Midnight Star
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Ten: Ghostly Warnings
When I woke up the following morning, rain was pattering against the window and there was the promise of thunderstorms on the horizon, but considering that we'd just had four days of perfect weather, it wasn't such a bad trade-off. And besides, cloudy weather meant that it was guaranteed that I was going to see Edward.
The moment that he entered my thoughts, I sat up straight in bed, remembering his parting words from the following evening.
And so did all of the memories of the previous evening. Edward finally admitting the truth about what he was . . . my telling him about demigods . . . fighting Medusa . . . and the worst part of last night, finding out that one of my oldest friends was dead.
Granted, Aria and I hadn't been on speaking terms for almost a year, but I still cared about her and still cared about what happened to her. And now she was dead and I never even got the chance to beg her forgiveness for what had happened with Peter and Stefan.
I sighed as I glanced at the clock; it was only seven o'clock, but it was later in New York time, so Chiron was undoubtedly already up.
Suppressing a sigh and wishing to the gods that I didn't have to make this phone call, I picked up my phone and began dialling the number for camp.
On the third ring, someone answered. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Susan Dawson," I said, curling up into my pillow. "Is Chiron around? Can I talk to him? Thanks," I said as the nymph on the other end scampered away to get the Activities Director at camp who was sort of like a second father to me. He'd always been there whenever I needed him.
"Susan?" Chiron asked the moment that he answered the phone. His voice was worried. "Is everything all right?"
"No, it's not," I said, taking a deep breath. "Chiron, I've got some bad news. I found Aria."
His sharp intake of breath told me that this was probably the last thing that he had expected when he answered. "Aria? That's . . . quite unexpected," he said. I bit my lip, tears starting to form in my eyes as I tried to form the words to tell him what had happened. "I take it that you did not find her alive."
That's the thing about having a teacher who's over three thousand years old; there's not much that surprises him. "No," I said sadly. "Last night, I was in Port Angeles and I stumbled upon Medusa's lair. I found Aria there, turned to stone."
Chiron sighed. "That must have been difficult for you. How are you holding up?"
"I should have told her that I was sorry," I whispered, blinking back tears. "I should have begged her forgiveness last year, but I thought that there would be more time, I thought that . . . I didn't think that she would forgive me so soon afterwards. I figured that she needed some time and when I saw her again, things would have settled down enough for her to accept my apology."
"You had nothing to be sorry for, my dear," Chiron told me gently. "I told you once before that you had a choice to make and no one else could have made it for you. If you had made a different choice then, if you had killed Stefan, yes, perhaps you could have saved Peter's life, but you also would have been haunted your entire life by that choice. Stefan was your friend and whether he betrayed you or not, there was still a chance that he could have been redeemed. You wanted to give him that choice."
"I hate him, Chiron."
"Now, child," Chiron said reprimandingly. "Hate is a very powerful emotion and you should not invoke it unless you are sure that you feel that strongly for him. It's a cliché, but there is a very fine line between love and hate."
I sighed; as always, he sounded exactly like a teacher—which he sometimes disguised himself as when he's watching over a potential demigod—and I couldn't argue that he was right, but I also remembered the last time I had seen Stefan Dalloway, at Olympus right after the final battle, when he had been banished for his crimes.
He vowed vengeance against me, told me that he wouldn't forget the part that I played in his banishment, and that he would make me pay for this, even if it took all eternity.
"In any case, you sound much better than when you left here," Chiron said approvingly. "I take it, then, that living with your uncle isn't all that you dreaded it to be?"
"No, Forks is actually much better than I expected," I admitted. "And I'm happy here."
"Good girl," Chiron told me and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Now, I'm sure that you need to get to school and I have a very unpleasant call to make to Aria's mother," he said with a sigh. I frowned sympathetically; I never thought about how hard it had to be, to watch heroes die so tragically when he was the one training them. And he always had to be the one to tell their mortal parent that they had lost their child. "Take care, Susan. And be careful," he added cryptically.
I sighed. "Annabeth told you?"
"She didn't need to," Chiron replied with a chuckle. "When you get to be as old as I am, my child, there isn't much that you don't know about. I've met the Cullens quite a few times, though they never realised who I was, not that they would have believed it. That's the funny thing about immortal creatures," he added. "We're so willing to believe in our own kind that we completely dismiss the idea that some legends might actually be true. But you needn't worry, child. You're quite safe with them."
"Thanks," I sighed. "Chiron, do you by any chance know if being a demigod blocks forms of mind-reading? Say, if there's somebody who can read minds, but they can't read demigods?"
"No," Chiron said immediately. "If that were the case, then it would be simply because a demigod possesses the latent ability to shield themselves from such an ability and it would not be limited to mind-reading. It would depend on the person, per se, and depending on their own strengths and weaknesses, they would be able to shield themselves from certain types of abilities. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes," I said with a sigh, "and no." Chiron laughed.
"Well, don't worry, you'll understand one day. Be a good girl, Susan."
"Since when am I anything but?"
"Shall I answer that question or just look stern?" Chiron inquired. I laughed, glancing a the time; if I wanted to get to school in time, I definitely needed to get a move on. "Well, I'll talk to you soon, Susan. And I'll see you next summer," he added.
"Bye, Chiron," I said, hanging up the phone before glancing towards the window, half-expecting Edward to be standing outside with his car, but there was no silver car in sight, nor mind-reading vampire.
Frowning slightly and wondering if he had forgotten, I climbed out of bed and dressed quickly in the cool autumn air, donning a long-sleeved blue shirt, blue jeans, and tugging the new jacket that I'd bought last night as I headed down to breakfast. Charlie was already gone, so I just poured myself a bowl of cereal and put my bowl in the dishwasher before grabbing my backpack and headed out the door, stopping dead in my tracks.
As though he had magically appeared, Edward was leaning against his car, waiting patiently for me. "Good morning," he greeted with that smile that send my heart racing.
"Morning," I returned, giving him a smile back.
"How'd you sleep?" he asked as he opened the door and I slid into the passenger's seat.
"Not too bad," I replied. "How about you?"
His mouth twitched at the joke. "It was a very . . . interesting night," he replied, his golden eyes amused.
"Mm-hmm. Interesting how?" I asked with a mischievous smile. Edward just smiled back at me.
"I think you know how."
With a soft chuckle, I relaxed in the seat as he began pulling out of my driveway, leaving my truck there for anyone to see, and began navigating his way towards the school. Within a second, I was very glad that I had my seatbelt on, because he was a very speedy driver. The sights of Forks went by and if I so much as blinked, I missed an entire street, but it wasn't until I glanced over at the dashboard that I realised that we were going over eighty miles an hour, which was twice the speed limit in Forks.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" I asked.
He glanced at the speedometer, then back at me, shrugging. "I always go this fast," he explained with a shrug. "Now, if you don't mind, I have some more questions for you."
"I kind of figured that you might. Go ahead, I'm ready."
"Oh, I've fully accepted the demigod part of you," Edward said with a roguish smile. "I'm more interested in you, though, than about the demigod part of you."
Turning bright red, I looked down at my hands. "I'm not that interesting."
"Everything that I see says different." Edward reached out and touched my cheek with infinite tenderness, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with his cool hand and everything to do with the fire that exploded through me at his touch.
Ducking my head in slight embarrassment, I said, "Okay . . . what do you want to know?"
"What's your favourite colour?"
I hadn't been expecting that. I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly something more than that. "Um . . . blue and green. It alternates."
"Just like your eyes," he said softly. I glanced at him, startled, and he smiled slightly. "Sometimes they appear to be more green and sometimes they look more blue. Like the sea," he murmured, his topaz eyes light and teasing. "Temperamental and ever-changing."
"The sea doesn't like to be restrained," I reminded him. "Why should the daughter of the Sea God be any different?"
With an amused smile, Edward nodded in agreement. "What's your favourite kind of music?"
"Mostly classical stuff," I admitted. "But my friend Annabeth got me some Caribbean CDs for my last birthday and I really liked those. I've been listening to those mostly, but I do like some rock music. I think that the Backstreet Boys are the greatest boy band ever to grace the music world, but Gavin Degraw has some good stuff, too."
"I Don't Wanna Be," Edward said, chuckling.
Shaking my head, I corrected, "We Belong Together. Fifty years from now, it'll still be a classic," I said with fierce determination.
Edward's mouth twitched as he pulled into the school, next to a bright red convertible that his siblings were getting out of. Only Alice gave me a friendly smile and wave, which I returned.
"So question, why is Alice the only one of your siblings that can stand the sight of me?" I asked him as we headed towards the school.
Edward sighed. "It's complicated. Alice . . ." He paused, not continuing that particular thought. "For the most part, we tend to stay away from humans, only interacting with them when we have to. It's dangerous to be so close to one, half-human or no."
"But it's not like I'm gonna burst your secret out to Forks. Besides, most of them aren't going to believe me even if I did," I pointed out.
"You'd be surprised," Edward murmured with a sigh. "In any case, Alice has been the most supportive of this." Something in his tone made me think that there was more that he was saying and I frowned slightly, trying to consider what he might be concealing, but before I could think too much on it, I noticed as we were walking towards the door that there were quite a few people staring at us.
Embarrassed by the attention I was getting, I ducked my head. "What are they thinking?" I whispered to Edward, who chuckled.
"Quite a few of your admirers are thinking up . . . rather imaginative ways to kill me," he answered, his golden eyes twinkling. "And some of the girls are quite incredulous. They're wondering how you managed to 'sink your claws into me'." He grinned slightly. "By the way, Jessica is planning to ambush you during history."
"Wonderful," I complained. "Don't people around here have their own lives to gossip about?"
"The new girl in town, niece of the Chief, getting involved with one of the reclusive Cullens? You can't expect teenagers not to talk about this," Edward said consolingly. "Actually, most of the town's going to be talking about this, so you probably better prepare yourself."
"How long until this blows over?" I asked, wincing.
"Offhand, I'd say another twenty years."
And the worst part about his comment was that he was probably right, I thought, trying to ignore the attention as we entered into the building.
Ever the gentleman, Edward walked me to class, not bothered with getting to his own on time—though I suspected that he could get there without even being late—questioning me all the way about my favourite books, movies, places that I'd been to, which led to an explanation about some of the quests that I've been on, including one where I had to go to San Francisco. There was a monster there who was about to escape from its prison and it could only be killed by a child of Poseidon. Since Percy was currently in the Sea of Monsters at the time, it was up to me to take care of it. It was the first mission that I ever went on.
As Edward had promised, Jessica practically jumped on me the second that I set foot into history, grabbing hold of my arm and hauling me over to my usual seat, pushing me down into and looking at me with excited, anticipated eyes, demanding answers.
I answered them as best I could, but Jessica is one of those people who won't give up until they get the answers that they want. Since I had been there with her last night and Edward had shown up with me after I had conveniently disappeared—thankfully, she had no remembrance of Medusa or what had happened in her lair—she wanted to know if we were having a date or something, but I assured her that it wasn't it, giving her the same lie that I'd delivered to Charlie; we'd met up and he'd gotten stranded, so I offered to give him a ride home. But she seemed better able to see through my lies than Charlie, though, and suspected that I was holding something back, though I doubted even she would ever figure out the truth.
She bugged me about my relationship with Edward, wanting to know how I felt about him. And the words left my mouth before I could stop them.
"I really like him. He's . . . different than any boy that I've ever known. It's like he looks at me and really sees me, you know? Right down into my soul. And honestly . . . whenever I'm around him, I completely forget about all of the bad stuff that's happened to me. He just makes it . . . all go away and it drifts off into space, disappearing to a place where I can't find it. He's my lifeline," I said with a soft laugh.
Jessica's eyes had grown very huge at my confession and her mouth formed in a "O." "Wow," she said in obvious incredulity, soft and amazed. "Edward Cullen." She sighed enviously. "You're so lucky. I would kill to have a boyfriend who looks like that. Of course, his brothers aren't too shabby either."
"Looks aren't everything, Jess," I said, insulted. "In fact, I would find him interesting if he looked like the Creature From the Black Lagoon." She gave me an incredulous look. "It's something more than that. It's real."
She just gave me a funny look, as though I were completely out of my mind, but shrugged and began pestering me about what we had talked about on the ride home. I tried to find something truthful that we had talked about, but unfortunately, nothing that we talked about I could tell Jessica, so I just told her that we talked about school and our families and stuff. This seemed to satisfy her, since—after the teacher turned around to scold her—she faced the front of the room and paid attention to the lesson.
Classes had never dragged by so slowly and when lunch finally came and I left my art class, Edward was waiting outside, leaning against the wall easily as though he had been waiting for me all the time. Angela gave me a knowing look as she walked passed me.
"I'll see you later, Susan," she said, leaving to head to the cafeteria.
"Bye," I said, watching her go, disappearing into the mass of students that were heading for lunch, before I turned towards Edward, who pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning on and fell into step next to me. "Hi," I said with a smile.
"Hello," he said, returning the smile as we moved with the crowd, joining the crowd. "How was history?" he asked innocently.
I gave him an annoyed look. "You know, you could have warned me what she was going to ask."
"Why would I do that?" he said, still smiling. "Maybe I was just as interested in those answers as she was." The comment caught me completely off guard and I slowly turned to look at him as I joined the line; I'd forgotten to pack a lunch this morning. Not surprisingly, considering the events of the last twenty-four hours.
"You can hear from that far away?" I demanded in a low hiss. Edward chuckled at my expression, his wide smile giving away his answer and I groaned in embarrassment, turning a violent shade of red, which only made him laugh harder.
"You're so adorable when you blush," he said, lifting my chin to prevent me from looking away.
"Stop it," I implored him. "Stop looking at me like that or everybody's going to start gossiping more than they already are."
Edward surprised me with his next remark. "Let them," he told me before he kissed me, without a care in the world.
I responded to the kiss, returning it wholeheartedly and unexpectedly, allowing myself to get wrapped up in the kiss until he pulled away.
"Too many spectators for that kind of behaviour," he said, half-scolding me and I gaped at him, half-furious with him and half-astonished. His golden eyes were twinkling as he moved along the line, towards the cashier. "I've got hers, too," he said, nodding towards me.
"You're unbelievable," I muttered as I followed him to an empty table and depositing my tray onto it. "Why exactly were you listening in?"
He sighed. "I told you, I wanted to hear the answers as much as she did," he replied. "It's not something that I'm used to, not knowing what's going on inside someone's head. And I wanted to know what you were thinking."
"You could have just asked me. I would have told you."
"Maybe, but you wouldn't have been so honest with your response with me as you were with her."
"I didn't mean to tell her that," I said, stealing a glance towards Jessica, who was undoubtedly telling the rest of her friends what I had said to her. "She probably thinks I'm crazy."
"So you didn't mean it?" he asked me in a soft voice. I looked at him, straight into his golden eyes, locking them with my own, and it took me a full minute to reply.
"Don't be ridiculous," I managed to say. "Of course I meant it." A soft expression moved into place and I swallowed. "It's the whole girls falling for superheroes thing, you know. So far, you're the only guy whose ever thrown himself in front of a moving vehicle for me." Edward smiled, his golden gaze deeply amused. "I meant everything that I said."
"Everything?"
"Everything," I promised. "So much stuff happened in New York, Edward, and there were times when . . . I never thought I would get past it. I thought that I would be the depressed, rundown girl forever. But ever since I met you, it's like you reached into that darkness and pulled me to safety. I'm not lost anymore. I'm not the sad little girl who lost her best friend and most of the people that she cared about. You brought me back to life," I said breathlessly, shaking my head. "And that is something that I thought nobody could do."
Edward listened to my speech without interruption, his expression becoming unreadable with every word. When I was finished, he just studied me intensely.
"It seems that I've greatly underestimated you," he said quietly. "I didn't anticipate your feelings would be just as strong as mine." He sighed. "Being around you . . . it makes me feel more alive and more human than I have felt in many, many years." He touched my cheek tenderly, sending an electric current down my spine. "You're warm," he murmured and I don't think he meant my temperature. "And you care about people and despite all that you have suffered, you are still willing to help people. You make me forget what I am." I was speechless and even if Edward hadn't still been holding my face, preventing me from moving it, I doubt I would've been capable of movement. "Am I making you uncomfortable? I'm sorry."
"No," I said, my voice weak with emotion. "Edward . . . that's . . . that's the sweetest thing that anyone has ever said to me." He smiled at that, reaching across the table and entwining our hands together, studying them carefully, as though marvelling how utterly right they fit together.
"So . . . this Saturday?" he asked. It took me a minute to remember what this Saturday was; the homecoming dance. After everything that had happened, it had completely slipped my mind, along with the lie that I'd told to get all of my admirers off of my back. "I was just wondering if you really had a visitor coming from out of town or if that was just some excuse that you were using to rid yourself of all your unwanted suitors."
"What do you think?" I asked, giving him a look. "I don't know if you've noticed, but guys don't tend to take no for an answer, so I had to come up with some excuse."
Edward smirked. "I suspected as much. Just for curiosity's sake, would you turn me down if I asked you?"
"No, probably not," I admitted. "But I . . . I've never actually gone to a dance before. I don't really know how to dance, so . . ."
"Hmm." Edward scrutinised me. "Well, I could teach you, if you like," he offered. "It's not hard. You just need a strong male lead."
"Oh and you're the perfect male lead for the job, right?" I teased. "Okay, sure, that sounds fun."
"Good." He sounded placated. "Of course, if you'd rather, we could go to a movie or something."
"We could . . . but you'd like to go to the dance, wouldn't you?"
He frowned, not immediately rejecting my observation. "I think it would be nice, yes. And it wouldn't hurt for you to do something normal. It might actually be fun."
Edward looked too eager that I couldn't say no. And I had to admit that going to the dance with the one guy that I actually wanted to go with didn't sound so bad.
"I don't have a dress," I admitted.
"Alice will take care of that. She never misses an opportunity to go shopping," he said with a laugh. "She rarely even lets any of us wear the same outfit twice. It would be a fashion catastrophe to her." I giggled. "I'll ask her to get you something. Of course, knowing her, she's probably already has something in mind."
"What do you mean, knowing her?"
"I'm not the only one in my family with gifts," he said seriously. "Alice can see the future and her husband Jasper, he can feel and manipulate emotions."
"Wow," I muttered.
"So don't worry, I'll take care of it. All you have to do is show up and I'll teach you how to dance."
"Sounds perfect," I said shyly just as the bell rang and I looked up, startled at the sound. While I was with Edward, I completely forgot that time even existed, so the sound brought me on a bumpy ride back down to earth.
Chuckling at my expression, Edward offered me his hand. "Come on, I'll walk you to math."
"How is it that you know my schedule?" I asked, walking over to where we dumped our trays at. If I hadn't been looking towards Edward at that moment, I never would have seen her.
Standing outside of the cafeteria, I saw someone standing there, looking directly at me . . . a very familiar someone.
She was tall and slender, holding herself with ease, long golden blonde locks tumbling around her, bouncing off of her shoulders with every step she took and her bangs framed a beautiful face and sky-blue eyes.
"Susan?" Edward asked, noting my expression. He glanced towards where I was looking at, before looking back at me. "What's wrong?"
I held up my finger, the universal sign for "wait" before I moved around him, swinging my backpack onto my shoulder as I slipped outside, towards the girl, but she had turned around the corner.
When I finally caught up with her, in the parking lot, she had stopped and turned around to face me.
"Valentine?" I whispered.
But Valentine didn't hear me; or at least, she didn't seem to. She just looked at me before her mouth opened and she spoke.
"Prepare yourself, Susan. There is a danger headed your way, in the form of a half-blood who is now something else. You will know him when you see him." Her voice sounded exactly the same, yet somehow, it was completely different. It sounded . . . ethereal now, as though it were coming from very far away. Which it was, considering she was in Elysium now.
"Val, what do you mean?" I whispered, my heart clenching with sudden fear and apprehension. Ghosts never seek anyone for no good reason; they usually want something and usually, it's revenge. The only time I'd ever heard of one giving a warning was Bianca, daughter of Hades, trying to aid her brother in his time of need.
But Val, it seemed, was not interested in revenge and even if she was, I couldn't imagine why she'd want revenge against me. I had been on the other side of the battlefield with Briar, trying to fight off a couple of dragons. Valentine had been fighting off some hellhounds and unfortunately, her battle skills were not as good as they could have been.
Rather than answer me, Valentine just looked at me before she stepped sideways into the shadows, vanishing from sight.