I'm back from Florida and the weather was awesome! We got out of there just in time to miss Hurricane Ida! whew.

No more fainting for Tala, I promise! She has been introduced to all the scary stuff so she's gonna be just fine.

And now for Nessie and Tala's shopping trip...

Chapter 13

The next day was a typical dreary day in Washington. The clouds were thick in the sky and there was a slight dampness in the air. My mom woke us up early in the morning with the smell of eggs, bacon, pancakes and coffee. She rarely cooked breakfast, but since Seth was there she went all out.

"Oh thanks Anna!" Seth gave my Mom a kiss on the cheek and sat in front of his mound of pancakes. I sat there with my hands wrapped around my coffee cup and watched him devour his breakfast.

Seth looked down at my plate of eggs and bacon that were barely touched. "Aren't you going to eat something?" I picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it. "You're so dainty," he said as he scooped a whole fried egg in his mouth.

"Compared to you, yeah!" I teased. He just chuckled in response.

"What do you have planned with Nessie?" he asked.

"She said something about the mall since the weather wouldn't be good enough for the beach,"

"Uh-oh," Seth replied.

"What?" I asked nervously. Should I not go shopping with a half-vampire? Seth noticed my slight tension and snorted a laugh.

"Relax, I just meant that Nessie is quite the shopper. She gets it from her aunt. I hope you're prepared to literally shop-'til-you-drop," he chuckled.

"Oh. I think I'll be ok. I can usually shop with the best of them," I replied.

"You'll need new clothes if you get a job," my mother chimed in. She was so quiet flitting around kitchen I almost forgot she was there. I'm glad I didn't mention the vampire information out loud.

Seth smiled at my mom's comment remembering what I told him the night before about sticking around here. He grabbed my hand and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

"Mmmm…you smell like maple syrup," I gave him a huge grin.

Before Seth left for work he, once again, assured me that I would be fine. We planned it out so that he and Jacob would meet us at Seth's house and all go to the Cullen's house together. I was feeling a lot better with the idea of meeting vampires. I met Nessie and she seemed great. I knew the pack wouldn't let her anywhere near people if they thought she was dangerous. Jacob lived with the Cullens so they had to be safe as well. It was just so surreal that I was going to meet creatures that I never knew existed.

*******

After dropping my mother off at work, I took the short drive into Forks. Nessie had spent the night with her Grandpa Charlie, the Chief of Police, and I told her I would pick her up since she didn't have a driver's license yet. She gave me directions and it was easy to find because of the police cruiser still sitting in the drive way.

I parked in front of the house and turned off the car. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Just get over it already! I thought to myself. You're going to have fun hanging out with an energetic immortal creature today. I walked up the door and before I could knock, Nessie answered it.

"Hi Tala!" she practically shrieked and gave me a hug. My body stiffened a little. She noticed and pulled away from me, still holding my shoulders, and gave me a pouty look. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Seth told you, didn't he?" she asked still pouting and dropped her arms from me to her sides.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm glad he did. I haven't been taking all the news very well lately and I wouldn't want you to have to deal with me," I chuckled, mocking myself.

"It's ok. I promise you can ask me anything today and I'll try to make you feel better," she said as she stepped aside and gestured for me to come into the house, "just don't say the 'v' word around my grandpa."

I nodded and walked in. I noticed a man sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. He had the same big brown eyes as Nessie and looked too young to be a grandpa of a teenager. He was dressed in his police uniform. Chief Swan.

"Grandpa, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the pack," Nessie said in her animated voice.

"You must be Tala," he said extending out a hand. I grabbed it and shook it. He was definitely human. He seemed to have the body temperature I was accustomed to. "I feel like I already know you. Seth wouldn't shut up about you the last time I saw him." Nessie giggled. I blushed and gave him a smile as I wondered what Seth could have possibly said about me. "Don't worry," Chief Swan continued, "he said all good things."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you," I said shyly.

"Nessie made me a wonderful breakfast, would you like some? She must be used to cooking for Jake, because there's a ton," he pointed over at the counter. I noticed an array of breakfast foods. I laughed knowing the appetite of a werewolf.

"No thanks, my mom cooked for Seth this morning. I'm all set," I patted my stomach. Charlie chuckled and mumbled something inaudible which made Nessie giggle.

"Oh grandpa, you can freeze most of it and save it for when Mom and I aren't here to cook for you."

Charlie sat up from his spot at the table and grabbed his gun belt. "Thanks sweetie," he said and kissed her cheek. He then lightly patted me on the back and said, "Good luck shopping with her today. She's quite the maniac." He gave me a sympathized look.

"So I've heard," I muttered. Nessie gave us a maniacal laugh which made us both laugh.

After Nessie cleaned up the kitchen and packed up future breakfasts for Charlie, we were headed out the door. On the car ride to Port Angeles I decided I was going to take advantage of Nessie's offer and started to drill her with questions. She said it was only fair since she got a lot of information out of me the night before. As promised, she answered every question. I found out that she ate both human food and animal blood. Her favorite human food was sausage lasagna and her favorite animal was cougar (that was her father's favorite as well). The only time she fed on human blood was when she was a baby and the blood was donated. She also enthusiastically added that the human blood tasted much better. That comment made me shudder. She gave me a sheepish smile and apologized for giving me too much information.

Except for Jacob and Charlie, everyone in Nessie's family is a vampire, but her mom only recently became one. I gave her an incredulous look when she said that, but Nessie promised she would tell me that story later since I was only suppose to ask questions about herself. I agreed to that.

I found out that Nessie liked a variety of music from Classical to Hard Rock (since that was Jacob's favorite). Her father taught her how to play the piano and she had composed three pieces herself. She loves to shop with her Aunt Alice, work on cars with her Aunt Rose and Jacob, wrestle with her Uncle Emmett, and take history lessons from her Uncle Jasper. Her Grandmother Esme teaches her how to cook and her Grandfather Carlisle covers any other subject that isn't covered by the rest of the family. Nessie sounded like a pretty well rounded kid.

"Do you do anything special with your mom?" I asked.

"She and I are a lot alike. We both like to read classic novels in a quiet spot. We both like to just quietly sit with each other and hang out. We talk about everything. She's like my best friend…besides Jacob," Nessie explained. "She and my dad are both working on their degrees in Literature and I'm studying with them. I'm not technically a student since I look too young to enroll, but my mom and I study together," Nessie said.

"You're father doesn't study with you?"

"No, he doesn't have to. He already has a couple of degrees in Literature from other colleges and his vampire brain retains every bit of information he's ever learned."

"Then why does he still go?" I asked with a scowl on my face. I couldn't imagine repeating another four years of college if I didn't have to.

"It's something for him to do to break up the day," she shrugged. "Plus, he and my mom are inseparable." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on now, it can't be much different than imprinting."

"Yeah, but it's different with Jacob and me. He's my best friend. I'm not in love with him and all touchy feely all the time!" she said in disgust.

I gave her a smile and a nod. That soon will change little girl. I thought to myself.

We wandered through the mall visiting every store that had any type of shoe, clothing, or jewelry. Nessie not only shopped for herself, she shopped for Jacob, her parents, and everyone else in the family. She knew their sizes, tastes, and styles. Nessie even had a little platinum credit card to take care of the charges. She even picked out a cute sundress for me that I normally wouldn't have picked out for myself. I shouldn't have taken the warnings from others lightly. I was exhausted within an hour.

"Can we please take a break and grab a smoothie or something?" I groaned as I dragged myself up to the make-up counter at the department store. I had two heavy shopping bags dangling from each arm. I dropped them on the floor and perched myself on the stool next to Nessie. She pulled her attention away from the perfume she was sampling to look at my slumped body.

"Of course we can! I told you I could carry those bags. They're mostly mine anyway. Remember," she looked around to see if anyone was listening, "half vampire," she whispered and flashed one of her tiny arm muscles.

"I'm not going to walk around this mall making you carry everything. You'll look like my pre-teen slave or something."

Nessie laughed loudly and drew some startled stares from shoppers. "Oops," she said shyly. "Will you please hand me that perfume bottle with the pink octagon top over there?" She pointed in the direction to my left.

I followed her line of vision and groaned when I realized how far away the bottle was. It would take more effort than I wanted to give at that moment to obtain it. I stretched out my arm determined to reach it without getting out of my seat. I was only a couple of inches from it when my ability kicked in. The bottle jumped the short distance into my hand. I quickly looked over at Nessie to see if she had noticed. She was staring at me with a surprised look on her face.

"Here you go," I said as I handed it to her trying to pretend nothing happened.

"Thanks," she said with her eyes narrowed and took the bottle from me.

******

It was amazing how much food one small person could consume. Nessie didn't have quite the appetite the wolves had, but she held her own.

"How many cougars do you consume in one sitting?" I teased while gaping at her heaping plate of fries.

"Ha. Ha," she gave me a sarcastic laugh. "I don't eat cougar every time I hunt. It's usually deer. There are way more deer out there. A cougar is a special treat," Nessie said with a wink.

"I cannot picture you taking down a cougar…or a deer, for that matter," I said shaking my head.

"I was one year old the first time I drank from a cougar. I thought Jake was going to have a heart attack," she giggled. Did I just hear her correctly?

"One!?" I gasped. I couldn't wrap my mind around a little girl, barely able to walk, stalking a large cat.

"Did Seth tell you how old I am?" she asked casually.

"No," I answered. It sounded like she was dodging the subject.

"Physically, biologically, I'm about fifteen or sixteen maybe. According to the calendar…" she hesitated, gauging my reaction. It looked like she wasn't sure how I would take the news. She must have thought it was ok to continue. She answered, "I'm five. I aged rapidly and I still have about two more years of growth from what my grandfather has researched. So technically, I was the size of a three-year old when I had my first cougar."

I didn't say anything. I just stared at Renesemee wondering if she was pulling my leg.

"You're not going to faint are you?" she asked with worry in her tone.

"No. I'm ok," I said calmly. It wasn't the strangest thing I've heard lately. "It's not like you're revealing that you have a super power or anything," I gave a nervous laugh once I realized what I said. Of course she just revealed that she could take down a large predator which seemed like a super power to me. I also remembered the surprised look I received from Nessie when the perfume bottle moved across the makeup counter. I didn't think she noticed my "super power."

"Tala, would you please hand me the salt shaker?" Nessie asked sweetly.

"Sure," I went to grab for the one on my side of the table.

"No, that one's empty, I already tried it. How about that one from the other table?" Nessie gave me a smug smile. She did notice the incident at the makeup counter.

"Sure," I said again through my clenched teeth as I smiled back. I started to skid my chair back away from the table when Nessie grabbed my arm gently.

"Get it from here…please," she gave me a small smile.

I inhaled a small gasp. "Ness, I don't know what…" I started to say, but she interrupted me.

"I saw what you can do Tala," she tapped her cheek high up by her eye and then whispered, "Vampire vision. I don't miss a thing."

I didn't know what to say. I hadn't told anyone about my new found ability and I wasn't sure I wanted to share. It's not like I was embarrassed, but I didn't want people to think I was crazy.

Nessie broke the silence, "You show me yours, I'll show you mine," she said with a big grin that showed her perfect white teeth. They suddenly looked a little intimidating after our conversation moments ago about hunting.

"You…can do…that?" I asked hesitantly.

Nessie giggled, "No, mine is a little more subtle." I continued to stare at her in disbelief. "You go first," she gestured to the salt shaker.

I glanced around the food court. The mall was pretty quiet. It was past lunch time so the nine-to-fivers already made their way back to their offices.

"Go ahead. No one is looking," Nessie urged.

"Ok." I had suddenly become daring and I felt a little relieved that someone, other than me, would witness this. I felt a little less crazy. Just to make sure, I scanned the area one more time for witnesses. Nessie gave me an excited giggle. I stretched out my arm towards the salt shaker on the next table and concentrated on moving it towards me. As if it was pulled along by a string, the salt shaker slid along the table it was on, hopped the gap between the tables and slid into my hand. My body reacted with a woosh of air escaping my lungs. I felt a little bit of energy leave my body.

Nessie squealed clapping her hands. "That was sweet! Does Seth know?"

"No!" I gasped. "I don't want him to know."

"Why not?" She looked disappointed. Her excited face was replaced with a pouty look. "I betcha he would think it was cool."

"I don't want him to think I was a freak or something?" I muttered and sucked my smoothie up the straw. I looked up from my cup at Nessie. She was giving me a disbelieving look.

"After everything you've learned lately, you think he will think you are a freak? No way!" she shook her head.

"You don't think so? I don't want him to run away or be scared of me. I wouldn't know what I would do if…"

Nessie interrupted. "Tala, listen, do you know why Seth has always loved being a wolf?" she asked. I nodded because I've had this conversation with him before.

"He likes the speed and the strength. He likes the brotherhood. He likes that he has a purpose in life." I paused, remembering one thing in particular that Seth told me. It was the one thing I was sure Nessie wanted me to say out loud. I looked up at Nessie and smiled. "He said he thought it was cool that he wasn't normal." I laughed softly. I had thought that comment was funny when Seth said it. He wasn't a normal guy, and that was one of my favorite things about him. Nessie nodded slowly with a self-satisfied smile across her face. I laughed at her again.

"Ok. Ok. I'll tell him," I gave in and promised.

"Good," she said, "I think you'll be surprised." I suddenly remembered Nessie's end of the deal.

"Ok, now you show me yours," I gave her a smug look back.

Nessie looked worried. "This will be a little weird for you at first and I'm worried about your fainting problem."

"Does it involve changing shapes or sucking blood?"

"No!" she still looked at me carefully. "It's more of a mental thing."

"I think I'll be alright." I was positive I would be as long as it wasn't anything physically graphic.

"What do you want to see?" Nessie asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Scratch that. I'm going to touch your face. Don't be afraid." Nessie reached her hand towards me and hesitated only an inch before touching me, waiting for my ok.

"Ok," I whispered. As soon as her hand touched me, it was as if my own vision was a ghostly back ground and another image, like a movie, was playing over top of it. Everything looked jumbled together and I couldn't understand what was happening. I rapidly blinked my eyes trying to clear up my vision.

"Close your eyes," Nessie directed.

Once I did, the movie image became clearer. I gasped a little when I realized what was happening. I could see myself and I knew it was from Nessie's point of view because I watched as a salt shaker came across the table to my hand. The scene from two minutes ago replayed in my head. Along with it came a feeling of awe and excitement. I felt Nessie's hand leave my face and the image was gone.

I opened my eyes. "What was that?" I asked with wonderment in my voice.

"That," Nessie said proudly, "was my ability."

"Wow," I said softly in awe. "That was amazing. How do you do that?"

"I don't know. I've been able to do it since birth." Nessie asked again, "What do you want to see? It can only be something I've seen or felt personally."

A small smile crept across my face and I whispered, "Seth."

That seemed short. Sorry :( But it was actually one of my longer chapters! :) What do you think? More Tala powers coming up and she will finally meet the Cullens (well...just Bella and Edward).