It’s round and almost cherub like. I frown at my reflection and look away.

I put my forehead against my knees and start to cry.