Carlisle came around the corner; all of us were excited to hear how Shelbie was doing. Edward and Alice left shortly after the rest of the Blacks arrived, but at the moment even Billie forgot his prejudice against the Cullen's as Carlisle came to sit. All were uneasy, for various reasons.
"Well, what had happened, from what Shelbie had told me, she had a panic attack, it's a sudden feeling of terror, and it has symptoms along with it: hyperventilation, trembling, dizziness, lightheadedness, chest pain and some others. We have done some tests, an EKG, which is a heart scan, and an IPO Cardio Gram, with is an ultrasound of the heart. With the result of these tests I have made the diagnosis that Shelbie has mitral valve prolapse, which is to say that, some of the valves in her heart don't close all the way, allowing some regurgitation of blood. Your heart has four chambers, all working together to get your blood where it needs to go, there are four valves, and all of Shelbie's valves don't close how they should. She can go home tonight, if you would like, but we have given her a heart monitor," Carlisle pulled what looked like a pager out of his pocket, "This is it. The size of a pager, but a computer, she puts this in her pocket and she'll ware a lead over her heart and when she feels her heart racing she pushes this button on the monitor and it records what her heart is doing, sending the results to us to study." Carlisle rose to leave; Charlie rose with him and shook his hand. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot, I will be paying for all of Shelbie's medical needs from now on." And before he could get an answer or praise he left.
"That was nice of him." Charlie said, "He didn't have to pay for her out of his own pocket." This comment got a discussed snort from Billie.
"Come on Bells, let's go home. Shelbie can stay with you for the night Billie." Charlie said.
"It's going to be okay, Jake." I said giving Jacob a big bear hug around the middle.
"Thanks Bella, I'll call you tomorrow." He said, hugging me back.
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I was running, running through a forest I didn't recognize; the wind whipping my face. I broke through the trees coming to the edge, a rocky precipice, all before me was dark, and all was quiet. Then, high above me, a loud crack of lightning shook the silence. The lightning bolt seemed to tear a hole in the sky, a sickly gash that spewed red, soon it seemed like the whole sky was bleeding.
I heard another sound behind me, and I spun around to see what it was. There stood Alessandro at the edge of the forest, pearly, white skin gleaming in all purity, though everything around us was bathed in a red light. I took a step back from him, his eyes, white and blind looking, stared at me with an intensity I could not describe.
"Though torn she will be,
The savage will betray thee,
My Isabella.
Beware the wolves,
They are ravenous and hungry….
Come to me my love."
He reached out his hand, has he did so it became covered in thick, matted fur, long claws replacing his fingernails. I took two more steps back.
"What do you want with me?" I screamed, but my voice was carried off on the bitter wind, it smelled of salt….like an ocean.
But his reply was drowned out but the melody that was playing on the air, humming in my ears. It sounded vaguely familiar…like I had heard it before. Words where swirling all around me, a voice, and a beautiful, angelic sound. But try as I might, I could catch only a few words.
"…let your arms...angels will watch…beautiful dreams…embracing your…see the light…"
The voice was hauntingly familiar, Alessandro nodded his head. Then he stepped out from the shadows, turning into that hideous nightmare of a creature. I shuffled backward, my foot finding the edge, causing me to fall into the abyss of darkness, the den of nightmares, and even worse: …realities.
I woke with a start, nearly screaming when Edward, lying beside me, made his presence known.
"Oh, Edward!" I gave a harsh whisper.
"You had a nightmare," it wasn't a question. "You said 'Alessandro', and started mumbling about angels."
"I was so scared, it was so real." I whispered back. Then, in great detail, I told Edward everything about the dream. He sat there for a long while, nodding. Then he finally spoke.
"In some cultures, especially the Native American, Aborigine and Asian cultures, dreams have much meaning. They are signs from the spirit world, from Heaven…from Hell, telling us the path we should take or what will happen to us. You told Alice that Shelbie said she felt stuck when that truck was coming. To be honest it was harder than usual to move her, like she really was frozen…beyond terror. That's where she got those bruises, they weren't from me; I didn't hold her close to my body because I knew I would hurt her. You told me that before she had passed out that she had a nightmare. Could it be that Alessandro has powers like how Alice can see a glimpse of the future and I can hear people's thoughts? Maybe he has more power than we realized."
"That's comforting." I sighed, laying my head on his shoulder, taking comfort from him being there.
"Yeah." He said, terror seized me, for the first time, Edward seemed unsure.
I slept soundly through the rest of the night, safe that I knew Edward was by my side. It was Monday and I drove to La Push to pick Shelbie up from the Black's house, she had school tomorrow.
"Hey Shelbie, are you ready to go?" I asked once inside the house, out of the rain.
"Yeah, just a sec." her and Jacob went into his bedroom to get her "hair-tie". I let them take their time, I understood. Billie was away, gone fishing with Harry Clearwater; they would seize their chance for a proper good-bye when the opportunity presented itself. I also did not miss the lead that was now stuck to her chest.
"Alright, I'm ready to go." She said, walking to the door, "I'll see you tomorrow at school Jake." She said softly, like those few hours where as long as a thousand years. I saw the hint of sadness in his eyes as well.
"We'll take good care of her Jacob." I waved good-bye.
It was quiet in the truck, Shelbie didn't start a conversation and I wasn't about to, but something had to be done. I pulled over onto the side of the road, and turned to face Shelbie, cutting the engine.
"Shelbie, you're like the little sister I never had, I want you to feel comfortable coming to me and talking to me about whatever you need to…so I was wondering, um, what was your nightmare about?" I looked at her for a reaction. She had looked me in the eye, until I asked my question, turning to look out the window.
"It's stupid, you'll laugh. I don't know why I got so scared." She mumbled, "It was about monsters." She whispered.
"What kind of monsters?" I whispered back, just as quiet; fearing the answer.
She looked at me then, tears in her beautiful green eyes, "Vampires and werewolves, and another monster. It had blank white eyes, but I could feel it looking at me, like it was reading into my soul. The sky was red, and I was down at the beach in La Push. But the thing that scared me was that I wasn't afraid of any of them, just that thing with the strange eyes. The Werewolves especially liked me, and the vampires and werewolves seemed to be protecting Me." she looked down at her hands folded on her lap, "You think I'm silly, huh?"
"No, no, not at all." I said with conviction. I meant it because I knew it was real, at least the Alessandro and vampire part. But if they were real, why couldn't werewolves? This got me to thinking, our dreams were so similar.
"Let's just go to the store, you'll need your school stuff." I said, changing the conversation as I pulled back onto the road.
"Yeah, I'm excited." Shelbie said, a smile spreading across her face. "Quill said that 'If anyone messes with my sister, they'll have to mess with me too'" she imitated his voice, making us both laugh. "Quill and Embry spent the night last night too. It was fun just hanging out with my friends and being myself, you know?" She said, becoming the Shelbie I know and love.
All I knew was I had to tell Edward what was going on, and confirm his greatest fear, the fear that his enemy might just be more powerful.