-1a/n: I do not claim any affiliation with Stephenie Meyer or Twilight. R&R please
"You can talk to people in their minds. Like telepathy. If you control it, it seems that you can talk to just one person, or you can send thoughts to more than one person. I couldn't read your mind, Bella, you were talking to me."
"You…I…What?" I can say that I was thoroughly confused.
"Hmm…" He thought for a moment, though entirely for effect, he knew exactly what he was going to say. "Let's try something different. Alice?" She looked up. "Tell Bella something. But not out loud. Say it in your head. And Bella," He faced me and spoke with a softer tone. "Concentrate on Alice's voice. See if you can hear what she is trying to tell you."
I did as Edward said, and Alice looked as though she was trying too.
Bella? Her voice rang loud and clear in my head. Can you hear me?
I nodded yes and Edward took me in his arms and hugged me tight. If I were still human, my bones would surely have been crushed. Edward had been listening to Alice's thoughts and saw my reaction.
A power. Now I really felt like a vampire, and a special one, at that.
"Why do you think I can talk to people in their mind? I thought you said that your abilities came from traits you carried in your human life."
"I don't know. Let's go talk to Carlisle." Edward was still standing. Eagerly he took my hand and Alice's and led us out of the room. I pouted to myself at the thought of leaving the sun lit room.
Edward was bouncing as he led the way to Carlisle's office. "Come in." His soft voice rand clear before Edward even knocked.
With my heightened senses, Carlisle's voice was even more beautiful. I couldn't even imagine how he, or his office would look.
We stepped into the room and it was dark. The thick curtain on the window was closed and there was a small lamp on the desk where Carlisle was sitting. I knew that his eye sight was perfect and that he would be able to do his work in complete darkness if necessary.
Carlisle set down his book and stood up as we walked toward him. The three of us sat on the leather couch, Edward in the middle, and Carlisle returned to his chair.
"How are you doing, Bella?" He asked me.
I looked at Edward and he squeezed my hand. I'm doing fine, Carlisle. Thank you. I smiled at the look of utter shock on his face. He heard my voice, loud and clear, but did not see my lips move at all.
Edward chuckled at, what I would assume would be, Carlisle's thoughts. "Why don't you share that with her?"
"Congratulations, Bella." Carlisle's smile was tight. "Welcome to the family, again."
My eyes teared up, though there was no way that I could actually cry. I knew he meant it, he really was welcoming me, not only to his family, but to my new life.
"Thank you, Carlisle."
"So," he began. "What's this new ability of yours?"
"That's why we're here, actually."
"I figured as much."
Edward stood up and walked to the edge of the desk. Alice stiffened next to me. "She can read thoughts directed towards her, things others, well, at least vampires, want her to hear. We haven't been able to test it past ourselves, obviously." He paused for a moment, toying with a stapler on the end of the desk. "She can also send out her own thoughts to people, though that seems to be an ability that needs to be perfected. "
"Ok, so it seems that you have it all figured out. So what question do you have for me?"
"Why do I have this power?" I interrupted Edward. As far as I was concerned, I was perfectly capable for speaking for myself. "Edward told me that you get your power based on something from your human life, but I can promise you that I never could communicate without speaking to others."
"Well, Bella, I don't know if you remember, but your mind doesn't work like everyone else's." I remembered all too well. For some reason that we never really could figure out, I was immune to Edward's mind-reading abilities, and, the few times that I came in contact with Jane from the Volturi, I was also immune to her ability to put the thought of pain in a persons head. We had discovered that it had to do with me, mentally, because Alice and Jasper could work their magic on me when ever they wanted. That was how Alice knew that I was going to be one of them someday.
"Yes." I muttered.
"So, you're trying to tell me that Bella's mind is screwed up, so she ended up with a power completely randomly? Why not just have no power at all?" Edward asked.
"I must admit, it is odd." Carlisle thought about it for a minute. "But it's the only thing I can think of. Maybe it had the opposite effect on her."
I sat there in silence, listening to the men talk and wondering how long it would take for them to realize that Alice and I were still in the room. Hearing my thoughts, Edward looked at me, his dark eyes filled with love, and I sensed a little bit of sadness hidden in there as well. He was trying, I could tell, to get used to the fact that things would be different now.
"Thank you, Carlisle, for all your help. I'm sorry to have to leave so abruptly, but I'm afraid Bella does need to feed soon or something bad might happen."
"Certainly." Carlisle said. "Where will you be going?"
"I was thinking of taking her up into Canada. I want to get her as far away from town as possible for this." He looked at me quickly, then looked away. "Who knows how she will react to the smell of blood." His voice dropped so low that even with my new hearing, I had to struggle to hear what he said. "I don't want her to do something she would regret."
