Chapter Two

Nathalie

When I woke up we had arrived home and my father ran inside; Jake was on the verge of changing.

My father ran inside.I could see why for the tension once I got out of the car.

Someone, not a Cullen, was in the house. He was tall with short hair and stood in front of Uncle Emmet with more confidence than most men his size.

Jake wanted to run, but he stayed behind and grabbed my bags for something to do with his hands as he walked me to the door.

I could hear the voices as I neared the door.

"I do hope you will excuse the wait but I want my whole family to hear your story before I make any decisions." Came my Grandpa Carlisle's voice from inside.

My dad was standing behind him, one arm around my mother.

I walked in and took a seat between Aunt Alice on the couch and Uncle Jasper who was standing next to the arm. I could faintly feel the shield my mother put up around every one in the room.

"Now you may proceed." Carlisle said.

"Thank you." The man said. I had a better view of him now. He had an easy, relaxed look on his face as if one wrong move wouldn't get him ripped to shreds. He wore all black and had black hair that looked nice with his flushed face.

FLUSHED!

"He's a half- vampire." My dad and I said at the same time.

"Yes I am. My name is Nathaniel and I would like to ask that you grant me and my sister sanctuary until we can find more permanent lodgings for the semester. As it seems she has already met one of you." He looked pointedly at me.

"Nathalie, right?" I asked.

"Yes."

"She made it seem that she was all alone. She said nothing about you." I said.

"I know. She's running from me, but she's not... all there." He said hesitantly.

"What do you mean by 'not all there'?" My father asked. He looked like he was on the verge of one of his infamous panic attacks. Edward Cullen was the world's most protective dad/husband/brother in the world. I had to fight rolling my eyes.

"She has... a few... unresolved... mental... problems. I need to work them out with her. She ran from me in a misunderstanding." He sounded like he was having a hard time understanding his own words.

Odd... She seemed perfectly fine when she spoke to me earlier.

"What makes you think she'll trust you now?" My dad... again. He seemed no less panicked.

"This." He held up a cross necklace studded with garnets and diamonds. The gems were encased in a silver framing. I was probably worth as much as the clothes in my wardrobe(which by the way is a lot because my Aunt Alice refuses to allow me to wear anything that doesn't have a big price tag and an even bigger brand name).

"Do you think she'll recognize it?" My grandpa asked.

"I am quite certain that she will. Now about my sister and me staying here for a while- no more than a month I assure you- what do you say?" Nathaniel concluded.

"What exacly is wrong with her?" My dad sounded suspisious. There was no way in hell that he was going to give ground until he knew the details.

"She was born with a particular... ability... that doesn't do too well with her."

"What ability is that ability?" Alice's question this time. She had the far away look that made me think she already knew the answer

"She sees what I can only explain as sakkri. Visions." Nathaniel said.

"Can you explain that to us, please? This girl sits next to Nessie in a class and if she goes hostile I need to know what I'm dealing with." Jacob finally spoke. I supposed he had gotten through all the bad jokes he shouldn't say out loud out of the way.

"It's like Alice's power." Jasper explained.

"It is nothing like Alice's power. Maybe in the sense that she can see the future, but that's where similarities end. she can see forward, back, was could have been, what should have been, what could be, what will never be, and in varying degrees. The problem is things don't stay in her visions and she ends up hurting herself or others."

"How does she hurt others?" Jacob asked. I rolled my eyes. Worrywort! I thought ungratefully.

"If her power goes beyond her control, it lashes out at anything it can reach before attacking her."

"So she can't control her power?" Alice asked.

Nathaniel nodded. "I am working on it but she's too powerful so I am teaching her, naturally."

"I don't trust it." My dad said. It sounded automatic, kind of the way my dad controlled my mother when she couldn't control herself.

"I don't see why not Dad. I think it would be a good idea to keep her around people she can't hurt." I said before thinking.

"She wouldn't try. Any harm she causes is completely beyond her. She gets hurt by herself much more than she hurts others. She doesn't care enough to."

"What do you mean 'she doesn't care enough'? Would she harm anyone that she did care about?" Gramma Esme was the speaker this time. A collective growl emerged from my family.

"No. You misunderstand." Now he looked appropriately worried. "I mean... One saying that we have in our famliy is that in order to kill someone, you have to care about your life and their death to actually go through with it."

"So which does she not care about? Our deaths or her life?" The question came from my dad.

"Her own life for sure. Your deaths? She hardly even knows you. How could she care about something she knew nothing about?" Nathaniel sounded like the thought was painful.

"Nessie?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"Invite her over tomorrow. Maybe I can get a handle on what is going on with this girl." My dad suggested.

"I'll do better. I'll invite her tonight." I told him.

"You are welcome as well...." My dad faltered on the name. It was just a set-up to properly introduce himself. How so like my post-Victorian father.

"Nathaniel," He provided.

"I am Edward. This is my daughter, Renesemee; my wife, Bella; Jasper, Rosalie, Alice, Jacob, Emmet, and I assume you have already met Carlisle and Esme." My father pointed to each of us in turn.

"Thank you. It is very much appriciated." Nathaniel favored us with a huge bow... and then was gone.

"I don't like this. That's how he showed up and scared the shit out of all of us." said Uncle Emmet.

"Well, like I said we'll invite the two over for tonight like we were planning to and see what happens from there. There's no need to..." my mom slowly considered. My dad as shaking his head before she got three words out. This time I did roll my eyes.

"Dad you already agreed to it. And like I said, there was nothing wrong with her when we spoke to her in class today." I helped my mother. That wasn't it though. I wanted to invite her over to see what happened.

"No. Not here. If we're going to meet her we can at the very least not bring her here." my dad protested.

"Edward, you do have a point but wouldn't it be safer to have her here, on our turf? I mean, the Nathaniel kid said that she could accidentaly hurt someone in the process of losing control of her power. I doubt she could hurt you all too much. If we meet them somewhere it has to be somewhere they can find but is very far away from humans, it should work."

"The dog's got a point." Said my Aunt Rosalie. I rolled my eyes- She had never liked Jacob. They were always at ends. "We don't have to bring them here but we shouldn't have to inconvinience ourselves to avoid it."

"So is it decided?" Grandpa Carlilse asked everyone.

"I still don't like this." my dad murmured. I grabbed his hand to offer comfort. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

"Hold on. the guy still knows where we live." my Uncle Jasper mentioned.

"It doesn't matter." My dad answered. "He just wants to be reunited with his sister. And it's time for you two to get back to school." Jacob and I groaned at the thought, but my dad ignored us. He had the keys in hand.

We walked back out to the volvo and were back in the reservationby the time the bell rang.

"So we give her the directions to meet us in the baseball clearing?" I asked.

"Yes. Be careful and watch her." He spoke to me, but he looked at Jacob.

"With both eyes as often as I can spare them." Jacob agreed.

With that, Jacob and I walked back toward school.