Midnight Star

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Six: Unexpected Visitor

Charlie tried to talk me into staying home the next day, but I was far too interested in finding what Edward was going to do or say to stay at home. Of course, if I'd known what I was going to be bombarded with, staying home might have been a better alternative.

For those who hadn't been there when the accident had happened, they heard about it all too quickly, for the story spread around school like a wildfire. No matter where I went that day, no matter which way I turned, I kept being ambushed by fellow students, who demanded to know what had happened and how I'd managed to get out of the way in time without a scratch on me.

Rather than tell the truth about what had happened, I simply said that Edward had pushed me out of the way. Yesterday's events had happened so fast that nobody would question why they hadn't seen him there and I kept my mouth shut about him getting over to me in two seconds—that was something that they would find interesting and unsettling.

People were impressed with the fact that Edward Cullen, of all people, had rushed to my aid, but they weren't about to ask him for any details. Nobody ever approached the Cullens for any comments.

Whenever I saw Edward that day or the days that followed, I tried to talk to him, both just casual small talk and about the accident, but he usually made up some excuse to get away from me as fast as I could. And when he couldn't get away from me, like during science class, he would either just ignore me or push me onto a safer subject, like getting me to talk about my friends and family back home or what my school had been like back there, anything to keep me distracted from the topic that I wanted to talk to him with.

Percy kept calling every day after the accident, just to make sure that I wasn't getting myself killed, and every time that he did, he all but ordered me to come back to New York.

Somehow, though, I found it easy to tell him not. As amazing as it was, I was actually happy here. And it wasn't like I was the same helpless little girl that I was when I ran away from home. I had grown up, had helped save Olympus, and became an able warrior in my own right. I was more than capable of defending myself.

Granted, there were some things about Forks that I didn't particularly like, something that never would have been a problem at camp. Here, nobody knew the truth about me, nobody knew who my dad was. All they knew was that I was the daughter of Chief Swan's irresponsible younger sister, who came to Forks to live with her uncle. But that was only half of who I was and the other half was someone that I had to hide from the rest of the world. None of them could know that I was a daughter of Poseidon and that was something that I hated. Because of that simple fact, I had to hide half of who I was.

But other than that, I was far happier here than I'd been in New York for the longest time. After the war started, after I'd been betrayed by my best friend, I had to harden my heart and become the warrior that I was destined to become. By becoming that warrior, though, I had to shut down parts of myself, parts that made me who I was, parts that made up Susan Dawson.

Living amongst mortals and doing normal kid stuff like going to the mall with my friends and homework and watching TV instead of worrying about the end of the world . . . I started to find the pieces of myself that I had lost long ago, pieces that I hadn't even realised I had been missing. And a lot of that had more to do with Edward than anything else.

I didn't know who or what he was, but he still had such an enormous impact on me. He could be more aggravating than any boy that I'd ever met and when he wasn't ignoring me, he was cryptic and mysterious, but I still had such powerful feelings for him, feelings that I didn't think were going away and I wasn't sure that I wanted them to. But he made me want to find the pieces of myself that I had lost.

Last year, when the war was over and we were celebrating our victory up on Olympus—six hundredth floor of the Empire State Building—Aphrodite approached me. She told me that she had plans for me, plans that would begin when I went to the land of eternal rain.

That's probably why I waited so long to come to Forks. For nearly a year, I maintained a strong front, convincing Chiron, Percy, Briar . . . even myself that I was fine, that I could get through this, but in the end, it just got to be too much. Even though I worried about Aphrodite's plans, I knew that I had to go.

Don't get me wrong, I was in love with the idea of love and wanted desperately to have that epic love that so many girls dream about, but when the goddess of love gets involved in your love life, it's bound to be complicated, especially when she happens to be a big fan of those doomed romances, those forbidden loves . . . Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet . . . Buffy and Angel.

Now that I was here, though, I was kind of glad that I had come here, glad that I had put my misgivings aside and moved in with my uncle, but I was still worried. I could no longer dismiss my growing feelings for Edward and I knew now that he and his family weren't human—at least, not completely. They could very well be part human. I hadn't ruled that out, even though I was pretty sure that they weren't. But I've been wrong from time to time.

I still wasn't sure about the monster theory. If they were otherworldly creatures, then that would explain a lot. But if they were, then why was Alice so nice to me my first day here? And why would Edward save my life? Why didn't he just let that van crush me?

Nothing that I came up with made any sense and Annabeth still hadn't gotten back to me yet, so I'm guessing that she didn't come up with anything, which made me kind of nervous. If Annabeth Chase couldn't find any answers, then what good did I have finding them?

And it didn't help that Edward was pretty much ignoring me since the day of the accident, only speaking to me whenever I tried talking to him and only about unimportant stuff, which made trying to solve the mystery only that much harder. I'm pretty sure that was what he was trying to do, though, divert me away from trying to find out the truth.

Hah. If he thought that I was going to give up that easily, then he had another think coming. Or however that expression goes.

But I think he also was under the impression that I was going to tell every person that I came across what I had seen that day. Certainly enough people had approached me to send a herd of people with pitchforks after him and his family. All I told people, though, was that he had pushed me out of the way, not enough to start a witch hunt.

My parting words seemed to hold a strong grip on him, though, because despite the way he tried to ignore me, I could feel him studying me carefully, watching my every move, though by the time I looked over at him, his golden gaze was nowhere near me, looking instead at one of his siblings or Mr. Molina or anything else other than me. He seemed to be trying to figure out what I was, just as I was doing with him.

At times, I really wished that I could talk to Valentine, especially at the moment. Since she was a daughter of Aphrodite, Val was a lot better in the romance department than I was. I just wished that I could get her advice on this, wish she could give me guidance on what to do, because I was slowly and steadily falling for Edward Cullen.

I could feel it. I could feel it in every fibre of my being. Whenever he was around me, even when he was ignoring me, my body felt as though it were on an electric charge. My palms would get all sweaty and my heart started beating as though I had just climbed the lava wall at camp and believe me, I'm not the best climber in the world.

And most of all, I could feel it whenever he got close to me. Whenever he got near me, I got this tingle in my spine, deep within my soul that told me that Edward was close. It both threw me and fascinated me.

But the number one thing that told me that I was falling for Edward was that I kept having dreams about him every night, which was a blessing after months and months of nightmares about the war.

Instead of having nightmares about the many battles we were in, especially when Valentine and the others had been killed, I kept seeing Edward in my visions. And they were especially . . . vivid.

And we were always in the most . . . interesting position. Every night, I would find myself kissing Edward, right here in my bedroom, feeling his lips upon mine. My arms were wrapped around his neck and his fingers weaved themselves through my hair as he kissed me back passionately. All of the restraints, all of the control that we maintained while we were awake were swept away as though they were nothing and I gave in to the building desire that were slowly giving way.

And every morning, when I woke up, I found my face was bright red without the use of make-up. Thankfully, though, Charlie never seemed to notice.

Or if he did, he pretended not to.

But tonight, it was different. Sure, it was the same dream. Edward would be standing in my bedroom, as though destined to watch over me, and I would pull him towards me and we would start kissing, wrapped in a passionate embrace. When he lifted his head, though, that's when the wonderful dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

His golden eyes were wild and dangerous, like an animal's, his teeth were barred, and deep, low growl escaped from deep within his throat.

And most of all . . . there was blood on his lips.

With a gasp, I sat up straight, looking wildly around my bedroom and as my gaze collided with someone standing near my bookcase, I thought that I was still dreaming.

Edward was standing right across from me, just watching me with a longing look, but the moment I woke up, it immediately changed to surprise and alarm flashed through his golden eyes as my blue-green one settled on him.

I was sure that I was still dreaming, but just to be on the safe side, I reached across, towards my nightstand, and flipped the lamp on, throwing the room into light. My head turned away from Edward for a miniature of a second, but in the time that I had looked away and back towards where I had seen him, he had vanished.

Confused, I slid out of bed, staring around my room as though I expected him to pop out of my closet or appear right next to my window, which was slightly open. Slowly, I proceeded over to it, pushing it open all the way and staring out into the dark night, lit only by the street lights, but there was no sign of anybody standing there.

And yet . . . I had been so sure that I had seen him . . .

"Edward?" I whispered into the night, still not convinced that it had just been the aftermath of a dream. There was no reply. "Edward, are you there?"

No one answered and I was forced to admit that there was no one out there and closed my window, walking back over to my bed and crawling back underneath the covers, laying my head down on my bed, but I doubted that I would get any more sleep tonight, not as wired as I was and with that vision of Edward with blood on his lips hanging over me.

Demigod dreams are very rarely just dreams. In fact, more often than not, they contain some hidden meaning behind them—or sometimes, we can see our enemies across great distances and see what they might be planning. When the situation grows dire, then dreams become that much more intense. And usually contain some important information.

I used to have them, during the final battle, but I haven't had any precognition dreams for awhile—much less dreams. Usually, it's just been the nightmares of everything that had happened.

The nightmares about the war were just past events that were plaguing me in my sleep. Dreams about Edward and me kissing I could put off because of my growing feelings towards him, though I was very reluctant to admit that. But there was no way that I could explain away this particular dream. How could I explain seeing the boy that was slowly becoming something more to me like that? It was like he was an animal . . . and I didn't know where to put that.

As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew that the dream meant something and I just couldn't explain it away.

With the dream hanging over my head and being unable to get back to sleep after I woke up, it was no wonder that I looked so horrible when it was finally time to go to school. I guess I can't really blame Charlie for looking worried when he saw me and asked me if I wanted to stay home from school. For such an unobservant guy, he can amazingly perceptive at times.

I thought about confronting Edward when I got to school and demand if he had been in my room last night, but I decided against it. Things were strained enough between us as it was and I really didn't want to make things worse than they already were. So I just let it go, though I did notice that he seemed to be watching me more closely than usual.

But I had enough problems to worry about besides Edward and that freak of a dream. And it was something far more worrisome than whether or not the boy that I was falling in love with was a monster.

The homecoming dance.

And unfortunately, I seemed to have boys crowding around me, asking—well, demanding might be a better term for it—to take me to the dance. Some of them even got into an argument over it and I used their distraction to escape.

Of course, some of them didn't give up so easily. For instance, Mike, who had already taken to following me around like a lost puppy, seemed to take it upon himself to become my personal bodyguard everywhere I went and I was starting to get a little irritated with him. And unfortunately, I couldn't get away from him fast enough, so I just fed him this whole line about how I had a friend coming from out of town that weekend and it would be rude to go to the dance and leave them by themselves.

Mike seemed to buy that story and I subtly pushed him towards Jessica, suggesting that he ask her, which he did, but I don't think that she was too happy when she found out that she was the second choice. I don't know who told her, but she at least seemed happier than she had for awhile. Truthfully, I hoped that she would be able to steal his attention away from me, because honestly, Mike was starting to get on my nerves and I was getting close to clobbering him during gym class, but I didn't want to take a leaf out of my brother's book and start getting kicked out of every school that I went to. So rather than bash him senseless, I just pointed out the obvious to him.

My story must have spread around school, because when I sat down in science, pulling my notebook out of my backpack, Edward, who was already in his seat, asked abruptly, "So who's the visitor coming from out of town?"

I looked at him quickly, making sure that I hadn't been imagining things, because he hadn't spoken to me in weeks, not unless I had asked him a question first and even then, the answer was usually "yes" or "no."

"Are you talking to me again?" I asked when I managed to find my voice, ignoring the fluttering in my chest as I looked into his slightly darker eyes.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You don't answer any of mine," I returned, turning away from him, piercing my lips together. "I mean, you don't talk to me, you barely even look at me, you barely even acknowledge that I'm in the same room . . . you won't even look me in the eye."

Edward sighed, but he inclined his head so that his golden eyes were looking directly into my blue-green ones, the first time that he had done so in weeks. "Hello," he said in a very soft, enthralling voice that caused a shiver to travel down my back and I silently cursed him for making me feel this way, frustrated by the effect that he had on me.

"Nobody," I muttered darkly. "I was just trying to give Mike an excuse to let him down easily." And Tyler and every other boy who had approached me, trying to ask me to the dance. It was incredible how popular I was with the male crowd here. Practically every male in the school had come forward to try their hand; some of them approached me shyly while others with egotistical confidence. I'd never been this popular before.

"So you don't like Mike or any of them?" Edward asked. I could hear the delight in his voice, though I couldn't fathom the reason.

"No. Not like that," I said, eyeing him. "Why?"

Edward just smiled. "No reason," he said easily. "Quiet now, Mr. Molina's starting to notice."

I erected my head towards the front of the room, where class had already started, expecting Mr. Molina to be coming towards us, demanding to know what he was talking about so he could scold us for not paying attention, but he had barely even turned around when I looked forward and by the time he was looking towards us, we were just copying down notes.

Discreetly, I looked at Edward out of the corner of my eyes, wondering how he had known that Mr. Molina was going to try and catch us talking. And why was he asking me about Mike and all the others? And why, after weeks of silence, was he starting to talk to me again?

I fully intended to escape the room and leave campus before Edward could catch up with me, but he was a lot faster that he appeared to be and before I even rounded the corner, he was right next to me, falling into step next to me.

"Susan, look, I know that I'm being rude all of the time and ignoring you, but believe me, it's for the best," he said sincerely. "I'm sorry, but I'm not somebody that you want to be friends with. I'm not somebody that somebody like you should be friends with."

"What do you mean, 'somebody like me'?" I demanded, trying to ignore the hurt that rose through me at his rejection. I could feel tears rising, but I refused to let them fall; I wasn't about to let him see me cry.

Edward looked uncomfortable, but he said softly, "I mean . . . you're sweet, kind, and . . . you're beautiful." He said this last one very softly, as though he expected an avalanche to come crashing down around us the moment he said it.

I stood very still, just staring at him with wide eyes. "You think I'm beautiful?" I said very softly.

He looked up. "I know you are. Believe me, I've seen scores of pretty girls, been approached by many lovely women . . . and none of them have ever held the amount of beauty that you possess."

I was turning a very interesting shade of red. "You're sweet," I said after a long moment. "A terrible liar . . . but sweet."

"Who says I'm lying?" Edward sounded wounded.

Looking away, I shook my head. "Edward, you know you can very frustrating? I mean, honestly, what do you expect from me? First day that we met, you completely ignored me, then the next day you were nice to me, then you were . . . well, polite enough, and then you saved me from a moving vehicle and were back to ignoring me, and now you're being nice to me again. Do you really think that it's funny to play with my feelings like this? Because let me tell you something: it's really not fun. If you were going to regret it afterwards, then why didn't you just let the van crush me?"

Judging by the look in his eyes, I knew that I had shocked him and I was a bit pleased by that fact. His voice was filled with quiet disbelief as he spoke. "You think I regret saving your life?"

What I wanted to say was yes, that's exactly what I thought, but one look in his golden eyes and I knew that whatever he was feeling, it wasn't regret. Suppressing a sigh, I folded my arms across my chest, letting my frustration at him melt away.

"I don't know," I confessed. "Maybe you just regret that I saw what I did that day and won't let it go. And you're afraid that I'm going to find out the truth." He didn't argue. "What could be so horrible that you're terrified that I'm going to find it out?"

"Some things are better left mysteries," Edward said softly. "Some secrets are better left undiscovered."

Taking a deep breath, I turned so that I was facing him fully and I looked at him straight in the eye.

"Edward," I said seriously as his golden gaze tore into my blue-green ones, "do you honestly think that I would tell anybody the truth? I told you you're not the only one with secrets around here. Would I spill your secret, if I've done such a good job hiding mine?"

"No," Edward said at once. "I know that you wouldn't tell anybody. I know you didn't tell anybody what you saw that day and I hope you know I'm very grateful."

For a moment, I hesitated, watching him. "Are you going to tell me how you stopped the van?" I asked him. His gaze stilled maintained that guarded, cautious look, but it was softer now. "Or am I going to have to figure it out on my own?"

"I wish that you wouldn't," Edward muttered. There were people around us, talking quietly, but none of them stopped so they could listen in to what we were talking about. I barely even noticed them, though, too focused on Edward Cullen. "And I had an adrenaline rush."

With a scoff, I turned away from him, striding towards the door and was out the door within a few seconds, but Edward caught up with me easily, striding after me through the parking lot.

"You don't believe me?"

"You know what? I don't," I said angrily, whirling around to look directly at him. "Look, Edward, I have seen things that most people would never even dream about. I've experienced things that most people would consider a myth. I've seen things . . . you never could have imagined. So do not expect me to believe some flimsy excuse that people use just to logic themselves away from the truth. Just because humans convince themselves of logical explanations doesn't mean that I'm going to believe it." So caught up in my own tirade, I didn't even notice that I'd said humans, as though I wasn't one. But Edward did and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Nobody has the ability to crush the side of a truck with an adrenaline rush and walk away without so much as a mark. Why don't you just tell me the truth? I'm going to figure it out eventually. Or do you not trust me with the big, bad Cullen secret?"

"It's not a matter of trust," Edward replied quietly, earnestly. "I am trying to protect you from my secret, Susan. I'm not someone that you should be around, all right? I'm dangerous," he said in a voice that would have sent any other girl cowering, but I held my ground. "You don't want to be involved with me; you really don't." The way he said it . . . he seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as me.

"And maybe I'm just as dangerous as you are," I replied calmly, shifting my bag higher onto my shoulder. "Look . . . Edward, this isn't getting us anywhere. You say you're dangerous, but guess what? I've been around danger for the past five years and here I am, still alive. I've done things, seen things . . . that would send the bravest man in the world crawling under his bed. My life is not the safe, secure world that you put me in. And as much as we might want to deny it, I don't think that either one of us wants to stay away from each other." Edward didn't argue, but his lips pierced together tightly. "Why don't we just . . . spend some time together? See where it goes. It couldn't hurt," I pointed out.

Edward considered my words, mulling over them. At long last, he nodded. "Maybe you're right," he acknowledged. The first stirrings of hope touched my heart at his words.

"Maybe I am," I agreed. His mouth twitched, like he was trying very hard not to smile. "Look, Jessica and everybody is planning this big beach trip tomorrow; why don't you come with us? No pressure," I pointed out. "No expectations, just two people hanging out at the beach with some friends."

He nodded, thoughtful. "Which beach?"

"La Push," I replied, remembering what Mike had told me when Jessica had brought up the beach trip at lunch and I had been unexpectedly been invited along and I said yes without even thinking about it.

The second that I said the name, though, Edward frowned, as though he had changed his mind as soon as he heard it.

"What?" I asked, alarmed. "What's wrong with that beach?"

Apparently, he'd listened when I'd warned him not to give me some flimsy excuse, because he said, "It's just not a good idea for me to go down there."

"What do you mean?" Why couldn't he go down there? It couldn't be dangerous, could it? If it was, then I suspected that he would tell me not to go down there. And anyway, he had shoved a two-ton van away from him as though it were nothing. I doubted that there was much that was dangerous to him.

"Nothing," Edward sighed, looking distracted. "Look, maybe some other time, okay? I have to go," he said, making a quick exit towards his car, where his siblings were waiting for him, watching the interaction warily. Alice, however, smiled at me, giving me a friendly wave. I shyly waved back, but wandered towards my car, glancing towards Edward as he climbed into his car and drove away.

I couldn't figure out what had just happened. For one second, I really thought that I might be getting through to Edward and we would be getting on the right track, back to talking and maybe hanging out, maybe becoming friends. But then, one mention of some random beach and he turned back into cryptic guy. Edward Cullen was one guy that I just couldn't figure out.

Sometimes monsters were easier to deal with than a normal life, I thought glumly as I climbed into my truck and navigated my way out of the parking lot, heading towards my house. At least with monsters, I knew what I was dealing with.

I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I pulled into my usual parking spot in the driveway without even noticing that somebody else was sitting on the steps, perfectly calm and composed, waiting for me.

Actually, I didn't even notice her until I was about to climb up the steps and I looked up, jumping back when I saw her.

"Oh!" I gasped, my hand moving over to my heart, which had jolted as though I had been hit with electricity. "Annabeth!"

"Hi, Susan," Annabeth Chase said. It wasn't until I noticed her solemn look that I knew that she had very bad news. "We need to talk."