Six

I felt several arms gripping me; powerful and hard… and very cold.

Colours blurred before me, and I dimly felt my feet dragging along the floor.

A rush of chilly air, and then I felt myself thump down on a soft surface and then sink down a bit.

I blinked, shook my head. I realized they had steered me down the hallway, into the breezy, stormy-skied car park, and finally into Edward's startlingly old car.

Never the less, the car's interior was still very fine, dark leather. It felt like silk.

I leaned my head against the soothing headrest, and closed my eyes. I listened.

"Indie. I know you're confused, but please do not be alarmed." I heard Jasper's melodic, quiet voice close to my ear, and my eyes fluttered open.

"You're so tense. Relax, Indie." Alice shook my shoulder, and I realized that I had been biting my lip and clenching and unclenching my tight fists.

"We're not going to hurt you. Nothing's going to happen to you."

I frowned. In a moment of irrational logic, I thought to myself.

How could she know that? No one could know the future.

Everyone was staring at me - all their faces uncomfortably close in the cramped space.

All five of them were blowing their sweet breath into my face, and the concentrated dose made me dizzy. I cringed away involuntarily.

This must've surprised them, because an identical quizzical look flashed across their faces. Less than a second later, it disappeared, and was replaced with concern.

I turned my head uneasily to Alice's lovely face and heard her speak.

"Don't look so freaked out, Indie. No one's going to hurt you, okay? Now just listen."

I stared numbly back at her.

"Could you please just tell us what you just saw? I mean, I already know, just… for the benefit of the others…" she faltered, waving her hand half-heartedly towards Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper. I barely registered her confusing words.

How could she know what I had just… seen? Or was the appropriate word 'imagined ?

I didn't know if I should, or could tell them. They were little more than strangers. I thought about keeping my mouth shut, and telling them to just get away from me.

"Please Indie. You can trust us. Whatever you say - we won't judge." asked Jasper urgently.

I looked at his uneasy but kind face, and I made up my mind to speak, before the rest of my courage fled.

I cleared my throat nervously.

"I was sitting in a school lab… but everything looked different. Everyone's clothes were old-fashioned… it must've been fifteen, twenty years ago." I gulped.

Thankfully, no one seemed to think I was crazy. Alice looked expectant, waiting. I refused to look at the face that I was most afraid of. I continued.

"It felt like a… a dream. Or memory."

Alice breathed, "What makes you say that?"

I took in a deep, shuddering breath, and tried to sound as calm as possible. "The light looked funny. Everything was waving, like ripples… and only some colours and objects … stood out… Just like when you would remember something from a long time ago."

Silence. I took that as a sign to elaborate.

"It looked like a biology class. There were some things on the desk I was sitting in. I can't really remember well now… but I think there was a microscope..? I'm just not sure."

I heard Jasper ask me, "What happened next?"

"I heard something – some noise… it's all going fuzzy now. But I remember turning my head and seeing…" I paused, hesitant.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward stiffen, as though he knew what I was going to say next.

"… Edward."

Every single on of them leaned back and let out a whoosh of agitated breath. I peeked out from under my dark fringe, finally giving in to the temptation of seeing his expression.

He looked terrified. Shocked beyond belief. As I watched, he shook his head and blinked rapidly. The tendons in his hands stood out.

I tightened my resolve, and forced myself to finish.

"He… looked at me and said 'hello'. Then he said -" Everyone watched Edward's face, and to my intense discomfort, he mouthed my next words as I recited them out loud. A chill ran down my spine as I saw his lips match my words perfectly.

" – My name is Edward Cullen. I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan."

In yet another bout of unsuitably timed logic, I wondered why I could remember this short monologue word for word, when I couldn't even remember what object was in front of me, on the desk. I decided that I didn't care.

No one was looking at me. Every face was turned towards Edward. A strange, twisted look came into his eyes, and even from where I sat, dazed, I saw the powerful pain his eyes. His fingers jerked.

Finally, Alice turned towards me, with a strange expression on her face.

"Do you know what this means, Indie?" she whispered to me in a low, burning voice. " You have a great talent. A power."

My mouth fell open. I glanced unwillingly into her topaz eyes.

"You have to believe us when we say this." She continued, her voice growing higher with anticipation.

I knew that I was already caught in the trap. After this morning, I would believe almost anything. Hell, she could even say that –

"We're vampires."

Double-take. Alice was watching me closely. Actually, everyone was watching me closely.

I let out a shaky laugh that bordered on hysterical. They just frowned at me. The little part of my mind commented: If this was a joke, they were doing it very well.

I ignored it.

"Ha ha ha ha." I coughed each syllable out. Even to me, my laugh sounded forced. This was so not funny.

"Yeah. Right." I shook my head.

"I've had enough of this." I heaved myself up to get out of the car.

Swiftly, with a tiny nod from Alice, Jasper's white arm snaked out and smacked down on the little old-fashioned lock on the door.

I fell back, shocked at the rapidity of the move.

Alice's face was grim. "We're not joking, Indie. This is serious."

I felt my cheeks redden, not with embarrassment, but with mounting anger. I explain my little… episode… to them, and not one of them explains any of it to me. Instead they say the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. That they're vampires.

I felt myself harden. "If you aren't going to put forth some explanation to that… episode… then you could at least not joke around. Do you really think so little of me?"

They were silent. Not shocked, just allowing me to rage at them. Somehow this riled me up even more.

"God, why don't any of you say something? I can tell you know! Say something, damn it!"

Then Alice spoke, her voice quiet. "I was saying something. You weren't listening."

I glared at her, beginning to dislike the girl.

"Do you want to hear it, or what?" Alice said, coldly.

"Not if it's lies." I shot back at her.

"That's okay, then. Because they're not." she said smoothly, crossing her arms.

I stared back at her, silently fuming. She took that as a go-ahead.

"We think, well, I think, you were having a memory from a past-life."

I couldn't resist snorting. Alice just put up a finger and said, "Let me speak."

"You, Indie Lane, are the reincarnate of Bella Swan. She was a … friend of ours a long time ago. She's… not… with us anymore."

Edward twitched and closed his eyes, looking like he might throw up. Alice looked away from him, and continued.

I broke the silence. "Well, I've never had one of those…" I searched for the word.

Alice filled in the gap for me. "Flashbacks," she said quietly.

I narrowed my eyes. "Flashbacks before. Why did I suddenly have one now?" I challenged her.

She rose to the challenge, unhesitant. "I think we triggered it. Bella met us before, just like how you've met us now. We are the missing link. The thing that connected now… with then."

"And why did I have that particular… flashback?" I quizzed her, unrelenting.

Alice answered me coolly, "Well, that was all Edward."

My gaze flicked towards his face. He looked torn.

Alice continued. "You had your flashback just when Edward was introducing himself, and your flashback was about Edward introducing himself. Don't you see? It was the whole 'link' thing again."

I became shockingly aware that my heart was thudding like a lumberjack again, and my blood felt hotter than it was healthy to be.

I was actually starting to believe her.

"We really are vampires, Indie." Alice's voice was soft now. Comforting.

"We are all around one hundred years old." Jasper spoke now.

I opened my mouth, closed it. When I finally spoke, my voice sounded higher than usual. "What about this Bella? Was she a vampire too?"

Jasper answered me, his eyes grave, "No. She was as human as you are. Vampires are immortal. Bella died."

Jasper broke the slight pause that had arisen. "Remember this morning, at the park?" he asked me.

I nodded. It was weird to think that that had happened only this morning. It felt like a whole life ago. I heard Emmett snort with laughter.

Alice continued, a smile twitching around her lips. "You didn't run into an invisible wall. You ran into Jasper."

My mouth fell open. "What? What are you talking about?"

Jasper spoke, "We vampires, can run… really… fast. So fast that you wouldn't even see us coming, if you weren't paying attention."

My eyes flashed, "I was paying attention! I didn't see anyone!"

Jasper shook his head, "You were looking at the trees, remember?"

I found my voice. It sounded hard. "Prove it."

Jasper's eyes begged me to understand. "Prove what? That we're vampires?"

"Prove it," I repeated.

Jasper sat back. He looked at me with a strangely admiring look. "Fine then. I'd be glad to." He smiled confidently, daring me.

But Alice touched his hand. She spoke very softly, but I listened carefully, I heard her whisper in Jasper's ear, "I'll do it. You stay. She might need… some calming down." They spoke with their eyes.

Alice straightened up. She looked at everyone's face, and even I could read what she was saying with her eyes.

Ready to show her?

The set of her jaw said something else.

There's no going back now.

Alice suddenly unbolted the door. A current of icy wind lashed against my face. I felt Alice's cold hand as she gripped my elbow, towing me outside with her.

"Stay here." She instructed me, and I backed against the car with my heart going at a million kilometers per hour. I fixed my eyes on Alice's back, as she skipped lightly to the opposite end of the car park, going faster than I thought possible.

A little, black-haired figure waved her arms madly at me, and when I squinted, I could see her lips moving. I couldn't hear a single word.

But when I peered through the still open doorway to Jasper's face, he was talking at a normal speaking volume. "No one's looking. Go now, Alice."

With a shock, I realized that Alice and Jasper could hear each other, from impossible distances away. My eyes widened. I thought that was what Alice had wanted to show me, but there was more.

Jasper, seeing my expression, leaned up to my ear and chuckled softly. "Now, Indie, watch carefully. You won't believe your eyes." I heard Emmett snicker loudly in the car.

Something really special is going to happen, right now. I thought.

I was right.

I strained to fix my eyes firmly on Alice, and she blew a kiss to Jasper.

And then, she disappeared. I gaped, raking my eyes over the car park, for any sign of her. Finally, after a minute of frantic searching, I realized that there was a blurry figure flitting here, there, so fast that I couldn't define the solid outline. I knew it was Alice.

I blinked, and suddenly Alice was right in front of me, blocking the weak light, and grinning her head off. She reached out a hand, and touched my shoulder.

Her face fell, and she looked a bit concerned, "Are you alright, Indie?"

Strangely, I found that I was. "Yes, I'm… I'm okay now."

As I looked around at everyone's face, confused, something just registered in my mind.

"What did you mean, when you said that 'she might need some calming down'?" I asked Alice, wary.

My gaze fell on Jasper's face. He looked sheepish, and I zeroed in on him.

"What have you been doing to me? Did that mushroom soup I had for lunch, have a different type of mushroom?" I asked him, suspiciously.

That cracked Emmett up, and he burst out laughing. Rosalie smacked his arm, and sighed to herself that her husband was an idiot.

Jasper grinned, and spoke, "Some vampires have powers… or rather intensified talents, or characteristics, from our other life. Mine is… to basically… control your emotions. For example, I can…" His eyes gazed into mine, and I suddenly felt a rush of calm.

I was surprised as my knuckles loosened, and my pulse slowed.

"… Soothe you. Make you calm." He finished with a small smile. "That was what I did before, why you weren't too freaked out." My eyebrow twitched.

I began to doubt myself. That could've just been a coincidence.

Seeing my dubious expression, he continued, "Or make you blind with rage."

I sat ramrod straight, as burning fire ripped and tore through me, and I clenched my hands into tight fists. I felt anger bubble up my chest, and felt my cheeks glow red. I repressed the overpowering urge to gouge out Edward's gorgeous eyes. My eyes narrowed, and I let out a short huff of agitated breath. I tried to stifle it, but it was useless.

Emmett's lips twitched, and I heard him mutter to Rosalie, "I remember when he did that to me once. Edward dared him. I snapped all the carriages along Main Street in half."

Rosalie rolled her eyes, but lovingly.

Jasper's gaze lost its intensity, and I felt the now welcome surge of calm envelope me. He leaned back against the window with his arms behind his head, looking pleased with himself.

Emmett leaned forward, his voice eager, "My power, is obviously -" and here he flexed his impressive muscles. "- Strength." He flashed his teeth at me.

"You heard how I snapped those carriages in half… well, they were made of spindly matchstick wood, and well, I've bulked up quite a bit since then."

Rosalie rolled her eyes again. She finally lay down her magazine, and flicked back her hair. She smiled a dazzling smile at me, one that belonged on the cover of her discarded Vogue magazine.

"My talent, or power if you wish, is quite obviously beauty." She stated in her caramel voice. There was no hint of modesty in her rich voice.

"Ah, I can see you're wondering how beauty could ever be considered a power… you might even be judging me as vain." She laughed a little mockingly. "Well, it is a power, and it will always be a power. A very dominant, manipulative power… and it works so effectively. I have other people – men in particular – right where I want them."

I heard a deep, rumbling growl vibrate from Emmett's chest.

Rosalie ignored him, continuing coolly, "Under my thumb."

That was when she should've ended her little introduction, but unfortunately, she continued, "You know, I'm said to be the most beautiful woman ever to have graced this earth. The infamous Da Vinci even asked to paint me. He chased me all over the country to try and find me, and when he did, oh, what a disappointment! Not my beauty, of course – I was more beautiful than he could've ever imagined. And you know he had a vast imagination. But it was a disappointment for him, because I turned his offer dow -"

A loud sigh interrupted Rosalie's self-centered ramble. I blinked. I had been gazing absentmindedly out the window, to see some students who were just starting to trickle back into class. I turned to see who had sighed. Of course, it was Alice. She grimaced.

"Rose, we've heard quite enough from you… about you, to bore us to tears."

Rosalie glowered at her sister. "Well, she needed to know!" she protested.

"Trust me on this, Rose. She really didn't."

Rosalie flicked her long, golden hair, and fluttered her hand in the air as if to ward off an annoying insect. She decided on staring insolently out the window.

"So, anyway," Alice turned to me, her eyes eager, "Want to hear about my power? Don't worry, it's much more impressive than having muscles -" Emmett grinned back at her and yawned, stretching his pecks. Alice grinned back, and continued, " -or simply being good-looking." She flashed an innocent smile at Rosalie, who shot a poisonous look back.

Jasper leaned in and added, "It's actually pretty impressive."

"You won't believe it at first… but… Alice is persistent. She'll bug you until you realize we're not lying, and we aren't completely mental." Emmett said.

"Well, spit it out then, you crazy liars," I said, both teasing and wary.

Alice leaned close to me, and breathed, "I can see the future."

I felt my eyebrows shoot up.

Predictable, I thought.

Emmett leaned over to Jasper. "See? I told you she wouldn't believe it." he stage-whispered.

I burst out, "Who could believe that? And I can hear you, you know!" Emmett sniggered at my sudden mood swing.

I turned to Alice. "Well, tell me my future then."

But before Alice could even say a word, I held up my finger and changed my demand. "No, actually, don't tell me anything about what's going to happen to me. I don't want to know. Okay? Don't tell me."

Alice looked confused. "Well, how am I going to prove it to you then?" she put her slender arms on her hips; unhappy with the situation she was in.

I raked my brain for something.

Come on! Think! Dad always calls me 'the smart one'!

"I got it!" I cried out, jumping up in my seat. "Tell me if I'll get detention or not, for skipping class!" I commanded.

Alice's eyes lit up. She closed her eyes, placing one delicate finger to her forehead, and quickly replied, "Yes. Mr Rie, Head of Biology, will catch you sneaking into your next class… You'll get a detention after school…" she petered off, an ecstatic smile on her face.

"What?" I asked her impatiently. I recognized that look; she knew something that I didn't know.

"Nothing." She said innocently. I didn't believe her for a second. She knew something, and she was hiding it from me… and evidently from Edward as well. She refused to look at him. When I tilted my head to look at him again, I saw he had a scrunched up expression on his face. I resisted the urge to laugh. He looked so much like a little kid who was trying really hard to memorize his seven times-tables.

"I'm very confused." I said slowly. Strangely, I didn't feel sick or scared anymore. I had only got a load of weird facts, and a promise of a detention, and I already seemed to have gotten over the delirious flashback.

What was wrong with me?

Alice patted me on the back, her touch cold and unfamiliar.

"Not everyone's told you their talent yet!" she crowed. She waggled her ached brows in Edward's direction, and he muttered something unintelligible.

"Well, get on with it Edward! Today would be nice!" she urged him, teasingly infuriating. He sighed and opened his lovely mouth.

"Indie, I have a… strange talent." He started off slowly, his melodic voice unintentionally suggestive. I waited.

"I… well I can read minds." he said finally. A corner of his mouth pulled up in a gorgeous crooked smile.

"Oh, really?" my voice sounded faint.

"Yes, really. I can only hear what's going through someone's mind at that very instant though. Only their present thoughts."

I felt like I needed to say something before I lost the skill of speech at his giddying closeness, his topaz eyes, his warm, curved lips…

"Um. Muh. So how does that work?" I finally asked.

"Their thoughts… just sound like their voices. So I can recognize them just like how I can recognize someone's voice. But for some strange, frustrating reason, I can't, I -" he stopped abruptly.

I leaned ever closer, my voice a soft whisper, "Go on. Please."

He shut his eyes, his fists clenching into tight balls. Then he relaxed, and spoke, "For some reason, I can't hear your thoughts."

I was surprised. Confused. "Am I the first person whose mind couldn't, can't, be read by you?" I whispered.

His face was the picture of pain, "No." he breathed. My heart sank, like a boulder to the bottom of the ocean.

"There was one other girl."

I knew what he was going to say. I just knew it.

"Bella."

Predictable.

We stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever, until Jasper lightly shook my shoulder. His voice called quietly in my ear.

"Come on Indie. We better go – you've got a detention waiting for you. Edward will explain everything else to you… he's got a detention too.