Chapter 1
New
Bella looked forward to her senior year. After all, it was at the end of it that Edward would turn her…or Carlisle if he changed his mind. He held her hand as they stood around the school parking lot but he seemed a bit distracted. "Edward?" she asked. "Is everything okay?" Bella winced, the last time he acted this way…
"Yes, it's just something in the air has changed. I promise it has nothing to do with you," he had been so careful recently, making sure not to make Bella think he was leaving again.
Edward looked around and immediately heard all the students' thoughts. 'Who are they?', 'OH MY GOD, THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL!', 'Why me?'…that one was Jessica's. Of course Edward couldn't hear Bella, just see the expression on her face when four young women stepped out of a jeep. One was blonde, the second was a red head, the third was a brunette, and the last was the smallest and what seemed to be the youngest, who was black headed and had a white streak down the side of her bangs. Bella only presumed it was a dye job, a very good one.
He tried to read their thoughts, but what would come in was like that of static on a dead television set. It was then that the black headed one looked over her shoulder and he heard her say, "someone over there is trying to read our thoughts, but I can't tell if it is the boy or the girl." The rest of them seemed to gaze over their shoulders casually as not to draw any attention.
The oldest one, the blonde simply said, "don't worry about it now, if he becomes a threat, just let us know, little sister."
Edward seemed to become aggravated, they knew something then…to be considered a threat, obviously they were more than average girls. He watched as the rest of them piled into the jeep except for the black headed one….he caught her name, "Sparrow."
"She must be the only one going to school here," he said simply to Bella.
She shrugged, "she looks nice."
He wasn't too sure about Bella's judge of character, after all, look at who or what she was dating. The bell had wrung, time for class.
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The day was uneventful until English. Edward took his place next to Bella as always. The teacher seemed to be waiting for someone and there she was, the black headed girl with the white streak. "Class, I'd like you to meet Sparrow McNielson. She just came from Salem, Massachusetts."
One student had to make a statement, "hey! That's where they had those witch trials!"
Another student replied, "duh! State the obvious why don't you!" The classroom roared with laughter.
Bella empathized with the look on Sparrow's face. "That's gotta be annoying," she mumbled.
"Alright class," the teacher chastised. "Ms. McNielson, you can sit over there by Michael Newton." Mike eagerly held up his hand. Edward shook his head but was glad that Mike had finally directed his attention to someone else besides Bella. Yet the girl seemed to ignore him, it apparently was Mike's lot in life. The teacher continued, "today we're going to go over what we just read, Shakespeare's 'The Tempest.' I am going to hand out these questions, please answer them as thoroughly as possible, please get into groups of three."
"On our first week?" Mike griped.
Bella leaned over, "we should ask Sparrow if she wants to join us. Save her from Mike."
"If you'd like," Edward shrugged. This would give him time to examine her, who was she, she was different definitely, he felt no attraction to her but there was an element of caution.
"Hey, Sparrow?" Bella raised her voice just a bit. Sparrow turned to see where the voice was coming from and made eye contact. "Would you like to be in our group?"
She smiled in relief, someone was nice enough to ask her on the first day to join, "I'd like that."
Mike wrinkled his nose, he wished he would have thought of it sooner but was too busy complaining about the project.
They sat in a small circle. Bella noticed that aside from the white streak in her hair, Sparrow also kept her hair in a neat and intricate bun with a ribbon around it, of course the ribbon matched what she was wearing…and her eyes. When Bella made eye contact with her, it took everything she had not to gasp. The shade of her eyes were unlike anything she had ever seen, they were almost like the setting sun with the flecks of purple, red, orange…unusual. Possibly contacts?
Edward started first, clearly Bella was intrigued with Sparrow, she was already trying to figure her out before he was. No one else seemed that much interested except for the males in the classroom…the fantasies ran ramped and he was trying to block them out. "So, did you read the play already, Sparrow?"
"Yes, it's one of my favorites. These questions are kinda easy, we'll be able to finish this in no time," she repeated the questions on the paper and mumbled her answers.
Bella smiled, "so I take it you've had advanced English?"
"Yes, some of the classes I've already had in general…it's an easy 'A', you know?"
"So, were those other girls that dropped you off like your sisters or something?"
"Yes, the blonde is my sister Sierra, the red head is Sage, the brunette is Seraph, I'm the youngest."
"Kinda cool of them to drop you off, you're really close, huh?"
"Yes, they're just worry warts," she giggled. "Plus, Sage wouldn't let me drive her car until I knew the route."
Edward just sat back, Bella was doing all the interrogation for him. But already he had learned a great deal. From the way she sat, she was taught to have good posture, the way she spoke…not with the degradation of the English language, no 'yeah' or 'sure', just a proper 'yes' and 'no', in fact, when she tried to use the word 'kinda', it was more forced as if she was trying to fit in and her knowledge of Shakespeare's works and her very prepared answers…sounded familiar in his line of work.
Bella continued, "do the others go to school around here, like the community college?"
"Seraph does, but the others work at our store, the new one in Port Angeles?"
"Yeah, I heard about that store. It's supposed to be really cool, you're family owns it?"
"Yes, you should come by some time. I work there after school a few days a week and sometimes the weekends," Sparrow kept glancing over at Edward, he kept examining her and she could feel it. "You're awfully quiet."
"I'm sorry, I'm just dazing off," he smiled.
"Sorry, girl talk can get boring."
They finished their papers and handed them in before the bell rang. Bella had already matched Sparrow's schedule and unfortunately they only had one other class together before they parted ways, she looked up at Edward, "what do you think of her?"
"She seems nice enough," he replied.
"I really like her, Sparrow seems more sincere, I don't know. She's sixteen…advanced, really smart I guess." Bella also liked the fact that she didn't practically swoon over Edward, everywhere else was like a nightmare.
When did she say that? He must have missed something while he was trying to figure her out. "Mature, for sixteen."
"I know…"
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After he dropped Bella off and let Charlie and her have some dinner, he went back home to talk to Carlisle. "Do you know who this new family is?"
"Not just yet. They have raised caution even amongst the Quileute. They will be checking into them in the nicest form possible, then I will."
"So they are more than they appear?"
"Yes, I'm sure you felt it today."
"Yes, but I wish I could pinpoint it. We know they aren't vampires but…," Edward furrowed his brow in frustration.
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Jacob and Sam went to investigate this new store. The pack had felt something different enter the area and when it revolved around this family, they had to make sure that no other family like the Cullens had moved in. Though they wouldn't enter just yet, they stalked around it, looking from the outside in, as if window shopping. It seemed welcoming enough with its polished wood and candles, nothing threatening.
They hung around longer, waiting for the store to close and a few young women, all very attractive, came out of it. Jacob tilted his head when he saw one in particular, one with jet black hair with a white streak down it. He felt a pull towards her but he wasn't sure why, the girl had disappeared into the car before he could figure it out which frustrated him. He caught her scent though, it smelled of candy and spices and it would be something that carried over into his dreams.
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The next day was a sunny one, which meant that Edward would have to stay at home. Bella always hated those days, it was the only time she could remember hating the sun. She pulled up into the parking lot and saw a fairly new car there…it was a Mazda, very nice and fast looking but also safe, black in color and Sparrow was in it. She looked very odd in the car in Bella's opinion, the seats seemed bigger than she was, and in fact, reminded her of Alice in a lot of ways, but then she would remember what Alice was actually capable of and forgot the whole 'fragile' deal.
They seemed to get out of their cars at the same time and caught each other's eyes and simply smiled, gravitating towards each other and instantly started talking. Jessica had joined the group in a loose manner, feeling fairly out of place because she didn't quite get the connections that Bella had made here. First with the Cullens and then with these McNielson's. Yet, Sparrow included her in the conversations anyway, if anything, to not be rude.
Sparrow invited her to the store, "I'll be working tonight if you want to stop by?"
"Sure, I won't get you into trouble?"
"No. Not at all!" Sparrow noticed how eager she sounded, but she wasn't close with many people outside her family, it was just nice to have a friend.
"Okay, if Edward were to come with, would that be okay too?"
"Yes," she smiled again.
They made some small talk and then headed their separate ways until lunch where Jessica had decided to ask the embarrassing question of 'are those contacts?'
Sparrow wanted to lie, she wanted to say that she had them made but she wasn't very good at lying and simply said, "no. My eyes are this color." She even let them look closely to see if they could see any outline of a contact.
"You mean to tell me your eyes are actually that color?" Jessica pouted. Bella looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Where did you get your hair done, that white streak?"
"Er, it's real too…a birth defect, I guess," now Sparrow was turning red, was this girl trying to humiliate her completely? Probably.
"So, you just have strange looks by accident?" Jessica blurted out.
"Jess!" Mike snapped.
"I mean….I didn't mean it that way! I'm sorry," really she wasn't.
Bella came to the rescue, "uh, Sparrow, why don't we grab something to eat?"
"Okay!" Sparrow jumped up far too eagerly.
They were in line, each grabbing a salad and a sandwich, "I'm sorry about Jessica…she can be….well…"
"Rude," Sparrow's tone was dark.
"Yeah…don't worry about her."
"I'm pretty good at ignoring people like that."
"So am I, I think that's why I've survived this long," she smiled.
Sparrow observed Bella the rest of the time, she seemed awkward without Edward by her side.
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One the way to the shop, Bella told Edward everything that Jessica had asked, "I thought it was rude, but at the same time I wondered about it…and her looks are real, just so different."
"I'm different," he smiled.
"Yeah, but for a human, you know?"
"Well, it was rude of her to ask. But I could tell Sparrow's looks weren't an illusion…I had smelled no dye or contact solution on her."
"And you didn't even bother to tell me…"
"I didn't think it mattered."
"I forgot, you've come across much stranger things in your world," Bella chided.
"Yes," he smiled. They were at Port Angeles and Edward easily found the shop simply called 'McNielson's Apothecary.' It looked welcoming and didn't send any bad signals. They walked into it and immediately there were pleasant scents all around, no doubt from the candles being burned, yet, there was a distinct sense of power here.
A red headed woman approached them and Edward assumed that it was Sage, the second oldest of Sparrow's sisters. "Welcome, you must be Bella and Edward, Sparrow has been expecting you." Sage turned towards the office, "Sparrow, your friends are here."
"Okay!" there was a scraping of a chair being pushed back and Sparrow came out. "Hi. I'm glad you came…this is my sister, Sage." Sage reached out and shook both their hands, Edward was more than reluctant but the woman didn't seem to flinch like most and it only made him more curious. She disappeared then, leaving Sparrow to escort them around.
The shop was very quaint and larger than it looked on the outside. Everything was placed neatly, including herbs, candles, jewelry was placed in glass cases. Then there were books, a large library was upstairs and something Bella seemed to gravitate to. The polished wood made the books look like they were in a classic old world library rather than just a shop. Edward expected to see the usual new-age versions, but instead, these books were very old and very accurate. He flipped through the ones about vampires and he couldn't believe the details, why was she leading them up here? Questions were forming in his mind and the fact that he couldn't read Sparrow's was starting to aggravate him. Bella of course, saw nothing wrong with what she saw, she flipped through books about werewolves, shape-shifters, vampires and was rather impressed and thought about buying some books.
Sparrow was observing Edward and he noticed, they stared at each other for a moment and finally, one clear thought came through…'it's okay, you're safe here.' And then finally she spoke, "I met your father Edward, Carlisle, he's really nice."
"You…you met Carlisle?" his tone was almost accusatory, but so rarely had a human caught him off guard, if she was in fact an actual human.
"Yes," she chirped.
"Bella, would you mind if we went now?" Edward noticed that Sparrow's face fell a bit as if her feelings were hurt, of course they would be, he was being fairly rude. "I'm sorry, I just remembered I have to do some things."
"Actually, do you think I could stay here and talk a bit with Sparrow?"
"Well…"
"It's all right Edward, I'll take her home," Sparrow again seemed too eager and she toned it down. "I mean, if it's okay with you?"
"Yes…that would be fine," Edward was actually a little annoyed, he hated having Bella out of his sight but at the same time, he wanted to give her some breathing room. Again another clear thought came from Sparrow, 'I promise Bella will be safe here.' It almost seemed that Sparrow was trying to assure Edward that she wasn't a threat, maybe she was and maybe she wasn't. But Bella seemed happy and that's what mattered. So, reluctantly, he kissed her on her forehead and left in a slow human manner that wouldn't arouse the suspicions of other humans.
