Chapter Ten

I hesitated entering the room, my hand hovering over the doorknob. I took a deep breath, and opened the door, the eyes of my classmates staring up at me at the sound of the door. I was 20 minutes late for class, and I could feel my face turn red.

"Sorry, Dr. Verage. My car decided it wasn't going to start for me this morning." I walked towards my seat as she gathered the papers she had handed out to everyone else. I took them then sat down.

I found it hard to look Alice in the face after class. Jasper had an even harder time looking me in the face it seemed.

"I ended up having to get a ride from my mom," I said, having told them the rest of my very interesting morning.

I had woken up and gotten ready just like any other day, but for some reason, my car did not get the memo. The little Saturn just would not turn over for the life of me.

"Do you need a ride home then? Because I can give you one if you do." Now I felt even worse for the way I had felt Friday night.

"I was just going to call my mom; thankfully she had today off." I hit number six on my speed dial, and waited three rings. No answer. Pushing the little green button twice, I called her again. This time she answered.

"I'm so sorry! I forgot all about having to pick you up! I'm with Claire; she had a field trip to the museum today."

"Never mind then. I'm sure I can find someone to give me a ride." I eyed Alice hopingly, and she smiled, nodding in agreement.

"I'll see you when I get home, Mom."

"Come on, Emma. And you ask us what you've been wanting to on the way to your house."

We were halfway to my house when Alice turned in her seat to face me; Jasper's eyes met mine for a second in the rearview mirror.

"Aren't you going to ask us? You're too curious of a person not to ask. It's been weighing in your thoughts for a long time. You changed your mind so many times that I finally decided to make you ask it now."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to ask you, Alice," I lied. I knew the question she was referring to, but I had no idea how she knew. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to know the answer she would give me.

"Yes, you do. Go ahead and ask it; you'll love the answer."

I bit my lip, then took a deep breath. "Connie suggested I ask you. I'm afraid of the answer though." Letting my breath out, I continued. "Are you, I mean, are you two, and Emmet and Rosalie, and Edward and Bella, are you guys…human?"

Alice smiled. "No. Ask the next question."

"If you're not human then what are you?"

Her smile widened, and Jasper looked at me again in the mirror. I watched as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

"You read Children of the Night, right?" I nodded, my throat too dry at this point to say much. "Jasper wrote that book. He wrote it twenty five years ago."

"I thought he was only 19 years old?" My voice was shaky, and I was having slight difficulty breathing.

"He was…when he was bitten. It was recorded that he died in the Civil War somewhere in Texas." I started to hyperventilate, my breath coming in short, ragged increments. I was scared, just shocked. Connie had been right after all.

"Jasper? Some help, please?" He stared at me one more time in the rearview, and I felt myself calming down quickly; it was like my body had no choice but to relax. "He has that effect on people. He helps control their emotions when we need him to."

"And you can…what?" I asked.

"See the future. My visions aren't set in stone, though. You changed your mind about asking so many times that at one point your future disappeared completely. That only happens with half-breeds. Like shape shifters and incubi."

"Incubi? As in half vampire, half human?"

"Exactly. Edward and Bella have a daughter. Her name is Renesmee. She was born when Bella was still human. I can't see her future at all. We have friends in Washington who are shape shifters-they shift into wolves-and I can't see anything that happens with them or anyone who chooses to interact with them." She was still turned around in her seat. "What about you would make it so that I wouldn't have been able to see your future?"

"Something that triggered my past. My father and his father were shape shifters. The only thing I can think of is that your telling me you were vampires set off whatever part of me controls that."

"That's not good you know. You would smell horribly after you phased for the first time into your wolf form."

"My ancestors weren't wolves. They were coyotes."

"You're the girl from Nevada aren't you? I thought you looked familiar that day in the courtyard."

"You were the wanderers. You claimed to be something different. It was the group of vampires that came after you, even though it was several years later, that killed my father."

"I'm sorry for that. Not all of us choose to live the way we do."

I couldn't think of anything else to say, but thankfully we had arrived at my house. "Thanks for the ride. I'm going inside to think, and I'll see you guys on Thursday."

"Later, Emma. Take this with you. Read it again." She handed me Jasper's book, and I took it gladly.

I was in the house and in my bedroom with minutes. I set my bag on the floor by my bed and collapsed on my bed. Grabbing Jasper's book, I flipped it open and began to read it one more time.