A/N:
Hey everyone! I'm back a lot sooner than usual, hope you don't mind :)
I just wanted to address something that was brought to my attention by a user over on AO3. In the last chapter, Emme practiced telepathy, not telekinesis. She was meant to practice telekinesis, but I thought it was more important for her to learn to shield her mind first. I forgot to change the word 'telekinesis' to 'telepathy.'
I am really making this story up as I go. I have a general plan for it, but other than that I am taking this chapter by chapter. There will probably be some minor continuity issues like that until the very end... and then I will be sure to go back and edit everything. This is story is meant to be for fun, so I'm not super worried about making it perfect. As long as you guys are enjoying it, so am I!
On that note... have fun with this chapter ;)
The weekend passed by in a blur of magic.
Saturday we focused on precognition—something I was already entirely familiar with. Isolde and Blair were again shocked at how easily it came to me. I only needed them to tell me how to channel my energy into focusing on the unknown for the first vision to come to me on my own. They told I could look into different people, but the outcomes were always changing. When a person changed their mind, the future changed too.
And yet, some things were set in stone. The only thing that I could focus on without getting annoyed at the improbability of it all was the vision of me in the clearing with Edward. That never changed; it never shifted. It wasn't even a little bit hazy.
My aunts warned me that the future was fickle. It would drive people crazy if they obsessed over it too much. Some witches spent their entire lives just watching it and forgetting to live. I was grateful that they didn't look into my mind to see what I was seeing. The vision of Edward and I seemed too private to be shared for some reason.
Sunday we worked on clairvoyance. I learned how to learn things—all sorts of things. I could feel the energies that people gave off through their emotions. My aunts let me practice on them, but they weren't exactly the most emotional of people, so I wasn't sure if I had the hang of that craft or not.
I also could use objects to read certain things. When I touched Isolde's locket, I could see a shadowy version of my father handing it to her.
I could use reflective surfaces to scry and learn what people in faraway places were doing. My aunts had a scrying bowl, but I personally preferred the scrying mirror. The bowl had to be filled with a liquid in order to work. The more life energy it possessed, the better the images would turn out. My aunts liked to fill the bowl with animal blood instead of water as it worked better. I had no need to see anyone or anything that clearly, so the mirror suited my needs just fine. I would manage with the hazy images until I had reason to need to see something.
I wasn't nearly as good at clairvoyance as I was at telepathy and precognition. I knew why that was, of course.
And when I walked into lunch on Monday, that reason was sitting at the Cullen table along with his brothers and sisters.
I froze where I was in line, staring at them. I counted again, just to be sure. There were, unmistakably, five people at the table.
"Emme? What do you want?" Jessica asked impatiently from her place behind me in line.
I barely registered her.
"What's with her?" Mike wondered. I could feel the concern coming from the boy.
I shook my head a bit, trying to clear it. I didn't expect that Edward would be back today. I couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I also didn't know what I was going to do about it if anything.
"I don't want anything. Maybe a soda. I feel one of those headaches coming on."
Jessica nodded and grabbed a Coke for me. I was glad that she bought my headache excuses so easily.
I avoided eye contact with the Cullens but sat within view of them again. By now, this was my regular seat. Jessica and Mike didn't seem to care, despite me sitting in between the two of them. Even though I knew Jessica was into Mike, she seemed to like the attention that sitting next to the new girl awarded her. I didn't even want to get into why Mike enjoyed sitting next to me.
Would Edward be feeling any animosity toward me after our last conversation? It had ended so abruptly because of me. Cautiously, I glanced towards him.
He looked better than he had the last time I had seen him. Maybe he really had been out sick. Maybe his absence from school had nothing to do with me at all. His pale skin looked a little more flushed, and the dark circles under his eyes were almost gone. Edward's hair was wet with melted snow and seemed to glow a darker bronze in the fluorescent lighting.
It was almost annoying how good he looked. Fluorescent lighting wasn't supposed to do anyone any favors, but he sat there, laughing with his siblings like some sort of model.
"Jesus, Emme. It's like talking to a wall. What are you looking at?" Jessica said, annoyed that I—again—hadn't been listening to a word she had been saying. The curly-haired girl followed my gaze straight to the Cullens. She smirked. "Edward Cullen is looking at you."
I looked up again, meeting his eyes. Even from across the room, I could tell they were brighter than they had been the last time I had seen them. I could feel the voices pushing against my mental shield, but it held strong. They shield managed to keep the voices out, as well as mine in. It was a huge relief.
Edward, for his part, didn't seem to be as upset as he had been in our last Biology class. He actually seemed to be smiling slightly, though it wasn't directed at me. It was probably something one of his siblings had said.
"Okay, so after school. Battle of the Blizzard, in the parking lot. Who's in?" Mike was asking excitedly.
Jessica immediately agreed. I sort of felt bad that Mike was so oblivious to her obvious feelings for him. A couple of others—Tyler and Eric—also agreed. I stayed silent while they continued to plot. I loved the snow, but I didn't like it in my clothes. And I certainly didn't like it thrown into my face.
In the end, it didn't really matter what the plans were. As Mike, Angela, and I walked to Biology, the snowfall had turned back into rain. I wondered briefly if it was my doing. I didn't feel any sort of exhaustion, but it still could have been my fault.
My table was still empty when I got to Biology. Mr. Banner had placed a microscope on each of the desks, along with a set of slides. I took my seat and waited anxiously. This would be our first partner lab exercise… and today I actually had a partner.
I sensed him before I saw him. I could feel myself tense with anticipation as Edward Cullen walked through the door and slid into the seat next to me. I couldn't figure out why I was so nervous. He was just a boy. An unbelievably attractive one, but a human boy nonetheless. I immediately pushed away the thought. He was more than that. He was a mystery, and I wanted to solve it.
I took a deep breath before turning to him. I wasn't a coward. I could face him, and I would—head-on. "Welcome back." I made sure to look him straight in the eyes this time, so he would know that what had happened last time was a onetime thing and (hopefully) something he had imagined.
Edward's hair was dripping wet from the rain and disheveled in a way that looked as if it were done purposely. His dark eyes—no, they were light, a warm amber—looked at me carefully, but his posture was open and relaxed. "Thank you," he replied quietly.
So he was talking to me.
I was even more excited than I had been when I first saw him in the cafeteria. I had a million questions but stopped myself from asking them. Firstly, though, I wanted to know where he'd been. I had to edit myself to not seem as nosy as I felt. "I hope everything's alright. You were gone for a long time."
He smiled slightly. It was a slightly crooked smile, but it fit him perfectly. "I was feeling under the weather. I feel much better now, though."
Lie. I knew he wasn't telling the truth immediately, but I didn't have time to question him further as Mr. Banner chose that moment to begin his lesson.
We were to examine the slides under the microscope and separate them into the correct phases of mitosis without the help of our textbooks. Over the last week, I had learned that my homeschooling had been fairly advanced in comparison to Forks High School. I had done this exact lab with a number of different types of slides. I knew what to look for.
"Ladies first?" Edward offered.
I glanced at him, surprised, before turning the microscope to me. I adjusted the objective and looked briefly into the lens. "Prophase," I murmured.
"Do you mind?" Edward asked before I could change the slide.
I laughed softly. Of course he would want to double-check. "Be my guest," I replied, sliding the microscope towards him. His hand brushed mine as he made to take it from me.
I sucked in a breath as our fingers met. I felt what I could only describe as an electric shock pass between the two of us. His fingers were ice-cold, and yet my hand was on fire where our fingers had touched. I ripped my arm away, hoping he hadn't noticed. That sort of shock wasn't normal for a human. I carefully studied him.
I didn't pick up on any sort of weird feelings; I felt a slight concern mixed with a lot of rigidity. I wanted to know what was going through his mind, but I didn't want to invade his privacy. I wanted to solve his mystery, but I didn't want to be invasive about it. This would be a whole lot easier if I didn't have any morals. I blamed my mother for bringing me up in a way that saw humans as people with rights like witches had. Not all witches practiced the same ethics.
"Prophase," he agreed. He wrote the word onto the worksheet in an elegant script. It looked like some of the writing in the Wildes Grimoire. It was beautiful, of course. Like everything else about him.
Edward switched out the slides. He barely glanced at the second one before declaring it to be anaphase.
I grinned. "Do you mind?" I asked, sending his previous words back at him.
He smirked and turned the microscope to me, careful not to touch me again. So he had noticed.
I looked at the slide, and quickly saw he was correct. I gave him a nod, and he wrote 'anaphase' onto the worksheet. We finished the rest of it within the next three minutes in exactly the same way. I looked around noticing that no one else was even close to being done. I sat next to Edward feeling suddenly awkward. I wanted desperately to talk to him, but I didn't know how.
His musical voice interrupted my thoughts. "Why did you move to Forks?" The question might have seemed rude but for his tone; he was genuinely curious.
I was hesitant to answer him, but for some reason, I was even more hesitant to lie to him. "I came to live with my aunts."
He seemed puzzled by my answer. "What about your mother and father?"
I glanced away from him nervously. My mother and father weren't exactly comfortable topics of conversation. I grasped at my hands in my lap to give my nervous energy something to do. "It's a bit of a long story…"
He smiled a genuine smile. It took me aback. It was dazzling. "I think we have some time."
"My father died when I was young," I sighed. I didn't know why I was telling him this, but I wanted to be honest with him.
The smile was erased from his face immediately. Despite the topic, I wanted to bring it back. The furrow between his brows was endearing. The concern in his eyes was surprising. But I didn't want him to pity me. I didn't want him to feel anything negative at all, actually.
"It's okay. It happened ages ago. I hardly remember him."
"What about your mother?"
I dropped my chin into my palm, leaning on the desk as I fully turned my attention to him. Edward stared at me, waiting for me to continue. I had his full attention. I had to choose my words carefully so I didn't reveal anything I wasn't supposed to. "My mother… remarried."
"And you didn't like him?"
"Well, no. Ash was alright from what I could tell. She made sure to keep us separate though. It was like she led two different lives."
"I can see how that would be difficult," he mused.
"It was. My mom wasn't the same after my father died. Ash made her more like her old self. I appreciated that. But my… grandparents…" I hesitated to try to explain the Council's decision in a way that wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a normal human. "They didn't like him at all. They told my mother that if she didn't stop seeing him, they would… take everything away from us. They owned our house and gave her a monthly allowance, you see." It was close enough to the truth.
"They didn't ask how you felt about this first?"
I scoffed at the idea of the High Council asking me how I felt about anything, let alone the situation with my mother. "Why would they? They already didn't agree with how she was raising me. They wanted me to follow in my father's footsteps, not my mothers. They wanted her out of the way—so she left."
Edward finally broke eye contact with me. He looked sheepish like he regretted bringing the topic up.
Strangely enough, I didn't. It was nice to be able to talk to someone about it—as much as I could, anyways. "I was furious," I laughed.
He looked at me again, expression of shock and curiosity clear on his perfect face. Edward clearly hadn't expected me to laugh.
"I'd never been so angry in my life. I yelled at them and told them I'd rather leave than stay within a hundred miles of them." I didn't mention accidentally setting the place on fire, though the thought brought a grin to my face. "My aunts—my father's sisters—had already left after my father died because they didn't agree with… my grandparents' decisions. So I decided to come here and live with them instead."
Edward looked like he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by Mr. Banner.
"You didn't think Emerine should get a chance with the microscope, Edward?"
"Emme," he corrected automatically, his eyes not moving from mine. "And she actually identified three out of five."
Mr. Banner turned his attention to me. "Have you done this lab before?"
"Yes."
He nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Boston?"
"Salem," I muttered under my breath, though I supposed it didn't really matter. "Not really. I was homeschooled."
This seemed to surprise him. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing you two are lab partners." I couldn't help but look into his thoughts just a little bit, just to make sure he believed that I had done my fair share of the work. So the other kids can get a chance to learn something for themselves.
I frowned. It wasn't my fault Edward and I already knew what we were doing.
I looked back to Edward. He was looking at me curiously. Again, I wondered what he thought. It occurred to me that I had no problem looking into Mr. Banner's mind—or even Jessica's and Alice's for that matter—but I was extremely hesitant to look into Edward's. It was so tempting, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Mr. Banner called the class back to attention to go over the answers after collecting our papers. I didn't pay him any attention.
I could feel Edward next to me. The curiosity and relief were coming off him in waves, though why I had no idea. I was equally curious if I was being honest with myself.
"You look like you want to ask me something else," I whispered to him.
He immediately turned to me, gold eyes wide in shock. "Am I that easy to read?"
I shot him a smile. "Not easy enough." I couldn't stop the hint of challenge in my voice.
"That's probably for the best." His voice also reflected a hint of challenge.
The electricity between us was obvious. He knew something was off about me, just like I knew something was off about him. And both of us wanted to know what it was.
The next day, I woke up to soft light streaming through my window.
Something was wrong. It wasn't supposed to be this silent or bright.
I ran over to the window only to see it was snowing. There was already dusting on the ground, and while it wasn't quite sticking the roads yet, it looked like all the rain from yesterday had frozen solid.
I dressed quickly in some maroon jeans, a warm black and white sweater, and black riding boots. I was sure to grab a hat and scarf from my closet as well.
My aunts were waiting for me when I went downstairs.
"Good morning, Emerine," they said together.
I looked at them wearily. They normally left me to my own devices before I went to school. To see them now meant they wanted something from me.
"You'll notice it's iced outside," Blair began.
"Make sure you clear the driveway before you leave for school," Isolde finished.
I felt my brows draw together. "Wait, what?"
They laughed; it would have been eerie if I hadn't known them as well as I did. They had clearly been waiting to spring something like this on me. "You heard us," Isolde shrugged. "The keys are in the car. It'll unlock when you're done," she finished before heading into the kitchen.
"I recommend heat," Blair smiled, giving me a wink. Then, she turned and followed her sister.
I groaned, grabbing my backpack and trudging outside. Just to be on the safe side, I tried the door handle on the Infiniti. It was locked, just as Isolde had said it would be.
Okay… I could do this. I had used heat before when I accidentally set my old house on fire. I could do it again. I thought back to what I was feeling when the High Council told me they had given my mother an ultimatum and she had left me. I hadn't lied when I told Edward I was more furious than I had ever been. Those feelings were still inside me. It was still a fairly fresh wound, after all.
I felt a familiar burning sensation in the pit of my stomach. It was exactly how I felt the last time I used fire magic. Except for this time, I knew what was going on. I wanted the flames to come. I could feel the heat grow in my palms. I glanced down to see that my right hand was sparking. I held it out, palm facing the sky. I needed more.
I fed the feelings into my stomach, stoking the embers within me. My palm burst into flame. The fire dimmed as I felt a jolt of excitement for succeeding so far. I tried to control the emotions inside me, keeping them from changing too much. Father. Mother. The High Council. It really wasn't fair. I didn't know any other witches whose lives were so… messy. It still wasn't enough, though.
I was growing impatient. I wanted to get to school; I was eager to go. The thought gave me pause. I knew I wasn't eager to learn or see my new friends. I knew it was because I wanted to see Edward Cullen.
My aunts' entire yard burst into flame.
I shrieked as the flame in my hand grew, singeing my coat sleeve. Immediately, the fire went out. My concentration had been broken, and the yard was no longer on fire. There was absolutely no ice within the premises of the wards.
I felt my energy leave me. I had woken up feeling well-rested, but I certainly didn't anymore. I had definitely overdone it.
I heard the doors to the Infiniti unlock. I grabbed my backpack off the ground next to me—also singed—and threw it into the car grumpily. I decided I didn't like starting out the day feeling this drained. I wouldn't have had to if I could just control my stupid emotions… or better yet, be able to use my magic without resorting to negative feelings at all.
I found a parking space in the middle of the lot. Clearing out the driveway made me later than usual, but I was still early enough that the lot wasn't full. I climbed out of the SUV and walked over to the passenger side to grab my bag. The ground was icy, but I managed not to slip. I took a second to lean against the black vehicle. I was so tired.
I felt someone probe at my mental shield.
I looked up to meet eyes with Edward.
He was across the parking lot in the front row, standing next to Alice, but I didn't give the girl thought. Instead, I was wondering why he had such an expression of confusion on his face.
And that's when I heard it.
Edward's facial expression twisted from one of concern to one of horror. I tore my eyes away from his to see his sister's face looked much the same, before finally landing on a dark blue minivan. The vehicle was skidding across the icy parking lot, accompanied by a horrendous screeching sound that was echoing through the student lot. I could see the tires twisting back and forth. The driver was turning the wheel frantically, trying to get some sort of traction on the road. It didn't work. The van was heading right for the passenger side of my car, and I was standing in between the point of impact.
I didn't have time to react. I had enough time to register the words 'Not her!' ring through my mind in a clear, musical voice that was laced with panic. And then, something hard hit me in the side.
I fell to the ground, my head cracking against the icy asphalt. I sat up quickly. Whatever had hit me wasn't the van. No, the van had hit my aunts' car, bounced, and was heading towards me for a second time.
A voice cursed next to me. I finally noticed that someone was with me. Their arm was wrapped around me. That someone threw out a hand against the van, stopping it from hitting me. The van molded under the white hand like putty, lifting from the ground.
Edward was holding the van.
I didn't wait for him to drop it. On instinct, I threw my hands out making contact with the van. It was pushed back with a force that could only be described as unnatural… which it was. It slid across the parking lot fast—too fast for it to have just bounced off my car—and promptly burst into flame.
My eyes widened in shock. I guess my mind had still been set on fire mode from this morning, not that I had any control over what I was doing. It was a life and death situation, and I seemed to be a fighter.
Everything thing was silent for a moment. I glanced at Edward, who still had his solid arm wrapped around me protectively. He must have been the one to push me out of the way when he realized the van was going to hit me. But how did he get across the parking lot so fast? And better yet, how did he have enough strength to not only stop the van but pick it up?
"Are you all right, Emme?"
That's when I felt my energy began to drain out of me. I had used too much magic too close together.
I met his amber—no, they were dark brown now—eyes. He was staring at me, apprehension etched across his features.
All I could manage was a hum of agreement before my world faded to black.
