Yeah, the Cullen's are odd but what was that reaction about?

Reflex reaction. I turned at the mention of my family. This thought concerned me slightly. Of course it had come from Jessica Stanley so it was probably nothing. But what did she mean? What reaction? I began to listen closer. Monitoring thoughts that suggested people may be becoming aware of our deception was part of my job description as the resident vampire mind reader.

Jessica was sitting with the new girl, Isabella Swan. I recognized Isabella (or Bella as she had told everyone to call her) immediately. I had seen her in numerous thoughts throughout the day. Some sort of tragedy had brought the girl here. Her father had died? I hadn't been interested enough to pay attention to the details. All the students had become instantly obsessed with her. Like infants with a shiny new toy. I guess that in a town this small someone new did constitute something of a novelty. Still a small child with brown hair, brown eyes, and a heart shaped face...she seemed pretty unremarkable to me.

At that moment Isabella looked up as if sensing my gaze. Our eye's met and I realized that whatever else Bella Swan was she was not unremarkable. To begin with the eyes meeting mine resembled no human eyes I had ever seen. Deep Brown, and slightly exotic they were eyes that I had seen in many minds throughout the day. No one however, had picked up on what my enhanced vampire vision noticed immediately. The girls eyes where incredibly bright. As if they didn't just take light in like the rest of us but where somehow emitting it. The eyes were also very expressive. It was easy to see what she was thinking. In fact it was easy to see that she hated me. Disgust and loathing where written clearly in those eyes. And maybe a deeper level of fear? The girl dropped her eyes to hide their expression from me and let her long hair fall in front of her face. I didn't understand that look. Was it possible that she could somehow be aware of what we are? I needed more information and that is when the greatest shock of all hit me. I realized that while her eyes spoke quite clearly I couldn't hear her mind at all. It was like trying to see through a brick wall.

My family over the years had developed a multitude of creative ways of keeping me out of their heads. Alice could recite mind-numbing treatises in multiple languages when she was trying to block me. And Emmett's had learned that thinking of his time with Rosalie would not only force me to withdraw mentally but sometimes physically as well. But never had I met with absolute silence. I tried harder. Nothing. Was she somehow managing to not think at all? Her brain frozen with the fear I had seen in her eyes? It didn't seem likely.

Normally I would have asked Jasper about what she was feeling. The hope being that he might have some insight into her emotional state since my mind reading was failing to give any clues. However, today was one of those days for Jasper. He hadn't hunted for almost two weeks and was now having a hard enough time just not killing anyone. He didn't need anything else to worry about.

I focused all my attention on the conversation the children were having with the new girl. Spearheaded by Jessica Stanley, a particularly shallow and annoying human, they where relaying all the Cullen gossip. Through Jessica's eyes I could see that the girl looked almost bored with the story. Even slightly amused by Jessica's scandalized version of our home life. The obvious amusement in Bella's eyes spiked as Jessica told her about my non-dating status and how I apparently thought myself too good for the girls of Forks. The girl had an oddly knowing look on her face as she listened. Almost as if she could hear the shallow child's mind as well as I could and knew the petty jealousy underlying most of the comments. Bella's thoughts where so clear in her eyes I was surprised that even the unobservant Stanly girl wasn't aware that she was being subtly laughed at.

As I observed I tried to talk myself out of my concern. I must be over-reacting I decided. If my siblings were to be believed, that was hardly unusual for me. Perhaps she had only picked up on our inherent "otherness" more quickly then the other children. Her conversation with Jessica seemed to show that she was unusually intuitive. And eventually weren't they all afraid of us? Maybe she had been reacting to something else entirely...

"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirt on the Cullen clan," I murmured to Emmett as a distraction.

He chuckled under his breath. I hope she's making it good, he thought.

"Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed."

And the new girl? Is she disappointed in the gossip as well?

"I think,... She thinks its funny."

Emmett raised his eyebrows. You think?

I looked away and shrugged. I wasn't quite prepared to discuss my possible failure with Emmett. Teasing was something of a strong point for Emmett and not taking it well was unfortunately a strong point of mine. No point in giving him ammunition unnecessarily. Until I was more certain of a possible threat, I was keeping my mouth shut.

Frustrated by both the new girls mind block, and the unexplained fear and anger I had seen in her eyes, I said goodbye to my family and uneasily made my way to my physical sciences class.

I settled into my desk just as the new girl walked in. I was oddly happy that she would be in my class. Usually such a thing wouldn't have interested me in the least but in this case I wanted the opportunity to study her more, possibly ferret out some of her secrets. My interest was heightened as I realized that she would be sitting next to me. The humans tended to naturally shy away from my family and I. On some level they recognized instinctively that were dangerous, even if they would never allow themselves to believe it rationally. In this case it meant that no-one had chosen to sit with me leaving the other seat at my table the only empty one in the class. I felt a little sorry for the girl. Sitting with me would be uncomfortable for her. Especially if she really had recognized that something about us was off...

That was my last rational thought. Afterward I was never quite sure how I made it through the rest of the hour. The second I smelled Isabella Swan it became almost impossible to retain even a vestige of humanity and not give into the monster. The physical and mental anguish of sitting next to the sweetest blood that could possibly be had on Earth was indescribable. I wanted the girls blood more fiercely than I had ever wanted anything in my entire existence. Three things had stopped the monster - but only just.

First, I thought of Carlisle. How disappointed he would be and what this choice would mean to my family. Second, as I realized that I was giving in, I began to make twisted deals with myself. Just wait I begged the monster. Then only the girl will have to die. I knew she could easily be found after school. This would spare the classroom full of innocent children and would have the advantage of allowing me to take my time with the girl, savor her blood. My third deterrent was strange but also the most potent. It was the girl herself. She was no longer afraid. In fact if I was reading her right she was furious. Instead of shrinking back from my black eyed glare like a normal human; the girls strange luminous eyes beamed aggressively at me with fiery anger. Just outside the classroom, the drizzly rainstorm intensified to a dramatic lightning storm as if to underscore our silent battle. The lightning was right on top of the small classroom and bizarrely frequent. Logically I knew that the strangely intense storm was a coincidence but some deep instinct of mine kept trying to tie it to the odd girl. I could see the promise of retribution plainly written in her eyes as we stared off for the entire class period. Strangely even knowing that she was merely a weak human, even knowing that it was completely irrational, on some level I believed the promise of those eyes. The monster stayed put.

I left the classroom at close to inhuman speed; escaping into the clean air and welcome sanity. I hid in my car noticing that the strange lightning storm had ended almost as abruptly as it had started. I waited out the last hour and then for my family to pile into my car before jerking the car out of the parking lot at an unseemly speed.

"What is wrong with you?" Rosalie hissed as the car lurched around the corner.

Beside me Alice gasped as we both watched a vision rise in her mind. Me in a dark car heading down a snowy high-way.

"Your leaving?" she whispered.

All my siblings stared at me.

"Am I?" I hissed through my teeth.

The snowy road in Alice's vision vanished and we both gasped. My future had disappeared. It was as though I had ceased to exist. I knew that it was my decision to pursue the girl that had changed the vision and my irrational fear of the child resurfaced. Both Alice and Jasper where staring at me in confusion. Jasper because he didn't understand the strange feeling of foreboding in me and Alice because she was worried about the odd non-vision. I ignored their silent questions. I was too close to the edge for sharing time and even under normal circumstances I would not have wanted to try and explain to my family why I might be afraid of a human child. The vision shifted back and we could both see that I would be leaving down the dark road again. Alice didn't even bother questioning me. She could already see in her odd ever present reality that I wouldn't answer her.

"I'll miss you," she said. "Drop us hear and just leave." Alice was scared enough of the future-less vision that she decided having me safely driving away on the snowy road was far more important than keeping up appearances or getting a ride home. My siblings quickly exited the car. Years of living with Alice was enough to make them do so without question. I hit the accelerator and flew out of town towards Alaska. Away from the girl. Away from the nothingness of Alice's vision.

__

I had been gone for five days when my phone rang in Denali. I had gotten over my pride and had a talk with Alice earlier in the week concerning the Swan girl and apparently Alice had decided to do some investigating on her own.

Alice was talking excitedly at vampire speed "She didn't end your future Edward. I just can't see her future anymore than you can read her mind. When you decided to" Alice hesitated over her words, she didn't want to throw my weakness in my face, "mix your future with hers" she continued

"everything went blank. I don't know why but she seems to be immune to our talents." Alice paused, "Jazz can still sense her emotions though. He's a little smug about that." She pouted.

"You can't see anything?" I asked stunned.

"No, and you should come home now." This she said a little more hesitantly. Alice was smart enough to know that just having one element of the mystery solved didn't mean that I had the will-power to not attack the child. Then as if Alice recognized what her hesitation suggested she said with more confidence "You can do it Edward. You have more self control than anyone I know."

I wanted to believe it. I missed being with my family and Tanya was making my stay with the Denali coven a little uncomfortable. It wasn't intentional on her part but her continued feelings created an unpleasant tenseness between us. Mostly though I was tired of hiding. Up here in the clean air of the mountains, and stuffed to the point of bursting with animal blood, it seemed difficult to believe that the girls siren blood could be so irresistible. And frankly my nebulous fears of the girl seemed completely ridiculous.

"Yeah!," Alice exclaimed "you are coming home." She was right I had made a decision.