-MAISIE-
Enhanced night vision—one of the few perks of my venom-infused blood—really came in handy for after-dark hiking through the rainforest. Had I not been with Jasper and his family (save for Esme and Carlisle, who had stayed on the island), I would have been terrified.
Seeing the rainforest on the nature documentaries Ava loved and actually being in the rainforest were two entirely different things. There was almost an electricity to the shadowed trees and greenery, a hum that let you know that whether you could see other life or not, you were definitely not alone. What you couldn't see was surely watching you.
Not to mention that even with decent eyesight, I was tripping over wayward vines and roots and whole plants. Everything that brushed up against me made my heart race just a little. More than once, I had to reach out to steady myself against Jasper.
"I'm gonna go wrestle a python or something," Emmett grumbled from somewhere behind me.
"What if eleven coconuts was the key?" I teased. "We just didn't find out, because you backed out."
There was a twin sigh let loose by both Jasper and Rosalie. For two people who were in no way biologically related and separated by decades of time, they acted nearly identical sometimes. "Maisie Lynn."
"Don't Maisie Lynn me," I retorted. But my rebuttal to Jasper's scolding carried little weight when I tripped for what had to be the millionth time, only keeping myself upright by clutching the fabric of his shirt. "It's a valid question."
"Wait, your middle name isn't Daisy? I've been lied to."
"Maisie Daisy is a dumb nickname her dad gave her," Rosalie explained. She wasn't too pleased about this hiking business, but I knew her slight toward me wasn't intentional, no matter the wording. Her dark moods were notorious for manifesting verbally. "I'm going with you on your hunt."
Emmett waggled his eyebrows, a mischievous grin spreading across his lips.
Just like that, our hiking party was down two members. Rosalie and Emmett blurred through the trees, leaving shaking foliage in their wake.
"Why are we hiking at night anyway?" Jasmine's voice carried through the dark. I liked Jasmine a lot, but she had been withdrawn lately. Per her request, Edward had accompanied her to 'see' her family in California.
I felt a cool, little hand at my elbow. Alice was using me as a guide; I could see even in the dark how her eyes had gone unfocused. I thought briefly of elephants, and how they would walk in lines holding each other's tails, only we were linked—Jasper, me, Alice—by arms.
"Our scent should attract others," Jasper explained. "And if unknown vampire scents aren't enough to pique curiosity, Maisie's unique scent should be."
As we cleared more feet, Alice's hand didn't leave my arm. "We'll have some takers by tomorrow night. If we return at—"
A gasp stole the rest of her words. Her hand on my arm tightened suddenly, making me cry out despite myself. "Alice!"
Her face was contorted as if in pain, her other hand gripping her head. In an instant, I felt Jasper's fingers along my skin, prying my arm lose from Alice's death grip and letting her take his hand instead. "What's going on?"
He nearly yelled the question at Edward. Rubbing my arm, I felt a jolt of panic that was not my own, doubling the worry I already felt with Jasper's. Edward's face was crumpling in on itself just as much as Alice's.
"I don't understand." He was speaking in a rush, his words running together as he tried to give words to what was happening inside Alice's head. "Her visions have never been like this. Everything went black, then gray, now just a blur of out-of-focus images."
As soon as it started, it ended. Alice gasped as if she were surfacing from under water. A visible tremor ran through her, shaking her little body. She slumped forward, Jasper and Edward both reaching out to catch her, totally deflated by what she had witnessed. "I couldn't see!"
Her little shoulders were shaking as if she were cold, but I knew it was probably something akin to adrenaline in the aftershock of it. Even with Jasper gently shushing, and I'm sure he was trying to soothe her mood empathetically, Alice continued to shiver as she explained.
"I had a vision of a man, a vampire, who lives in the jungle somewhere. He picks up our scent, just like we want, and when we meet him, he asks if we want to meet his children and then it just…everything goes black. I couldn't see, just like I can't see the Quileute pack."
If I thought Edward was speaking fast in his earlier panic, Alice definitely had her beat. The words had tumbled out of her mouth on top of one another. I chanced a glance at Jasper. He was looking over Alice's head at the jungle beyond us. I knew that look, the calculated narrowing of his eyes. He wasn't thinking of Alice, he was analyzing.
"We should take her back," I told him, tugging lightly at his shirt to draw his attention. It wasn't often that I saw any of the Cullens unsure or spooked, and I didn't like it. At all. I thought I might have to repeat myself, but Jasper responded after a beat.
"You're right." Edward and Jasmine went ahead of us, racing through the jungle to find Emmett and Rosalie to fill them in. Alice needed another moment to right herself, anyway. Eventually she accepted the calm Jasper was inundating her with, which was great for me. I was getting sleepy off it, and the darkness and jet lag weren't helping me.
Hiking back through the way we had come felt almost like defeat. At the same time, though, I sure didn't want to spend time in such a thickly condensed area of the rainforest with something that Alice couldn't see coming. Even after hiking back out, there was still a speedboat ride back to Isle Esme.
"What about everyone else?" I asked, accepting Jasper's hand as he helped me into the boat. We had all rode over together, as overcrowded as the two-seater boat was. No need to worry about a seat when you're more than strong enough to hold tight while perching on the back or side.
"They can swim." Flippant even now, Alice shrugged her delicate shoulders. "They certainly won't drown. Everyone will be home safe by dawn. That, at least, I can see."
Alice and I were small enough that we could share the passenger seat while Jasper drove. Just as Jasper sped along the roads on his motorcycle, he pushed the boat to its limit, meaning we landed on the shores of Isle Esme in a handful of minutes. Bounding across the sand, Alice hardly left any footprints as she went led the way to the sprawling beach house.
We walked slower than Alice, me leaning into Jasper. His cool skin felt heavenly, a complete contrast to the muggy as hell weather I still wasn't used to. I was covered in sweat, even with our hike cut short and the fact that I was wearing a cotton tank top and linen shorts.
"I feel like I need to shower five times a day here," I complained. That was my only objective as we walked through the backdoor Alice had left open. There were only two bedrooms in the house, despite how sprawling it was. Huge master bedroom, palatial living room that bled into a porch that could be opened to the beach with floor to ceiling glass doors. Absolutely massive kitchen, which I was finally giving use to. A smaller bedroom was on the opposite end of the house, with a bathroom attached.
That was the one I had been using. It was done up in shades of blue, the understatedly expensive bedding and wooden furniture letting me know Esme had decorated the space. The whole house echoed her. I could hear Alice rambling on to Carlisle, who I was sure was listening with rapt attention to his daughter's tale. In the hallway, I parted ways from Jasper; I was serious about the shower, and I knew he would want to help Alice explain her weird vision. He kissed me softly before leaving me to the back bedroom.
South America gave me an appreciation of cold-water showers I had never had before. I was thankful that I was also staying in a place where I could sleep with the windows wide open to let in the slightly cooler night air, without fear of getting murdered. I rinsed the sweat off me before slipping back into my clothes to join the others in the living room. Maybe the others had made it back, unless Emmett was still hunting, though I couldn't imagine it would take him long with such a densely populated rainforest as his hunting ground.
Jasper's guard must have been down, as well. Walking back down the hallway, I saw he had left the backdoor hanging open after we came in, not bothering to close it behind us. I pulled it shut when I passed it, making my way into the huge, open living space and commandeering a space in Jasper's armchair beside him.
"Are we going to admit there are shapeshifters here now?" Never mind the Quileute werewolves; we had all seen Catalina just months ago. We all knew that other forms of shapeshifters exist in this world.
Carlisle chuckled, shaking his head. "Perhaps. Though, Alice's vision she described doesn't match your river dolphin aversion."
I rolled my eyes. Of course, even Carlisle and Esme knew about my so-called irrational fear. There was a drawing on the table, which Esme pushed toward me. Depicted was a long-haired man, with a heavy, square jaw and wide mouth. This must have been the man from Alice's vision, a smile playing at his lips and intrigue lighting up his eyes. She had drawn the whole thing in black pen, but if I had to guess, I would say his eyes were red in her vision.
"This is the mystery man?" I asked, peeking up at Alice. She nodded.
"No idea what his 'children' look like, or how many there are. But we'll see soon." She said it in her usual bright, sunshiny voice, the energy in her words not quite masking the ominous connotation.
But that was all the explanation I got for the night. I was tired and needed to drink my 'medicine'. Though we were technically on a research trip here, we had plans to go into the forest on Isle Esme to the waterfall and lake deep inside in the morning. Jasper accompanied me back to the blue room, carrying the cup of blood for me.
"You need to drink it before Jasmine is back," he gently reminded me. We had fallen into such a routine in Alaska. With me being the only human around—with too much venom incorporated into my blood now to be appetizing—Jasper breathed freely while I drank.
"This is good for you," I commented between sips. He ducked his head, bashful in my praise, but it was true. My feedings were making him better around human blood, and humans in general.
"It's old blood," he deflected. "If you could feel how my throat still burns at the smell, you wouldn't be so free with compliments."
I pursed my lips at him, not in agreement at all. Despite his progress, I still thoroughly brushed my teeth and swished mouthwash all around my mouth before I could kiss him. "I'll never stop complimenting you, so get used to it, Whitlock."
He gave me a rueful smile before easily lifting me off my feet. I giggled as he carried me to the bed, gently tossing me into the covers. Jasper joined me in the bed, laying beside me propped on his side. He ran his fingers through my hair, twisting some of the strands around his fingers.
"We might learn something useful soon," he murmured, "should Ali's visions prove fruitful."
I considered his words, running my finger along the path of scars on his arm. Here, in this warm paradise, the short-sleeved shirts Jasper had been wearing exposed a lot of them. We knew very little, really. I thought of the little, leather-bound book Gunner had brought with him to Alaska.
"What about that book, the one you've been translating with Edward?" I asked, following the curve of one of the silvery crescent moon marks around his elbow. When I raised my eyes to meet his gaze, I saw his face cloud over. Jasper didn't have to expand on that. No need for me to give words to my disappointment, either, when he could so clearly feel it.
My sigh escaped my lips unbidden. I trailed my hand upward, under the edge of his sleeve, to press my palm into his shoulder and bring him closer to me. What I had learned about kisses was that they could convey feelings you didn't want to say. The comforting stroke of Jasper's thumb along my cheekbone was an apology. My hand pressing to his neck, keeping him close to me, was reassurance.
When he tipped his forehead against mine once we parted, that was acceptance.
Unsurprisingly, Isle Esme had caretakers. Obviously, Esme and Carlisle didn't spend the majority of the year on this tropical oasis, but an island still needed maintenance.
I liked Kaure and Gustavo, even though I had scared Kaure the first time I met her. The morning we planned to go to the waterfall, I ran into Kaure in the kitchen. Jasper was in my bathroom, taking a shower, but I wasn't sure where everyone else was. Kaure had come to clean, I think, but when she saw me, she gasped.
"Meu Deus!" This woman exclaimed. She was small, somewhere in size between myself and Esme. I hadn't seen her until I closed the refrigerator door. I just wanted some fruit. With that barrier no longer between us, she moved forward and cupped her hands around my cheeks. "Você entende?"
She spoke slowly to me, carefully enunciating her words though I guessed she knew there may be a language barrier between us, but her words were close enough to Spanish for me to glean the gist of her question. Her large, dark eyes searched my face before throwing a look over her shoulder. The panic was clear on her face, and I found myself responding truthfully in an attempt to calm her.
"Uh, si. Lo se todo."
I didn't know Portuguese and I had no idea if she understood English or Spanish, but it was a gamble I was willing to take. Her sharp intake of breath and the paling of her face was all the affirmation I needed that she understood me. This woman opened her mouth to say something else, but Carlisle's hand on my shoulder gave her pause.
He began speaking to her in fluent Portuguese, explaining, I was sure, that I was more than safe on the island. Carlisle carefully moved me from between them, leaving me to my breakfast while they spoke. The tone he used was soft and comforting, the same way I imagined he talked to patients.
Eventually, her face softened, if only slightly. Her arguments turned to nods. Before she left, she reached across the counter to where I sat, giving my hand a squeeze.
"Kaure," she introduced herself, placing her free hand atop her heart. The next words she spoke carefully, in heavily accented English. "I help."
I squeezed her hand back and nodded to her, letting her know I understood. Poor woman. She obviously knew the Cullens were not human, even if she didn't put it into words. If our roles were reversed, I was sure I would be just as concerned as she was.
"Maisie," I told her my name with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Kaure was gone soon after, mumbling something to Carlisle. I raised my eyebrows at him while sorting through the big bowl of exotic fruit I had taken from the fridge.
"Kaure is not used to seeing other humans on Isle Esme," Carlisle told me. He took the knife I had set out, cutting and dicing the mango I had found for me in seconds. I had a bowl of mango and a fork in front of me before his next sentence. "She's worried for her safety. Kaure and her husband, Gustavo, will be here at sunrise and sunset every day to make sure you're still alive."
"Oh, bless her. She's nice, even if she does hide behind fridge doors and scare people."
"So, we're not eating Maisie? And here I thought we were in the long-con business." I took a stab at Emmett with my fork, which he easily dodged. He was ready for the waterfall already, clad only in swim trunks and a pair of sandals.
Rosalie followed close behind him, checking her perfect fishtail braid in a compact mirror. She was dressed also dressed in her swimwear, a gauzy sarong around her hips. "You couldn't even handle coconuts. Maisie's venom-blood would probably do you in."
Despite the barb, Emmett turned on his heel, kissing Rosalie square on the mouth. "Had to make sure it was still there, since you're always running it, babe."
Jasper, to probably no one's surprise, still had a t-shirt on. That boy was determined to never show more of his skin that was appropriate, per the weather, when the sun was shining. Lucky for him, the waterfall was deep enough into the forest that only stray sunbeams here and there made it through the foliage.
"Objective number one of the day is to not let Maisie drown," Alice declared once we were at our destination. I hadn't realized that the forest on the island was nearly as alive as the rainforest on the mainland. The only animal life here seemed to be birds, but brightly colored parents flew among the branches with ease. They feared neither me nor the others as they chattered among themselves and feasted on various wild-growing fruit.
"Surprise character development, actually." Ever the gentleman, Jasper waded in waist deep to the water, before turning back toward me and offering me his hand. He kept me steady as I padded across the cool, smooth rocks and mud at the bottom of the pond the waterfall fed into. "Jasper taught me to swim. But I'm not very good, so the objective still applies."
I was struck by how normal everything felt. Carlisle and Esme had stayed at the house, leaving the rest of us to our devices. The boys took turns trying to outdo each other with flips as they jumped from the cliff to follow the waterfall into the water. There was splashing. Now that he knew I could swim, Emmett made it his mission to throw all of us one by one into the water. Jasper, Edward, and Alice teamed up on him, and through Alice's visions, they managed to catch him.
Even between the two of them, Edward and Jasper couldn't quite get a good hold on Emmett. They pushed him more than threw him into the water. Emmett's huge body made an equally huge wave that managed to hit all of us. Laughing and dripping water, I sat on the shore to eat the fruit and bread and cheese Esme had packed for me.
Alice lounged beside me, the intermittent sunlight breaking along her skin. Laying straight on the thick, ever-present moss covering the ground, she looked ethereal and delicate in her lilac bathing suit. Emmett and Rosalie had disappeared behind the curtain of the waterfall. Jasper, Edward, and Jasmine were racing each other to the bottom of the pond—Edward was the fastest on land, but so far, Jasmine was besting him in these water races.
I twisted around where I sat, throwing some of my food scraps into the tree line for the parrots. The foliage was so thick, I wasn't sure they would see it. Bugs could have it, if not.
We were all focused on our activities. Heightened senses or not, there isn't a lot that can remedy inattention. Which is how I, at least, was surprised by a stranger for the second time that day.
"Hello!" The voice came from above, and the response was instantaneous. I twisted back around; Alice shot up ramrod-straight beside me. Emmett and Rosalie swam to the shore, joining us in seconds. Edward came up first, shaking the water from his copper hair and tipping his head back. Jasper and Jasmine resurfaced a beat later.
"Hi!" Emmett called back, all ease. It was obvious the man was a vampire. I think he was purposely standing in a shaft of sun, the light refracting off his dark skin. Squinting past the kaleidoscope effect, I recognized the man from Alice's sketch. "Come on down!"
That was all the invitation he needed. He jumped down from the rockface above, aiming his body to land on the ground rather than in the pond. Alice had included no details of his clothing in her sketch, only rendering his face, and yet I was still surprised to see him dressed in a short sleeve t-shirt, shorts, and hiking boots. His long hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and he smiled at us.
Unlike Kaure, his English was largely unaccented, carrying only the faintest trace of inflection. "My name is Joham. I came here to visit my son, but I was intrigued when I caught your scent. We don't often have new vampires in South America, believe it or not. I was under the impression I knew every resident on the continent."
Jasper had pulled himself from the water at this point. He hung back, not too far off from Alice and I, watching this Joham. He had red eyes, just like I guessed he would.
"I actually have my three daughters accompanying me. Girls?" At his beckoning, three young women stepped into sight at the top of the rockface where he stood, though they stayed in the shadows. All three had similar olive skin, thought they different in hair color and height. The tallest jumped down first—dark hair, like Joham. Her eyes were dark, but I assumed that was from not having fed recently.
Next came a slightly shorter girl, whose hair was sandy despite her tanned skin, and…
I think there was a collective gasp. I gasped, for sure. This blonde-haired girl had pale green eyes, not the shades of red, black, or gold seen on a vampire. Alice was closest to me; I reached for her, gripping her hand.
The last girl joined them, her hair a shade of brown not much darker than her skin tone, with hazel eyes. Unlike Joham, whose skin was an even, darker tan shade, these girls all had rosy cheeks that I doubted were the result of makeup. Joham only smiled wider at us, before tipping his head toward me.
"Never seen others, have you?" Whatever these girls were, he was lumping me in with them. He motioned to each one in turn as he named them. "Maysun, Serena, and Jennifer are my biological daughters, born to human mothers."
Well, that certainly wasn't true in my case, but it didn't calm the tempo of my heart any. Edward had also pulled himself from the water. Motioning with his head toward the direction of the beach house, Jasper and Emmett moved fluidly to flank him. "I think, perhaps, you should meet our father. He would be rather interested in hearing the story of your children."
"There's more of your family?" Joham's gaze ran over us. In the forest alone, there was seven of us to their four…not that I really counted in the numbers in terms of threats, but they didn't need to know that.
"Only our mother and father," Rosalie threw the words away like they meant nothing, though they brought the numbers to nine. Double Joham's, plus one.
"We'll lead the way." Jasper declared, already making a path back through the heavy brush. Half a second later, I felt compelled to move, to follow anywhere Jasper might lead. I had to hide my amusement at that; he was good at what he did, that boy of mine. Joham, Maysun, Serena, and Jennifer followed Jasper's lead. Alice hung back with me, making sure we took up the rear with the rest of us between us. I caught her eye, inclining my head toward the girls. Alice caught my drift, nodding her head.
They must have been the cause of the blind spot in her vision. Alice could see neither the Quileute pack nor Catalina in her visions, we hypothesized because she had never been a shapeshifter herself. She saw vampires best—because she was currently one—and humans easily, because she had once been one.
If what Joham had told us was true, that his daughters were biologically related to him and not adopted like the Cullen children, it would make sense why Alice couldn't see them well. Sure, she was a vampire now and a human in her past life, but she certainly wasn't a vampire-human hybrid like Joham claimed his daughters to be.
A/N: Hello, lovelies!
I'm sorry I've been slow with getting these chapters out. I have them planned, but getting the time to sit down and write them lately has been a challenge.
I want to balance the plot progression with more sweet/fun moments, so please let me know if I forget that! Hopefully, everyone enjoys the chapter. Incorporating such minor characters from the original is a lot of fun, but it does require quite a bit of research! I based Joham's appearance heavily on Nahuel's description in the books and his actor in the movies.
For Serena, Maysun, and Jennifer, I went with the countries of their mothers/births for features, since they are never seen or described in the canon. Serena's mother was from Norway, hence the lighter hair and eyes. Maysun's mother was Algerian-darker hair/eye color. And Jennifer's mother was American, so I went with common hair and eye colors from the United States.
In my opinion, Joham is an interesting foil to Carlisle, and I can't wait to write some interactions between the two next chapter!
