Chapter 33

(Renesmee)

I can tell I have been out a while when my eyelids start to force themselves open. My throat burns with the absence of blood. I sit up a little too fast and my head spins.

I look around in confusion. Sheila sits at my feet reading a book. Natalia is over in the corner with a drawing book and Logan and James are looking at a computer screen. Sophia and Nathaniel have a phone and are listening to music through headphones.

Victoria, Elizabeth, and Nahuel are playing some kind of card game at the coffee table. Hailey and Olivia are playing with Cody and Mikkel and Nadine are nowhere to be found.

When I sit up, Sheila shifts off the couch and crouches in front of me and places her hand on my forehead. I feel warmth through my body and I begin to feel better.

"She's awake?" Mikkel's deep voice asks.

"Yes. She's okay now, aren't you Neonata?" Sheila asks me. I grin at the name she calls me. Neonata means baby girl in Italian. I nod my head.

"I'm okay. But, why were things just randomly floating?"

Mikkel nods his head and calls for everyone to come to us. "We all have gifts, Renesmee." He explains.

Again, like I have all the times he's said my name, I cringe. "What gifts?" I ask in curiosity.

"Well, this will take a while!" He booms with a laugh. "I guess I'll do it by age. Nahuel is the oldest and I believe that his gift is that he's venomous. No one else is, so it makes sense that that is his gift. Victoria is next and she makes you want to agree with her. It's only subtle, but she persuades you. Then we have Elizabeth. Her gift is, well it's confusing. She can touch an object and see its past. It doesn't work all the time and not on people, but it's pretty cool. Next are Nathaniel and Sophia and their gifts are very alike. We think it's because they're twins. Sophia makes people attracted to her in, ah, a sexual way. She makes them fall in love with her. Nathaniel makes people happy to be around him, or he can make people hate each other though he finds it very hard to use." He pauses to let it soak in. I nod for him to continue.

"Logan's power is difficult to understand. He is sort of a power booster. Like, if he is touching Victoria and uses his power, instead of slightly agreeing with her, you'll want to do whatever she wants."

I interrupt then, saying, "I can usually only use my power through touch, so he could make me project my thoughts just by thinking to the person?"

Mikkel nods and continues. "Hailey and Olivia are twins, of course, and they also have similar powers. Hailey is a physical shield, though not very strong. She can only shield a few people at a time and it has to be by touch. Olivia is a mental shield and her limits are the same as Hailey's. And, to explain what you saw earlier, James can move objects with his mind. We were clapping before because he had gotten five objects up. He has to work very hard to lift a living being and he can only get them a few inches up."

As if to punctuate this, I feel myself being lifted in the air. I smile at James and he sets me down.

"Next is Natalia. Her power is more offensive. She actually has two powers. One of them is the ability to put a fog over someone's mind. It makes them disoriented and confused; they don't know where they are. Her second talent is-" He gets cut off when Natalia comes over and grabs my wrist. A tingle runs through my arm and I yank it away. She laughs and Mikkel continues.

"As I was saying. She sends electricity through touch. It can hurt but she never uses it for bad. Nadine is not fully grown, she is only physically thirteen." He gestures towards the angry girl in the corner. "When she sleeps, she sees the future. But she can only see the future for the next month or so, and only if it involves her. Then Cody, who is the youngest. He was born just before the Volturi killed Joham. He also has two powers, well, more like three. As he demonstrated with you, he can take someone's thoughts and project it to everyone else. He can only do this by touching the person whose thoughts he's taking, but he doesn't need to touch anyone else to project. His next power is to project his feelings to someone by touch. He can't do words but he shows you how he feels. His last, most dangerous power, is to hurt someone. If he gets angry, or upset, or scared, he explodes. He causes immense pain to anyone near him. He can't control it, and that's why Olivia has to calm him down. My wife Sheila can heal her own kind. It takes time and she can't heal vampires or humans, just half-breeds. My power is to be able to keep all these kids in line." He jokes. "No, I'm kidding. My senses, scent, hearing, eyesight, all that, is better. It's not as cool as all of yours though."

I nod slowly, letting it all sink in. After a few minutes, I go to talk but Mikkel holds a finger to his lips. His eyes grow wide and before I can blink, he is gone.

He comes back a second later and says frantically, "There was a vampire here, he was with the Volturi. He heard parts of what we were saying. He ran off. He must have a power to cover his scent because I lost him." He turns to his youngest daughter. "Nadine, sleep." She nods and takes off towards her room.

Everyone is bustling around, doing something and I am just standing there. I sit on the couch and take a moment to gather my thoughts. I hated how I acted when they said my name. It tied my to them, something I didn't want. I didn't want to be part of them anymore. I was no longer a Cullen, but everywhere I went it was like a smack in my face. I couldn't escape them. I would never be able to get away from them.