Chapter 6: Discoveries
A/N: I know the last chapter was very similar to the actual Twilight, and for that I apologise, but thinking about it, the crash was quite important. I suppose I could have changed the situation a bit, so I'll keep that in mind for another time. Thanks for reviewing!
By Monday, word had spread around the small population of Forks high that I had been rescued by the strange, mysterious and according to Jessica 'brooding movie-star'. The first thing Jessica did when I sat down in class was press me for details. Not of the crash, but of any conversation that took place. I kept my replies simple, insisting that he really had been standing next to me. No-one else seemed to have noticed he wasn't, and Jasper was avoiding me completely. It was like the second week of school again; he left the classroom as soon as the bell rang, barely looked at me let alone talk to me, and sat as far away from me as he could.
I was back to being angry at him, so I ignored him in return.
I was being a lot more wary of my surroundings because of Travers' appearance. Travers' appearance had, to be honest, unnerved me. After school I greeted Charlie and half an hour later I was practicing charms in the clearing. My expectation to learn the tracking charm by Monday seemed to be going out of the window and after two hours I was giving.
"This is never gonna work." I muttered. I dropped my book back into my satchel and pulled it over my head onto my shoulder. "Appare vestigium!" I tried one last time. Suddenly, unexpectedly, golden mist erupted out of the tip of my wand. I blinked, mesmerized by the sight, then snapped back down to earth and turned quickly to spread the mist as much as I could.
I looked around the clearing. The mist had spread around the whole clearing, going partially in between the trees. I moved around the clearing trying to spot anything the spell had revealed. There was a pair of footprints, right in the corner. They were hidden by the trees but the edge was just showing. I ran towards them feeling excited, wand still in hand. The sun was beginning to set and I'd have to go home soon, but this was my first lead since arriving in Forks, and I wasn't going to lose it.
I followed the prints, but they only showed as far as my golden mist had spread, giving me a total of four footprints exactly. I had always pictured the spell working something like The Marauders Map, so that footprints would show and lead you to the person. Clearly not. The only way to follow the prints would be to keep casting the spell. I pointed my wand in the general direction of the prints and muttered the incantation again. I waited for the mist to spread, this time directing it forward. Once they appeared I followed them while trying to be quiet. It was almost dark and the footprints led me further into the forest, so far that I didn't know where I was. Then they ended. I casted the spell again, but only one more set appeared. They were smudged badly, as if the person had skidded when they landed. Nothing else was there. The footprints just… stopped. I looked around again, just to be sure.
They had apparated, and I realised that Travers might not be in Forks anymore.
A branch snapped and I spun around fast, pointing my wand ahead of me. I suddenly realised how stupid I had been, following the footprints. If Travers was in town, they could have all been a trap to lure me into the depths of the forest. Charlie would be at home worrying and angry and I was lost. Possibly with a dangerous wizard. It was dark and I couldn't see. The spell, which had provided me with light, was fading. "Lumos!" There was a deer standing a few trees away. I breathed a sigh of relief and began walking in the direction I thought I had come.
Walking proved to only make me more lost and eventually I decided to apparate.
"Destination, determination, deliberation." I muttered, sounding the Finnick. "C'mon Evvy, the three D's." I took a deep breath, deciding to apparate straight into my bedroom. My door was locked so Charlie wouldn't see me. If I splinched myself, I'd just have to deal with it. Unless it was really bad. I tried not to think about that.
I spun on the spot, picturing my desk, since that was the only thing in my room that particularly stood out, because of the old design.
The feeling that suddenly overcame me was familiar; it felt as if my eyes were being forced into my head, as if my arms and legs were being squished back into their sockets. It felt like I was being pressed on all sides by an invisible barrier. Then, as quickly as the feeling had started, it stopped.
My head was throbbing and I wondered faintly if I had splinched myself. No. I stood up and realised I was on the floor. I must have apparated directly onto the desk, and then fell. I realised the mistake in my plan; I never came through the front door. Charlie didn't think I was home, and he shouldn't. I could walk downstairs and pretend to come in, but he could be in his room.
I opened my door regardless and credit down the stairs, moving along the hall and missing the floorboard in front of the kitchen - it squeaked. Charlie was watching some game on the TV. "Evvy, is that you?" He said, not looking up. I breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't even suspicious.
Mid-week my owl still wasn't back, so I assumed she was resting at Finnick's. Charlie was going down to the reservation to meet Billy again and I asked to go too, surprising him. I wanted to see Jacob again. He was a good friend, and since coming to Forks, he was the easiest person to talk to.
"So, where'd we leave off?" We were walking along the beach, further away from the water this time in order not to get splashed. It was colder than last time and we both had out wool coats on.
"I dunno, something about wolves." I replied. I leaned down and picked a string of seaweed off my shoe.
"Oh yeah, we just got to the good part." He changed his voice to what he assumed was an eerie, mysterious one. "This all began hundreds of years ago, probably when your grandad was a kid."
I laughed. "How old is your grandad?"
"Don't," he warned in his normal voice. "Trust me, this is scary." I rolled my eyes and nodded for him to continue.
He switched back to the creepy, story-telling voice. "This story is about… The cold ones!" He waited, as if expecting me to shudder, or even gasp, perhaps say 'Oh no, not The cold ones, anything but The cold ones!', but when I never spoke he continued. "According to legend, my great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made them sign a treaty to stay off of our land."
"So who are the cold ones?" I asked, intrigued.
"Wrong question, Evvy." He stretched the 'y' on my name. I raised an eyebrow. He was still doing the voice. He dropped it and said casually, "You should be asking what they are." I rolled my eyes.
"Fine. What are they, then?"
"Vampires." He said in the stupid voice again. That surprised me. "Anyway, my great-grandfather made the treaty with them, but only because they claimed they didn't hunt humans, instead, animals."
I had learnt about vampires in Defence against the Dark Arts, and vampires hunting animals was something I had never heard of. Then again, this was only a story. Real vampires were way different to what muggles thought they were. But still… "Animals?" I repeated.
"Yeah, y'know; bunnies, kittens…" I laughed and hit his arm lightly. We walked in silence for a bit and then I remembered something.
"You said last time the Cullens were in one of the stories, didn't you?" I asked. He nodded. We jumped back to avoid a particularly large wave. "Which one?"
"The one I just told you." He said simply.
"What, so their ancestors were part of the tribe?" He shook his head and stopped walking.
"They were the vampires."
"I thought they just moved here?" He smiled and we started walking again.
"Or just moved back."
The next day, I couldn't get Jacob's words out of my head. I had asked more questions on the beach, but he had laughed and reminded me it was just a story. It didn't sound like 'just a story' to me. The story hadn't scared me, it had made me even more curious. Today, I would confront Jasper Hale, demand to know what he was hiding and, if he refused, I'd do everything I could to find out.
Friday morning was like any other in the boring, rainy town of Forks. By the time I woke up Charlie had already left for work. I got ready for school and left the house earlier than usual, walking quickly. I wanted to write to Kate and Finnick, to tell them what I had found the other day in the forest, but my owl wasn't back yet.
Mike, it turned out, had asked Jessica to the Christmas dance, something she boasted happily about during the first period. Eric seemed to see this as a good thing, probably thinking I would ask him now, even though I had already turned him down.
Classes were, it seemed, only getting harder as we moved on to more complicated topics in most subjects. Finnick would love the opportunity to experience a proper muggle life, but love was the opposite of how I felt about it. We had biology straight after lunch, which was good; I could question Jasper.
As usual he had arrived in the classroom before me. He was sitting in his chair, doing that thing where he didn't really look at anything. I walked over cautiously and sat down. He, like every other day, sat as far away from me as he could. His chair wasn't even facing mine slightly like it had been last week. He had gone back to hating me and I knew it had something to do with the crash.
"Hi." I said. I flipped through my textbook, intending to memorize a few facts before I failed again.
"Hello." He turned slightly to face me. At least he wasn't ignoring me. I took the opportunity, since I knew he was paying attention, and asked the one question that had been on my mind all day.
"Are you planning on telling me what happened?" He didn't hesitate when he spoke.
"No." His voice was cold and I knew he wouldn't give a longer answer than that.
"So you expect me to keep lying for you, then?" His head shot up and his dark eyes met mine. I had to admit, he looked quite intimidating, and for some strange reason I remembered what Hagrid said about hippogriffs; eye contact must be kept at all times, without blinking.
"You said you wouldn't tell anyone." I shook my head.
"No, I said I wasn't going to tell anyone. You still haven't told me the truth." His face, like always, was completely blank and I felt a surge of annoyance towards him. He wasn't giving anything away, ever, and whenever he did it was far from helpful. He was the most annoying person I knew, even counting Smith and Mclaggen.
I started to turn, intending to ignore him. I'd just have to find out myself. Then, his eyes narrowed and he spoke, "You can't tell anyone." He began and I could hear it in the back of his voice: concern. "If you do, you'll be in danger." I couldn't believe him. Danger from who? For some stupid reason, Jake's voice echoed through my head; You should be asking what. Was Jake right? Or was Jasper trying to scare me? I hated to admit it, but if he was he had succeeded. Succeeded in convincing me he was hiding something far more dangerous than I thought. The only question was… what?
I dropped the matter, and told him I'd keep his secret, whatever it was. He seemed to relax a little after that. He believed I had dropped the matter entirely, but I planned on doing quite the opposite. I wanted to know what he was hiding, what his dangerous secret was. I had a feeling his siblings were in on it too, judging by their varied expressions after the crash. And the doctor too, Dr Cullen, since he was their dad.
I ran home after school and was just reaching the stairs when Charlie stopped me. "Evvy, can I speak to you about something? It'll just take a second, I promise, then you can get back to whatever teenager thing you're doing." I walked down the stairs and into the living room. Charlie was sitting on one of the armchairs, a newspaper in front of him, looking worried. I walked over and sat opposite him.
"There was an animal attack just outside of Forks," He began.
He picked up the paper and read, "Hector Roskilly," That threw me. Our old History teacher. "aged 58, was found in the forests of Forks yesterday at 06:18am. Police revealed he was brutally murdered by an unknown animal," He broke off and looked up, dropping the paper onto the table.
"Evvy, will you promise me not to go into those forests? I know this was further out, but Forks is different to Arizona. There are bears, mountain lions, it's dangerous and I don't want you getting hurt."
I hesitated. Charlie had been nothing but kind to me and I felt guilty. "I promise." I said, guilt shooting through me as I made the one promise I couldn't keep. He nodded. I took this as my cue to leave and turned, running up the stairs. The second I stepped into my room I locked my door and ran over to my shelves. I spun around suddenly. There was a familiar tapping sound on my window. "Lyra!" I opened the window and lifted her inside, smiling. "You took ages!" I grinned and stroked her head like I used to with Hedwig, realising that even though I tried not to, I cared for this owl. "What held you up?" She hooted quietly and I saw her wind was poking out in an odd angle. She was hurt. My eyes widened and I placed her on my bed carefully. I pulled out my wand and healed her wing the best I could. What had happened? I noticed the letter, I had almost forgotten about it. I took the letter carefully and gently placed Lyra back in her cage, giving her some water.
I was disappointed to see that the letter was the same one I had sent. Someone had known Lyra was my owl, and they didn't want me communicating with anybody. They had hurt my owl too. I thought back to what Jasper said today in Biology. No, I thought. Jasper wouldn't hurt my owl. He wouldn't. I thought. Besided, no-one in Forks knew I had an owl, not even Charlie, and I lived with him.
If it wasn't anybody in Forks it had to be someone else. Someone who knew where I was, someone who knew owls were used to deliver letters, someone who could keep a low profile, while still getting what they wanted, whether that included breaking laws or not. I could only think of one person who fitted all the categories. Travers.
Despite thinking of no-one else, I couldn't help but wonder if Travers was working alone. Surely he was. We hadn't been told to find anyone else, just him. But I had seen someone's footprints in the forest, glowing brightly in golden dust. I had seen someone's footprints lead on and then disappear as if they never existed. And before that there had been the man in the shadows, during the crash. The man who had conjured the ice in order to hurt me. And now, an unknown person had attacked my owl.
If that was all Travers, then he was smarter than his file made him out to be. He was carefully planning everything, waiting for me to let my guard down, so he could strike. Perhaps he already had. Roskilly's death had to be taken into account. He had been brutally murdered. Would Travers do that, in order to scare me? I had been in the forest. I remembered the strange feeling I had felt, the feeling that told me I wasn't alone. Travers was dangerous, I couldn't deny that. And Jasper? He was just a distraction, I realised. He was getting in the way of what I was here to do. I needed to forget about him and his strange behaviour. I needed to focus on what was important. If Travers did kill Roskilly, then Roskilly was only the beginning.
A/N: I don't think I'm entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, but I can't think of much right now. If I don't post another chapter by Friday, then the next will be Tuesday or Wednesday. Read and review!