I knew I was dreaming, but I couldn't stop the true images, they came in the afternoon. Papa had built us a house deep in the jungle. A knock sounded on the door, before we could answer it, the door burst open. Felix grabbed me and Demetri grabbed Melanie. They held our arms behind our backs. "Is this all?" a high reedy face demanded. I looked up. His face looked like paper, he had black hair and filmy red eyes. I knew him from my father's descriptions, Aro.
"What did we do?" Melanie asked, she was terrified, I could tell. I looked around wildly.
"Where is your father?" Caius asked.
"We don't know!"
Aro smiled and gestured for a small female vampire to come forward. I screamed in agony. My head was being split open. My body was on fire. I heard Melanie screaming too. Finally the fire was gone. I gasped; it was Felix holding me up. I vomited.
"We'll tell you! They went hunting, they should be back in a minute!" Melanie cried. The pain began again. We screamed in unison. We heard Papa, Lyra and Sam running towards our house. Lyra entered first. A vampire grabbed her and slit her throat, "NO! Lyra, no, no, NO! She's gone, WHY?" I screamed. "We didn't do anything!"
Sam was next. I screamed and fought against Felix. He hid me over the head so I saw stars.
"What have we done? Why have you killed my daughters?" Papa asked. I gaped at him; he was so cool and uncaring. Didn't he care about us at all?
"You created monsters that endanger us all." Caius replied. With that he gestured; Felix and Demetri dropped me and sprang at him. "Run, Sitka, run!" Melanie gasped as she shuddered. "I'll find you someday!"
I obeyed her without thought. I heard her screams behind me as I stumbled away.
The memory/dream skipped ahead. It was two hours later, I had reached Mexico. I sobbed to myself as I ran, "I ran Melanie, but where did you go? You said that you'd come back for me. That's a lie! You're dead like Papa, Lyra and Sam. I'm alone. All alone."
A voice penetrated my dream/memory. "You're not alone. You have us, you're not alone." I trusted the voice. I slipped into easier dreams.
When I woke up it was dawn. I kept my eyes closed because I heard voices. I identified the smells of Esme, Rosalie, Carlisle, and Embry.
"Well, we know what the Volturri did," Esme said in a low voice.
"I didn't like those scum to begin with, but they almost killed her! They killed her entire family! Can you imagine how hard it must be for her to trust us?" Embry said. I was surprised by the passion in his voice, why did I matter to him?
"The best thing for her is to see that we aren't going anywhere," Carlisle said.
"Poor dear," Esme said, stroking my cheek. This was beginning to become a routine.
"When do you think she'll be ready?" Embry asked, longing in his voice.
Rosalie's voice was gentle, "The best thing you can do for her is talk to her. Try to get her to talk about what happened." I held my shudder. "Just be there for her. That's all we can do. I have a degree in psychology; this kind of trauma takes time to heal. She watched her family die while she was being tortured."
A growl came from Embry. "No one should go through that. It's even worse that it happened to my imprint." Another growl escaped him. I whimpered, I couldn't help it. I yawned.
"Sitka? Are you awake?" Embry asked softly.
I opened my eyes and looked at him. He imprinted on me? All I really knew about him was that he knew a lot about baseball and he 'played'. I was too fragile to commit to a relationship right now, that much I did know.
I examined him with fresh eyes; he had black hair, chopped short. He was heavily muscled and wore only a pair of cutoff shorts, like Jacob. He had dark brown skin and deep black eyes. It was like looking into a bottomless pit, except that they were filled with kindness and worry. I smiled at him.
He smiled back, pleased that I had smiled.
The day progressed much like yesterday had. Alice had fun dressing me, it had taken an hour. She tsked over the state of my clothes. I had slept in them and she made comments about getting me PJ's and a room of my own. I didn't respond. When was their 'guilt' going to run out? When were they going to throw me out?
Bella and Edward came up to the house for lunch. Lunch today was a large soup. It was vegetarian, for which I was grateful. I tried not to notice Embry staring at me. I can't believe he imprinted on me, I thought, what is there to imprint o---
I never finished the thought. Edward roared. I shrieked and dove behind Esme. Belatedly I realized that I probably should have gone behind Embry. This thought made Edward growl. I peeked around Esme, her hands were shielding me. Edward glared at Embry.
"What? How does she know? Did we not all agree that we would wait until she was healed for you to tell her that you imprinted!?"
I realized what Edward had assumed. I quickly thought back to this morning when I had pretended to be asleep. Edward calmed down, though he was still glaring at Embry.
"Forgive me if I overreacted. I think of her as a little sister," Edward said smoothly.
"I'd forgive more quickly if I understood what the hell you were talking about!" Embry snapped, he was shaking. I flinched. He saw the movement and controlled his temper.
Edward explained to everyone, "Sitka was listening to them this morning when they were discussing her."
"I thought there was something off about your breathing," Carlisle said.
I stared at the room, tears pricking my eyes. I couldn't afford not to eavesdrop. I never wanted to be taken by surprise ever again.
Edward bit his lip. "Sitka, we already think of you as family. We're not going to turn on you. I promise." I thought of the promise that Melanie had made me. Promises meant nothing in this world. Edward's eyes tightened.
Esme turned and shook me, "Is that what you've been thinking? That we would just cast you out or hurt you? Sitka, we love you so much. You're a misfit in our family of misfits!"
I looked into her eyes, so desperately wanting to believe her. Esme hugged me. Okay, I'd enjoy this while it lasted.
