Edward and that nutcase human girl.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

When one remains young for decades, life feels endless. Time speeds down a highway, never slowing down in a small town, save for a few select moments.

For Edward, those select moments included high school. On Tuesday, each minute seemed like an hour. Alice evaded him all day, choosing to read a book during lunch and the ride home. She didn't need to be a mind reader to know he was upset with her. When the Cullens got home, he tried to give her some space but ended up following her upstairs a minute later.

Without invitation, he flung open the door. "Can we talk about it?"

Alice didn't even look up from her sewing machine. 'Get out', she thought.

He sat down next to her. "I don't think we should keep stringing her along Edward."

"I'm not stringing her along, Edward. I just don't know how to tell her…"

"What we found."

He watched the moment play out in her mind.

They had been hunting, but not for prey.

Alice scaled the wall of a mountain, careful not to snag her dress. "I've got nothing."

Edward was on the ground below, still listening. "You need to try a little harder. It's harder for me to listen to someone's mind if I never met them. It makes sense that it'd be harder for you to see someone's future if you've never met them."

Alice dropped down beside him and looked at the tiny school portrait Leah had given her. "Drat. I should've asked to smell his clothes."

Edward chuckled. "Knowing her, I can imagine how well that would've gone over."

Alice smiled at him, happy to see how well he had gotten used to her.

Edward scowled as if telling her not to get any ideas.

"Alright, we've visited every hotel and motel in Forks. We've covered the surrounding woods, or really, the parts we're allowed to be in…"

Edward suggested, "Maybe we should hunt."

Alice nodded. "Then we should head over to Port Angeles."

Edward grumbled a bit, but Alice suspected that this activity was good for him. It distracted him from his feelings for Leah.

"I do not have feelings for her!" Edward looked offended.

Alice laughed, "I meant how you feel about her - you trying not to hurt her."

"Still, watch your phrasing."

The two jogged off in opposite directions. Edward was scaling a mountain, and Alice was high up in a tree. In the distance, she could see a large deer, galloping away from her. Two more followed. In just a few seconds, she was out of the tree and racing towards them.

"Alice, stop!" Edward called.

Caught up in the hunt, Alice did not respond. She seized the biggest deer, drinking greedily from it. She was not quite finished when she saw it.

A huge black wolf, slowly stalking towards her. It growled aggressively.

Alice was shocked. She had never seen a creature like this. She recalled descriptions of them from Edward and the others, but she did not expect to see one this large and intimidating.

Edward appeared. He grabbed her hand and pulled her away. "Come on!"

They each scaled a tree and made it back home by hopping from one tree to the next.

When they finally reached the house, they each jumped onto the roof.

"They're back, Edward. The Quileute shapeshifters," Alice marveled.

"Just one. And judging from his thoughts, he doesn't even fully understand what's happening."

"You can hear him? Why can't I see him?"

"I don't know, but we better stay away from that area. He's a little shaken up." He filled her in on the night he first saw him.

"Even if he knows what we are, he must be too frightened to go looking for us," Alice said.

"Frightened or not, I'd like to be sure… I'm going to listen out for him, see where he's headed."

Alice agreed. "I'll go with you. I don't like not knowing what will happen. This Sam thing can wait."

But the "Sam thing" did not wait. It marched right up to them and slapped them in the face...

"How foolish we were," Edward said ruefully.

"We're not in control, of everything, Edward." She meant it to be comforting, he knew that much, but it only frustrated him more.

"No, but the things we have control over must be handled with care. Let's tell Leah he's not in the area."

"I don't want to lie. It's not our secret to tell, but we shouldn't just lie."

"What would you propose?"

She weighed her options in silence. They could cut her off, ignore her, but Alice didn't have the heart to do that. They had to take action now. On one hand, if they told Leah about Sam's transformation, they would break the treaty and anger the tribe. If they lied, saying he wasn't there, Leah would be crushed. And what if something happened to Sam they could have prevented? "I wish I could see the wolf's future," Alice dropped her head into her hands.

Edward patted her shoulder.

"I wish you both would wash your hands of it," said Rosalie. Her voice was calm enough, but her folded arms and cold glare belied her fury.

Alice held up a hand. "Rosalie, you know it is not that simple."

"Alice, it is simple. We need to stay away from that girl if we don't want Edward to kill her," Rosalie said.

"I'm telling you, I don't see that happening."

"Until he changes his mind of course." Most of Rosalie's anger was directed towards Edward, seeing as she already disliked him. "Why are you tempting fate?"

"Why are you sticking your nose where you're not wanted?" Edward asked.

"I could say the same for you."

Edward rolled his eyes, refusing to be bullied. " And here comes the tantrum in three...two…"

"Nevermind that. What I want to know is, why a human is being brought into my house?" she hissed.

"Dearest Rosalie, I apologize for disturbing the tranquility of our home by letting a harmless girl -"

"Why do you have to be a smartass about it? It's bad enough we had to stop you from killing her. Now you and Alice think the three of you will be best friends."

"Trust me, that's not what's happening," he said.

"What is she gets freaked out and tells the whole town about us?"

"Listen, she won't talk," Alice interjected. "She's dating a Quileute shapeshifter. If she learns his secret, she'll stay quiet about the supernatural world."

"A shapeshifter? Oh boy, you guys are in deep. He'll kill us if Edward doesn't kill the girl first."

Just then, Emmett strolled in. He flopped onto Alice's bed. "What's going on here?" he asked with a mischievous grin. Of course, he knew, the whole house knew.

Rosalie glared down at him. "Edward's going to get us all killed by a Quileute wolf."

Emmett gasped. "A wolf? I've missed those guys, I've been wondering where they've been."

CRACK! The slap Rose gave Emmett would've landed most men in a hospital. Instead, he just grinned at his wife. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Rose just rolled her eyes. "I need to hunt. You guys are going to give me a stroke."

Emmett called after her, "That's impossible!"

"You'd all find a way!" she called before disappearing. Edward was relieved. If Rose was still responding to Emmett's antics, that meant she wasn't too mad.

"Thanks, Emmett," Edward said.

"I got your back, Jack. But I better check on her." Emmett paused in the doorway. "I hope you know what you're getting into."

"I suppose it's no use asking you not to worry," said Edward.

"Nope." He thought the last part, directed towards Edward. 'But I'm hoping you'll be luckier than I was.'

Edward didn't have to ask. Emmett was thinking of the time he slipped up when he met a woman whose blood appealed to him like no other. It was one of Emmett's few regrets. As far as Edward knew, he didn't think of it too often, but when he did, it was a painful memory for him.

"Carlisle's coming to talk to you, Edward," Alice said suddenly.

Edward sighed heavily. "What's he going to say?"

"Hmmm. He doesn't know yet. But he's a bit upset."

"God help me."

"Don't worry, Eddie, an angry Carlisle's nowhere near as scary as an angry Rose." He winked and left in search of Rose.

Edward waited by the river behind the house. He didn't want to talk at the house, lest more of his family came to lecture him.

To his surprise, Carlisle was in high spirits when he approached him. "Why, I don't think I've seen you for days, Edward." He didn't sound accusatory, just slightly amused.

"That was by my orchestration. But I'm ready now." Edward stood and faced him. Hopefully, whatever Carlisle had to say was brief.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard me by now. Either my mind has strengthened enough to build a wall or you're wearing earplugs," he joked.

Edward didn't return his smile. "I did not want to know what you thought of my actions or situation, but I now accept any consequences."

Carlisle switched to nonverbal conversation, simply out of habit. 'Consequences?'

"If you want me to leave to prevent me from hurting the human girl, Leah."

"Edward, Alice tells me you've interacted with her, up close. The other day, were you not home alone with her? You ignored an opportunity to hurt her. I've never known a vampire that repeatedly spared his or her singer."

Edward was so accustomed to others' silent, unnecessary interruptions that his own came as a surprise. Something escaped, not from Carlisle's brain, but his. The sweet-smelling girl downstairs, cautious, but defenseless...My pained throat would be soothed…

He sighed. "But...yesterday.."

"Yes?"

"At first, I wanted to...When she arrived, I was already working out strategies, plotting. I was very close to killing her right in our living room."

The pity emanating from Carlisle only deepened his shame. "But instead, you let her live."

"For now."

"No. For good."

Edward made a face. "How are you such an optimist all the time?"

"Because good always wins. Even when bad things happen, it works out for something good."

Edward took a minute to mull over Carlisle's words. "I can do this," he began.

"Yes, you can, son."

"But as far as she goes, I don't know if we can control her."

"There is nothing humane we can do to prevent Leah from telling our secrets. However, I dare say we deserve her trust, as we saved her life and confided in her. She must know that. But I've never met her. What do you think?"

Edward hesitated. What did he think of her? At a glance, a slightly insane young woman. Nearly erratic. Mind-reading gave him somewhat of an advantage at figuring her out, but not much. To his surprise, he didn't loathe reading her mind, mostly because everything she thought was so vibrant. Yesterday, he just wanted to see if he could handle being in the same building alone with her. He'd never planned to sit by her, or touch her; she'd unknowingly roped him in.

"She seems very intelligent and perceptive," was his robotic answer. "That's one problem out of the way, at least."

"That helps, but Samuel Uley could propose a complication. Are you sure he has shifted?"

Edward told Carlisle the story of his and Alice's run-in with the Quileute wolf. "And when I listened to his mind," he finished, "we found out who he was, just a scared teenage boy, the same one we were looking for."

"I'm glad you didn't confront him. He might have attacked you on instinct."

"We figured that. As soon as we learned what had happened, we went home."

For a while they simply watched the river, each vampire evaluating the situation.

"How will he return to human form?" asked Edward.

"I don't know as much about the Quileute wolves as I'd like. I'm fairly certain, though, that the wolf form takes practice to control. It could be weeks until Samuel Uley trains himself to shift back."

"Perfect. Now Leah's going to be stressed out for weeks and Alice refuses to say anything."

Carlisle gave him an odd look. "You could tell her."

"I doubt she wants to hear it from me. Besides, it's a bad idea. We'll break the treaty."

"What would you propose?"

Edward didn't want to tell Carlisle he planned to outright lie. He decided to sidestep the conversation. "It'd be best if she let him go and forget this useless search. She shouldn't be around someone so dangerous and unpredictable."

Carlisle simply nodded slowly.

Edward didn't like the way he was looking at him. "So, what complication did you speak of?"

"I've been thinking, that when Sam returns to the reservation and sees Leah, he may gather our connection to her…"

"Which will upset him, I assume."

Carlisle chuckled darkly. "To say the least. But the Quileutes know we mean no harm. They won't start a war without cause.

His watch beeped twice. "Going in now. Don't stay out here too long or Esme will worry." He ran back towards the house to change for his shift at the hospital.

The Cullen family had only moved back to Forks in August, so they were met with a few sunny days. They didn't go out much until October, trying to keep as low a profile as possible. Now that most people had grown used to them and the days were much cloudier, it was safe to leave the house more often. It was a tiresome pattern with every town.

Edward visited the oldest and largest bookstore in Washington. It had been old when he frequented in back in the thirties, so it was relatively ancient. Sitting in the aged house of literature made him feel young and new to the word. It was also refreshing after exploring Fork's tiny clusters of stores. This would be his third visit since their return, and his most anticipated one. The chaos of life called for something comforting like this.

Before entering, he pulled on the hood of his black sweatshirt. The place had would close in a few hours. He regretted not going in the morning when the place was at its emptiest, but it was not nearly as crowded as it was on weekends. Most of the people around appeared to be employees. He made his way down an aisle, headed for a corner of the room. Ahead of him, a stout, curly-haired woman stood on a ladder stocking a shelf. She held a large box under her right arm while her left stretched to place another book. As he passed her, the book slipped from her hand. Without thinking, he leaned over and snagged it out of the air.

Edward cursed himself, realizing that she must have seen the entire action, supernatural speed and all. (He really needed to get out more and become better acclimated with the human world again.) However, when he looked up at the lady she was grinning as if she saw things like that all the time… Upon inspection of her features, he realized she had a prosthetic right eye.

Her wrinkled, wide face broke into a smile, "Thank you, dearie!"

He hesitated for a fraction of a second, just staring at the old woman. He had been expecting her to mumble a thank you, then cringe away from him as if he were holding a machete. That was normal. Instead, she looked at him as if he were her grandson, or any nice, normal young man.

This time, Edward was the one to mumble an answer and hurry away. Her thoughts didn't follow him very far. Images were blurry, ideas were irrelevant. Perhaps she was much older than he had guessed.

Despite knowing what he wanted and locating his selections easily, he decided to stay and read. The atmosphere was cozier than ever, with the only sounds the routine movement and thoughts of the clerks and stockers. He carried a few novels to a dark corner of the building and settled into a pea-green armchair. Once he plunged into the lives of fictional characters everyone disappeared, including himself. More and more customers trickled out. The ones that passed him gave him curious looks. He must have looked very strange to them. He looked strange everywhere.

The heroine of his first book was about to enter battle though she was still healing from her firstborn's death. As he flicked the page to the next chapter, something tickled, or maybe, taunted his nose. He tried to continue reading but the smell was more intense, cruel even, as it danced closer than farther from him, setting fire to his throat. In a moment of bravery, he inhaled deeply. Yes, he knew exactly who that was. In a trance, he moved carefully to the middle of the closest aisle and waited.

She walked too fast, almost frantic like she was searching for a lost child. He braced himself. He had passed the first test: not killing her when they were alone. Now he would try the second: breathing normally. He felt confident her magnetism would not be the net to enmesh him, not today.

Two steps. A pause. Four now. Turning the corner, headed this way.

"Oh! Hey," she said. He was happy to hear the caution in her thoughts. He would've preferred fear, but it gave him hope she would be more careful in the future.

"Leah. It's nice to see you again." He was still perfecting a smile that didn't disturb most humans, so he never gave one intentionally. Instead, he nodded stiffly, trying to look peaceable. It probably worked, because she shortened some of the distance between them until they were only a few feet apart.

"And it's nice to see you, looking so well." She was shocked at the calm, level way he carried himself.

"That's kind of you."

"How's Alice?" She smiled tightly, not willing to give away too much.

"She is well." He wished he could say the same about the others. "I must warn you, though. She plans to take you shopping next time you visit. That's practically a weekend-long activity for Alice."

"Actually, that sounds awesome. It's a girl thing, Edward. We all love fashion." She paused, gesturing at her grey sweatshirt and black leggings. "Just...not every single day."

They both laughed softly as if they were two normal friends running into each other. How he could laugh with a burning throat, he did not know. Her blood smelled stronger when she moved, but he found it all tolerable the more he focused on their conversation.

"So what brings you to Furati Fortitudo?" Edward asked.

Leah lifted an eyebrow, though an unsure smile played on her lips. 'Uh, what?'

"It's the name of this place. I know, no sign out front, right? It's Latin for 'stolen treasure'."

"Ah, it fits, doesn't it? Someone must have stolen all these books. Nobody around here could be rich enough to buy all this...except for you, maybe."

"Except for me," He echoed, matching her smirk.

"If you own this place, can I get a seventy-five percent discount?" She batted her eyelashes at him in mock flirtation. The word "yes" almost slipped from his mouth. Idiot, he thought.

"That's a pretty big discount."

"Come one, what about the friends and family discount? I'd say you owe me for making an attempt on my life."

"Hmmm…" he pretended to consider it.

Their interaction, less than a couple hours total, must have established more trust than he originally assumed. Not only had his self-doubt diminished, but somehow, his hostility towards her was fading. As usual, her mind was inviting and interesting. But he found himself confused that she wasn't either infatuated with him or recoiling away. Being treated like he was human unnerved him, to say the least.

He needed to distract himself. "I tried to buy this establishment some years ago," he started once she had curled up on the couch next to his armchair.

'When?' In her head, she saw him in Medieval English raiment. She must have been either terrible with history, math, or both. Perhaps she had not purposely asked, but reflexively he responded to her unvoiced question.

"Decades back. But the owner was very...elusive."

"Meaning?"

"Every time I got hold of a number, it was the wrong one. The workers acted shifty, but they truly knew almost nothing about their employer, either."

"That could've been cool, but it would've looked weird. A teen trying to buy a store? It's like you want to be caught," Leah chided.

"No, I didn't go to school here yet. If I bought it, I would have adopted the guise of Carlisle's younger brother."

She held back a laugh. "You can't be more than what, eighteen, nineteen?"

"Seventeen. I was changed at seventeen. But I'm in my freshman year now so we can stay in Washington longer," he explained.

'Funny. He probably looks like some dummy that got left back a couple of times.'

Leah's hands flew to her mouth. "Wait," she said. She put two hands on either side of her head.

"Don't worry. It was rather amusing," he smiled in spite of himself.

"Seriously, can you ever turn it off?"

"No, I can hear everyone that's close. Keep in mind my definition of 'close' is very different than yours."

"That must suck."

"I don't know, it does help some...okay, you're right. More often than not it sucks. Especially at school."

"Ugh, yeah, I'd hate to hear my classmates' thoughts all day!" She rolled her eyes.

"Believe me, it's worse when they're thinking of you."

Leah caught on quick. "Yeah, some people are so desperate they'll lust after every cute guy they see."

She froze, as still as a vampire. 'Did I really just say that?'

Immediately, her wild eyes flew to him, as if there was any possibility he hadn't heard her. His face was an icy mask of indifference but that didn't fool Leah.

"Shut up," she rasped.

She shouldn't have done that. It wasn't in his nature to follow directions. When he finally stopped laughing, he looked up to meet her glare. "Thank you, I haven't laughed like that in ages."

"I would fight you if I were strong enough," she spat.

"It's not my fault I'm so attractive." It was the truth, actually, and often, an unpleasant one.

"I wasn't saying you were cute, I was saying some girls might think so!"

"Then what do you think?" He gazed into her eyes intensely, anticipating a snappy response. Instead, her eyes stared blankly back into his. Humans moved slowly, but after a few seconds, he began to worry. Her cheekbones and smooth skin were starting to remind him of a sculpture. Had he killed her? No, her mind buzzed like a machine. As usual, her heart hammered in her chest and her scent was still heavy in the air and his throat was still burning.

He called her name and she jumped to life. She groaned, rubbing her temples. "Ugh, I didn't sleep well last night. Need some coffee."

"You shouldn't be driving, then."

"Neither should you, freshman."

"This town is so small no one cares what I do." Oh, how he wished that were true.

'I doubt that,' she thought.

He was about to reply when he noticed an unwavering presence. He turned to see the old, curly-haired woman from earlier. She didn't look threatening, with her short stature and stooped posture, but he sensed at once she was not at all ordinary. Her thoughts were guarded, for when he inspected her mind, he only saw himself from her view. He stood up ready to approach her, but Leah gasped.

"Is this what I think it is?" She held the book he'd been reading earlier.

"Leah!" He made no motion to snatch it away, not wanting to accidentally harm her, not when he was just beginning to win her over.

"Rebel in Blue: A Warriors Novel by Jordan Guy." She inspected the sword-wielding redheaded woman on the cover. "Wow." She wiggled her eyebrows. 'Is this a dirty -'

"No, it's a young adult fantasy novel with a positive female protagonist with themes of feminism, sacrifice, religion, and…"

Leah was staring at him as if he were ripping the pages out of the unpurchased books and setting them on fire. "Who are you?"

"After the seventh or eighth read, a classic becomes very dry. Everything has been analyzed. Passages are stuck in your head. Sometimes I like to pick up something new, see what everyone else is reading," he explained. He forced himself to hold her gaze. Why should a human make him feel embarrassed?

They sat in near silence until she directed another thought towards him.

'Jordan Guy wrote Bishops and Pawns. I love that book.'

Her sheepish expression told him he was being gifted with a deep secret. It was at that moment he knew he would die, though he had yet to discover at whose hands he would suffer. Because he did not want to tolerate his singer's scent to prove himself. He did not want to simply help her find her friend to atone for what he'd done. He wanted to be her friend.

And life had already begrudged him so much, hadn't it?

Once he nodded to confirm his secrecy, Leah continued to inspect the book with genuine interest. He turned back to see the old woman had vanished. His suspicion of her would not.

"Whoa, this one scene is a little -"

Edward turned back to Leah and held out his hand. "Do you want a coffee or not?"