Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"Emmett, Rose, get Jasper outside."

I could hear Carlisle but I couldn't see him through the ice wall that blocked Bella and I from the family. As I knelt at her side to see if there was anything I could do, I could hear Jasper snarling and Edward growling like a mastiff in response.

I heard the click of a door open and Esme cry about how sorry she was to Bella, and then silence for a millisecond.

"Let me by, Edward," Carlisle murmured soothingly. I guess Edward did as he was told, because the growling stopped and I saw Carlisle's silhouette on the other side of the ice. "Rylie, I don't really understand what you did, but could you make the ice disappear so that I can tend to Bella?"

"Um…here's the thing," I said sheepishly, "I can't exactly make it just poof! disappear. But there's room for you to come around the back."

Carlisle did as she said, followed by Edward, who knelt down protectively over Bella.

Carlisle lifted Bell's arm, examining it for a moment before reaching over and ripping off a length of table cloth to form a tourniquet.

Bella was looking a little green around the gills when Carlisle asked if she wanted to be taken to the hospital, or if she would rather he just stitch her up here.

"Here, please," she whispered. I understood why she didn't want to go; while Charlie was used to her coming home with some injury or another, if she went to the hospital, there would be this huge ordeal and Charlie would find out and be told that it was a life threatening injury.

"I'll go get your bag," Alice said before disappearing.

"Let's take her to the kitchen table," Carlisle said to Edward, who lifted Bella into his arms and moved around the slowly melting ice. I followed the trio like the dutiful person I am.

"How are you doing, Bella?" Carlisle asked, keeping stride with Edward and maintaining pressure on her elbow and the artery.

She murmured something about being fine, and I noticed for the first time that Edward's face was like a mask; completely unreadable.

By the time we entered the dinning room, Alice was there and had a bright desk lamp set up on the table, next to Carlisle's black bag.

Edward sat Bella in a chair and stood protectively over her as Carlisle pulled up another one.

"Just go, Edward," she sighed.

"I can handle it," he insisted, although his jaw was rigid, and it was clearly taking every ounce of willpower he had not to drain Bella dry.

"You don't need to be a hero," Bella admonished softly. "Carlisle can fix me up without your help. Get some fresh air." She winced as Carlisle dug a particularly large piece of crystal out of her arm.

"I'll stay," he said.

"Why are you so masochistic?" She grumbled.

I piped up at that point. "Edward, you should go. You're on edge and need to get some air. Go find Jasper. I'm sure that he is really torn up about what just happened."

Carlisle and then Bella echoed my sentiments, and, finally, Edward nodded and sprinted out the kitchen door.

As Carlisle spread antiseptic on the wound, I felt the shock from what I'd done wear off.

Murmuring something about needing to use the restroom, I exited the kitchen and all but ran to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind me.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!" I clutched the sink, trying to control my arms as they began to shake. "It happened again! I thought that it was gone! Shite! Shite! Shite!"

I stared at my hands as if they didn't belong to me, and felt like I was having an out of body experience thing, like you hear about on T.V. I hadn't had any incidents in almost two years, and I'd thought that my strange "abilities" had flown the coup.

I took several deep breaths, forcing myself to calm down, before turning on the facet and splashing my face with cold water. The last thing anybody needed right now was for me to be having a mental break down because my abilities had decided to pop again, especially with the tension that was going to be flowing between Bella and Edward for the next little while.

I exited the bathroom and walked into the kitchen, frowning when I saw that nobody was there. I could hear the rumble of the beast's engine and sprinted to the front door, throwing it open just in time to see the tail lights disappear out of the driveway.

"…They left me." I sank down on the porch steps, staring after the truck forlornly. "Wow… I know I say that I know when I'm not wanted, but this is just ridiculous."

I began to wallow in self pity, figuring that I'd do that for a minute or two, then find out about getting one of the Cullens to take me home. That plan was derailed when someone spoke behind me.

"Rylie? What in the world are you still doing here?" Alice sat down next to me on the steps, followed by the others. "I thought you were supposed to go with them."

"So did I," I smiled wanly. "Any chance I could con one of you into running me home?"

"Of course, dear," Esme said comfortingly. "Although, if you don't mind explaining what exactly just happened with the ice, that would be lovely."

I sighed, figuring that they deserved an explanation, considering I'd just formed enough ice in their living room to form several large ice sculptures. "Okay, but it's going to sound a little far fetched." I took a deep breath.

"So, you all know how I'm half Native Alaskan, right? Well, apparently, my grandmother on my father's side is the shaman of her village. I know that I said that I don't have contact with that side of my family, and I don't, but I found out completely by accident when I was little and we happened to be in the region they lived in.

"I didn't meet with her or anyone from that particular village that could help me. We were living in Juneau at the time, and there was this Native lady that lived across the street from me with her grandson. She was such a sweetheart too….anyways, she used to live with another tribe that had relations with my father's, and she was a shaman in her's, so she knew right away what was going on with me. She kinda took me under her wing and trained me as best as she could, but we ended up leaving the area a year or so later, so I never got to finish training."

"Wait, what's the difference between a witch and a shaman? I thought that a shaman was just like the healer of a village." Esme asked what I'm sure they were all wondering.

"That's true, yet not completely at the same time. I suppose shaman is just one of the terms to describe me and those like me." I shrugged my shoulders. "There's really not much else for me to tell. I don't know everything about what I am, but I know that even if I did, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you. Shamans are very secretive when it comes to their arts. Any other questions?"

Carlisle seemed thoughtful for a moment. "That could explain why Edward has a hard time reading you."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Come again?"

"You know that Edward has the ability to read others' minds, correct?" I nodded. "Well, when you first arrived, he told us that night about the fact that he had a hard time getting inside your mind. At first we thought that it might be because of your relation to Bella, but that wouldn't make sense, because Edward can read Charlie's mind, and he's a much closer relation to her than you are. This shaman thing seems to make sense though."

My eyes widened. "Dude, he seriously can't read my mind? That is SO COOL!!"

"Carlisle didn't say that he couldn't read your mind, only that it's difficult for him," Alice corrected.

I waved her comment away. "Pssh. Whatever. Same difference. It's still really cool."

Emmett snorted and rolled his eyes. I glared at him. "Hey, watch it bub. I may not be a very good shamaness, but I could still kick your backside if I really wanted to." I glanced down at my watch and winced. "Um…sorry to cut all this fun time short, but do you think that one of you could give me a ride home. If we leave now, we should be able to make it home about the same time as Bella and Edward, which means that Charlie won't know that I got left behind."

I looked at them expectantly, and Emmett stood up. "I'll take you home." He reached out and grasped my arm gently, swinging me like a backpack on to his back.

"Bye everyone! See you later!" I didn't realize just how wrong those words were.

Emmett raced off, and we managed to arrive at Charlie's house just as the beast roared into the drive way.

"Wow, now that's what I call impeccable timing." Emmett helped me down off his back and we both glanced at the truck.

"Um…I think I'm just gonna head inside. I'll see ya later, Emmett." He held out his fist and I touched mine to it gently before heading into the house. Charlie looked up from the T.V. as I opened the door.

"Where's Bella?"

"She's coming," I said, and sure enough, she came in through the door not a moment later.

I left her to deal with Charlie and headed up to my room, mulling over the last few hours in my head as I changed for bed.

When I climbed between my sheets, I lay there for who knows how long, and even heard Charlie going to bed. I had the very distinct feeling that something was going to happen. I wasn't sure what, but something was going to change.

Damn, I hate when I'm right.

Sarcasm: I wasn't very happy with the explanation, but it was the best I could come up with. Please message, rate, and feel free to ask any questions you can think of.