Chapter One: Dust in the Wind
Forks—what an abysmal name for such a small town. If it had been up to me, I would never have forced myself to come here, but it was not up to me. Well, correction, it was; wholly. I knew that given my mother's new boyfriends' job as a B-movie actor, that she would want to go around travelling with him. He was nice enough, Andy was—he and my mother had all but signed the paperwork to become domestic partners, but that's difficult when you don't have a permanent address.
My father was a fireman in Forks—the chief, if you wanted to get technical about it—and had lived there with my mom before we ran off when I was barely two. They'd never married; they'd gotten engaged when she got pregnant with me, but it all came crashing down when it was revealed that she suffered from post-partem depression. It momentarily turned into psychosis, and she nearly drowned me once in the bathtub when she hadn't seen a way out from living in a small town with my father.
One day, just one and a half months after my second birthday—when Dad was off fighting fires—my mother, who had been in therapy for the past year and had gotten some 'halfway-decent' medication, had packed our bags and drove. She had some family money, and put down a deposit on an apartment in Sherman Oaks, California—just forty-five minutes north of Los Angeles—and we drove all the way down there. Dad was miserable but, since it was only the 1990's, cell phones weren't as common-place as they were today and my mother didn't give him our telephone number. With no forwarding address, and just a handful of cryptic letters she sent him for a few years after that, Dad didn't know what had become of us.
The heat didn't do anything for my skin—in fact, I was perpetually pale from the get-go. It wasn't until the summer of 2006 that I knew that I needed a change. Despite my begs and pleas to get out of there, I would never admit to liking Forks—at least, not directly towards my mother. I complained to the few friends I'd made who, even though I'd gone to elementary and half of middle school with them, they'd hadn't fully accepted me. I was just the weird girl from a small town in Washington State who wasn't tan and blonde. My eyes were violet and my hair was black, and—with my skin tone—I looked like some rip-off of Elizabeth Taylor, and not an attractive one.
Probably why my mother gave me the name she did; she and Dad had picked 'Richard' for a boy and 'Elizabeth' for a girl—hey, they had a thing for old Hollywood stars, and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor topped their lists, followed by Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh for a close second. When I presented myself at the tail end of July in 1994, I was named Elizabeth Vivien Partridge, although my father's parents were not fond of my choice of middle name—my grandmother, Olga, wanted me to be named somewhat after her, and don't get me started on the fact that they wanted my parents to be married. I barely knew either of them, however, as they'd passed away when I was living in California.
I always had a passion for hiking and would do so around my many trails on my own starting from about fourteen. The areas were beautiful—if you liked a pallet of red and brown—and I found it was such a horrid pallet that I frequently would put my shades on and just run through it. Finally, Mom met Andy and was spending all her time with him, and, one summer—the summer I turned fifteen—when Mom said that she missed him as he was in Milan shooting, a plan began to formulate in my mind. I sat on this plan for another year and a half, waiting for just the right moment. When I was about to begin my senior year of high school, however, just months before my seventeenth birthday, I knew that it was time to act.
"Mom, do you miss Andy?" I asked her casually as I proceeded to put some dishes on to wash inside our dishwasher.
"Yes," she replied wistfully. "He's in Paris now, and soon he'll be in Tuscany to wrap up his shoot on this latest monster movie..."
I nodded, sympathetic. Although I'd never been involved with any boy of merit, I often wondered what it would be like to be so consumed with love. "Well, then, why don't you surprise him?"
"Honey, and leave you?" she asked, pushing her newspaper aside and kissing my cheek. "I couldn't do that..."
"Mom?"
"Yeah, honey?"
I sighed then, knowing it was time to tell the truth. "I don't hate Forks as much as you originally believed," I said quickly. "I love it... The name is kind of stupid once you think about it, but I want..." I sighed, knowing how to work this. "I want you to go and travel around with Andy on his shoots. I know he wants you there, and I've been talking to Dad and I think I should go live with him so you can go be with Andy."
Her mouth fell open. "Elizabeth, I..."
"You only call me that when you're upset," I say quickly. "You know I can't stand the formality of that name."
"S-sorry, Beth, really," she says quickly. "But, are you sure?"
I nod. "Yes. I know that you miss Andy and I think we should be where we both need to be, you know?" I ask.
She nods. "Of course. If you're positive..."
"I am. Really."
"I'll make the arrangements, then," she promises.
Within weeks of me completing my sophomore year of high school, I have a new fall and winter wardrobe, as well as a plane ticket booked for Seattle, since it is one of the closer airports. I must take a smaller plane from SeaTac to Port Angeles, which is the closest, due to Forks' airport being too small to accommodate such a trip. I have my bags—and my room—packed the night before, and I have everything packed except my big furniture, including my computer desk and bed frame, which must be left behind. Mom drives me to the airport, telling me repeatedly to keep in touch with her, and I promise to do so. She is flying out to Tuscany the following day, so I urge her to get some sleep between now and then and she assures me that she will. I give her a look—my mother is only thirty-six but looks much younger, and her given name Rosemary Helena Reece has always been perfect for her, to say the least. She is with me to check-in, and says goodbye to me at security, kissing me repeatedly and telling me how much she loves me. She waves me off as I go through the line, and, quite soon, it is my turn to be seen; with one final wave, she disappears into the crowd of other well-wishers.
I hand over my Driver's License—knowing Dad will want me to get a Washington State issued one as soon as possible—and boarding pass. It is immediately stamped after a moment of scrutiny, and I'm permitted to walk through the metal detector and put my shoes back on. Quickly gathering my carry-on items in its bag—some snacks for the plane, a few books, my phone and a pair of headphones to listen to music—I check my boarding pass again as I slip the bag onto my shoulder. The gate I'm looking for is G6, and I soon find the proper direction for it as I make my way through the crowds of people. I have a while to wait before boarding so I make my way to a coffee kiosk and order a sugary blended drink to keep my energy up, as I peer around the place. Finding a space by the window, I thumb through my bag and remove Pride and Prejudice, my favorite of all Austen stories, my worn paperback nearly threadbare from getting it as a gift on my eleventh birthday, along with every other Austen book.
"Great reading," says a voice like bells and, as I raise my eyes, make eye contact with a rather striking young couple. "I like Austen, too, but my favorite is Wuthering Heights. I hope you've read that one."
I nod. "Yes. One of my favorites since I was twelve."
The woman smiles and sits beside me. "Bella," she says, putting out her hand.
"Edward, the husband," says the man beside her jokingly.
I put out my hand. "Beth," I tell them.
"Which part are you at?" Bella wants to know.
"The Netherfield Park ball," I reply.
"A classic scene," Edward says admiringly.
"Where are you going?" Bella questions politely.
"Ultimately, Forks," I say softly. "You've probably never heard of it—one of the smallest places on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State."
"We've heard of it," Edward tells me.
"Why are you going there?" Bella wants to know.
"My father, I'm moving in with him," I tell her. "My mother's boyfriend is this actor and he's shooting in Tuscany of all places. I told my mom to stop feeling the need to stay with me and to go off and be with him. So, here I am, in LAX, waiting for my flight to Seattle, so that I can get to Forks, Washington."
"What does your father do there?" Bella asks.
"He's the fire chief," I reply. Bella raises her perfect eyebrows. "No way! My father is Charlie, the police chief. As luck would have it, they're quite close. I know there's the old stereotype of firemen and police officers being at odds with one another, but that isn't the case. They've known each other for years. In fact, he's my father's closest friend in Forks."
"Seriously?" I ask, shocked.
She nods. "Yes. Chief Christopher Partridge. My in-laws and I know him well."
"Quite well," Edward puts in.
Seeing that I'm still skeptical, Bella pulls out her Driver's License. "We're law families, after all," she tells me, handing it over.
On it is printed ISABELLA M. CULLEN, and I assume she's taken Edward's name, due to the police chief's surname being Swan. "What does the 'M' stand for?" I ask, curious, as I quickly skim through the rest of her information as I hand it back to her.
"Marie," Edward answers for her.
"We could give you a ride to town, if you want," Bella says politely. "Edward kept his car at SeaTac."
"Mind if I call my dad first?" I ask her.
She smiles. "Not at all."
I take out my phone and call my father's number. "Dad?" I ask him.
"Hey, kiddo," he says. "At the airport yet?"
"Yes, and I ran into some friends of yours..."
"Who?"
"Chief Swan's daughter," I say.
"Oh! Bella Cullen," Dad says, and I detect happiness in his tone. "She must be there with her husband, Edward. Their daughter around?"
"Daughter?" I ask, my eyes flying to them—they couldn't be more than my age. That, or they'd had some work done.
"Our daughter, Renesmee," Bella tells me.
"She's back in Forks," Edward explains.
I relay the information to Dad. "They seem nice."
"They are nice," he replies.
"Listen, they've offered to drive me to Forks, if that's all right..."
"No problem," Dad says, and I hear a bell go off. "Oh, dear. Big fire in the center of town. I should jet. Tell them thank you. Love you, kid!" he says.
"Love you, too, Dad," I reply, hanging up. "He says it's fine."
"Good," Bella says. Her hand slips into her bag and she hands me something—a plane ticket of all things. "You've been upgraded to first class."
"Isn't that...wrong?" I ask her.
"Who's going to tell?" Edward chuckles.
"Not me," I say quickly.
We soon are permitted to board the plane and nobody bats an eye when I hand over my new, first-class ticket. I slip into a seat by the window, and Bella sits beside me, while Edward takes the end seat. For some reason, the first-class seats have three in a row instead of two, but the seats are larger, so I don't complain, thinking the plane is a newer model or something. The flight isn't very long, thankfully, and we make our way out of the plane in an orderly fashion as soon as we land. I explain about my luggage in baggage claim, and they walk with me there to collect it. I have three bags, due to my mother's splurging, and Bella seems to understand about moms. We step out of the airport and down to one of the floors on the many-floored parking garage, and Edward seems to find his silver Volvo in a snap. We get inside and make our way out of their effortlessly, and soon we are on the freeway heading north.
The pair of them encourage me to sleep, as I looked exhausted, and I don't need telling twice, knowing that the drive is over three hours. I feel my eyes growing heavy and slump in the backseat, but oddly find that, while my breathing grows heavy, I don't fully lose consciousness. Not meaning to, I find myself listening to their conversation, and wonder if they will ultimately end up speaking about me...
"How rare are your kind?" Edward asks softly.
"What do you mean?" Bella asks.
"It's uncanny but..."
"But what?"
He sighs. "I can't... I can't hear her, Bells..."
"So, when you say 'my kind' you mean..."
"Shields," Edward says. "Yes."
Bella sighs. "I don't know. Eleazar seemed to know more about that, what with his own gift to figure it all out..."
"If I can't hear her, who knows what she could be capable of," Edward says softly, almost as if he's memorized.
"Edward," Bella admonishes, "stop. You're beginning to sound like Aro."
Edward sighs in defeat and drums his hands upon his steering wheel. He then pushes on the gas and it feels as if we're flying. However, it is such a calming feeling that, quite soon, I've fallen asleep.
Adjusting to life with Dad wasn't as difficult as I originally suspected. Since I still had six weeks before school began, I decided to take the opportunity to explore Forks a bit. After making my way through town and such, I found myself getting bored with the simplicity of it all, and ventured onto the trails. We had some sunny days one week, and so I went jogging in the woods. As I became braver with the area, I ventured deeper and deeper into the woods and found myself in awe of the perfect scenery. I'd never felt more at home anywhere, and the green and brown warmed my senses to the point where I believed living in the woods somewhere would be so idyllic.
I was in the woods during a weekend, about four weeks before my senior year was to begin, and I was sitting on the edge of a cliff, gazing out at the water. The view was beautiful and I never thought that anything in my life could ever compare. The water rippled ever so slightly then as a blast of cooling summer wind went by me, blowing my raven mane of hare a bit further down my back. A snap of a twig seconds later caught my attention and I tensed, turning, to see a creature stepping through a patch of trees a few yards away. A gasp barely had the opportunity to escape my throat as the creature charged me then, grabbing ahold of me and shaking me. My neck snapped back painfully and soon I found another gasp escaping my throat as the creature threw back its head and bared its teeth—in the sunlight, I caught the glimpse of fangs.
No, please! I screamed to myself. And then the creature dipped its head down and bit me, and I felt my blood leaving my neck as it bit down. Summoning all the strength I had left as this creature fed from me, I let out a blood-curling scream, hoping that someone would hear me in these woods. My scream, barely ten seconds long, was suddenly cut off as the creature slammed something hard down upon me, and I saw black. My hearing did not leave me, however, and soon I heard footsteps.
"Oh, no, Carlisle!" said a feminine voice.
"All that blood," said a male voice.
"No, it's..." Edward's voice?!
"That's the fire chief's daughter, Beth," Bella went on.
"We have to save her," said another feminine voice—it was motherly, this one. "Carlisle, you have to."
"Does she know?" asked an authoritative male voice.
"I can't be sure," Edward said quickly. "She... I couldn't hear her," he said, desperately. "I think we should save her."
"We gotta!" said another male voice.
"Reminds me of myself," said a female voice, slightly old-fashioned. "Carlisle, please. If she cannot be saved naturally..."
"Let me have a look." I feel myself being lowered upon a cold table, and I'm immediately reminded of an exam table. "She's breathing, but just barely. She's lost a lot of blood. Beth, can you hear me?"
I want to speak, but the only sound that I emit is a wheeze.
"We don't know her blood type," Carlisle says softly. "I'm sure her medical records haven't been faxed over yet—I would have remembered her name. It's too risky to do a transfusion because of the risk of death, and she's so weak now..." He sighs. "I'll save her."
"Come on," says the motherly voice again. "Let's leave him to do his work."
I hear a door shut, and then Carlisle speaks again.
"I'm a doctor, Beth," he tells me softly. "My one vow is to 'do no harm' but you will feel some pain and you will feel as if harm is being done to you. I'm so sorry," he says then. I feel his breath upon my neck then as he bites just where the creature bit me. This time, however, he seems to take something from his mouth—it feels cool—and seems to seal my wounds shut with this liquid. Then, he proceeds to do the same to my arms and legs—biting each one twice—and then I feel nothing. Then, all at once, it explodes to the surface. I feel like a demon possessed in some Exorcist movie, and I feel myself lifting and falling of my own accord on the exam table. I find that I want to scream, but it feels as if my mouth has been super-glued shut, and I cannot make a sound. Why this doctor would do such a thing to me, I don't know—was this some sort of surgery to ensure that I wouldn't have rabies or something?! I didn't know, yet I felt compelled to figure it out.
"Is it done?" the motherly voice asks.
"Esme, you know as well as I do that it could take from one to three days, if this process is done right," Carlisle says gently.
"Yes, of course," she says, and steps closer. "What a beautiful girl..."
"She reminds me of you," Carlisle chuckles lightly. "When you were young and I first met you, remember?"
She laughs lightly in a moment of remembrance. "Yes. I always pictured having a daughter who looked like me..."
"Well, now, perhaps you can," Carlisle says softly.
"But her father..."
"We'll speak with him," he tells her, and I know that, based on their familiarity with one another, that they must be married.
"What will the tribe say?" she asks softly.
"Edward is calling Jacob now," Carlisle tells her. "He'll explain, and hopefully—given the circumstances, what with his connection to Renesmee, it will all work out."
"Hopefully adapts to this way of life better than Jasper did," Esme says softly.
"Time will tell," Carlisle replies.
After the initial pain I feel, I seem to fall into a deep coma, where there is no beginning and no end. I find myself in a vast void of darkness, and wonder when—or if—I'll be able to escape from it. There are icicles one moment in my subconscious, and then the flames take over and burn everything in sight. The blackness returns and I cannot see, yet I find that I want to see. One thing I feel is that the beating of my heart—that motion that you don't feel until or unless you sit, stand, or lie completely still, without making any sudden movements that you can hear—stops. I immediately feel as if death is imminent, and I prepare myself for it.
However, death doesn't come; in fact, I've never felt so well. I can hear things more sharply than ever before, and I wonder if this is all a dream. Then, suddenly, impatient, I wonder if I will be able to move remotely, if at all. I move to open my eyes and, surprisingly, they move willingly, and my lids rise, and I take in the ceiling of the room I am lying in. I've never seen a more beautiful ceiling, for I can take in every crack, every uneven beam set beneath the surface, and it is awe-inspiring.
I grip the edges of the exam table with my hands, and I am perplexed to find that it is not cool as metal should be. In fact, if anything, it feels neutral, almost as if my skin is used to the temperature by now. I push myself up and go flying, but land with the elegance of a dancer, without crashing into a bookshelf filled with medical textbooks. Looking around, I see a man who is unfamiliar to me—he is pale, to be sure, and has striking blonde hair and amber eyes—and he smiles.
"Beth?" he says softly.
At once, my ears prick up in recognition. "Carlisle?" I ask, and I find myself in shock that I sound like an opera singer, and yet my cheeks don't heat in embarrassment.
"So, you could hear us? Good." He steps closer to me. "You and I have a lot of things to discuss, Beth. I'd ask you to sit down, but I think you'll soon find that you won't tire of standing ever again."
Perplexed, I find my eyebrows going together. "All right," I reply.
"Beth, do you know what happened to you?"
I nod, remembering. "Yes. I was sitting in the woods, watching the water," I tell him softly as it all comes back to me. "I felt the wind go by, and then there was a tree branch snapping. I turned around and a creature came at me," I said softly. "He bared his teeth and bit me, and soon I felt like..."
"Like what?" Carlisle asks.
"Death," I reply. "Am I dead? Are you St. Peter? Do you just go by Carlisle as a part of your day job as a doctor?"
"Do you believe in God, Beth?"
I shake my head. "No. But it's an interesting thought..."
Carlisle laughs. "I've been called a 'demon', 'leech', 'monster'... Many things. Never St. Peter, but I like that." He sighs. "Beth, the creature that attacked you was a vampire."
I find myself sputtering with laughter. "A vampire?" I ask, and find myself clutching my throat as I listen to my voice. "Going I have to get used to that... But a vampire? Okay. Be honest with me. Where's Anne Rice?"
"What?"
"She writes novels about vampires..."
"Yes, I know who Anne Rice is," Carlisle says patiently. "Believe it or not, I'm older than she is, Beth."
"She's in her seventies," I protest. "You don't look forty yet..."
"Actually, I'm over three-hundred years old," Carlisle tells me softly.
I shake my head. "Wait... You can't be human if you're over three-hundred years old. That's just not possible."
"Because I'm not human," Carlisle says, his voice easygoing as he lifts his hands ever so slightly, almost as if to calm me. "I'm a vampire, Beth, and so are you."
I felt myself fall back, halfway, against the wall behind me. I felt as if something stopped me from losing complete control, and I wondered if it had to do with my lack of humanity within me. "Bella and Edward...?"
"Yes, they're vampires, too," Carlisle said slowly. "As is my wife—"
"Esme," I said softly.
"Yes. And our other children—my two other sons, Emmett and Jasper..."
"Other sons?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, Esme and I have five children—six, including Bella, and we do," he went on. "And we also have two other daughters, Alice and Rosalie. Alice is Jasper's mate, and Rosalie is Emmett's mate."
"And I suppose Edward and Bella...?"
"They're mates, yes."
I feel myself wishing to shiver, but somehow, I remain motionless. "I...can't... What's happening to me, Carlisle?!" I cry out, feeling as if I was frozen in place.
"That would be Jasper," Carlisle says softly. "Jasper. Enough."
I suddenly feel at ease, as if a weight as been lifted from me, and I quickly fall to my knees, springing upwards immediately afterward. I catch sight of an adjacent bathroom to the room I'm in with Carlisle, and instantly spring towards it. I flick the light on automatically and find myself gasping at my altered appearance. My hair has a beautiful lightness to it and curls at the ends, rather than remaining completely flat. My face is a gorgeous alabaster so I no longer look perpetually sick; my nose, which had an unattractive broken look to it after I'd stumbled onto it as a little girl had been straightened, and resembled a Celestial shape which was the envy of popular girls I'd gone to school with; my lips were plumper—perfect, just what any girl could want; my lashes were thicker and longer... But I nearly let out a scream when I saw my eyes...
"Yes, they will remain so for a while," Carlisle tells me, stepping into the doorway of the bathroom with a small smile. "When you get older—and leave 'newborn-hood' behind, they will darken to a lovely amber or to gold."
I nodded, turning back to the mirror. My once too-broad shoulders now sloped correctly, while my breasts were...well, even. They perked up just as much as typical ones should, and did not seem to slope unattractively downward. I had a perfect hourglass figure instead of my original straight one, and I found that I was not in my hiking gear. Rather, I was dressed in a flowing dress that had a boat neckline and a flared skirt. I found myself reaching out to touch the mirror, the glass room-temperature to my touch, and soon found that the beautiful being staring back was, in fact, me.
"Perhaps you would like to hunt now."
I turned to Carlisle, confused. "Hunt?" I ask.
He smiled, slightly broader this time, in a moment of understanding. "Feed," he replied, and I was immediately hit with a burning sensation in my throat. My hand raised up to clutch it in an automatic gesture, and his gaze turned sympathetic. "Yes. A hunt is in order, I should think, at once... There's one thing..."
"Yes?" I asked, managing to keep a head on the burning in my throat.
"We don't drink the blood of humans. We drink animal blood," Carlisle tells me.
I nod. "S-should be fine," I manage to get out.
"Well, a hunt," he says. "Bella, Edward."
At once, Bella and Edward shot into the room, and I was taken aback by their quickness in doing so. Carlisle explained, and Bella stepped forward and took my hand. She had sympathy in her eyes and squeezed my hand as Carlisle told Edward where we should hunt and Edward nodded. Carlisle slipped from the room and Edward crossed to the massive window from floor to ceiling, opening it. He effortlessly jumped from the high place and onto the grass below, turning expectantly to Bella and me.
"Come on," Bella encouraged, dropping my hand and swooping from the window and onto the ground below.
I gripped the side paneling. "You have got to be kidding me!" I said.
"Try it," Edward said, and his face radiated kindness.
"Fine," I grumbled. I got into a cat-like position and sprang, landing about three feet ahead of them, and finding myself enjoying the rush that it felt to 'fly'.
I caught wind of something as I flew, and immediately found myself charging into the woods. I could hear Edward and Bella laughing at my actions from behind me, but I didn't listen. I didn't even stop when I saw the lake in front of me; acting on instinct, I swooped into the air again and flew over it, over the pines, and landed gracefully on the other side. I found myself slowing down then, as the smell grew in its intensity, and I found I didn't even need to ask what to do, as I sensed Edward and Bella behind me.
We stood in a cluster of trees and, just a few yards ahead of us in a thicket, as the black bear roamed about. I could deduce that it was a male—as I would never wish to potentially separate a female from her cubs—and found myself lowering myself in the grass. As soon as the bear turned, I was off like a light, springing seemingly out of nowhere and catching the animal by surprise. It let out a roar as I tackled it, bringing it to the ground and knocking it flat onto its back. I found myself copying its noises as I leaned down, ignoring its massive claws as I dove downwards towards its throat, ripping it quickly, its warm blood dripping down my throat. I'd never tasted something so unbelievably delicious, and found that I loved it—I absolutely adored the taste of blood!
Once the animal was drained dry, Edward and Bella stared at me, nodding to me in approval, and I felt proud. Then, from far off, I heard a snap of a twig, and I was off in that direction immediately; I could feel them behind me, and it was good to know that they had an eye on me in case I got out of hand. I found myself wanting to test myself, so I ran up a tree to get a better look at the ground ahead. There, in a nearby thicket, I spotted a Roosevelt Elk, and I felt myself immediately wanting it. I got into position and waited for it to walk my way, and, when it did so, I sprang. Just like the black bear, I handled it easily, and didn't even get stabbed by its antlers. Once the animal died at my hands, I found myself to be satisfied and, as I untangled myself from its corpse, I turned to look at Edward and Bella, who seemed impressed.
"Can you hear anything?" Bella asks him.
I sigh a little. "I heard you two in the car, on that first day," I say softly. "And before you try to disregard it—who are Eleazar and Aro?"
"Eleazar is one of our cousins from Denali," Bella says patiently. "I'm sure you'll meet them all at some point." "Aro is the leader of the Volturi, a coven in Tuscany. They're our royalty," Edward says, and he looks a bit unsure of himself. "Aro likes to find the ones of us with gifts... Five of us in this, the Olympic Coven, have gifts. I can hear thoughts, Bella is a Shield," he goes on. "Our sister, Alice, can predict the future as it comes to her, and Jasper can manipulate other's emotions as he sees fit."
"And the fifth?" I ask him.
"Our Renesmee," Bella says with a small smile. "She places her hand upon your face as a means of communication. She can physically show you her thoughts and put them into your own mind."
"Amazing," I breathe. I then find myself curious. "Could I have a gift?" I want to know, genuinely curious.
"You seem to possess self-control already," Edward says and, turning, I spot a shrew walking about.
My throat burns ever so slightly, but I do not give into it, instead turning back to him. "I hope I have a gift," I say, letting out a laugh. "It would be fun to do something worthwhile, other than running fast..."
Bella looks interested. "We also have strength..."
"Really?" I ask, and run towards a tree beside me. I reach down into the earth and yank it up unceremoniously by its roots. It is an effortless thing to do, and I find myself giggling at my strength, never being able to do something like that before in my life. "Well, that's something, at least," I allowed. As I dropped the tree, it flew so quickly from my hands that I believed it would cause a domino effect, so I tried and failed to stop it completely. It hit the ground and splintered and I, never liking a mess, screamed, throwing my hands up into the air and letting out a further shriek when the heavens opened.
The sky cracked immediately after I'd raised my hands skyward, and lightning erupted from the tips of my fingers. Turning, I saw Edward and Bella's eyes popping at what I was doing, and I immediately wanted it to stop, and it did. I moved my fingers ever so slightly then, and, finding them working, envisioned rain. Immediately, water streamed upwards from my fingers and then proceeded to fall from the sky. I found myself laughing with this and soon the rain turned to snow on my mental command before I'd had enough and quickly stopped altogether.
"Atmokinesis," Edward breathed, shocked.
"She can control the weather," Bella replied.
They quickly took me by my arms and ran back towards the Cullen house, whereupon I was brought at once to Carlisle after introductions were made. Edward and Bella quickly explained what had happened and Carlisle almost immediately took me outside for a demonstration. I was immediately self-conscious as Esme, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett came out to watch me, too. I felt I had no way to go but up, so I focused on the sky, and brought my hands upwards.
Envisioning it clearly in my mind's eye, hail soon exploded from my fingertips and soon came forth from the sky above. I felt the palatable tension behind me as I did what I did, and soon the hail morphed into snow without me wavering. The snow soon turned to a heavy rain before we had the opportunity to get used to the snow, and then, before I could stop it, the lightening exploded once again and ravaged the sky. I could feel the Cullen's behind me were completely mesmerized by what I was doing, and wondered if this was considered to fall under the 'impressive' category. After another moment of lightening cracking the sky, I turned off the lightshow and turned back to them.
"Atmokinesis indeed," Carlisle said. "I'm tempted to call Benjamin to see if he would be willing to work with her..."
"Benjamin?" I ask.
"Benjamin can manipulate the elements," Carlisle says patiently. "Although he was born with that ability, I believe he could be of help to you in controlling them."
"If Amun lets him," Emmett says, grinning at me. "But you probably can't do much—you're just at your strongest right now. In a few weeks, it'll be all gone."
I find myself fixing him with a look. I figure out he must be the strongest one in the house, due to the largeness of his frame, and he seems quite confident in this. I then hop up onto the porch and am standing next to him at lightning speed. I make a grab for him then before he can get away and toss him at full force towards the knothole of a distant three and land him in it effortlessly. I spring off the porch then and go towards the tree, all the while he is struggling to get out, and suppress my giggling.
"Remember, Emmett, I am at my strongest right now," I say.
Jasper snickers at that; his hair is wild and curly, and an attractive honey-blond tint, which gleams in the partly-sunny light as he assesses me. "You're quite calm for someone your age," he observes.
"Experience with Newborns?" I ask him, curiously.
He nods. "Yes. I was a solider in the Civil War, and was turned and taken in by a woman called Maria. She was building an army of Newborns—I haven't seen one as calm as you since Bella was turned."
I shrugged. "It's a gift," I reply.
"What other gifts do you possess?" asks Rosalie, speaking for the first time. She reminds me of a Greek goddess, with her flowing blonde hair and alert eyes.
I shrug. "I can sing," I admit, wondering if I will still be able to do so now that I was no longer human. "I can also play violin. And I can speak a few languages..."
Rosalie raises an eyebrow. "What languages?"
"English, obviously," I reply, and Emmett laughs. "French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, and I was learning Arabic," I confess.
"You'll find your memory will be intensified, so those won't go away if you continue to speak them," Carlisle tells me. "I'm sure your parents spoke them with you..."
It is then that, for the first time that day, I find myself thinking of my father and what will become of him. Surely, due to my changed appearance, I couldn't very well go home. I remembered that he was on a week-to-week schedule, where he would work one week and be off another. I wondered what I could possibly do to keep him in my life now that I'd changed...
"There was a fire in the woods while you were...out," Carlisle says, picking up on what my face is registering. "Some of the charred remains of some hikers couldn't be identified. I could easily falsify some documents saying that you were one of the unknown hikers who perished in the flames."
I realized that, for the first time, I couldn't cry. My eyes pricked under pressure, but I could not for the life of me form tears. I gritted my teeth together, forcing myself not to scream. "I think that might be best," I say softly.
"How old are you, Beth?" Esme asks me quietly.
"Seventeen," I reply.
"Where were you in school?" she asks.
"I was going to begin my senior year," I reply easily. "I have some connections at the high school," Carlisle tells me. "We'll say that you're our newly adopted teenager, and you can take your classes online. Since you don't need sleep anymore, and you'll probably only need to leave the house to hunt—unless you want to go somewhere else—you can probably graduate within a few months if you'd like. Where did you attend classes in California? Were you a very good student?"
"I attended the Westlake School for Girls," I reply. "My father paid for the tuition—and I had half a scholarship—so that's how we could afford it. Yes, I think I was a good student. I was never perfect in math and my grades there were usually high B's."
"Better than mine," Emmett muttered, now having managed to get himself out of the knothole, and shooting a glance my way.
"We'll send over the falsified documents," Carlisle promises, "and you can begin classes online for Forks High School."
"It really would be too dangerous for me to attend school, I suppose," I say, letting out a small chuckle.
"Not necessarily," Jasper interrupts. "If we can be sure by the end of the month that you are, in fact, completely in control, then you can attend classes there."
"Jasper's right," Alice says quickly, shooting me a smile. She has black hair in the style of a pixie-cut, and the nimbleness of a ballet dancer, and I find that I like her immediately. "I can help him, if you like."
I smile at her. "Thank you. Whatever helps."
"Carlisle, we're getting her a car, right?" Emmett asks.
Carlisle smiles at him. "Now, it would be cruel not to," he replies, turning to me. "Do you have a driver's license, Beth?"
"She does," Bella replies.
"Good. We'll get you a car, and see about those self-control lessons," Carlisle promises me with a smile.
"There remains one last thing to consider," Esme puts in.
"What's that?" I ask her.
"We'll have to decide on your name," she tells me.
I blink. "What do you mean? My name?"
"It's a small town," Emmett says.
"Emmett's right. You can't go walking around as Elizabeth Partridge—that's a dead girls' name!" Rosalie cries out.
"She's too blonde to be a Hale," Jasper says, looking me over.
"A what?" I demand, confused.
"Rose and Jazz's cover story is that they're twins with the last name 'Hale', due to their being blonde," Edward explains.
"She could be a Cullen," Carlisle observes.
"Her skin tone matches yours," Alice puts in.
"But her hair belongs to Esme," Jasper concludes.
"Beth Cullen," I say softly, the name mulling over in my mind. "Elizabeth Vivian Cullen..." I find that I like the sound to it, and let out a giggle.
"It's decided, then," Carlisle says. "We'll also draw up some false adoption papers for Beth in case anyone decides to come snooping. You can take Edward's bedroom, and we'll model it to your tastes now that he lives in the cottage with Bella."
"House rules," Esme says, putting an arm around me. "I suggest that you don't bring any human boys into your bedroom, Beth..."
I giggle slightly at that, uncomfortable. "That won't be a problem," I say, as we girls drift off to one corner and the guys, taking the hint, step away. "I... I don't..."
"What?" Alice asks, worming her way between me and Esme. "What don't you do, Beth? I want to know."
"Don't pressure her, Alice," Rosalie admonishes.
"Right," Bella says. "It's not a big deal."
If I were still human, I'd be blushing right now. I knew I shouldn't have been ashamed of it or anything, but... "I don't..." I shook my head. "I don't...have sex," I say, whispering the last part of my secret. "No need to worry about...any of that."
"Maybe a vampire mixer!" Alice says, clapping her hands.
"Alice," Rosalie says, putting her head into her hand.
"Yeah, I think you're scaring her," Bella says.
"A party may not be such a bad thing," Esme says. "Although, of course, it would have to be vampire-only. If your dad came, Bella, he could probably deduce that Beth is, in fact, Christopher's daughter..."
"And you could be arrested for kidnapping because I'm still technically seventeen, even though I want to be here of my own free will," I say, shaking my head. "Oh, dear. Well, I know that I'll be able to keep my head up in this town. My dad doesn't have any other kids that I know about and it's not like I'm at a loss for what the town looks like. School and then home—I know the drill."
"Why don't we show you your new room?" Esme asks me with a smile. "You can tell me what you may want and then we can order it online or do whatever you want." I am taken back inside the house and up a staircase and then I'm brought down a hallway and one door is promptly opened by Alice, game-show hostess style, and she prances around the room like I just won a prize. I take in the futon-like sofa and find myself admiring the floor-to-ceiling windows on every wall. There is a desk with a brand-new desktop upon it, and there is a new-looking laptop on the futon. There is a flat screen T.V., as well as a stereo with lots of CD's, and a cell phone charging on the stereo cabinet, all which Esme says are mine to keep.
Alice takes me by the arm and leads me into a massive walk-in closet and eagerly shows me the clothes. I get a good look at myself in the floor-length mirror and am mortified that there are blood stains on my dress. I shove Alice out of the closet to change—I'm not really a clothes person, but I still like to look good for appearances' sake. After tearing through various garment bags, I finally find my favorite cut of blue jeans, plus a scoop-neck blouse which isn't too frilly, as well as a pair of sneakers and cotton socks. Stepping out, I catch Bella's smile of approval—I guess she isn't into clothes either—and Rosalie's look of bemusement, and Alice's look of contained fury; I quickly guessed that she'd been the one to dress me post-transformation.
"Your training begins now," Alice says promptly, hauling me out of there.
The training had gone better than expected, so I was quickly enrolled in senior classes at Fork High School for the second week of September. My classes were calculus, European literature, physics, A.P. government, Japanese, and drama. I received a special notice from Carlisle, informing the school that on sunny days, I'd be pulled out due to hiking and other wildlife activities. I remembered in the four weeks of training that I'd been subjected to sunlight—encrusted diamonds had seemingly formed upon my skin—and so if there was even a chance of sunlight, I was ordered to turn in any work online for the day and return the next.
The day before I was due to begin school, Carlisle and Esme drove me out to Port Angeles to choose my car. I had no idea where we were going, but when we arrived at a luxury car lot, I immediately figured it out. I remembered sitting in the back of the car, looking out at the highway going by, and wondering where I was going, yet when the telltale flags of the car lot came into view, I knew. I found I was torn between a 2011 red BMW 3 convertible and a 2012 silver Volvo S60. They were both so pretty—and Esme was so persuasive—that I was permitted to test drive both cars. Even though both were amazing, I decided on the red convertible and hoped that Rosalie would be upset that I essentially selected the same car she had. But, as I was about to tell Carlisle and Esme my choice, I saw a sleek little black number—a 2012 Jaguar XJ convertible—and it was all over.
I was shocked on the first day when I drove onto campus that everyone seemed to be staring at my car. Due to my excessive hunting, I'd been told by Jasper that my feelings of thirst could be muted for a few hours at a time. As with my training that summer, part of it had to deal with hunting so my eyes had turned more quickly than the Cullen's had originally thought possible. I got out of my car on that first day, locking it automatically behind me, and made my way to the front office, turning in the necessary paperwork and smiling and thanking everyone for their friendly demeanors. My first class was calculus with Mrs. Davidson, and I hoped it would go by quickly and painlessly. As I stepped inside I was directed to a desk by the window, and took the window seat, organizing my papers, pencil pouch, and folders upon my desktop as I waited.
"Mind if I sit here?"
I raised my eyes, mentally crossing my fingers that it wouldn't be a human, and made eye contact with, I initially suspected, a vampire. "Not at all," I forced myself to say, giving a small smile.
"Thanks," the guy said, sitting beside me. "You new here?"
"How could you tell?"
"Instinct." He had a confident manner about him that oddly wasn't unattractive, especially when he smiled at me like that.
"Uh-huh," I say, finding myself drumming my fingers on my calculus textbook to appear nonchalant.
"Alexander," he said, putting out his hand, and I marveled that they were indeed the same temperature to mine.
"Beth," I reply. It was then that I realized that, all around us, that Mrs. Davidson, as well as all the students, had completely frozen. I'd not stopped shaking hands with Alexander, who I suspected, so we two were still moving. "Was that...?"
"Yes," Alexander replied simply, letting go of my hand. "I possess Chronokinesis—I am a vampire who can manipulate time."
I nod. "I see."
"And you can control the weather, it seems. Very impressive."
"Vampires can do that?" I whisper. "Feel out what other's abilities are?"
"Some can," Alexander says, "one called Eleazar does, at least." He looks me over then, shaking his head. "But something tells me that you're holding yourself back..."
I raise my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"I think you have another, powerful gift—you just haven't tapped into it yet."
I shake my head. "I'm not sure I understand."
Alexander's eyes drift to the white board, where markers are waiting for Mrs. Davidson to teach us our math lesson. "Pick one of those up." His arm flashes out to stop me from getting to my feet. "No. Pick them up with your mind."
"You've got to be..."
"Kidding? No." He smiles, not unfriendly, and nods in encouragement. "Try."
I roll my eyes momentarily but make eye contact with the white board marker that Alexander had indicated—a green one. Finding my eyebrows knitting together, I willed the marker to go up—and it did. It flew into the air, whizzing this way and that, before coming towards us, landing safely in Alexander's hand. I leaned back against my desk chair, stunned, and shook my head. "Whoa."
"So, you're psychokinetic," Alexander observes, "very impressive."
I shake my head. "More like unbelievable..."
"Nothing is unbelievable," Alexander says with a chuckle.
I raise my eyebrows. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," he replies.
"How are you here?" I whisper to him. "My family..."
"The Olympic Coven, I know of it," Alexander tells me. "I lived with the Denali Coven for some time—they taught me their way of life, and then it was time to move on."
"You're a Nomad," I say.
He smiles. "Guilty."
"How long have you...?"
"One hundred and fifty years, give or take," he replies. "I worked at the court of Queen Victoria as a servant to Prince Albert—kind man, truly, I was his favorite. When the prince got typhoid fever, he ordered that only I and his doctor, William Jenner, remain with him. When the end came, we were sent off, and the queen and his children were there when he died. I felt the symptoms myself and attempted to run, but it was far too late to do so. When I was found by an unknown Nomad who guessed the symptoms and transformed me into what I am."
"Why do you think you got your gifts?" I ask him.
He smiles. "Well, I suppose it was since I was always on time. Well, not always, but when I was not, I could manipulate the prince into not being angry with me."
I found myself laughing at that. "That's quite funny."
"I am familiar with your parents, Carlisle and Esme..."
I felt myself warm to that—figuratively, at least—at the thought of Carlisle and Esme being my new parents. "Are you?"
"Yes. I am going to come and stay with you and your coven. Tanya—the leader of the Denali Coven—has arranged it."
I nod. "I see..." I hesitate. "How old were you...?"
"Twenty-two," he replies. "You?"
"Seventeen," I tell him.
He nods. "Have any hopes and dreams?"
I sigh. "Not many. The usual—husband, children, career. Well, best two out of three at this point, I should think."
"Yes," Alexander says, snapping his fingers so as the classroom around us comes to life once again. "Best two out of three."