Chapter Thirty Five: Frogger Isn't as Fun in Real Life
A/N: Hi there, it's me, your friendly deadbeat author. I had a bit of time and was able to crank out this chapter, which is significantly long, I might add. I've been looking into some new ideas for the story and bits and pieces, so we'll see how I can incorporate that into the next few chapters. One of my friends got me an amazing tarot deck for Christmas, The Moonchild Tarot and the graphics are awesome. I've used it only a couple of times so far but holy hell is it wonderful.
There absolutely so many reviews, thank you all! I'm forever jazzed that people take the time to read this story.
eeeeaud: One of the main reasons I love Asteria is her ability to say "Nah, screw that" so fully expect her to call out a lot of aspects of Edward and Bella's relationship. It's out of love. Probably.
nbop: There is absolutely nothing that binge reading can't cure.
Guest: I fully agree that Edward and Bella's relationship was terrible, that was the main point to starting this story. Asteria is the type of person to butt in where she thinks she's needed, so I don't think we'll have to worry about the same cycle of events happening again.
JoyfulSky7: I live for those chapter names haha. Edward is going to get an earful pretty much until one of the end of time, I'm fairly certain.
LPWomer: If that wasn't exactly me in high school I swear! Writing this story kind of makes me feel like I've gone back in time to my high school years again. I'm gonna start having dreams I missed the bus.
ferallahey: Man, leading up to the Alice bomb took so long but I'm happy it got incorporated into the story so well. Fun fact, it wasn't my original plan to make them related. I thought of it somewhere around chapter 10 or so I think. I'm so excited for the mess to really start!
AnnaRozeDog: Thank you so much! I have a few original works I've played around with, but nothing quite like this story. It's been a lot of fun adopting the Twilight world and adding magic into it. I might have to make a similar story in the future.
Guest: I'm terribly sorry for leaving you, hopefully years of therapy can help us overcome it.
ArchangelArrow: Welcome to my world! I only write at night and I live in a hundred year old farm house. It would be like 2 am and I'd have to go to the bathroom after writing about the entity. Catch me doing James Bond maneuvers around the hallway in the dark trying not to get attacked. Also my inspiration for Asteria is to basically say anything that used to get me grounded during family functions.
teragram143: Thank you! Sometimes it's hard to edit and figure what details to include and what to leave out but I think I've found a good balance to keep it close to Twilight while still adding my own touch of magic to it.
Krazygirl19: I live exclusively on cliffhangers. Just be glad you don't text me.
Bittersweet256: Thank you!
swissgirl: Thanks!
And now, with limited commercial interruption, please enjoy the next chapter. Happy reading!
Song Inspiration: "Black Magic" - Magic Wands
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"Edward left, Asteria," Alice sighed. "He knew it was dangerous and he left right after school."
"Somebody better start explaining things to me now," Asteria said, only slightly calmed down by the news. "Because it sounds an awful lot like he almost killed my baby cousin."
"Please, come in at least," Carlisle told her. For someone who couldn't sleep he sure looked like he could use a ten hour nap followed by a bath in coffee. Asteria stalked inside and took a seat on the couch, noticing the flutter of air as the rest of the Cullens moved at super speed to follow.
"Bella is Edward's singer," Carlisle started. He noticed her look of confusion and continued before Asteria could respond. "Every person has a unique scent to their blood. Occasionally, a vampire will come across an individual whose scent is so potent that it overpowers their senses and it makes it hard to control their urges. Their blood 'sings' to the vampire. Bella's blood is remarkably potent to Edward, but he did everything in his power to resist the urge. When he fully calmed himself, he decided to travel north for a bit to clear his head."
Asteria sat in silence for a long moment as she processed Carlisle's words. Eventually she sat forward and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great. So you're saying that Bella is screwed so long as she's in Forks?"
The room was uncomfortably silent. "I have a lot of faith in Edward," Carlisle hedged. "To speak plainly, he was caught unaware today and had gone too long without hunting. It was not an ideal scenario to meet Bella, and yet he managed to repress his urges. I believe that with the right preparation he might be able to get through this."
"I'm gonna need a lot more than 'might's' and 'maybe's'," Asteria said. She was still pretty ticked, but managed to keep just a faint trace of annoyance in her voice. "No offense, but I'm not using my cousin as collateral on a social experiment."
"I've seen it working," Alice stated. "When Edward comes back he should be able to control himself." It felt like she was omitting certain facts, but Asteria was too annoyed at the situation in general to read into it.
"And if he can't," Rosalie argued. "We don't need to take these kinds of risks. There's too much at stake." Asteria was ninety eight percent certain the biggest factor for Rosalie wasn't the danger Bella was in, but she appreciated letting the blonde argue for her.
"We can control the situation better," Alice said. "What happened today was a fluke. If we can control the environment and all the variables, I'm confident everything will work out."
The siblings argued back and forth while Asteria sat on the couch wrapped in her own thoughts. While she didn't know Bella very well, she felt a strong urge to protect her for family's sake, as well as basic human decency. Besides, if anything happened to her it would break Charlie's heart and Asteria owed him too much to let that happen. She was the only one that could really help her anyway. She might as well put "fighting the supernatural" on her resume.
Getting inspiration, Asteria wondered what sort of spells she could give Bella to make her safer, all without the other girl knowing. Definitely some sort of luck spell; in the short time she met Bella she had never seen someone so clumsy. She would have to look into what sort of protection spells she could make as well.
"Enough," Esme said firmly, ending the squabbling. "We don't need to continue this back and forth. Edward is a member of our family, and he is always welcome with us. I have faith that he is strong enough for this, but if he isn't I know he will make the right decisions. If that time ever comes then we will discuss it rationally, as a family."
Asteria sat quietly on the couch feeling like an outsider in the family's discussion before Esme turned to her. "Asteria, I hope you can look past this. You may not always get along with Edward but he has a good heart. He can't help the reaction he had, but I promise you he will control it."
Asteria nodded. "If you can promise Bella is safe, then fine."
"Everything will work out, really," Alice told her.
Asteria left shortly after, still very aware that she hadn't told Alice her secret yet. It wasn't like she could just come out and say, "oh, while we're here I wanted to let you all know I'm part of the family as well. Which room is mine now?" The thought left a bad taste in her mouth all the same though.
Waiting for the right moment felt an awful lot like procrastinating, which Asteria was thankfully very good at. She spent the next couple of days developing a new routine with Bella. They drove separately to school which suited Asteria fine; it let her choose her own music without Bella's skeptical facial expressions. She refused to give up listening to Chvrches for anyone.
It also meant she could claim her normal parking space next to the Cullens, while Bella parked closer to the school. Asteria suspected she was afraid of running into Edward, which really didn't matter; he was still far off who knew where on his soul searching journey to find inner strength. Even though she parked next to the Cullens, Asteria spent quite a bit of time avoiding Alice.
The smaller girl seemed to notice, but she hadn't said anything to Asteria yet. She felt bad for it, but Asteria didn't have the mental capacity to deal with two crises at once. It's not like she had anything more to go on anyway; all of her digging for info came up empty, and her ancestors were still giving her the silent treatment. After Bella was safe she could focus on figuring out a way to tell her.
Which is precisely why Asteria's afternoons were spent up in her room, mixing together different herbal sachets and charms and anything else she could think of. She mixed angelica root, blessed thistle, cedar, and verbena in equal measurements with a charged quartz stone and sewed it into a small quilt square she had found in the steamer trunk at Liam's. It already had a protection sigil quilted into the front and left Asteria to do some quick embroider work on the back.
The theory behind it was that she could slip it into Bella's backpack which would most likely always be on her at school. It would act as a magical perfume to protect and mask her scent a bit, so long as the crystal was charged enough. Asteria figured she could just sneak a new one in once a month or so if necessary. If Bella ever found it, Asteria could just say it was a potpourri pillow that she slipped into the wrong bag by accident.
The other spell Asteria worked on was a pendant for good luck. It was a bright citrine stone that Asteria hoped Bella would be convinced to wear every day. She didn't really have a plan b if it didn't go over well. She wrapped it up in a neat little box and went to find Bella reading in her own room.
"Hey, Bella," Asteria started. "I know it's a little late for Christmas presents, but I just thought you might like this."
Bella took the box awkwardly and unwrapped it. "Oh, it looks nice. Thanks!"
"I thought you might like some color," Asteria joked. "It's not exactly the sun, but it might remind you of home when it's rainy out."
Hook, line, and sinker. She could probably convince Bella to wear it anytime they expected a dreary day, which would be most of them for the little rainy town of Forks. Asteria was impressed by her own quick thinking; she briefly wondered if she should go into politics.
The next morning brought about one very important change. Asteria climbed out of her Camaro wearily as she noticed all five Cullens still in the Volvo. Edward was the first one out, and he stared at Asteria expectantly while remaining silent.
"Are you good," Asteria asked him. Edward nodded at her. "Good. Keep it that way."
Having said all she wanted to, Asteria stalked off towards History. Her words hadn't been overly harsh towards him and she was thankful they dropped it before a full conversation happened. While she was doing her best to move past it, she was still a little bit miffed about the whole thing; understandable, in her opinion.
"We'll keep an eye out," Emmett said as he caught up with her just outside the classroom. "Alice is pretty sure about everything, and you know she's got a good track record. Didn't you say you finished your spells for Bella yesterday?"
"Keep it down," Asteria said while glancing around. No one seemed to have heard him, at least. "And just because everything seems okay doesn't mean I can't worry."
The morning was as uneventful as the grey sky outside and Asteria had to fight not to fall asleep in some of her classes. Lunch was a welcome sign that she was almost through with her day. She gladly settled down at her table and enjoyed the general chaos that ensued in their lunchtime conversations.
"No, we've talked about this. Having a third arm is going to do way more harm than good," Damien said. "It doesn't matter where it's at."
"I can think of a place you can put it," Asteria chimed in brightly before dodging the chip Damien threw at her.
"Uh," Rachael said, looking directly at Asteria before glancing back. Catching her line of sight, Asteria saw Edward once again staring over at Bella's table. Bella had clearly noticed based on the immature giggles surrounding her. It looked like they had been at it for quite a bit.
"Oh, fuck's sake," Asteria whispered. She was fully fed up. Carefully removing her enchanted necklace, she set it down on the table. Edward Cullen I swear to God if you don't mind your manners we're going to fist fight in the parking lot. Don't try me. He briefly made eye contact with her and nodded once before she slipped her necklace back on.
"I'm not overly happy about the situation either, trust me," Rosalie told her as they walked out to the parking lot once Geography class had been dismissed that day. "Everything is tense enough as it is now."
"Oh come on Rose," Emmett said. "At least he's trying. I would still love to see you fight Edward, though." That last part he threw out to Asteria.
"Always starved for entertainment, aren't you," Asteria asked him dryly.
"Perpetually," Edward answered for him as he joined up with their group. "I wanted to apologize, Asteria, and tell you that today went fine. I don't think I'll have any problems."
"You're on thin ice," Asteria told him without menace. "Consider this your probation period."
Edward smiled grimly. "I'll keep that in mind."
Asteria parted ways with the Cullens and gunned it home, glad that one of her crises had seemingly been put to rest. It did leave her with the anxiety-inducing task of telling Alice the truth. Taking several deep breaths, she decided to do it after school the next day. It would give her enough time to mentally prepare and gather every piece of evidence she had about Alice's old life.
Asteria offered to split the task of making dinner with Bella and the two girls worked together on making lasagna. She was starting to appreciate Bella's presence; she was much quieter, but also seemed to understand Asteria's personality and even laugh at her humor. Bella's insight was also fairly helpful.
"So, Edward's back at school," Bella tried and failed to be nonchalant.
"Yeah, I heard he came back from his trip yesterday," Asteria said. She wasn't sure where Bella got the confidence to bring him up, but she wasn't sure she liked it. "Alice mentioned it."
"He was a lot nicer, at least," Bella said. "He even talked to me in Biology."
"Oh did he," Asteria asked with the slightest warning of an attitude. "Did he behave himself?"
Bella huffed out a laugh. "It was a one eighty from last time…you didn't talk to him, did you?"
Asteria blinked at her. "…no?"
Bella groaned. "Why would you mention it to him?"
"I'm pretty sure I warned you when you got here, if anyone messes with you I'll beat them up," Asteria said. "That's what older cousins are for."
"You're terrible," Bella said.
"Thank you, I try," Asteria responded sweetly.
As Asteria drifted off to sleep that night she thought she caught a gray form from the corner of her eye, but decided it could wait until tomorrow as she drifted off to sleep. Her dreams were relatively calm but one moment in particular stuck out to her. A large clock tower in the distance, similar to Big Ben, chimed as a voice told her "it's time". She jumped out of bed, annoyed that she had woken up exactly six minutes before her alarm went off. That was precious sleep she would never get back.
Based on the snow outside that barely covered the ground, Asteria decided to dress in warm layers. Winter was still one of her favorite seasons and the cold didn't bother her too much, but she couldn't pass up the coziness of an oversized sweater and some comfortable boots. Speaking of, she still had yet to discover her cowboy boots Alice had confiscated.
I have the cutest sweater on today. Any chance you know where I could find a nice pair of cowboy boots to go with it, Asteria texted Alice.
The response was almost instantaneous. There are no 'nice' pairs of cowboy boots, but you're tan knee length boots would go well.
Asteria shook her head and headed down the steps while adding a hunt for her missing boots to her 'to do' list. They couldn't be that far, after all.
The sky outside was exactly the dreary, wet weather Asteria had thought of when convincing Bella to wear her new necklace. She was a bit too pleased with herself as she entered the kitchen and saw the necklace peeking out from Bella's sweater. They exchanged pleasantries while Asteria made herself a thermos full of coffee and Bella finished her breakfast.
"Are you almost ready," Bella asked.
"Probably, but I'll just see you there," Asteria said.
"No, Charlie left us a note. He said the roads might get bad today," Bella said. "He wants you to ride with me in the truck since it's safer."
"I know you did not just call your rust bucket safer than my Camaro," Asteria told her.
"Don't call it that," Bella said without anger. "My truck has character. Does your Camaro even have working seat belts?"
"Yes, mom," Asteria said with a roll of her eyes. "Well, in the front seat at least. You know, for being younger than me you sure act annoyingly old. What are you, seventeen going on eighty seven?"
They bickered back and forth good naturedly right up until Bella parked the truck in her own usual spot halfway across the parking lot.
"I'm really proud of you for not killing us, Bells," Asteria said cheerfully as she climbed out.
"Thank you for that," Bella said sarcastically as she walked towards the back of the truck. Something silver caught Asteria's eye and she went to inspect it too. "It looks like Charlie put snow chains on my tires this morning. I wonder how early he woke up to do that."
Asteria was about to reply when she felt a prickling feeling on the back of her neck. Turning, she caught sight of the Cullens in their usual spot and saw a horror stricken Alice. The squeal of tires kept her eyes moving until she saw a van careening across the parking lot at high speeds. Dumbstruck, Asteria grabbed Bella by her shirt sleeve and yanked her back behind her out of pure instinct. Still, she knew there was no way they were getting out of there in time.
Asteria felt the force of impact, but it felt wrong somehow, not what she expected. She felt herself fall back against Bella, who unfortunately broke her fall. Something had her pinned down from above, but she still heard the van moving around her as it scraped along the back of the truck.
Blinking back against the stars in her vision, Asteria realized she had the wind knocked out of her by something other than the van. Shaking off her hazy thoughts she noticed Edward Cullen crouched above her, one hand still outstretched against the side of the van which now sported a very prominent dent in that spot.
"Bella, Bells," Asteria called out as she tried to maneuver herself in the tight space to find the other girl. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, I think," Bella responded in a tiny voice that was almost impossible to hear.
"She hit her head," Edward responded.
Asteria turned to look at him while blinking back tears. "Thank you."
He nodded before stopping Bella from sitting up. "You hit your head pretty hard, don't try to move too much."
"Ow," Bella frowned. Asteria guessed she was just now becoming aware of all the pain.
An absurd amount of background noise started up and Asteria was aware of all the shouting. She moved to sit up and sucked in a sharp breath at a painful tug in her side. Edward gave her a look. "I'm fine," she said. "Probably just a bruised rib or something."
She eased herself back down and decided to wait until someone moved the stupid van out of the way. Climbing over jagged metal didn't really seem like a fun activity just then. "At least this beats that History test I didn't study for," she mused.
"How did you get here in time," Bella asked Edward, causing Asteria to lose what little silver lining she had found.
"What are you talking about Bella, I was right next to you," Edward asked her convincingly.
"No, I saw you. You were over by your family," Bella said.
"I think you have a concussion, Bells," Asteria told her. She could tell her cousin was far too stubborn to let this go, but it was important that she did.
"You didn't see him all the way across the lot," Bella asked her.
"No, he was like ten feet away, tops," Asteria said. She could feel her own headache forming now and didn't want to keep this up. Her ribs were starting to ache with each breath she took as well. "Can I take a nap until we get out of here?"
It felt like ten years before paramedics got to them and Asteria flat out refused anyone looking at her before they got Bella out of there. A helping hand eased her up onto her own two feet to get out of the wreckage before insisting she lay on a stretcher.
"Oh, good. I was afraid I would be left with some dignity. This is much better, thank you," Asteria said as she lied down. They didn't give her the same neck brace that Bella got, which was a small mercy. Edward climbed in after them of his own free will looking far too smug about it for Asteria's liking and then they were off.
Asteria was prodded and poked so much she was prompted to yell at the paramedic. "Hey, hey! At least buy me dinner first," she snapped.
"Just let them do their job," Edward told her with repressed laughter.
"If I'm good do I get ice cream after this," Asteria asked sarcastically, but followed Edward's advice all the same.
Grumbling, Asteria let the paramedic resume his job and behaved very well for the rest of the short ride. Bella and Asteria were led into the hospital where they were separated to run tests. Asteria got her first CT scan and abruptly decided to never get one again. A nurse finally wheeled her into the same hospital room as Bella and deposited her in the next bed over. Unfortunately, Tyler Crowley, the boy driving the van, was also there.
"I am so sorry," he said for the twentieth time in about five minutes. Asteria couldn't take any more of it. At least Bella had pointed out to Tyler that Edward had also been there so he could take some of the apologies as well. Although, when Tyler mentioned he hadn't seen Edward either Bella got a look in her eyes that Asteria didn't like. "I didn't mean to go so fast. The van just started going and the brakes wouldn't work and next thing I saw you two-"
Asteria climbed off of her bed and hobbled over to the room divider, pulling it shut with a bit of effort. "Totally worth it," she gasped as she climbed back onto the bed in pain.
"You're not supposed to get up," a nurse told her sternly as she came into the room with Charlie behind her.
"Sorry, I had to turn down the volume. Couldn't find the remote," Asteria said with a wince. Walking had made her more aware of the painful pull in her chest. The nurse gave her a reproachful look while Charlie came to stand between them.
"Are you both alright? Nothing broken," Charlie asked them.
"Just my pride," Asteria responded. "But it already had a couple of cracks in it so I probably needed a new one anyway."
"I'm fine, Charlie," Bella told him quietly. She hadn't spoken much since the paramedics arrived, which probably didn't bode well for Asteria. She gave Bella a shrewd look, trying to figure out how much of a pain she was going to be over this, while Charlie went and chewed out Tyler.
"I hear we have some important visitors," Carlisle said as he entered the room.
"That's me, VIP. Hey Carlisle," Asteria said as casually as one could while wheezing with every breath.
"Dr. Cullen," Charlie greeted him with a nod. "How are they?"
"They were both pretty lucky," Carlisle said as he glanced down at his clipboard. "Bella doesn't seem to have a concussion, but it was still a pretty bad tumble. If you feel any pain or dizziness come back to the hospital, okay?" Bella nodded to him.
"Asteria, on the other hand, cracked a rib when she fell," Carlisle sighed. "It should heal on its own well enough and you can take acetaminophen for the pain. You'll have to do some deep breathing exercises as well to ward off pneumonia. I'd also like for you to get a couple of days to rest; strenuous activities might fracture it worse."
"Aw, shucks," Asteria said. "No school? How will my heart go on?"
Carlisle gave her a sardonic smile. "I'm sure someone will be glad to bring you your things. We're just glad you're alright."
"Thanks to Edward," Bella piped up. "He came out of nowhere and pulled us out of the way."
"Edward," Charlie asked Carlisle. "I didn't see him in here."
"Yes," Carlisle said. He sounded easy going, but Asteria could see his eyes tighten just a fraction. "He was relatively unharmed so we didn't see the point in admitting him. I'm glad he was there to help."
"He was so fast," Bella pressed onward. It was like a bad slam poetry reading, Asteria just wanted it to end. "He was halfway across the parking lot."
"He was like ten feet from us," Asteria insisted with a roll of her eyes. She felt kind of bad, but would rather lie to Bella than go down this route. "He was probably bringing me back my copy of Lorna Doone, which I still don't have."
"I'll make sure it gets back to you," Carlisle said with a small smile. "You can read it while you're resting."
With that he moved on quickly to Tyler and was out the door. Asteria guessed the good doctor didn't want to linger around and invite any more questions. Either that or he didn't want to be subject to the glare Bella was sending in Asteria's direction. Guess they weren't off to a good start after all.
While Charlie was busy helping Asteria into a wheelchair Bella slipped out of the room. Mentally cursing, Asteria thought bitterly about putting her on a child leash. Charlie went to sign some paperwork and Asteria wheeled herself out of the room. Or at least, she rolled and bumped her way out of the room. She was sure those dents in the wall were already there.
Having all of the grace of a baby giraffe, there was no way Bella wouldn't hear her coming. Still, the other girl didn't notice as Asteria rolled up and she suddenly realized why. Bella, goodie two shoes though she was, was spying.
Carlisle, Edward, and Rosalie seemed to notice their presence and Rosalie stalked off. Carlisle sighed and followed her, which left Edward to walk over to them both.
"Thanks again for saving our lives and all," Asteria pointed out before Bella could get too far on her war path. She hoped it would curb whatever Bella was going to ask.
"You owe me an explanation," Bella demanded. Nope, no dice.
"I don't owe you anything. I saved your life," Edward asked her. Bella remained pointedly silent. "I already told you, I was right next to you. You hit your head. You're not remembering things clearly."
"There's nothing wrong with my head," Bella said stubbornly. "Asteria saw it too, even if she's lying about it."
"Whoa, I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative," Asteria said. "Bella, take a deep breath. What do you think even happened?"
"All I know is that Edward wasn't even near us, and Tyler said he didn't see him either so you can't tell me I'm making it up. And then he got there and pushed us both down and the van should have crushed him but he had his hand out and it left a huge dent..," Bella trailed off as she realized how crazy she sounded. If this were a better moment Asteria would have given her a tin foil hat.
"You think I stopped the van," Edward asked while looking at her skeptically. Bella nodded at him. "Nobody is ever going to believe that."
"I'm not going to tell anyone," Bella responded.
"Then why are we doing this right now," Asteria asked in exasperation. Her chest really was starting to hurt.
"I want the truth," Bella said. "I can't stand lies and if you two are hiding something I want to know why."
"I saved your life. Will you just thank me and move on," Edward asked her.
"Thank you," Bella said. They remained in pointed silence.
"You won't move on, will you," Edward asked her.
Bella shook her head and Asteria groaned. Thankfully Charlie came back at the right moment and wheeled Asteria to the cruiser. She was able to go straight to her room with the premise of taking a nap. Really though, she was just trying to avoid Bella. After several Advil and the exhaustion of the day, Asteria was surprised to actually slip off into a dreamless peace.