Chapter 25: A Mess
The door to mine and Rosalie's guest bedroom was blown right open, loud edm music playing and jarring us awake. It was Jane, carrying a boombox and coming in to start our day. Rosalie let out a groan and flopped back down into bed, covering her face with her pillow. I, could not do that.
"Bella Swan, immortal of nothing! It is time to start your training. Get dressed and meet us outside in ten minutes." Then Jane left the room.
I dragged myself out of bed, slipped on my warmest clothes and marched myself outside. It was bitterly cold this morning but the three Volturi kings did not mind.
They stood only robed in shorts and a t-shirt. "How are you not freezing?" I asked, my teeth chattering.
"This?" Aro arched a brow. "Perfect beach weather," he told me. Yea, right.
"Today will be day one of exercises."
"And what are those?" I asked Caius as they lead me away from the warm cabin to some cleared spot in the woods.
"They are meant to make you learn how to be a goddess. How to invoke your powers!" Caius explained dramatically. We stopped in the clearing. "Now, get ready." All three of transformed in the blink of an eye.
"I wasn't ready!" I screeched out as they lunged at me with their powers activated.
"In hindsight, I do think it was a good idea we decided to stay back," Carlisle said as he set my broken arm. Immortals could heal on their own, but Carlisle's magical touch insured that we healed faster. I hissed between my teeth at the pain. Couldn't he give me some pain killers at least?
We were currently in the living room of the frat house. The TV was blaring as usual and the smell of weed hung in the air, but we couldn't tell where it came from. It was just perpetually there. Edward was watching the TV, Alice was next to him chatting his ear off, and Athenadora was making something at the kitchenette.
"Do they train all new immortals like this?" I asked, upset. I had taken a bad beating. True, my powers had come out and I had been able to retaliate, but not before I had taken some serious damage.
"I think they were just excited. And over eager," he told me, finishing up on me. I felt sore all over but at least I was no longer bleeding. My body was beginning to heal itself. I wondered when it would be all done.
"And what about my dad?" I asked. It had been three days since I'd gone to Russia.
"We used a little memory charm on him. He won't notice a thing, thinking you're visiting a friend or something like that."
My poor dad. Really hoped those memory charms wouldn't jumble up his memory too bad. I decided that he was going to learn the truth about me, it would only be fair. Even if he might hate me afterwards...
"Why don't you spend the day with Alice? She's eager to teach you about how to be a goddess too," he said, looking over his shoulder. Eager was an understatement. Alice was vibrating so hard she was creating her own sound frequency.
"Sure, why not," I said with no real enthusiasm.
"Yay!" Alice cheered and rushed over to me, Carlisle taking his doctor's bag and moving out of the way.
"I have so much I can teach you," she told me with undying enthusiasm. If she taught me the same way the Volturi did I wanted no part of it.
Carlisle left to go upstairs to Esme and Alice took his spot on the couch. She grabbed my hands in hers, careful not to squeeze the bruised knuckles too much.
"First, you need to dress for the role!" Alice insisted. "And since your role is being nothing, you should wear nothing!"
"No way!" I made an x with my hands. "I am not doing that. Can't I wear all black or something?"
"That's my thing!" Edward growled out, undead eyes looking at me. I shuddered. He always unnerved me so much.
"Or, here's an even better idea. How about I do nothing about it? Since I am a goddess of nothing it fits in line with my new powers."
Alice rubbed her chin, "you know you do have a point. Alright, your current style of converse and jeans remains! But we do have to still work on your branding and other things. Being immortal can be expensive so you're going to need to do some advertising."
"Advertising?" I arched a quizzical brow. "What do you mean?"
"Only that you need to visit Haven! It's where all gods and goddesses go. It's an eternal city for us. Has everything we could ever need. We go there about once a year. You can totally join us there now for the holidays."
"Um...I gotta ask my dad first-"
"Nonsense," Alice grabbed my hands. "You're a goddess now! You can do what you want, as long as it's within the bounds of this book." She dropped a heavy tome out of nowhere, making it fall onto my feet. I'm sure it was by accident but it fell on my broken foot and I yelped in pain.
"I'm soooo sorry!" she winced as she picked the heavy book up for me. I nodded my head tightly and tried not to let the tears of pain slide down my face. When I recovered, I took the book from her. It looked dry as hell. Did I really have to read this? I let my hands run over the gilded lettering. "Alice...did you see me becoming a goddess?" I asked her. She could see the future somewhat. It was this ability that started everything for me.
She shook her head no. "I typically can't see anything relating to the Volturi. They are able to block my gift. So if you had turned into a goddess anywhere else, maybe I could have foreseen it. But not here."
"Right," I said, unhappy.
She picked up on this. "Don't be so glum. I know it's shocking and it'll take time to get used to, but you'll get by. Besides, in this manner, Rosalie won't be sad when you die."
"You think she'd really care?"
"I think she's kind of happy by all this, even if she won't say it or show it," Alice told me earnestly.
I digested this before Alice whirled up from the couch. "Since you're injured we can't do much today but I wanted to take you to meet our branding agent."
"Do I really have to sell out?" I did not understand this at all. There was so much I realized I didn't understand about the world of immortals yet.
"You do. It's vital to your success," she said, wagging a finger at me.
"I don't even know about my powers!" I shouted back at her. But she was gone. I spent the rest of the day recuperating, just watching TV. When night time came, I went upstairs where Rosalie was reading a book on the windowsill.
My wounds had healed by now and I felt fine. She stood up when she saw me come in but hesitated to approach me. She set her book down and I felt like for some reason we were going to have a Talk TM. But why? What had I done now?
"Bella..." she started slowly, like I was hard of hearing. "We need to talk about what the Volturi decreed our punishment to be."
"You mean the kissing five times a day thing?" I asked, hands on hips. Where was she going with this? Rosalie squirmed as if she'd rather be anywhere else but this room, having this conversation.
"Yes, that," she said grimly.
"Okay, what about it? I thought it didn't count anymore because I'm like a minor goddess now or something."
"It does still count. Becoming immortal is not part of the extenuating circumstances of not doing it. So, we have to do it before the day ends or else," she tapped on her wrist, telling me to hurry up. I did not like this idea.
"I don't wanna touch you now," I told her, stepping back. "I don't have full control over my powers. What if I hurt you?"
"Bella, you won't. I trust you," Rosalie said.
"You...trust me?" I questioned, not sure how to take this. Since when did she trust me with anything? "I could just tell the Volturi my powers are unstable enough for us to touch and surely they'll let me off the hook."
She crossed her arms over her chest, getting aggravated. I couldn't tell why. "Fine, we don't have to kiss. It's whatever. Go tell Aro your stupid plan then."
Why was she getting so pissy with me? Wasn't it better if we didn't have to kiss? Hm, something was up with her reaction but I couldn't tell what. I decided to drop the topic and move on. I needed to tell Aro about this.
I went downstairs, not having the faintest clue on where he could be. I found Sulpicia in the kitchen with Athenadora and Didyme. "Hey," I pulled up, trying to be all casual as I talked to some goddesses. They looked up from where they were making sandwiches for themselves. It struck me as very odd, a goddess eating a sandwich. Shouldn't they be eating like gold encrusted caviar or some shit like that, especially if they were top level goddesses?
"Do you know where I can find Aro?"
All three exchanged looks. Didyme made to speak to me, but Sulpicia put up a hand, stopping her. "I'll tell you, but for a price."
What was this? "Hey, I'm a minor goddess now. I'm not a mortal."
"Exactly, which means the godly rules apply. If you want another gods or goddesses help, you must pay the price for our help if we so declare one," the blonde said sharply.
I did not like this. I did not like this at all. There went my free help offers as a mortal. But if anyone knew where Aro was, it was his wife. "I want to know what the price is first," I told her, jerking my chin up, trying to come off as strong. I wasn't a mere mortal anymore. I had powers (supposedly)!
"Fine," she said and grabbed me by the elbow, leading me out to the patio in the path. It had walls built around it to keep the snow out, and it was nice and heated inside, the snow melting on the glass before it could even layer the material.
"I want you...to tell me a fact about Esme," Sulpicia's demeanor suddenly changed, getting very bashful. She pushed her pointer fingers together and looked up at me with big eyes, fluttering her lashes. I was so taken aback I couldn't say anything for a while.
"Huh, what about Esme?" I jerked back to life after my brain had enough time to process this.
"Just...I just want to know how she's doing. She hasn't talked to me in centuries."
I felt so bad for Sulpicia. Imagine losing your best friend because of your feelings. That would suck. "Uh, well, she's doing alright. Busy with the house and all that," I told her, figuring there was no harm in this.
Sulpicia nodded her head soberly, processing this info and doing who knows what with it. "He'll be downstairs with the boys, having a beer, playing some games," Sulpicia answered. She said this coldly to me, her earlier softness gone.
I was more than happy to leave, only to realize I had no idea where the downstairs was. I looked around the whole living room area but could not find it. "Hey, do you know where the downstairs are?" I asked Didyme who had mostly finished her sandwich.
"If I tell you, you'll have to pay a price-"
"Oh my Me!" I exclaimed throwing my hands over my head. "Just fucking tell me. It's not like I'm asking you to destroy the world for me!"
Didyme rolled her eyes but pointed at a staircase going up. I swore it was going in the wrong direction but whatever. I just wanted to be away from those annoying women. I climbed it, and as I climbed it, I found myself going further down and down. What the hell? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? But as I got to the top, I found myself at the bottom.
This was trippy.
I could hear loud voices and I entered the den which was where Aro, Caius and Marcus were sat. It was dark in here and there were chip bags and empty cans everywhere. They were all playing some COD game, yelling at the noobs.
"Hey, Aro, can I talk to you?" I asked loudly over the noise.
"One moment," he said. "Gotta finish this match." I stood awkwardly in the doorway and watched them playing. Another behavior I wouldn't have expected from immortals but I suppose they had to get with the times. Who knows how I would change during the course of my immortality. Hopefully, not a lot. I kinda liked myself as I was.
Aro won the game, given his enthusiastic yelp and then strode over to me, beer can in hand. "What's up, Bella?"
"I wanted to talk to you about uh, the punishment you gave Rosalie and me." I felt a bit nervous addressing him head on. I don't know why, when usually my attitude was so blase to everything. But I guess after he'd whooped my ass this morning, things were a bit delicate. Including my aforementioned ass. "Look, my powers aren't stable enough yet, and I was kinda hoping to not have to do it until my powers are all gucci. I don't wanna accidentally turn Rosalie into nothing."
"Valid," he nodded his head. "I see your point dudette and I allow you two to be free from this until it's all good. But as soon as it's good, you gotta go back and do it."
"Thanks. Just one more question," I voiced hesitantly. "Um, how long will this punishment be now? You originally made it when I was human, so how does it work now that I am a goddess?"
He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Well, I had it in mind for as long as you humanely lived, but since you're immortal now, I guess that would only be for eighty years then. And after, you'd be free from it."
Okay. 80 years. I could do that, right? That wouldn't be so bad. Eventually the kisses wouldn't even mean anything to us, right? I felt a bit hot under the collar, on thinking of having to kiss Rosalie so many times.
"If that's all, I've got to go whoop some losers," he jerked a thumb to indicate the large plasma screen behind him, speakers blasting explosion sounds at full affect.
"Right, see ya then. Also, the stairs? How do I get up?" I asked sheepishly.
"Just go down them. Duh," he said and went back to his games.
Right. Silly me. Go down the stairs if I was already at the bottom. Ugh, I swear, I hate immortals sometimes.
I got back to Rosalie's and mine room. She's in her pj's ready for bed. I'm ready to sleep too. I hop into the shower and change into my sleepwear, before I grab a pillow and spare blanket and make a makeshift bed by the window sill. Rosalie watches me from her comfy spot in bed.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
"Keeping you safe."
"Bella...don't be ridiculous," she scowls. "I already told you, I trust you not to hurt me with your powers."
"Yea, but I don't trust myself. Good night," I turn my back on her, curling up in the small space. I hear her huff in frustration but she doesn't do anything else about it. I drift off to sleep and wake up the next morning so sore from sleeping wrong.
I get up, feeling like an old woman, my bones creaking and shit. Rosalie has already left the room and I wonder where she's gone. Have I offended her? But why? I'm doing the best thing for us right now. Which is keeping her safe by putting distance between us.
I go downstairs and find that Aro, Caius and Marcus are there waiting for me, along with the other Volturi members and the Cullens. "Good morning!" they chorus to me as they circle around a buffet style breakfast table. The smell of the food makes my mouth water and I hurriedly pile on some of everything onto my plate.
I try to find a seat at the long table, taking one by Edward and Emmett. Which means I probably won't have a normal breakfast knowing the two of them. Emmett is looking more Russian each day, wearing a bearskin hat and drinking vodka straight from a bottle. "Доброе утро белла," he said. I had no idea what that meant.
So I ignored him in favor of my food, shoveling as much in as I could.
"Enjoy your food while you can," Edward said from my left and I gave him an odd look. He looked emo as usual.
"I'm immortal now," I told him, confused by his morbid nature towards me.
"Hm, for now," he said and my eyes went wide.
"Are you threatening me?"
"It is not a threat if it is the inevitable-" he is pegged in the side of his head by a bottle of jam. It shatters and leaves ooze everywhere. It almost looks like brains because it is so red and thick. It knocks him out, forcing him to plant his face into his eggs.
"Ignore Eddy," Alice pipes up from across the other side. "He woke up on the wrong side of the coffin today."
"Uh huh," I mumble out and turn to my food.
"Ready for our training to continue?" Aro asked gleefully from where he sat near the middle of the table. "We have so much planned for you today, Bella."
I gulped. If it was like anything yesterday, I was not looking forward to it. Atlas, that was the life of a minor goddess like me.