Chapter fourteen
I slept really well thanks to the long and exhausting day. When I woke up in the morning, the sky was cloudy again but it wasn't raining. Agnes was perched on a branch outside the window with a mouse in her beak. When she saw I was awake, she hooted softly and flew off. Then I glanced at the alarm clock and jumped off the bed at once. It was nearly nine and Edward was supposed to be here at ten.
I sprinted to the bathroom and washed myself as quickly as possible, trying to figure out what would be the best outfit for meeting Edward's family. I rarely cared about clothes and fashion but this was a sort of a special occasion and I wanted to make a good first impression. Or rather an official first impression since I already knew most of the Cullens from school. But since I'd never really talked to them it was basically the same as if I was about to meet them for the first time.
I decided on my only skirt that didn't belong to my school uniform. It was a black, knee lenght skirt and the only one I wore voluntarily. Then I put on the blue blouse Edward had once complimented. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail and, grabbing the radio and my wand, headed for the kitchen.
I'd told Charlie that I would be at the Cullens last night so he went fishing again. I turned on the radio with my wand and was listening to the music while I was preparing breakfast. There were three songs in a row without any interruption. I was beginning to wonder if I'd tuned the right station when a male voice announced the news would start in about ten minutes. I glanced at the clock and it was ten minutes to ten.
I sat down at the table with a plate full of scrambled eggs and started to eat, wondering, what news I would hear. As soon as I finished eating, the doorbell rang. I ran to the door, nearly crashing into the kitchen door frame, eager to see Edward again and, at the same time, worried that I'd miss the news on the radio, which was about to begin any second now. I pulled the door open and there he was standing, perfect as ever, with an amused expression on his face.
"Hi and come in," I said and hurried back to the kitchen. I heard him chuckle behind me but he obeyed and followed me.
"Nice to see you, too," he said, but I put my finger in front of my mouth to silence him. The radio presenter, probably the same as the last time, just announced the news.
"It's five o'clock and we bring you the latest news. The Ministry Aurors have been receiving daily owls about the whereabouts of the Undesirable Number One, Harry Potter. Unfortunatelly, most of them have turned out to be false. But the Ministry spokesman asurred us, that they will continue to do everything they can to bring him to justice. He is wanted for breaking into the Ministry at the beginning of September. His motive for this act still remains unknown."
I sighed in relief and looked at Edward, who was standing behind a chair, listening. The radio presenter went on.
"There are only two more days left for the Muggle-borns to present themselves for interview by the Muggle-born Registration Commission. You can see the list of the Muggle-borns, who are yet to be interrogated, in today's Daily Prophet. And what will happen to those who decide to ignore the invitation?"
A familiar sickly sweet girly voice filled the kitchen:
"There will be search parties looking for the unregistered Muggle-borns all over Britain. Also, we have reliable information that some of them have fled Britain and are in hiding abroad. We can assure you, that we have very good means of tracking them down."
"That was the Head of the Muggle-born – "
I turned if off, again unable to listen to it anymore. I stared at the little radio in horror. Edward suddenly appeared by my side so fast, I hadn't noticed him moving. He pulled me into his chest and hugged me, gently stroking my back.
"They won't find you here, Bella," he whispered in a soothing voice. "And I'll protect you, if they do." At first, I was startled by his sudden reaction but then I buried my head into his chest and closed my eyes.
We stayed like that for several minutes. I actually felt safe at that moment, knowing that vampires are much stronger than wizards and that the Death Eaters had very little chance to get to me as long as the Cullens were here. I only wished the other Muggle-borns were as lucky as me.
"We can stay here, if you want," he said after a while, still stroking my back.
"No, I'm fine." I lifted my head. His eyes were gentle but he looked a bit worried. "Let's go see your family."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." I pulled myself away from him and, sticking my wand into my handbag, walked to the door.
I realised, as we sat in his Volvo, that I had no idea where he lived. We passed over the bridge at the Calawah River, the road winding northward, the houses flashing past us growing farther apart, getting bigger. And then we were past the other houses altogether, driving through misty forest. I was trying to decide whether to ask or be patient, when he turned abruptly onto an unpaved road. It was unmarked, barely visible among the ferns. The forest encroached on both sides, leaving the road ahead only discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpentlike, around the ancient trees.
And then, after a few miles, there was some thinning of the woods, and we were suddenly in a lawn. The gloom of the forest didn't relent, though, for there were six huge old-looking cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protecting shadow right up to the walls of the house that rose among them, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped around the first floor.
The house was timeless, graceful and probably a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white, three floors tall, rectangular and well proportioned. The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration. I could hear the river close by, hidden in the obscurity of the forest.
Edward parked in front of the porch and I could feel his eyes on me.
"Wow," I said, my eyes fixed on the house in front of us.
"You like it?" He smiled.
"It… has a certain charm."
He pulled the end of my ponytail and chuckled. "Ready?" he asked, opening my door.
"Not really." I sighed, suddenly feeling very nervous. "Let's go."
We both got out of the car and Edward was by my side in half of a second, taking my hand without thinking. "You look beautiful," he said, smiling at me encouragingly. I tried to smile back but I could feel my smile was too tight.
We walked through the deep shade up to the porch. Edward opened the door for me.
The inside was very bright, very open and very large. This must have originally been several rooms, but the walls had been removed from most of the first floor to create one wide space. The back, south-facing wall had been entirely replaced with glass, and, beyond the shade of the cedars, the lawn stretched bare to the wide river. A massive curving staircase dominated the west side of the room. The walls, the high-beamed ceiling, the wooden floors and the thick carpets were all varying shades of white.
Waiting to greet us, standing just to the left of the door, on a raised portion of the floor by a spectacular grand piano, were Dr. Cullen and his wife Esme, the only one of the family I'd never seen before. She had the same pale, beautiful features as the rest of them. She was small and slender and had a heart-shaped face and caramel-coloured hair. They were both smiling warmly in welcome.
"Carlisle, Esme," Edward's voice broke the short silence, "this is Bella."
"Welcome, Bella." Carlisle approached me and raised his hand and I stepped forward and shook it.
"It's nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen."
"Please, call me Carlisle."
"Carlisle." I smiled. My nervousness was suddenly gone and I felt strangely calm and confident. I glanced at Edward who was now staring at the staircase. Then Esme stepped forward as well, reaching for my hand.
"It's very nice to finally meet you," she said sincerely.
"Thank you. I'm glad to meet you too."
At that moment, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie appeared at the foot of the stairs. Alice was literally bouncing with excitement and then she streaked past Carlisle and Esme and stopped right in front of me. Carlisle and Esme shot warning glances at her, but I liked it.
"Hi, Bella!" Alice said and bounced forward to kiss my cheek. Her excitement took me aback at first but then I remembered that she knew why I was here. I could feel Edward stiffen at my side.
"You do smell nice. I never noticed before," she commented, to my extreme embarrassment. And then Jasper walked to me, moving more slowly and cautiously than Alice. He stopped behind her, not offering me his hand, and a new wave of calm and ease spread through me.
"There's no need for that, Jasper," murmured Edward, so quietly that I barely heard him.
"Hello, Bella," said Jasper, completely ignoring Edward. I glanced between the two of them, confused. "I can feel and manipulate emotions," he explained with a shy smile, noticing my perplexed expression.
"Oh," I said and turned to Edward. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked." He shrugged, his eyes never leaving Jasper. I heard a loud fake cough and when I looked up, I could see Emmett striding toward me with a huge grin on his face.
"Hey, Bella!" he said in a booming voice, grabbing my hand but he shook it rather carefully. He was huge and, at first sight, rather intimidating. But his eyes sparkled with excitement and mischief.
"H-Hi, Emmet," I stammered embarrassingly and his grin grew even bigger.
"Emmett," Edward growled warningly.
"Relax, little brother," Emmett brushed off Edward's warning, completely at ease. "I'm not going to eat her. Just wanted to get to know your new toy." He winked at me and I giggled. I was unable to find Emmett scary anymore, thanks to his easy-going nature. Edward glared at him.
"Boys," Esme told them off and then looked at Rosalie, who was now the only one standing by the stairs. "Rosalie, come and say hello to our guest."
Rosalie folded her arms across her chest but, other than that, didn't move. She just glared at me.
"Rosalie, be nice," said Esme, frowning.
"I agreed to be here, not to be nice," retorted Rosalie.
"Come on, baby," said Emmett, moving to her in a second and trying to grab her arm. She stopped him with her glare and he put his hands up as in surrender. "Okay, calm - "
"Don't you tell me to calm down," she snapped at him and then turned her glare toward the rest of us. Edward pulled me closer to his side. "You don't realize how dangerous it is," Rosalie went on. "She's human, Edward. How do we know that we can trust her? And even if she - "
"Enough," said Edward furiously.
"I won't tell anyone," I said, but my throat was too tight so it sounded like croaking. I cleared my throat and when everyone, including Rosalie, turned to look at me, I took a few steps toward the middle of the room so I could see them all. Everyone, except Edward, Alice and Carlisle, looked surprised and curious. Rosalie stared at me, her lips pressed in a tight line, but she didn't interrupt me. „Edward didn't tell me what you are," I said, my eyes on Rosalie. "I already knew. I've known since I first saw you."
"But how?" asked Jasper incredulously. I had to smile at the shocked expressions on their faces. Even Rosalie forgot to glare.
"Well, I learned about you at school." I shrugged, trying to sound matter-of-factly. "Specifically in the Defence against the Dark Arts class," I added, watching their reactions. They all stared at me, propably trying to figure out whether I was joking or crazy. Only Esme looked concerned. When they didn't speak, I decided to be even more specific. "I went to a school of magic."
The "joking" option had apparently won because Emmett and Jasper burst out laughing and Rosalie smirked. Esme looked worriedly at Carlisle, looking for confirmation. He slightly nodded and she visibly relaxed but looked back at me with raised eyebrows. I waited patiently until Emmett and Jasper stopped laughing. Meanwhile I pulled my wand out of my handbag. When I looked up, I saw seven pairs of golden eyes fixed on my hand in which I held the simple piece of ash wood.
"Come on, Bella! Show us some magic!" said Alice in a high excited voice.
"You knew about this," said Jasper but he didn't sound surprised. I could see that he immediately believed her and therefore me too, without a doubt. Now it was only Emmett and Rosalie who watched me doubtfully.
I looked around the room, thinking hard about a spell I could show them. My eyes fell on one of the golden pillows that were decorating the big white sofa. "Accio pillow!" I murmured, pointing my wand at it. The pillow obediently flew into my stretched hand. Then I turned the pillow into a white rabbit, but when the rabbit nearly had a panic attack at the sight of the seven vampires, I decided to turn it back into the pillow. I looked up then. Alice was clapping excitedly, Carlisle was smiling, clearly impressed with my performance and Edward looked proud. The rest of them gaped at me with their mouths open. I bowed slightly and realised that I was actually enjoying it.
"So, just to be clear," I said, pretending I didn't see their shocked faces, and looking at Rosalie, "I won't tell anyone what you are, simply because I can't do it without exposing the existence of my world, which is against the law."
"How? How is this possible?" said Jasper, when he recovered from the shock. "And how come we didn't know about it?"
"I did," admitted Carlisle and then repeated what Edward had told me on our way from Port Angeles. Edward came to my side and took my hand.
"I can't believe you kept this from us the whole time!" said Emmett disbelievingly. "Did you know?" He turned to Edward.
"No. I found out a few weeks ago."
Then Emmett said something that was too low for me to hear. I frowned at Edward, confused, but he just shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitching.
"I think we should sit down," suggested Esme and walked to sit on the sofa, that was surrounded by a couple of comfortable-looking armchairs, and we all followed her. I sat down in one of the armchairs and Edward perched himself on the armrest.
"But I still don't understand why it's a secret," said Jasper after Alice settled herself on his lap in the other armchair. "I mean, once we became vampires, why were we not allowed to know?"
"Well, it's partly for our protection," I said. "Vampires are much stronger and faster than wizards, and there are a very few ways to kill you. That's also the reason why we are immune to vampires' gifts that affect mind. That way we are protected from nosy mind readers." I winked at Edward and he chuckled.
"It didn't protect you." He smirked.
"True." I smiled.
"Why are you telling us now?" asked Rosalie, still in an offhand tone.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Alice, rolling her eyes at her. "I, Edward and Carlisle already knew and we wouldn't be able to keep it from you for much longer."
"That's true," I said, nodding. "It's easier for me that you know."
"You said you went to a school of magic," said Carlisle. "What brought you here?"
I sighed but took a deep breath and told them about my situation. I kept it brief, saying no more than what I'd told Edward yesterday. Edward held my hand for the whole time, soothingly tracing little circles on my palm with his thumb.
When I finished, there was a complete silence for at least a minute. Emmett was the first to break it.
"I hope they'll come here!" he said excitedly, pounding his fist in the air. "I'd like to see them facing a bunch of vampires!"
I stared at him while the others just rolled their eyes.
"What?" said Emmett, noticing my expression. "You said we are much stronger. It would be nothing for us. And we could use some excitement. It's been a bit boring here."
"Yes, you are stronger but I'd rather they didn't come anywhere near Forks," I said. "And I'm pretty sure they know a way to kill a vampire and they wouldn't care if they destroyed the whole town while doing it."
"They can do that?" asked Esme worriedly.
"Yes," I replied shortly.
"Then you must stay hidden," said Carlisle, his face concerned.
"That's my plan," I nodded.
"Who was the woman on the radio this morning?" asked Edward. "You looked terrified just by hearing her voice." When the others threw him confused looks, he told them about the news we'd heard this morning.
I clenched my fists when I remembered the year when Dolores Umbridge tried to take control over Hogwarts.
"She was a teacher and briefly the Headmistress of my school two years ago," I explained. "She was appointed to the school by the Ministry in an attempt to deny that You-Know-Who had returned. She took her job very seriously, punishing everyone who dared to claim the opposite."
"Punishing how?" asked Alice.
I looked at her, wondering whether to tell her about Umbridge's ideas of punishment or not. "Mostly writing lines," I finally said, what was only half the truth. A relief appeared on her face and she smiled slightly.
"That's not that bad."
"With their own blood," I blurted out before I could stop myself. I could feel Edward stiffen but I didn't look at him. The others looked at me in horror. The most surprising was Rosalie's reaction. She clapped her hand in front of her mouth and if she could, she would have cried. I wanted to kick myself.
"Did you get punished?" asked Edward anxiously, and this time I did look at him. He looked disgusted.
"No," I said and Edward relaxed a little. "It was mostly Harry. She didn't like when he was trying to persuade people about You-Know-Who's return."
"How could she get away with it?" asked Esme.
"Well, she never bragged about it." I shrugged. "And Harry refused to report it."
There was a long silence after that, everyone seemed to be immersed in their own thoughts. Edward wouldn't let go of my hand but his eyes were on Carlisle. It looked like there was a non-verbal communication going on between the two of them.
"There is something you should know," said Edward, breaking the silence. When everyone turned to look at him, he went on. "Bella is not the only magical person in Forks."
Carlisle raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Who else?"
"Mrs. Weber," Edward said. "Angela Weber's mother."
"The wife of the priest?" asked Esme, surprised.
Edward nodded and then told them about our meeting with Angela and her mum last night. Carlisle was mainly taken aback by the fact that he had been watched at the hospital.
"She wants to see us," Edward finished speaking, directing the words at Carlisle.
"Of course, I'd like to meet her too," he nodded and then they proceeded to discuss what would be the best day for the meeting. I tuned them out, looking around to finally see the room properly.
There was a wide glass door, which was open, leading into what looked like a dining room with a long wooden table in the center of it. Next to it was a kitchen, large and sterile looking, yet equipped with all the modern equipment that I could think of. I stared at it, wondering what would a family of vampires need a kitchen for.
"They are props, so we can pretend to be a normal family if we happen to have guests," said Esme with a smile. She had apparently noticed my confused expression. "And of course we couldn't possibly get a house without kitchen."
"Oh," I said lamely. It was obvious now she'd pointed it out.
"Now, Edward, why don't you show Bella the rest of the house?" Esme turned to Edward with an encouraging smile on her face.
"Would you want to see it?" he asked, looking quite excited.
"Sure." I smiled.