Once Bella was back into clean clothes, having washed her hair three times to get all the blood out, she sat back down with the Denalis. Mario Kart had been put away, unfortunately, and Bella was confronted with Kate and Eleazar's serious faces.
"Look, kid," Kate began, "as entertaining as this disappearing act is, you've got to admit it can be a bit inconvenient."
"Not to mention potentially dangerous," Irina added, "you could accidentally teleport into an active volcano!"
Bella laughed, "I doubt I'd—"
"Oh, so you have control over where you end up?" Irina raised an eyebrow in challenge.
"Well," Bella fidgeted, "no. But it's never been someplace like that before."
"Which is, of course, an indicator of what will come. Because you are absolutely sure of how your ability works." Irina continued to stare her down, and Bella couldn't come up with a response.
"Right," Kate looked between the two of them, "So anyways, Eleazar and I are gonna try to help you with that."
Bella frowned at them questioningly, "How?" At Kate's smirk, Bella's eyes widened. "On second thought, I don't need to know. I'm okay with never knowing, really."
"Relax, kid," Kate said, "I have an ability, so I'm the most suited for helping you to at least get started in the basics, and Eleazar here can sense the abilities of others, so he's going to try and figure out how to work around your unique skill."
Bella mumbled, "I'm not a kid."
"What was that?" Kate asked, a knowing grin on her face.
"I said I'm ready whenever you are." Bella responded, keeping her face carefully neutral.
"Mhmm." Kate narrowed her eyes playfully before turning to Eleazar. "We're going to want to do this outside. At his nod, the two started toward the door, with Bella following at a much slower pace.
"Outside?" Bella asked, "Why do we need to do this outside?"
"Don't worry, Bella," Tanya piped up from her spot on the couch, "We've instructed Kate to go easy on you."
Bella whipped around to look at her, eyes wide, "What?"
Laughter was the only response she received, and Bella continued to make her way toward Eleazar and Kate as they trekked out into the open back yard. As soon as they were in the middle of the area, both vampires sat on the soft grass.
"Take a seat, Bella." Eleazar motioned to the ground in front of him, and Bella sat, mimicking his posture. "So far that we've seen, your ability is vastly different to any that I've encountered," Eleazar began, "It seems to almost veil you, like a shroud around your entire body that distorts the very fabric of reality to your whims." At Bella's incredulous stare, he added, "Perhaps not entirely to your whims."
"Very against my whims to be perfectly honest," Bella muttered.
"Be that as it may," Eleazar conceded, "I believe that your main ability has to do with the shaping and manipulating of this energy that surrounds you. We simply need to focus on how to do that."
Bella's head tilted to the side, considering. "My main ability?"
"Yup," Kate chimed in, "When dear old Eddie boy visited us the first time, he mentioned being unable to read your mind. And I've not seen you so much as flinch when I touch you yet, so my ability definitely doesn't work on you. We think it's a sort of side effect of the 'veil', as we've taken to calling it. The energy around you pushed away any possible effect from other abilities like a shield. Nothing can get past the veil."
"That's why Edward couldn't read me." Bella said.
"Yes, and it would probably have a similar effect on many others with abilities. While the shield is a side effect, that is where we have planned to start," Eleazar spoke with confidence, "Kate's ability first manifested in her hands before she was able to push it to cover her entire body." Kate grinned at Bella before seeming to concentrate, and a visible coat of sparking electricity covered her for a moment. "We will start with trying to get you to expand this shield of yours, concentrating on the energy itself before moving onto the teleporting."
Bella nodded. "Sounds good." She squared her shoulders before pausing. "How exactly do I do that?"
"Focus on what you felt each time your ability was activated. Envision the energy cloaking your body. It may help if you close your eyes." Eleazar instructed.
Bella did as directed and let her eyes close, trying to clear her head of all of the random impulses and thoughts that constantly rushed around in her mind as a result of her newborn status. So far, when her ability was activated, Bella had a few distinct warnings: A tingling in her hands that usually ended up encompassing her entire body, a strange change in perspective like the world is righting itself to her again, and a blurriness in the corners of her vision. She started with the first one, as it seemed the closest to what Eleazar and Kate were talking about.
She didn't know if it started at her hands, or if that was just where Bella first noticed it and she'd started to associate the feeling with it. Nevertheless, Bella focused on that feeling. The way it almost prickled like when she was still human and got pins and needles when the blood flow of a certain limb started to return after being got off. This was less related to her blood, but that was the closest thing she could get to it. When she concentrated, she could almost feel that feeling, though it was incredibly muted. It was like a small film of something was resting in the palms of her hands.
As she pinpointed the feeling, Bella could almost grasp that energy with her mind. She took hold of it, and encouraged it to grow, pulling it over the backs of her hands, and slowly inching it up her wrists.
"Bella!" Kate's voice interrupted her concentration, and Bella opened her eyes.
Her hands were gone.
"Holy f—" Bella gasped and her mind seemed to let go of the strange feeling. She watched as her hands came back into view, and when she thought about it, she could feel that whatever is was had retreated back into her palms. She ran her fingers over her palms with wonder.
"Right." Eleazar spoke up, drawing Bella's eyes to him. "So maybe whatever that was, focus on a different part. For now."
Bella nodded, eyes still wide. "Right. Yeah. Good idea."
"Don't want you disappearing yourself over to Spain or something mid-training." Kate brushed off the incident with a laugh, and a slightly hysterical one bubbled up out of Bella's chest before she cleared her throat and nodded.
"Okay. Let's try this again."
Bella closed her eyes again, but instead of trying to pull that feeling away from her palms, she just focused on the feeling itself. There was the prickling, but there was also a warmth. It clung to her, and when Bella focused on it, she could feel it surrounding her entire body, not just her hands. She opened her mind to the feeling, letting the warmth fill her, and opened her eyes.
She could see it.
It was almost like a bubble, hovering less than an inch from her skin in a wavering and shifting layer. It wasn't exactly a color, but more of a distortion, like when you can see heat waves coming off of pavement. This was much more prominent, though. She finally understood why the corners of her vision got 'fuzzy' when she traveled. She was able to see the shield around in those moments, and she hadn't even known it.
"Holy shit." Bella couldn't help but gasp, and she felt two pairs of eyes on her. She didn't dare look away for fear that she'd somehow lose it when she spoke, "I—I can see it!" A laugh escaped her. "Oh my god."
"Alright, Bella." Kate spoke, and Bella listened without shifting her eyes. "Now, here's the hard part. You need to try and move it. Imagine it moving away from your skin, pushing toward Eleazar." Bella clenched her jaw, following Kate's instructions. It was difficult to move, only budging a few inches before snapping back to her. It almost seemed to have a mind of its own, not wanting to separate from Bella.
"It's not working," She informed them, "It keeps coming back to me, no matter how hard I push it." She dropped her concentration, feeling put out by her failure.
"You think I got control of my ability in an hour?" Kate asked, and Bella looked at her. "Kid, it took decades to make it cover my whole body, and centuries to fully master it. You aren't going to be perfect at this on your first try, but you've got to keep working at it." Kate's smiling face turned serious. "If you had a different ability, we wouldn't be pushing this, but Irina was right. Your ability could seriously endanger you. You need to get control of this thing, and fast."
Bella held her eyes for a moment before nodding. Kate was right, and she knew it. This ability was incredibly dangerous, and in more ways than the Denalis really knew. She needed to figure it out.
"Alright, again."
Bella wished she could say that it was easy, that she only needed a day before she had some control over this ability, but she'd be lying. She spent the next few weeks training with Kate and Eleazar. They'd switch from training in the yard, with her focusing on her shield, to hunting to replenish some strength, and straight back to training.
It was exhausting, but Bella had made a bit of progress.
She was able to expand the shield around her to cover other targets, which became necessary very quickly when Kate decided to use her ability on her coven to motivate her. Bella could now project her shield about 15 feet from herself in every direction, or much further if she was focusing on a singular target. She knew that with training, she could make it even further still.
The other part of her ability, however, was much more difficult to train.
She'd tried focusing on that prickling sensation, just to see if she could figure out more about it, but she'd gotten nothing. When she'd repeated her previous attempts at controlling it, by pulling it up her arms, it had seemed to pull back, not letting her move it in the slightest.
Today was the closest she'd gotten.
"Come on, kid." Bella heard Kate, but it was barely audible through the buzzing in her mind. She'd been focusing on the palms of her hands for nearly an hour now, trying to get a firmer 'grip' in her mind on the strange feeling. She'd been hesitant at first, when Eleazar and Kate had brought it up, but she knew that she'd have to try something sooner or later it she wanted to get a handle on it, so there she was. "You've got this, come on."
She could feel it, just the slightest bit of leeway, and she latched on. It was less of a tugging that got it to move up her arms, and more of a coaxing. It felt like Bella was persuading the feeling to move, asking instead of telling.
"Yes! Bella, you're doing it!"
The tingling encompassed her forearms, and continued up her elbows, and she felt a similar feeling start in her toes, creeping higher up her calves.
"This is so freaky to watch, Bella."
Bella opened her eyes, looking at Kate's astonished face before directing her gaze toward herself. Her arms were completely transparent. There was still a sort of blurriness where Bella could feel them to be, so she knew she still had arms, but it was like looking at a very obscure after-image. She could only see them if she really concentrated. Her legs were in a similar state.
Bella grinned. She didn't know exactly what this was accomplishing, but she felt the sense of pride fill her anyway.
Until she lost control.
The tingling spread, crawling over her torso and up her chest, and Bella turned wide eyes to Kate. It must've looked strange for a floating head to be staring at her, but Kate's eyes held no amusement as she recognized the fear in Bella's. She took a step forward toward Bella, keeping their eyes locked.
"You can control this, kid. It's your ability. Focus!"
Bella grit her teeth, concentrating on the tingling she felt inching up her neck, and willed it to retreat. She tried to tug at it with her mind, forcing it back down, but it wouldn't listen. She took one last look at a panicked Kate and saw Irina blur into view right before her vision went white.
Bella faded back in to a place she'd been before. It was that same room she'd been to once, with the child that was playing some sort of game of hide and seek, albeit with unwilling partners.
It was still a bit dusty, but Bella could tell that it had been cleaned a few times since she'd last been there. Her footprints were gone, as were the marks of the child. Bella sighed. That meant she'd have to leave.
Her trips were becoming longer and longer, and if she wanted to remain unseen, she'd have to leave the little cellar area and find a better hiding spot. Or something to do.
With that thought, she crept toward the door, listening for a moment for any signs of people, before cracking it open and slipping through. The beautiful scene outside of the little room was as beautiful as ever, but Bella didn't allow herself to linger as she heard voices coming from quite a ways down on the right. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that 'away from people' was probably the best bet. Especially if you are an accidental home invader.
She took off to the left, blurring down long hallways and having to stop every once in a while to avoid notice. She'd managed to elude any potential threats to her being seen as of yet, but the longer she walked, the more impressed Bella got.
The original house that she'd showed up in wasn't necessarily that large, but there was some sort of constant connection between it and other buildings that she rushed through, and when she'd finally reached the end of it and made a break for the outdoors, Bella turned back around to admire the large compound.
It held quite a number of people, as Bella had noticed during her walk through, so it wasn't exactly a residential house. And Bella could tell isn't wasn't some kind of hotel, either. It seemed more like one house with some kind of place to work attached to every side of it. From her place on the outskirts, Bella could even see some kind of large field, surrounded by walls.
The noises from that field drew her attention, as she couldn't quite recognize the source of the specific sound that was echoing off the field, so Bella hesitantly made her way toward it, sticking to the trees on the outskirts of the compound and staying far enough away that no one would be able to see her without some kind of binoculars.
With her advanced vision, however, Bella could see them.
Inside of the field were about 20 men, all bare from the chest up, and most armed. Some swung swords at posts, others faced each other bare handed, landing blow after blow. There were other men, fully clothed in some kind of armor, walking along the walls and staring down at the men in the field.
What is this? Some kind of training ground?
The crack of a whip sounded, and all fighting ceased.
"Soldiers!" A man in intricate looking armor called out from the highest point of the wall, and all of the men in the field turned to look at him. "I bring news from the front! As of last night, a temporary truce has been called. Your brothers in arms will be returning home by the week's end!" A loud cheer went up through the men, and Bella watched some of them patting each other on the back in a slightly too violent manner. The captain, or whatever he was, held up his hand to gather their attention once more. "That does not mean the war is won, or even that the battle is over, men. We know the tricks of our enemy, and we know it won't be long until this truce has been broken. We must continue to train and prepare for the true war that lies ahead." That managed to get serious looks all around, some men nodding, others just looking plain exhausted.
"However," the captain grinned, "that doesn't mean we haven't earned ourselves a break for the next few days. You are all dismissed until three days from now!" Another, much louder cheer went up, surprising Bella. She supposed that no matter where you went, people loved getting time off. "I expect you back here at dawn in three days!" And he left, many of the men in the field rushing to the doors in the walls.
Bella watched the field slowly clear out, and the sun sunk low into the sky. As the colors of sunrise lit up the field, Bella let herself take in the gorgeous view. She didn't know much about this place, but it was one of the most beautiful locations she'd bet she'd ever see.
The next surprise was the smaller figure making its way onto the field, long after the last of the men had fled. Bella's eyes narrowed, taking them in. The person—girl, Bella could tell when she got a better look—wore armor that was obviously not made for her, pulling her down with the weight of it and making her movements seem bulky and disjointed.
She was holding a sword that was longer than her arm, and Bella watched as she slowly raised it. Bella didn't know what she expected from this girl, who was obviously not supposed to be out here, but maybe she though she'd see her messing with the weapons. Attacking the air or something, but that is not what Bella saw.
The girl held the sword out in front of her, her arm not wavering despite the disproportionate size, and began a very slow series of moves that seemed to almost flow into each other. They were fluid movements, obviously heavily practiced, and Bella found herself watching this girl for longer than she anticipated.
With her blonde hair tied back, and the stolen armor, this girl looked more like a warrior.
Bella watched her work until hours after the night sky started lighting up with stars. It was captivating. Eventually, though, the girl put down the weapon and stalked back into the door she came from, and that was the end of the show.
Bella sighed, staring out over the field and the compound on this grassy plain.
What was she supposed to do now?
She didn't need to wait long for that question to be answered, as right then a distant scream, an inhuman scream, sounded deep within the trees behind her.
A/n: And chapter 14 is done! I'm trying really hard to keep myself going, as I've got a lot of plans for our queens and friendly neighborhood time traveler. Let me know what you think!