The Whispering Woods
Chapter Forty-Six
Charlie had sent Edward home early the previous day, claiming they looked like crap. If one took into consideration all that happened in the course of a few days, looking like shit was putting it mildly.
"Thanks for the ride to school." Bella clicked on her seatbelt in Edward's car the following morning. "Damn migraine makes it impossible to drive. My vision gets all blurred."
It wasn't a chore to have Bella close. "No problem, but shouldn't you stay home if you have a migraine?"
"Normally I would, but there's a lab today, and it accounts for twenty percent of our grade this semester."
Edward appreciated that she called him instead of having her father drop her off. Or another friend. He knew little about any of her friendships at school other than Jessica Stanley hating her guts, Mike wanting into her pants, and the principal keeping tabs on everything she did.
He wondered what the reactions would be like when they showed up at the school together. Most students gave her a wide berth, but she still got her fair share of leers and catcalls.
"Any idea how you're going to handle what happened in your class yesterday?"
Had it only been yesterday that he had, what appeared to everyone, as a panic attack? In reality, an entire town's inner thoughts had induced it. So much had happened since he collapsed under the deluge of secrets, desires, and unrequited love.
Under the surface of the rainy, picture-perfect town laid sinister darkness. Some things he heard had been too much for him.
Edward felt the squeeze of Bella's hand on his arm. "Ease off the gas, baby," she whispered. He could only nod and slowly drop the speed of his car. "Put all that shit behind you. If you try using your gift with so many people nearby, it will be just as bad. You must work your way up if you want to develop your gift. If not, which I understand, stop trying. Even thinking about it could trigger the instinct."
"It wasn't until we got here that I could hear someone's thoughts without touching them. I always had to use touch to trigger it."
Bella sighed. "It's this town or the woods that surround it. I think it amplifies our gifts."
Edward stared at her. "I think you're right about pushing it all aside for now. School is not the place for me to practice." He slipped into a parking slot without even looking. He used the thoughts of Eric Yorkie that watched them drive up to do it.
His gift came with a few perks.
"Show off." Bella cocked an eyebrow, then rolled her pretty purple eyes. "Behave."
He did his best to look innocent, even drew an imaginary halo around the top of his head. "I know for a fact you like when I don't behave."
"Maybe that kind of practice we can do around here." She had to remind him of his issues with sexual contact. "Though maybe not in front of anyone."
His cheeks inflamed with heat at the thought of others finding out he couldn't keep it up. His head hit his steering wheel several times. "Panic attack, dating the local witch, adopted son to the local's only missing person's sister, and a nonfunctional dick. I'm a fucking freak to these people."
Bella placed her hand between his forehead and the steering wheel on the way down again. "Stop that. You are gifted and cursed, and it left you traumatized. Yet, you're still here and willing to go out there, despite what they may think. You are going out there, right?"
Edward tipped his head up and kissed the center of her palm, closing his eyes to gather some control. "It's been a crazy, what, forty-eight hours? Can we hold off on the magic stuff and just focus on the 'us' part of all this?"
Bella winced. "You mean the mate thing?"
Edward grumbled. "Okay, so the mate thing is part of the magic, but I know for a fact without that, I'd still think you're the hottest girl here."
"I admit you have the cutest fucking ass." She winked and hopped out of the car, waiting as he walked around to join her on the sidewalk. "I'd like permission to touch you occasionally, not in public, but out of the blue. Maybe it will help acclimate you to me."
Edward leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Yes, please." Nervous at the thought, he felt excited, too. "Is this okay?" He intertwined their fingers and held them up.
"Yes, please."
He grinned, and they made their way to their lockers. They ignored the whispers that didn't come from the woods, but from the students who surrounded them. What they thought didn't matter to them, at least not for the moment.
They wanted a day not to worry. A day just to be.
Determined to have that, they made plans to head into Port A for a trip to Bella's favorite bookstore, where they could practice among the stacks.
.
.
.
Her body ached and felt run down as she walked toward her car on the way back from the bank. The dark magic she weaved faltered and the glimmer that hid her identity flickered, causing that noisy bitch Gianna to gasp and stop in the middle of the sidewalk. She snapped the magic back into place, but not before stealing a little of the woman's essence. She hardly needed it since the cancer Gianna had yet to discover would destroy her body long before she and her family expected it.
"Cyn-cynthia, is that you?" Gianna looked confused and alarmed; she swore she'd seen a ghost, a face she hadn't seen in years. Before the thought took root, it floated away and left her confused about why she stopped.
"Afraid so." The rumors of Cynthia's sick appearance had reached every corner of town; she fed Gianna the lies she and her husband had come up with for upcoming her unfortunate death. Though Jessica Stanley's body was the next one she'd take over, it couldn't happen for another eighteen months. Until then, a few town residents would fall ill to feed her.
Human bodies were too frail for her dark energy and rarely lasted more than a few years. For a few days after her "death," the residents of Forks would speculate of how Michael Newton Senior had gone through so many wives and girlfriends over the years. Many would wonder if it was a coincidence no one ever heard from them again. Not long after their speculation and suspicions would start, they'd forget all about them, and only find remorse for the soon to be grieving high school principal, his son, and adopted daughter.
No one had ever wondered why they shivered whenever they approached her and her husband. No one questioned why they could walk out of any store or restaurant without paying a dime. Nor question them later why a certain bank teller's drawer was two thousand dollars short.
The Newtons were kindhearted and good people, giving back to the community. The townsfolk would forget all they'd taken over the years. All the residents of Forks simply forgot anything too complicated for their simple little minds.
Must be something in the water.
.
.
.
"Don't drink the water," Edward murmured at lunch a while later. "Never drink the water here."
Bella snorted. "The tap water here is gross; I get bottled. Yes, I know it's bad for the environment, but—"
Edward covered her mouth; her eyes narrowed at him. "Don't drink the water. Probably not even to shower." He dropped his hand and leaned closer so no one could overhear them.
"Uh, I need to shower, babe. What's going on?" she asked.
"I heard her thoughts."
"Her?"
His gaze darted for a second toward Mike at the end of the table. "Yeah, the woman who smelled like a morgue."
"Edward!" Bella's voice raised an octave higher, panic-filled, too. She grabbed the sides of his face to force him to meet her eyes. "Stay out of her mind. If she finds you in there, she could literally kill you no matter how far you are from her."
The fear in her eyes felt tangible; in fact, the tendrils of her glow wrapped around his, the first time it ever happened. She gasped, no doubt seeing it, too. Warmth radiated out from every point of her touch on his skin. Edward definitely didn't have a problem with his dick at the moment.
Bad fucking timing, as usual.
