Chapter 10
Moving, and moving, and moving
"I can hear their thoughts," Edward spoke to us.
"Are they animagi?" I asked surprised.
"No, they have amazing hearing though, they understand what we are saying."
"Hello, my name is Carlisle Cullen, we came in peace." Carlisle raised his voice a little. "That's my family, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and Bella."
"They are confused, they wonder why you call us a family," Edward spoke. "I assume they know what we are, they are calling us bloodsuckers."
All members of my family looked at each other, we didn't know what to do.
"We are a family, Esme is my wife, we both consider the other four people our kids. Edward can read your minds; we know that you're aware of who we are." I heard a growl coming from the forest.
"Carlisle, they are shapeshifters." Edward gasped. "I've never met anyone like that before."
"So, they are animagi?" I asked again.
"No, that's why it's so strange. Regular muggles who can transform themselves into wolves, nothing else. It's genetic."
I stared at him in disbelief. We never learned about them in Hogwarts. It was impossible. I heard a louder growl coming from the forest and then someone running. The three yellow eyes were coming closer to us, the stink in the air intensified. Emmett scowled and was ready to attack. Carlisle put Esme behind him, shielding her from the unknown creatures.
I saw wolves emerge from behind the trees, they were three times bigger than regular ones. Well, if they want to play, I'll be playing on my own terms. I pictured my wolf form and a second later, I was standing lower, growling back at them. I noticed they stopped immediately as they saw me change. I looked at Edward with an unspoken question in my head. His eyes ran from me to the wolves, and I could tell all of us were confused about the wolves' sudden stop.
"Did you have distant relatives living in Washington?" He asked me, I took the shield off me.
"I don't remember, I don't think so." I thought. "Why are you asking?"
"The wolf at the front says his name is Ephraim Black. He's the leader of the pack." He told me.
"Ephraim Black...I don't know that name." I thought. "Even if we're related, our lines have separated a long time ago."
"They are contemplating whether they should kill us or not." Edward kept talking.
"But why?" Esme asked. "What did we do?"
Edward looked at the main wolf for an answer.
"No." He suddenly said. "We don't kill people; we drink from animals. Look at the color of our eyes."
The wolf had a somewhat disbelief look on his face.
"Carlisle is a doctor at Forks hospital, he heals people, we want to live in peace with them," Edward spoke again.
I started feeling awkward. It looked like Edward was having a conversation with himself. No other person in the clearing was talking.
"Bella and I were born wizards, and then turned by Carlisle when we were about to die, just like everyone else in this family. Bella developed a skill to turn into a wolf, we call people like her animagi. No, she is different. As I understand, your shapeshifting is in your genetics, it is passed from a father to a son. Wizards can turn into different animals, dogs, cats, mice, whatever really, with potions and spells. Her animal form was random, she didn't know what she would turn into when she took that potion."
I was a little shy for being the center of conversation but happy that my animagi form came in handy and stopped the wolves.
"I asked her about your relationship with her because her name is also Black," Edward spoke again. A silence fell in the woods, the other two wolves who were a little behind the first one looked at their leader. They were communicating with each other, even though I didn't understand how.
After a moment, Ce…Edward looked at Carlisle and smiled.
"They want to make a treaty. Their leader with our leader."
"Will you translate?" Carlisle spoke with a strong face, Edward nodded. "What are the conditions?"
"Everything that belongs to the reservation is their territory, we cannot go on it, hunt on it, etc. we cannot kill, or even bite a human in Forks or La Push. If we do anything mentioned before, the treaty will be considered broken, and they will start the war."
"Seems reasonable." Carlisle went into thought. "But if we cannot go on your land, then you cannot go on ours, which is right outside Forks, the town itself is a peace territory, that we can both visit."
"Deal," Edward spoke, and I sighed in relief. I turned back into my human form and took Ce…Edward's hand in mine. I noticed the wolves were leaving now. I looked at my family and noticed we all had different emotions on our faces.
Esme looked worried, Edward and I both looked relieved, Carlisle was deep in thought, Rose was annoyed, Emmett looked upset. I assumed he wanted to get into a fight, I thanked the universe no one had to get hurt. Although I doubted the wolves would be a threat to us, they were outnumbered 2:1, we had both magic and vampire abilities on our side as well.
We continued our life in Forks, I was even more surprised in September, when Rose, Emmett, Edward, and I went to Forks High School and met Geoffrey Swan. I really wondered if this small town was somehow related to both of my families. Was it just two common last names or were Geoffrey Swan and Ephraim Black connected to the wizarding world of England? It was an interesting theory, but as Forks didn't have access to a magical community, I decided it had to be a coincidence.
The four of us had a new story. Rosalie and I were now sisters and Carlisle's nieces, our parents once again died in a horrible fire. This story was so sad that no one asked any more questions. We changed our names to Bella and Rosalie Cullen. Emmett and Edward were also brothers, whom Carlisle and Esme adopted 5 years ago. They changed their names to Edward and Emmett Cullen as well. Everyone in school stared at us, no one dared to speak with us though, no one even used our first names when gossiping, it was always The Cullens.
I really liked Forks and I knew I would miss it when we would leave, it was just a matter of time. The rainy days that we spent outside, the thunder nights that we spent playing baseball and football, the sunny days that Edward and I spent on the meadow that we found deep in the forest area.
After graduating from school, all of us stayed in town. Carlisle and Esme would say that we were going to Washington University, but that wasn't true. All of us stayed in the house and worked on something else.
It was Rosalie's idea to create a business and invest in things that Edward and I knew would become popular in the future to generate more money for the family. It was getting harder for Carlisle to hide his trail on the stock market. The time was moving forward, and he already had to 'pass over' his stocks a few times. That process always took a long time and required a ridiculous amount of paperwork. Death certificate, a will, a lawyer, Carlisle or Edward had to pretend to be Carlisle Cullen Jr. to sign the new documents, etc.
Rosalie thought that if the stocks were bought by a company, we would have less to worry about, so that was how Cullen Energy Efficiency was created. The name had a double meaning since we were vampires who never had energy inefficiency and made Emmett and I giggle, it was another family joke. The CEE would now buy stocks and invest in Boeing, Coca-Cola, UPS, Harley Davidson, and so many other companies that were still popular in 1996.
The family moved in 1945. Forks have so far been our longest home, and I would miss it greatly, but Carlisle wasn't aging, and even a new hairstyle and make-up wasn't helping him anymore. He still looked to be in his 20s, when he was supposed to be closer to his mid-30s.
We were going to Montana now, the climate was similar, which would allow us to go to school more. The mountainous area was really liked by Emmett, who was hunting grizzlies every chance he got.
Our new house on the outskirts of Missoula needed remodeling as well, which Esme liked because it gave her creative freedom a chance to show herself. I urged her to go to school and get a degree in design or architecture. She promised me to think about it in the future, for now, she was just happy to be able to remodel the houses we lived in.
May 5th, 1950
We were still living in Missoula, our new house wasn't as big as the one in Forks, but it had everything we needed. Esme and Edward insisted that we need to have window panels in each house now. It made going out of it easier as well as gave us an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful forests and mountains.
Mine and Edward's room in this house was right beside Rosalie's and Emmett's. They were the newlyweds now, and I did regret the words that I spoke in private to Edward about them being a couple. The noise and constant breaking of their bed made everyone, except for the pair, very uncomfortable. Emmett would always laugh when they had to get a new bed for themselves, and taunted Edward and me because we liked to be discreet about private life.
Rose seemed to like getting married the first time, and Edward told me she was thinking about doing it a few more times in the future.
Edward and I went hunting in the morning, it was sunny, so we had to skip school. We decided to go into the mountains and try finding some mountain lions, Edward's favorites. I managed to catch a bear, as I drank its blood, I decided to taunt Emmett about it when we got home. My big brother seemed to get upset whenever one of us killed a bear without letting him have a fight with it first.
Edward and I met up after the hunt next to a small waterfall. We both liked looking at the steady running water.
"Would you want to get married to me again?" I asked still thinking about Rose's thoughts. "I'm only asking because we've never discussed it, I liked our wedding, and I don't need anything more than what we had. But do you?"
"I would want to have a wedding with my father and our friends, I suppose." He spoke. "I think they would want to be with us on that day since they were with us since the beginning of our relationship."
"That makes sense. I'm guessing you also want a wizarding wedding?" I giggled.
"That wouldn't be too bad." He kissed me. "Isabella Marie Black-Diggory, will you marry me again in the 90s?" He smiled. I nodded and laughed.
"Nearly 50 years to plan a wedding. Esme would like that."
We started heading home now. Edward stopped in the forest right before we reached the house and looked at me confused.
"We have guests." He spoke.
"Who?"
"A very loud woman, at least in her thoughts. Her mind goes from one thought to another, she is unsteady, keeps switching topics." Edward looked irritated, and I laughed at his reaction. "The man is completely opposite, very calm, I don't see a lot of thoughts in his head."
"Are they friends?" I asked.
"Definitely yes, they will be staying with us." Edward looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Apparently, you and I have been evicted."
I took his hand and rushed to the house. Just like he said, I saw all our staff in the garage and growled. I could have moved everything myself, and it would have taken so much less time. Besides, I wasn't particularly happy that someone else have touched my things.
"Bella! Edward!" A high-pitched voice called from the front door.
I looked to see who was saying our names. A short, even shorter than I was, girl, stood at the bottom of the front stairs now. The short girl was pixie-like, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was deep black, cropped short, and pointing in every direction. She moved very gracefully towards us, with a carriage that would break any ballerina's heart.
"Hi, I'm Alice. We'll be such good friends." She squeaked and gave both of us a hug.
I was so confused, I was mad at her just a second ago, now I couldn't do anything but like her? Her positivity was radiating from her onto everything.
"You can see the future?" Edward whispered in shock.
"You can read minds?" Alice's question was asked in a sarcastic tone. I had a feeling she already knew about his gift. "And you're a shield, of course. It's so cute that you guys are a couple. The only woman whose mind he can't read. So romantic! My mate Jasper is upstairs, putting our things in the room. I hope you don't mind, I had a vision, you wouldn't mind, but still. I really like your room, and it has a big closet. Bella, you don't like shopping, right? Yeah, well the room upstairs has a smaller one, and you can fit all your stuff in it. Besides, you guys wanted to be more distant with Rose and Emmett, especially right now, so that's just perfect, right?"
She kept talking and talking. She answered the questions that she asked us herself as well. I looked at Edward for help, he just chuckled. If I thought that life with Emmett wasn't boring anymore, I couldn't even imagine what would happen now, since we have Alice.
"About the wizard thing, that looked so cool, you must tell me everything about it. Oh, oh, I know! Next time you go there, you must bring me with you! The last time you guys went there in Helena, I saw this store that sold cloaks, there was this deep purple one, with a really cute pointy hat, I need to have it. It would look so good with my new boots." Alice kept talking, while she wrapped her hand around mine and led me into the house.
I looked at Edward once again for any help, and noticed he was laughing even more now.
"I'll get our things into the new room." He spoke, still not able to contain his laughter.
"It's just like they say, opposites attract, right. My Jasper is so quiet all the time, always so serious. I'm quite sure that even though he adores me, he's still very glad that we found you and I can talk to more people now instead of just him." Alice kept talking. "I saw you decided to get married again! That's so great! You have to let me help with the wedding, I'm dying to do a makeover for you, these clothes that you're wearing are so out of style..."
I met Jasper when we came upstairs, he was indeed very calm and didn't speak much. He was still friendly and seemed to be the only person who can contain Alice's excitement. He also had a gift of controlling others' emotions, which I found when Alice suddenly calmed down as soon as we entered the room. I felt very grateful, and he replied: "You are welcome."
That night, when Carlisle came home, he was pleasantly surprised that our family was two people bigger. Jasper and Alice, both told us their stories, even though Alice's was a lot shorter since she didn't remember her human life.
I found that Jasper was fond of reading and was very interesting in friendly discussions and debates about specific authors and characters. I welcomed him to borrow any books of mine that he wished, and so did Carlisle. Esme repeated her lovely saying 'the more the merrier'. Emmett immediately wanted to go to Helena and get another broom, so Jasper could join him and Edward. Their Quidditch team was growing, and I was afraid one day they will make all of us play it together. Rose seemed to like the idea of going shopping with someone who knew a few things about fashion.
Edward and Alice were growing very close, they both liked how the other could understand the burden of supernatural talent. Jasper's and mine weren't affecting us as significantly, mine wasn't affecting me at all, in fact. However, he and I spent a lot of time discussing books and muggle history. He was very interested in time travel and wanted to help me find out how exactly I was able to time travel 300 years into the past.
Just as I promised Alice, I took her to Helena a few weeks after they arrived. Edward and Jasper tagged along, it appeared to be sort of a double date. The wizarding world of Helena was smaller than any other I've been to. It only had a bank and maybe a dozen stores on both sides of the alley. I wished we could be in Massachusetts, where the famous American Ilvermony school was located. I read about it in books, but never actually saw it. With school in such proximity, I couldn't help but wonder if they had their own version of Hogsmeade, a fully magical village.
When we entered the street, Alice beamed at me and squeezed my hand. She was truly a child at heart, just like my big brother Emmett.
"Where do you want to go first?" Alice smiled at me.
"The bookstore just received a new copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', I want to go get it." I smiled back. The little pixie charmed me nearly instantly with her all-knowing smile and positive attitude. She became a part of the family very rapidly, it felt like all of us knew her forever.
"Oh, don't waste your money. Someone will send it to you in a few days." She spoke. I guessed I must have created a good impression when speaking to Newt that one time. Newt Scamander was sending me his books, how crazy was that?!
"Okay, how about we go to the robes store that you wanted to visit, while the boys can go pick up a broom for Jasper?" I asked.
"Sounds great to me." Jasper chuckled. Alice rolled her eyes and led me into the closing store. I sent a goodbye kiss to Edward.
It was a lot easier now to call him Edward, even in my head. My new family always called him that, so the name stuck. I wondered, however, what would happen when he reunites with his father. I doubted Amos would be very comfortable with calling his own son a name he didn't give him.
"Oh!" Alice exclaimed. "That's the one I saw in my vision!"
She pointed straight to the mannequin. On it there was a deep purple cloak, it shimmered in the light, and I could tell just by looking at it that it will need to be adjusted to Alice's height. The mannequin also had a deep purple pointy hat, a little tilted at the top and with a large black feather sticking out of it. I was never fond of feathers or any other animal involvement in my clothes, but Alice knew fashion, so it must be very popular, right?
"You want to try it on, dear?" The woman, who I assumed to be the owner of the store, asked my sister.
"Yes, please. Would you be able to trim it just a tiny bit? I'm afraid I'm too short for it." Alice replied.
"No problem. Are you coming from the south? It's a rare thing to hear this kind of accent so far north." The woman spoke as she walked Alice to the changing room.
I decided to roam around the shop while the store owner worked her magic. I got myself a new pair of gloves and a black modest hat that would cover my face from the sun.
We met with the boys in about an hour. Alice had me purchase her purple robe as well as some other clothes for the whole family…She was certain we would need them in the future to look like all of us belonged in the wizarding world. I sighed, but still paid for all of them, I already knew better than not to trust Alice about future events.
I saw that Jasper was holding a new broom in his hands and saw that Edward was carrying another five in his. I felt my face elongate in shock.
"Before you say anything…" Edward interrupted my formed monologue about impulsive buying. "It's for the whole family. What if we all want to play Quidditch one day, but we don't have enough brooms?"
"But Car…"
"What if someone else joins us?" He interrupted again. "Carlisle and Esme might not be huge fans, but what if the new people are?"
"I'm not a huge fan either!" I exclaimed in protest.
"You will like it. It's going to be so much fun!" Alice squeaked.
"I hate you all." I shook my head.
"No, you don't." Jasper chuckled.
October 19th, 1969
The family has been traveling together happily. We all felt like it was full now and couldn't help but be glad about it. Everyone seemed to find their place with Carlisle, his way of life, and his beliefs.
We just moved to Alaska, Rose and Alice were protesting that decision. Edward laughed at them; they wouldn't be able to show off their cocktail dresses while pretending to be cold. I was happy that Rose now had a sister who actually liked shopping not only because it was making her happy, but also because it meant I would be freed of the shopping duty. My sisters were occupied with each other, so I had more time to read or practice magic.
The small town of Denali was something out of a Christmas Carol novel, especially when the snow covered all of it. The snow stuck to the roofs overnight, leaving them looking like they were covered with soft cotton. The surrounding woods provided us with enough food as well as shelter from prying human eyes.
We were once again going to school; our stories have changed a little. Edward and Alice were now twins and had a big brother Emmett. They were adopted by Carlisle and Esme when they were young, and all had their last names changed to Cullen. Rose and Jasper were also twins, fostered by Carlisle and Esme. Jasper was a gentleman and changed his last name to Rose's Hale. I was the only one whose cover story didn't change, still the orphaned niece of Carlisle's.
Edward, Alice, and I were juniors, all pretending to be 17-year-olds, just a year younger than all of us were. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper were seniors, 18-year-olds. Seeing as the three of them appeared to be older judging by their build and height, the three of us were left to be the young ones. I didn't mind as long as Edward was with me in most of my classes.
On our first day, Edward drove us to school. Alice and I went inside, while he was looking for a parking space. I heard Alice gasp when we entered the school, her eyes were spacing out, she was having a vision. I looked around to see if anyone was looking in our direction. They were. The new people coming to school, especially in a town so small. I hoped students would think that Alice was just nervous and led her to the girls' washroom.
"What did you see?" I asked quietly.
"I can't say." She beamed at me.
"Why not?"
"It's a surprise. Oh, you're going to love it! It's so great!" Alice jumped in one spot. "I can't wait for you to find out. Korean or Polish?"
"What?" I asked confused.
"For Edward, I can't let him see it in my thoughts. I would ask you to shield me, but you're so stubborn. You would rather let Edward spoil the surprise with his gift than actually wait for the good news. So, I'm going to be translating Pride and Prejudice to another language, so…Korean or Polish?" She explained and I sighed.
"Whatever. What are the perks of having a seer as a sister if she doesn't tell you anything about your future?" I ask.
"Well, I can tell you that we will be meeting some vampires today." I looked at her warily. "They are friendly, we will actually become very close with them."
"So, you can tell me about vampires that we're meeting today, but nothing about your morning vision?"
"Don't be like that! I only tell you what you need to know."
"And I don't need to know everything?" I asked, starting to get upset with Alice.
"Of course not, silly. What's the fun in that?" She quickly touched my nose with her pointy finger and smiled. She wrapped her arm in mine and led us both to our first class that we shared with Edward.
Physics was my least favorite subject, I never understood how it worked. I still got the highest grades because of my inhuman memory, but I could never understand what I was writing about in my exams.
Edward sat next to me, while Alice went to the other part of the classroom, probably trying to avoid both Edward and me from questioning her. Edward gave me a confused look and asked me why our sister was translating Pride and Prejudice into Polish. I shook my head at him and simply said: "Because she is hiding a big surprise that awaits us in the future."
"You're so impatient." He laughed at me and left a kiss on my cheek.
The other three classes that I had before lunch were all boring and awful even without my new classmates gossiping about our family. At every new school, the rumors were the same. Were we related? How weird it was that all of us were couples…What happened to our eyes, is it genetic, is it a virus, should they be avoiding us? Well, the answer to the last one, was yes, they should avoid us, but not because we are infected with a virus…
"Hey." I smiled when I saw Emmett outside of the canteen. "Waiting for someone?"
"Yeah, Rose needed to check her makeup." He rolled his eyes. "How is your first day?"
"Same as the last first day." I shook my shoulders. "You?"
"I was already offered team captain of the school hockey team," he laughed. "No tryouts, no interviews. I'm waiting for a football team invitation before the school day ends."
"Somehow, I'm sure you'll get one." I chuckled.
Rose, Emmett, and I walked into the cafeteria and grabbed some food from the buffet. Emmett paid for all three meals, and we went to the table where the other three of our family members were sitting. I noticed there was another person sitting with them, I could only see her back. She had beautiful slightly curly rose-blond hair and a large blue parka. I didn't hear her heartbeat, so I assumed it was the vampire Alice was talking about earlier. Was she an animal drinker? I didn't think colored eye lenses were invented yet…Were they?
"Bella, Rose, Emmett, meet Tanya," Jasper spoke when we sat at the table. I smiled politely and shook the girl's hand.
"Nice to meet you," I spoke. Tanya was an animal drinker; her eyes were as gold as my own. She was beautiful, her small features matched with her tiny body frame.
"The pleasure is mine. I didn't think there were anyone who kept to this kind of diet, except for my family. It's nice to see that we are like-minded."
"You said family? Are they here with you?" I asked.
"Yes, there are my sisters Kate, Irina, and we also have a couple living with us, Eleazar and Carmen." Tanya smiled. "I'm the only one attending school though. As the leader of the coven, I'm responsible for finding information about the new time, what people are interested in now, what they do, things like that. We never move, stay in Denali for our permanent residence."
"I would love for all of us to meet sometime," Edward spoke. "Eleazar was a part of Volturi, just like Carlisle and Bella. I'm sure they would be interested to talk about that."
"Sure, that sounds like a good idea. You can come by whenever, I'll leave you our address." Tanya smiled at all of us, but I noticed how her smile grew when it reached Edward. I growled internally, not wishing to create a scene.
When the bell rang, Tanya left. Edward and I walked to the next class together.
"Is something bothering you?" He asked.
"Should I be worried about Tanya?" I spoke, already knowing the answer to my question. I thought he knew I knew because he just laughed and kissed my forehead.
"She doesn't know I'm taken already, that's all."
"Well, maybe someone should tell her before she falls in love with you. You should wear your wedding ring when we go visit her coven." I insisted.
"Only if you wear yours, Mrs. Black-Diggory." He smiled at me.
Sorry for not updating as much, I'm graduating in a few weeks so school has been very hectic and time-consuming. I'll be posting more on the weekend, but for now please enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review!
