Chapter 9: Confusing Irritations
Even though I had committed to my family that I would keep a close eye on the girl from the cafeteria via my gift, upon arriving to school her mental voice was too indistinguishable in the cacophony. Potentially if she thought about any of us Cullens long enough to catch my attention, I could hone in on her. However, since that relied too much on her, my first act was to find some way to get close enough to her to have a short conversation. Usually that coupled with direct eye contact would allow me to find a mental voice within a crowd, and thus be able to pick it out against the hundreds of others at the school. Through the morning I tried to come up with a humanly acceptable reasons for us to interact, which was complicated by the social structure of the school. Being a junior, it would garnish too much attention for me to speak with her randomly, since she was a sophomore.
I was still ruminating and planning when I caught a lucky break. Numerous mental voices were all broadcasting about a confrontation, which included the girl I was looking to pinpoint. Through the children's thoughts I learned that the girl's name was Jamerica and the girl who had insulted her was Mandy. Once I was physically near enough, it was not terribly difficult to engineer a moment so that I had a few seconds of eye contact followed with us walking together, while I focused on her thoughts. My plan seemed to work, although I would not know for certain until we were separated.
Probably influenced by her Quileute heritage, her blood had that earthy canine undertone that most individuals from her tribe carried. It was a clear signal to my kind that there was something unusual about them, and to give them a wide birth, even when they were not on their land. Also, probably influenced from that same heritage, her body reacted strongly to my proximity, more than her peers.
As soon as she had become the focus of my gift, her thoughts contained memories of moments that had occurred between Bella and myself, confirming Emmett's crazy theory. Moreover, her mental voice sounded much closer to how Bella had spoken to me in Biology than how Jamerica sounded as she defended herself against Mandy. The comment Bella had made my first day back after returning from Alaska about my eye colour made more sense, as the mental voice next to me repeatedly reminded herself about it. The ability for any human to first notice these nuances and second to draw such logical conclusions made her exemplary in my book. Her thought that I could be scary, but also kind and gentlemanly discombobulated me and I lost my neutral expression for a moment, which she caught. The idea that she thought me kind was shocking; as that was an attribute even my siblings did not associate with me, only Esme and Carlisle. Fortunately, she dismissed my faux pas easily by a logical conclusion not tied to mind reading.
The more I listened to her, the more evidence I acquired that a soul swap had occurred. Oddly enough, it also stirred within me unknown feelings. I liked her mind. I liked the way she thought. It was comforting in its patterns in similar ways that Carlisle's mind was for me. Sure, there were conclusions she drew that I completely disagreed with, but given her limited information, they were reasonable. It was such an odd trait for a seventeen-year old that it was as if her mind represented someone far more mature than her age would have suggested. Even stranger, I found myself not wanting to leave her presence. Consequently, the family's request became a sweet joy and relief.
I physically parted from her in a way that my human mother would have scolded me for being rude, but it was regrettably necessary in my life of deceit. Nevertheless, I stayed with her mentally, learning everything I could. Mostly her thoughts were on events as they occurred and her mental mechanisms for remembering her subjects. This endeared her to me even more. Although she was a diligent student focused on her studies and the subjects, the little comments she made to herself confirmed over and over that the voice I was listening to was a stranger to her body.
Ironically my biology lab partner seemed to be trying to get the nerve to confront me about something, although when she did speak, I easily brushed her aside. Initially, I thought that her irritation was misplaced, but afterwards, I had to consider if I was being unfair. Most of my distance and treatment was because of how her blood smelled, which was not something she could control. I was unwilling to help her cheat her way through the class, but perhaps punishing her was not the way to go about things. It was not like I did not already know the material.
By the time I got home and my family had reconvened I was able to say with near certainty, after giving them a detailed report, "From all presenting evidence, you were correct, Emmett, it appears that Bella's soul is in Jamerica's body. I cannot say for sure about Jamerica's soul residing in Bella's body, as my gift still does not work on Bella's body, but given the differences in behaviours it seems likely."
"Yes," Emmett yelled exuberantly with a big smile like he had won the contest.
The family looked taken aback and stared at Emmett.
"What?" he asked with a jovial tone, "I'm allowed to be right at least once every hundred years or so."
Despite how he presented, he was confused as everyone else as how that could be.
Even though we had discussed the possibility, the reality had sent everyone's mind in a variety of directions. Esme was, of course, concerned and wanted to help.
"Now what?" Emmett asked in his usual cut through everything, blunt way.
"Is it really our business?" Rosalie asked with a tone of irritation.
"It's affecting my ability to see Edward clearly," Alice stated in a way that suggested Rosalie's indifference was stupid, "which puts the family at risk."
"Have you figured out why that might be?" Rosalie bit back.
"No," Alice answered.
"The human world is no concern to us, unless it threatens the family," Rosalie retorted.
Alice went to say something argumentative back, but before she could, Carlisle spoke, "Thus the question before us is why would a soul swap be picked up by Alice's gift and impacting her visions of Edward." He paused briefly before asking, "Do we know the exact day and time when it happened?"
"Bella was certainly not herself on Wednesday in Biology," I stated.
"How about Tuesday?" he asked.
The five of us who attended Forks High looked at each other, us all reviewing the events on Tuesday.
When we all got to the end of the school day, I reported on behalf of us all, "Bella never attended class due to the accident."
Before Carlisle could voice anything, Alice spirited away, and then returned with a paper and pencil drawing an almost precise representation of Bella.
Carlisle reviewed his Tuesday, paying close attention to when he went into the waiting room after treating Tyler. It took a few minutes, but he recalled her being there.
"She was in the waiting room with other students," he informed us, "but they all left shortly after I told them that Tyler would recover."
Even though it seemed small, I mentioned, "Bella was late for school on Tuesday. If she had been on time, her truck would have likely been hit by Tyler's van, assuming she parked in the same spot as the day before. And the image of Bella in Carlisle's memory contains more makeup and different clothes that she had worn the previous times I have seen her in class, which in fairness is only twice, since I was out the week."
"How about Monday?" Esme asked.
Everyone reviewed their memory of her in the cafeteria and then previous times they had seen her.
"Collectively between us all she seemed herself before Tuesday," I reported.
"Could the soul swap explain her being later for school than usual?" Esme wondered.
"Could be," I allowed. "I had put it down to the weather, but that's possible."
"Anyone notice Jamerica on Tuesday?" Esme questioned.
After a few minutes of reviewing our memories, we five shook our heads no. The only humans that ever showed up on our radar were the ones we were forced to pretend around.
There were a few minutes of silence before Esme suggested, "Perhaps the best idea would be to become friendly with both girls, and in that way discover what has happened."
Rosalie looked appalled, while her mental voice was upset and confused as to why Esme would suggest such a thing.
Jasper appeared apprehensive, and was mentally on the same page as Rosalie.
Emmett looked giddy for two seconds before receiving a scalding look from Rosalie.
Alice was searching the future.
"Whomever is in Bella's body ignored me today," I told them.
Alice looked at everyone. "I'll search for a way to get to know the soul in Bella's body."
"Hold on," Rosalie insisted. Turning to Esme, she stated, "I don't see how getting buddy buddy them will help us solve the mystery of Alice's visions, not to mention what has usually happened to the humans we have befriend."
All of us cringed, as the unspoken answer was that they died, sometimes by one of us, but certainly by natural causes, if they managed to avoid dying by an accident.
Wanting to appease Rosalie, as she had a good point, I offered, "How about I continue monitoring Jamerica's body's thoughts? There's no risk to the family there."
Alice searched my future. It had that strange element to it except when I decided to speak to Jamerica. At that moment it cleared up.
"That seems to help a little," Alice offered the family.
Looking over at me, Alice suggested, Perhaps another conversation would be useful?
Reluctantly I agreed with her, only indicating so by making a decision to speak with the soul inhabiting Jamerica's body, as helping Alice was important to her, but also the family.
Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms, but did not protest anymore.
Esme's thoughts were disappointed, but offered no disagreement with Rosalie's concerns or my offer.
"Any changes in Bella's blood?" Carlisle asked.
"No," I stated truthfully, while omitting how it had gotten worse to resist due to the person in Bella's body's attitude towards me.
"Thus, it would seem that the scent of her blood as well as her ability to block your gift and lack of fear to your proximity is tied to her body and thus genetics, while her attitude towards you is based on her as a person," Carlisle mused.
"Are you suggesting evidence that even as our bodies might change our soul remains?" questioned Esme.
The family mentally groaned at the idea of having that conversation again.
Probably aware of the family's reluctance to tread into those old worn paths, Carlisle diplomatically answered, "Merely noting that this circumstance happens to present us with an ability to catalogue evidence, and particularly differences we wouldn't have been able to otherwise."
Esme considered what this might mean in terms of those old conversations. Admittedly, even I had been forced to consider the possibility of being wrong. If souls really were the housing place of personality, then it was undeniable that all of us had retained that part.
"That being noted, let us move on to other topics," Carlisle stated. "Jasper, anything to report?"
"She was born Jamerica Akalat White to Kenneth Matthew White and Roni Qaletaqa Payne on October 20th 1988 at Forks Regional Hospital. Her father works as a police officer under the direction of Chief Swan and is a lieutenant. Her mother works as a nurse in multiple departments, has additional certificates in diabetes and congestive heart failure, and had at one time applied to get her Master's in Nursing. Despite their jobs, they are struggling financially due to debt incurred from Lieutenant White's mother's illness and subsequent death."
Esme looked at Carlisle, "Can we use some of the money in the medical foundation to help them?"
Carlisle looked at Jasper.
"Yes, that would help some," he agreed. "They would easily qualify."
"Any idea why they weren't tapped already?" Carlisle asked.
"Prejudice," Jasper hypothesised.
We all looked at him requesting an explanation.
"In both of their respective jobs there are others who have received promotions, even though they are as qualified or more so," he stated frowning.
Before Esme could even voice the words Carlisle reminded her, "We cannot undo these things. We can only help where we can."
She nodded, but was clearly disappointed.
"I'll see about getting the hospital bill cleared retroactively and if I can, will get on the next promotion committee and see what I can do," Carlisle promised, causing Esme to smile.
She thanked him with a peck on the cheek.
"Roni Qaletaqa White nee Payne's heritage is Quileute and Hoh, while Kenneth Matthew White's family first settled in the area three generations ago. His mother was the last of that family. They are all deceased or have moved and are presently located in places unknown. Thus, it would seem likely that they hold strong connections with the Quileutes, despite having a Forks address. Her mother and Sue Clearwater's mother share the same great-grandmother."
"We will keep the treaty in mind at all times as we learn more," Carlisle insisted.
Rosalie scowled and accused me, "How did you not catch this before?"
"In those first days when I monitored the hospital, Roni noted Carlisle's eye colour and then moved on with her thoughts. It wasn't something to be concerned about. The same was true with Kenneth anytime we have encountered him. They both don't seem to be enamoured with us, slightly weary, and then their thoughts change course once they see that our eyes are golden. It wasn't anything that would mean that we were at risk. And we knew that some of the Quiluete might live or work in Forks. Clearly they haven't said anything outside of the reservation. The same was true with Jamerica, in fact even less so. When she came in as a freshman and saw us the first time there were no words of concern that I'm looking out for," I defended.
"And if that changes, Edward will let us know," Carlisle instructed, and I agreed easily. "We knew there were higher risks in coming here," he reminded us all. "The Quileutes have long memories. Even if most hold the stories as myths, their scents and reactions to us warn them away and us to stay clear more than the European settlers. This was the case last time and we expected it. As we agreed before hand, any Quiluetes living in Forks we would consider under the treaty and expect them to abide by their part."
We all nodded in agreement, although Rosalie was not so silently fuming. Her fears for the family and any human collateral damage were forefront in her mind.
"Anything else for the moment?" Carlisle checked.
"We're not getting involved," Rosalie reiterated. "Alice wants her visions to go back to normal, fine, but let's not forget how strong Bella's blood is to Edward, her unusual soul or not."
"Understanding what is happening to Alice's visions is important to the family," Carlisle stated, "yet the same polite distance we keep is important to maintain. We will act in circumspect as we gain the information necessary to understand what is happening to Alice." As he stated the second part he looked at Alice.
She nodded her head in agreement, but frowned clearly sad at the restrictions. Whatever was causing her mood wasn't in her thoughts, which left me in the dark.
Nevertheless, his words mollified Rosalie.
I certainly didn't want to become friends with any of the children at school, body swapping or not.
Alice looked over at me. We shall see, she taunted like she knew something I did not.
She probably had ridiculous ideas of why the soul swap was impacting her visions of me, none of which I wanted to hear.
A/N: From my first read of Twilight, I believed SM's presentation that those who identified as Quiluete would only live on the reservation ridiculous. According to the United Stated Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, "As of 2022, there are 324 federally recognized American Indian reservations in the U.S. The 2020 Census reveals that 87 percent of those who identify as AI/AN alone or in combination population live outside of tribal statistical areas, 13 percent live on reservations or other trust lands." Thus, my attempt to bring more reality into my story. Followed to its natural conclusion, similar to what Carlisle says here, living in Forks is a bad idea for them, full stop. Good thing reality and logic don't apply in the Twilightverse. ;)