Chapter Three
Passing out twice in a day and turning into a car sized wolf- impressive if I do say so myself.
Waking up, I found myself in my new bedroom all over again. Also...there was yelling.
I got up quickly and threw on a bathrobe hanging off top of a desk chair in a rush to get to the source of the noise. The last thing I wanted was to cause my brother's imprint to be upset by my own. Luckily, I noticed it smelled like empanadas. So Emily knew to bribe her man with food- I felt a little pride. Unfortunately it wasn't helping too much.
"The treaty wasn't written with screwing the enemy in mind!" Sam bellowed in a relatively terrifying manner.
Emily didn't back down and shouted back equally as thunderous.
"If you could just see it as you do any other imprint! It! Isn't! A! Choice!"
Leah. It went unsaid but I didn't need to be a mind reader to understand that. Emily was saying that just like he didn't choose to leave Leah for her cousin, I hadn't chosen to imprint on a cold one. My heart warmed. She was sticking up for me. Even if it was for my benefit- I couldn't let it go on a moment longer.
"Would you two calm down? The world isn't on fire, and I'll do what's best for everyone."
Their eyes shot up as if they couldn't believe neither one of them had noticed my rush down the stairs, but I figured if I was arguing with Edward I probably wouldn't have either.
Sam was sitting at the dining table featured in New Moon, with the beautiful Emily across from him. He didn't have a shirt on but thanks to everything being established as real- I had no issues ignoring that. After all, I thought I was in fantasy mode when I was first worried about his appearance being an obstacle. Knowing he's really my brother- It's gross to think about. While Emily wore a beautiful cotton sundress with charms and beads adorning the neckline. Casual but pretty. Kind of exactly how I expected her to dress and look.
I didn't stare at the scar, I just pulled out a chair and took one of Sam's empanadas.
"My arm still fuckin' hurts, by the way" I hissed, lifting the hem of my bathrobe to reveal a very poorly stitched wound.
I'd have to pull those out. Silly Sam and Emily probably thought they were helping. But it would just get in the way of the wound closing, in a shapeshifter's case.
Sam huffed out of his nose and I briefly wondered if he was doing an impression of a dragon, or just actually half animal 100% of the time.
"It shouldn't have come to me dragging you home. Period."
He said it flatly and as a matter of fact.
Emily stayed silent then.
I couldn't help it. I snorted. What did they think I was doing while they worried, having ice cream on the pier with the guy?
Before Sam could verbally smack me around some more out of frustration, I explained myself.
"When I phased- I could hear some of Sam's thoughts right before I passed out, and I didn't want that sort of a connection. I don't know how or why but Edward knew how I felt and helped me" confusion cast itself amongst their expressions as I continued "Edward got me to one of his families safe houses and then returned for a car, and tried to return me. He was gonna just drop me off at the treaty line and let bygones be bygones, a simple favor to avoid spilling local innocent blood. Which was a concern because without him- I would have phased on campus."
That made sense because I stuck to the truth as much as possible. They would hopefully assume I had something personal holding me back from sharing my thoughts and I didn't have to make up some story as to why I refused to phase like a normal member of the pack.
"But I imprinted on him, I told him as soon as it happened- because I didn't know what it was. I just told him that I knew he was meant to be mine forever basically and that went over about as well as it could. He freaked out and decided the best way to return me would be at a neutral spot in the treaty."
"The riverbed" Sam finished, looking even more sickened to know that I had a reasonable story for my terror of a first day.
I took a large bite out the empanada then, chewing large tiresome bites.
"I know, right? What a messed up first day! Why did nobody tell me I had dog dna?" I pointed out the delicious food at him in an accusatory fashion.
It seemed I'd kinda cracked their serious demeanor in my own way, when Emily giggled a bit.
"I didn't tell you because females aren't in our history, as protectors of the tribe."
I furrowed my brow. Typical. Emily looked like she was thinking the same thing.
Silence at first- cut off when my eyes landed on my backpack and tore up clothes by the front door that reeked of my imprint. I was so wrapped up in the argument I had barely taken a few breaths, and I wasn't exactly searching the room for scents (ea distracted.) Emily spoke up as if excited to share the details.
"A courier dropped that off about fifteen minutes after I got the call from your school that you were not found anywhere on campus."
I swallowed another way too large bite of empanada. Stephenie wasn't kidding when she wrote out the pack to be pigs. I could eat a billion different plates of food.
Positive- Edward paid out of his own pocket for my items to be returned since he couldn't bring them by himself. Negative- tomorrow I would not just be the new girl. I would be the new girl who sent the town on a wild goose chase with the help of Edward, who I must somehow know since he was following me out and wasn't seen the rest of the day either. I could practically hear Jessica Stanley now.
Maybe it was a gift from the universe, another day without having to meet the catty females that peruse a high school.
Sam stood up abruptly, looking like he was either going to punch the wall or hide under his covers.
But just before he stormed off I had to say-
"I love you, bro! I'm sorry for worrying you!"
He didn't look back or halt in his pursuit of relief, probably off to go run the stress of reality away.
I know I would, If I didn't have to worry about accidentally starting a war by not being able to hide the events of the series.
"Can I have the rest of his food? Your cooking is amazing!" I asked his beloved meekly, hoping for a yes.
Emily got up herself, making me nervous, and elegantly strode towards my belongings barefoot before uttering the last sentence I wanted to hear after all the fuss of the day.
"Sure...just as soon as you finish all the homework you would've brought home today."
Edwards Point of View
A hundred years I'd waited to find my mate.
And when I did, her daydream about consuming fast food induced an alarming display that I could only describe as shapeshifting. Was she beautiful? Without a doubt. Was she insane? Also without a doubt. A complete nutter, as some of my english friends might say. Adorably so my own heart betrayed my current confusing stance on the situation.
"Edward?" Carlisle interrupted my internal monologue, bringing my attention to explaining such insanity to my poor family.
Alice and Jasper sat by my piano- the latter holding the former in comfort. Not being able to see what happened to me after I disappeared had her worried sick, I could still see her remembering it. Emmett and Rose were standing in the hall nearby. Both on the offensive; thinking about if we may have to move again already.
Esme waited patiently with Carlisle by the island counter, arms open just like their thoughts.
These people I loved and I had to break it to them that I'd put them at risk.
"Edward- whatever it is, there is nothing we can't hear" Jasper reminded me, focusing on when he was forced to recant some of his most monstrous acts.
It's the only way to get over things and an eternity of fighting it won't help. Talking is key- something I wish I'd learned sooner. If I'm to stay true to my morals and forgo the selfish urge to recoil, to hide the truth- I knew then. It was time to speak.
I crossed the room in a quick moment and stopped with my back turned and my gaze on the treeline so that I wouldn't have to see their faces.
"Today- I bumped into a new girl outside of the office building. I read her mind of course and was shown...the impossible. But I assure you" I spoke as if I was telling a prophecy of doom "everything I'm about to say is real. Her memories were no farce. She believed she was dreaming and bumping into me, she thought, why aren't I waking up? She counted her heartbeat and thought, I should be waking up."
"It only gets worse" I knew there would not be room for pause "because in her original world, the one she genuinely remembers residing in before waking up here, in a 'dream' version of herself- All of us are just a storybook. A series called Twilight written by a middle aged american woman to entertain preteens; as she put it."
The minds of my loved ones went crazy and I knew that I might've struggled to keep going without a break, if I hadn't faced the opposite direction. The breeze drifting in from the window (as slight as it was) happened to be all I needed to tune out thoughts. Just the slightest sound to focus on and it made it easy to breathe again. Knowing you don't need to, and feeling anxiety don't really mix.
"This new girl- Serena Uley. According to her, she isn't meant to exist. In a few months time a girl named Bella is to transfer to Forks High. Myself and the human Bella are supposedly meant to fall in love and cause multiple wars. Risking a lot of lives but most of all your own. It has a happy ending but-"
With all that out...how was I to face the love I now held for a stranger? One who could wage a different type of war regardless of intent.
"When Serena" I couldn't help but say her name fondly, remembering her little wry grin as she flirted with me "freaked out about revealing her circumstances to me- she ran out of the school's property and promptly turned into a wolf. At which point I got her to one of our safe houses to protect our abilities, our secrets, from the Quileute's."
"I succeeded" I balled up one fist "but you all need to know about imprinting. Apparently" I barked out the word rather unhappily, slightly glad to be able to vent "it tells the wolves who their soulmate is in a genetic way to ensure the line continues."
The prospect of children sent red flares off in Rosalie's brain.
"It's not meant to happen to a cold one- to us- because we don't have souls when we die and continue living, leeching off the earth" I could hear their loud waning thoughts on where I stood on that so I kept that in mind "their kind have only ever imprinted on human people. But Serena Uley is the definition of an anomaly."
Carlisle took the lead then,
"Son, you don't mean…she and you? That...that you have found your mate. But she's a wolf and apparently from a dimension where we all are just fictional characters?"
I let the silence confirm it for them.
Rosalie surprised me with how she responded and thought about what I'd said.
"Well...we've waited a very long time for this moment. And if all that is true- I'd much rather have a sister in law that I don't want to eat. All you can do is look for the positive in situations out of your control, or so I've heard" Rosalie grinned, her painted pink lips shining under the fluorescent lights of the hall.
"My siblings and quoting me...I should probably stop handing out bits of wisdom" I chuckled sheepishly, the ice breaking ever so slightly.
Alice chirped up then.
"Technically it is better this way. We won't be breaking any laws because we didn't tell Serena the truth. She knew because she inherited her own secret."
"What about her family's laws?" I broke to my sister, harrowing as ever.
Carlisle crossed over to my side of the room and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder with the thought of it's going to be fine. Our family discussions that were serious were often like chess, one of us making a move after another accordingly.
The head of our household usually delivering the closing.
"What will be- will be. Fate will have its way with us regardless and if safety becomes a question for you all, I will not hesitate to make the decision for us all to move. With that being said…" Carlisle's eyes, brightest of us all as he was the most recent to hunt, took their time grabbing each and every one of my siblings attention before falling back on me "I expect this family to go to whatever ends they would for their own romantic future. I will not discourage the relationship because of her species or family. And that's final."
My undead heart really felt relief. Relieved to know that I'd gotten everything out in the open.
I worried next; worried because I knew Serena must've felt that same heavy burden, and must still be feeling it. At her home and hiding the books, her real memories, from her new loved ones. It was so hard on her realizing that I found out about them, that she morphed before my very own eyes.
I recalled the love she held in those moments- as her fears induced imagery of her brother Sam in an all out war with myself. She held so much love for myself, my family, and even for the Quileute's.
Maybe. Just maybe, instead of creating a conflict- my girl's purpose would be to solve one before it began.
I smiled then and turned to allow my family to see. I was sure the last time I really truly grinned like that was well over a century ago.
"Oh, and Rose" I couldn't help but want to share, knowing it would help them see Serena Uley more kindly "she somehow guessed that you'd probably have been the one to amp up the speed on my Volvo. And Alice,"
"One of the things you missed out in your visions today- she loves your taste in clothing."
It felt like the start of something. The start of something I, we all, could get behind.
What was decided was- what will be will be. And with how things are looking now, my family members stood before me swearing up and down that no matter what the cost; I was to pursue what made me happy.
All I knew, deep in my soul, was that I could not let the events that occurred in that atrocious story actually happen. Based on Serena's memories- I would change who I was with the belief that I was happy because Bella would be able to block my ability. The me that I spent a millennium trying to understand, would never allow for my emotions to affect the living situation and the opinions of those around me in a negative fashion.
Which, with all the fighting, and the visions of the human kissing the one Serena called Jacob- let's just say...I spent that night staring at the moon and thinking of one thing and one thing only.
The call to Serena, the call to fight what could be. Then I wondered, was she thinking of me with as much fearsome worry, affection, and stress? I could only hope for us both that her family, not just my own, would find some form of acceptance in what the day had wrought.
