Alice was used to seeing things. Every day, she'd have at least three visions before most people finished breakfast.
When she had the vision of them all moving to Forks, they'd packed their stuff into boxes and headed west. There'd been a man she kept seeing: brown skin, green eyes, round glasses. He was always staring back at her in the visions. Alice needed to know who he was, what he knew. Maybe he was like her, she told herself, or maybe more like the human she used to be.
The first time she met Harry in the bakery, Alice realised he was incomparably himself. She was alright with that. Alice enjoyed his company, and he seemed to enjoy hers just as much. When her visions showed their families getting along, she prodded and pushed them together.
Esme loved the company, and Jasper took pleasure in following Alice's lead. Even Rose and Edward played along, happy to practice being the perfect little family.
Then Bella arrived like a lightning storm. The school worked itself into a frenzy of anticipation, while at home they counted down the days by debating what she'd be like. Edward wondered if he'd be able to read her mind, what with Charlie and Harry each being some kind of shield.
It was cute how Edward kept forgetting that Bella wasn't the couple's biological daughter. He surprised them sometimes with how open-minded he was, and other times they all wondered at the dimensions of the stick up his rear.
After Bella's first day of school, Edward reported that she surpassed his expectations with the silence of her mind. He seemed content to watch her, just to bask in her quiet whenever he had occasion to. He took to hunting every night, claiming his unusual draw to her scent whenever she wasn't wearing one of Harry's masking corks. Nobody but Alice seemed to notice that he often returned with eyes just as dark. She amused herself watching Edward's flip-flopping decisions through the long morning hours, waiting for a future where he'd finally choose Bella.
Then, a month into Bella's stay, two visions appeared while she was waiting for the Swans to finish breakfast.
The first of Bella, sparkling, beautiful, laughing.
The second of Edward, crimson eyes and lips, terrified of a stick-wielding Harry.
"Oh my God," Alice said to her empty car. She knew that stick. It seemed to follow Harry around, almost like magic. She'd seen him leave it lying about, but it always showed up again in the man's hoodie pocket, nestled in silver fabric.
She decided to ask Harry about the stick and waited for a vision. 'This?' Harry was going to answer, twisting his hair into a bun. 'It's an old bit of elder. You know, me and my trees.'
'It's more than just that. I've seen it. Is it magical?' Alice saw herself say.
'There's magic here, in the forests. Down at La Push, and in your family, too. It's a strange world.'
'Can you do magic with it?' future-Alice was saying, and then she watched Harry's eyes bulging, his breaths shuddering, his hands clutching at nothing. His hair started to float around him like a halo.
"Alice, Alice!"
She opened her eyes. Bella was stumbling towards the car, feet only half in her shoes.
"Alice, you have to help me, Harry's having some kind of seizure."
The porch light was stuttering on and off. Alice ran into the kitchen.
.oOo.
There had been a kid at Arizona High that had epilepsy. Bella remembered changing after P.E. once, and seeing the girl fall over, shaking, her mouth foaming and making sounds like she was possessed.
Bella remembered feeling scared and helpless, while that girl's friend knew exactly what to do. Afterwards Bella had looked up everything she could in the library, she'd learned that some people were vulnerable to their own brains in ways she couldn't begin to imagine.
Charlie had told her, "sometimes Harry has fits, but he's been much better lately. Don't worry, he's safe."
Charlie had not said, "Harry is going to randomly drop his plate and start moaning." Nobody had mentioned that the man's eyes glowed like nuclear radiation, as if some energy inside Harry wanted out. Bella had never been more relieved to see Alice in the driveway.
Her friend moved Harry to the couch and swept up the shards in the kitchen, all while talking on her mobile. Bella was ushered out of her own home, grateful to just sit and wait. When the silver Volvo pulled up and Edward Cullen asked her to get in, he reminded her of a superhero. That turtleneck made her wonder if he was wearing spandex underneath, like he'd whip it off and be someone else entirely.
"You should wear the necklace Harry gave you," Edward said, holding the passenger side door shut "I'll wait."
Another car pulled up, a sleek Mercedes. "You must be Bella, I've heard so much about you," the woman said, gliding through the mist. "I'm Esme Cullen, I'll watch Harry while you go to school. Don't worry, dear."
Bella couldn't remember the last time someone had patted her cheek like that. Esme's hands were cold like the rain. Alice popped out of the house then, giving Bella the cork she always dumped as soon as she got home. "It suits you," Alice said. Then the girl was leading her mother back into Charlie's house.
When they got to school Bella realised she'd forgotten her jacket. Edward shrugged his off, the gentleman as always. It smelled like cinnamon and elderflower, like Grandma Marie's kitchen, and the sleeves only fit once she'd rolled them up twice.
It was summarily the strangest morning of Bella's life. She was past caring what people would think of her wearing Edward's clothes, Charlie had taught her there were more important things than small-town gossip. All the way through maths class, she chewed her nails, worrying if Harry was okay.
She wasn't ready to do her own ironing just yet.
But everything returned to normal, except that Edward became her daily ride to school. Bella almost felt sorry for her truck sitting idle in the driveway. Then again, she didn't feel ready yet for Forks' rain-slick roads. They even had ice to contend with, sparkling in the dappled dawn sunlight. That morning, Bella was doubly grateful not to be at the wheel.
Edward began with a fresh set of strange questions, like always. They'd moved from music to discussing her childhood. It felt a bit like therapy, or what Bella imagined therapy would be like. She'd seen it on TV, someone reclining and talking about their daddy issues.
"I love my mum," she said, just to be contrary. "Tell me about Esme, Charlie says she and Harry get along well?"
"It's hard not to like Harry," Edward said, "I'm sure they'll be having their regular soirées again soon." He turned, smiling at her.
Once on the parking lot he hurried inside, she'd noticed he was allergic to even the threat of vitamin D. Bella ambled over to greet Jessica, hoping to exchange spanish homework for trig. Jessica agreed easily, but forgot all about her as soon as Mike joined them.
Sighing, Bella took their notebooks to the sun-thawed picnic table nearby. She'd finally gotten the second trig problem when she heard a shout. Bella looked up.
Eric's white van was skidding across the ice. He'd barely been driving fast enough to park, but the collision was inevitable, like the car was being pulled by a great magnet. She could see its path, it would hit the corner of Jessica's car before swerving towards the curb, towards her. Bella's legs were frozen, she couldn't move, she couldn't swallow her heart from where it was pounding in her throat.
She watched Jessica shove Mike away, saw her friend fall to the ground. The sound was the worst part. Metal scraping against metal, a cry of pain, glass shattering. The van stopped at the curb, teetered once, and crashed into place. For a fraction of a breath, everything was silent.
She could hear screaming. The air smelled hot, like blood, and she wanted to throw up. Bella's legs still wouldn't move.
"Let's go inside," Edward's voice was murmuring in her ear.
She wanted to say something about Jessica, about Mike, but her own helplessness was rising again like bile. When Edward set her down by the cafeteria she spit into the frosted grass.
"They've called an ambulance. Jessica, Mike and Tyler are all going to be fine. Calm down, it's alright. Breathe, Bella. You have to breathe."
She blinked up at him. She couldn't remember sitting down. "I want to go home," she heard herself mumble, so quiet Edward shouldn't have heard.
"Charlie will be busy processing the accident, but we can stop by the bakery on the way," he said.
It was strange how comforting the thought was, Harry with his oversized sweaters and his propensity for forgetting his own footwear.
"Alright," she whispered, and concentrated on breathing.
.oOo.
When Charlie told her he had a boyfriend, Bella hadn't expected him holding her as she sobbed. He rubbed soothing circles on her back and hummed a familiar lullaby. I see the moon, the moon sees me, please let the light that shines on me shine upon the one I love.
Bella had thought—Bella didn't know what she'd thought while meeting Harry, but she sure hadn't been picturing potted peonies on the back porch. She hadn't imagined how safe he'd make her feel, even though his arms were skinny and his eyes couldn't meet hers.
"There's magic at work here," he crooned into her hair, rocking the both of them. "It's shining on you, like the moon. She's a fierce mistress, but she's generous with her gifts. You'll see, Bella. Trust me."
Harry was like that, didn't know the words he was saying until they spilled from him like skittles. Bella knew he wasn't quite right in the head, but when he spoke his truths, she listened.
.oOo.
It took a week for Mike and Tyler to come back to school. Scrapes, cuts and bruises, nothing too awful. But when Jessica returned she was changed. They'd shaved her hair, and Jessica didn't seem to notice. She shuffled from class to class with her shoulders hunched and her eyes hidden behind sunglasses. When Mike asked her to the dance, Jessica screamed that she didn't want his pity.
"Is that what happened to Harry?" Bella asked Edward on the way home. She'd whispered it, but all the Cullens had supernatural hearing. She listened to the sound of their breath rise and fall as she waited; Edward liked thinking before he spoke.
"It wouldn't be my story to tell, even if I knew it," he said when they reached her driveway. "His situation is more complex, Jessica just hit her head very hard. People aren't broken once they no longer suit your definition of normal, Bella."
"You know that's not how I meant it."
Edward's fingertips brushed the top of her hand. "Jessica needs to regain her equilibrium. She'll no longer make valedictorian, but she'll have a great story to tell someday. Humans are strong. Resilient."
He was smiling, and Bella smiled back. Being around Edward was always so effortless. "You talk about humans like you aren't one."
They both laughed at that.
.oOo.
The fire hissed and spat like an angry cat. "The Cullens don't come here," the Quileute boy was saying. He looked powerful, like he was quoting a line from a movie, or the bible.
"Sure, that's only a bit creepy." Laura looked stupid, batting her lashes like she was shaking a feather duster. "I bet you know some real spooky stories."
Bella rolled her eyes and got up. She ambled over the beach, picking up pretty pebbles, dipping her fingers into rock pools. When she reached the line where the forest touched the beach, she trailed her hands over mossy bark and tried to listen to the voices Harry heard in the waves and the wind.
If Harry could have so much faith, then Bella was willing to believe in magic too.
Day 24 of an update every day this month. If applicable, Happy Christmas! If not, happy Friday!
As usual, there's more of the fic up on ao3 already for the impatient.