Fourteen: Philosopher
The four of our Denali cousins who attended our wedding had only stayed a few hours. Under normal circumstances, their visit would've lasted several days, but they'd promised Irina they would leave after the ceremony. After recognizing Laurent's guilt, Tanya had decreed that staying until Bella and I left on our honeymoon wouldn't violate that promise (which unfortunately meant they'd witnessed Jacob's outburst), though they'd still been among the first guests to leave. In the ensuing weeks, Alice had caught several visions of Irina arguing with her sisters over Laurent's culpability, but she'd missed their resolution (after Bella's pregnancy claimed her focus).
Ten minutes before the Denalis' arrival today—at dawn, because Carlisle hadn't specified a time and Tanya is too impatient to wait any longer—our family reluctantly splits up. Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Bella, and I return to the house, leaving Renesmee at the cottage with Rosalie, Emmett, Seth, Leah, and Jacob.
With Alice's full sight for the initial explanations, she and I begin formulating a plan. Bella's pregnancy will be a shock in itself, so we tread gently, waiting until Kate asks why I changed Bella so soon after our wedding.
Bella is naturally impatient to take an active part in the planning, and Jasper can feel an undercurrent of anxiety that he resists the urge to dispel, but even so, she watches our silent exchange with a smile, enjoying it as much as the others do. She wants to let Irina apologize first—to ease her burden of guilt—but in that scenario, there's nothing we can say to stop our cousin leaving immediately afterward, so Bella is forced to concede.
As the six of us strategize, I relish the ability to evaluate our options in advance, and yet experiencing Alice's visions in real time feels familiar but no longer normal: I've already adjusted to a life where her special foresight is a much subtler thing. And then I hear in Alice's thoughts that she has also begun adjusting… or rather, that she has grown to appreciate Rey's and the wolves' dampening effect on her gift—because she is afraid of getting bad news. Taking a moment out from planning this morning, I focus on my intent to take her hand and tell her in no uncertain terms that there'll be no 'shooting the messenger'—not even self-inflicted wounds—which makes her laugh in the little vision, and that, coupled with my unshakable confidence that there is no bad news where Rey's genetics are concerned, cheers her spirits considerably.
Four of the five approaching Denalis, knowing the point at which they come within range of my telepathy, focus their thoughts on how much they're looking forward to seeing us (Irina, in contrast, is dreading it), though Kate is also teasing me about the reason she has ascribed to the change in our college plans. She loves the idea that Bella was impatient to become immortal after experiencing sex with me—so she teasingly "apologizes" for interrupting, while quipping that the sex can't be that good or we'd still be M.I.A.!
Irina and Tanya lead the way together, running hand in hand, so that Irina can offer an apology as soon as they arrive. Although she is sorry for the strain she has placed on our relationship, and she has accepted that neither Bella nor the wolves are to blame for Bella's heavenly scent, she is still grieving. She hasn't forgiven the wolves for killing Laurent instead of just chasing him away, but she has acceded to her family's desire to mend our relationship. The wolves' strong scent is both helpful and unhelpful, as it reminds her of her loss while signaling that our relationship might be even more strained than they'd thought. The others share her concern, aggrieved that we might now consider the wolves more our family than they are. And they are all conscious of Bella's newborn temper.
Naturally, Kate is the least concerned. In her thoughts, she asks what our favorite sexual positions are, and she's considering teasing us both about it as soon as Irina clears the air. Although I'm not intimidated by her intentions, I can't help wishing that we could know whether or not Bella is immune to her gift; I'd love to strike the same bargain with her as we've made with Emmett.
The next moment, Alice suddenly catches a vision of Kate trying and failing to shock Bella!
"That was as high as I can go!" Kate complains, while Bella looks bemused and I am cringing, presumably because I know from Kate how much pain that level would normally cause.
Alice and I don't react to expose our new insight, but my smile takes on a little extra intensity as Irina and Tanya come to a stop in front of us.
Bella's equally warm smile amazes Irina as much as her appearance does (and Jasper is as surprised as I that Bella's apprehensiveness has already gone). Even Tanya, who saw my beautiful bride, is struck by the stunning beauty beside me, and Kate, Carmen, and Eleazar are equally mesmerized. My smugness assures them all there's no unfortunate reason for the intensity of her vivid red eyes, but Eleazar's attention quickly shifts: he can't get a read on her.
If Bella had no special gift, he would be able sense that… But he can't feel anything. He is as utterly blind as I!
So, Bella is gifted—and yet the mystery surrounding her is no less impenetrable. I almost burst out laughing; why did I ever think I'd get a straight answer?
I contain myself until the round of greetings is complete, but then I can't resist going off script. "Eleazar, you think Bella is a shield?"
A guess, he replies, with a smile for my puzzled wife. "I assume you are aware of my particular talent?"
She nods. "You can sense the gifts of others."
"Yes—and now that you are a vampire, I ought to have no trouble discerning your specific aptitudes… But thus far, I cannot sense anything from you."
He takes a deep breath, then fixes every iota of concentration on 'finding' her with his gift, while the rest of us watch on in curious silence.
It is as though his consciousness stretches out to her, enveloping her in a perception field so sensitive to her energy that it ought to detect a great deal of information about her abilities, mundane or otherwise. But there's nothing there. He can't feel any energy around her. In his mind, she is a blank space.
With no prior experience of total blindness, he can only conclude that her gift is defensive. Gifts that involve self-protection are the most varied of all in their effects and cover the full spectrum of characteristics—some are passive, some active, and some a mix of both; a rare few are physical, some can be categorized as 'metaphysical' (affecting subtler aspects of reality), but most (like most other types of gifts) are purely mental; and some have very narrow, focused effects or targeting mechanisms, while others are entirely unfocused and can affect multiple people, living beings, or objects at the same time—but Eleazar has never met one he couldn't get as clear a sense of as any other type of gift. The thought of how powerful her shield must be thrills him.
He shakes his head amazedly. "I have never felt nothing before."
I can't keep the smirk off my face. "I know how you feel. I've never been able to hear her thoughts, even when she was human."
All five of our cousins are stunned by this news—and disappointed by the further evidence of our strained relationship. Tanya is especially devastated; Irina feels further guilt for causing the strain; Carmen is intrigued; Kate laments the "lost opportunity"; and Eleazar is awestruck that my gift, which is one of the strongest he's ever felt, could be thwarted by a human mind.
And then Kate wishes she'd tried zapping Bella while she was human. When I glare at her, she thinks, I can go low—and takes great delight in showing me how she uses her gift to pleasure her lovers. She often creates a gentle tingle as she caresses them, but a carefully timed jolt in a particularly sensitive location provides a unique sensation that is enjoyed by all who experience it. She shows me her favorite memory of a man who'd initially been horrified but soon got right into the swing of things.
If I ignore her, she'll only bombard me with even more memories, so I roll my eyes, before pointedly refocusing on Eleazar. To avert his burgeoning list of questions, I say, "She thwarts my gift as utterly as she does yours."
He turns to Bella, eager for the first-hand insight that I can't give him. "May I take your hand?" he asks, clinging to the hope that physical contact might enable him to sense her gift.
Bella glances at me, then holds out her hand. Eleazar steps forward slowly, accepting it without exposing his impatience. As expected, he gains no insight; her secrets are still her own. He tries in vain for several seconds, but then his curiosity overcomes the disappointment, and he releases her hand with a smile. "Have you ever tested your shield? Blocked anyone besides me and Edward?"
"I've never consciously done anything," she answers uncertainly. "I'm not sure what you mean by shield."
He nods to acknowledge her point. "I suppose we were overly formal about it in the guard. In truth, categorizing talents is a subjective, haphazard business; every talent is unique, never exactly the same thing twice—no talent ever manifests in precisely the same way, because no one ever thinks in exactly the same way. But talents that are purely defensive, that protect some aspect of the bearer, are always called shields."
She shrugs. "Jasper is still able to mess with my mood, and Alice can see my future."
"Purely a mental defense," Eleazar concludes assuredly. "Limited, but strong."
Where Bella is concerned, I've learned that the simplest explanation is never the right one, but I don't have time to contest it because Kate is immediately eager to test her gift against Bella's. Already knowing the outcome, I want to secure a deal from her first—but Rey is the priority now (based on our earlier agreed timeframe, we only have six minutes until she and the others arrive). "Before we get any more sidetracked, we have some exciting news we'd like to share with you."
Apologies from their side are what they'd envisaged now, so four of the five wait expectantly for me to go on. Naturally, Kate is the exception. "Is it the reason you ditched college?" she teases.
"Yes," I answer, fully earnest, catching all of them off guard. "There was an unexpected complication."
As Alice had foreseen, they are utterly bemused by my phrasing. What could possibly have caught Alice by surprise?
"I got pregnant," Bella cheerfully informs them.
"Pregnant!" Tanya exclaims. "How?"
"We have a few theories," I reply (ignoring the crude answer Alice wants to give). "But after the initial shock, Bella convinced us all to go with it."
My description of her rapidly expanding stomach and sudden appetite for blood is met with incredulity, but her apparent lack of newborn angst helps them accept that nothing is impossible for her. They are further encouraged by the news that I began to hear the baby's thoughts before its 'birth', and my account of the grisly scene makes their admiration of my remarkable mate all the greater.
"Where is this child, Edward?" Eleazar asks eagerly.
"She's waiting nearby with Rosalie and Emmett—we needed to explain her heritage before introducing her to you."
Carmen is the first to understand. "Because she has the appearance of an immortal child," she says soberly.
The three sisters flinch at the very mention of the creature they so hate and fear, instinctively huddling together as they try and fail to block the painful memories of the very worst day of their very long lives.
"Yes," I confirm. "But she is not. She grows. Her heart beats. Her eyes are the exact shade of brown that Bella's were. Her thirst for blood is no more potent than a human craving for chocolate. Her skin is warm. She can pass for human better than we can."
It takes several seconds for these details to sink in. When their curiosity finally outweighs their amazement and instinctive disbelief, I explain her rapid growth rate. It's hard for them to imagine, so I get to the point quickly. "Tomorrow, she will be one month old, but her apparent age is more like three years old."
Carmen laughs delightedly, startling the others with her rapid acceptance of this even stranger feature. "She is as quick as her father," she jokes, earning a few smiles from her family and a round of laughter from mine.
By the time Alice holds up the photo album, our five guests have all processed the news and are feeling quite upbeat. "Pictures now or later?" she offers.
Tanya whisks the album out of her hands, impatient to see the "impossible" child. Kate and Irina crowd around her as she opens the cover, but Carmen and Eleazar hang back, electing to see Renesmee for the first time in person. The sisters' awe almost makes them change their minds.
Even in photograph form, Rey's bronze ringlets, warm brown eyes, dazzling smile, and creamy skin are striking. As her unabashedly biased father, I'm a little surprised the sisters don't immediately think her the most beautiful being they've ever seen, but perhaps they are distracted by other thoughts. Uppermost in each of their minds is her resemblance to me: she cannot be anything other than my daughter.
Tanya stares at the picture of a week-old Rey grinning over her shoulder as she plays the piano without looking; the joy in her expression and the effortlessness of her pose give Tanya joy even as her heartache deepens. In the past, I would have felt uncomfortable overhearing her pain, but there's nothing I could've done differently, and I have no regrets for how I behaved around her, so I find myself able to sympathize without feeling guilt.
To give her something else to think about, in hopes of dispersing the heartache more quickly, I answer Eleazar's burning curiosity.
"Rey is gifted, too—she can share her thoughts through touch."
Eleazar abandons the ideas he'd been throwing around. Can Bella see her thoughts?
"I can't say for certain—" Bella rolls her eyes at the little joke she knows I'm making—"but I think Bella sees everything the others see."
"The child's talent circumvents her mother's," he muses, even more eager to meet our extraordinary daughter—when she 'disrupts' Bella's shield, he hopes he'll be able to get a read on it.
Kate grins, distracted by her greater hope that Bella's shield isn't capable of blocking her attack, but I ignore her and answer Eleazar's question.
"Broadly speaking, Rey's mind feels like any other vampire's, with the usual individual differences and the only standout being that I can hear her across a much greater distance—roughly fourteen miles."
"You can hear her now?" he asks hopefully.
I nod. "They're almost here. You might be able to sense her soon."
He gives up exploring the nothingness around Bella and opens up his senses, letting his awareness extend beyond our immediate surroundings in search of other gifted beings. It would be easier if Alice or Jasper or I were with her, or if we were not here with him, because our gifts exert a constant 'pull' on his mind, but Rey is only a few hundred yards away and he can sense me from almost half a mile, so I expect his range to be similar for her.
And then he catches a faint sense of something and trains his full focus in that direction. Intriguingly, if I were not standing in front of him, he would have thought the one he's feeling now is me. It is another second before he can feel the distinction.
"The exact opposite," he murmurs, awestruck, and it reminds me of Bella's point about Rey's gift being the mirror of mine.
Because Jacob refused to wait nearby, oblivious to the difference between his lingering scent and his actual presence, Seth and Leah are with them, too. Figuring it's better to warn Irina now and hope she doesn't leave, I say, "Three of our Quileute family are with them."
Irina goes rigid. Tanya quickly grabs her sister's hand, asking her without words to stay, and to remember her promise to be tolerant towards the wolves. Irina nods stiffly, though the thought of seeing three of the creatures who probably killed Laurent appalls her. Although she doesn't feel the truly gut-wrenching loss of losing a mate (though losing her mother has given her insight into that level of grief), she feels his absence and mourns him every moment. The way her thoughts dwell on him, on conversations they had, on the things about him that stood out for her, reminds me of the way Bella had dominated my thoughts before I'd fallen in love with her.
Kate, meanwhile, is hopeful she can guess the identity of one of them. "Seth?"
"Of course," I confirm with an automatic smile.
Irina listened to enough of her family's conversations over the past month to know that Seth hadn't been personally involved in Laurent's death, so this helps consolidate her decision to stay. I'm not sure how much she knows about Jacob or his bad behavior, but Kate, in her impatience, asks who the others are, even though she only knows four other wolves by name.
"Seth's sister, Leah."
Kate smiles. "And?"
When I hesitate that instant too long, Bella answers.
"Jacob."
Kate and the other three who'd attended our wedding stare at me in open shock, their memories of Jacob snarling his intent to kill me running through their thoughts. Irina, who knows nothing of Jacob, is surprised enough that their reactions create a momentary distraction from her grief.
"We'll explain later," I say; "after you've met Renesmee."
Despite their misgivings, their curiosity about our daughter wins out. Thanks to our careful preparations, meeting Rey is a joyous event rather than a terrifying one. Like Carlisle, our five cousins have all seen at least one immortal child. Although she so closely resembles a vampire as to be mistaken for one (and without our explanation, they would have been thus misled), they are immediately struck by the differences. Her startling, supernatural beauty is equally arresting, but her vitality is something they've never experienced before.
Eleazar overcomes his amazement first, eager to experience her gift, but the others quickly join him, accepting the hand that Rey offers them. Her mind is already as swift as the average vampire's, though her thoughts are more complex because she isn't distracted by the constant, gnawing thirst. Our cousins find it a little challenging to follow multiple lines of thought, so Rey quickly constrains and focuses her broadcast, making it easier for them than it had been for the others in the beginning.
Rey's memories of her birth and subsequent growth astonish and delight her new audience, and she is thrilled to meet the rest of our extended family, so they know there's no need to feel they're crowding her.
Her touch reinforces their instinctive attachment to her. Just as she had secured our instant dedication, so it is for the Denalis—even Irina, whose anger towards the "murderous" wolves competes with remorse for her hardheartedness, and Tanya, who is truly happy for us but can't help envying Bella for having the mate she wants and a daughter any would prize.
Carmen holds out her free arm toward Renesmee. "May I hold you, bebé linda?"
Rey eagerly reaches up toward her, equally excited to get to know her 'aunt'. Carmen lifts her up, amazed by the juxtaposition of lightness and strength in Rey's little body. She hugs her close (without dislodging the others' connections to Rey's hands), murmuring to her in Spanish—and is delighted when Rey understands her perfectly.
Eleazar's analysis of Rey's gift confirms that she can turn her broadcast on and off with very fine-grained control. He can see that she has the ability to focus the thoughts that she shares, and to stop sharing entirely. (There isn't any apparent foundation for her ability to bypass Bella's shield—if that is what she's doing—but, regardless, her 'interference' doesn't afford Eleazar the access to Bella's gift that he'd hoped for.)
Intriguingly, he discovers an additional element to her gift: Rey actually calibrates her signal to match her listeners' thought patterns, which helps our five cousins adjust to seeing her thoughts. When I listen more closely, I can hear the subtle, individualized differences in her broadcast, something that wasn't there the last time I paid such close attention. Is her gift growing as she grows? This new aspect, which must involve some degree of interaction with our minds directly, makes it seem even more possible that she could eventually learn to tap into our brain waves at distance. (And it gives me a new idea for how I might 'calibrate' my gift to pick up thoughts at greater distances.)
As hearing her thoughts becomes as normal as hearing her voice would be, the Denali sisters glance at each other, finding the same attachment to the incredible child reflected in each other's eyes, and, as one, their thoughts fix on their mother. Is this how she had felt about the little boy she'd turned? Emotion wells up inside each of them like a physical charge running through their joined hands, as they gain a level of understanding they never thought to get. The catharsis is astonishing, as centuries of unresolved grief and anger begin to ease in the face of this new insight.
The rest of their family and ours see it, too, and Jasper is quite overcome—he has never been surrounded by such powerful, overwhelmingly positive emotions. For the first time, the constant burn of his throat is forgotten. Wholly unconsciously, he floods us all with a wonderful mix of peace and transcendental joy, leaving everyone simultaneously relaxed and full of elation—except for Rey, who breaks the spell with her glorious laughter.
Jasper realizes what he's doing and lets go. We all feel the release, but the mood is scarcely affected. This time, Bella laughs first and we all join in.
"Sorry," Jasper murmurs ruefully.
Alice chuckles. "Thank you," she insists, and most of us nod in agreement (only Jacob and Rosalie feel some resentment towards his gift, as it reminds them both how completely powerless they are against it), before taking the opportunity to tell our cousins that Rey interferes with her gift.
As soon as Kate registers that Alice is not as 'omnipotent' as usual, I jump in. "Bella and I might agree to you testing your gift against hers if you promise to keep certain thoughts to yourself."
"No chance!"
I know from Alice's vision that Bella is open to the test, so I don't feel too forward in adding a wager to it. "You could arm-wrestle for it."
Bella quirks an eyebrow at me, and I wonder if she remembers that Kate can use her magnetic ability to increase her strength. Regardless, Rey's enthusiasm for another arm-wrestling match is enough to secure her agreement (I especially love that Rey is as unsurprised as I that her mother has a quantifiable gift).
"If Bella wins," Kate clarifies, "I'm gagged?" When I nod, she says, "And what do I win?"
"The opportunity to try your gift against hers."
She laughs. It'll be your ass on the floor if your mate can't best me. "How do I know you don't already know who wins?"
"I have little more than my conviction that Bella will win," I shoot back, deliberately playing on her competitiveness—which works, even though she knows full well what I'm doing, because she doesn't think any deeper into it.
She looks at Bella. "If you win, I'll behave myself. But if I win, I'll test my gift against yours—and if you can block me, we'll get to see how fast you can figure out how to shield someone else." Then she turns her gaze on me to make her point crystal clear.
Bella's eyes widen and she looks at me with alarm.
"Fine by me," I assure her.
Her concern doesn't ease, but she takes heart from my confidence, her lips curving up into a slight smile. "All right," she agrees.
Rey immediately points in the direction of Emmett's nearest arm-wrestling rock, and Kate is equally eager, so of course we all follow the implied instruction without hesitation. A flash of frustration flits across Bella's face, and I wonder if she's worrying about Rey becoming a tyrant, but she hides it well and barely misses a beat joking with Kate while Rey replays her two victories against Emmett.
Emmett teases Rey by labeling the memories of his rapid losses "brazen propaganda" and tries to claim the role of referee for this match, but Esme insists that that is her role.
Kate and Bella take their places on either side of the rock, then clasp hands and encourage Esme to start them off without any of the buildup Emmett loves.
No one is surprised that Kate is able to hold out briefly—though only our family understands it is because Bella is granting Kate the opportunity to test her strength—but the moment Kate's concentration wavers (when she tries to magnetize Bella's arm), Bella triumphs.
Kate laughs delightedly. "Impressive—but I do have another idea or two… Best out of twenty?" she offers hopefully.
Bella chuckles, then grins at our enthusiastically nodding daughter. "All right."
"No cheating," I warn Kate—to keep up the impression I don't know that trying to shock Bella will only cause her to lose even faster.
She scoffs in mock outrage. "I would never!" she exclaims, making Rey giggle.
The next nine bouts proceed much the same as the first, with Kate only managing to hold out longer each time because Bella lets her outmatched opponent try various tactics, and then my glorious mate proves it by sealing her victory with an almost instantaneous eleventh win.
Kate is gracious in defeat, and although she is even more eager to test her gift against Bella's shield, she doesn't immediately start pestering her about it. But Bella is curious, so she actually makes the offer herself—while also making Kate swear not to zap me, regardless of the outcome.
"This is a courtesy," she insists; "I won, remember."
"Yes, yes," Kate agrees, holding out her hand.
Our cunning cousin has already set her electrical charge to 'moderate jolt', but Bella shows no sign of feeling anything when she calmly places her hand in Kate's, so Kate quickly increases the power—hitting maximum in under a second. I cringe (just as Alice had foreseen) at the excruciating jolt my thankfully oblivious mate is successfully blocking.
"Enough," I say, and Kate ends the 'attack' with a frustrated huff.
Bella glances between the two of us. "That was it?"
"You couldn't feel anything?" Kate asks, part incredulous, part disgruntled.
Bella shakes her head, and everyone except Alice, Esme, and Seth is stunned: Kate's gift is causing a physical shock, which means Bella's shield must shield her body, too, not just her mind. As Carlisle ponders the time Bella repelled Jasper's gift, not just blocking him but actively reversing a manipulation that had brought me to my knees, I realize she had also achieved a similar feat while human. Perhaps the seeming inconsistency arises because Jasper's more subtle manipulations aren't instinctively seen as something that needs to be blocked, so her shield 'ignores' them in its passive state. (Jasper is curious, too, but his speculations don't form into any firm plans, so I don't comment on them—although he senses my objection loud and clear when he considers testing her shield by trying to flood her with lust.)
Eleazar is quick to propose that Kate's gift is only quasi-physical; perhaps Bella can block its effect because it is technically pain without any physical consequences or injury, and therefore her mental defense is still an adequate shield.
I'm not the only skeptical one, even before Carlisle makes the point that Bella is able to repel Jasper's physiological manipulations.
My humble mate just shrugs, so Eleazar isn't sure how to interpret Carlisle's report. The bent of his thoughts suggests it's not worth trying to convince him right now—I think he just needs to get to know Bella, to appreciate how incredible she is—so I just shrug, too, which rouses a few chuckles.
In the lull of conversation (fortunately before Kate proposes a test of whether she could shock me through Bella), Irina takes the opportunity to apologize to Bella and the rest of us (though she avoids looking at any of the wolves). She still hasn't accepted that Laurent betrayed her, but she understands why we and the rest of her family believe that—she thinks his loyalty to his friends is what led him to that fateful meeting with Bella, not realizing that he saw Victoria as a useful ally only. Upon meeting him, Irina had felt an instant physical attraction that had quickly deepened into a connection like no other she'd ever felt, even with her beloved sisters. The two of them had talked for days on end about their deepest thoughts and feelings, sharing everything. Despite our claim that he had already 'cheated' before coming across Bella, she has convinced herself that he was as much a victim as Bella, in a tragedy of Romeo and Juliet proportions. Out of misguided but honorable loyalty to his long-time friend, he visited Forks to check on Bella. Perhaps he'd been planning to frame his report in a way that would help settle Victoria's need for vengeance. But after discovering our absence (my fault) and then unexpectedly stumbling upon Bella, he'd been overcome by her uncommonly appealing scent—which Kate had described as "magnifique", while Tanya waxed lyrical on the subject of my "incomparable" self-control at the slightest provocation. To Irina, Bella's entrancing scent now only confirms how impossible it would have been for Laurent to deny his bloodlust, exonerating her ill-fated lover.
She is taken aback when Bella immediately accepts her apology—unlike Carlisle's and Esme's reserved nods and my and Alice's lack of response, which she expected—and she apologizes again for thinking ill of her when she was blameless.
"I understand," Bella replies kindly, making almost everyone wonder if she means it literally: does she lay the blame for all this on me for leaving her last year?
Alice shakes her head. "You didn't have to tell him everything," she admonishes.
Irina cringes, feeling Alice's censure at having shared our secrets as her own misdeed, without blaming Laurent for betraying her confidence. "I am truly sorry."
Bella's sympathy swells, and there's a dose of guilt mixed in that frustrates me. "Edward would have told me anything I asked him—"
"That's different," Alice interrupts. "And it was Edward's fault you weren't already our friend," she adds to pre-empt Bella's further protestations.
Bella unexpectedly chuckles, then grins at me. "I'm surprised you didn't encourage them, given how hard you tried to scare me off."
Rosalie immediately wants to know what she means by that, irritated that I'd been as reckless as she'd accused me of being, while the rest of our family had defended me from her every allegation.
Bella rubs her arm. "I'm joking, Rose—it was more like every time he told me something, he was waiting for 'the running and the screaming', so he'd announce something crazy out of the blue, like not needing to breathe, just to watch my reaction."
"Your lack of reaction," I amend, simultaneously teasing her and defending myself.
Rosalie isn't appeased. You were being reckless, but no one would listen to me.
I give her a little shrug—of course she's right, but not in the way she thinks—but my focus is on Bella, whose smile turns playful.
"I thought I reacted very well to the breathing-is-optional news."
"I preferred your reaction to me being able to read minds."
She gives a soft chuckle and her shoulder leans in toward me, but before we can get caught up in each other, Alice grabs my arm and yanks me in the direction of the house.
"Let's go back home," she says. "Rey and I want to show off our latest hobby."
Kate boos her, but Tanya and Carmen, excited by Rey's enthusiasm, shush her before she can tease us, and then everyone (except Irina, who shifts to the edge of the group) laughs as their individual efforts to remain in constant contact with Rey's hands draw out the short trip into a lurching, giggling series of steps.
When we finally enter the house, our guests immediately catch the scents of Charlie and Sue (who visited yesterday), but none of them suspects that Bella was here at the same time, so they glance back at me with questions they're content to let me wave aside for now.
Rey takes great pride in showing her aunts and uncle the various leather animals we've made—mostly unicorns, with a couple of winged individuals sprinkled through the herd, because she's still firmly in her 'horse' stage (and being supernatural herself, she gravitates to supernatural horses; adorably, she has the idea that if she believes hard enough, she can make them real), but there are a few dinosaurs and a couple of mountain lions in there, too.
Bella takes the opportunity to tell our cousins about our "friendly" lions, requesting that they refrain from hunting any lions at least until they can recognize those two. Tanya is delighted, but when her spontaneous laughter makes Bella's brow twitch in surprise, she rushes to compliment her exceptional handling of the transformation lest her mirth be misconstrued.
"Thank you," Bella says warmly, feeling a mix of sympathy and respect without any hint of jealousy or even territoriality. "I was expecting it to be an adjustment, but that's not really how it's turned out. My body isn't a limitation anymore—I feel like I have no limits."
"It seems that way to us also!" Tanya gushes.
Bella smiles. "It is hard not being able to see my mother, or to introduce her to Renesmee, but at least I can talk to her over the phone, and seeing my father is—" She breaks off guiltily as our five cousins gasp in shock, so I jump in to defend what—on the surface—sounds like a gross violation of the rule of secrecy.
"He still doesn't know what we are—"
"Is he blind?" Kate quips.
"He is willing to overlook the strangeness."
"What reason has he come up with?" Eleazar asks.
I can't help grimacing; I had hoped to avoid exposing this second exception to my gift. "I don't know the specifics," I admit. "His thoughts aren't shielded like Bella's, but I can't hear them clearly."
Our cousins are predictably perturbed. Alongside his surprise, Eleazar can't help wanting to test his gift against Charlie, though he would not (re)expose him to more vampires now that Bella has "joined our ranks".
And then they register the other half of it—that newborn Bella can already cope with being around Charlie. To combat their fresh wonder (which she no doubt considers undeserved), she starts to describe her 'failure' on his first visit, but Rey conveniently interrupts before her mother alarms our skittish cousins any further, sharing her favorite memories from her Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Sue's regular visits.
Rey is frequently distracted by other memories and stories, though, which turns it into more of a conversation with all of her family, as our family thinks of fun things to share with the Denalis and the Denalis share their stories, too. As midday passes, Rey begins to tire; the moment her thoughts waver, Bella announces it's time for a nap, and because she already 'threatened' to take her home to the cottage if she didn't respect her growing body's needs, Rey immediately nods. She makes her Denali aunts and uncle promise they'll be there when she wakes—an easy promise for all five, because the thought of leaving her so soon is unbearable—and then climbs into her mother's arms, reaches out to reinitiate contact with everyone, closes her eyes, and relaxes into sleep in seconds.
As usual, no one rushes to speak. All 16 of us simply gaze at the incredible little girl in Bella's arms. But Tanya is conscious of taxing Bella's patience by crowding her, so she raises her hand and is about to step back when Bella shakes her head.
"She'll start dreaming soon," she murmurs.
Tanya bursts into a smile, as excited as the rest of her family to experience more of Rey's special "mind show", and then gently touches a finger to the spot on Rey's hand beside Kate's finger.
Less than four seconds pass before the first flickers of Rey's dream-thoughts begin, and this time, primed with Eleazar's insight into her gift, I can hear the subtle difference in them. These thoughts are pure, 'uncalibrated' to the listeners' minds, further explaining why my family initially and now the Denalis find her dreams more challenging to follow than her conscious thoughts.
In her first dream, much to the Denalis' delight, they are not simply present alongside the rest of our family but the focus, as Rey excitedly plans—speaking in English and Spanish with them—to visit many of the exotic places they'd actually described to her (starting with their beautiful home in Alaska). Only a handful of words are made up or used with an incorrect understanding of their meaning—and more of the words she guesses are correct, although she uses several Portuguese words in place of Spanish ones, which amuses those of us who can distinguish the two languages.
During a moment of more dreamless sleep, after Jacob interrupts to make the Denalis officially agree to the terms of our treaty (amusingly, he presents the 'no biting' rule as no biting 'without permission'), Bella takes the lead in explaining the apparent reversal in his opinion of us.
Our cousins react as well—or rather, as badly—as I'd hoped to Jacob's imprinting. They are appalled that a grown man has designs on our baby, forcing my mate to articulate how it is that she can stand having him anywhere near our daughter.
"Jake is part of our family," she says steadfastly; "no more important than anyone else. It's not up to him to choose for her—now or when she's older."
Although Jacob nods to endorse Bella's point, the Denalis doubt his sincerity—and they all correctly interpret my lack of comment as signaling my discontent. This is the first time Jacob has faced open disgust, and it makes him feel surprisingly self-conscious. Unlike his tribe or most of the rest of our family, the Denalis feel no sympathy towards the wolves' curious affliction. To them, a fully grown man laying claim to a child within minutes of her birth feels like the kind of arranged marriage that only exists when the child—and the woman she will grow up to be—has no rights.
Kate is quickest to challenge him on that point; he tries to argue the 'soulmate' angle, but she isn't buying it. "You 'imprinted'," she says, loading the word so heavily with sarcasm that it alone expresses all her doubt as to the validity of his claim. "So what? Is she a slave to your genes? You're the adult; you need to back off."
"I'm not doing anything wrong," he insists, rejecting that comparison because the "connection" between himself and Rey isn't one-sided: he is her soulmate, too. When she grows up, she'll choose him. It is that unshakeable belief that makes him see her as his future mate as surely as I am Bella's.
"From Edward's face," Kate quips, "you're thinking so much wrong, I'm a little surprised your head is still attached to your body." When the corner of my mouth twitches up into a fleeting smile, she takes it as confirmation. "You should make him leave."
"We did."
"So why's he back?" she retorts. Why'd you let Bella welcome him back?
"I'm used to his thoughts being…" I trail off, unable to find the right word. Alice tries to suggest 'offensive', but I don't want to upset Bella.
And then Rosalie speaks up "on my behalf". "More than thoughts," she quips, relishing the havoc she's about to unleash. "He bit Edward's arm off."
The Denalis gasp.
"He trespassed," Jacob snaps.
"Your alpha gave him the chance to explain," Rosalie points out. As she goes to get in a dig about Jacob almost killing me before I could sire his "mate"—which would hurt Irina, and no doubt Bella, too, more than it would irritate Jacob—I wave a hand to silence her, ending with a subtle gesture toward Bella that she thankfully picks up on.
And then Jacob starts to say he could've gone for my head first.
Subtle won't work on him, so I'm forced to interject. "It wasn't entirely unprovoked. I knew I was trespassing, and that there would be consequences."
The comparison Irina was already making between Laurent's and my situations leads her to blurt out, "Laurent didn't know."
Despite my pity for her situation, I can't let her continue to think so well of one who plotted against us all, disparaging her feelings in the process. "I can see Laurent's eyes in the wolves' memories as clearly as I see them in yours—they were bright crimson."
Irina's eyes get wider and wider as she stares at me, racking her brain for an explanation that doesn't involve her lover murdering some hapless human—or several—within days of leaving Denali. She had understood and sympathized with his in-depth questioning of her choice to 'abstain', but she'd felt sure her answers had swayed him, and he'd seemed to enjoy the novelty of hunting other prey. The last time she'd seen him, his eyes had been a warm amber that had suited him so well. She remembers telling him so, and the joyful way he'd laughed, like he'd liked the sound of that.
"He told Bella he enjoyed the advantages of staying in one place," I tell my lovelorn cousin, "but not the restrictions. He was hunting for human prey when he met her in the woods, and he was headed to Forks as a favor to Victoria. He even told her she was lucky—" my voice harshens as my whole body tenses up with fury and guilt—"because, unlike Victoria, he would kill her quickly."
Irina looks at each of my family in turn (except Bella), assessing their faith in my version of events, repeating my words in her head alongside the version her family had brought home from the wedding. The story still doesn't sound right, but as she finally entertains the notion of Laurent's culpability, her memory of their last exchange takes on a darker edge. There's a mocking lilt to his laugh that she'd not noticed before. He hadn't laughed because he was excited by the alternative way of life she'd shown him… He'd laughed because he was already planning to kill again. Maybe his eyes had even remained a slightly darker hue not because of his natural eye color but because he had already taken every opportunity to 'cheat' right under her nose.
Devastated, she flees outside and into the river, curling up into a ball beneath the water as she tries to forget everything and just focus on the gurgling current flowing past her.
Bella's sympathy for Irina's pain magnifies my own guilt at having ruined some of Irina's happiest memories, but Esme's certainty comforts us both. "She needs to know," she insists, and the others nod. He had not chosen her for his mate, and might never have. "Otherwise, she might never have been able to let him go."
Tanya sighs. "What I cannot fathom is how Victoria figured out a way to thwart your gift, Alice."
Alice frowns at the reminder, so I offer my perspective. "I believe Victoria was gifted, too; that she had a supernatural talent for evading danger—whether she found herself in danger or deliberately sought it out. With Laurent's insights into our gifts, she found the singular quirk that helped conceal her schemes from us. And the wolves' presence did the rest." Our cousins' thoughts remind me that they don't know this other facet. "Alice can't see their futures, or ours when we're around them."
Even as they process this additional complication, which makes our tight bond with the wolves even more shocking to them, Eleazar contemplates the lost opportunity wistfully. Despite walking the Earth for a millennium, he has only come across a handful of vampires with such nebulous gifts. He wants to ask about the "quirk" in Alice's gift, but his own part in aiding Laurent's espionage closes up his throat; of course, I take pity on him.
"Victoria went through a charade that made it seem as though she'd flown to Rio de Janeiro, then she let strangers make as many decisions for her as possible, and made at least two decisions about doing things in Rio for every one in the U.S., which made it seem as though she was indeed in Rio."
Tanya shakes her head in amazement. To Eleazar, she asks, "Did you realize it was possible to trick Alice's visions like that?"
He shakes his head, so I share a few of Victoria's thoughts—including that she herself had not had full confidence in her schemes, because she hadn't seen herself as gifted—until Kate's patience runs out.
"Before Irina comes back, you have to show us the scars," she entreats, pointing insistently at my nearest arm (which coincidentally is the scarred one).
I sigh and start rolling up my sleeve.