Chapter 13:

       "What? You come here, ranting about some destiny Alex has and then ask us what we know about where we come from, and then refuse to tell us anything because Tess is here! How fair is that?" Michael yelled, his much-suppressed anger spilling out.

       Tess, stood up a little straighter and looked Ananda square in the eyes, her anger being expressed by the words, "I was Ava and was queen of Antar, I have as much right to know what happened there as Max, Isabel, and Michael. Who are you to say what I can and cannot know?"

       Ananda returned Tess' angry glare with a strangely calm look and said flatly, "Ava was a traitorous whore and if you are her, then you deserve a fate worse than death."

       "You sound less than convinced yourself that Tess is Ava," Liz pointed out.

       "Shut up! How dare you say that I am not who I was told!" Tess yelled at Liz.

       "Now stop it, all of you! This is getting way to far out of control. We need to stay calm or we aren't going to get anyway," Kyle said, stepping being Tess and Liz.

       "Oh shut the hell up, Buddhaboy. Go meditate or something," Tess spat and Kyle.

       In response to that Kyle took a step towards Tess and looked as though he was going to do something very anti-Buddhist. However, Ananda grabbed Tess' arm and turned the blond girl towards her.

       "What are you doing? Stop touching me!" Tess spat.

       Ananda placed both of her hands on Tess' cheeks and began to search, with a look of curiosity on her face, Tess' eyes. Silence fell on the group as they stared at the interaction between Tess and Ananda. It was visible that the anger was slowly leaving Tess.

       Finally, Ananda spoke. "Are you sure that this is Ava?" she asked.

       "Why wouldn't she be? That's what Nasaedo told us and it was confirmed by the message from our mother," Max said.

       "It might be another. Only I can determine the truth," Ananda explained.

       "Who? Who could it be?" asked Maria.

       Maria's question went unanswered as Ananda turned to Tess again.

       "Tess, would you be willing to be completely flooded with your past memories and to know your past self?" she asked.

       "Of course, especially if it will put a rest to this whole debate," Tess said haughtily, though confusion was evident in her voice.

       "Alright, now I need you to close your eyes. This may take a while," Ananda said.

       "Okay," Tess murmured, closing her eyes.

       Ananda kissed Tess' forehead, and with her eyes closed, placed her forehead to Tess'.

       Minutes went by and no one dared make a noise. They all just sat and stared in awe at was happening. Neither of the two standing girls made a noise. The sounds that were heard were that of the wind and the insects.

       Suddenly, Tess opened her eyes and let out a gasp. She then collapsed on the ground. Ananda knelt next to the fallen girl, and whispered softly, "Let the truth be known."

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Oh no! Not a cliffhanger! Is Tess really Ava? Or is she someone else entirely? Find out in chapter 14! *Evil laughter*

I'm sorry about the cliffy. I have this terrible fear that I am going to become an abuser of the cliffhanger ending.  They are sooo addictive. And I doubt that I can go to the Betty Ford clinic to be rehabbed for them. Oh well. What's an authoress to do?

I'd like to say thank you to all those who reviewed and special thanks to all who congratulated me on my play's success. That means so much to me. *Wipes away a tear* To all my loyal readers & to all my new readers, please keep reviewing! I love feedback. What can I say? It's the diva in me. ^__^

WooHoo! I reached 50 reviews! Due to the addition of chapter 11, I got my 50 reviews! That makes me sooo happy! There isn't enough fruit in the world to thank you guys for review!

Lastly I would like to announce that this fic is looking like it's going to be 40 or 50 chapters. My God, who knew that I could write so much? My sad little goal is that I will have over a hundred reviews by the end of it. Will you help me? If you do, it'll be greatly appreciated.

Now, I'll let you go and I will see you next time. Same bat time, same bat channel. ^__^ Man alive, I am weird.

P.S. This chapter was brought to you will help from Dashboard Confessional and the French language! Let's give 'em a round of applause!

~Gifted Empress~