AN – By popular demand...
Alice had everything ready. She told me so, without revealing it to anyone. Nobody but the two of us knew that I wanted to try it. It would be fun, with or without parachutes. Yep, the Cullen family was going skydiving. Alice had had to go and buy the plane, take a few lessons and all the fun stuff, without letting anyone else know. I have no idea how she did it, how she had managed to do everything, or even find the time to do everything, but she did. Alice was faster, wittier, quicker, sneakier and cuter than God even.
"Bella, it is all up to you now. Just say the word and we are gone." She mumbled.
"And you are positive that no one knows what the hell we're doing."
"Not even the master of manipulation – Edward himself, knows anything about it."
"How in the world would you manage that?" I mused aloud.
"I'm Alice." She said, as if it explained everything. I chuckled to myself. We would go soon, but not today.
The morning was uneventful after that. Edward stayed with me, but we didn't say much to each other. Rose was with Emmett, somewhere or another. Alice and Jasper were out, probably actually hunting. I had figured out that Alice probably didn't hunt as frequently as she said she had, just so that she could get this entire thing set up. Esme and Carlisle were at work. I settled down on a couch in our home theatre room, to put on the news.
Most of it was crap, some of it was interesting and the rest was useless information. There were some stories about a plane accident somewhere and that the list of casualties would be released later, there were some stories about a bank robbery, and some about good things; community events and things like that. There was even a snippet at the end about sports and some high school team, winning a trophy or something. Honestly I wasn't really paying attention.
Halfway through the hour I began running through the balancing exercises Edward had taught me. He watched in casual fascination as I pulled myself off of the couch and worked my way into a hand-stand. I then switched to one hand, then the other, then twisted my body so that I flipped over completely. When I landed back on my feet I huffed a sigh of satisfaction. I would have never been able to do this had I been human. Renee would never believe it if she saw me now.
A stab of pain shot through me at the mention of her name. I was infinitely glad Jasper wasn't here. No. He didn't need to know – none of them did –that I wasn't as happy as I said I was. That was the thing – I missed Renee, I missed Charlie. I missed being able to sleep too. I used to have the most interesting dreams. It didn't matter though. As long as I kept my mind busy, as long as I kept learning and playing around, and pretending everything was okay... it was. If I stopped being happy, if I started thinking about home, I got sad again. Angry, even, at the harsh circumstances that ripped me from my parents. I wasn't angry at Edward though. I couldn't be. He was perfection, and by some small miracle, he loved me. Despite the pain he had caused me and my old family, despite the self-loathing attitude, despite the stick-up-the-ass formalities, I loved him too.
When I got him to break, when I got him to relax, it was beautiful. He transformed into an entirely different person. He was so free, so perfect, that you couldn't help but love him. That was why I kept thinking up the games, why I continually kept him guessing. It was and it wasn't me. It was, in the sense that I was living out every dream I had had as a human, everything I wouldn't or couldn't have done. Every inkling of a notion I could fulfill. And yet – it wasn't me, in the sense that I could sit and read books for hours, write a little, go for walks, hang out with friends and just relax. That Bella was the one that had been showing when Edward and Jasper left. That Bella was the one I felt pain in being. That Bella was the one I wouldn't be if I could help it.
Edward suddenly came up behind me and I nearly jumped through the ceiling. I had forgotten he was there and gotten wrapped up completely in my own little world.
"You okay Bella?" he asked, wrapping his hands gently around my waist. I nodded.
"Just thinking about what Alice and I have planned." I think it came up somewhere in my ramblings. Maybe in passing. Edward groaned in frustration.
"I still haven't a clue what that one is about. It is the first thing she has successfully been able to keep from me in a long time. She has been thinking about absolutely everything in the past week, except what she's planning. She has been filling her head with Jasper, with hunting, with makeup and clothing lines, with poetry, translations, poetry translations, and did you know she's even been thinking about buying a country?"
"What?" I asked, my voice going up with the corners of my mouth. It did sound like something Alice would do.
"Just a small one. I think it was somewhere in Africa. She was considering the hunting possibilities." Edward shook his head as he buried his face into my neck. Elephants? Lions? Giraffes? Hippos? What strange hunting prospects. Not to mention monkeys, cheetahs, flamingos, zebras and buffalos. Would zebras taste like horses? What do horses taste like?
"Not unlike deer. I would imagine zebras taste the same as horses, but there would be a minor variation." Edward sighed. Oh.
It hit me a few moments later: I had not said that aloud.
"Edward?" I asked. He looked at me, wondering what the sudden change in my tone of voice was about. "I never said that out loud."
"Impossible," he scoffed. "I can't read your mind."
"You heard the whole spiel on hunting possibilities in Africa?"
"Yes."
"I never said that out loud." I informed him. He was frowning now, completely confused. His mouth opened and he tried to say something, then he shut it and ran his fingers through his hair. After a few moments of him trying to figure it out he simply sank heavily into the couch behind him and muttered 'I don't understand.'
I tried to think it through. He said he couldn't read my mind. I trusted him on that one, however Alice and Jasper still affected me, or in Alice's case, saw my future. Perhaps the mind reading block was not because I was blocking him, but because subconsciously, Edward was blocking me.
"What if the reception problem is on your end?" I asked. He looked up at me even more confused than before. "No, listen. What if you are blocking me without realising it, and this mental block you think I have is just a figment of your imagination?"
He was shaking his head before I had even finished.
"No, because Eleazar and Kate didn't affect you either." Huh? My expression must've been blank and confused, because Edward started explaining. "Eleazar reads people's powers. He said that he can sense nothing from you, not even the fact that you are present, which he should. He was completely bemused by it earlier, when we were at their house, do you remember?"
I nodded.
"What about Kate?" I asked. Edward grimaced, his eyes darkening in anger.
"After she heard this revelation she tried her gift on you. It was during the chicken fight, and I didn't even realise she was trying to do it, until it was too late. I could've ripped her head off for trying something so ridiculous."
"Hang on, what?" He still hadn't explained anything.
"Kate has the ability to cause pain with a single touch. You would've been flat on your back writhing in pain if it had worked. Still, she doesn't cause physical pain, it is mental pain. Your body thinks it's in pain, and so it is. Neither of their gifts worked on you, you have a natural defence shield. I cannot penetrate it."
Which brought us back full circle.
"But you did. Just now." I said. Edward's eyes flashed with understanding.
"What if you, are like Jasper, and can control your ability? You might be able to extend your shield, around others, or, just as you did a few moments ago, remove it from yourself." He looked like a kid in a candy store. A 104 year old kid in a philosophical candy store.
At that point, Alice and Jasper arrived home. Alice was sitting on Jasper's shoulders, with a cute grin on her face. Jasper was smiling too. Her attitude was always contagious, he didn't need to be an empath to be happy at this point.
"We're going as soon as Carlisle and Esme get home!" Alice informed me. She took one look at Edward's speculative face and turned to me.
"What?"
"Oh nothing, just power guessing." I shrugged. Alice rolled her eyes.
"Well you can do that later. We have to get dressed for the occasion." She hopped off of Jasper's shoulders and grabbed me. Get dressed? For skydiving? Oh Alice was definitely out with the faeries. (Irish spelling of fairies. I think it looks better.)
She had jumpsuits, all in our favourite colours, all perfectly sized, just dangling in her closet. Mine was midnight blue and fit like a glove. Hers was purple and looked like it could fit a child. Edward's was green, Esme's was yellow, Rosalie's was – no surprise – red, Carlisle's was a majestic indigo colour, Jasper's was orange and Emmett's... was pink. Hot pink. He'd get a kick out of that. It was also large enough to fit an Alice in each leg, two in the torso and her legs in the arm holes. That was a funny mental picture in itself.
She had stripped me and shoved me into the suit before I could blink, and slipped hers on too. She looked fantabulous. I looked okay, I thought, and Alice shoved the rest of the jumpsuits in my arms. I went and found Edward, giving him his, Jasper, handing him the orange fabric, and then left Rosalie's and Emmett's outside their room, knocking to let them know that the things were there. Carlisle and Esme's I left by the door, waiting for their arrival.
Not long after they got into the house, we had them stripped and changed. The boys looked really cute in their outfits, especially Edward. Green seemed to suit him, he looked very charming. However, most of them could've probably pulled off wearing a burlap sack.
"Carlisle? After this little adventure is over, I want to talk to you about Bella. We may have a new development in her power." Edward sighed. They were all still completely oblivious. Standing, waiting for Alice's instructions, I realised we looked like a weird rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple and pink.
"Brothers and sisters. We are going skydiving."
Emmett whooped and cheered, Rosalie cracked a smile, Esme looked patient, Carlisle looked shocked, Jasper looked excited and Edward looked at me.
"Are you serious?" He didn't look amused.
"It was Steve's idea." I defended. Edward relaxed and shook his head.
"Better this than a country I suppose."
Not half an hour later we were at an airport, getting on a plane. Alice scampered over to me.
"The pilot is human, so hold your breath for a bit okay?" she said. I nodded enthusiastically. There was no way I would let something as simple as thirst ruin this occasion. Edward still moved protectively between me and the cockpit when we got on board, as if he were afraid I would jump the guy. Honestly, I was a little more nervous about jumping out of a plane, than I was about attacking the guy who was flying it.
When we took off, I dared a look out of the window. I had hated flying as a human. What could have possibly possessed me to jump out of a plane now? I curled up into Edward, being careful not to pull any strings or break any straps that were covering us. The backpacks, filled with the thin parachutes, were very awkward, even if they were as simple as possible.
Finally, the door was open. The wind was whipping at our faces and the noise was deafening. The pilot instructed us to jump whenever we were ready. I knew that after we jumped, we had a count of ten before we pulled out parachutes. Alice went first, squealing in delight as she did. Rosalie went second, with a smirk on her face. Esme and Carlisle jumped together, holding hands as they fell. Emmett backflipped out of the plane, laughing his head off. Jasper was looking at me and Edward.
"Bella, do you want help?" Jasper asked. I was terrified out of my mind right now. It may have been my idea, it did not mean I threw all of my logic and common sense out of the window. Suddenly none of it mattered. I was confident, comfortable and even eager. God praise Jasper. He jumped out of the plane and I tried to hold on to the happy feelings.
"Want to jump together?" Edward asked. He looked like he half expected me to say no.
"Well I was gonna go with Steve, but he jumped with Cinnia. So you're my last option I guess." I said, trying to make it look as if I didn't care. He saw right through it and leaned in to kiss me. I lost myself in that kiss, feeling his lips pressed against mine as his hands held mine tightly. I didn't even notice the fact that Edward had leaned us out of the plane, until he broke off. I screamed in fear, in joy and in the adrenaline-less adrenaline rush.
Edward held up a hand. He counted with his fingers, two, three, four... At ten we were to pull the parachutes. I could see absolutely everything from here. Expanses of snow-covered fields, green specks of trees that were fast approaching, even the cities, which looked so strange. I could also see a number of parachutes below us.
Eight, nine, ten. Edward counted. Edward and I both pulled the straps that connected to our bags and suddenly we slowed dramatically. I grabbed at his hand a little tighter and he smiled in return.
"Enjoy that?" he asked, yelling over the wind. I couldn't stop the huge smile that swept over my face.
"Absolutely." I laughed. However, I really didn't think I ever needed a repeat experience. Once was enough for me.
When we landed I rolled and – if someone planned it, it couldn't have gone better – ended up under a parachute with Edward. He rolled so that he was on top of me and I lay my head on his chest, smiling. I was intently happy at that point.
"Ever want to do it again?"
"No thank you!" I laughed.