Meg's POV

It had been two days since my little run-in with Gracie, the werewolf who I'd bitten, and Edward remained in his room. I hadn't even heard his voice in my mind.

Alice was surprised to hear that he'd even come out, but she was happy that he had. I told her how black his eyes were, and we decided to try and get him to hunt before bloodlust took over.

Edward's POV

Locked away from the world with my grief and guilt. Not once in the past six months had I actually wanted to leave my room, but now half of my strength was devoted to that. The other half was keeping me from reading Meg's mind. That was causing my guilt to overwhelm me.

If I loved Bella, then why was I so curious about Meg? Was it just the fact that I could easily read her thoughts that interested me? And she wasn't anything like Bella, other than the love of reading they shared. But Bella had never read as much as Meg, who read all but a few hours out of the day. Meg was far from clumsy and (other than the werewolf incident a few days before) didn't seem prone to danger. She didn't smell anything like Bella, in fact, she didn't really have a noticeable scent at all. And as much as I had hated arguing with Bella, I'd enjoyed bickering with Meg.

All of this was true…but why couldn't I get her out of my mind?!

"Edward?!" Alice called sharply from the other side of the door. "Come out here now!"

"No." I replied softly, knowing she could hear me.

"Edward, you have to feed." That was Meg. Why was she here? The question she'd asked before I had returned back into my room echoed in my mind now, 'Why are you hiding?'. It was like she knew that I wasn't hiding something, but there was an actual purpose to my exile. "C'mon, Alice and I will go hunting with you."

"Neither of you need to feed. Alice, you went hunting only two days ago and Meg, from what I understand, you won't have to feed for another three weeks or more." I said.

"True, but if you wait until Alice needs to feed again, you'll attack the first thing with a heartbeat that comes near you."

"You don't know that." Did I enjoy bickering with her so much that I would over the smallest things?

"Oh really?" She asked slyly. "How do you believe that I was idiotic enough to bite a werewolf?"

"Excellent point." Alice said so softly that I almost didn't hear her.

I stood, knowing that they were right, and besides, it wasn't like they'd drop this. Opening the door, it was easy to see they were greatly pleased with themselves. Their smugness didn't disappear either.

Meg's POV

Alice and I stood next to a huge pine tree as Edward hunted.

"I'm impressed." Alice said, smiling up at me. "We've been trying for months to get him out of his room and you haven't even been here a week and have done it twice."

"Did you lot ever try arguing with him? He seems to enjoy that."

"Yes, but he never replied to our yelling. It was like he died when-" She stopped short.

"When what?" I asked, hoping for another clue to the mystery that surrounded Edward.

"It's not my place to tell you." Alice said simply.

"Very well." I mumbled, disappointed.

A breeze picked up and carried a few scents to my nose. The usual rabbit, mountain lion, and deer were easy to tell, but another smell was mixed in with the others…a raw and putrid smell.

"Alice, do you smell that?" I questioned her.

She wrinkled her nose. "Yes."

"I thought the werewolves weren't allowed her."

"They're not. It's not the one who chased you, is it?"

"No, her smell was different." I reached my mind out to try and find the werewolf, it seemed to be a good way away. "I think we just caught a bit of its scent, it's about fifteen miles away, but it is searching for something. I'm just not sure what."

"As long as it's not close." Alice replied.

The three of us returned home and it didn't surprise me that Edward returned to his room, closing the door once again. I also went to my room and began reading.

'Do you ever do anything but read?' Edward's voice broke into my mind.

'Hmmm…it seems that I've been bickering a lot of late, and I just can't figure out why.' I could've sworn that I heard a soft laugh, though I wasn't sure if it was in my min or not. 'Why are you hiding?' I asked again.

'I have my reasons.' He replied simply.

'Care to share them?'

'No.'

'I didn't think so…'

'You like sarcasm, don't you?'

'If you wanted to know bad enough, you could just look in my mind.' I reminded him.

'You've said that before, but if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have asked you.'

I thought a moment. 'Yes, I like sarcasm very much. I also enjoy riddles, and it annoys me that I don't know why you keep locking yourself away from your family.'

'Riddles, huh?'

'Why do you keep ignoring my questions?'

'Why do you keep asking them if you know I won't answer them?'

Rolling my eyes, I climbed into bed. 'Goodnight, Edward.'

'Is it nice to be able to sleep?'

'Yes.'

'Goodnight, Meg.'

'You're annoying.'

'So are you.'

I rolled my eyes again before falling asleep.