Alice and Jasper left soon after returning from their walk. Alice hugged me tighter than normal and whispered for me to be good. I nodded against her shoulder and could hear Edward behind us growing anxious. I was sure he was aware what Alice and I had talked about, and even if he wasn't he was knowledgeable about something and that made me nervous.

When they drove away, I felt a lump develop in my throat. Edward noticed my change of behavior and put his arm around my waist.

"Let's go inside, love." He kissed the top of my head and guided me to the front door.

As we stepped inside, the burning started. I was worrying myself to hunger and I had to stop. While I wanted a distraction from the talk we were going to have, I was afraid of my thirst. I knew that in three days, I would take a life. This knowledge made me wince. I closed my eyes and tried to push the thought from my weary mind.

"Do you want to go hunting… Bella?" Edward flashed to my side, stroking my hair and whispering in my ear, "Ride it out and we'll go hunting, okay? I promise. Just hold on."

I could do this. I knew that I could. I tried to think of things that had nothing to do with my aching thirst and the blood I craved so intensely. As I pressed my lids closed, my first thought was seeing Edward in the sunlight for the first time. How his skin sparkled and threw rainbows across the crisp air. I saw his glowing face, alight with a smile reserved for me. I never knew that such beautiful things existed, at least not until that afternoon.

The fire that crept into my throat earlier was gone, replaced by a pleasant calm that overtook my entire body. I looked at Edward and he was meeting my gaze with bewilderment.

"I…I'm fine," I stammered. I stood and turned to face Edward, "Let's go hunting." He smiled and took my hand.

---

"So, what was that back at the cabin?" Edward asked, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you pulled a Jasper." His laugh tried to hide his worry, but failed.

I didn't know what had happened. All I'd done was go through some old human memories, the ones that I had still been able to hold on to. They all involved Edward, though. I barely remembered how Renee looked when she smiled, or how Charlie's voice sounded. Edward had told me that human memories fade, but I never thought it would be so quickly.

"I… am not entirely sure," I said, my voice faltering with confusion. "I closed my eyes, remembered when I first saw you, and everything just melted away. When I opened my eyes, it was like nothing was ever wrong."

Edward's eyebrow cocked slightly and he smiled crookedly, the way I love and rarely saw anymore. "You thought of me, and calmed yourself, correct?"

"Uh, yeah. Sounds a lot more supernatural when you say it."

Edward looked away, concentrating more than normal at my response. He looked back at me and his face was twisted into confusion. I was worried; he looked like he was in pain. I reached out and touched his face, but he pushed my hand away.

"What is it?" My eyes narrowed in concern, pressing him harder for what was going on inside his head, "Edward, tell me. What's wrong? You're scaring me."

He met my eyes and tried to speak. As soon as his lips would part, he'd look away and shut his eyes tight. If I'd been sitting with Alice, I would have swore he was having some kind of vision. He was reacting the same way she did when something huge was shown to her.

"Edward, please," I begged.

"Bella. Stop thinking… for just a minute. Think of a white room, no windows, no doors. Just a white room. Close your eyes and put yourself in that white room." He pinched the bridge of his nose. What had I done? He was angry now, angry at me. Even though his voice was no higher than a whisper, I could sense his anguish.

I did as he asked. I pictured my old bedroom – what I remembered of it – and started to mentally strip the room. First were the walls, then the floors. I removed the window that Edward used at the doorway to our nights together. I smiled at that memory. But, I quickly pushed it out and removed the door, all the furniture. Soon all that was left was me inside this vast white room. I'd done just as he asked, and was awoken from my vision when he touched my arm.

"Bella, I heard you thoughts," he said as calmly as possible. His eyes were so upset; they were losing the light color that our recent hunt had given him. I was searching his face, trying to judge how I should respond when he pinched the bridge of his nose yet again. Oh, he heard my thoughts now. Oh my… he… he is hearing me now…

"Yes, I hear you now. Stop it. You move at a mile a second. It's really hard to keep up."

My mouth fell open and I tried not to think about what I normally thought about. I suddenly filled my thoughts with my favorite flower, and how I loved the way the air smelt when it was sunny. I recited my favorite part of Romeo and Juliet. I didn't know what else to do now, I was completely exposed.

"That is even more annoying. I'm trying so hard to not hear you, but it's like you're screaming at the top of your lungs. I'd assume it was a proximity, but I don't think it is." Edward's fingers were rubbing his temples and I wanted to comfort him. It was my shrill, screaming voice that was making him get, what I could only assume was, a migraine. Do vampires get migraines?

"Edward, how… how can you hear me? And why now? I don't understand," I said as softly as possible. He noticed this and smiled.

"Bella, you're not giving me a migraine. I'm fine. It's just… overwhelming. I don't know if I like it or not." At this, Edward rose to his feet, shaking his head when I started to do the same, "I'm going to walk for a bit, just stay here. Don't go anywhere, and don't go back to the cabin. Just sit here and try not to think too much."

I tried to go to the white room again, but my thoughts filled it up until it split in half and there were a sand and water all around me. I explored, trying to keep everything very simple. I didn't want to give anything away. I had to keep control of my thoughts. I walked down the beach, taking my shoes off. The surf tickled my toes and I looked out at the ocean. The waves were quietly pushing the cool water onto the shore. I could feel the warm sun on my skin. I looked down and to my surprise, my skin was honey brown and littered with freckles. I opened my eyes and Edward was sitting directly in front of me.

"You blocked me out," he murmured. He seemed disappointed, but a little relieved as well.

"What do you mean I blocked you out?"

"I saw what you saw, the beach and your thoughts about trying to not think about what you usually thought about; which has me very curious, by the way. But, then it just went blank, like it always had been. It was really odd. So, I thought I'd gotten too far away, but I hadn't. I came back and watched you. You still had your eyes closed, and were swaying slightly, so I knew you were still in your head. But… I didn't hear or see anything." Edward met my gaze and closed his eyes, "Ah, there we go. Why are you so worried about me getting a headache? It's impossible. You're not hurting me. Stop comparing yourself to Jane. This is nothing like her power at all." Edward opened his eyes, "And the screen is out again."

I couldn't help but laugh. It was like my thoughts were a bad connection, and Edward was wiggling the antenna around to get a better signal. "Lose the reception again, hmm?" I smiled widely at this thought.

Edward could hear me, but only if I wasn't aware that he could. Or, maybe it had something to do with my thought process. If I was purposely trying to think of something, he would be in the dark. I wanted to test this out, but I could see that he was frustrated with this newfound ability of mine. Was it an ability, though? It didn't feel like one.

"This is very difficult," he said begrudgingly. "You'd think that, I'd be used to it. But now that I've had a glimpse at what I've been missing, I just want more." His smile grew and I wrapped myself around him.

"I'd like to experiment, if you're up to it. I want to know why and the only way to figure that out is to run some tests." I was more excited about this than I should have been, but I wondered if this was my power. If I could block out vampires that could read minds, that would be an incredible gift to have. But, the option to let them inside, if I needed it, would be a nice change. The possibilities were endless and the idea of this new discovery was making me glow with anticipation.

"It is something else entirely to hear your thoughts. It's like a whole separate side to you. You edit a lot when you speak." Edward kissed my head and hugged me tight.

My first thoughts were of Alice, and how I was sure she knew about this new development. I wondered if she'd known when she visited. If she had, though, she would have been bubbling over to tell me. I thought back to our conversation before I rushed it out of my head and to the white room. Edward shifted behind me so he could look at my face.

"We'll be talking about that later," he said sternly. He lifted himself from the ground, holding my hands as he did. I looked in his eyes and I knew that this new information was not going to be well-received.