Wow. Look at this. Two chapters in one day. This isn't exactly the most exciting chapter, but it needed to be written. Some time has to pass and some trust has to build before the more exciting events can happen. So I hope you enjoy the bit of fluff I offer you.
Disclaimer: Not mine, I swear.
Chapitre Sept
It was growing dark when the Cullen family returned to the house.
I had spent the rest of the day in a sort of daze. I had eaten mechanically at the proper times and attempted to read, but my heart wasn't in it. All I could think of was Edward. And I knew this wasn't healthy, but I couldn't stop.
After dinner I had pulled my table and chair over to the window with a lit candle to help me read in the dying light. I focused very hard on the book, an in-depth research into the legend of King Arthur, but could not actually read the book. Once I realized I had read the same sentence six or so times and still couldn't tell you what it said if there was a knife to my throat, I gave up. The book fell forgotten to my lap as I gazed out the window, the very same window Edward had opened not to long ago.
I hadn't closed it since. I knew it was crazy, but I couldn't bring myself to close it. I was still staring out the open window, hands holding the book open limply in my lap, when Alice bounded into the room.
"Oh Lord in his Heaven, did it really happen?" She was kneeling at my side like a little girl, her eyes imploring me to please answer her.
"Did what really happen?" Oh no. She saw it. Of course she saw it, but still. Did she see me after he left? That would be most mortifying.
"Did Edward really come and talk to you? I mean, I had the vision, but did it really happen?" Her eyes were so wide I thought they might pop out.
"Yes, he did come. And the restrictions have been loosened, almost totally lifted." I tried to seem just as happy as this should have made me, not the over-the-top euphoria I had been feeling for the past hours that had absolutely nothing to do with leaving the room.
Alice squealed and jumped to her feet. "Oh that's simply wonderful." She collapsed against the wall with a satisfied smile before letting a more serious look cross her face. "But I have to say, Edward is still struggling with his control. I nearly had a heart attack about seven times today and my heart doesn't even beat! He would decide to throw morality to the wind for a split second and I'd get a vision. But then before I could take more than two steps back towards the house, he would shake himself out of it and change his mind again. He is so conflicted right now."
"So keep my wanderings to a minimum?" I could do that, I guess. The only place I desperately needed to go was the library at this point. I had only hard about the dimensions of it and needed to see if fact was as good as fiction.
"For now. I'll let you know as soon as he becomes more accustomed to your scent." She gave me a gentle hug. "I'm so happy for you. And so glad that you've come into our home and our lives."
Then she was gone, leaving me to puzzle over her exuberance. Was it so wonderful to be granted wondering privileges? I mean, I was excited, but why was she? She seemed to be reading far more into this little encounter than I had.
I went to bed that night filled with elation and confusion. And as always, I dreamed of Edward.
The next morning I awoke to an unfamiliar sound. Knocking at my door. I had only enough time to wonder, didn't I close the curtains around my bed last night, before another thought hit me: only one person had ever knocked at my door.
That thought was enough to send my heart careening against my rib cage. I jumped up and grabbed my dressing gown. "Yes, who is it?"
"It's Alice. I was bringing you breakfast, but your door is locked. From the inside. Could you, uh, open it please?"
Alice. Not that I was unhappy to see her, only I had been hoping I had a different visitor. I crossed quickly and flipped the lock.
When had my door been fixed?
Alice entered with a tray laden with food and a face laden with confusion. "Since when has your door locked on that side?"
"Well, when your brother came to… visit yesterday, he didn't have a key and I of course, couldn't open it. So he ripped the doorknob out of the door. He promised he'd have someone fix it. Whoever he sent must have been a quiet worker; I didn't hear a thing all night."
A smirk crossed her face. "It must have been Edward. The rest of us spent the evening discussing the truce."
"Really? Did he give himself a key to then? Because I have the key here, and he must have locked the door behind him somehow." I was well and truly puzzled. It was nice of him to get it done so quickly. But how had he gotten it done?
"Oh, Edward never does things by half. If he was going to break into someone's room, even if it was to repair something, he'd come in by the window." She pointed at my window, wide open to the wintry chill.
"Oh. I thought it felt especially cold this morning."
"Well," she said briskly as she crossed the room to close the window, "let's get you ready for a new day in a bright new world.
After I had washed, dressed, and breakfasted, she sat me down for one of her 'serious talks.'
"I've been thinking. You might not want to go outside when it is sunny still."
"No," I whined, "I've been looking forward to the sun."
"If you injure yourself out there, which you probably will, I would have to go get you. And that would ruin the surprise."
I put my head in my hands and sighed. "Again with the surprise. Your silly surprise is not worth the sunlight to me. I need to feel the warmth on my face."
"You'll have to wait. And you'll understand when the time comes." A thought came to her and she giggled. "A few more months here and you'll be as pale as us!"
I had to laugh at that. As though I, even with my fair skin, could ever reach the sheer white that was the Cullens' skin.
After a few moments more of talking, she left me for the morning. She had made a deal with me: if I refrained from leaving my room unattended this morning, she'd skip our lessons and show me the way to the library instead.
I spent my morning loafing about the room. I wanted to go somewhere, desperately. But I had promised not to. I wished it would be spring already. I wanted to throw open all my windows and sing with the sheer joy of knowing that I had the freedom to come and go as I chose. Alas, it was cold outside.
I tried to curl up on my bed with the book I had abandoned the night before, but again found myself too distracted. Soon I would see the fabled library. I was breathless in anticipation.
It took far too long for Alice to arrive. I bolted down my food and then jumped to my feet, ready to go.
"Anxious are we?" She laughed.
I laughed with her. It was so good to have a friend here.
Alice had kindly drawn me a map of the house so I could navigate without her as a guide. The off-limits areas were clearly marked in shocking red ink. She showed me the way to the library (marked in blue) and then let me open the doors inside. She must have known how excited I was to do this.
I gasped in awe once I entered the room. It must have been three stories high and every wall was covered with books. There were rims of space where each floor would have been that had tables and chairs on them. Various spiral staircases allowed you to reach them so you could walk around the massive room at any level. And in the middle of the room were more shelves. These shelves reached almost to the ceiling, with rolling ladders on them so one could reach the very tippity-top.
I nearly swooned with joy. It was beautiful. No, it was more than beautiful. It was beauty incarnate.
"I'll just leave you to your ogling," Alice giggled from behind me. "I have a feeling this will take awhile."
"Several lifetimes, at least," was my breathless reply.
I began wandering in a daze. I didn't know where to begin. I walked up and down the shelves for what must have been hours. I didn't touch anything, I just stared. It would take me forever to finish all the books here.
I wasn't really paying any attention to where I was going. All my attention was focus on the shelves and the books on them. So it wasn't really a surprise that I tripped over something.
What was a surprise was that someone caught me.
Ice-cold hands caught me by my waist and stopped my seemingly-inevitable face-plant. I was hauled swiftly to my feet, but the hands did not let go. I turned around in my savior's grip.
My savior, irony of ironies, was Edward. My already rapid heartbeat continued to escalate as I tried to form a coherent sentence.
"Are you alright?" That silken voice was concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine." I swallowed hard. He was staring at me. And he was still holding my waist. "Thank you."
He seemed to realize that his hands were not where they probably should be and released me like hot coals. "It was no problem."
I realized that this was probably too soon for us to have encountered each other. "I'm very sorry for disturbing you, I'll go."
He caught my arm as I turned to leave. "Please don't. I don't want to ruin your perusal. You weren't disturbing me. Far from it, actually. I was following you."
"You were following me?" I was both flabbergasted and flattered.
"You were quite interesting to watch." He let go of my arm and took a step back. He seemed to not know quite what to say now.
"Is that so?" I tried my best to help, really I did. But I just couldn't create proper conversation when he stared at me like that. He dazzled me.
"Yes." The awkward pause returned for a moment before he offered me a shy smile. "Can I help you find anything?"
Fin de Chapitre Sept!
I must mention one thing before I close, and that something very dear to my heart: FreeRice. It is amazing, and everyone should spend at least ten minutes a day at it. is an online vocab quiz. But for every question you get right, they donate twenty grains of rice to the UN Food Brigade, or whatever it is called. And so I command, go forth and do vocab. Save the starving children.
That's all folks!
OnlyOneSymptom
