Black Rose

3.

Tula. That was her name. She was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Her parents both were in business and were always working, so they never had much time for her or her younger brother, Caden. After she graduated from high school, she said she needed to get as far away from her 'smothering' parents as possible. She moved to France hoping to find love and adventure. Her parents send her a monthly allowance to live off of, but she works anyway to have extra cash in her pocket. She regrets leaving her brother behind, and is saving up in order to make a living for the both of them.

That was the story she told us. To me, it sounded pretty rehearsed and well scripted. Either she gets asked about this all the time, or she was preparing all along what she was going to say to us. Either way I didn't care. We had three down. And one more left to go. I hope the next girl isn't as stubborn and hard to convince as Tula was. I really hope she's a lot more trusting and understanding like Rayne. Another Rayne would be perfect. I don't think I could handle another Tula. Heck, I don't think I could handle another Tatum.

Rayne and I were wrong when we guessed her element was fire. It was air. It took me by complete surprise. Considering her attitude and her appearance. It was edgier. More dangerous. She strategically lined up a row of candles on her coffee table, lighting each one. After closing all the windows and turning off all the fans and the air, with a force from her palm that was undetectable, the candles blew out one by one, like a domino effect. However simple the trick was, it was still brilliant.

Like Rayne, Tula discovered her abilities at a younger age. She said she was thirteen when it happened. It was a pretty disturbing story to be honest. She had to go to work with her dad one day. School had been canceled because of flooded roads, but evidently, to her distaste, didn't stop her dad from going to work. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of having to bring her along with him, and yelled at her the entire car ride. He had barely put the car in park before she got out, slammed the door, and glared at him through the window. All she could think was how angry she was at him, and how none of this was her fault. It only took a few seconds to notice the color of her dad's face started changing. Red, then blue. He grasped desperately at his throat, then swatted his hands around helplessly through the air. He was behaving as if he was being suffocated. Terrified, she ran around the car and opened the driver's side door to get to him. He toppled right out, gasping for air, desperately clinging to her pant legs.

She didn't realize right away what she had done. And it took many years later to be able to understand. More unexplained accidents. She could control the element air. She had deoxygenated the air in her dad's car, making it unbreathable, and nearly killing him in the process. Learning to control it was a battle. Like me, anger triggered it. Only, her responses weren't as destructive as mine. But eventually she got the hang of it. Learned how to control it. How to hide it. She too hadn't met someone like herself until we appeared at her door. And even then, it was still hard to believe.

Hearing how Rayne and Tula both discovered their abilities at an earlier age made me wonder why I discovered mine so late. Tula was thirteen and Rayne was seven. Was there supposed to be some life changing discovery that triggers it? To me, that didn't make sense. The first time I realized something was off about me was at an ice cream social. I got angry about being accused of using Justin. That hardly seemed like a good enough reason to activate dormant powers. Then what? Did it depend on the individual? Was my mind not susceptible to it before? It made me feel like there was something wrong with me. Well, of course besides the fact that I have powers.

Tula had a guest bedroom with two beds that she allowed Rayne and I to use. We decided that we were all too tired for the night to do any more discussing, and to get enough rest to start early in the morning. Well, they decided to get some rest. I needed answers and I needed action now. Sleep wasn't going to bring me either. Laying down here in the bed made everything Tula said creep back into my mind.