Carter James Cullen

The trip to Egypt was a lot more eventful and adventurous than I expected.

Fast-track to three weeks ago when it all began.

My first ever experience on a plane was great. I mean besides the obvious nerves, I was pretty stoked to be flying for the first time. It was a real bummer we left Nessie behind but she had school so she couldn't tag along.

I knew exactly what this trip was for. My mom told me that we were going to see a certain family and talk to a man named Benjamin about my ability to influence the fire element. But I knew that wasn't the full story. The family believed that my ability could potentially pose danger to the supernatural and human world because I couldn't control it which is why this trip was so urgent.

And the family weren't the only ones that thought that way…

When we made it to Egypt after agonizingly long hours on a flight, we took the best private transport in the country.

Cairo, Egypt was a pretty busy area. Means of transports were either cars, carts, or even camels!

It was so cool.

"Dad! Look at that!" I called out, as I caught the sight of a man walking on stilts as a line of camels with hunched backs followed his tail.

"I see, kid! It's awesome, isn't it?" He said to me as he looked out the tinted window.

I chuckled.

The black sedan mom and dad were in was a sight not many people in Egypt saw it seemed because people were staring, and even kids my age were chasing after us, laughing as they ran barefooted on the sandy, sunny ground.

I smiled as I waved back at them but I was sure they couldn't see me through the dark tinted windows.

It was nice to see children like me. I never got into contact with any human children what with my fast-aging and all but I've always wondered what it will be like to hang out and play with them. I know I was a lot mature than the normal human five-year-olds in the world but the same drive we have to have was just as similar. I wanted to experience every childhood experience!

I so wanted to have friends.

It wasn't all bad though. The Cullens tried their best to not make me feel like I was missing out. Emmett and Jasper always played with me, whether that was football or baseball in the backyard, video gaming, Nerf-gun wars, building rocket ships, they were glad enough to make me feel like a kid. To be honest, they were more kids than I was to be honest. Uncle Edward always wanted to teach me different things, like how to play the piano for instances. I didn't have much tolerance for it but it was a nice tune to hear when he played it.

Alice always bought me clothes and tried to dress me up in different types of shirts, shoes and jackets. She was a little weird to me but obviously I wouldn't say it because she was family. Mom and Alice always threw fashion shows to the family and rated how I looked in them and dad always protested that they were turning me into a mannequin doll.

Carlisle, or Grandpa Carlisle was also quite fun. He actually got me interested reading the literature in his library. Almost every night before I go to bed, he'd read me one new book from start to finish.

Esme loved to cook for me. She was a great woman. A saint, actually! Bless her soul. She knew I had zero tolerance for blood –since it didn't feel natural to me but it did keep me full at times– and always cooked different meals for me.

Bella was like a second mom to me because of the fact that she and my mom are such amazing mothers. And Renesmee is like a sister to me. Obviously I don't have siblings but Nessie makes up for the non-existence of siblings. We had a lot in common, for one, we were the only hybrids in the house and we had the best parents in the world so we got along in that prospect.

"CJ," I heard my mother, Rosalie's beautiful voice call out to me. I darted my head towards her to see her gesturing to the large pyramid statues miles and miles away.

"Those are the Pyramids!"

"Awesome!" I exclaimed.

"And that head next to the pyramid is the Sphinx!" Emmett said, nudging my arm. "How epic is that?"

"Does it move?" I questioned, although I knew the answer of the question. I just wanted to dumb down a bit. Like a kid.

Mom and dad laughed.

"No, pumpkin. It doesn't move but great imagination though." Rosalie said to me with a beautiful smile on her immortal face.

She turned to the driver who was following closely behind the two cars in front of us –where I presumed the rest of the family were – and said something in Arabic. The driver suddenly stopped in front of a small ice-cream truck next to the large gathering of people in the road supermarket and my mom descended the window and uttered something to the man before she was given a delicious strawberry/vanilla ice-cream with chocolate flakes. She handed it to me.

"Ooh!" I hummed in excitement as I took it in my hands and began devouring it.

"Slow down, kid. Or else you'll get a brain freeze." Emmett said to me.

I smiled as I licked the ice-cream with my hot tongue, feeling the sizzling sensation of the milky substance melt in my mouth.

Mmm!

I loved ice-cream!

"Thank you, mom!" I said with a mouthful of ice-cream on my tongue and then I popped my head out and waved at ice-cream truck man.

He grinned widely, exclaiming something out in Arabic that I didn't catch before we drove off again.

We had been driving for over forty minutes. I was staring out the window, watching the many people garbed in the traditional native attire as they all rushed to work on the fields or actually are at work as little popup shop vendors made off their living selling traditional food and garments on the street. Cars were hooting as the different kinds of animals passed by. Cattle, dogs, camels, llamas, alpaca, ox, elephants and even eagles that flew above us. It was magnificent.

"Carter, look!" My mom called as she gestured to the large monument type of building that we were pulling up into. "That's the Egyptian temple where the coven we're visiting lives in."

I was in awe at the beauty of this vicinity.

I should've brought my camera. I knew I was forgetting something.

The driver pulled into largely tiled pathway, circling around a fountain.

My parents whispered their gratitude to the driver before opening the door.

"Are you ready?" My father asked me which garnered a concern look from my mom.

I nodded my head. "Sure! This will be fun."

Emmett chuckled as he slipped out of the car and extended his hand out to me. I took it and jumped out of the car with my hand firmly locked in his. My dad was a very large man so he towered over me like a giraffe compared to an ant.

The rest of the family were out of the cars and were already greeted by four people who I assumed were the Egyptian coven.

All of a sudden, I was nervous.

This was my first encounter with any other people beside my family –and the Denali coven. Sure! I was a very outspoken child but I tended to get nervous when I'm around new people. When we met up with the family's cousins up in Alaska, a lot of them were skeptical about me, particularly the leader Tanya and her sister Kate. Carmen was the most accepting of me and so was her husband Eleazar.

"It is nice to see you again, old friends." The leader I assumed, Amun was his name, greeted my grandfather with a welcoming hug as a lady who I also assumed was his mate, Kebi.

"It's just as thrilling to be here again with you. Thank you for having us, Amun." Carlisle said.

"And thank you for your hospitality." Esme said with a grateful smile as she pulled away from hugging Kebi.

"The pleasure is ours." Kebi replied to her.

"You all remember my family?" Carlisle said as a formal joke, gesturing to the rest of the family who were both welcomed as well.

That's when my parents and I decided to make our presence known.

"Friends, this is Carter James. Our newest member of the family." Carlisle stated, gesturing to me as he placed his hand my on shoulder.

I gripped onto Emmett's hand even tighter as I looked at the intimidating leader of the coven.

Amun –dressed in long and traditionally beautiful Egyptian garments with different sets of scarves and jewelry that covered his entire body except his face that was glistening like diamonds as he was exposed to the rays of the sun.

He looked to be trying to register what Carlisle was saying before deciding to look at me with his dark, red eyes.

"Hello there, Carter." Amun said as he reluctantly extended out his olive-toned hand to me. "My name is Amun."

I smirked sheepishly as I took his embrace.

"Sup, Amun!" I stated.

Rosalie scolded me. "Remember what I told you about greeting formally?"

I nodded. "Sorry. Greetings, Mr. Amun."

I could tell he didn't want his wife to warm up to me as -barely- easily as he did which nobody picked up with the exception of me I think.

He chuckled as he dropped my hand.

"He's so precious." He said nervously. "This is my wife, Kebi and this is Tia and Benjamin." He said, gesturing to the younger couple who were smiling for ear-to-ear as they stood beside Edward and Bella.

Benjamin. The man of the hour. The man I was supposed to meet. Apparently he had a similar ability to mine. I was excited when the family told me I would be meeting with him. At least he was someone I could relate to.

Benjamin wasn't as formally dressed as Amun and Kebi. He had on some slacks and long sleeve shirt with a scarf around his neck.

Benjamin moved forward and bent down to my height.

"How are you, little one?" He asked me.

I smiled. "I'm good. I'm a little hot though. How do you guys live?" I asked.

I received a few chuckles.

Although it was pretty hot, I enjoyed it. In fact, I preferred heat over cold any day.

"It's not without difficulty." He replied before taking something from his mate Tia. "I got you a gift."

He unfurled a nicely patterned cloth to reveal a sort of golden lamp.

"I heard you enjoy stargazing and studying astronomy so I thought of this. It's a lamp of all the Egyptian Gods. If you shake it, you can picture all the stars aligning the Gods in the night sky." He told me.

I beamed as I glanced up at my mom and dad who smiled down at me.

I took it and took a good look at it. It was really cool.

"This is so cool! Thanks." I said to him.

Benjamin leered at me.

"Alice and Jasper would have been keen on being here but decided to stay home to look out for the house." Carlisle explained.

"Where is the lovely Renesmee?" Amun asked.

"We had to leave her behind because she has school but she would have loved to be here. She sends her greetings." Edward replied.

"I'm sure she's quite a beautiful young woman today?" Kebi asked.

Bella nodded. "We can show you pictures of her."

"Well shouldn't we invite you in so we can catch up?" Amun suggested.

The entire day, I got to know the Egyptian coven and their travels all across the world, particularly in Africa. They told us about their vampire lives over the many centuries they lived. I was more interested when Benjamin told us his story. He was turned by Amun when he was a young man and the two of them spent their lives in Egypt together. Benjamin thought of Amun as more than just a mentor but as a father. It was cool to hear that he kind of had the same experience as me. Not finding who he truly was in the world but having people who helped him cope through the trials of the supernatural world was what he needed.

He told me about his discovery of his ability and how he gained control over it. Apparently he was able to influence all four elements. Earth. Air. Water. And fire.

I found it fascinating when he showcased his awesome ability on all the things that surrounded us, the fountain of water, the sand and rocks and lighting up the candles. It was so amazing to see the control he had over his mind as he did that.

The next day, it was time for me to showcase my ability to the coven.

My parents told Benjamin and Amun that only if I get really angry do I could all of a sudden do the unthinkable. They recalled the first incident whereby my ability first awakened at a trip to the Denali coven.

Okay! So I was an idiot but I was just in such fascination.

When we visited them over the summer up in Alaska, when my parents and family weren't looking, I decided to walk by the fireplace because I loved watching the intricacy of the way the streaks of flames moved on piles of wood. I didn't how close I was and when I heard my mom call out to me, I involuntarily took a leap into the fire pit.

My family were quick though, in just seconds I was pulled out but that didn't leave the noticeably scathed clothes ignored. But they were more worried about the fact that I didn't burn to death, I was essentially unscathed from top to bottom of my body. My concerned mother vowed to never let her eyes wander off from my sight from that day onward.

And the second encounter with fire was during the family baseball game on the field gained a strong, heavy fever that Carlisle had never seen on a person in his entire life of doctoring. After a few games, I got angry about something –I think it was the rain if I remember correctly – and in retrospect, I was enraged that I blew up and almost burned the entire field.

When my parents were done reciting this to the coven, I think the sheer shock on their faces was the understatement of the year.

I was the only hybrid, or essentially, vampire that was immune to fire.

So I didn't exactly feel offended when Amun suddenly began to be skeptical of me when Benjamin and I were on the field the next day.

"Okay. So to control your ability you need to learn how to connect with it." Benjamin told me.

After he said this, he closed his eyes and began waving his hands around each other –as if he was rolling a ball – and I watched in amazement as a small little ball of flame emerged.

"Wow!" I said in awe.

He opened his eyes, grinning as he let the ball of flame drop onto the green grass, burning only a patch of it.

"Show me how you do it." He stated.

I shrugged, smiling crookedly.

"I don't exactly know how to do it. It just happens." I said.

"When you get angry?" He asked.

I nodded.

"What's the one thing that gets you riled up?"

"Um…besides losing to Emmett during a game of Need for Speed," I said. I heard my dad's chuckle from yards away. "I'd say, whenever I get into contact with water. I hate water."

Benjamin frowned. "Hmm." He said before walking away.

I frowned as I watched him bend down and emerged with a bucket full of water.

I should have registered what he was going to do quickly so I could avoid it but when I felt water being dumped onto my head, I knew I was too late.

"Why is he doing that?" I heard my mother snarl in slight anger.

"It's okay, babe. Let's just give them a chance to figure it out. He knows what he's doing. Plus I hated that shirt he's wearing." Dad replied.

I gasped, feeling the cold, cold water drenching my entire body.

Abruptly, I felt some heat building in me. I felt my blood boil and my breath heat up as the water slowly began drifting away from my overheating body.

I snarled deeply as I closed my eyes, clenched my fists together.

"What is happening? Oh god! Someone needs to…" I tuned my mother's voice out.

"Why did you do that?!" I seethed, my eyes ablaze as I glared at Benjamin who was starting to get a fright.

I glanced down at my hands to see them all of a sudden being engulfed my flames of fire and I noticed then and there, a glowing image of my wrist forming of flames and sphere on the center. I ignored it and faced the opposite side and flew my hands open in the air.

I immediately began shooting fireballs onto the sandy-grassy field, causing all the Egyptian coven's cattle to run off.

Stop it, CJ! You can control yourself! Just don't be too angry! It's just water! Not rain.

After what felt like forever, I finally stopped as my anger subsided and I was exhaling heavily breaths.

I dropped to the ground, panting deeply and forced myself to look up at Benjamin's widespread crimson eyes.

"Wow!" He said in Arabic. "Um…okay! That was something." He stated nervously as he looked back at the family and finally back at me.

"How do you bath?"

I stared at the ground, ashamed.

Later that night as I was about to sleep, I heard my family arguing with the Egyptian coven.

"How can you possibly think you can contain this child's powers?" Amun questioned my grandfather. "Do you know the danger he possesses?"

I stood by the door, peeking through the families all standing like statues.

"I know it's shocking, Amun. And we're sorry to spring this up on you but you're our only hope in finding out how we can help him control this powerful ability of his." Edward said, as a voice of reason, to Benjamin.

"This isn't an ability. It's a curse!" Amun spat.

I felt my lips depart and my heart stop as he said that.

A curse?

Was I cursed?

"With all due respect, Amun. That's not something nice to say about my son!" Rosalie fought.

"No. He doesn't mean it in a terrible way –" Benjamin said.

"How is someone supposed to interpret that?" Emmett stated.

"What he means is…it's not something he inherited from his vampire side rather from his creator." Edward said as he read their minds –as I probably guessed.

My creator?

I had a creator?

I knew Rosalie and Emmett weren't my real parents and they even told me that they knew my mother before she died. Well they didn't say she died but they said she left so I'm assuming that's what they meant because I heard of the stories of how a hybrid pregnancy can kill a human girl. It was a miracle that they were able to turn Bella in time.

But they never told me of the vampire that created me with my human birth mom. I assumed they didn't know him.

Anyway, then I started thinking about what they said. Maybe they were right. Maybe I did have a curse. I always wondered why I was able to use compulsion and have the ability to influence the fire element as well. I thought of myself as the Great Carter James in that aspect but I realized that that wasn't common in the vampire world.

So could it mean I inherited this power from my birth father?

"Look, Amun, Benjamin. We need your help. We implore you. We love that child with everything in us and we're afraid that if we don't find out how to solve this problem, we could lose him." Rosalie expressed.

The senior leader of the coven didn't reply after a long while.

"There's no telling what the Volturi will do when they get ahold of the information of this child's existence." Amun stated.

The Volturi. I've heard stories about them from Carlisle but he never told me so much about them. Just that they were the leaders of the vampire world.

"We know." Carlisle. "Which is why we need your help. So that if they find out about him, it would be a lot easier to explain."

"And look at Nessie, she hasn't posed a threat to the human or supernatural world. In fact, she's blending just fine in both." Bella said.

"Yeah," Mom said.

"We cannot guarantee that they will be just as understanding as they were the last time, brother." Amun said.

"We agree. But we can at least try." Carlisle replied.

"You even said it before, brother. That if and when an encounter where the Volturi do return, that you'll stand by our side." Edward added.

This seemed to have stuck a cord in Amun's thinking because he fell silent and didn't counteract that statement.

"Amun, we are indebted to them." Benjamin said to his creator.

"Okay." Amun replied.

"Thank you," My mother and father said sincerely.

Edward's eyes lingered over Amun's shoulder until they landed onto me peeping through the door.

I panicked and immediately sped with superhuman celerity and fell into the bed they laid out for me.

The next day was a different story. Instead of showcasing what I could do, Benjamin kept giving me pointers on how he controlled his ability and how he used it.

We were only the field again, only this time without an audience. Benjamin thought that pressure from my family would not make me focus on the task so it was just the two of us.

"The key to gaining control over not just your ability but yourself is to find a loophole to your happiness. Since we're outdoor. What is the one outdoor thing that makes you happy?" He asked me.

I smiled as I thought about it.

"Chasing butterflies!"

I know it's dorky but I just loved catching them and putting them in my collection back at home. I was helping my grandmother with her nursery and if you walked in, you'd see hundreds of butterflies floating around the green and flowers.

He smiled.

"Well, today's just your luck because I know a great place to find them." He said extending his hand out to me.

I grinned as I took it and he immediately threw me onto his back.

"Hold on tight," He said to me.

I wrapped my legs around him and arms around his neck before he ran at superhuman speed through the Egyptian field till we met a rare sighting of a forest miles away from the Cairo border.

We came to a halt and he dropped me down in the center of the forest where we watched tens of thousands of butterflies and critters airborne in the air. I chuckled as I began jumping high in the air, trying to catch some but finding struggle.

When I caught the sight of one I was most interested in, I decided it was my mission to catch it. I began charging for it as it began flying away from its friends.

"Stay close by!" I heard Benjamin call out.

"Okay!" I replied back before continuing my quest.

I didn't know how far out I was chasing after this butterfly but I found myself out of the forest and into a secret meadow filled with high-grass. I was actually lost in all the grass covering me that I often lost sight of the butterfly.

I frowned as I jumped in the air to see it floating above the grass before falling to the ground again

I groaned as I jumped again but with more vigor this time and managed to be in the air a second longer. I inched for the butterfly but it quickly dodged me and flew even higher now.

I huffed as I fell to the ground but didn't stop running. I lifted my head to see it floating into the blue skies.

I was so determined to catch that fly. If it was the last thing I do.

It was a stubborn one. Maybe I should stick it on my control console.

I was even more determined now to catch it then I've ever been and as I leaped off the ground, I reached for it with my hand stretching out for it.

I found myself in the air longer than I thought and as I glanced down, I was shocked to see how high I actually was above ground. I was actually soaring.

I was flying!

Wait!

I was flying?

How?

But I didn't ask myself the questions as I inched closer to the floating butterfly.

I was probably in the air for more than half a minute, chasing after this butterfly before I finally caught it with both hands.

I grinned as I stared at it struggling to get out of my grasp and I began sinking to the ground with so much grace.

"Carter!" Benjamin called out for me as he ran to me. "I told you not to run too far." He said with a cheerful laugh.

"I caught it!" I told him, gesturing to my closed fist.

"Great but did you realize you were flying?"

I frowned. "Isn't that common?"

"No!" He said, still in shock.

I deepened my frown as I stared at the butterfly in my hand.

"Come on, let's continue on with our training." He said.

For the next two weeks, I learned how to gain control over my anger and thus my ability from Benjamin as he taught me some techniques he learned over the years. I was so impressed with myself that even when I got into contact with water, I wasn't as angry as I was before because of the happy thoughts I forced myself to think of.

Benjamin asked me if I could use my compulsion ability on him and when I compelled him to run around the field a thousand times without stopping, he declared that it would be a great tool if I ever wanted to get back at someone.

Benjamin was a lot of fun to be around and it was such a bummer that we'd be leaving in a couple of days.

On the day before I departure from Egypt, my parents decided we should do some touring around Egypt. We took many memorable pictures by the Pyramids of Giza and Dashur, the Sphinx and the time I got to ride on one of the camels hunchbacks.

I got to learn of Egyptian history from Amun. I learned the reasons behind the pyramids. One, the Pyramid of Khufu was the burial place of ancient Pharaoh Khufu and that his son Khafre also had a pyramid not far away. It was pretty interesting stuff!

I wouldn't change a thing about this awesome trip.

But I didn't like the sand though. That's the one thing I'd change about this trip. It damaged my poor hair.

On the last day of our trip, I was really reluctant to leave as we said our goodbyes to the coven.

"You must keep in touch, young one." Benjamin said to me as he lifted me off the ground and threw me in the air.

As much as I didn't like to be carried around like a ragdoll, I didn't mind when it came to Benjamin. I could tell he and I would be sure good friends for years to come.

"I will! And call me CJ, bro." I said as I gave him a fist-bump.

He laughed as he sat me down and ruffled my dirty, curly, light brown hair. I automatically felt my mom's arms pulling me close to her.

"We cannot thank you guys enough." My mom said humbly as Emmett threw a New York Giants cap on my head.

I smiled, playfully glaring up at him with a cocked eyebrow. He imitated my look and pointed his finger at me.

"We should be thanking you for bringing this gift to us." Benjamin said to her.

I smiled.

I was a gift.

Wow! That's a lot to live up to.

"You didn't forget anything, right?" My mom asked my father and me as we made it to the airport after saying our goodbyes to the coven.

Emmett and I rolled our eyes.

"Yes, mom!" We both said in unison as we walked past the thermal scanners.

"Just checking." She said as she grabbed her Gucci bag from the bucket and followed the family's tail.

Emmett hissed and cussed under his breath as he grabbed our essentials from the bucket.

"What?" I asked.

"I forgot your duffel bag." He said to me.

I widened my head. "Dad!" I called.

He shook his head. "Don't tell your mom." He whispered to me.

The End

I smiled as I finished telling Nessie and the rest of the family the story.

"Wow! Carter! You sure had a trip of a lifetime huh?" Nessie laughed.

"Jealous much?" I teased.

She rolled her eyes as she showered me with kisses on the cheek.

I groaned. "No!"