Chapter 2

Beta'd by SecretNightfall

EPOV

Last Chapter: For the love of all that's holy! Just what I needed!

I glanced over at the girl in the elevator with me. Her back was pressed against the wall, her hands gripped the metal bar as she held on for dear life, clearly terrified. Our frantic eyes met and we both seemed to be speculating. I personally was thinking about how on earth I was going to stop this from happening without exposing myself and my family for what we were.

My only clue to her thoughts was her expression and it was of sheer terror, which was expected. She shifted her gaze from me suddenly and looked up towards the video camera in the upper left side of the elevator.

That's odd! Maybe she hoped that security would see us?

There was little time left to waste and I realized that I had to act now if was going to at all. As I had this thought, the video camera shattered suddenly and fell from the ceiling on to the floor of the elevator. That couldn't have happened at a better time. It was one less part of this scenario I would need to cover up once all was said and done. I honestly couldn't believe my luck, which was ironic to say the least. Most vampires didn't have the best of luck to begin with for obvious reasons.

Not giving myself another opportunity to talk myself out of my decision, I swiftly moved to the right side of the elevator, drew back and slammed my fist through the steel, grabbing onto a rail on the outside of the elevator car. At this action, the elevator came to a violent halt, rocking furiously. The weight of the elevator rested on my forearm as the lights flickered.

This could definitely work to my advantage; there was no possible way a human would still be conscious with such a violent stop. I looked over to ascertain her condition, only to find her staring at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

How on earth was she still standing! Did this need to get any more complicated than it already was?

It would seem that some deity in the universe was having a laugh at my expense. She'd seen everything and there was no way to cover it up! Well, there was one way to cover up this debacle.

No! That was out of the question! I already have enough blood on my hands to last ten lifetimes and I refuse to add to that!

Lana swallowed loudly as she stared at me in utter disbelief.

"Holy shit! How the fuck are you doing that?" Her voice was a few octaves higher than it should have been as she stared at my arm. I wasn't sure what to say at that point. I had other options besides a death at my hands that I considered, but still, none of them were morally acceptable.

One: I could let the elevator continue to fall, leap out and pretend I was never in it. She would die of course and it wouldn't be by my hands, we could blame that on fate or inadequate elevator maintenance. Take your pick.

Two: I could knock the girl unconscious and risk her having permanent brain damage that the blow to the head would most likely cause.
Like I said, they were both very unacceptable options.

In the end, I decided to go with option number Three: Honesty. It was the only solution I could deal with, which was strange that I even considered it in the first place considering the one rule for my kind. Maybe the stress of the situation was getting to me. I spoke before I could stop myself.

"I understand that this is probably quite a shock but, I'd truly appreciate it if you didn't say anything to anyone about this," I said while making eye contact with her. The elevator rocked against my arm as I almost laughed at the absurdity of my request. How could I possibly expect her to react calmly to something like this? I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings when out of nowhere we heard frantic voices on the other side of the elevator doors.

"Please remain calm! This is security. We will get you out as soon as possible. Is there anyone there? Answer if you can hear me," a man shouted.

I quickly focused in on their thoughts. They assumed that the emergency break had stopped the car from falling and were desperate to get us out before it too failed, not realizing that the brake did nothing to stop the fall. Lana and I made eye contact once again. She stared at me for what felt like an eternity, almost as if she was debating with herself. The poor child was probably in a state of shock.

The next thing I knew, I saw a thin piece of metal slide in between the doors and I knew then that my efforts were in vain. My worst fear would soon become a horrid reality. Once those doors opened and I was discovered, I would need to do anything and everything that was necessary to cover this up for the sake of my family and myself. The thought alone of what I would have to do in the next few seconds filled me with crippling despair. More blood would be spilled at my hands this day, of that I was absolutely sure.

Lana's facial expression in that moment changed from a look of shock, to fierce determination. Whatever decision she struggled with became absolute. She walked over to me and wrapped her arm around my waist firmly. Her hold was too strong for someone of her size and especially, her humanity.

What on earth was this child attempting to do?

With a force that surprised me, she snatched me away from the wall of the elevator, effectively breaking my hold. Everything happened so fast. The top of the elevator blew off and the car fell from around us. I looked down and watched as the elevator continued its descent. It crashed violently on the ground floor sending smoke and debris in all directions. But, I suddenly realized one key factor of the situation that I hadn't moments ago; we were both still airborne.

What on earth was happening here?

"Hold on tight," Lana said urgently. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders firmly in response, too shocked to even utter a single word.

We then sailed through the air and stopped at the doors to the 8th floor. Without hesitation she dug her hands between them and pulled them apart with ease. Once we were in the hallway, I released her. I was rooted to the spot in complete shock and truly took in what had just taken place as the fire alarms continued to wail around us.

This girl flew us out of an elevator shaft!

All I could do was watch her as she frantically walked up and down the hallway looking inside the various offices. We were on an office floor and it was vacant thanks to the fire alarm. It became clear that she was checking to see if anyone had witnessed us entering the floor. At least one of us was actually thinking at this point. Had I been in the right frame of mind, I could have told her that no one was here.

Once she realized that we were alone, she slowly turned and faced me. We stared at each other for an immeasurable amount of time, both too overwhelmed with what had just taken place moments ago to utter a word. I finally snapped myself out of my muted state and spoke.

"What on earth just happened?" I felt somewhat dazed and that hadn't happened to me in quite a while. I'm usually calm and collected in stressful situations, rarely surprised due to my ability to read minds.

"Well, it would seem that we both just saved each others asses; and now you know my secret too," she said as she took a deep breath. "We need to get out of here before someone sees us and wonders where we came from."

She was right; we didn't have time to hash this out, especially not here. I nodded in response and we ran to the stairwell, making our way down to the lobby at a normal speed. Security officers as well as other people were swarming the area by the time we made it to the ground floor.

"We've got word from a teacher of one of the groups here that two students in her class are missing and were probably in the downed elevator. We're waiting for an ambulance to arrive although there is no way they could have survived that fall," one of the security officers said to a police officer.

Just when I was about to approach the officers and let them know we were the two they were looking for, I heard voices coming from the stairwells on either side of the lobby. Lana rushed to my side, gripping my arm firmly.

"Please, I'm begging you! No one can know what just happened! Please!" I her eyes were frantic and filled with tears.

What she failed to realize was that I had no intention of telling anyone outside of my household what had just taken place. She had to know that I had just as much to lose as she did if we were discovered. Just then, our teacher, Emmett and our classmates emerged from the stairwells, all frantically shouting and surrounding us.

"Oh my God! Are you kids alright? I just knew you two were in that car," our teacher said. Her hands were shaking as she regarded us. The girl and I spoke at the same time.

"We're fine." The security officers heard the teacher address us and rushed over to ascertain our condition and question our whereabouts. Lana looked at me; her expression was one of sheer terror. I could tell that she was frightened as to what I would say.

"We were just fine Professor Wilson," I said to our teacher then regarded the security officers, "Gentlemen., the elevator was a little shaky, so we decided to get off on the next floor. It must have dropped once it continued its way to the top floor. We were taking the stairs when we heard the alarms go off and decided to come back down," I said as convincingly as possible. Everyone looked relieved and continued to speak excitedly about the incident.

Stealthily, Emmett was at my side with a very nervous expression on his face. I made eye contact with him and shook my head. Thankfully he understood that now was not the time for an explanation. I quickly scanned the crowd and found Lana standing against the wall watching me.

Our eyes locked and she silently mouthed, Thank you to me. I gave her a small smile and nodded my head towards her in response. There was a lot more to her than I would have ever imagined and I was determined at this point to find out everything there was to know about her.

Once we arrived back at the school, there was a crowd of students around. They had no doubt heard what happened at the planetarium this afternoon. I could hear Alice's thoughts and realized that she had already called Carlisle and Esme. They were waiting for us at home and clearly prepared for anything.

Once we were all off the bus, my family ran over to me just as the other student's had done with their friends. It was silly, but we had to keep up the pretense of normalcy. Bella made it to me first and enveloped me in a hug. I held her to me, inhaling as much of her scent as possible as I caressed her back.

I quickly caught a familiar scent and my head snapped in that direction. Lana casually strolled by me and my family. I made eye contact with her and gave her the slightest nod. She took in the faces of my family and gave me a very genuine smile for the first time since I'd seen her. There was no timidity anywhere to be found in her expression.

She acknowledged me with a nod as if to answer an unspoken thank you and disappeared around the corner. I realized immediately that my family saw our exchange and they instantly became serious.

"How bad is it Edward?" Jasper asked in a low and urgent tone. He kept looking back in the direction where Lana had disappeared. His thoughts were suddenly panicked and I worried about what he might do if I didn't have a chance to explain the situation.

"Not here," I said grabbing his arm. "Let's go home and I'll fill you all in once we're all there."

It was a very quiet ride home, each one of us was wrapped up in our own thoughts. I couldn't read Bella's mind, but her facial expressions were easy enough to decipher. It was obvious that she worried for us and I grasped her hand in mine in comfort.

Jasper as always was worried about Alice. He never wanted her to feel fear in any situation so his thoughts were full of possible solutions to the problem he thought we faced. He was off the mark somewhat but that would soon to be rectified.

Alice had already seen bits and pieces of what happened, but not everything. For some reason, she couldn't see Lana's actions at all, she could only see mine. The only other entities we've come across that block her were the Quileuttes, but this was something else entirely.

She couldn't see anyone's future while wolves were in close vicinity, but she saw bits and pieces of mine while I was with her. Where Lana would have been in the visions, there was a dark space, no form that was visible.

As I drove, I replayed the entire incident in my mind over and over again. I knew from the moment I looked at her, that there was something very different about her, but I never imagined it would be this complicated. It's obvious that she is not human, but what could she possibly be?

My kind had special abilities, but this was beyond anything I had ever encountered. Maybe Carlisle would be able to shed more light being that he has lived longer and is much more experienced.

Carlisle and Esme were waiting in the living room when we arrived home, but soon took their place at the head of the dining table when we all entered the kitchen.

"Alright Edward, what happened this afternoon?" Carlisle asked.

My family listened as I explained in depth what happened and as I expected, they were all stunned. I told them about the exchange within the elevator car as well as what happened in the hallway after the incident, and their reactions were very similar to what my own had been.

"What species do you think she is to be able to do such things, since she isn't one of us?" Alice asked.

"I can't even begin to guess. I've never heard of an entity outside of our kind that could do such things." Carlisle responded with a smile while shaking his head. He was excited at the prospect of learning something new. I could only imagine how bored he must be with the same routine decade after decade.

"Do you think that our anonymity is threatened now that she's seen a part of what you can do, Edward?" he asked.

"Honestly? No. I don't think she will say anything."

"What makes you so sure? We don't know anything about her! Who's to say that she won't turn around and tell someone the first chance she gets. We can't just sit here and waste time, we need to come up with a plan to cover this up. If the Volturi finds out someone on the outside knows we exist, we'll all be either enslaved or destroyed," Rosalie said. Bella responded immediately.

"With all due respect Rose, there was a time when you said the very same thing about me. When Edward saved me from Tyler's van, you were convinced that I would tell people and you were wrong."

"Yes, I was wrong. But you were the rare exception, what is your point anyway?"

"My point is that overreacting is not going to help the situation at hand," Bella said calmly. Rose huffed and looked away. She was honestly beginning to irritate me, not that this wasn't already an everyday occurrence.

"As I was saying, she saw me punch through the elevator wall Rose and she acted to protect me. I think she's just as concerned as we are about keeping quiet about this. It's not like she's shouting her own secret from the roof tops, clearly she doesn't want anyone to know. So she's in the exact same predicament as we are," I replied.

"To add to that, she truly didn't have to do what she did to help Edward in the first place. So I think we should give him a chance to at least talk to her and find out what she's thinking," Esme said, speaking for the first time since we had sat down. Reaching over, she grasped my hand in hers and smiled fondly.

"I think it's cool that she can fly! I wonder if I could get her to take me up some time. That would be so awesome," Emmett said. Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of Rosalie's hand colliding with his jaw.

"Ow, Rose! I've asked you repeatedly not to do that," he said pouting like a child.

"Then stop being an idiot and I will!" Rose exclaimed.

"Emmett please, this is a serious situation. We have to find out what her intentions are so if we need to move on, then we have sufficient time and an appropriate cover. Rose is right about one thing, we do not need the Volturi, or anyone else, finding out about this, otherwise the decision may be made for us and we will not like the outcome," Carlisle said.

"Jeez! You guys are worrying for nothing. The girl had the perfect opportunity to out Edward at the planetarium in front of everyone and she didn't say a word. She was terrified," Emmett stated.

"He's right. I don't believe we have anything to fear, she seemed so concerned with keeping me quiet about the incident that I don't' think she'll dare say anything. However, I will try and talk to her tomorrow and hopefully I will find out more about her. That is if she even comes back to school," I said.

"Do you think she'll run?" Carlisle asked.

"I really can't be certain. But like Emmett said, she was terrified. I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Alright son, we'll let you handle it as you see fit, but please notify everyone immediately if anything goes wrong," Carlisle said with finality.

"Absolutely,"

"Eddie, don't forget to ask her about taking me flying if she's cool," he said while looking like a kid who asked for his favorite toy.

"EMMETT!" We all shouted in unison.

"Okay fine, I'll let it go... for now," Emmett said frowning like a 6 year old.

He takes nothing seriously, I thought as I smiled to myself. Well, I have my assignment for tomorrow; hopefully I can start figuring things out.

The rest of the day passed without incident, but you could cut the tension in the house with a knife. Emmet, Alice, and I were the only ones in the house who were not nervous. Alice could not see everything that would happen, but she did see us remaining here which meant that everything would be fine, but the future could always change and until things played out, the rest of the family were extremely tense.

Early the next morning we pulled into the school parking lot at our normal time. To anyone not in the know, we all looked as we had the day before, but internally everyone was on edge. I of course did not share their fear with regard to my upcoming confrontation. I was excited to finally attempt to get answers to my questions.

My family headed off to class after wishing me luck, each telling me to let them know how things went once I saw her. Bella wanted to stay with me, but I convinced her that this conversation should probably be between just Lana and me. She pouted shamelessly, which was adorable I might add, but soon realized this was for the best and went on her way to class. I hated the fact that I was unable to walk with her as I normally did, but I had my task and I was determined to see it through.

I looked at my watch and realized that I had about 15 minutes before class started, yet she still hadn't arrived. I had begun to wonder if she would come back at all after what happened. The idea of never getting answers to all my questions was nearly a painful thought. After all I had been waiting for that moment since I first saw what she was capable of.

No sooner than this thought went through my mind, Lana pulled into the parking lot driving a shiny red Lexus X5. She parked a few spaces away from me and proceeded to exit her vehicle, retrieving her backpack from the backseat.

I slowly approached her from behind, not wanting to startle her. However, she suddenly turned and we were face to face, our eyes locking on one another.

She seemed a little shocked at first, but then her features slowly began to relax. The silence was deafening, our discomfort was apparent. So much had happened, so many questions needed to be answered, yet we were both frozen where we stood. I snapped myself out of my cloud and decided to break the silence; however, she seemed to be on the same wavelength.

"Hello," we said at the same time. Our lips twitched and we both reluctantly laughed out loud at our individual nervousness. It wasn't the first time we'd both had the same response. Once we were both calmed down, I decided to introduce myself.

"I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to formally introduce myself yesterday. My name is Edward Cullen," I said with a warm smile. Her quick intake of breath and the quickening of heartbeat, was surprising to say the least and my confusion must have been apparent.

"I'm sorry. It's just that your voice is very…Never mind," she said shaking her head. "It's nice to meet you, officially that is. My name is Lana Lankford," she said with an easy smile while extending her hand. A smile lit my face as reached out to shake her hand and I wondered what her reaction would be to my body temperature. It's something that most people notice immediately and I foolishly didn't think to wear gloves.

As our hands connected oddly enough, she didn't react at all. Maybe she thought that my hand was cold due to the weather. We released each other's hands and both started walking, realizing that we didn't have much time for a conversation.

"I'm sure you realize that we need to have a conversation about yesterday," I said while we slowly made our way out of the parking lot.

"Yes I know we do, but we don't' really have the time right now. Can you meet me behind the cafeteria at lunch?" She asked as she gave me a nervous smile. I agreed and we both went our individual ways to class.

I was antsy the entire morning. I wanted to get this conversation over with but I was also anxious to start unraveling the mystery that was Lana Lankford. The day seemed to go by very slowly, but surely enough, lunch time was upon us.

I met my family outside of the cafeteria to let them know that I would not be joining them today due to the conversation I was about to have with the girl.

You must stop thinking of her that way, her name is Lana.

They all seemed nervous but they realized that it was necessary. Bella wished me luck and softly pressed her lips to mine and I immediately relaxed into her embrace.

"I love you Edward, please be careful," she said as she tightened her arms around me.

"I love you too. Please try not to worry love, everything will be fine. I'll see you soon," I said as I reluctantly loosened my grip on her.

'I'll keep an eye on you Edward, just in case," Alice said in her mind.

I nodded my head then turned and headed to the back of the cafeteria and waited. After a few moments, I heard light footsteps approaching me. As I turned in the direction of the sound, Lana stepped into view. She slowly closed the distance between us and stood before me.

"Thank you for meeting me. I'm sorry that I'm keeping you from having lunch with your family today, but this seemed like the best time for us to speak uninterrupted."

"No need to apologize, I understood the reasons for privacy. This is difficult enough for both of us. Let's take a walk in the woods nearby, we shouldn't be disturbed there." She agreed and proceeded to follow me into the trees behind the school.

We walked for about 15 minutes to a fallen tree that I've used as a bench at times. Lana sat down on the tree, perched her bag beside her and stared up at the top of the trees. I couldn't help but ask the number one question that had been on my mind since the moment I saw her.

"What are you?"