Midnight Star
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Four: A Mysterious Rescue
"So . . . how's the first few days been?" Charlie asked as I was drenching the salad mix with dressing so that it was soaked from top to bottom. Maybe it was too much dressing, but that was the way that I liked it. "Everybody been treating you all right? Have you made any friends?"
"Yeah, a few people," I replied, munching on the salad and swallowing, my thoughts still on what had happened during science class today. "Um . . . Angela Weber's been really great; she's been helping me out with my classes and stuff. She's really nice." I fiddled with my fork before glancing towards my uncle. "And . . . uh . . . Edward Cullen's been helping me out with science, giving me some help."
"Really?" Charlie seemed a little bit surprised by that. "Strange . . . usually, the Cullen kids tend to stick to themselves."
Although I had already witnessed this by the way that people reacted around them, I feigned surprise. "How come? Edward's friendly enough—" Well, once I had gotten him to talk, but one innocent question had gotten him back into his tight, rigid shell. "And the rest of them seemed nice enough."
"Just people in this town tend to be narrow-minded," Charlie said and I detected a hint of annoyance in my uncle's voice, though it was far from directed at me. "Dr. Cullen is a fantastic surgeon, could have gotten a much better job than at our little hospital, but his wife wanted to raise their family in a small town. People around here should be happy about that, but instead, they treat the Cullens like outsiders. And his kids? Those are some of the most mature, well-mannered kids that I've ever seen, not like the troublemakers around here." Charlie shook his head. "Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk. Don't pay attention to what people say, Susan. Those are some of the best people that I've ever met."
"Yeah, Edward seems real nice," I said. "I noticed that they keep to themselves, though. Don't worry, Uncle Charlie, I'm not gonna ignore somebody based on what people say. Besides," I added with a grin, "I'm used to being the freak, even in New York."
"People don't tend to interact with people who are different," Charlie agreed with a mouthful of hamburger. "But good for you; I think that you could use a friend. I hate leaving you alone here," he said apologetically, "but there's some kind of animal out on the loose. It killed a security guard down in Mason County and we've been trying to track it down. Speaking of which, I'm gonna head down there after dinner, see if I can help out. You gonna be all right here by yourself?"
"Uncle Charlie," I said, smiling at him, "you don't have worry about me. I'm okay with staying by myself."
He smiled ruefully. "Yeah, well, I hate leaving you alone too much. I know what my sister can be like and . . . well, I hate to be another parental figure to abandon you."
"Going to do your job and making sure that an animal doesn't hurt anybody else hardly constitutes as abandonment," I replied, grinning. "Go on, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna do my homework and maybe watch a movie."
With a nod, Charlie finished up his dinner before donning his uniform and heading out the door. No sooner had he called, the phone began ringing off the hook. I climbed to my feet and picked up the cordless, placing it against my ear.
"Hello?" I asked, but there was silence on the other end, filled with empty air, without even somebody breathing on the other line. "Hello? Is somebody there?" I said, annoyed. I always got annoyed whenever somebody calls and doesn't say anything; they could at least have the courtesy of just saying that they had the wrong number before hanging up.
Before I could say as much, however, the person on the other end just hung up the phone and I set it back into the hook, shaking my head as I moved back towards the stairs so I could go do my homework, but before I reached the first step, the phone rang again.
Annoyance set in as I retraced my steps and picked up the phone again. "Hello?" I said, more snappish than I meant to due to my irritation.
"Whoa, hey, is that any way to talk to your favourite brother?" Percy Jackson, my older half-brother, said with humour in his voice. Immediately, my annoyance melted away.
"Hey, Perce," I said, moving over to the couch and crossing my legs as I sat down. "Did you just call me?"
"What do you call what we're doing now?"
"No, I mean about a minute ago," I corrected. "Somebody just called me and hung up."
"Nope, wasn't me," Percy assured me. "I just got home, anyway. Annabeth and I were working on a project."
"Mm-hmm, sure. You were working," I said, emphasising the word and trying very hard not to laugh. I could practically see my brother rolling his eyes in mild irritation. "Hey, you know that I'm only teasing; I am very happy that you two finally got it through your thick skulls and admitted to each other the way that you feel about one another. Or actually, probably just you, because I think Annabeth is smart enough to figure it out."
"Hey, don't be mean," Percy complained.
"I'm not. It's just a fact that girls are much faster than boys in the romance department," I said, shrugging.
"Okay, moving on," Percy said quickly before I could get on my tirade about how slow boys could be. I chuckled. "So . . . how's life in the rainy part of the U.S.? How's your uncle? He treating you okay?"
"Yeah, Charlie's great. He actually got me a truck, though I'm pretty sure that he got it for free, because he wouldn't tell me how much it cost him," I said. "But it was nice of him, anyway. I mean, I didn't really want to be chauffeured around in a cop car."
"Yeah, we get enough trouble with monsters ruining our reps at school without having the additional problems of being driven to school by a cop," Percy agreed. "But Forks is good?"
"It's great. It's been raining since I got here, but I think that's just because Dad's keeping an eye on me," I said, making a face. "Am I the only one who thinks that I can take care of myself?"
"Yes, because you're bound to find trouble wherever you go."
"Uh . . . I think you mistook me for you, Seaweed Brain," I said, borrowing Annabeth's nickname for him.
"Hey, watch it, Annabeth is the only one who's allowed to call me that," Percy complained, but he didn't sound too upset. "But I'm glad you're okay. You even sound a little bit better than when Briar and I dropped you off at the bus station, which you were supposed to call me and let me know that you had gotten there safely, by the way," he added sternly.
"I'm sorry, I forgot. When I got here, I completely crashed and when I woke up, it was time for school and then . . . well, let's just say that I forgot, all right?" I said.
"You forgot about your favourite brother," Percy said dramatically. "I'm hurt, little sister. I'm wounded. How could you forget about somebody as wonderful as me?"
"Your modesty overwhelms me," I said, shaking my head. "So how is Annabeth? You treating her right?"
"Of course I am," Percy told me. "She's good, still working hard on rebuilding Olympus. It's coming out great. When you come back to New York, you should see it. It's amazing."
"I'm sure it is," I agreed. "Hey, is Annabeth there, by any chance?"
"No, she went back to her dormitory," Percy replied. "Why?"
"No reason," I said quickly. I'd wanted to ask her about the Cullens, since she was better informed about mythology than Percy and I were. "I just wanted to ask her something, that's it. It's not important."
"Okay," Percy said doubtfully. "I'll tell her to call you."
"Thanks."
"Well, I should probably get going; I've got a history report to write. I just wanted to make sure that you got there all right."
"You know, you worry too much, even for a super-protective, extremely annoying older brother," I said. Percy laughed.
"Oh, wow, now I know that you're feeling better," he said, still laughing. "I haven't heard you bantering me in a year. I didn't realise how much I missed hearing it. If you're getting better in just two days, then you should be ready to come home in a couple of weeks."
I paused. "I don't know, Percy," I said quietly, my thoughts drifting back to Edward, my heart fluttering at the mere thought of him. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live here during the school year. Forks is . . . surprisingly interesting."
"Interesting how?" Percy said suspiciously.
A smile tugged across my lips. "I just think that it wouldn't be so bad to have some normalcy in my life. I mean, it works for you."
"Yeah, but what about camp?" Percy asked, still sounding suspicious. "It can't be safe, staying so far away from it."
"With Dad having so much influence here, what could be safer?" I said calmly. "But let's just wait and see how it goes, okay? You've got a history report to write and I've got a couple chapters of English to read, so I'll talk to you later, big brother."
"All right, I'll talk to you later," Percy agreed. "Bye, sis."
"Bye," I said and hung up, heading up to my bedroom and opening up my backpack to get started on my English homework.
But all the while, I couldn't get my mind off Edward or shake the feeling that he wasn't entirely human.
The next few days at school went by surprisingly fast and before I knew it, a whole new week had started. Angela and I were becoming fast friends and she was a really good study partner. I still sat at her table at lunch, though I'm pretty sure that Jessica and Lauren were slowly becoming disgruntled by that particular decision. Lauren because I don't think she liked me from the beginning and would like nothing better than to squash me like a bug and Jessica because once the popularity that came with being the new girl started to die away, then she didn't have any particular reason for being around me.
What fascinated me the most was that the boys seemed to fall themselves at my feet here, something that was somewhat of a novel to me. Of course, when I was at school in New York, I was only twelve and still thought that boys were from another planet. But while the boys treated me with respect and slight admiration, none of the campers acted the way the boys did here.
Mike Newton was at the top of my admirers and I couldn't get away from him fast enough. He's a nice-enough boy and I think he's going to make some girl a wonderful husband someday, but that girl is definitely not going to be me. I just don't seem him that way and no matter how much I try to push him in Jessica's direction—whose irritation at me seems to be growing every time she sees Mike throwing himself at me—he doesn't seem to take the hint. Boys can be so oblivious sometimes.
But the one person that was not among my admirers was the only one that I actually wished would be.
After the friendly conversation on my second day, Edward had remained a slightly cool attitude towards me, always saying hello to me, but he didn't spring questions at me like he had before.
He frustrated me to no end. I wished I knew what was going on inside his head, because I couldn't begin to figure him out. If he was just some mortal that was blessed by Aphrodite, then he was one of the most annoying boys that I'd ever met. And if he was a monster, then why didn't he just attack already? It was better than just waiting around, watching me the way that he did.
I'd even considered that he might be immortal, maybe one of the minor gods, but even that didn't make sense. Immortal, he might be, but in possession of divine powers, I didn't think so.
As Percy had promised me, he told Annabeth to call me and I'd told her about the Cullens and while she did think that I was overreacting, she promised me that she'd look into it.
"Honestly, Susan," she said when I explained, "I think that you've been living at camp too long. Believe me," she sighed, "I know the feeling. After I went to go live with my dad a few years ago, after living at camp for so long, I used to see monsters everywhere I went, too. You're probably just too used to searching for supernatural beings that you're seeing monsters where they're just a normal explanation. But I'll look into it, I promise."
She was probably right. Annabeth usually is. And I even agreed with her, but I also couldn't dismiss the feeling that there was something otherworldly about the Cullens.
And I wasn't wrong.
It was almost two weeks after school had started when I found the first clue that there was something otherworldly about Edward and his family.
Class had ended and I was heading out to the parking lot, with my hood pulled up because it was raining, plus the temperature had dropped several degrees, making the wet pavement slick with ice. A few people were sliding across it as though they were figure skating while others were just falling down on it, laughing at their clumsiness. A couple of the guys were attempting to play basketball and ice skate at the same time, which is a lot funnier to watch than it is to describe. I was trying not to smile as I headed towards my truck, waving goodbye to Angela as she was waiting for Ben Chaney.
Edward was standing next to his car, along with his siblings, his gaze fixed upon me. I thought I detected a hint of longing in them, but the second that I glanced back at him—Rosalie sent me a thunderous look as I did so—his expression had slithered back into impassiveness.
Fishing my keys out of my pocket, I trudged through the ice and slid the key into the lock, clicking it open when I heard a screech of tires coming from somewhere nearby.
I spun around and saw a van heading straight for me. I recognised the driver as Tyler Crawley; I'd seen him a few times around school, but I'd rarely had the chance to talk to him. But what shocked me the most was the look on his face; it was fixed straight upon me and he looked as though he had no intention of stopping. He was heading straight for me and I don't think that it was unintentional.
Every fibre of my being screamed at me to move, screamed at me to leap out of the way, but I had frozen, horror and fear ripping through my veins. As I stared back at Tyler's cold, unyielding eyes, I knew two things: that he was well aware of what he was doing and that I was going to die.
You know how everybody says that when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes?
Well, they're all crazy. All I was aware of was that a van was heading straight for me, knowing that it would be the last thing that I ever saw and the only thing that I was capable of doing was sending a silent prayer to my dad, hoping that Hades would be merciful when I took the final trip to the Underworld, relieved that I at least had a drachma in my pocket so I would be able to pay the ferryman, but also dismayed that I would never be able to say goodbye to my brother and how guilty he would feel when he learned what had happened to me . . .
Life is never the way that it is in movies. If it was a movie, then the van would have headed towards me in slow motion, as though every second took an hour to complete. But instead, everything seemed to speed up and the van headed for me much faster than it should have.
Even with my battle reflexes yelling at me to move, I didn't think that I was capable of doing so, but even if I had, I never got a chance to find out. One minute, I was standing next to my truck, staring at the van as it headed towards me and the next, I was lying flat on the pavement and Edward Cullen was right next to me, shielding me with his body.
I wanted to scream at him to get out of the way, wanted to yell at him to move, but there was no time. There was no time to even so much as move as the van headed straight towards us. No time to do anything but realise that we were going to be crushed.
As the van came closer to us, close enough to make contact, Edward threw out his hand to put some resistance between us and the van. I prepared myself for the sound of a bone being crushed, of it being smashed, of it being shoved out of place—believe me, I know what it sounds like—but it never came.
Instead, there was the unmistakable sound of metal being crushed and I slowly lifted my head towards Edward, only to find that his free hand—one was wrapped around my shoulders, protecting me—was stretched out towards the van, which had been pushed away from us. On the side of it, there was an imprint, as though something had been shoved into it, and while there was a scratch on the side of my truck where Tyler had hit it, both Edward and I were perfectly fine.
Stunned by what I was seeing, I turned disbelieving eyes towards Edward, whose expression mirrored one of shock and horror, his face paler than his usual paleness, his golden eyes wide as he stared at me.
And that's when I knew.
That's when I understood that what I had just seen really had happened; it was no trick of the light, my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, the Mist wasn't attempting to conceal something. What I had just witnessed really had just happened.
As quickly as he had come, Edward slowly got to his feet, stepping away from me and as he got up, his fingers brushed against mine for the briefest of seconds and through my dazed and shocked mind, I realised just how cold they were, as cold as the ice I was lying on. He looked down at me for the briefest of seconds before he jumped over my truck, away from the accident scene, and vanished from sight.
The second that he disappeared, the screaming ensued. Everyone within seeing range started running towards the van and everyone who had been close enough to hear the accident came running. People were screaming, yelling to get Tyler out of the van.
As they reached me, they gathered around, practically smothering me as they helped me up, making sure that I wasn't hurt, and trying to comfort me, reassure me that everything was fine, as though I were freaking out, which I wasn't. I was perfectly calm.
Of course, being in a near accident isn't at the top of the most traumatic events that I've ever been through. Let me see . . . getting attacked by a Fury after I ran away, check . . . hellhounds chasing after me as Eli and I were running into Camp Half-blood, check . . . dragons . . . wendigos . . . creatures of every imaginable size and shape that would love to tear your insides out and wear them as a hat . . . triple check. I've killed so many of them that I've lost track. Believe me, a car accident seems almost tame next to everything that I've experienced.
But even though I didn't have a scratch on me, even though I was perfectly fine, someone still insisted on calling 911 and I was forced to be put on a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. Tyler Crawley looked very shaken as he was loaded up too—of course, he had hit his head on the steering wheel and was bleeding profoundly, so he actually needed to go to the hospital—but there was no sign of the coldness that I'd seen in his eyes a moment before.
More than anything else, he seemed confused by the day's events and kept apologising to me over and over again, claiming that he didn't know what had happened.
But I'd seen his face just before he'd almost hit me; he had been perfectly aware of what he as doing and had been focused intently on ramming his van into me.
Now, however, he didn't seem to remember what had happened.
That, however, barely even registered in my mind while I was being loaded into the ambulance against my will, even though I assured both the ambulance drivers and the other students that I was perfectly fine. Instead, my mind just replayed what I had just seen, what I had just witnessed.
It was unbelievable, incredible, even far-fetched, but somehow, Edward had pushed a two-ton van away from us with his own hands as though it were nothing and he didn't even have a mark to show for it.
That on its own would have been enough, but he had also gotten over to me in the space of about two seconds, three at the most. I had seen him; he was right next to his car with his brothers and sisters, on the other side of the parking lot. Even the fastest demigod in the world wouldn't have been able to get to me in time.
And if he were a god, then he wouldn't have had to run over to me; he would've just snapped his fingers and zapped me to safety without attracting the notice of any mortals.
So if he wasn't a god and he wasn't a demigod, then what was he? As far as I was concerned, the events of the afternoon had only confirmed the suspicion that was already settled in my head: Edward Cullen was most definitely not human.
But then . . . what was he?
AN: Okay, guys, I know that I borrowed that from Twilight, but I promise, Susan is not just taking Bella's place. I tried to find some other way for her to become aware that Edward wasn't human, but nothing that I thought of worked out. I promise, this is part of Twilight that I'm going to borrow.
Oh and I know that this story is only on chapter four, but I was severely disappointed by the lack of reviews on the last two chapters. Please, I am begging you, give me five or six reviews for this chapter and I will post the next chapter tonight. What do you say? We got a deal?
Lady Dawson