Chapter 5: Danger
A/N: Thank you for reviewing! Here's the next chapter, I'm changing the story quite a bit.
I had been expecting Jasper to go back to normal after that day, but from then on he was a lot nicer whenever we saw each other. It was strange, but I found it was good. Jasper being nice meant that I spent less time dwelling on his strange behaviour. We had formed a kind of strange friendship, in which he greeted me politely every day, I replied. And the weather, yes, we discussed the weather. Apart from that, any additional talk was only ever about the assignments, or tasks. Mike ran up to me on Thursday, just as I was leaving the gates.
"Evvy!" He called. I stopped walking and turned around. "Evvy, hey wait." He caught up with me, and fell into step beside me, so I directed my walk to the park instead, not wanting Mike to know where I lived. "So, what's up with you and Hale, hey?"
"What do you mean?" I said, but I knew exactly what he meant.
"You know, before he was just...horrible, and now you're kind of like friends. Sort of."
"Oh, that." Think, think. I changed the subject, once again un - subtly. "Yeah he's just...so, I heard the Christmas dance is next month?" His eyes lit up and his face split into a large grin.
"Yeah it is. Why are you asking?" He was still smiling, even while he talked. I raised an eyebrow, then realised what he meant. He thought I was asking him. I backtracked before he could get too excited.
"Oh, um...I was just wondering. I'm going out of town that weekend though." I spoke as casually as I could.
"That's what Eric said." We had stopped walking, having reached the edge of Forks' small park. I considered what he just said. If Eric told him I wouldn't be here on that weekend, then why did he..?
"Why did you think I might, you know, ask you? I mean, since Eric told you..?" I trailed off, and he looked the smallest amount of ashamed.
"I don't know, I thought maybe...you were letting him off easy?"
"Well, I really am going out of town." I said it as nicely as I could, which wasn't very much because I was now thoroughly annoyed.
"Oh."
Not counting the 'Mike' episode, the week had been pretty quiet. Quiet meaning 'boring'. I got a chance to practice my tracking charm on Thursday, and by Friday I knew that I would have it perfect if I practiced over the weekend.
Friday morning began like every other. I woke up, dressed, unlocked my door - this time performing the charm non-verbally, which automatically made my day a good one. Charlie was late for work, which I reminded him of as I poured Cheerios into one of the mismatched bowls. His head had shot up, swearing loudly and pulling his coat on, apologising for his 'strong language' as if I hadn't heard worse from Kate. I had walked to school slower than normal, making sure not to slip on the ice that coated the pavements. Or 'sidewalks', whatever they called then here.
Despite walking slowly I arrived at school in good time and walked to History with Angela. "Evvy, Jess and I are going shopping in Port Angeles on Sunday next week, do you want to come with us?" I agreed since it wasn't the Sunday coming. I had reserved that specifically for my charms.
In the place of our previous History teacher stood someone else completely. Our previous teacher had been tall, with a shiny bald head, and slight grey hair (if any). This one was short, around 5'3, with mousy brown hair and grey eyes. He was younger too.
"Where's Ross-kill-me?" I whispered, turning to look at Angela, and was faced with...Mike. "Mike! What are you doing?" He shrugged as if it didn't matter. It wouldn't, if I hadn't had an awkward conversation with him yesterday. And if he wasn't hitting on me.
"I just wanted to sit here today." He said. Yeah, right. He just wanted to sit here. Sure. I rolled my eyes.
"So, where is Ross-kill-me, then?" I repeated to Mike. He looked confused.
"Alright, good morning morning everybody. I'm your new History teacher, Mr Carruthers. Today, we will be taking a look at the assasination of JFK. So, if you could all open up to page…" he glanced at his notes, "394." (A/N: Only Potterheads will understand. Sorry). I flipped through my textbook and tried to pay attention as the teacher droned on. He tried to make it all sound exciting, tried being the key word. A piece of paper landed in front of me. I looked at Mike. He was taking notes. I unfolded it slowly, to be confronted with familiar writing.
Who's Ross-Kill-me?Jasper. Oh, the irony of this situation. I had a strong urge to reply as shortly as possible, to give him a taste of his own medicine, but I didn't want to ruin our new 'friendship'. I tore the corner of my page.
You're not meant to write your name on a note, unless you want to get caught. He's our old teacher. Wait, I folded it several times and flicked it toward his desk. Then, I tore off more paper:
Ross-kill-me is a nickname of Mr Rosskilly, because he makes you want to die. And how did you hear me say that? I passed that too, just as his reply landed on my book.
I doubt he was that bad. You spoke quite loudly. He would know if he'd been in school. I hadn't spoken loudly at all, I had been whispering.
He was. Anyway you never met him. And I whispered. Don't lie to me Jasper Hale.
You said not to write your name on a note.
Maybe I want you to get caught. You keep lying to me.
I'm sorry you think that.
I growled under my breath and picked up my pen, taking notes on the boring lesson, just to keep my mind off irritating Jasper Hale.
Mike was even more annoyed at me after History so I was glad when the day was over. He seemed to think something was going on between me and Jasper. I could only take so many dirty looks and snappy comments, and it was only a matter of time before I said something back. I pulled my coat tighter around me, walking quickly through the car park. The ice had all melted thanks to the grit the school had laid down so I didn't have to worry. I looked over at the doors I had just left. Jasper Hale and his sibling were leaving too, just behind a few other students. I was nearing the gates, when a blue van drove through the gate on the other side. I recognised it as Tyler Crowley's and he was driving pretty fast. Then, the truck slipped, and suddenly it was rushing towards me. I made an attempt to move, but there was nowhere to go.
Something cold and hard hit me, pushing me to the ground. They moved me to the left, just as the van crashed down, right where my legs had been. I looked up and saw him standing there. He was tall, and standing in the shadows near a cluster of trees. Their coat flapped around them in the light wind. I couldn't even see their face, just an outline. Wand in hand, slightly raised. Then they disappeared.
I turned slightly to be confronted with the face of Jasper Hale. His hand was on the van and as watched he moved it slowly, to reveal a dent the shape of his hand. "Evvy, are you alright?" He was concerned, but among the concern I could see fear, and very slight anger. And pain. The pain was always there.
"I'm fine." I said honestly. The van hadn't even touched me. There was a deep cut on Jasper's hand, where the front of the van had hit. "Jasper, your hand!" He didn't seem bothered by it and he clenched his fist so I couldn't see it anymore.
"What?" He said.
"Your hand's cut. Are you okay?" I leaned forward, trying to see the cut again, but he mived his hand out of the way.
"Evvy, my hand is fine." He insisted.
"Um, no, it's not. It's-"
He cut me off. "It's fine. See?" He opened his fist, and I saw… his hand was fine. Like he said. There was no cut, not even a drop of blood. Maybe… maybe I had imagined it? My head hurt a little, from the impact, but I was fine. There was blood on the side of the van. He was lying to me.
It was chaos after that. Everyone was running around frantically, calling an ambulance even though I insisted I was fine. Jasper wasn't involved in any of it. Neither was his family. They stayed on the other side of the car park, their expressions ranging from worry, to confusion, to anger, to fear. After I told him I was fine, he stood up and stood to the side. I stood up too, despite being told not to. The ambulance arrived and they made Jasper, Tyler and I get in, except Jasper got to sit in front next to the driver. I didn't know where Jasper went, but me and Tyler were dragged to two empty beds. He was injured badly, but all he did was apologise to me. Again. And again. Then his parents arrived and I was left alone. Finally.
"Evvy!" Charlie ran towards me with genuine worry on his face. "Evvy, are you gonna be okay? Is she gonna be okay?" He repeated the question to the nurse next to me, before I got a chance to tell him I was fine. I figured there was no point anyway, since nobody else had listened. "You can kiss your licence goodbye." He added to Tyler.
"Mr Swan, I'm fine, really." I said.
"No, you sure as hell are not fine. You could have died, you understand that?"
"Yes, but I didn't, so…"
"Evvy, I really am so sorry-" Charlie closed the curtain between the beds, cutting Tyler off mid-sentence. (A/N: one of my favourite moments!).
"You're losing your licence." He told him again through the curtain. "He's losing his licence." He said to me.
"Mr Swan, don't-" I was about to continue when the doors swung open and a doctor walked in.
"I heard the Chief's daughter was in," The doctor said as he approached. He was tall, about 6'2 with light blond hair, and the same golden eyes, pale skin and good looks as the Cullens. I knew which doctor he was; Dr Cullen. Why did they all look alike? Jess had said Dr and Mrs Cullen adopted them, yet they all had similar features: Unnatural golden eyes, pale skin, and a seemingly inhuman perfection about them.
"So, Evelyn," He began, looking down at the clipboard the nurse had handed him, a slight frown on his face.
"Evvy." I corrected him. Most people called me Evvy, either from hearing someone else say it, or from being corrected by me. In the wizarding world, I was known as Evvy Potter - among other names (The chosen one, The girl who lived…) that I had tried to shake off, with no result. The Evelyn part seemed to have been forgotten.
"Well Evvy, it looks like you took quite a spill. How do you feel?"
"Fine." I said politely. He checked my eyes, and after assuring I would be okay, turned to check Tyler.
"Evvy, I've gotta sign some paperwork, 'kay? I'll just be a second." Charlie told me. I nodded and was left to my thoughts.
Then I remembered; someone had been there. I thought more carefully, struggling for the details and I realised I must have hit my head harder than I thought. My memory was a little fuzzy. They had a wand, whoever was standing there, between the trees. Then everything clicked. There hadn't been any ice, whoever was standing there had conjured it. Why?
Travers. He knew we were looking for him. But how did he find out where one of us would be? He had obviously been aiming to kill me, as any major injuries could be fixed with spells, or potions. So, I should have died. Jasper. He had pushed me out of the way. No, he pushed the van away. That was absurd. Pushed the van out of the way? Was that the best I could come up with? He had cut his hand too. And then healed in a matter of seconds.
I looked around for Jasper but he was nowhere in sight.
"All done, come on let's go." How did he push the van? He definitely had, I remembered the dent. And his hand. How did it heal so fast? Was he a wizard, perhaps? No, we'd checked the area at the Ministry. "Evvy, hello?" Charlie. "You can walk, can't you?" His voice was riddled with worry.
"Of course I can walk." I stood up to prove my point and picked up my satchel, slinging it over my shoulder and followed him out into the corridor. I saw Jasper leaning against the wall casually, as if he had been waiting for us. Charlie's phone rang. What perfect timing.
"Evvy, I've gotta take this call. Just a second." He answered it, walking down the corridor as he did. I pulled my bag onto my shoulder more securely and walked towards Jasper. He turned slightly as I approached, as if to walk away, but I spoke before he could.
"Can I speak to you for a minute?" He stopped and turned to face me, his black eyes looking directly into mine. Black? "Your - your eyes! They're black. Weren't they… I thought… they were gold last time I saw you." His eyes widened slightly.
"Yes, it's the hospital. The hospital lights." He added hastily. I frowned. He was lying, in the most unconvincing way. Eyes didn't just change colour. Unless you were a werewolf, and it wasn't a full moon. Anyway, 'werewolf' didn't add up with anything else. "What did you want to talk about?"
"How did you get over to me so fast?" He was going to lie, I knew even before he replied.
"Evvy, I was standing next to you, remember?" No he wasn't.
"No, you weren't. You just left the school. With your siblings."
"You hit your head quite hard, Evvy. I think you're confused."
"Fine." Fine. He could lie about one thing, but me imagining two things just wasn't believable. "Your hand was cut. How did you heal so fast?"
"My hand is fine." He showed me it, as if to prove his point, but it only helped prove mine.
"Yes, it's fine now. I saw it before and it was cut!" He was infuriating. He smirked.
"You think I, somehow, ran over from the other side of the parking lot, stopped the van with my hand, and healed in a matter of seconds?" His face was light, but his tone was serious. He was making fun of me. "I'm afraid that's not believable in the slightest."
"I'm not gonna tell anyone. I just need to know if I'm going to lie for you." His expression was difficult to read. It was like he was fighting with himself, part of him wanting to tell me, and the other part refusing. He opened his mouth and-
"Okay, all done. C'mon Evvy, let's get home." Jasper took advantage of the moment and turned, walking quickly down the corridor, before entering one of the doors. He was hiding something. There was no way he could have gotten over to me so fast. If he wasn't a wizard, what was he?
I had dwelled on it all day after I got home from the hospital, but on Saturday I pushed it firmly out of my mind as I walked quickly through the tall, green trees of the forest. It was cold and the leaves were stuck thinly to the ground from the rain overnight. I went the same way I had gone every other day and when I reached the clearing I pulled my charms book out of my satchel, flicking through until I found the right page. The incantation was simple, but the effort and concentration was a lot harder.
I read through the paragraph even though I knew it by heart now, after reading it so many times. I pointed my wand and muttered, "Appare vestigium!" A puff of golden smoke erupted out of the tip of my wand. I spun around quickly, to spread it, but there was barely any there, so nothing was shown.
I practiced for the rest of the weekend, and by Sunday night I had managed to get a larger puff of smoke.
On Sunday after making good progress I had walked home quickly and ran up to my room. While working on my charm I had pretended nothing was going on with Jasper, but now I had to address the issue. He was hiding something and he had repeatedly lied to me, and I wanted to know why. I had established that he wasn't human. There was no way anybody could do that.
When I reached my room I dropped my bag on the floor and picked up my quill.
Dear Finnick,
How are you? I've been doing okay, and I've made some progress with Travers. Actually, Travers tried to kill me on Friday, he tried to hit me with a van. I'm fine, don't worry.
Do you know of anything we've learnt, anything at all, that has pale skiing, golden eyes, can move really fast, and heals in seconds?
Then I remembered my deal with Jasper not to tell anyone. I picked up my quill again and dipped it into the ink bottle.
This is all hypothetical. Say hi to Kate for me.
Evvy.
I laughed to myself. That sounded less convincing, but Jasper hadn't actually told me anything yet, so I'd say that was tit for tat. I sent the letter off with Lyra. She hotted loudly before flying off.
"Evvy? What was that?" Charlie called up the stairs. He didn't, and wasn't meant to know about my owl.
"Nothing!" I called back. He didn't say anything else. He believed me. Good.
I worked through my homework as quickly as possible. It was hard, probably because I hadn't been muggle school for a long time. A lot of it seemed completely useless (A/N: like standard form, for example), but it kept my mind off things, like Travers, and Jasper lying and hiding things. Things which I would soon find out.
A/N: That's all for this Chapter. I've changed how the vampires are, because Twilight vampires seem too invincible, they have no weaknesses, can only be killed by their kind, and don't sleep. They could take over the world. And standard form really is useless.