Chapter sixteen
We arrived at the Cullen house, where the meeting with Mrs. Weber was supposed to take place, shortly before six. Edward had kept his promise of tutoring me so we had studied Biology and English in the afternoon. He was a really good teacher, though it shouldn't have suprised me. I'd left a note for Charlie, telling him where I went and that dinner was in the fridge.
The moment Edward opened the front door for me, Esme was there, taking my hand and leading me to the kitchen. I heard Edward chuckle behind us.
"Finally," she said with a slightly manic expression on her face. We stopped in front of the kitchen table. Apparently Esme had prepared some refreshment including sandwiches, coffee, a few cans of soda, and a tray of cookies. "Could you please try them, Bella?" She pointed at the cookies. "I wanted to make a good impression so I made them but I can't taste human food," she explained. She spoke rapidly so I had to concentrate to catch everything. "Alice said that they would like them but what if she just wanted to spare my feelings?"
"Of course." I smiled and took a bite of a cookie from the tray. It tasted surprisingly good and I was glad I could be honest with her. "They're really good, Esme. Alice didn't lie."
"Thank you, sweetheart." She beamed at me and I was sure she would have blushed if she could.
The others were gathered in the living room, talking softly that I couldn't hear them. We went to join them and just when I was about to sit in one of the armchairs, Alice jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around my neck, surprising me.
"It's so good to see you again, Bella." She beamed at me. I could see Emmett snicker behind her back and Rosalie rolled her eyes. Jasper smiled politely at me, keeping his distance again. I remembered what Edward had said last night and shuddered internally.
"It's good to see you too, Alice," I said, smiling too and hugged her back. She seemed to be very spontaneous and I liked it.
We barely sat down when there was a loud crack outside the house, which made all of the Cullens jump.
"They're here." I smiled, recognizing the sound. They all looked puzzled but a few seconds later the door bell rang.
Carlisle went to open the door. I could hear voices from the hall and shortly after that Carlisle showed Mrs. Weber and Angela in the living room. Mrs. Weber looked wary, though she put a polite smile on her face when Carlisle introduced her to the rest of the family, except for me and Edward. Esme then hurried to the kitchen and brought the tray with the refreshment, which she placed on the coffee table. Mrs. Weber looked surprised but her expression relaxed a bit.
"Maybe we should move to the dining room," Carlisle suggested, seeing how crowded the living room had become. We all moved to the dining room then and sat at the long table, on which Esme placed her cookies.
"So," started Carlisle, who was sitting at the head of the long table and was speaking to Mrs. Weber, who sat opposite him, "you wished to meet us so we could discuss your conditions over us knowing about the existence of magical people." Mrs. Weber nodded and Carlisle continued. "Bella told the rest of my family yesterday, I hope you don't mind. We thought it would be easier."
"I thought she would," said Mrs. Weber calmly, "that's why I wanted to meet as soon as possible." I felt my cheeks going red but she didn't look at me.
"What are your conditions then?" asked Carlisle, sounding very formal. "I suppose one of them is keeping your existence secret from non-magical people?"
"Of course." Mrs. Weber nodded, "but I don't think there is any danger of it since you have your own secret to keep." She paused, pulling a sheaf of papers out of her handbag. "I informed the Magical Congress of your knowledge of our kind and I was instructed to ask you to fill in and sign these forms." She pushed the papers into the middle of the table and Jasper handed them to Carlisle, who took them and skimmed through them with his curious eyes. "The Congress wants to keep a record of your coven for future generations to avoid any misunderstanding," she explained to the rest of us.
"What will the Congress do with it?" asked Rosalie in a reserved tone. "It sounds like we are going to be under some kind of supervision." It was clear from their expressions that the others agreed with her. Only Carlisle looked thoughtful rather than upset.
"You have been monitored since you moved in Forks," Mrs. Weber reminded them sternly. "And you know very well why. It's not usual for vampires to form such big covens, nor to go and live among humans. And it doesn't matter that you feed on animals."
"Mrs. Weber is right," said Jasper, looking at Rosalie. "We are still dangerous. We don't have to like it but it's necessary. Especially now, when we interact with humans more than ever before." He glanced at me and Edward.
"Thank you," said Mrs. Weber, nodding at Jasper and then her eyes drifted to Carlisle. "I think you should add your Gifts as well." She gestured toward the papers. "Just in case."
"Alright," said Carlisle and handed out the papers to the other vampires. "Alice, go and fetch some pens, please." Alice was half-way to the stairs before Carlisle finished his request. She was back in what seemed like five seconds with several pens in her small hand and passed them out to the others at lightning speed.
"You still didn't tell us what the Congress will do about us," said Rosalie stubbornly. She was leaning back in her chair with arms across her chest.
Mrs. Weber sighed. "Nothing at all, Miss Hale. If you don't give us a reason to intervene, you can go on living your life like before. We only ask you to inform us when you decide to move somewhere else."
It looked like Rosalie wanted to say more but then thought better of it. She just nodded curtly and relaxed her position. Since no one had anything else to say, they all filled in the forms in a very short time and handed them back to Mrs. Weber.
"Good," said Mrs. Weber and stuck the papers back to her handbag. "There is another matter I'd like to discuss with you. It's about the treaty between your family and the nearby Quileute tribe."
I could hear Edward inhale sharply next to me and the others looked at Mrs. Weber in surprise.
"You know about the treaty?" asked Carlisle.
"Of course. My family has lived here for almost a hundred and fifty years. My grandfather met with the tribe elders shortly after you'd signed the treaty."
"So the Quileutes know about us," I said, surprised.
"I don't think so," said Mrs. Weber, slowly shaking her head. "Even though they have some kind of magic in them, they are still ordinary humans when there are no vampires in this area. After the Cullens left, they had no reason for keeping the shape shifting gene active and they stopped changing into wolves. My grandfather then made sure that their elders wouldn't remember anything about us."
"So he wiped their memory?" I frowned. That didn't seem right. I saw Alice's eyes widen and her expression became thoughtful.
"Modified," Mrs. Weber corrected me. "And it was necessary. We can't allow any kind of suspicion." She then paused and looked at me with a sudden realisation. "I take it you are familiar with the tribal magic, Bella?"
"Yes, but Jacob thought it was just a legend," I said without thinking. Then I hesitated and, seeing their confused expressions, I explained to the others about the friendship between my family and the Blacks.
"So he violated the treaty," said Rosalie angrily.
"It wasn't very wise of the boy to talk about it like that," said Carlisle with a frown but then he shook his head. "But I don't think we should consider it as violating the treaty, since Bella had already known about us."
"Maybe we should remind him to not blab about it," said Emmett excitedly. Rosalie nodded fervently. I mentally kicked myself for not being quiet.
"The child clearly thinks it's just a legend," said Carlisle patiently. "It would be us violating the treaty if we admitted the legends were true."
Rosalie wanted to say something but Emmett, who apparently didn't want to argue further, put his hand on her shoulder so she would calm down. She gritted her teeth but didn't say anything.
"If we could return to the matter I wanted to discuss," said Mrs. Weber impatiently and, after making sure that everyone paid her attention, she went on. "You've been back in Forks for two years. The shape-shifting gene should be activated by now. Do you have any information about it?"
"I'm afraid we don't," said Carlisle. "When we arrived in Forks, we met with Billy Black to reestablish the treaty. We haven't heard from them since then."
"Well, in this case I'd like to inform you, that there is at least one active shape-shifter that we know of. And it's very likely there will be more."
"So you've been monitoring the Quileutes too?" I said, surprised.
"Of course." Mrs. Weber paused, apparently guessing the intention behind my question. "Every magical being and creature is monitored by magical goverments, Bella. It's for our protection and also for the protection of all non magical people."
I knew she was right but I still felt it was somehow unfair to those magical beings that didn't know about our existence especially when there were others, like werewolves or merpeople, that clearly knew about us. But I didn't feel like arguing about it now so I just nodded and let Mrs. Weber continue.
"I must ask you, in case you met again with the tribe, to not tell them about us, except for very serious circumstances." She then looked at me. "And the same goes for you, of course, since you are friends with the Blacks."
"You know I wouldn't do that," I said, frowning. I knew the law and even if I didn't agree with some details, I wasn't about to break it.
"What if there were serious circumstances?" asked Edward, who had been suspiciously quiet the whole time.
"Then I'd like to know about it first," Mrs. Weber said. "But I believe you, unlike Bella, are not very friendly with the Quileutes so the chances are small."
After Carlisle agreed that they wouldn't tell the Quileutes anything, Mrs. Weber glanced at Angela, who had been enjoying Esme's cookies while we were talking. "I think that would be all," she said, rising from her chair. Angela smiled at Esme and, thanking her for the refreshment, she got up too.
The rest of us got up too and I stretched my stiffened legs. Esme immediately cleaned up the table and then joined Carlisle who was walking the Webers to the front door. I and Edward followed them.
"Bella," said Mrs. Weber, now standing in the hall, "I nearly forgot to tell you about your new teacher."
"Oh, right, Angela said you'd found someone," I remembered. I nearly forgot too.
"Yes. My brother had originally offered his help but then he remembered his friend who is exactly the right man for the job," she explained with a smile and her face looked much younger. "He used to be an auror but now works as an apparating instructor. He agreed to teach you."
"That's great." I beamed. "When can we start?"
"He agreed to meet you on Wednesday at six." Then she paused for a few seconds. "You'll have to find a good place for your training, though. A large clearing with no or little chance of no-majs accidentally seeing you."
"They can do it here," piped up Alice. She was standing right behind me and had been so quiet that I hadn't noticed her. "We have quite a large clearing behind our house and I would see if someone was about to come for a visit. But no one usually comes here anyway." She grimaced.
"Wouldn't you mind?" I asked Carlisle and Esme excitedly. I loved the idea.
"Not at all," said Carlisle with a smile. "I'm sure some of us will find watching you doing magic very interesting."
"Hell yeah!" shouted Emmett from somewhere in the house. I could see that Edward looked excited too.
"That's settled then," said Mrs. Weber, smiling. "I'll send him to your house first, Bella, he's never been here so he won't be able to apparate. You can take him here in your car."
"Okay."
After that, Mrs. Weber and Angela said goodbye and took a few steps into the front yard. Then Mrs. Weber took Angela's hand and they turned on the spot and with a loud pop they disappeared.
I spent Tuesday concentrating on muggle school subjects. I was still behind the others, though thanks to Edward I was getting better. I was already beginning to regret starting the school until Edward reminded me, that we probably wouldn't have met and I wouldn't have known the Webers. He was right, of course. Still I saw the school as a big waste of time since I should have concentrated on more important things.
"You need this as a distraction," said Edward patiently after I'd complained again. We were sitting at our kitchen table, which was covered with Biology books and other school materials. „You can't think about Britain all the time."
"I can think of hundreds of better distractions than this," I grumbled. I needed to sort out the books I would need to show my new magic teacher tomorrow and then there was Edward sitting next to me and holding my hand under the table, who was a very good distraction as well.
"I'm sure you can," he said with a smile. "But it would look very suspicious if you left the school only a month after you'd started it."
"I could tell I'm moving back to my mother." I shrugged.
"Then you would have to be shut in the house the whole time."
"Couldn't I go to your house too?" I teased.
"Yes, but you wouldn't be able to go into the town."
"I wouldn't mind," I argued.
"Bella." He sighed, rolling his eyes. "You have to keep appearances, not create more lies." I knew he was right but I still scowled stubbornly at the Biology textbook.
We continued our study session until Charlie got home. He was pleased when I told him that Edward was tutoring me but I noticed that he wasn't as friendly to him as before. Apparently he'd taken Billy Black's words seriously because he kept watching Edward's every move. Edward pretented he hadn't noticed and politely refused Charlie's equally polite offer to stay for dinner. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
Edward then left, quietly promising to come back later tonight to spend another night in my room, and I had dinner with Charlie. I told him about my new teacher of magic and that I would spend more time at the Cullens. He sighed quietly but didn't say anything. After dinner he went to the living room to watch a baseball game on TV.
Wednesday dragged more than I thought possible. I couldn't wait to start my magic lessons so I was nearly bouncing on my seat with excitement and impatience in Biology. Edward squeezed my hand under the desk to calm me down. I even thought about skipping Gym but he didn't want to hear about it and I knew that with Alice in the school I didn't have a chance of trying to sneak out of the building.
When the school was finally over, Edward drove me home in his Volvo. The rest of the Cullens still used Rosalie's car which, according to Edward, somewhat improved her mood. Apparently she liked drawing attention to herself. She was still reserved toward me but at least she no longer glared at me.
I did my homework as quickly as possible with Edward's help and then I went to my room to fetch all my magical books I'd sorted out last night before Edward had returned to my room. All my Defence against the Dark Arts books lay on the top of the pile I magically maneuvered down the stairs and into the kitchen. I placed the books on the table, avoiding Edward's curious look.
"I thought you wanted to learn advanced magic," he said matter-of-factly. "These look like you want to learn how to defend yourself in a fight."
I knew that with Edward's family watching my training, I had no chance of keeping my true intention secret. And I knew that Edward wouldn't like it. Even in the short time we'd known each other I noticed his overprotective nature, especially when I was involved. I still tried to downplay it though.
"Defence against the Dark Arts is a standard subject at Hogwarts," I said, mirroring his tone, and sat down in one of the chairs. "I want to learn it the same way as I want to learn Transfiguration or Charms."
"There are six Defence books and only two of Transfiguration and one of Charms," he pointed out, glancing at the names of the books.
"We usually had bad Defence teachers." I shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to go through the spells one more time." There were only two really bad Defence teachers in my years at Hogwarts but he didn't need to know that detail.
"Bella, don't insult my intelligence, please," he nearly growled, looking at me with narrowed eyes. "Alice saw you fighting, remember?" I shuddered under his stare but I crossed my arms across my chest. I did remember what he'd told me about Alice's vision but I didn't think he would attach importance to it.
"Okay," I said with a sigh. "If I have a chance, I want to go back and fight." I watched him defiantly with my arms still crossed.
"It's dangerous," he said quietly.
"I know." I heard his teeth grit but at the same moment car brakes could be heard on the driveway. I looked out of the window and saw Charlie getting out of his cruiser. He was home early but I was glad I didn't have to argue with Edward any longer.
"Don't tell Charlie, please," I hissed at him when I heard the front door open. Edward stared at me, his face expressionless.
"Hey, kids," said Charlie, entering the kitchen. Edward nodded toward him with a polite smile but his eyes were hard. Fortunately Charlie didn't notice.
"Hi, Dad," I said with a smile. "You're home early."
"Yeah, I wanted to meet your new teacher," Charlie said, shrugging and walked to the fridge to grab a beer. "Are you going to make dinner or should I order something?"
"I'll make something," I said, suppressing a sigh and got up to check out the fridge for the bottomless suply of fish.
I worked in silence, preparing fish sandwiches. I was thinking about learning more fish recipes because we'd had sandwiches three times in the last week, so I wasn't paying attention to the conversation between Edward and Charlie.
"What?!" Charlie's loud voice startled me and I nearly dropped the knife I was holding. I turned to look at the two of them and saw Edward sitting with his arms crossed and determined look on his face. Charlie was looking at me with a furious expression. "Is that true, Bella?" He saw my confusion so he added: "Do you want to fight?"
I slowly turned back to the sandwiches, unable to look at them. "Yes," I said quietly.
"That is suicide, Bella. I won't allow it." I heard he was fighting to keep his voice from shouting.
"I'm sorry, Dad," I said, turning back to face them again. There was a slight smirk on Edward's face but I decided to deal with him later. "But I have to."
"No, you don't. You're safe here."
"I'm not safe!" I said, rising my voice. "Didn't you listen to me? They are looking for me! I have to go back and fight for my freedom or I will spend the rest of my life in hiding."
"You're seventeen, Bella. You're a kid, not a soldier!" Charlie couldn't control his anger any longer. He got up, clenching his fists and his face turned red.
"I'm of age," I said through gritted teeth. "And I was in two battles before. Besides, my friends in Britain face the danger all the time. Not even Hogwarts is safe anymore. There are two new teachers and I bet they are either Death Eaters or at least You-Know-Who's sympathizers and the new Headmaster is a murderer." I took a deep breath, trying not to imagine what was happening in Hogwarts. "For all I know they might be torturing the children as a punishment for breaking rules." I watched Charlie's face turn white now. "Dad, there might not be a battle at all. Maybe Harry will find a way to kill You-Know-Who soon and everything will be okay. But I have to be ready just in case I'm needed."
Charlie was standing there for quite a long while in silence. I could see he calmed down a bit after a minute or so, so I continued more calmly. "You're a policeman, Dad. You can't just look when bad things happen, you fight them. I guess I'm like you a bit."
"You are my only child, Bella," he said quietly but with resignation. "Do you have any idea what it would do to me if you died?"
I felt like there was a lump in my throat. Charlie rarely expressed his emotions to me and it made me feel terrible now, when I realised what pain it would cause him if something happened to me. I put down the knife I had been holding and crossed the short distance between us. "I know," I said and hugged him. "And I will do everything I can to prevent that."
"But you still want to fight." He sighed, holding me tightly.
"Yes."
Charlie sighed again but I knew I won this battle. I glanced at Edward whose lips were pressed in a tight line. Apparently it didn't go as he'd planned. I fought the urge to smirk at him. I was pretty mad. He'd betrayed me and I wasn't about to forgive that easily.
When Charlie finally let me go, I finished the sandwiches and put them in the fridge. Just then there was a loud crack outside and a few seconds later the doorbell rang.