"We're – what? Why?" I gaped in open confusion at my family. My mother with her little sad smile, and my dad, with his jaw firmly set. Jake nodded his head and flashed me one of his crooked smiles. There would be no arguing with them. They had clearly discussed this in a lot of detail.
"You need to start mixing with some kids your own age, honey." My mother patted my knee gently.
I had a vision of my body in a kindergarten playground, playing with kids my 'own age', and felt an uncontrollable urge to giggle.
"There's only so much I can teach you, Ness. You need to go to highschool now like everyone else. It will be good for you to meet some people." My dad looked amused at my mental picture of the playground. I had been homeschooled until now. It was kind of difficult to not attract attention to the family, when I grew so quickly. But now I had a 16 year-old body and a mind to match, and I was aging slowly enough not to attract attention.
"So… why can't we stay in Forks?"
"Sweetheart. We have been here too long now – people have started to notice that we aren't getting any older. We have no cover left." I noticed my dad give my mother's hand a small squeeze. This was not easy on her either, I could tell. Her eyes looked so sad, and I'm sure that if she could cry, she probably would.
"And C-Charlie?" I choked, expressing some of her emotion. My eyes were starting to swim, and I blinked back the tears.
I would not make this harder for my family.
"He needs to stay, Nessie."
Jacob cleared his voice but said nothing. He looked uncomfortable. He was obviously upset by my emotion. He sat very close to me on the leather sofa. I could feel his skin on mine, and I could feel the connection we shared. It was like an elastic band, pulling us closer together.
When we were apart, the world was a horrible place. Everything was wrong. We couldn't be apart for long. Despite the feeling, we had spent more and more time away from each other. Jacob had been giving me 'time to get used to the changes'. We would be spending even less time together when most of my days would be spent in school. Perhaps it was for the best – perhaps it would help me get over this phase, or whatever it was called, and then Jacob and I could be together.
"Where are we moving to?"
"We were going to go to Alaska. But the Denali's are having some trouble keeping secret from the local population. We don't want to attract any more attention with the Volturi than we already do… So we are looking somewhere a bit more - " My father hesitated and glanced quickly at Jacob – " We need to get out of the US entirely."
"Okay… so where are we going?" This could be exciting, I thought. I would miss Charlie, of course, but the idea of exploring a different place, a different continent, was very attractive to me. Something gave me the feeling that my father was not quite telling me the whole story though.
My mother smiled her sad smile again. "We're going to have to learn a new language, sweetheart. We're going to Finland."
I had no idea where that was - let alone what language they spoke. And why there? Why so far?
"It's in Skandinavia. Europe." My father replied, reading my mind. "They speak a language called Finnish, though where we are going – Lapland – they also have an old language called Saami. It is far enough North to have 3 months of darkness through the winter. It is sparsely enough populated so that your mother and I can keep unnoticed in the summer months – and you'll have a break from school too, so maybe we can – take a vacation – or something. Renesmee…we are moving there so that this year, while things are still a little confusing, you are far enough from… from - temptation."
What – what was he talking about? Temptation? I looked at him, letting the confusion show plainly on my face. "You think I'll want to come back to see Charlie? Ah. You think Jake will come back to see Billy and Leah and the rest of the pack? Why can't he? Will he attract too much attention too?" I rambled, thinking out loud. A third of the people in the room could hear my thoughts anyway, I thought bitterly. I could just imagine a big brown wolf running across country every weekend to see his friends. Perhaps I would run with him, though I was much slower than him. Maybe he would carry me. But then I shook the thought away - people would notice a young girl and a huge wolf. This is why my parent's wanted us to move further, across the seas.
"Nessie." Jacob's voice was quiet and his expression looked pained, and something inside me clicked. My head snapped to look my Jacob in the eyes. They were glistening. I could feel the blood rushing in my ears. Something was not right about this. My stomach felt sick.
"You need to go… without me."
Author's note:
So there we go. Scene all set and ready to go. What adventures will happen to Bella in the wonderful land of the thousand lakes? How will she be able to endure them without her Jacob? Why, oh why does she need to be apart from Jacob while she 'changes'? All shall be revealed… soon…
Ugh, and it occurred to me how short these chapters are... I apologise and will try and make them longer, though I prefer to keep updating quickly. 2 Updates in one day - you can't complain!
Feedback would be very kindly appreciated!
Sara x