Chapter 3

It was the girl from his dream. He could barely remember anything from the dream, just the sense of foreboding, and danger, and the girl.

He carefully gathered her in his arms and carried her over to the couch that the owner of the café directed him to. He was dimly aware of the other people around, but it was difficult to tear his eyes away from her.

He could barely process seeing the woman from his dream in the flesh, and now it seemed she was the person he was looking for… the Bella that Esme had been calling for in her sleep. If everything he'd been able to piece together in the last week was true, she might even offer hope for Esme's recovery. For that fact alone, he was willing to do whatever she wanted of him.

Dr Cullen had laid it out pretty straight for him... medically there was little they could do for Esme. The tests didn't show any signs of recognizable disease, and Esme wasn't responding to any of the therapies they had tried so far anyway. But the doctor said that didn't mean much. After all, there had been cases where people recovered from incurable illnesses. In Esme's case, it might be a good idea to approach it from a completely different angle.

Edward had been a little surprised at the fervor in the doctor's eyes as he spoke, but he couldn't fault him for being dedicated to saving a life. According to Carlisle, this mysterious Bella was on Esme's mind. Apparently the doctor had been spending more time than strictly necessary with Esme, and they'd had a lot of conversations that Edward had no idea about. Still, they needed to give Esme something to fight for, and this was as good a bet as any.

Surprisingly enough, it hadn't been hard to find Bella. Literally all it took was to skim Esme's phone for two minutes. It was right there in her notes—her name and address, along with some other rather confusing information. Stuff that sounded a little… off. Mentions of spells and charms. Still, Edward had found it easy to set that stuff aside for later. The difficult part was deciding how to actually approach this woman he knew nothing about. He'd finally decided to meet her in person, but when he reached the little town, he couldn't drive to her address.

He tried to fight it, but his limbs refused to follow his lead… the sense of foreboding from his dream hit him hard, and it was all he could do to slow down and turn into the first parking spot he saw. Breathing hard and more than a little freaked out, he stumbled out of the car to find himself outside a charming European-style café. With no better options while he gathered his freaked out thoughts, he entered and took an empty seat. He spent the next few hours in some sort of fugue state, not quite able to leave and not sure why he was still here.

And now… She'd come to him, after all.

She wasn't what he'd expected. He'd thought she'd be older, at least Esme's age, but this girl that he still couldn't bring himself to let go of… she was so young. And so beautiful, he could admit that much to himself. She was also rather frail looking; he hadn't missed the clatter of her cane when she had fainted as soon as she touched his arm.

Oh, he wondered suddenly, should he perhaps step away from her? He wasn't keen, though. Luckily her eyelids fluttered open just then.

"Bella, are you ok?" the café owner hurried over with what looked like a glass of water.

He silently helped her sit up and then drew back, leaning against the wall to watch as everyone around fussed over her. She looked… rather normal, actually. Once again, he wondered what he had thought he'd find. A bonafide witch out of a Halloween catalog, with a pointy hat, or evil talons maybe?

The girl swung around and pinned him with a look of utter disbelief, and for a moment he wondered if she could hear his thoughts.

"Alice, I'm fine, don't worry," she looked away from him to speak to the café owner, and he felt simultaneously relieved and jealous for her attention. "I think maybe I'll just go home for a bit and come back later?"

"If you're sure, Bella," Alice replied with a nod, though her forehead was still creased with concern.

Bella stood up and turned towards the door of the café. He watched her walk away and felt a moments panic. Then she paused and looked over at him. He tried not to stand straighter.

"Excuse me," she smiled at him. "Could you help me home, please?"

Once again, this was not what he had expected… which seemed to be the theme for everything associated with this woman. He nodded and followed her out, hovering uncertainly with a hand extended in case she needed help, but she seemed to be doing fine.

He offered to drive them, and she agreed. In less than five minutes he was parking outside a small cottage. She stepped out, and once again, he felt as though she took the light with her when she turned away. It was a physical relief when she beckoned him to follow.

Inside, he looked around curiously, trailing after her into the kitchen. It was a larger space than he would have expected, with several windows that opened out into a beautiful garden. It looked wild and unplanned, yet he could see signs of care in the way it was edged with flowers and herbs. Lit up in the late afternoon sunlight, it seemed like a scene straight from a fairy tale.

"Come, sit," she called him softly. He joined her at the little kitchen table, and accepted the steaming cup of fragrant tea that she pushed towards him.

He had barely any time to wonder if it was safe to drink anything she gave him, when she smirked. Reaching for his cup, she took a dainty sip and returned it to him.

He could feel the heat rising in his face, but he held her gaze.

"Do you want to tell me why you've come all this way, or do you want me to do all the guessing?" she asked in a perfectly level tone, but Edward could have sworn she was laughing at him.

He found that he didn't mind.

"Can you do that?" he blurted out.

She grinned and took a sip of her own tea. "Nah, I can't actually read minds. It's just really easy to read you."

"I saw you once before," he continued with his uncontrolled word vomit. "In a dream. You didn't have a cane." He winced, wondering if he could maybe hit himself with the cane to shut up already. Clearly it had been too long since he'd had any actual social interaction—work and the hospital did not count.

"Oh," she blinked, "That's what it was!"

"You can see my dreams?!" his voice might have risen an octave at the end, and he wasn't even embarrassed about it. Especially not since it made her laugh like that…

"I'm sorry, but I don't even know your name yet. I don't do dreams till at least the third date," she winked at him cheekily. The next moment her gaze drifted to the garden, and her smile became wistful. "I guess you're here to get a cure of some sort. It hasn't happened in a few years, so I was a little surprised. I'm not really sure how to deal with that sort of thing anymore."

Edward frowned at her words. "Does that mean you… can cure people?"

"Well, hypothetically," she shrugged. "But like I said, I don't really do that anymore. Most people wouldn't even be able to locate me, though, so you're already unique. I'd like to hear your story if you want to share."

"I don't know if it's my story, though," Edward gave in and took a sip of the tea. It was good. "Do you know Esme Platt?"