rewritten
Edward's POV
"So we leave tomorrow to arrive in Tulsa for the evening. Remember, they live at night." Carlisle finished off the preparation speech to various nods and sounds of agreement. I didn't react.
None of them said it aloud, but the question hung over the family like a cloud. Was Bella at the Tulsa House of Night? Nobody knew where she went after she ran away the day she was Marked. Charlie had refused to disclose information on her whereabouts and avoided us like a plague. I hadn't been able to get close enough to him to read his mind on it because Carlisle banned the family from approaching him.
Carlisle had his suspicions on our reaction to Bella's mark. They all did, but Carlisle was the only one to think about it around me. Nobody spoke of it because everyone in the family was confused at their own reactions to it.
Well, everybody apart from Jasper.
Moving my thoughts away from that area, I trained in on the voices around me.
Carlisle and Esme were wondering about the hunting options while at the House of Night. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt about the precautions that would be taken to keep the fledglings safe.
Rosalie was thinking about the housing arrangements, trying to get used to the idea that she might have to stay in a dormitory with fledglings. Alice was wondering about the shopping arrangements and how the hell she was going to last a month without her wardrobe. Emmett was looking at the letter we had received from Lenobia and imagining the school as a haunted boarding school… which it did resemble from the pictures.
They were all cover ups. Everybody was hiding what they were honestly thinking, because all were thinking of Bella.
But then there was Jasper. He didn't bother hiding his thoughts because he knew I would continue to listen until I found the truth. The last thing Jasper wanted to do was go to the House of Night if Bella might be there. Not after what he had done to her.
And it was true; he had done it. As Tanya entered and sat on my lap, I watched him closely. He might deny it, but I only told him to use his ability that day; he was the one who had obeyed. He had spread my disgust of Bella through to everybody else, not me. It was Jasper's fault that Esme had lost another child, Jasper's fault that Emmett and Alice lost a sister, Jasper's fault that the family had been torn apart at her departure.
Not mine.
Tanya took the leaflet from Emmett and stared at it. "Ooh, when are we leaving? Eddie, we'd better start packing now!" The moment her falsetto started the other members in the room began filtering out. Jasper stood to follow Alice. As he passed me I channelled the emotion most similar to a threat that I could find. In reaction his thoughts went haywire for a minute; I chuckled, safe in the knowledge that he wouldn't be saying anything any time soon.
Izzie's POV
"Izzie, can I speak to you, please?"
I turned to see Lenobia, standing by one of the horse stalls. I wasn't a rider myself, but I was accompanying Zoey as she brushed down the horses. I walked over.
"I was just wondering how many of the Cullens were there when you left. I seem to remember you saying there were seven."
I nodded. "Yeah, there is."
"Because they've informed me that there are eight coming. Four males, four females."
I froze. She watched me, not unkindly, as I searched for a response. "Oh." I swallowed. "What's her name? I mean, if you… you know."
"The females are Esme, Rosalie, Alice and Tanya."
This time I couldn't hide my response. As much as I didn't care for Edward any more, one thing he had always been clear on was his lack of emotion for Tanya, especially compared to me. It did not, however, tax the imagination to figure out the motives behind this. He wouldn't want to show up empty handed, after all. Even though I doubted he knew I was here, he wouldn't risk that, not after the show of revulsion he put on, not with his ego equalling the size of Paris.
Zoey was standing next to me- she had heard everything.
"Tanya's a vegetarian, too," I mumbled. "I know of her. Zoey, can you come and help me with my shooting practice?"
"Sure thing, Izzie."
Lenobia put a hand on my arm as we made to leave. "If you feel too uncomfortable, I can release you of Dark Daughter duties for their stay." But I could see she didn't want me to do that, so I shook my head and smiled.
Zoey set up the target as I picked up my bow and arrow from the cubby belonging to me. Backing up, I set the arrow to the bow, took a deep breath, pulled, and released.
Bulls eye.
Zoey wasn't surprised; neither was I. My shooting skills were shockingly good for someone who, before the Mark, had never hit more than three pins in the bowling alley. Stark had taken a shine to me upon my arrival here and had been mentoring me in shooting. I was nowhere near as good as him, but getting there, and fast.
I shot off a few more before Zoey began throwing targets for me.
"Izzie." She said, between letting go of the stuffed chicken and me hitting it.
"Yeah."
"If they hurt you in any way, I'm going to hurt them worse. That's not an offer, either; speaking for all of us, we're not going to be able to see you hurt by them. You… you mean to much to us."
I didn't reply for a second, spearing one of the flying targets to the hay bale behind it. Then I lowered the arrow and smiled at her.
"Thank you."
"The carpet's here."
Aphrodite placed the lid back on her eyeliner and wandered over to Venus, who was peering out of the door. In the hall, six or seven girls were attempting to get past the huge pile of fur on the stairs. A man stood near it, panting.
"Sorry." He said between gasps. "'S heavy."
Venus and Aphrodite looked at one another before returning their sceptical gazes to him. He hesitated, then picked up the huge bundle and stumbled over. They stood back as he tripped in to the room, dropped it, and backed off.
"I need to go sign some forms," He said hurriedly, "Lettin' me be in the girl's rooms. Legalities, you see." He rushed off, and the two blondes stared at the carpet on the floor.
"I'm not sure I want that anymore." Venus said flatly.
"He touched it with his bare hands. It does quite lessen the value," Aphrodite agreed.
They looked back at each other. The man appeared back in the door and they looked at him.
"Sorry, sweetie, you got the wrong room."
"Yeah, it's for the boys. I believe the dormitory door reads 'Jack and Damien'."
