"Concentrate Grace. Think of what makes you angry only in your mind and then act upon it," Jasper was about six feet away with the others behind him. They had set up a ring around her of vases. Grace stood still with her eyes closed for a long time before a single name popped into her head.
Jacob.
The first vase exploded.
The second vase exploded.
The third vase exploded.
"Now, think of something that calms you down!" Jasper shouted making Graces mind switch gears.
Seth.
All noises stopped around her. No more explosions.
"What did you think about?" Jasper asked as he moved forward. Grace opened her eyes and saw all the color glass laying on the ground around her. She looked up at Jasper and let the others fade out in the background.
"Seth," Grace knew he was always a calm in the storm for her. She could hear someone snort in the background and believed it was Emmett.
"Now what made you mad?" Jasper asked while looking down at the broken glass now. He was amazed at the power. He knew this power could be used for bad if the Volturi saw it.
"Jacob did," Grace now locked eyes with Jacob who was off on his own. Not even Nessie sat beside him. She was angry with him for being selfish and putting a wedge between her and her twin.
"Now, when the Volturi come they will ask questions," Carlisle stepped forward now. He was not looking forward to when the clan would arrive. He never wanted to face them again after the last time.
"What kind of questions?" Grace knew this was something serious. Maybe life and death serious.
"How was your upbringing?" Alice asked as she seem to float into view. She looped arms with Jasper and waited while Grace thought. How was she brought up?
"Normal? Strict?" Grace wasn't sure how to answer that question.
"How did they raise you? What kind of person did they want you to be? How did they treat you?" Rosalie asked from the log she was perched on. She wanted this nightmare to end just as bad as everyone else.
"Sheltered. They kept me distanced and sheltered from the world. They wanted me to stay in Brooklyn and go to a college near by. They raised me like...their own," Grace realized she hadn't talked to her parents in weeks. She did nothing but ignore them and even visit when they weren't there. Guilt pulled her stomach.
"So you knew nothing of us? Of yourself?" Carlisle raised an eyebrow. He was trying to think like Aro. What questions would throw her off? What questions would make her tick? They have to know about her powers by now somehow so they would want to test her.
"I knew nothing. I knew I was different but...not this different," Grace looked at Edward and Bella staring at them both for a long quiet minute. "Seth told me you were human when you got pregnant with us. Is that why I am so late to all of this?" Grace asked Bella with a blank face. She was trying not to show any emotion. She woould save that for later when she could scream into pillows and cry in the shower.
"We tried to think about it for a long time. There's another like Nessie who grew rapidly fast and in seven years was full grown. Like Nessie. But you, you were growing like an average human. Beth kept me in the loop about how you were growing for a long time. You were a normal kid. Nothing out of the extreme ordinary that made anyone worry other then stronger then normal and faster. We assumed you just got all human dna until...Beth told us that you stopped aging at 18, you didn't age or change at all after that right?" Bella swallowed hard even though she didn't have to.
"How did you find out that you were different?" Edward now asked while placing a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder. He knew she felt guilty for giving their daughter up but he still stood by the choice.
"I never tanned and trust me I tried. My skin never broke out. My body...it has nothing wrong with it even though at one point I begged for anything. I tried dying my hair when I was a teen as a rebellion but nothing. I tried chopping it off but nothing. I did find out though that I could get tattoos, I guess my skin was still penetrable," Grace looked down at her tattoo hands. She remembered the tattoos being the only thing that made her feel normal.
"When did you find out about your powers?" Emmett asked now cracking his knuckles. He found her power fascinating, way better then Edwards who was now glaring at him.
"Not until recently. I didn't know about any of them," Grace let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding.
"And now you can freeze and blow up things?" Jacob knew he was now the odd man out. Everyone was mad at him for hurting Seth and Grace. Grace just looked at him though and another vase exploded. Then another.
"I think it was in her brain all along but just got unlocked," Seth shouted over the explosions. Once he spoke though they stopped.
"So Jacob is a trigger and Seth is the stop. We need to keep seeing what else triggers you," Jasper concluded before nodding at Grace and turning.
"Training is over for the day," Edward announced before watching Grace turn and walk into the woods. She knew Seth would follow but was surprised when she heard Jacob call out.
"We need to talk," Jacob talked as though she was apart of his pack. An ally and not an enemy. A friend. Grace turned around and they both flinched when they heard a tree nearby snap and fall. Jacob needed to make things right before he got himself killed by just talking.
"What about? About how you are a selfish prick? About how you got to keep Nessie and I was shipped away? How I lived my entire life questioning why I was so different from everyone else only then to meet good loving friends and to then find out it was all a lie? You want to talk about the pain you put Seth through? You want to talk about the lies you've told all of the Cullens? You want to talk about how you commanded Seth to stay by your side and not speak to me?" Grace was now shouting. Trees were snapping all around them and branches were falling. Dirt was flying up from the ground and birds were no longer singing. The Cullens had shown up all looking concerned with the scene going on.
Seth.
Grace took a breath and everything around them halted. She saw a branch inches away from Nessie's face and ran over to move it. She didn't want her to get hurt. When time sped back up everything was now settled and Grace stood in front of Nessie with a branch in hand. She dropped it before turning back to Jacob.
"I was selfish, you are right. But I had to be. Nessie wasn't like you. If she got shipped off too then who knows what her life would have been like," Jacob was talking frantically but Edward was now stepping closer.
"No, you would have been lonely. Right? Like Seth was. Seth was lonely. I was lonely," Grace was trying to keep calm. She had to stay calm. She didn't want to hurt him, just scare him.
"You're right, I didn't want to be alone. I have lost so much in my life and I couldn't lose my imprint too. Even if it meant making someone else say goodbye to theirs..." Jacob turned to stare at Seth who was rigid. His body slightly shaking.
"You ever think about what Seth lost?" Edward was now inbetween them. Jacob was trying not to let him into his mind but he was having a weak moment and couldn't block him out.
"I lost my dad only a month before everything happened. Leah left me to go live her own life. The other guys still aren't allowed to speak to me...I lost everything but you acted like it was all okay because Nessie was still here," Seth crept closer while still shaking.
"Seth move back," Jasper called out but he didn't listen. Jacob was also beginning to shake. Everyone began to worry about how close Grace and Edward were.
"Do you see you hurt so many other people just because you wanted to be selfish! Things could have been different. Even if I had left still...Seth should have at least been allowed to tell me the truth sooner or talk to me while I was clearing my head," Grace now went around Edward to push Jacob which only sent him over the edge. Jacob started breathing heavy and vibrating. Seth was only getting worse too and before anyone knew it they both were starting to phase. Grace then threw up her hands quickly, an instinct that she didn't think about.
Then time froze.
While everyone else stood still in horror watching them phase so close to everyone Grace could see the two men now becoming wolves mid transformation. It was beautiful. It was scary. Grace took the time to see the horror on everyone's face and began pushing them all out of the way. She had a feeling things were about to get dangerous. Time sped up once Grace was finally pushing Bella out of the way. She heard the growls behind her and the screams of the people around her along with the confusion.
"Grace, you froze time?" Carlisle asked while Edward and Emmett yelled at the two males to leave until they sorted it all out.
"I didn't mean to though," Grace watched as the wolves run off deeper into the woods, nipping at each other and growling along the way.
"It's okay. It's a start, the power is used for good," Esme laid a hand on her shoulder before giving her a kind motherly smile.
It was a start.
