Angel POV
"You made it by the down of your feathers," Alice commented, as I swooped in the large window the Cullens had started to leave open just for this purpose, landing on the top stair right in front of Alice.
"Does that make sense?" I questioned, as I followed her into her bathroom without argument. "Couldn't you have just said 'by the skin of your teeth.'"
"Your teeth doesn't have skin, but your feathers have down." Alice shrugged. Gesturing at the chair in front of the large mirror, she commanded, "Sit."
I nervously eyed all the makeup paraphernalia scattered across the counter-top. "Alice, it's just a sixteenth birthday party," I reminded her. "I'm not getting married or anything."
"Haven't you ever heard of a sweet sixteen? That's what this is. After our vampire guests leave, you can have your party with all your human friends and do your makeup the way you want it. For now, though, you play by my rules." Alice zipped out of the room and returned in about a second flat, carrying a dress-bag.
"When did you buy me a dress?" I questioned. "I thought I was wearing my blue dress that Gina and I bought when we went to Seattle."
Alice snorted. "I know that you and Gina are close, but the child has no fashion sense, and neither do you. You're wearing what I want you to wear."
I grumbled under my breath. "Is nothing about my birthday party what I want it to be?"
"Absolutely not," - the sudden voice from the door made me jump. - "It's best to just go with what Alice says and not question it."
"Hello, Bella," I said, once my heart rate calmed down. "I forgot that Alice did your makeup and everything for your's and Edward's wedding."
Bella flashed her teeth at me in a grin. "I was just as nervous as you. But it pays off, when your soulmate sees you."
"Truthfully? I'm more afraid about the dress than the makeup." I admitted, shooting a pointed look at the dress bag while Alice delicately pulled back my hair so she could scrub my face.
Bella cocked her head as if she were listening to something. Alice rolled her eyes, and I heard in her thoughts that Bella had been listening to Jasper.
"Jasper says that he helped Alice pick out the dress, so it's not too bad," Bella told me, even though she had to know by now that I already knew.
"I am probably the only girl in the world happy to have a father-figure who's as conservative as people were during the Civil War." Angel muttered. Her comment was met by the bell-sound of laughter from every vampire in the house, and Jacob's throaty chuckle.
"Shoo," Alice told Bella. "Unless you're going to help do her makeup."
Bella shook her head. "I'm no good at stuff like this yet. But I'll make sure that as soon as Rosalie and Emmett get back I'll send her up here to do Angel's hair."
"Thank you!" Alice trilled, approaching me with a soapy rag in her hand. Bella looked at me sympathetically for a moment before vanishing.
With I sigh, I close my eyes. "Don't scrub my skin off, Mom."
"Don't back talk, daughter."
"Touche."
"There," Alice set down whatever makeup brush she had been holding onto the counter, scrutinizing my face for a moment, before smiling. "Beautiful."
"She always was," Jasper was leaning against the doorframe, and I grinned at him when I turned to look at him.
"Thanks, Pa," she teased, and he rolled his eyes.
"Rose and Em are back," Jasper informed Alice, over my head. "Rose should be up - "
"I'm here," the blonde announced, stepping around Jasper.
"Right about now," Jasper finished. "Just so you know, it's five. Everyone should be getting here in about half an hour."
"We'll get it done, we'll get it done," Alice said. "Go."
After he left, I dozed off a bit while Rosalie and Alice softly argued over and fixed my hair, their cool, gentle fingers combing through it before braiding it. After a while, I lost track of what they were doing.
When Alice announced, "Done!" I nearly jumped out of my seat in surprise, a feeling that was magnified when I looked in the mirror.
"I'm not getting married!" I cried in exasperation. "This is a wedding updo, for my sixteenth birthday!"
( . )
Rosalie would never be able to speak quietly enough so I could hear and Alice couldn't, but she whispered in my ear anyway. "Sorry," she said. "I tried to push for something more simple, but you know Alice. She's...over-the-top."
"Exactly," Alice had danced across the room to grab the dress bag. "Unfortunately, I didn't get my way on the dress, but Jasper's been with me so long my fashion sense has rubbed off on him, and the dress is acceptable."
With a flourish, she unzipped the bag, revealing a beautiful dress. It was what Alice would call mint-colored, but I would call sky blue, so very similar to my eyes. It was a little longer in the back than the front, and had a modest neckline
. ( _ )
With a gasp, I said, "Wow, Jazz. I didn't know you could pick out dresses."
This was met by a snort from downstairs, and I tuned into the thoughts below to find that I'd been so occupied I hadn't noticed that Seth had arrived.
Joy exploded in me as I thought that Seth was going to get to see me all made up by Alice's expert hand in this beautiful dress, and I heard Jasper laugh when he felt this change in emotion.
I tapped into Alice's thoughts to borrow her hearing, and found that Jasper had said to Seth, "She's happy to see you. Actually, happy isn't strong enough of a word."
"Jasper!" I cried in indignation down the stairs. "Shh!"
"Enough messing around," Alice shook her head. "Come on, Ange, get up and put on the dress. We have fifteen minutes before guests start arriving."
"What about my wings?" I asked.
"You won't need to hide them," Nessie had drifted upstairs to see my dress, even though I'd sent her a mental picture of it already. "We're vampires, after all. Not much is strange to us." With a small smile, she disappeared back downstairs.
After I'd stepped into the dress and while Alice was pulling up the zipper, I asked suddenly, "Decorations?"
"They've got it covered," she replied, and I took it that 'they' was the rest of her family and Jacob.
"Should I be scared?" I asked Rosalie.
With a glint of her dazzling white teeth, the blonde replied, "Terrified."
When I got downstairs, I saw what Rosalie had meant, and I groaned out loud.
The white walls were strung with streamers all around, a table was set up with a white tablecloth, and presents wrapped in every color of the rainbow were stacked there.
("I said no presents!" I objected. "You're really like Bella," Edward replied. "She hates presents and parties too." "Still do," Bella piped up from across the room.)
All the furniture was pushed against the walls, leaving an enormous space in the middle of the room where I assumed all of the assorted vampires would be standing around.
The very last thing I noticed was also on the present table, and I wandered over to take a look, only to find that it was a small cake, with 'Happy Birthday!' on it.
"What are Jake and Seth supposed to eat?" I questioned, still studying the cake. "I mean, Ness and I can split the cake, but there's no other food."
"We're going to eat at Mom's afterwards." Seth said. "We thought - "
"Sure, I'll come with you," I answered his question before it was fully formed, straightening up and turning to the group with a smile.
Assured that I liked everything and wouldn't complain much more, the vampires drifted into small groups, murmuring, while I stood beside Seth, his arm around my waist and my head leaning against his arm.
All of a sudden, everyone with their super scary hearing - ahem, everyone but me - turned their attention to the front door. Carlisle pulled away from Esme and Emmett to stand by the door.
"Who?" I asked Alice. I could sense their thoughts coming close - it was five people - but I couldn't really tell who it was from the distance they were at.
"Denalis," Alice replied, and I peered into her thoughts for a moment.
Tanya, Kate, Garrett, Carmen, Eleazer...and one, now dead and gone - Irina. I shuddered and pulled out of her thoughts. I never liked to see the conflict with the Volturi, that happened just barely a week before I arrived in Forks.
The thoughts grew suddenly sharper when I was able to detect the soft sound of car tires on gravel. The car stopped just outside of the house, and I held myself back from reading the thoughts sure to be lurking in the five people I knew were outside.
If you didn't know what was going on, my mind-reading created a creepy crawly feeling that nobody liked.
A gentle - yet sudden - knock made me jump. Seth chuckled quietly, pulling me back to his side and kissed the top of my head. "It's fine," he told her.
"I know, I was just startled," I told him. Even as I said this, I turned my body enough that I could get my arm around his waist, holding onto him like a small child would a parent. Even though I was used to the Cullens, didn't mean I wasn't still nervous around the supernatural.
Carlisle - and probably all five vampires outside - had heard our little exchange, and turned to grin at us briefly before opening the door.
"Ready to meet the family?" he asked.
From outside, a voice retorted, "Ready or not, here we come!"
I was surprised how fast I liked all five Denalis. Carmen and Eleazar welcomed me with open arms, the former rushing across the room to sweep me into a hug. Seth was afraid she'd crush me, but the embrace was almost exactly like one of an enthusiastic human - except Carmen's skin was ice.
Kate grinned at me, but didn't hug me, probably because of the 'shocking' gift that she had just barely managed to control so as not to hurt her mate, Garrett, whose amber eyes sparkled with boyish mischief when he greeted me.
I met Tanya, who I thought had taken over the mother role of the group, last, and she gave me a small, sad smile. I didn't even have to read her thoughts to know why - Not only was she the only single Denali, but she had no one to really turn to to help her get over the death of her sister, Irina.
It was exactly the way I'd felt, roaming after the deaths of my family. I gave Tanya the biggest smile I could manage, and reached my arms out as an offer for a hug, which she accepted with some surprise.
Not long after the Denali's arrival came Benjamin and his mate Tia, then the Irish coven, and, finally, the Amazons, who frightened me quite a bit at first.
All the vampires were puzzled but polite when they met me.
Zafrina and Eleazar were more than excited to see and examine my wings.
I would have demonstrated flight, except I was wearing a dress, and Seth nearly ripped Eleazar's head off when the Denali claimed no one would look up my dress while I flew.
"Interesting," Eleazar's eyes sparkled with discovery. "He's imprinted on her, right? Fascinating, this imprinting business."
"And the wings," Zafrina said, in heavily accented English. "Created by human scientists, no less...I cannot imagine how difficult the first experiments were."
"They failed, badly" I told her softly. "I always heard the white coats talk about it." Seth wound his arm around my waist comfortingly.
"Ah, yes..." Eleazer said uncomfortably. "Um, Carlisle mentioned something about...your abilities?"
"I can read minds, like Edward," I nodded to said person, who was across the room talking with Tanya and Bella. "Except, I can see memories, too. I can also show memories, and it's much like Zafrina's gift, except the people I show the memories to keep their senses. And, I've been working on something..."
"What?" Eleazer sounded thrilled with the notion.
"Well, it's easier to show..." I murmured. My eyes wandered over the guests until they rested on Nessie. I sent her a quick memory of me apologizing to Max, a silent apology for her, which made her look up in confusion.
A half second later, Nessie's eyes unfocused. Moving like a robot, she stood up, picked up a glass off the table, and walked over to the couch. I meant for her to set it on the couch, but miscalculated, and the glass hit the floor, shattering on impact.
Her eyes refocused, and she looked to the broken glass at her feet, bemused.
Eleazar, who'd been watching Nessie with surprise, whipped his head around to look at me. "You did that?" he demanded.
"Yes," I replied. "It's like I can sort of bend someone's will, make them think they're doing what they want, when it's really what I want."
Peering around his shoulder, I said, "Sorry, Ness. As far as I know, I can't use it on vampires or shape shifters. Just humans or partial-humans."
Nessie squinted at me over her shoulder. "Is that why Mr. Williamson gave a two week extension on that project you had to do?"
I coughed in embarrassment, avoiding the question.
"You did what?" Jasper asked flatly.
"Thank you so much, Ness." I slipped behind Seth. "You made my dad mad."
Laughing, Alice whirled in front of Jasper. "Enough of that," she said. "Presents!"