Chapter twenty-three

Edward drove me home later. We had agreed to pretend that I would stay a few more days in Forks to "pack my things and arrange flying tickets" so it wouldn't look suspicious if I was seen in town. We also needed the time for Amelia to arrange the Floo Network connection for Charlie's house and the Cullens.

We parked in front of our house and Edward inhaled sharply. I could see why. Once again there was another car parked next to the cruiser – the Blacks again.

"I suppose you're not going inside with me," I said with a sigh.

"No." His lips were pressed in a thin line – a clear sign of his disapproval of our visitors. "But I'll be close," he promised, his expression softening a little. I nodded and he kissed my forehead before I got out of the car. Then he drove home so he could come back on foot later.

I knew Jasper was somewhere in the woods behind our house since Charlie returned home from work, so I knew we were safe. When I walked to the front door, I wondered what Billy Black could want from me now. Would he threaten me or warn me against the Cullens again? I really wasn't in the mood for that.

I found Charlie, Billy and Jacob sitting at the kitchen table and fortunatelly the atmosphere wasn't as tense as last time the Blacks had been here. Charlie and Billy had each a can of beer in front of them and were chatting about a new fishing spot Billy had apparently discovered last weekend. Jacob was quietly gazing into his glass of soda, looking lost in thoughts.

I cleared my throat, announcing my arrival. "Hi," I said to all three of them and placed the box with the leftovers I'd brought with me on the counter. After they all answered I added, "I didn't know we would have visitors. I would've brought more food. But I guess we can order pizza…"

"It's alright, Bella, we won't be long," said Billy with a tight smile that didn't touch his eyes. "We just heard you were leaving Forks and Jacob wanted to say goodbye." I nodded, walking to the fridge to grab a can of soda for myself. "Why the sudden change of heart?" he asked with a suspicion in his voice when I leaned against the counter, facing them. "Has the rain gotten on your nerves that quickly?"

I took a sip from the can to have more time to think about my answer. I didn't know what Charlie had told him. "You know how it is… mom misses me, and I've found out that Forks really isn't the right place for me," I finally said with a shrug.

"What about your friends? Won't you miss them?" He didn't bother hiding his sarcasm. I could see Charlie frowning at him.

"Of course I will," I said matter-of-factly. "But I can always come for a visit, can't I?"

Billy grumbled something but didn't pry further. Charlie eventually talked him into staying to watch a game of baseball on TV, so I suppressed a sigh and ordered a pizza.

While eating dinner I tried to chat with Jacob, but he gave me only one-word answers. I frowned, confused. I remembered his chatty nature when he was here on my birthday. After Charlie and Billy returned to the living room, I decided to find out what was bothering him.

"Are you okay, Jake?"

"Yeah, sure," he said but I could see he was distracted. I didn't press further but I didn't have to wait long before he sighed and looked at me. "Actually, not really. It sucks that you're leaving. I thought I would finally have a friend outside of the reservation." He grimaced and looked down at his hands on the table.

"You can always see me when I come to see Charlie. We can still be friends." I tried to cheer him up, but it didn't work.

"I know. It's just that… I need to talk to someone and well… there's no one I can talk to in the reservation."

"Okay. What's going on, Jacob?"

He was quiet for a while, possibly trying to find a way to tell me what had been bothering him. Finally he looked up at me and sighed. "It's complicated," he started and paused again. I raised my eyebrows, and he went on. "There is this gang of older boys in La Push. Their leader, Sam Uley, is nineteen and… well, he's a little scary. He's really big and strong and kind of intimidating. He calls himself a protector of the people of La Push. First it was just him but in the last few months two others joined him. They're the same – big and strong… A few weeks ago, one of them, Paul, even beat up a boy from the Makah rez who was selling meth to kids." He paused again. "I mean, I know the guy probably deserved it, but I heard that Paul looked really pissed off and out of control. He could have killed him or something."

I shuddered. I had an idea what it all was about, but I knew I couldn't tell him that. Instead I maintained an expression of polite interest and listened.

"But you know what's the worst about it? That my dad and the other elders don't seem bothered by it. They actually seem proud. They even invited Sam to the tribal council. When I tried to talk to my dad about it, he looked at me like… like there was a huge secret I'm missing and like he expected me to join the gang or something. I mean, I don't want to be like them. It freaks me out, you know."

I didn't really know what to say to that. I felt sorry for him but didn't know how to make him feel better. "I'm sorry to hear that, Jake," I finally said after a few moments. "But maybe you have nothing to worry about. I mean, it can't be that bad if your dad is okay with it, right?"

"Yeah, but… why would he want me to be like them? I have my own friends, why would I want to be like them?"

"I don't know, Jake," I lied, hating myself for it. "I wish I could help you."

"It's okay, Bella. I just needed to talk to someone."

"What about your friends in La Push? Can't you talk to them? Maybe they can help you more than I."

"I did. They feel the same like me. I think I needed to talk to someone neutral," he said with a shrug. But I could see that he was now more relaxed.

Later that night I was lying in my bed, waiting for Edward to show up and thinking about everything Jacob had told me. It had felt terrible lying to him, but I knew it was necessary. He wasn't supposed to know that vampires were real, not yet. He would find out sooner or later. I also felt bad that I couldn't tell him about me; again I'd had to lie to him. I had been so relieved when I could tell the whole truth to Charlie, relieved that I didn't have to lie anymore. But now there were other people close to me who couldn't know the truth.

Then I realized something else. According to Jacob, there were three "protectors" in La Push. That only meant that three men were already able to transform into wolves. I would have to tell Amelia as soon as I saw her.

"That must be some serious thinking you're doing right now."

I started and turned to the voice on my left. I hadn't heard Edward coming. He chuckled at my expression and walked over to my bed. He sat down next to me and leaned against the headboard, taking my hand.

"I didn't hear you coming," I admitted. "What took you so long?"

"I noticed," he grinned. "Jasper went hunting with Alice, so I waited for Esme to replace him. We talked a little after she arrived, and I waited for Charlie to go to bed."

"Talked about what?" I asked warily. I hoped Esme hadn't told him about our conversation. She'd promised.

"Nothing important, really," he said with an easy smile. I watched him closely, but he seemed relaxed which he wouldn't have been, had he heard about my doubting my feelings for him. "Why?" He must have noticed something in my expression because now he looked suspicious.

"Just curious, that's all," I said, trying to look as innocent as possible. He watched my face for a minute but then let it go with a shrug.

"So, what were you thinking about when I got here?"

"Did you hear me talking to Jacob earlier?" I asked, knowing he probably had.

"Yes."

"There are three wolves now." I shifted a little and leaned my head against his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head.

"I know. We should probably inform Amelia or Toby."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. And I hate lying to Jacob."

"You won't see him anymore." He sounded pleased.

"But Charlie probably will."

He was quiet for a while. "I heard Jacob's thoughts," he said, and I could feel his eyes on my face. "That boy thinks he's in love with you."

I didn't expect that. "What?" I giggled. "He's not even fifteen yet. I'm too old for him."

"It's not unusual for boys his age to fall for older women."

"Hey!" I frowned, turning my head so I could see his face. He was smirking. "You make it sound like I was at least fifty."

"I'm sorry," he chuckled. "Compared to my age you are like a toddler."

"Right," I snorted. "But that makes you a paedophile."

He laughed. "But you definitely don't look like a toddler so that makes me just a perverse old man."

We both laughed.

"But you don't look like an old man so that makes it alright." He smiled down at me and then his eyes snapped toward the window, though his smile didn't falter.

"What?"

"It's just something Esme's thinking about."

"Can she hear us?"

"Yes. But she's trying not to listen."

I bit my lip, lowering my eyes to our intertwined hands. "She told me about her human life," I said quietly, "and I realized I don't know anything about yours." I looked up at him again and he was watching me intently.

"Aren't you tired?"

I was a little, but I shook my head. He continued watching my face for a few moments before he started to speak.

"I don't remember much of my human life. Carlisle thinks it's because of the fever I had when I was dying." He paused, now looking at the wall opposite my bed. "I know I was born as Edward Anthony Masen in Chicago on 20th of June 1901. I remember my mother, Elizabeth, the best but I have no memory of my father. I think it's because we weren't as close as I was with my mother. I know he's name was Edward too and that he was a lawyer. He must have been working a lot and that's probably why I don't remember him; he wasn't home very often."

I listened to his velvet voice, trying to imagine Edward as a human boy of the early 20th century. I was sure he'd been as charming back then as he was now.

"I vaguely remember taking piano lessons when I was little," he went on, his voice a little distant. "When I was older, I wanted to become a soldier – the War was raging in Europe, and I was obsessed with joining the army. I couldn't wait for my eighteenth birthday so I could enlist. My mother tried to talk me out of it… But then the influenza hit Chicago and well, you know the rest. Both my parents died, and I was saved by Carlisle."

He fell quiet but I wanted to know more. "What did you think had happened to you when you woke up?"

I felt him smiling in my hair. "Another time, Bella. You are tired."

I sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue with him. I lowered myself into the pillows, still holding his hand. He started humming the melody of the song he'd written for me, and I drifted to sleep in a couple of minutes.

A knock on the door woke me up in the morning. I opened my eyes and looked around – my room was empty.

"Bells? Are you up?"

"I am now," I answered with a sigh and scrambled out of my bed, rubbing my face.

The door opened and Charlie stuck his head inside. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to know if you didn't want a ride to the Cullens." I couldn't use my truck anymore. Charlie and Billy had agreed on returning it back to the Blacks and they would send someone for it this afternoon.

"Uh…" I scratched my head and walked slowly to the door. I stopped next to Charlie and leaned against the doorframe. "I think someone will pick me up."

"Alright," he said but didn't walk away. He shifted his weight awkwardly, looking into my room. His eyes rested on the opened window, but he didn't comment on it.

"What is it, Dad?"

His lips twitched slightly under his moustache, and he walked to my bed and sat down. I stayed at the door, watching him curiously.

"Well, I was thinking a bit last night," he said, looking around my room like he was there for the first time. "The Blacks know about the Cullens, don't they?" Now he looked directly at me.

"Just Billy. Jake thinks it's a legend."

"How does he know?"

I sighed and went to sit next to him. I didn't know how much I was allowed to tell him about the Quileutes. "It's complicated, Dad." I told him in short about the Quileutes legends and that their ancestors had met the Cullens many years ago and formed the treaty. I left out the whole shapeshifter thing. When I finished, Charlie was quiet, looking thoughtful. "You can't tell Billy that you know about vampires, Dad," I said firmly. "They don't know about me, and you wouldn't be able to explain how you know."

"But Billy knows that you know," he pointed out.

"Yeah." I frowned. "He probably thinks Edward told me."

He just nodded. It looked like he wanted to say something else but then thought better of it and stood up. "I'd better get going or I'll be late. You sure they'll pick you up? Maybe you should call them." He nodded toward my new phone laying on the bedside table.

Just then the doorbell rang. Charlie rolled his eyes and shuffled to get the door while I hurried to the bathroom.

When I got to the kitchen, Charlie had already left for work and Edward was sitting at the table with a small smile on his face. After breakfast he ran to his house with me on his back and my school trunk in his hand – Carlisle had wanted to look at some of my schoolbooks, so I'd decided to take my trunk with me and leave it at the Cullens.

Today, Carlisle was staying home with me and Esme, having a night shift in the evening. I felt bad a little for ruining their private time together but they both assured me that they didn't mind.

Carlisle disappeared in his office with the books to study them and I spent the morning the same way as yesterday: meditating and studying. At noon I helped Esme making lunch again. She told me stories about some of the places the family had visited. There probably wasn't a place they hadn't seen, and I found myself envious. I loved travelling but so far Britain was the farthest and also only place I'd been outside of the United States.

When I was eating the steak and baked potatoes we'd prepared, Carlisle joined us in the kitchen with my copy of Fantastic Beasts in his hand.

"Did you find anything interesting?" I asked him, motioning toward the book with my fork when he sat down opposite me.

"Yes," he said with a fascinated look on his face. "It's incredible that there are so many creatures we weren't aware of. And others we thought were just myths and fairy tales."

"Yeah, sometimes it still feels incredible even to me," I admitted with a smile.

"I can't believe that the Lochness monster really exists! Or the yetti!" Carlisle looked like a kid in front of a Christmas tree.

"Or unicorns, or dragons," I added. At that moment I heard a bang from the front of the house and half a second later Emmett barrelled into the kitchen, closely followed by Alice, Jasper and Edward. Another bang told me that Rosalie wouldn't join us again.

"Dragons? Did anyone mention a dragon?" Emmett boomed instead of a greeting.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked, confused. It was too early for them to be home.

"It's going to be sunny for the next three hours," said Alice and in one graceful move perched herself on the kitchen counter, "so Carlisle called to the school and told the principal there was a family emergency."

"Oh," I said lamely just as Edward plopped down into the chair next to me and kissed me on the cheek.

"So, the dragon? Did you see it?" asked Emmett impatiently, sitting in the chair on my other side, eagerly leaning toward me. Jasper leaned against the counter next to Alice and watched me curiously.

I continued eating my lunch, taking my time, which made Emmett even more impatient.

"Come on, Bella!"

I decided to put him out of his misery. "Yes, Emmett, I did."

"Wow! What did it look like? Was it big? Did it breathe fire?"

"Yes, they were big and yes, they breathed fire."

"They?!"

I sighed and put down the knife and fork, having finally finished my lunch. Edward took my hand and the look on his face told me that he was nearly as eager to hear about the dragons as Emmett. Must have something to do with being a male.

"There was a competition at Hogwarts a few years ago and one of the tasks was to try and take an egg from an angry female dragon."

There was a collective gasp around me, and I had to stifle a laugh. Edward looked alarmed, though Emmett's face was even more excited.

"Did you compete?"

"Of course she didn't," snapped Edward and then he looked at me anxiously. "You didn't, right?"

"No," I said with a smile, squeezing his hand reassuringly. He looked relieved. "There was the age limit, and I wasn't of age." There was one underage participant in the Triwizard Tournament, but I didn't feel like talking about that now. I wanted to keep the mood light.

"Too bad," said Emmett, looking disappointed. Edward rolled his eyes, reached over behind me and punched Emmett in the arm. "What? I'm sure she would have kicked the dragon's ass!"

I laughed and the others joined me; even Edward couldn't keep his face straight any longer.

"So, what other creatures did you see?" asked Carlisle, always eager for more knowledge.

I spent the next hour or so talking about some of the magical beasts and creatures I'd met. I purposely avoided the dangerous ones because I was sure that would definitely kill the mood. So I told them about unicorns, flying horses or nifflers.

They all looked fascinated, but Emmett soon grew bored.

"Well, that's all nice but sort of boring. What about the more exciting ones?" he asked impatiently, after I'd finished describing the Weasley's family ghoul.

I narrowed my eyes at him, folding my arms across my chest. "You know, Emmett, you can always borrow that book," I waved toward the Fantastic Beasts that lay on the table in front of Carlisle, "there are plenty of those in it."

"That's not the same," he rolled his eyes at me. "I want to hear your own experience."

I sighed, leaning back in my chair, and trying to think of a creature that was both exciting and not that dangerous so it wouldn't kill the mood.

"I saw hippogriffs. They can be dangerous if you don't treat them right. Then there are centaurs in the Forest on the grounds. They are extremely proud and consider themselves above wizards and they tend to avoid us." I told them about Firenze, the centaur that had been banned from his herd and ended up teaching Divination.

Alice then seemed to be extremely interested in the subject of Divination so for another half an hour I had to tell her everything about the various methods of predicting the future.

"So you can predict future too?" asked Alice eagerly.

"Nope," I said with a grimace. "I've never been able to predict as much as what would be for breakfast the next day. And I got that right maybe twice in all those years."

Before Alice could say something, her eyes got their now familiar distant gaze and after a few seconds she looked at me with a smile. "Amelia Weber is coming."