Chapter 3

I combined my hair roughly as I was impatient to return to the safety of my room where Edward would be waiting for me. With little forbearance, I stripped my body of the sweater and jeans I had donned carelessly upon myself in the morning and changed into a more comfortable form of apparel: pajamas.

Finally, I dried my newly cleansed face and nearly burst into my room. And of course he was there sitting upon the bed, resembling a sublime sculpture carved deftly by hand of the finest artisan.

Yet his eyes were lost, gazing at some ethereal dimension, similar to his expression during the meeting at the dining room. What could possibly be galling him? It couldn't be concerning the safety of Carlisle, for we had already agreed upon the second method.

Perplexed and solicitous, I touched my hand to his gently, stroking his face.

"Edward," I asked cautiously. "What's on your mind?"

His mind snapped to wake, his eyes focused on my anxious countenance now.

Then he smiled. "It's nothing, Bella."

"Nothing?" I cried, indignant. "And this is the level of candor you express toward you future wife?"

He was really smiling now, a gargantuan grin spread out across his face, his eyes scintillating. "Wife…I like that," he said, his voice pondering and sounding remote.

"Hey," I snapped, waving a hand in his face. "I'm here, and I asked a question that you're going to answer whether you like it or not."

Edward heaved an aggravated sigh. His eyes closed and his eyebrows drew into a line of defeat. It took a moment before his lips parted and his voice became known. It was such a dulcet, melodic sound.

"Bella, it's complicated. I'm no where near sure of my theories, but there are mysteries evolving around that girl all right."

"Girl?" I asked. "You mean Faye?"

"That's right. The tall, dark one." He frowned. "There's something weird about her…"

"Like she isn't telling the truth?"

Edward's eyes snapped up to mine. The expression revealed upon his countenance seemed something like that of shock. His own stunned emotions shocked me as well.

"What, you don't think so? The way she talks, the way she moves, the cautiousness with which she speaks—it's sort of obvious."

Edward's eyebrow line deepened and he placed a fist to his chin, his facial expressions contorted to a portrait of extreme thought.

"Hmm…" was all he said.

"Wait," I said, realizing something. "Hold on. You…you couldn't read her mind?!"

Suddenly Edward's tortured expressions fit the puzzle perfectly. The way he concentrated upon the dark girl's face throughout the meeting, the way he closed his eyes in frustration, everything fell into place.

Edward's eyes were truly tortured now. "No. I can't, and I don't know why."

"What about the other girl? Aisha, or whatever her name was."

He nodded. "Her mind is fine—and so was the boy's. I read his dreams. Sometimes he'd be crying out in his mind frantically. Experiencing a nightmare, I suppose."

"But how is it possible?" I cried, and then immediately cramped my mouth shut, realizing Charlie was only a floor down from the spot in which I stood. Then I began in a more subtle tone, "Why can't you read her mind?"

Edward shook his head in exasperation. "It can't be because of the fact that she's a Magician, since the other two creatures' minds I can read perfectly well. But other than that, I can't come up with any other reasons. You might be right—she could have been lying to us about what she really is…"

Edward's frown deepened even further.

I opened my mouth but found no word in my inventory that could possibly efface that frown from his face. I hated seeing his tortured, frustrated expression. The least I could do was sit by his side and stroke his hand with my delicate touch, hoping it was enough.

Finally he broke away from his reverie and smiled. "It's time for bed, Bella."

I peered up at him in fury and shock. "Why?" I cried, my tone full of indignation which I hoped he read. "It's summer!"

Edward's grin was teasing. "Since your parents gave their assent to your marrying me within two months, I've come to a firm conclusion that you will get ample rest and eat the most nutritious foods so that when our wedding does finally arrive, I won't be marrying an ugly ghost." He beamed at me, chuckling slightly to himself.

I gulped. Charlie had most definitely not been pleased by my firm decision to espouse a boy just scarcely over two months after my graduation. Upon my revelation of this decision, he exploded into a truculent tantrum, nearly calling up a storm by his own furious efforts to dissuade me. Recently his temper mollified slightly by my heightened maturity, for I would stop at nothing to evince my readiness for this marriage to prove successful.

This didn't mean he had completely forgiven me, however. His temper was the complete adversary of placid, and it took careful ratiocination of every single word I would utter so that it would not rouse his volatile anger.

Renee, on the other hand, expressed a violent, overt shock at my proposal to marry Edward upon my visit to her in Phoenix, but said nothing more. She simply stood agape at my in utter incredulity, but then nodded her head resignedly and retired to her bedroom.

In the morning, however, she returned to her bubbly, effervescent personality that seemed too exaggerated for her usual character.

This disconcerted me a lot, naturally. It hurt tremendously to imagine that her feelings could be a fabricated façade to hide her disapproval from me, but I had made a commitment that I planned firmly to carry through. If the cost of spending an eternal life with Edward was to upset my parents—no matter how solicitous my feelings inclined toward them—I would take it. I recognized that cost from the very incipience of our relationship. There was no reason to withdraw from this commitment now—I was in too deep.

"A ghost is nothing in comparison to a vampire," I whispered softly.

Edward's smile faded synchronously upon hearing my words, and in its place was an inscrutable, hard line. It was impossible to read what emotions were churning behind those golden eyes.

"Fine," I said. I didn't want to exacerbate his frustration, and so I backed down, attempting to appease him. "I'm giving in for the night."

A renascent smile broke out anew upon his marble face. "Good girl," he said, his tone facetious.

I jumped upon my bed, pulling my covers over me and reaching out for Edward's hand. He lay softly beside me, placing himself close to the warmth radiated from my body. From his throat came the emollient euphony of his voice humming my lullaby, and I felt gradually the effects of the soporific melody drawing my eyes to a close and my mind into a dreamlike state. But before I allowed myself to succumb to this yearning, I lifted my eyes to his and said,

"What are you going to do about it?"

He looked at me, perplexed. "About what?"

"About the girl," I replied. "About Faye, and the others."

His eyes grew thoughtful. "Alice might know something about it. She's had previous knowledge with Magicians before. She was telling me through her mind earlier today that she read something about it in our library, but it was only a short passage. I think I might search through Carlisle's library tomorrow. Half the books are obsolete, and I won't be surprised if I dig up some interesting material that Carlisle himself didn't know he had."

"Oh," I said. "Let me help you. I'm pretty professional at searching for books in libraries."

I heard him chuckle softly, for already the powerful drug of sleep was overpowering my senses. I felt a cold hand stroking my face.

"Now, now, Bella," a sonorous voice spoke, though it sounded distant. "Sleep, love."

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Next chapter preview:
Edward goes to search his house's library while Bella gets a call from Jacob who implores her to visit him for the last time.
Edward, meanwhile, discovers some fascinating information that may just unravel the truth behind Faye...

[note: the chapter previews might change in the actual chapters so dont rely 100 on it :)