Chapter Twenty-Five: Carlie
A silence fell in the great tepee as we entered. It was full of vampires. The faces that only yesterday had threatened me so, were now still and watchful. Their crimson eyes danced but not of fear or thirst; they looked at me with wonder. I stayed close to Zafrina; my heart beating like great drums. I lifted my head higher to compensate the nerves.
"We call ourselves the Shaman coven," Zafrina explained, gesturing her arms out to the others. A few of them nodded to me.
We followed a cloth path round a bend to the right where a wall of cardboard boxes obscured the view. We passed through two rows of them before I spotted familiar faces. Senna, Kachiri and Huilen were crouched over some crates like the ones in Nahuel's cavern. It was Kachiri who jumped up first, followed silently and swiftly by Huilen and Senna.
"Greetings Renesmee," Kachiri started, running a fond hand across my cheek. She marveled at the mild heat I exuded. "If we had only known, we would have come for you ourselves." Here in the middle of the forest, it didn't look like the kind of place with a phone line but I smiled back at her politely.
Behind Kachiri, Senna spoke up. "And we're sorry if Cruz shocked you. You know he has not stopped talking about you, Nessie."
"She goes by the name Carlie now," Zafrina added with a smile. I would never have corrected her of my name. I wasn't as familiar with Senna and I tried not to notice the others raise their eyebrows around me.
"Well, Carlie, do you want to meet Cruz properly?" Zafrina said.
I most certainly did not; the thought was inconceivable but I found myself being pulled along by Zafrina to the far corner of the great tent. It looped even further round to the right before we found him yanking on an unusual pulley system, tying up a long length of rope to some levers. Once we came into view, he abandoned them completely.
"Ah, what took you so long?" He said. He took a moment to reach for Zafrina's hands, taking them in his and kissing her lips. Zafrina had definitely not mentioned that earlier.
"Hunting," she said. "You would not believe it." She painted a scene of herself chasing a sloth. He laughed out loud before turning to me.
"Cruz, this is Carlie," Zafrina said.
He bowed down to me, a far cry from earlier. Then he raised his hand in my direction. I pulled back.
"It's okay, Carlie, he wants to see your power," Zafrina said. "He's not had the chance to test it out. Will you show him?"
They all looked at me.
I didn't want to show him anything. He had scared me half to death and now he wanted to see my power.
"I am sorry," he said, picking up on my reluctance. He held his had out once more.
Slowly I lifted my hand to his. This time I let our fingers spark as they met; it was much stronger than I anticipated causing him to set back slightly in surprise.
I showed him the time we had first met, when we were on the boat. The raw fear and panic flowed through to him and he watched animated. Over the years I had improved the clarity in my visions and I not only conveyed the experience with my emotions but I added sound, from his booming voice as he called out to us, to the tiny crickets cracking their wings in the forest all around.
Then as I tried to pull the vision back and close it off tidily, I saw the scene change completely. My images, which were marred by the darkness had now brightened, so sharp, like a television that had been tuned into a higher definition. This time it was Cruz who was concentrating.
I could now see birds in the trees several miles away. I could identify each grain of soil and each blade of grass like it was sitting in the palm of my hand. I looked around eager to absorb every detail of the vision in a way that I hadn't observed the first time. Then I saw the boat. It rocked gently in the swell of the river with one end firmly levered up to the shore.
Two people stood on it, tensed and ready for attack: my parents.
"Its no use," Cruz heard from the female on the boat, "Something's blocking my shield."
'She must try again, why at a time like now does her shield not work?' It was my father's thoughts! Of all the times I'd wanted to know what he was thinking. Edward's head dipped towards the bank of the river where the vision was coming from and a sharp squeak emitted like the sound of two radio frequencies buzzing in collision. It was piercing and caused Edward to flinch. I hadn't heard that the other day.
'There's an echo, why is there an echo? Something's not right here,' Edward thought. 'Why would they attack for no reason?'
Cruz tensed as the images rolled on.
'How I wish Carlisle was here right now, he would know what to do. I bet he would speak to them; that's what I must do, I must speak to them, I must assure them that we are no threat.'
"We mean you no harm," Edward's slightly unsure voice called out from the boat. The emotions that flowed from Cruz were of amusement. 'If they think we are a menace they will attack, and we are so outnumbered,' the thoughts from Edward continued.
"We did not know that these lands we're occupied," Edward's voice called out again. 'We cannot let them harm her. If they launch now without Bella's shield, we will not be able to protect Renesmee and we cannot, no we must not let that happen.'
The whole vision changed its focus, softening slightly, under a newfound curiosity. 'Who is Renesmee?' Cruz was thinking. After some conversation he ordered me to show myself. I watched my small frame come into view from the boat. 'She is beautiful,' Cruz thought. 'She has the same flush in her cheeks and pump in her heart. It can't be?'
Then everything went dark, and my fingers started to tingle, but I wasn't ready for it to stop. I don't know how Jacob had done it but I tried to take control, to flick the switch back. I thought back to the clearing when we were surrounded. Cruz had disappeared into the tepee, then reappeared less than a minute later. What had he gone there to do? I concentrated hard on the vision and pulled at it, trying to grab hold of the images in my mind to see more. It seemed to respond; slowly at first, then I found all I needed to do was pull at it and the vision sprung to life. I watched Cruz push open the heavy door cloth in my mind and felt myself sweep into the tepee behind him.
Cruz was walking. He didn't stop until he'd curled the corner and spotted a female vampire that I didn't recognize, walking in great steps towards her.
"Where's Zafrina?" He said, his voice gruff.
She looked startled by his entrance. "She has gone with Senna and Huilen to Table Point, though she's not expected back for a while. Why?"
"We found something. Two strangers, with powers, and a... half-blood."
"What?" The woman said. "Did you not kill them?"
"No, Ria." The feelings oozing from Cruz were of impulse and faith. "It's the girl. She is dark, with a beating heart but doesn't smell like one of them."
"Are you brought her here? Are you crazy? You know the prophecy."
"Better than you might think," he said, sternly.
"And it only takes one half-blood—."
"A male, half-blood," he corrected, his eyebrows raised. "She is nothing." He shook his head from side to side. She might be interesting for our master, but she is not the one the Shaman spoke of, a half-blood, nothing more."
"You dare not take them to him. You know what Zafrina said."
"I have to," Cruz said. "They know about him. "
'What's the prophecy?' I said in my mind. It didn't interfere with the vision, and Cruz didn't respond. Perhaps talking during visions wouldn't work after all. Nevertheless I liked this new tool I'd found. So before letting go of Cruz, I tried to jump to a new scene. It was surprisingly easy. I painted it in my head, and bam, it sprung to life.
The tent door sprung open beneath his sharp kick, and bounced away like a sail trapped within a gust of wind. There we were, encircled by the warriors, metaphorically quaking in our boots. The vision came coated in Cruz's emotions, which were not of our fear, but of his intrigue.
His attention quickly snapped from me to my father.
'I've seen them before,' Edward was thinking, looking around him at the warriors that encircled us. 'Has this tribe been watching Nessie?'