When we got to my house, Charlie was already there, and he did not seem happy with our visitors. He'd made it a habit lately to meet me at the truck. He knew there was nothing he could do against vampires but still insisted on walking me into the house if he was home.
I hopped out of the truck and he helped me down. "Be nice, Dad. Remember, they're the nice guys. You didn't have a problem with Alice when we stopped by the station the other day."
"It's not that." He said, then walked toward them as they got out of Edward's car.
"When were you going to tell me?" he said, looking at Alice.
"You have enough stress right now. I thought it would be nice for some of that stress to disappear. You both agreed to a little help financially."
"A little? I still had 5 more years left. That was about 35 thousand dollars. That isn't a little."
"Dad, what's going on?" What had 5 years left? What was he talking about?
"She paid off my mortgage. I don't even know how she got access to it." Charlie said. He sounded upset but like his anger was dying down.
"I had a vision of you stressing over some bills. The mortgage was on top and had all of the information I needed. It isn't a lot to me, I've made plenty of money over the years." Alice really did seem to want to help. I knew that Charlie was happy that this house was paid off, but I think he was more just upset thinking she snooped around.
"You think that's a lot? You should see what she deposited into my savings account as an 'Inheritance'."
"You agreed Bella." She said, her small voice sounding mildly annoyed.
"I wasn't taking that back, just stating a fact." I said, hands held high in surrender.
/Later in the backyard/
"So I have seen many futures of yours of course, never with wolves, though I can't see them so that makes sense. I can see hundreds of years into the future, though it's impossible to tell which scenario will actually come to fruition and possibly none that I see will be the correct one. In some, you were a vampire. Your training involved a vampire we know that has the ability to electrocute someone just by touching them. You practiced by trying to shield others to keep them from the pain. It also affected Edwards ability to read their minds. So since we don't have anyone who can cause us physical harm, the mind reading will have to work."
"So I just… try? Like stretching a rubber band?"
"No. That is where you went wrong in that particular future. Your future self told my future self that you thought of it as a rubber band when really it was like a thin sheet of latex that can stretch in all directions. You could move it onto others and even if they were touching another, only shield one. You could remove it from yourself entirely even. Though that took a lot of skill, you did manage. I ask you to do this because even though that future is very unlikely to happen given your relationship choices, things may still lead us down a similar path and as a human, you will need all the time in the world to prepare. So I want you to take this seriously. It could mean life or death for many of us."
"Okay." I sat on the ground and closed my eyes. I imagined this invisible barrier as a physical object, a giant latex sheet over top of my body. I don't know why but I saw it as a forest green color.
"I'm right here." Alice said, placing a hand on my arm. "The closer the better for your first try. Edward, I'll sing a song in my head, just let me know if you stop hearing it."
I imagined pushing the sheet away from my body but it wouldn't budge. It seemed far too heavy. So mental strength, I needed to do mental push-ups. Just keep trying. Like Alice said, this may be crucial for the future. I pushed again, and again and again. I was starting to get exhausted, but I was determined to make some form of progress before calling it quits for the night.
I took a deep breath and a vision popped into my head. A future me with my hair dyed, something I never even thought about doing before, and had to admit, I liked the way the red looked as I stood in front of a mirror, listening to somebody argue in the distance.
"Mommy said she could come over." A young girl said. I glanced out the window of the two storey house and saw three very young children, none of them seemed any older than 4. They were in the yard, two of them were standing next to each other, arms crossed as they made faces back and forth. The third, a shy looking girl, that looked the oldest stood off to the side. There was a slight part in the clouds and as a ray of light touched her cheek, her skin dazzled like a disco ball. I walked down the stairs and out the back door to find the 3 girls still arguing.
"What's going on?" I asked. One little girl looked at me with sadness in her eyes.
"Rose is being mean. She says that Ellie can't play here because Grandpa said her Daddy is a…" she scrunched her face. "The thing I can't say out loud."
"We're at home, sweetheart. It isn't dangerous to talk about that here, and Grandpa is right, Ellie's Daddy is a vampire, but her mommy is a human and even if that weren't true, the treaty was changed a few years ago. Grandpa just has a hard time accepting that Sera. Run along and play, but remember, you stay on our property and scream your loudest scream if anything is wrong. And no one will be upset with you for playing with Ellie. If Grandpa has something to say about it, it will be with me."
The three girls ran off to play. I glanced over at the garage where Jake was just pulling his motorcycle into. This one was a bit more his size than the tiny ones I'd brought down years ago. I walked over and met him as he hopped off.
"Hey, Bells. Was that Ellie I saw, or should I say, barely saw, when I came in? She sure is growing fast."
"Yeah, your dad's been telling our kids that she isn't welcome here. Would you mind having a little chat with him?"
"Sure, sure." Jake kissed my cheek then pressed his hands to my flat belly.
"How's our girl doing?" He asked, smiling.
"I keep telling you, we're having a boy. I can feel it. I was right with the girls."
"I know, but I can feel it too, there's a girl in there."
"Sure, sure." I said, copying his words.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked away from Jake and looked at it. Edward.
"Hey, Edward. How's it going?"
"Please tell me she's with you. Tell me Ellie is alright."
"Edward? She was just here a minute ago. She's playing with the girls. What's going on?"
"The Volturi are coming for her. They think she's an immortal child. They're coming to kill her."
I was brought out of my vision, Alice, shaking me a bit harder than I was comfortable with, leaving marks on my arms. "Bella? Oh thank God! Bella, you've been out for like 20 minutes."
"What? I have?"
"What do you remember?" Edward asked, obviously upset that he couldn't read my mind and know instantly.
"What's an immortal child?"
