When Luna opened her eyes, she thought she was in a mermaid's worst nightmare. She was in a white room, laying on a bed with machines hooked up to her. As she tried to make sense of the situation, her heart rate spiked. Every nerve was having a hard time remaining calm as every scenario she could imagine played in her head. Then, she felt the bandages on her head. Luna grimaced when she remembered the previous events. She wasn't captured. She was getting medical care.

What a great way to start my senior year.

Luna sighed as she laid back on the paper-thin sheets. The first day of school and she ends up in a hospital. This gave popping a tail at the Juicenet Café a run for its money. She would be the talk of the town for sure. Like she needed unwanted attention.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts of self-stupidity as a familiar face popped into the room.

"Auntie." Her voice was a little hoarse.

Luna was proud to see Piper in her nurse scrubs, but the careful strides the other redhead and the situation prior to this promoted anything but happiness. Piper's green eyes were hard and unreadable as she got closer. She was in so much trouble.

"What happened?"

Her chocolate eyes watched her aunt as she checked her gaze, wincing at the soreness the blue welt left behind. When anything strange happened, Piper would go into full judgment mode and questioned her and anyone else like the FBI. This, however, was Piper in mother-hen mode. The most lethal of the two.

Luna looked back at what she asked. What happened to her? The hybrid was just minding her own business in class when she went through the craziest headache she's ever felt in her life, and she didn't even know what caused it.

Wait.

Edward Cullen. The pain didn't start until after he came into the classroom. Was he the cause of all of this? That isn't possible. He was human, and no human was capable of doing something like that to a mermaid. Not even one who was a half-mermaid like herself. But, did that mean he wasn't human?

"I don't know. I was doing my work, and my head just started hurting out of nowhere. I don't know what caused it, but whatever it was didn't feel normal. I have a weird feeling about this, Pipes."

The older mermaid went stone cold. Her eyes were conflicted while her lips were pulled into a tight, thin line. Luna's body shook. Her aunt wasn't telling her something. The younger redhead was about to question her when she heard the door open. The man who came in was nothing short of gorgeous. His blonde hair reached his collar like fair gold with a pale, perfect face like a movie star. His topaz-gold eyes watched the two redheads with certainty, his gaze on Luna more constant. The hybrid thought her heart would skip a beat.

Carlisle couldn't help the smile on his face as he looked at Luna. She was absolutely perfect. Her velvety hair in slightly messy waves, her doe-like eyes, the way her rosy lips parted with her breathing. Her beauty was remarkable, and her scent was attractive as well. It was sweet and delicate, like bits of freesia, but there was tones of what could have been coconut and apricot. Or maybe it was sea salt? It didn't matter to Carlisle. He was only surprised since he hasn't smelled anything like it.

"You must be Piper's niece, Luna. She's told me a lot about you." Luna smiled at the sound of his voice. It was so smooth and gentle, like being wrapped in a soft blanket. She was so infused with it that she missed the look Piper directed at the doctor.

Piper gritted her teeth. "Luna, this is Dr. Cullen. He's my superior."

Luna looked stunned for a second as she registered the name. Adopted or not, she could the few similarities he shared with Rosalie and Jasper, from their blonde hair to the details in their faces. She smiled back in greeting, holding out a hand that was soon met with ice. Her brain went into a tailspin at the contact. His skin was like marble. It was so smooth, so flawless, and cold. It definitely wasn't human. But why did it seem to set her soul on fire?

Piper cleared her throat. The blonde and redhead pulled away, a bright red blush going up to the latter's ears. "Her vitals are good and the bleeding in her nose stopped."

Carlisle nodded at the update, keeping his attention on his patient. "That's excellent. The scans came back with nothing. It seems the stress of moving and starting at a new school might have caused a few blood vessels to burst around the time the migraines began. It's not an uncommon issue, but I'd keep an eye on your head. You had quite the fall."

Carlisle left to get Luna's discharge papers, leaving his shared mate alone with her guardian. He felt bad for leaving his little redhead, but he had to keep everything hidden under wraps, at least for now. Now, he would have to have a long, serious talk with his son over his mate's privacy. He could only assume that the rest of his kids were teaching him a lesson themselves.

The room was silent for a bit, the only noises being the two women's breathing and the sounds of Piper handling the machines. Luna was patient despite the war going on in her head. She was relieved to be going home, but her heart clenched as the doctor put more distance between him and herself. He was married, so why did she feel this way?

"You should stay away from the Cullens." Luna was stunned by the blunt statement. Piper continued. "Dr. Cullen and his family aren't human. They're predators, so I suggest that you keep your distance."

Luna didn't know what to say. Her aunt knew something, but what? What were they if they were predators compared to them? They could manipulate water, the weather, and more. What could the Cullens possibly do to pose a threat to them?

The older mermaid sighed. "Look, I understand your worry, but let me handle it. I don't want you to get hurt, so keep a low profile and don't talk to them."

Luna felt her heart break at the idea of not speaking to them, no matter how confusing it was for her. Don't talk to them? Stoop to Edward's level and be a jerk?

I don't think so.

Luna remained quiet as she got changed and walked out the door. Her heart and her conscience were in a game of tug-of-war. She didn't want to hurt her aunt, but she didn't want to upset the Cullens either. She was raised to be kind and strong, to care for her own and protect her life. How could she treat them with everything against her own nature? She didn't have it in her to be mean to those she hasn't really met yet. Well... Edward may be an exception.

Piper gave Luna the signal to proceed to her car without her. Apparently, she had taken time off her break to bring her niece's truck back home before coming back to check on her, so Piper was driving her home. Luna was walking down the hallway on her way to the parking lot when she heard what sounded like a heated conversation to her left.

"Have you lost your mind, Edward?! You could have killed her!"

"She was drawing us, Rosalie. And from what I gathered, she's probably been doing it for days."

"She's been here for a week, Edward. She's probably seen us in town and took inspiration."

"That doesn't explain how she had Jasper's scars in her artwork. No human should be able to see them!"

"Yeah? Well, that doesn't give you the right to try and read her mind!"

"I couldn't hear anything. It's like her mind has a wall around it."

"So you try to break her head open?!"

Luna's body went into shock as she bolted out of the hospital and into her aunt's car. She didn't notice that the Cullen siblings caught her scent and looked after her retreating figure. She didn't even listen to Piper's small talk. She just remained silent on the car ride back home, too lost in her jumbled thoughts.

That night, Luna struggled to sleep. Her head was no longer throbbing due to her aunt's private healing spells, but she would have to retain some of the bruising from her fall. But that didn't occupy her mind. No. The only thing she could think of was the Cullens. She couldn't understand it, but those pale, beautiful beings never ceased. She wanted to see them. She wanted to meet them. She wanted to know them.

Sighing, the hybrid took a moment to look at her drawings for what was probably the billionth time. She didn't know how they existed, nor how she dreamed of them before she ever even saw them. However, she couldn't help but feel that recreating them was worth it.

Unfortunately, she couldn't shake what she heard earlier. The Cullens were not normal, but they weren't merpeople like her friends or her family. So, what could they possibly be? And why did she feel as though they were important?

Turning the light off, Luna placed her locket on her nightstand and put her sketchbook in the top drawer. She snuggled under her bed comforter, ignoring the looming images of a certain bronze-haired male as she drifted off to sleep.

She didn't wake when her window opened.