Around two p.m. Zachery wakes up. He feels like he's been sleeping for a year; stiff and so groggy. After a quick shower, he throws on some clothes and heads down. All of the Cullen family members are there and they all stop with what they're doing when he comes down the stairs.
Alice and Edward were playing chess. Jasper and Isabella is helping Renesmee with her schoolwork where Jasper is telling war stories. Emmet watches TV with Rosalie. Carlisle is reading a book and Esme is sketching up a drawing.
"Hey," Zachery says.
"Good evening," Emmett chuckles.
"Did you sleep well?" Isabella asks kindly.
"Yeah, I did, thanks. Think I slept for like a whole day and night."
"Actually, you did," Edward tells him. "But it's okay. We know you had to take in a lot the other night."
"Yeah." Zachery shuffles his feet. "Eh…About that."
All the vampires, and Renesmee, stares at him without blinking. "It would be nice if you acted a bit more human like, even though I know about you. It would help me. I won't go and think you want to kill me or something if you try a bit harder."
They all nod. The mood changes, not drastically, but Zachery can kind of feel the energy changing. It becomes alive.
"So…I was thinking about that what you all told me. Now that I am going back to school, to finish my master degree, what am I supposed to do? I told you, I'm not going to split any families here, or have someone die for me."
Carlisle puts away his book and Esme makes Emmett lowering the volume on the TV. She stands up and puts away her drawing utensils. Zachery catches a glimpse of the drawing. It's astonishing good. Very detailed and the whole picture is framed in a perfect angle. Anyone can see what it is: him. Standing alone in front of his car, grinning proudly.
"Well…If you really do insist on that," Carlisle says, "you will have two choices and you will have to pick one of the options. First: you quit studying and move to Forks where we can be around and always are able to protect you. As Jasper told you last night, our coven is much bigger than normal, so when a stranger comes over, he or she will be very suspicious and feeling alerted. No one will try to attack us, because we are too many. And no one will try to hurt you because our scents are on you."
Zachery's eyebrows hit the roof.
"Not very comforting," he mumbles. "And the second option?"
"To have you take online classes," Carlisle says simply.
"That could work, I guess," Zachery says slowly. "But I don't have a place to live or anything."
"You can live with us," Edward offers.
"Eh, yeah? No offense, Edward, or to any of you, but I think I'd prefer to live in a house where there are no vampires that can eavesdrop to my every move."
Esme looks at Alice who looks back at her. They both grin.
"Does that mean you want to stay in Forks and to live here and take online classes?" Alice asks, her voice is pitched with excitement.
"Why do you ask me? Can't you already see me answering the moment I decided? As in you, Edward, can hear my every thought and Jasper can mess with my emotions?"
"We didn't mention to you, but none of us can actually use our talents on you," Alice explains.
"Uh, you did tell me, I just forgot, sorry. Oh, do you guys ever forget anything? According to Isa, she can't seem to remember much of her human life, and if she want's to keep some memories for ever, she has to think about them almost daily."
"It's true," Jasper says. "And yeah, we remember almost everything we want to."
"Hence me asking," Alice chirpes, "are you staying?"
"I am. And why can't you do that? Am I that messed up?"
They all laugh. Zachery smiles too, though a bit uncertain.
"Something like that Bella asked me when I said I couldn't read her thoughts either," Edward murmurs and he smiles passionately. "I think I said something about her head is installed with another frequency that I can pick up."
"But the rest of you can use your talents on her, right?"
"Right," Jasper says. "You, however, are quite extraordinary. First of all, you're human, but you still block every talent of ours, and second: you do smell very good to be a human. Even better than Bella. Don't you agree?" Jasper looks around and everyone nods.
"I don't know how I smelled, but yeah, I've noticed, but I just thought it is because I'm a new-born."
"You're a…what?" Zachery cuts her off.
"I'm a newly changed vampire. We are stronger and faster than the average vampire the first year or so, because we still have blood in our system. Also, we are emotionally unstable: we get angry or sad or happy due to the slightest thing, and that's why we're more dangerous than other vampires."
"I see."
"Great, you're staying! That means you need a house. I'm sure Esme will love to design it for you, and then you can have it close to us. You can be our neighbour!" Alice shouts out. She's already handing Zachery magazines about interior and painting. Baffled he takes them and looks helplessly at Isabella who smiles to him before turning to her sister-in-law.
"Alice, I don't think Zachery's quite ready to do all of your plans today."
"I am not," Zachery emphasise. "In fact, I have to tell my aunt that I'm leaving and I have to go back and fix everything with the landowner of my apartment and I have to tell my boss that I'm quitting, and I have to move out my stuff in a house I don't even have."
"Okay, okay, I understand. But Zachery, relax, we got it all under control. Right, Esme?"
"It's fine, dear," Esme says. "But Alice, please, let Zachery figure it out in his own speed," she adds in a motherly sternly tone. "Now, the first thing we have to settle is the house itself. Where would you like to live?"
"As close as possible to you, but not that close so you can eavesdrop on every call I make. If I could live isolate from everyone else, that'd be great. I'm not a very social person."
"I see. I know the perfect place. So…what do you want to do first?"
"Eat," Zachery says as he feels his stomach turning around. He's famished.
"Oh, of course!" Esme is already in the kitchen.
"Hey, you don't have to cook for me," he says humbly, "I'm not that demanding I hope. And I know I'm a guy, but I can cook."
"I know, I know, but you see, I'm a big fan of cooking."
"But you guys don't eat this, do you?"
"Human food? No," Esme gives him a polite smile. "But we can if we want to."
"What does it taste like?"
"Like…paper," she admits, wrinkling her nose. "And if we swallow, the food will just disappear because of the venom in our bodies."
Zachery sits down on a stool. He looks behind his shoulder and sees that everyone is doing what they did right before he interrupted them. All but, Alice who is flying around and making calls.
"How do you feel?"
The soft question is almost inaudible for Zachery and it takes some seconds before he understands that he's being talked to.
"Eh, I feel pretty famished and confused. Alice's behaviour makes me feel like I'm going to end up somewhere fancy whereof I will need a map to get from the living room and to my bedroom. Except from that, I'm fine. And you?"
That just plumped out of him. Nevertheless, the vampire mother nods and smiles as she's heating up the pan.
"I'm glad you're not panicking," she admits, "and well, I am great."
"I did panic," Zachery laughs out, "the moment you all showed your strength and speed and reflexes. I think I got a panic attack, but luckily for me, it was just an overwhelming experience seeing all that."
"You're not scared, are you?"
"Well, right now I'm not. But if you do something very not-human like, or you show your real colours in a spooky way, I think I'll flee."
"Don't flee. We're not going to hurt you, Zachery."
"I know. But my instincts tell me otherwise, and sometimes it's better to listen to your gut than your brain. Hey, you know what? It's fine, I'm fine. Forget it, I'm not going to flee. I know that if any of you ever wanted to hurt me, you'd done already. I've been here for quite some time, and none of you have ever growled at me as Rosalie does to Jacob."
He can hear laugher coming from the living room. Ten minutes later, Esme puts a plate with food in front of him. He says thanks and digs in. Eggs, bacon, toast, beans and sausages: the typical English breakfast dish.
After he has eaten, Alice drags him up to Carlisle's study where Esme is sitting and drawing.
"Now, tells us how your dream house looks like," Alice demands.
"Uh…Wow, that's a hard question. I don't know. I've never thought about it considering I'm not that rich and I'm not even interested in houses."
"But…like what facilities would make you glad to own? A garage?"
"That would be nice," Zachery says, "so I can park my car. So yeah, a house and a garage. That's it, we're done."
"Oh, no, we're not done." Alice places him in a chair. Esme is ready with her sketchpad and pencil. "I am thinking that you can have a two-floor house, with some spare bedrooms in case you will have some visitors over."
"The only people I here in Forks, are you. And you don't sleep."
"But that's not the point. You'll get to know other people who do sleep. Okay, so you want some bedrooms and you want the master bedroom to have its own bathroom."
Zachery shrugs. He can go with that.
"Also you should have a balcony. I'm thinking that we should place the master bedroom so the afternoon sun hits your balcony. Okay, so in the second floor we'll have the bedrooms and two bathrooms. What are your hobbies? You like to play videogames or exercise? You can have a hobby room."
"I'd rather have a study room, if I'm going to spend all my hours in a room studding, the room cannot be where I eat or sleep or watch TV."
"Good, good. Okay, so we'll put in a study room for you, much light and space with bookshelves and a comfortable chair. Oh, I can't wait to start building it."
"Are you going to build it?" Zachery looks sceptical at Alice's tiny body. He's so much taller than her, and she's so skinny.
"Don't underestimate a vampire. Didn't you see what Bella could do?"
Images of flying trees and rocks enter Zachery's head and he shudders.
"Going on to the first floor," Alice continues.
"Do you think you would like the first floor to be as open as ours?" Esme asks, her hand is flying over the sketchpad. "With few walls and combined rooms?"
"Well, I'd like at least some distance from the kitchen and living room. Which is all I need, don't I?" Zachery's looking quizzically at Alice.
"But if you're going to have a party, which you will have, you need a nice entrance and two living rooms with big enough space."
"So a TV-room and a living room and a kitchen? You enter the house and you'll see the living room…"
"No, no, you're not going to be so subtle," Alice cuts him off. "You need a presentable foyer. And you should be able to cook and eat in your kitchen, but if you're having dinner guests, you'll have to have a dining room."
"Really? A dining room? Aren't you going a bit overboard now, Alice? I don't think I'll ever have dinner guests. I'm not a great cook."
"But of course people will come over to eat. Okay, the dining room won't have to be big, and we'll make it so you can seal it off when you're not using it. How does that sound?"
Zachery rolls his eyes. How is it that every vampire can get their will even without their talents? Oh well, their talents doesn't work on him, but anyways!
"Fine, fine. But look…if this ends up looking like a mansion or a condo…"
He doesn't finish the sentence, but looks at Alice. Her eyes narrow. She's testing him. He doesn't blink or move his eyes from her. She sighs, giving up.
"Okay, okay, it'll not look like that."
"And I want the house to look as normal and simple as possible. I'm not into that whole "I have money" thingy. Because I don't, and how can I even afford buying a property or to buy the materials we'll need?"
Esme hands Alice her sketch and looks at Zachery.
"Don't worry about that, Zachery, we'll have it under control."
"As in: you're going to do this, all this, for free? I'm not a pro-bono case."
He doesn't mean to sound rude, but he feels a bit offended. So what if he doesn't have that much money as they have. They have been saving up money through decades of years, and they barely use any of them for food. And they all invest on the Wall Street market, doing pretty good too, thanks to Alice.
"We know," Alice says, "but consider this a gift. From all of us."
"What kind of a gift? My birthday was in February, so you're a bit late."
"A welcome to the city gift," Alice chuckles.