{Ghosts of the Past}
Relief washed over Bella when the school bell finally rand, signaling the end of the day. Her head was pounding with all the effort she had to put into maintaining the mental wall which kept the past at bay. Right now, there was nothing she wanted more than to go home, crawl into her bed and fall asleep, but she had promised Eleazar she would come over and she knew they needed to have an important conversation.
She shoved her history textbook into her bag and stood up from her seat near the back of the classroom, slinging the backpack onto her shoulder. With a wave to Angela, she weaved through the tables and made her way outside, to the parking lot. There, near the road, a tall blonde was leaning against a painfully white car.
Bella smiled as she neared. "Good afternoon."
Tanya looked up from her phone and grinned. "It has been too long since we got together."
"We saw each other last week," Bella said, raising her brows in challenge.
Tanya shrugged, shaking the comment off and motioned for Bella to get into the car. "Time crawls when nothing interesting happens."
The curious gazes of the students in the parking lot followed them as they backed out and got onto the road. It had caused a lot of gossip when the Denalis had first picked her up from school, but most people were kind of used to it now.
Bella slouched down into her seat, relaxing with a sigh. It would take them over an hour to get to the Denali's house, meaning she would have some time to order her thoughts before the fun could start. As they drove along the increasingly empty roads, the pressure in her head – which she had been feeling since lunch – faded away at last, leaving her with a dull headache. She pressed her forehead against the cold glass of her window and took a deep breath.
"Did you have a difficult time today?"
Bella glanced over at Tanya. "You could say that, yes. Those new vamps made my head ache to the point where I had trouble keeping up my defenses."
Tanya pulled a face. "It must have been their gifts, if they gave you such trouble. While Alice and Jasper have some kind of control, Edward is not as trained in that department."
"Is he the Empath, Telepath or Prescient?" Bella asked, realizing she had never actually been told any of their names. Well, except for Alice's, that is.
"Edward is the Telepath," Tanya answered. "Have you seen any of them today? He's the one with the reddish hair."
Bella made a noise of confirmation before looking back outside at the forest they were passing through. "I saw all of them during lunch. They are quite the talk of the town."
By the time they reached the Denali's house – which was practically built in the middle of -nowhere – Bella was half-asleep in her seat. Tanya shook her awake and helped the stumbling girl out of the car before they made their way to the front door, where Carmen was already waiting for them.
"Good afternoon," she said with a smile, carefully pulling Bella into a warm hug. "It's great to have you back. How was school today?"
Bella smiled, stepping inside when Carmen released her. She toed her sneakers off and got out of her coat, leaving both on the bench in the hallway. "It was alright, I guess."
"She got a headache," Tanya corrected as she too came inside and closed the door. "I believe we need to have a talk with our friends soon, about unnecessarily using their gifts without permission of the recipient."
Bella threw Tanya an annoyed glare, but the latter simply stared right back at her. After a few seconds Bella gave in with a sigh. She looked down and bit her lip, shaking her head as she made her way over to the kitchen. "Yeah, that would be great."
She greeted Eleazar, who was seated at the kitchen table with a pile of photos in his hands and grabbed herself a glass from the cupboard, filling it with water. She downed it all at once, placing the empty glass on the counter with a thud.
Bella turned around and watched the others in silence, but quickly decided to just get it over yet. Serious conversations like these made her terribly uncomfortable, and she did not like the changes the Cullen coven had brought. Not that there was much she could do about it.
"So," she said, sitting down in one of the empty chairs. "Please explain everything that's going on."
And they did.
Eleazar began, explaining how he had met Carlisle a few centuries ago, back when he was still staying with the Volturi. They never spoke much with each other during that time, but after he left Volterra along with Carmen they met again. Carlisle's perspective on feeding piqued their interest and they soon joined Tanya's coven, who were like-minded on the topic, reaching the part of the story Bella had been told before.
Since Eleazar had first met Carlisle, the Cullen coven had grown a lot. First Edward, the Telepath, joined. Next was Esme, the coven leader's mate. Rosalie followed, with Emmett being the last of Carlisle's changelings. Alice and Jasper – the Psychic and Empath – found the Cullens on their own accord and concluded the coven.
Bella watched with interest as every single member of the new coven was pointed out to her on the pictures Eleazar was holding.
"You can imagine our surprise when we came home from our hunting trip last weekend to find the entire family, minus Alice and Edward, in our front yard," Tanya added when Eleazar had finished his story. "Apparently Alice had been planning on opening her own boutique, and she'd had a feeling that Anchorage would be her best bet. And thus, it came to be that the entire coven decided to move to Alaska."
Bella groaned, feeling this sudden change would cause a lot more stress than she had hoped to have in her last few years of high school. "Have you told Aro yet?"
The awkward glances the others shared were enough of an answer.
Bella raised a brow. "Really? He's going to be pissed, you know?"
"Which is why we hoped you could call to inform him?" Eleazar said, his statement turning into a question halfway into his sentence.
"Alright," Bella agreed, knowing it was about time she caught up with her great-great-something-uncle anyway. "I'll do it later tonight." At the relieved expressions, she pointed her finger at them and added, "But you'll owe me! Greatly!"
The others quickly accepted the condition, effectively putting an end to the conversation about the Cullens. Eleazar and Carmen left to go upstairs and sped some time together, leaving Bella alone with Tanya. However, the backdoor slammed open before she could even utter a word and Kate ran inside, skidding to a stop in front of the kitchen table.
"Bella!" she said delightedly, her face lighting up with a smile. "Did you know you are my most favorite person in the entire world?"
Bella narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What is it you want from me?"
Kate pouted. "Come on, I don't always want something when I compliment someone."
"That's debatable," Bella mumbled.
Kate ignored the comment and took a seat opposite of the other two. "How is our little Seer doing?"
Bella pulled a face. "Don't call me that, it sounds weird. And I'm doing fine."
"I don't have to go after any of your… admirers later tonight?"
"No." Bella shook her head as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "No need to electrocute anyone."
"Well, in that case, maybe you have some time to help me instead?" Kate asked.
The innocent tone of Kate's question immediately had her on edge again. "You do want something from me."
Kate opened her mouth to start talking, but Bella interrupted her. "If this plan of yours includes me reading some kind of past, the answer is no."
Bella knew she was spot on with her assumption when Kate sagged into her chair with a disappointed grumble. Irina entered the kitchen right at that moment and grinned at the pouting face. Having caught the last part of the conversation, she quickly pieced together what had happened.
"I told you so," she sung, gliding into the empty chair next to Kate before turning her attention to Bella. "She is trying to work out how to construct a smartphone, but the internet is no help on that front. All of the companies she has tried to contact have ignored her this far and she needs the help of a human who has knowledge of such things."
Tanya shook her head with a deep, tired sigh. "Maybe it is time to move on to something else. Tell me, Bella, what do you think about watching a movie?"
They settled on the couch in the living room and helped Bella to choose a movie on Netflix. Her homework was soon forgotten as she relaxed and chatted a bit with the others. When dinner time came around, they ushered her to stay seated and Carmen soon handed her a very nutritious meal of boxed mac and cheese.
After just a little while of interacting with the Denalis, Bella had discovered that none of the Denalis were particularly good cooks. Though she had politely eaten the first few – either raw or burned – meals she got presented, she had gingerly hinted that she did not mind cooking for herself, or having instant meals. Now it was rare that she would find one of the vampires cooking intricate dishes.
She preferred to keep her health at least somewhat intact.
Bella yawned when the post-credits rolled past on the screen and she threw a glance at the lit-up screen of her phone. "I think I should go home, if I still want to get some sleep tonight."
Tanya volunteered to bring her back and they made their way over to the garage after Bella had said her goodbyes to the others. The drive was mainly spent in silence, seeing that Bella felt completely worn out. However, when she finally arrived home and made her way inside, sleep was quickly forgotten. Her dad, who should have been in bed already for his early shift of tomorrow, was hunched over a pile of papers on the kitchen table. Bella's heart sunk as she saw the frustrated look on his face; his brows were creased, his hand supporting his head.
She alerted him to her presence by knocking on the doorframe. Charlie's head shot up, the concentrated look fading into a soft smile when he saw his daughter. "Hi Bells."
"What are you doing up this late?" Bella asked, stepping into the kitchen and taking a seat. Her eyes trailed down to the papers strewn out across the kitchen table, scanning the first few words she came across. "Visitation right? What is all this about?"
Charlie sighed and slumped forward in his chair, catching Bella's confused gaze. The action made him look at least ten years older than he was. "Harriet's lawyer called Mr. Lagmann, who then called me."
Bella stiffened at the name. "What did she want?"
Charlie shifted uncomfortably. "She is demanding that the judge will reconsider her visitation rights."
"You can't be serious," Bella said, her eyes wide. "She wanted nothing to do with me after – well, you know – and now she wants to see me again? It has been two years! What has gotten into her?"
"I don't know," Charlie sighed.
"I will call Uncle Aro," Bella decided, leaning down and frantically looking through her bag. "He helped us out last time, I'm sure we can find a way out of whatever this is."
Charlie, however, halted her movements. "Bella, these are legal matters." He frowned. "She had a right to ask for it, as your mother, although we can try to plead for denial, if you want to. But you're still just 16, and if the judge decides…"
"There's nothing we can really do," Bella finished.
When Bella finally lay in bed, several hours later, she found it was impossible to fall asleep. Her mind would not let her rest and she could not help but imagine every single possible (horrible) scenario the recent changes could bring. Not only would she have to worry about her interactions with the Cullens, but now the demons of her past also came back to haunt her.
It had all happened so fast. Just a week ago, everything was fine: there was no drama and she had known exactly what she could expect every day. She craved the safety of the routines and habits she had built up in the past years, she needed them to stay sane. Now, however, her near future had been thrown off course and the uncertainty it brought played in on her anxiety.
Bella stared at the off-white ceiling that was highlighted by a single ray of moonlight that peeked through the curtains. The only sounds she could hear were those of the ticking clock in the hallway and her dad's muted snores from the room next to hers. Her chest heaved as a weight pressed down on her lungs, making it difficult to breathe properly. There was absolutely no way she could fall asleep.
With a sigh Bella rolled over to her side, reaching out from under the warm covers to switch on the small light on her nightstand. She grabbed the book that lay next to it, opening it at the bookmark as she lay back down.
Time ticked by as her eyes scanned the words.
"The ghosts of the past speak to all who will listen."
A/N: I'm very sorry for the long wait since I uploaded the last chapter, but I'm finally back. I decided to make finishing my other story my priority, but by the time I had done that some issues in Real Life came up which I had to deal with first. I re-wrote/edited the first few chapters of this story to get back into it, and I luckily found the motivation to continue again. Thank you all for your lovely reviews, please leave me one again to tell me what you think of this new chapter! I'll try and upload again soon.
- Laura