Chapter Eleven
Premonition
Life was boring with the girl gone. At night, while the others played card games or watched their favourite shows, Lena thought about her. She looked out the window, staring beyond her reflection and into the thicket, wondering if she would be able to catch her scent in the breeze if she opened the window…
"Lena, it's your turn."
She turned back to the group, and ran her tongue over her aching gums.
Alice sat glumly on the floor, her legs pulled up to her body and her head resting atop her knees. She held out two dice to her with a ghost of a smile.
She carefully took the dice in her palm.
Jasper was trying to teach her control. She was struggling, of course. Still, the Cullens had hopes she could join them one day in the world outside their wooded lot. Play the part of a human, if she moved slowly enough, held things gently enough, and remembered to blink and breathe and fidget.
The thought was unappealing.
She threw the dice. They bounced off the coffee table and flew straight through the screen of the television. Instantly, the screen was black, the picture cutting out as hundreds of cracks splintered through the glass. Still, the football announcer's voice filled the room though the game, at least for this household, was over.
"Was that on purpose since you're losing?" Rosalie asked.
She didn't often talk to Lena, and Lena didn't really care. But, as always, her voice surprised her. Silvery. Maybe even prettier than her face.
"No."
Rosalie rolled her eyes.
Maybe she wanted her to say yes so she had a reason to be upset, but what difference did it make if she did it on purpose or not? It was a television, not a human's skull.
Emmett patted Rosalie's knee, and stood up. He looked around the TV for the dice, as if the game would continue after that.
Truthfully, Lena didn't care for Monopoly. She played it with her brothers a few times, but it was a game that required far more patience than she had. She often declared herself bankrupt to escape. Nik and Adrian could bicker for hours, slapping down hotel after hotel, proposing ridiculously awful deals to trade properties with one another.
She would rather be outside, in the dark. She would rather lurk in the shadows, slink through the forest, until something interesting found its way to her.
The Cullens were trying to keep her entertained, busy. She wasn't an idiot. She sensed their desperation.
It pleased her to know they were afraid.
"You need to learn to control yourself," Carlisle said. He wasn't looking at her, but at Emmett as he crouched down and looked under the entertainment console for the missing dice.
Alistair stood from his place on the other side of the room. He was clearly uncomfortable, but had been talked into coming out from wherever it was he spent all his time to play with them. He stalked past Emmett, and to the bookcase tucked away in the corner of the room. He crouched, stuck his lean arm down the side of it, and retrieved the two dice, now covered in dust.
He blew on them. The dust bunnies flew free, and floated through the air.
She looked at Carlisle. "What's the point?"
He smiled. It irritated her that his answer to everything was to stretch his mouth into something pleasant. "It will frustrate you, over time."
Lena wasn't so sure.
She was frustrated now, with the thought of having to suppress her true nature.
In her human life, she was locked up in her little town and forced into a future she never had the chance to decide she wanted. She cared for the wheat, and her brothers. When her mother died, she was supposed to take ownership of the land, and become responsible for selling the wheat to the mill.
She thought her second life would be different. She thought that because she was no longer in Thessaly, it wouldn't be like before. She would be free to choose what she wanted to do. She would no longer be pushed into a corner, and forced to accept a role she didn't want to play.
She was wrong. Now they wanted her to play human.
"Did you have a hobby, back home?" Jasper asked.
The question caught her off-guard. Nobody had taken an expressed interest in her human life before. Not even Carlisle.
She shook her head. Everything she did as a human, she did out of necessity. She cooked to feed her family. She learnt to sew, so she could mend clothes. She played games, but it was to keep her brothers out of trouble more than anything.
She liked only one thing, one game. Blind man's bluff, out in the wheat fields, a scrap of discarded fabric from one of her sewing projects tied around her eyes. She would stand in the field, and listen to the wheat hiss in the wind as she tried to pick out the faintest noise - a giggle, a breath, a footstep. She'd fling herself at whatever she heard, and tackle her victim to the ground. They would fall in a heap of laughter. She would rip off her blindfold and squint at her brother, or a distant friend from another farm further down the road.
She always won.
"No," she said.
He looked at her like he didn't believe her.
His gaze made her feel like a bird, sometimes, under the careful scrutiny of a much larger predator. She wasn't afraid, just aware of him. In the same way that birds still dwell in the places tigers sleep, she wouldn't run. She had to be careful around him, that was all. She knew from his stare, which was always stern, and never faltered. There was a hardness there, in his amber eyes, that wasn't in the other Cullens'.
Lena didn't shy away from it.
Alistair's boots thumped against the wooden floor, and brought her attention to him. He stood in front of her, hand extended. In his palm sat the two dice, impossibly tiny when she considered the damage they had done to the Cullens' TV.
"It was your turn, I believe." He smiled, but it was only small.
It was a much nicer smile than the ones he offered her in the past. A genuine attempt at friendliness, rather than a veiled threat. She preferred him when he was brooding, though. He looked much more handsome when he was all straight, unimpressed lines.
She hesitated, and looked from his face back to his calloused hand.
"Hmm?" He shook his hand slightly, and the dice knocked together.
She reached out, and pinched one between her thumb and forefinger. She could learn to be gentle, couldn't she? If only to fool them…
A soft exhale of air stirred her hair. Was he laughing at her?
She looked up at him. He at least had the decency to try to school his expression. Though he no longer smiled, his dark eyes glimmered.
That amusement was quickly sapped, though. Alice gasped loudly, and shot up, knocking the coffee table over. The board slid to the floor, and all the little game pieces scattered.
Jasper was beside her in a second, one hand on her shoulder, the other gripping her hand. "What is it?"
Alistair sat next to Lena. His brow furrowed as he watched the two.
Lena wondered, briefly, what happened. With one look at the other Cullens, she could see that this was a common occurrence. Even Alistair was watching Alice like this perfectly normal - his posture relaxed, his face interested but not concerned.
Lena frowned at Alice. Strange, how her eyes were open, and yet she didn't seem to be seeing a single one of them. She wondered if this was like the girl's trick. Perhaps Alice was some sort of witch, like Renesmee.
Alistair must have sensed her confusion. He leaned over, and lowered his head to whisper in her ear. His cold breath stirred her baby hairs. "She sees the future. It's her gift-"
"He's coming," Alice said. "He's coming."
"Who?"
She didn't answer. The muscles of her face spasmed, and her eyes shook, but she remained silent. Then, she gasped again as she resurfaced. Blinked rapidly, and lowered herself back to the ground. Jasper followed. She tugged his hand into her lap, and squeezed.
"Alice, what did you see?" Carlisle asked.
Still, she didn't answer. Her eyes danced from Alistair to Lena and back again.
"What?" Alistair asked. "Spit it out, girl."
"Edward went to the Volturi," she said.
"He joined the bastards?"
"No. He told Aro what Lena did."
Lena's heart dropped. Her murderer knew she was here. He knew she was here.
Edward reported her to her killer.
"Then they're coming here." Alistair stood and looked around him, as if searching for something he dropped. Strange.
"It's only Aro," she rushed to say. "He wishes to see to the issue personally."
Only Aro.
Yes, it was only the man who killed her, only the man who left her to die on the outskirts of her own property.
What would he do when he found her?
"You stupid girl," Alistair sneered, ignoring the threatening growl Jasper offered in response to his insult. "Do you really think he goes anywhere without his guard? There are men who would not hesitate to kill him, given the chance!"
"Then you'll leave," she said.
"What other choice do I have?"
"He isn't coming for you."
"Demetri is."
"Do you sense Demetri approaching, or Aro? You know I only see possibilities, Alistair. You're frightened of a future that may never come to be."
"You wouldn't have bothered to frighten me if you didn't think it was probable."
Carlisle interrupted the two. "There's no point in fighting amongst ourselves. Soon, we'll have Aro on our doorstep." He looked to Alice. "How long?"
"He comes during the storm. Three days, maybe."
"Are we seriously going to sacrifice ourselves to protect her?" Rosalie hissed.
"She hasn't broken any laws. It's unlikely that his visit will end in violence," he said. "Maybe he is merely curious as to who has vexed one of his favourites."
It seemed like wishful thinking. Lena had not told the Cullens about her relationship with Aro. She didn't know if he had a claim on her, being her creator. She didn't know how freedom worked in this new world. She didn't mention it. The thought of the Cullens pushing her towards her killer was sickening. She didn't care for the implications of her silence, she only cared that she was as far away from that man as she could be. She was unsure what she would do, if-
No. When he was in front of her.
"What about Alistair?"
"He is a guest, not a prisoner. He can leave if he wishes."
Rosalie laughed, but it was a bitter sound full of malice. "Yes, you're right. I forgot he has the right to live as a coward, unlike the rest of us."
Alistair hissed from beside her, and disappeared upstairs. Lena supposed he was packing. If he was quick enough, he could be out of Washington before sunrise.
kinda hate this chapter but that's life
love u guys thanks for reading x