Disclaimer: All Twilight characters and some of the settings, ideas for action, are owned by S. Meyer. I just play with them. No infringements intended. Megan Harris is my own invention. Bella doesn't exist in this universe, some things are not canon and English is not my mother tongue. If you find any errors – I'm up to corrections.
Alternating POVs marked M=Megan or E=Edward. Mental conversation is marked in '…'.
Chapter 25 – Best laid plans (E POV)
I held her in my arms while I felt my dead heart falling apart into little shreds. She'd made the decision, and - against all odds - I accepted her reason. It was not illness or an accident forcing it, but the mere necessity to survive the vampire law. Part of me wanted to howl and run like a wounded animal, and the other part wanted to crawl into her mind and never emerge again. She knew what to expect and yet she faced it with such a calmness that I wanted to violently shake some resistance into her. I knew she would have decided differently if there had been a real alternative. She could stay mortal, but her survival was uncertain if she really encountered the Volturi in the future, and she didn't want to risk anything. I silently cursed all fates for throwing her into an endless loop of lives, following such a sick soul like Aro. And I cursed them for letting me meet a woman with a destiny that would eventually take her away from me again. I felt the soothing gestures of my family members and Jasper sent waves of calmness to us all, but nonetheless a silent desperation wafted at the center of my soul, threatening to overflow. I knew I would never be ready to change her, but maybe I could negotiate on the circumstances. We had to make preparations for her transition into her new life, this would take some time. We could get married first, as a good-bye to her parents and move to a secluded place afterward. There were so many possibilities to delay it. Suddenly I craved for the comfort of solitude. I needed time to come to terms with the consequences.
I closed my mental barriers, softly excluding her from my mind and took a step back away from her. It was just a wee bit painful, but not nearly as painful as during the events on Halloween. She looked at me with astonishment written on her face. "I need time," I managed to say without my voice shaking. She just nodded. "Do you want me at your side?" she asked. I took a deep breath and shook my head, "No, I want to be on my own." Megan paled a little and her eyes widened for a moment, but then I saw acceptance settling in. "I understand, at least I think I do," she answered, touching my cheek with her hand in a soft caress. 'Are you coming back to me?' I heard her question even though my barriers were closed and I just nodded. She took a few steps back and just looked at me. "Take care, Edward," she whispered with a serious expression on her pale face. "I will," I croaked and turned to leave the room. Carlisle stood at the door and touched my shoulder in good-bye as I passed by him. 'Watch her, please?' I requested and he nodded, letting me go. I heard Megan's heart skip a beat when I closed the front door and ran into the forest.
I didn't really think, I just blindly ran up into the mountains. My vision blurred as if I had tears in my eyes but that was impossible, unless… unless it was because of our bond. I concentrated on closing my shield even tighter, I needed to be alone inside my head. Our bond was still there but her presence vanished slowly. After a while my vision cleared again and I kept running towards the glacier area on mount Olympus. It was the most secluded place I knew, especially this late in the year. I followed the river leading right into the middle of the glacier field, but just before the forest line I suddenly smelled smoke from a fireplace. I stopped running. I'd never before met any mortals in this area, so I was surprised. Following the scent carefully, I reached the edge of a small clearing on a slope. The smoke came from the roof of a small log cabin and a woman stood in front of it. She was clad in leather and fur, like one of the old trappers, and cleaned a deer skin stretched over a frame. I thought I was having a hallucination and shook my head, but the picture wouldn't vanish. Her jet black hair fell over her back down to her thighs and her warm breath produced little clouds in the cold air.
"Are you going to stand there for the rest of the day?" I jumped at the sound of her voice. Slowly I crept closer, always watching her. She was definitely mortal and I could hear her heart beating, but something about her was strange. I couldn't put my finger on it. She kept cleaning the skin, but I saw she was almost finished. Cleaning her tools in the snow, she put the frame up to the wall of the cabin and turned to me. I caught my breath at the sight of her face. It was of a timeless beauty, but after a few seconds I noticed that her eyes didn't move at all. She was blind! She smiled at me and held her hand out. "Come here, Edward, don't be shy," she said. I was taken aback. "How do you know my name?" I asked and got a little closer. "I've been watching you and your family through the years every time you went hunting in this area," she replied. "But you are…," I started. "Blind?" she laughed. "Yes, but there are other ways to see." I shook my head. "Come inside, I'm freezing and you need a rest," she turned to go inside the cabin. "Wait, how…?" I had to follow her inside to get an answer. What did she know about me or my family members?
I closed the door behind me and turned to look at her. She pointed to one of the chairs, "Sit down, please," and went to the fireplace. She took a kettle with hot water from the fire and poured it into two cups and covered them with a plate. "I could use a hot tea, what about you?" she asked. I walked to a chair near the fireplace and sat down. "I don't have to drink," I answered. She faced me wit a smile and again I wondered how she knew exactly where my face was. "I know, Edward, but that doesn't mean you couldn't, right?" she returned. She poured some honey from a jar into the cups, stirred it and brought them back to the fireplace, sitting down in the chair across of me. She held the cup out to me and I took it from her hand. The scent from the tea waved like a balm over my senses. It calmed me down although I hadn't sipped at it. I inhaled deeply, trying to analyze the herbs in it, but I wasn't able to name them. "I'm sorry you didn't find the solitude you were looking for, Edward." Her voice startled me. I looked her over with scrutiny. "How come you know so much about me? Who are you?" I inquired. "My name is not important, but if you need one, call me Lily. I've watched you and your family for a long time. And now you've come here for help," she stated. "You cannot help me," a sad smile crossed my face. "Says who?" she raised an eyebrow. Frustration and confusion must have shown on my face because she leaned over to me and placed a hand on my arm. "Take a sip from the tea until it's hot, otherwise it will taste bad. The tea will help you to understand, believe me," she leaned back into her seat. I followed her advice although I knew I would have to get rid of it later, but I didn't want to offend her. The herbs caused my mind to relax and to open up. I heard her more with my mind than with my ears. Every detail suddenly became very clear and precise.
"When one sense fails, others set in and take over. I feel the air on my skin and in my hair, I hear the tiniest crack of a branch with my ears, I smell whatever the wind blows into my direction," her oice resonated in my head like a storyteller's. "Some senses are natural, some others come uncalled for but with great power once they're needed," she continued. "You fear changing her will alter your relationship with your mate, but it won't." I sat upright. "Can you help me?" I asked her with a pleading voice. She nodded, "Yes, if you let me and if you accept that my help may not be what you expected." Her answer confused me even more, but a suspicion crept into my mind. "Are you a traveler?" I whispered. Her blind eyes fixed my gaze and I had the uncanny impression that she actually saw me. "My soul has lived so many times I don't remember all of them, but I've always been near those who lived in secret among humans. Megan is going to be the strongest of us, speaking of powers, but she will need your love as a support to fulfill her task," she said. "What is her task?" All the anguish bottled up inside me showed through my voice. Her face got serious. "To restore the balance," she answered. "The travelers and the vampires belong to the same family of supernatural creatures. The spirits had once decided to create more than just the mortal species on earth and added all kinds of supernatural creatures. Vampires, werewolves or immortal souls are only a few of them. Over the millennia the mortals started to claim uniqueness and fought the other species, that's when the separation started. The travelers had to decide which side to chose and they decided to be keepers of the balance. The most talented among us were set to watch over the other species and to counteract possible evil, but we were soon outnumbered. The mortals killed us for conspiracy with 'the foe', so we had to lay low for quite a while and only a few of us kept the knowledge about our origin and purpose. Nowadays we keep contact among each other, search for the reborns and collect as much information as possible about unbalanced concentration of powers until we have to step in personally," she finished.
Listening to her I somehow knew she spoke the truth. "And that is Megan's task – to step in personally?" I asked. She nodded. "One of us chose to become greedy for power and let himself being changed by a vampire. We know he has collected a certain amount of powerful beings around him, some of them are travelers, unconscious of their past lives and he's changed them. He found devious ways to keep them at his side over the centuries. Those who wanted to leave him were either killed or 'convinced' otherwise to follow him." She looked into the fire. Suddenly understanding spread through my mind. "You were one of them, weren't you?" I asked in a low voice. She nodded and to my surprise a tear slipped from her eye. "My beloved is still in his grip and doesn't even know that my brother killed me with his own hands," she whispered and lowered her head. My brain tried to process the information and suddenly found the missing piece. I nearly dropped the tea, "Dydime?" She shrugged. "Nowadays I go by a different name, but it's the life I remember the clearest among all others," she replied. I leaned back in the chair and ran my hands through my hair. This was a bit too much to take in at once.
She raised her head and smiled at me. "Don't worry, I understand perfectly what you're thinking at the moment. Your world just turned upside down and you have a hard time believing me. Let me tell you a little story: A couple of years ago I met a man wandering through these forests. He was a traveler and searched for me. He said he had foreseen his daughter falling for a vampire and asked me if I knew any in the Seattle area. I told him about your family and he let me see his visions. He had seen you, Edward, and after I told him what I knew about you and your family he seemed very relieved and left. We had exchanged emails ever since until he died of cancer a couple of months later. I can see, you know who it was," she said. I nodded. "Timothy, Megan's teacher and father," I replied. "How can I help Megan?" I asked. She rubbed her chin with her hand, thinking about it. "Let me put it this way: She will have to do it her own way, but you can support her by being your own self. Don't let yourself get killed and let her make her own decisions. All she needs to know is that you will be there for her," she answered. "What about the change? I don't want her to suffer," I returned. She shook her head. "There's no way around it, but it may be a short pain," she said. There was one more question which was most important for me, but I hesitated. She looked to the ceiling and chuckled. "I am no oracle, Edward, I cannot see the future, but with a little bit of luck she will survive it all," she stated. I hung my head. "If she dies... I cannot live without her, Lily. I experienced once how it feels when she's dead – I will not be able to survive this pain," I wrung my hands. I felt her hand on my arm again. "I know this is no comfort for you, but know that your souls are bound for eternity. You will never lose her completely, Edward Cullen," her voice sounded firm and calm.