CHAPTER SEVEN: A HORROR MOVIE
"ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO STAY HOME TODAY?" I ASKED SETH, FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME. Seth's cold eyes trailed from his phone to my face.
"I'm fine," he remarked shortly.
"I know that. But I understand if you'd rather—"
"Beau, I'm fine," he nearly shouted, glaring at me in annoyance. Edward's hand rose from the arm rest, covering my right hand over the steering wheel, clutching mine in his grasp.
He knows what he's doing. Leave it alone.
I huffed through my nose, before twisting my body back to rest against my seat. It had been a long twenty-four hours. I'd barely managed to keep myself together after Edward had ended the call with his family. After we'd each collected ourselves, we'd only had thirty seconds to get into character. My father, Loretta and Hector had traipsed down the stairs, eager to see the two of us.
Well, Hector had been eager to see Edward. He'd dashed across the living room floor, bounding into Edward's expectant arms. Edward had hoisted him into the air, smiling and laughing before bringing Hector down to kiss his cheek.
My heart bled. The image before me, a taunting, hateful glimpse of a future that never would be, that was immediately following a vision of my death. The stark contrast stabbed into me, jaggedly splitting me into two. I could feel my eyes widen, could hear my soul ripping. I'd looked away, smiling up at my father and Loretta. I greeted them kindly, thinking back to how I'd seen teenagers displayed on TV, mimicking them precisely.
"We just got up," I answered my father. Edward and I still smelled of sea salt, and I thought I noticed them realizing that as they spoke to me.
If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that Edward was merely playing his part perfectly. The way he continued his play with Hector; a perfect replica of yesterday. But I could see into his mind. The fear was still there, still blaring at him. The image of my demise still fresh, but clouded by my half-brother's presence. Edward could think only of him, at least, in the part of his head that he focused on. He was surprised at the affection between the two of them. But blissfully enchanted. The feeling of a child was repressed in his memory. A cousin? A younger sibling of a friend? But whoever it had been, this had been a scene that they had played, a hundred years ago. Edward's smile was genuine, as he played with my half-brother.
And through the smile, it concealed a deeper pain, one that'd been suppressed, but now new. Edward didn't recognize the want. He couldn't remember the idea of a dark dream. But he'd envisioned a child, too, a century ago. It hadn't been a thought—but a known—something he'd never understood. Because he'd never known to realize. I felt ice seep into my chest, cracking at each turn. He'd wanted what I'd wanted.
It was a dream forgotten. Lost in the life of the after. My dream. That would be lost. In the after.
My mom, Sean and Seth had awoken not long after. Seth, confused as to why he had a bump on his head.
Edward and I had played our parts well. Even after the "see you soons," until we'd landed in Seattle. The facade had melted away, the moment we caught our other family waiting.
Our faces had fallen.
Fortunately, Jasper was in full force, already anticipating what would come. Sean, Seth and my mother had felt compelled to go with Edward's parents, and Jasper and Alice—and while Alice could not see how Seth would react to the news, she saw that Sean and my mom would be fine—for a lack of a better term. They would be anxious, but pacified by the knowledge of Alice's promise, to always be watching her—knowing that she would never be able to surprise us.
Even without Jasper's influence, they would go on knowing that all would be alright.
So, Alice had surmised that, with Jasper's same influence, Seth would take the news just as well. It had been a risky gamble, but one that had been correct.
Edward and I had ridden back in his car, with Rosalie and Emmett sitting opposite of us.
"Alice knew you guys would spend the entire car-ride worrying and going full emo," Emmett had nearly laughed. Rose smacked his headrest.
"Babe," she cried out. warningly. Emmett had shaken his head, shrugging in confusion.
He knows we're supposed to distract them. He tells Edward about the lion problem and I ask Beau for a favor."
"What favor?" I'd asked her, worried.
She'd gazed at me with pleading eyes. "Alice is planning a shopping trip, three weeks from now," she moaned despairingly. "And I cannot, for the life of me, take another trip pretending to be her maid of honor with Esme, I can't," she'd nearly wailed, gripping my arm. "I need you to come and people-judge with me. I need it, Swan," she hissed.
I still wasn't used to Rosalie's acceptance of me. Or how she'd started treating me like the little brother she loved to boss around.
"Okay," I agreed, holding my arms up at my sides in surrender.
A clever rouse
It had been the testament of Jasper's mood intoxication, along with the corresponding time that Edward would need to next hunt, that had made me agree to a "girls weekend," with my would be sisters and mother-in-law to be.
So strange, that so much had happened, the definitive end of my human life—graduation, the acceptance that Victoria was still at large, knowing I'd caused more tension between us and the pack, panicked as all of it were coming to a head…that I (a witch) were riding to school with my boyfriend (a vampire) and brother (a werewolf), as though we were ordinary high-schoolers.
We were The Munsters meets Pretty Little Liars.
I made the turn into the school parking lot when Edward's mind focused on two, alien, voices.
Keep an eye out. They could come from anywhere.
Dude, are you sure we should be doing this?
Yes, Jacob had snarled. Beau would do the same for us. He already did…
Embry and Jacob were waiting for us—all of us. Here. At school. Where nothing could be allowed to go wrong.
An even playing field.
I snarled, audibly, under my breath. Edward held out his arm to hold me against my seat.
Beau, he warned.
"What?" Seth asked, his tone now curious. He bobbed his head around, sniffing the air, like a puppy.
"Seth?" I called over my shoulder, my voice stern and low. "If we asked you to stay in the car…" I trialed off, looking at Edward's panicked expression.
Seth contiuned to sniff.
Edward called to him next. "Would you listen?"
Like a guard dog—or one of those bomb-sniffing canines at airports and crime scenes, Seth's head honed. His gazed fixated straight ahead of us, through the thick throng of students and factly alike.
I heard a rumble exhale from his chest.
"Seth," Edward warned.
Seth snarled, like a rabid beast.
"Jessica has seen the car," Edward cautioned. "She's curious why Beau is driving," he continued to explain. "She's missed you. She's planning on wrapping her arms around your neck. She's trying to be flirtatious—make her affections more known."
I could feel Seth calming, the energy around us easier to breathe.
"Let your brother and I take care of them," Edward finished with a hiss. "Jessie needs you now," Edward confirmed, using the secret pet-name Seth had given to her.
I felt his resolve. His emotions immediately deflecting—his one focus was on Jessie.
Despite everything; I felt my stomach revolt as I swallowed a gag.
I saw Seth nod his head. He exited the car, every bit the actor I was. I craned my neck, to watch him smile at her, holding out his arms, until she was in his embrace.
"How was California?" she beamed at him.
"Amazing," he cried out, holding his arms back out until they fell back around Jessica's waist. They clung to each other, as Seth guided them away from the car.
My hands clenched on the steering wheel, my knuckles popping the tighter I gripped.
"Love," Edward sang. I heaved a heavy breath. I turned my head. Looking down into his amber eyes. "It's going to be fine. They're not here to fight. Listen to them."
I snarled, my lips twisting over my teeth. Edward's grip squeezed against my hand.
"Baby, listen," he pleaded. "Jacob misses the both of you. Sam has commanded a lot from hi—"
"And I don't have a lot demanded of me? Hmm?" I smeared. "What choice do I have? 'Witches tend to meet sticky ends'."
Edward heaved.
Love, he begged one, final, time. I snorted, before wrenching my hand out of his, tearing myself out of the car.
I was taller than most of the other students, higher than Edward, and so I knew that I would stick out to them like a sore thumb. I found their dark gazes almost immediately. I was struck by how similar their eyes were, a near matching pair—and the way their features were almost spot on. Shifted by another set of genetics, sure, by nearly identical. I wondered if it were a wolf thing—and I was thankful, that I never saw those features in Seth.
Edward was at my side in the same moment. His arm circled around me, per usual, and he leaned into my side. I glanced down at him, seeing him smiling.
Our peers are present. Now is not the time to throw people through the air, he warned, raising his arm, who he waved to I do not know.
I cracked my neck, letting the bones pop and settle. I forced a warm smile on my face, as Edward and I approached.
There almost seemed to be a clearing, between the four of us. As though the children around us scattered, parting a way for Edward and I to greet the two, intruding, werewolves.
Instinctively, they each stepped back, the closer we approached. Their postures mimicked each other exactly. Their heads bowed down, before raising.
"Hey," Jacob chipped.
I kept up my sickeningly smile. "Hey."
My eyes, unable to conceal the bitterness and speculation, seared between them.
Embry backed away, a foot more.
Jacob's eyes twirled at him, before resting on me.
"Can we talk?"
"Now's not a good time," I said through the smile, twisting my shoulder and neck around, trying to locate Seth and Jess.
"Now's really the only time we got," Embry added, laughing nervously.
My head twisted around again, still searching for Seth and Jess. I did not find them. My head spun back to where Jacob and Embry stood. My face began to hurt by the false smile I kept.
"Wonderful place to visit," I taunted, raising my arm and waving my fingers at anyone, playing along with Edward. "So clever, to come to a place with children so nothing could go wrong," I added, bitterly.
I heard Jacob's distinct sigh. "You came onto our land first."
"Out of kindness," I seethed, still smiling, my eyes crinkling.
"Why do you think we're here?" Embry spat.
I froze, letting my arm just fall.
"None of us are cool with that happened with the leech," Jacob murmured darkly. "Along with other things," he added. His voice was soft, a painful recall to what I heard throughout our childhood, during the months before terms like werewolf and vampire did not matter.
I heard the child's voice in him. The sound that I had always reconciled him to, the noise of a little brother needing validation.
My eyes glistened as I turned to him.
Though he stood over me, I saw him only as he had been when he was seven. So much larger for his age, so much still a child. Boastful and proud, loud and obnoxious at times, still endearing, in the way only a pure child can be.
The man before me, was the same child. The same friend I had loved, the same brother. My anger towards him, still rational and unjust, subsided. An instinctive urge to curb the pain that he had been hidden shot up in me.
"Jake," I groaned, looking up into his trouble, umber eyes.
"I'm sorry she got away," he admitted, truthfully, as his eyes bore into mine. I heaved, feeling the weight of his guilt and remorse as my own.
"I know," I told him, the faux smile long gone. I shook my head. "Why?" I asked.
Embry snarled. "Paul and Sam let their egos—"
"Embry," Jacob's commanding voice warmed.
Embry's tongue ran across his closed lips, before licking them. He nodded his head, regrettably, glaring out into the emptying parking lot.
The first warning bell had sprung.
Edward, Embry, Jake and I stood still, each still glued to the other's side.
Jacob sighed. "Look," he stated, matter of factly, "Sam doesn't know we're here. We came to say sorry, to you and Seth."
I stared up at him, motionless. Jacob licked his lips, before running his hand over his mouth.
"Sam has taken Hailey's death personal. He sees it as a failure of the pack, and of him as a man. What's happen since she died had destroyed him."
"Do you think that matters to me?" I snarled, even as the thoughts of Sam, ragged with regret and sorry, played out through Jacob and Embry's heads into Edward's, and so into mine.
Jacob licked his lips over his teeth in a smilier fashion to Embry.
"You could go easy on him, Beau," he warned, throwing his hand out at me.
"Easy on him?" I snarled.
Whoa, whoa, easy, easy there, Baby, Edward purred, gripping onto me tightly. Others are still present.
I heaved between my nostrils, they flared out like a bull's. I'd felt the fog hovering, minutely, in my palms. With a final, deep, exhale, they seeped back into oblivion.
I glared back at Jacob and Embry, each of them staring between Edward and me.
"So…so is what you said true?" Embry inquired, his eyes stilled soaring between Edward and I.
I glared at him, and then towards Jake. His eyes were just as curious, cautious and fearful as his brother wolf. It wasn't particularly a challenge to piece together what Embry's train of thought had been.
"Yes," I admitted with a hiss, "I choose my title carefully."
"So…so you," Jacob stammered. His face focused, and his lips pursed out in front of him as his question caught in his mouth.
"Are a witch?" I finished for him, in a sinister whisper. "Yes," I hissed. "So is my mom, and my grandfather, and Alexander," I contiuned, Edward still holding me back. "All of us. From the beginning."
"What do you mean, 'from the beginning?'" Embry asked, fearful and excited.
My eyes glazed over in red.
"Now's not the time, Dog," Edward snarled, pulling me further behind him. Jacob moved forward, arms bent at the elbow.
"Since Salem, since Rome, since Poseidon ruled over the seven seas," I purred. Embry and Jacob's head shot back to me, their mouths drooped open. "Perhaps if you'd let me or my mother explain, we could've resolved this little dispute earlier? Maybe you'd have understood what that means for me—what it's meant for every Bishop and before. That I am marked for death. That witches do not tend to die of old-age.
"Perhaps Victoria would be dead?"
Embry and Jacob's stares twisted from me to the two of them. Their mouths dropped opened. They'd wondered…but to know.
I rolled my eyes. "Well it explains everything," I spat. Their gazes returned to me. "And, as I said, had you let me explain I would've told you," I directed at Jacob, whose eyes had casted down from mine. "If you'd let me."
For a moment, they each looked repentant guilty.
"Beau," Jacob moaned, "I'm so sorry."
"She got away, Jacob," I snarled. "It was supposed to be over. I told you all to let us—,"
"Sam was never going to allow that. Even if you hadn't come to warn us," Jacob exclaimed.
I felt my retort catch in my throat.
Jacob's intense gaze did not leave mine. "I told you. Sam's taken what happen personal," Jacob reminded me, more serious, like a cop. "And he's been making decisions for us, most—a few of us disagree with," he added, shooting Embry a sympathetic look.
"And the few of us are sorry." He looked directly at me. His eyes said it all.
For everything.
The rational part of my brain battled with encompassing half that all but swallowed the rest as my ire vanished into sympathy. I'd wanted to wrap him in a safe embrace, to sooth away the guilt that was all his, that tore away at him. I'd been so blinded in my hatred of Sam, that I had tied the entire pack, Jacob included, into one giant version of him.
But I could understand Sam's repugnance. Why he'd have taken Hailey Clearwater's death so personal: it had hurt a member of his pack—the entire pack. They felt Seth's anguish as their own. But there was more, something that Jacob and Embry were both eager to protect.
They knew that Edward could read minds, but had no inkling that Edward's mind was exposed to me now; his thoughts, my thoughts. An added benefit to being a witch with a vampire for a soulmate.
I'd not been able to tell Jacob about that.
"Jake," I whispered, inching closer to him.
Sills is coming, Edward warned hastily.
I turned my head to look on in Edward's direction.
Principal Sills; a woman in her early fifties, shallow and grey-haired, strode over towards the four of us—her clipboard held tightly against her arm, her off-brand stilettos clinked loudly against the concrete sidewalk. Her gait suggested that she thought herself Miranda Priestly, but her aura conveyed no one extraordinary.
I straightened my body and smiled, blinking away the wetness that had formed.
"Mr. Cullen," she greeted Edward, tilting her head towards the side as she glared at us all. "I don't seem to recognize your two friends."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call us friends," Embry replied with a smirk, leaning onto Jacob's shoulder. Stills eyed him, pursing her lips.
"You two aren't student here, are you?"
"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" Jacob jested. "The copper skin, or the fact you can't recite our names."
Stills stiffened. Her head jutted out over her neck. "Only students and faculty are permitted during school—,"
"School hours," Embry finished, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, we know."
"Then I suggest you leave," Stills spat. "Or shall I call Beau's mother?"
Jacob snorted. "Nah. No reason to get Aunt Charley involved," he stated, calling her by the name he'd used to.
Back when Billy had been, "Uncle Billy."
Embry and Jacob nodded, shrugging their shoulders and the began walking away. Jacob didn't turn his back to me.
"See you around, Swan," he grinned, before turning away just as he and Embry made the corner.
Edward and I stood facing away from Principal Sills, still trapped in the thoughts of the werewolves.
"Mr. Swan," Stills snarled from behind us.
Edward and I turned to face her. I practically heard Edward's eyes roll in the back of his head.
Pretentious Bit—,
"I would think, that you of all subtends, would respect the rules of our school."
"I'm so sorry, Principal Sills," I soothed, letting my face and head fall in submission. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I had no idea."
Sills lifted her head. "Well, I expect that you will let your aquantincese know for the future."
"Yes ma'am."
Satisfied, Sills began to turn away. "Get to class," she ordered.
Edward and I obeyed. As we walked to class we each fixated on the last thing that Jacob had said.
See you around, Swan.
The following week had too much wrapped up in events for myself to focus on much than what was going on around me. I was sure that Edward focused on what Jacob had said, and what I had seen.
Victoria.
Her face was never far from Edward's thought. I would catch a glimpse of it, every now and then, the cold, ebony eyes that sought my execution, springing at me. Edward always pushed image aside, to where even he couldn't bear witness to it; though, his arms always wrapped around me tighter.
My mind was occupied with tests, essays, and Prom.
Friday came around before I'd been able to comprehend that the school week had passed. I'd been up late with coordinators, school staff and students planing every meticulous detail of what Saturday night should be. Exhausted, physically and mentally, I fell asleep easily with Edward wrapped in my arms.
My visions were hazy, distant: flashed of fire, somewhere tropical—an ocean, snow, black…nothing that I could get a clear focus on.
I woke up each morning, in Edward's arms, only able to focus on the next task.
So Friday had snuck up on me. I couldn't believe it when Edward and Seth started discussing the finalized plans.
"I don't know what's been distracting, Beau," Edward had explained to Seth, having gained permission to read his thoughts for this conversation. "He won't tell me, and Alice can't see why, so he doesn't even know."
"Stop talking about me," I jeered at them, focusing for the first time on what they were actually saying.
Seth snorted. "Annoying, isn't it?"
I glared at him through the rearview mirror.
"Shut up," I demanded.
Seth chortled. "So we're heading straight to your place?"
Edward nodded. "As per Alice's lamented, color-coded instructions."
"And there's absolutely no one out of this?"
"Alice would force Beau to summon your spirit back into your body after she killed you."
What? I couldn't do that—could I?
I saw Seth nod his head. "Duly-noted."
I don't believe that I was fully convinced, that this supernatural sleepover, was really going to happen. No, no I'd be convinced that some kind of a cancellation would have to happen, the fates weren't this absolutely careless. Humans, staying the night in a house home to monsters. That was the plot to a cult classic horror movie. I could see it playing out in my head as I drove down the highway. A Jamie Lee Curtis or Neve Campbell type driving to a slumber party with her Nancy Kyes or Rose McGowan friend.
"It's fun getting out from behind those books, isn't it?" : "Well, after this weekend no one will ever compare you to beige again," the Nancy-Rose character cheers from behind the wheel.
The Jamie Lee-Neve character never tears their eyes away from the trees, growing higher, denser with each passing moment. "Is it true that no one has ever been to the Cullen house?"
Nancy-Rose laugh, jubilantly. "Except for Beau and Seth. Makes you wonder what they're all up to down here—maybe some kind of cult or something?"
"That's not funny," : "Why would you even say a thing like that?" the Jamie Lee-Neve character chides.
Their friend disagrees. "Oh come on, they're all a bunch of weirdos—hot weirdos," : "You can't look me in the eye and tell me that there's not something wrong with all of them? I mean—its like some John Craven movie. Small town, people who are people, but…aren't. Freaks."
The final girl grows annoyed. "You know, it's that same small-minded shit that's got everyone in this country ready to go off to war with anyone who's different." : "Sarcastic chuckle: It's that kind of thinking that can get people killed nowadays."
The friend groans, and rolls her eyes. "God would it kill you to lighten up a bit? Jesus! Here—take the joint and light it up, will yah?" : "For Christsake I was just making a joke! Lighten up, will you."
Jamie Lee-Neve character eyes Nancy-Rose intently. "If everyone's so worried about them being in a cult, why did we agree to do this?" : "Fine. If they're really just a bunch of freaks—then why the hell are we going to their house?"
Nancy-Rose laugh—Nancy's lighter, Rose' more sultry. "Why not?" : "Because we can."
And they would get to the marvelous, elusive house in the forest. The host all kind and gracious—the evening spent soaked in games, laughter, food, and illicit or underage usage. A drunken story by Edward, how the manor was built upon cured, Native land…
The carnage would come later, into the early hours of the morning. Beau would scream and disappear—lost in the shadows. Jamie Lee-Neve-Angela would draw silent, observing everything around her. Nancy-Rose-Jessica would start screaming demands. Beau's groans echoing throughout the house—the lights die—Seth screams. Then Alice—a flash of gold, and glistening white.
Jamie-Neve-Ang would grab onto Nancy-Rose-Jess, pulling them both towards any exit they could find. Wind, flashes of color, icy grazes—screams, trembling score. The monster was near.
The startling revelation—they were all in on it. Their true forms—fitting for either the seventies-eighties or late-nineties would appear—the girls, a sacrifice to sooth an ancient pact.
In the fray, Nancy-Rose-Jess would escape—so close—killed by the wolf. Jamie-Neve-Ang would use their wits, and would evade the monsters. They would escape—or would they?
Yes that movie played out clear as day in my head as I turned into the Cullens' three mile-drive. I nearly choked on my laughter, imagining the entire scene. That was what would—should be happening, but so incredibly far from what would come next.