"Mama, I'm nervous," Alexei told me. Brielle was coming in a few minutes to take him to his first day at The Academy, a school for witch children.

"It's alright, baby," I assured him. "Aunt Brielle will make sure everything goes okay. And AJ will be there, and you'll get to take classes with him."

"Really?" he said, perking up slightly.

"Mhm. And Ms. Gavrila will be teaching some of them. And Boahnimaa will be there, and sometimes Leon will stop by, too."

He nodded. "Okay. Okay, I can go and do school."

Brielle knocked on the door and I called out for her to come in.

"Hello, hello," she chirped brightly. "Are you ready, Alexei?"

He took a deep breath, straightened up, and then nodded. He turned to me and threw his arms around my neck. "I'm gonna go learn magic now, Mama. But I'm gonna come back, okay?"

I kissed the top of his head. "I'll be waiting. I can't wait to hear all about it."

And then he was off. Hope was sleeping late that morning, so I had some time to myself. Carlisle was working, my siblings were off at school, and Esme was finishing some sketches before she stopped by. Emmett was out grocery shopping, something I always found slightly comical. I can't imagine what all the little old ladies, usually the only other customers in the store that early, thought of my six foot five husband picking up go-gurt and dinosaur chicken nuggets at seven a.m., acting like it was a competitive sport.

The house felt strange without my son. Not because he'd never been gone at all, but because I knew he'd be gone every weekday from now on. In the past I may have seen the fifteen or so years he'd take to finish up at The Academy as a short time, but now it felt impossibly long.

After a short period of moody pondering, I heard Hope wake up, and I darted up to see her.

"Good morning, Princess," I cooed.

"Mama, awake time," she mumbled sleepily.

I lifted her out of her cradle and set her onto my hip. She tucked her little head into my neck and yawned. "Yes, love. It's time to get up and play."

"Where Papa?" she asked.

"He's out at the store right now."

"Papa will play later," she stated firmly.

I smiled. "I'm sure he will."

I brought her down stairs for a breakfast of cheerios and peaches, and watched with a smile as she ate with intense focus. We'd learned very quickly never to dress her before breakfast, as inevitably she'd need to be changed immediately after, or Alice would have the vampiric equivalent of a heart attack.

After she had finished up, we moved upstairs to her too big closet (though Alice felt it was far too small) to pick her outfit for the day.

"Butterflies," she said, bouncing in my arms excitedly when we passed one dress.

"You want this one?" I confirmed, pulling out the white dress with monarch butterflies on it. Like many of her outfits, it came with a matching bow, as well as bloomers.

She nodded. "Yes. I want butterflies!"

I slipped her into the dress and bloomers, and then into a little high chair set up at her dressing table. Yes, it was a bit excessive to have a dressing table for a toddler, but I was going to give my little girl everything she could possibly want or need, no matter what others thought.

Esme slipped into the house as I was running the soft bristled hair brush through Hope's hair. She darted up the stairs, eager to see her granddaughter. Esme spoiled Hope even more than Alice did, and that was saying something.

"Alice said it was going to be cloudy enough today that we could go for a walk in the park," she told me, coming over to kiss Hope's cheek. My daughter giggled.

I nodded. "That sounds good. I'll call Emmett and let him know," I paused to roll my eyes. "He wanted to add another tower to the play set outside today, anyway."

Esme smiled knowingly. No matter how much any of the rest of us spoiled the kids, Emmett was by far the worst offender. There was nothing they couldn't get out of him. New toys? No problem. Later bedtime? Of course. Edward and Jasper had to work hard to convince him that the kids definitely didn't need a pony. Why he evert thought that was a good idea, I'll never know. Neither child had ever even asked for a puppy or a cat, much less a pony. They both knew that wasn't practical given the family's situation.

Both Alexei and Hope were fully aware of what we were, and what we ate. They were used to the speed we moved at, the cold temperatures of our bodies, and the solid, stone-like feel of our skin. All of the strange things, the vampiric abilities we used normally, that so alarmed humans didn't bother them one bit.

They also knew that "vegetarianism" wasn't common among vampires. Most other vampires were extremely dangerous to them, even if they weren't exactly human either. They'd been explicitly taught to avoid other vampires, unless they were with us and we told them it was okay.

"I'm excited for this little outing," Esme told me. "We haven't really had a chance to go to the park like this since we came to town. It'll be nice. Hope needs to learn to play with other kids her age."

I nodded in agreement. "She really hasn't had much of a chance there. Maybe she can make some friends today."

A little while later, Esme and I had loaded Hope into the SUV we'd bought for the kids. My convertible wasn't meant for car seats, and I wasn't letting my kids anywhere near Emmett's Jeep for at least another 12 years. As the one who'd done most of the improvements on that monster of a vehicle, I knew that it was far from a family car. The SUV was safe, practical, and comfortable.

Hope sat on her tablet while we drove, watching a Disney show about a young princess. Normally we avoided giving either child their tablets when we could, but Hope got carsick, and the distraction helped her. Alexei also usually got his in the car, since he'd throw a fit if Hope was the only one to get it.

The small town park, with its tiny playground, wasn't too busy, but I did quickly see that there were a number of toddlers around Hope's age running around. As Esme got out the stroller from the trunk, and I unstrapped my little princess from her car seat, a gust of wind blew a familiar scent my direction.

There were witches here.