A/N: I own nothing twilight related
Chapter 21
KPOV
Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper all decided to join Edward and I in Alaska.
Although I felt Rosalie and Alice were there to support me, I think Emmett and Jasper wanted to see if I'd mess up and massacre a small Eskimo village.
Some might take offense to Emmett and Jasper's motives but knowing them, I just thought of it as a challenge. It was like a bet I wanted to win.
Plus, everyone thought it would be nice to give Carlisle and Esme some alone time. Jasper described it as a second honeymoon.
Before we all left Carlisle wanted time to figure out what exactly my "gift" was and what its limitations were.
I sat for hours in his study with him asking me questions. After a few days he declared that he believed I had the power to determine people's decisions even before they did.
He came to this conclusion after a series of experiments that included him asking me whether Emmett would choose a weekend going off-roading with his Jeep or a weekend alone at a romantic cabin with Rosalie (the Jeep) or if Esme would pick 3 story Victorian or the post modern ranch house in Michigan (Victorian), and finally if Edward would tell me the truth about Tanya (yes, but unwillingly).
When a family meeting was held to discuss my "gift." there was a lot of confusion.
"I get that Kate can tell what people are going to do before they do it but how is that different than Alice's gift." Emmett just couldn't wrap his head around this.
"It's not what people will do, Emmett. It's what they will decide." Edward corrected.
"Yes, Edward that's correct. I suppose a rudimentary example would be a coin toss. Whereas Alice would be able to determine what the outcome of the toss would be, Kate could determine who would choose heads and who would choose tails."
Emmett finally seemed to get it. At least he made a face that made it look like he got it.
"Anyway," Carlisle continued turning away from Emmett, "I want Kate and Alice to work together to try to improve Kate's ability. Since Alice's visions are dependent upon people making decisions, it would be valuable if Alice could get a vision based upon Kate's gift."
"I would be able to see their future before they had even made a decision about it." Alice got the magnitude of what our gifts could be when used in unison,
"Exactly, Alice. This would give us quite an advantage. Now, its time for you kids to take off. You don't want to arrive late to Alaska, they are expecting you." Carlisle ushered us to the door.
Edward and I were last and hung around a bit behind the others.
"Carlisle, I just had a question." I was slightly embarrassed. It wasn't important and I didn't even know why I wanted to know, but I just felt like I needed to know why I got this gift.
"Why do you think I have this gift? You said before that Jasper was charismatic as a human. Alice had visions. Edward was aware of what people were thinking. What did I have?" I just couldn't get over the fact that I was somehow special.
"It's hard to say, these things can develop so subtly. But if I had to venture a guess I would say as a human you were always very…accommodating, I guess would be a way to describe it. You were very attuned people and were able to put yourself in their situation. I think that's how your gift works; you place yourself in a person's point of view and are able to see what they will decide. It is actually more similar to Edward's gift than Alice's."
Carlisle continued. "Now this is all conjecture but it makes sense. Perhaps what is most interesting is Edward, Alice, and Jasper have all had their skills develop over time. I'm very interested to see how yours develops. Having the ability to not only enter one's mind but work within it to get information or detect desire…well, you can imagine the possibility."
I could and it terrified me. I wasn't sure I was ready for such a vision quest. It's amazing the difference a week can make in your life.
Edward and I continued to walk out the front door and joined the rest of the Cullen's bound for Alaska.
Each one of the couples got into their respective cars; Rosalie and Emmett took Rosalie's car as Rosalie said she was not about to travel across the country in an oversized Tonka truck. Jasper and Alice drove Alice's little yellow Porsche. Edward and I got into his shiny silver Volvo.
Edward hit the clutch and put the car in drive. "We'll have to get you a car."
'What? Jasper doesn't have a car. Esme doesn't have a car."
"Esme has never been fond of driving, she says it isn't ladylike to drive. And Jasper let's Alice drive everywhere because she wants to. But I don't want you to think I'm holding you hostage. I'll get you a car once we're settled in Denali. I'm thinking a Mercedes G500 SUV."
I remembered in my head that these cars resembled tanks.
"Edward, don't you think that's a little…overkill?"
"Love, I want to make sure I get you a safe car. Something that could take out an entire army if necessary."
"Edward, sweetheart, dear, light of my life, I'm a vampire—kind of indestructible."
"'Kind of' being the operative word. I'm not taking any chances."
"I'll let you get me a car on one condition."
"I'm going to get you a car no matter what but I am interested in what the condition is." He turned to face me and smiled at me.
I knew there would be no negotiating.
"Since we are on our way to stay with them while I'm an uncontrollable newborn, I think it only fair that I know what went on between you and Tanya."
I saw Edward's knuckles tighten over the steering wheel. Oh, no this was going to be worse than I thought.
As he spoke his facial muscles stayed taunt only his mouth moved.
"I would rather not burden you with unnecessary details about the past, especially those details that mean nothing to me. But I suppose you're right and it's fair to warn you before you go into the lion's den, so to speak."
He paused. The silence went on for so long I thought perhaps he was rethinking his decision to tell me out Tanya.
"Tanya had a false impression about what our relationship would be, an impression I did nothing to fuel. I think it has more to do with the lack of males there, but she seemed to think that she and I were meant to be mates. I politely disagreed. She's a nice enough girl but she doesn't dazzle me."
With that Edward took my hand in his and brought it up to his lips.
"Unfortunately, what Tanya lacks in dazzle ability she makes up for in tenaciousness. She was not so willing to let go of the dream of a future together. We had to leave Denali because of it."
Okay, she had a crush; they left, it's over, not so bad.
"Then she heard that Bella and I were no longer together. I think she saw that as proof that I was meant to be with her. Again, I disagreed. She made the trip down to Forks after I returned and before we moved to Dartmouth. That's when I had to finally be frank and tell her that it was never going to happen. To cut out a lot of details, mainly to spare her dignity, if we hadn't planned to leave Forks, we would have had to then. She did quite a lot of damage to the landscape. I've heard a rumor that there is a path from our old home to her current residence from where she tore all the trees out of the ground."
Oh, great she went all single, white, female. Was Carlisle crazy sending me to live with Edward's psycho stalker?
"No, Carlisle knows you'll be safe here and plus the others, Kate, Irina, and Eleazar, are able to keep Tanya on her best behavior. Anyway, I can't imagine she still has feelings for me."
I hated that he read my thoughts, plus he was wrong. I knew there was no way that Tanya was over her obsession—that's why she said no to our visit.
I could even fathom what was waiting for me in Alaska. Thank God I was an immortal vampire, I don't think I'd make it out alive otherwise.