Short chapter.
Happy Holidays to everyone reading this! Stay safe whereever you are in the world.
After coming home completely soaked and dirty Bella was now relaxing in her room and she had to admit, that whatever was keeping Edward or any other of the Cullen's out felt safe. Edward had always intruded her privacy for coming to her in secret after she had supposedly gone to bed and Alice had silently replaced a large amount of her casual clothes with more fashionable ones without her consent. The Cullens had also tried to convince her father to let her spend two nights with Alice, supposedly having a slumber party. Normally Charlie appeared to have liked Esme or Alice, but this time he had not been able to be swayed by their sweet talking. His argument had been that she was still experiencing nightly tremors and that he would not let her sleep somewhere else until they were gone. Yet she was allowed to spend some time with them during the day, but she could have sworn that although she was still experiencing nightmares, they had lessened significantly because she was getting better at diverting her mind to her secret blond Draco.
Her mind was truly wonderful creating him, but she could not explain how she had been able to know that her mother was in London. She had never mentioned that she would visit grandma soon as the tickets were quite expensive. She had tried to call Renée, but had not been able to reach her. When she had casually mentioned it. Charlie had dropped a plate and astonishingly being able to pick it up before it could hit the bottom. To her it had looked as if it had slowed down during the fall and had stopped hovering above the ground. But that was not the only strange thing. She seemed to be more aware of her surroundings or she just became mad. On her way to school she could have sworn that she had seen a large bird, looking similarly like a hawk, yet with two sets of wings and long antennas as tails. And she had also seen green twigs waving at her and two black ravens were following her every step.
But it didn't make sense. She was imagining things, but then the Cullen's could not enter her father's house anymore. She carefully stood up and stepped towards her mirror. According to Alice her appearance was slowly changing "for the better". She contributed it to her care, but Bella wasn't so sure about it. Her hair had become longer, fuller and curlier as she had not bothered to cut it, softer and darker. Alice had even enquired if she had dyed her hair darker, but she had not. Her chocolate-brown eyes seemed to change into a more greenish color with each passing day. At first it had looked as if the irises of her eyes lost color, but then she had realized that it became more greenish with time. As she looked at the young woman in the mirror she had to admit, that she did not look that bad. A little bit pale, but not that bad. But maybe it was because her mind had constantly told her through Draco that she was beautiful. Like a repeated mantra.
When she lay back on her bed, she cast her mind back to the story Rosalie had shared with her in the Cullen's home. It sounded so much like a fairy tale that she had found Emmet after everything she had endured, but she had seen it in her eyes that she had spoken the truth. Bella didn't know how she did it, but while Rosalie had told her what has happened to her Bella had been able to picture it in her mind quite vividly. Even when the other woman had described her ordeal Bella had faintly been able to feel it. She knew what Rosalie had been trying to accomplish by telling her story and even though she did not want to admit it, it had worked. On the one hand she loved Edward dearly and wanted to spend eternity with him, but on the other hand she hated his overprotecting nature and that the Cullen's tried to decide everything about her life. Had Charlie let her stay at Alice's sleepover then she would be held prisoner by them in order to prevent her to get to La Push. But thanks to her best friend, who had surprisingly "saved" her from school, she had been able to spend the entire day in La Push again.
It had felt so exhilarating riding those bikes through the mud again. The only problem, that had arisen during her visit, when they had turned towards the delicate topic of turning again. When Jacob had almost exploded in his anger the most curious thing had happened. He had been pushed back through an invisible force and Bella remembered that she had shortly felt quite faint for a second. But in her anger and confusion she had taken the bike back into the rain and ridden it towards the Cullen's house. Changed her mind and ridden home without getting caught by her father or the Cullen's. When she had arrived entirely cold and soaked and dirty she had fled under the shower and tried to calm her mind. Alice had appeared shortly after she had come home, but she had not answered the door. The bike was hidden behind the house now. But what had Jacob pushed back from her? Had she done that? If yes, was it the reason why she felt so emotionally and physically drained.
She heard Charlie's station wagon pull up next to the house and a few seconds later she felt something shift in the air, but she could not explain it. It had felt as if she was aware of her father entering the door, but how?
Then there was shattering and her father's cursing:" Merlin! What the hell happened here?" A few heartbeats she could not hear anything until she could here her father's heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.
He knocked and asked concerned:" Bella? Are you in there? Is everything alright?"
"I'm fine, dad." She responded hoping to sound convincing, but he apparently didn't believe it.
"Can I come in?" he asked, and Bella sighed. "Sure."
When he entered he had one of his worried looks on his face. "I don't need to be your mother to see that something is bothering you and judging from the mess downstairs, I know that I'm right.
Bella frowned. She had not left any mess downstairs.
"What mess, dad?" she enquired sitting up and her dad sighed this time. "The mess downstairs that looks as if a hurricane just went straight through our house."
Not believing anything he said, Bella stood up, swayed slightly and walked past him and downstairs and stopped in her tracks. He hadn't exaggerated. The entire house was a mess of moved and shredded furniture, torn towels, blankets, feathers swirling in the air, pantry among the debris. Her father had not exaggerated. It looked as if a hurricane had torn through their house.
"I swear, I didn't do that." Bella murmured to her father behind her but he surprised her.
"Probably not voluntarily." He chuckled. "But something like that can happen if you are in emotional turmoil."
He sighed. "I believe it's time we let the cat out of the bag. Watch closely. And please. Don't freak out." Charlie turned his hands outwards and murmured something in a strange language. Bella took a step back and saw that her father's eyes were momentarily glowing gold. Suddenly, she felt another shift and the entire mess was miraculously flying to its proper place, and all the torn things were repairing themselves until no speck of dust could be spotted. Was her parents New Age Religion more than it seemed? It couldn't be.
She slowly took a step towards her father and poked him twice in his stomach. Was this really her father. He jumped back in surprise complaining. "Oye."
"This is real, isn't it?" Bella asked stumped.
"Yes, it is." He confirmed. "Perhaps we should sit down." He suggested gesturing towards their sofa and Bella automatically went towards it. Talking would certainly be good now.
As she sat down the cushy sofa Charlie sat down opposite her in his armchair and remained silent. It seemed that he waited for her to begin this conversation. Maybe something was wrong with her and that's why Edward had not been able to hear her thoughts.
"Is something wrong with me?" she enquired with wavering voice.
Charlie shook his head laughing. Bella had just seen him doing magic and she wandered if there was something wrong with her? Maybe she came after his line after all.
"No, there is nothing wrong with you, Bella. You are special. "
Bella doubted it. It sounded more like there was something wrong with her and her father just wanted to avoid the definition of her being a freak.
"We actually wanted to wait to explain everything until Renée returned from Britain, but it seems that we need to come clean now." He sighed again.
"About what? Speaking of Britain. Why is Mum there? Is Grandma sick?" Bella shot back her heartbeat accelerating.
Charly shook his head. "No, your grandmother is not ill, and Renée is there to get you a family heirloom which will help you to learn how to control your powers."
"My powers?" Bella enquired hesitantly. "What powers? So, I'm not normal, right?"
"Nobody is normal. Normal is what people define as normal." Charlie answered, and Bella rolled her eyes. That was not what she had meant with normal.
"You remember all the stories, we told you when you were younger? About Merlin, Morgana, Morgose, Nimue, King Uther and his son Arthur?" he enquired, and Bella nodded. Her parents seemed have an unhealthy obsession with all those legends.
"Faintly. But I remember some stories, which you must have made up as I have not found any references to them for school." She answered and Charlie shook his head.
"We haven't made them up, Bella." Charlie answered. "Our family holds many secrets and although many stories about King Arthur have become legend there is a true core to it. In fact our origins can be traced back to the legendary court of King Arthur."
"You can't take anything about that seriously. I mean many nobles families during the middle ages and the renaissance supposedly traced their ancestry back to a character of an epic story. This was done to prove their legitimacy to their throne or other ways of power and there has not been any prove that this court existed. It's a myth.
Her father proudly beamed at her. "That's true. You have learned history well. But in some cases, it can be proven and the history we have from that time is written by victors."
"You are not making any sense." Bella remarked processing what her father just told her.
"I'm not good at explaining things." He wrung his hands. "Ok. Let's try this. You do not just have nightmares. Sometimes during the day, you feel like you have some sort of déjà-vu and you remember that you have dreamt about it."
Bella nodded hesitantly. Yes. The déjà-vus certainly became more frequent. "This gift comes from your mother's side"
"Now you call it a gift?" Bella perked up. "Like a supernatural gift?"
"Yes." Charlie confirmed. "But, you have to promise me that you can't tell anyone!" he urged. "Neither your favorite vampire clan, nor the protectors of these woods."
"You knew that the Cullen's were Cold ones?" Bella enquired with eyes wide open and frowned at her father's growing grin. "I suspected it, but thanks for your confirmation."
"Shit." Bella cursed and half expected to be reprimanded by her father, but was surprised that he only threw her a reprimanding look without acknowledging it.
"The gift of foresight comes from your mother's family, but the base of our powers is magic. I'm a warlock and your mother's a witch. Which means that you are too."
Bella frowned. She was a witch? She couldn't believe it. Was this the reason why Edward couldn't hear her thoughts?
"That's ridiculous, I'm not a witch." Bella remarked shaking her head violently and spotted her father fuddling nervously with his hands.
"God, I wish. Renée were here." He scratched the back of his head and stopped. He turned towards the fireplace and contemplated something. "Hold on. I will prove it."
With that he jumped up from his seat and with two steps he went towards the fireplace and searched for something inside it with his left hand until he found it and pulled out a small ceramic pot. "Floo powder." He remarked while Bella watched intently. She observed him taking a bit of it in his hands and tossing it into the fireplace while shouting: "Caerleon"
Bella jumped back as large green and blue flames erupted in the fireplace, which until this evening she had believed to only be a decorative one. She jerked backwards when she could hear her mother's worried voice come through the firewall in the fireplace. "Charlie, has something happened with Bella?"
He answered: "Yeah, we have some explaining to do. Could you come through?"
Esme stepped into her husband's study. She had gradually observed him getting more worried. What was the cause of his unrest? The raising death toll in Seattle? The Volturi? Another Clan? The wolves? Something was bothering him, and she would not let him shut her out of his thoughts again.
"Carlisle?" she asked attentively knowing full well that he had heard her entering.
"What is it my love?" he answered frowning and looking up from one of his old books.
"I don't need to be Edward to see that there is something bothering you. And the other members of the family are also getting restless. What is bothering you?"
"Bella." He answered. She had not expected this answer. Bella would soon be a part of their family and although she had not yet consented to be Edward's wife. Alice had already planned huge parts of the wedding.
"Why?" she enquired. "I don't understand. Have the Volturi contacted you because of her?"
"No, but you know that none of us can't enter the Swan residency any longer and none of our gifts work on the swans any longer." He answered, and Esme nodded.
"I have seen something similar shortly after I was turned and I'm afraid of what Bella could be.
"What have you seen?" Esme enquired growing worried.
"Beings powerful enough to endanger our kind. They were rounding us up and killing us. I was lucky to get away. The Volturi were able to turn the tide against them, but they are dangerous."
"Are you talking about werewolves?" she asked stoking his hair, but he shook his head.
"No, something far deadlier." His voice trembled slightly. "We can only hope that she is not aware of it yet if she is indeed what I believe her to be."
