Bella's POV; after/during change.
It hurt; it hurt so much. I don't know if I screamed; all I could feel was the pain. I felt a cold hand press against my feverish skin. The cold dulled the pain slightly and I could hear the voices around me.
"I don't know about this." A voice said; I recognized it as the girl's voice. The one that had bitten me; she sounded like she was standing right beside my head.
"Try." A voice said, the voice was airy and light; it was calming. It seemed to be coming from near my chest. "Her change is almost over; just make the end a little easier."
"It's hard." The girl said; her voice sounding strained. "It hurts. Nobody helped me; why should I help her?"
"Because you're a wonderful person?" A raspy voice said; making it sound like a question. It came from above my head.
"Try again, Racy."
"Because you should, Ren" The airy voice said.
There was a sigh from the girl, Ren.
"Give me your hand, Sky." She said, I heard a rustling of fabric, then a gasp, and suddenly I felt a surge of coolness shoot through my body all the way down to my toes. It was like a carnival game; someone had hit the target and I was dropped into a tank of ice water. It was exactly what I needed.
"Put your hand on my shoulder, Racy." Ren demanded, sounding out of breath and exhausted.
Another rustle; another gasp; and a renewed wave of cold ran through my body. My eyes flew open and my head whipped to the side. Imagine my shock when I saw three girls standing over me; well, that wasn't very shocking.
What was shocking was what they were doing; there were streams of light coming from the two on the side, trailing down their arms: a deep blue from the one above my head, Racy, and silver from the one near my chest, Sky. The light went into the one in the middle, Ren, and trialed down her arm where the two colors braided together along with a deep red and I went cross-eyed trying to look at where it was going; right into my forehead. Their eyes were closed so they didn't see mine open.
So, I – very calmly – jumped up off the bed; kicking Sky's stomach in the process. Their eyes flew open and Sky doubled over, clutching her stomach.
"Hate – newborns." She said; her voice strained as she gasped for air. She coughed twice and rolled onto the bed. They all looked exhausted; like they wanted to go to sleep. But I knew they couldn't; it was kind of sad, in a way. I don't think being kicked in the stomach helped that situation much.
I dropped into a crouch and felt a feral snarl rip up my throat, which was stupid because they looked too exhausted to lift a finger at me. Ren's eyes whipped up at me, from where she stood hunched over the bed.
"Just because I look like I can't kill you, doesn't mean I can't." she said, looking up at me through her eyelashes. Her pinkish-burgundy hair hung around her face, casting shadows.
That comforted me. Racy rolled onto the bed next Sky.
"Ugh." She groaned. "I hate it when you do that, Ren."
"You're the one that wanted me to help her." Ren said, shoving the other two over and lying down next to them.
I wondered how all three of them managed to fit onto the hospital-size bed. I felt that they were either stupid enough to leave themselves completely unguarded around a newborn or arrogant enough to think that they didn't have to. And, after seeing their little display, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the second one and in my mind it probably wasn't so much arrogance as fact.
But I didn't want to attack them. Looking at them lying on that bed with their eyes closed; I felt bad. They'd done that for me. They didn't know me. I knew they probably weren't that nice to everyone; but they'd been that nice to me. I wanted that. I needed that.
Maybe they knew that. Maybe that's why they were so relaxed. I stood up straighter and the next thing I knew a hand was pulling me down onto the bed where I landed on top of them. The bed – not made for roughly 500 pounds – finally buckled under the weight and collapsed. Racy and Ren, who had been on the sides, rolled off the bed and onto the floor. Sky and I were the only ones who had stayed on the bed. Racy and Ren lay on the floor with their eyes wide open; clearly shocked. Then they burst out laughing. Admittedly it was pretty hilarious. Soon me and Sky were laughing right along with them.
I hadn't laughed in a while. It felt good. I knew it would be over soon; I was thirsty, I could feel it burning the back of my throat, it was ignorable – for now.