"Can we ask just one more?" I pleaded as Edward accelerated much too quickly down the quiet street.
He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the road from what I could see from the backseat. Christian was staring at my intently, not worrying about the driver's skills. He hadn't taken his eyes off me since we got into the car, and I tried my best not to stare back.
Edward sighed. "One," he agreed. His lips pressed together in a cautious line.
"Well... you said you knew we hadn't gone into the bookstore, and that we had gone south. I was just wondering how you knew that."
He looked out his window, deliberating.
"I thought we were past all the evasiveness," Bella grumbled.
He almost smiled.
"Fine, then," Christian cleared his throat as Edward cast him an icy look. "We followed your scent." He stopped there, giving us time to compose ourselves. I couldn't think of an acceptable response to that, but I filed it carefully away for future study. I tried to refocus.
I wasn't ready to let him be finished, now that he was finally explaining things.
"And then you didn't answer one of my first questions..." Bella stalled.
Edward looked at her with disapproval. "Which one?"
"How does it work â the mind-reading thing? Can you read anybody's mind, anywhere? How do you do it? Can the rest of your family...?" Bella trailed off.
"That's more than one," he pointed out. Bella intertwined her fingers and gazed at him, waiting.
"No, it's just me. And I can't hear anyone, anywhere. I have to be fairly close. The more familiar someone's... 'voice' is, the farther away I can hear them. But still, no more than a few miles." He paused thoughtfully. "It's a little like being in a huge hall filled with people, everyone talking at once. It's just a hum â a buzzing of voices in the background. Until I focus on one voice, and then what they're thinking is clear.
"Most of the time I tune it all out â it can be very distracting. And then it's easier to seem normal" â he frowned as he said the word â "when I'm not accidentally answering someone's thoughts rather than their words.
"Why do you think you can't hear me?" Bella asked curiously.
He looked at her, his eyes enigmatic.
"Well, you remember that I said two exceptions?" Bella nodded. "It's you and your sister... But I don't know," he murmured. "The only guess I have is that maybe your minds don't work the same way the rest of theirs do. Like your thoughts are on the AM frequency and I'm only getting FM." He grinned, suddenly amused.
"Our minds don't work right? We're freaks?" Bella spoke up, hurt.
"I hear voices in my mind and you're worried that you guys are the freaks," he laughed. "Don't worry, it's just a theory..." His face tightened.
I interrupted then, "Wait a minute... is that what you were doing when I yelled at you in Biology? And again on the snow day?" I asked Edward, putting the pieces together.
He hesitated. "Yes. I don't have a theory about that."
Bella looked between us, confused. I hadn't told her the strange feeling I got. Christian also looked extremely confused, so I cleared my throat and elaborated.
"When Edward was trying to read my mind, I felt... something. Like someone was lightly trying to pull at my hair, my head, and my skull. Trying to pull it back like a curtain." I blushed and looked at my feet, embarrassed.
When I looked back up, Bella was staring at me in shock and a part of me felt guilty that I hadn't shared that with her, but back then, I couldn't have been sure that I actually felt anything at all. Christian was confused as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Ed? She felt you prying?" He questioned.
"I guess.. I don't know. I didn't know she could feel anything, I just knew that she knew I was doing something from her reactions. I didn't bring it up to anyone." Edward replied, shrugging.
"Holy cow!" Bella shouted, startling everyone. "Slow down!"
"What's wrong?" Edward asked without slowing down.
"You're going a hundred miles an hour!"
"Relax, Bella." He rolled his eyes. "I'm still waiting on your latest theory."
Christian looked to me now, knowing that I was involved and I bit my lip.
"I won't laugh," he promised me.
"I'm more afraid that you'll be angry with me."
"Is it that bad?" Edward called from the front seat.
"Pretty much, yeah." Bella answered.
They waited. I was looking down at my hands, so I couldn't see their expressions.
"Go ahead." Edward's voice was calm.
"I don't know how to start," Bella admitted.
"Why don't you start at the beginning... what got you started â a book? A movie?" he probed.
My sister looked to me. "No â it was Saturday, at the beach." I glanced to my side; Christian looked puzzled.
"I ran into an old family friend â Jacob Black," I continued. "His dad and our dad have been friends since we were babies."
He still looked confused.
"His dad is one of the Quileute Elders." I watched him carefully. His expression froze in place.
"We went for a walk â" I edited my blatant interest out of the story "â and he was telling me some old legends â trying to scare me, I think. He told one..." I hesitated.
"Go on." Christian said.
"About vampires," Bella finished for me, sensing I was almost at my limit. Edward's hands tighten convulsively on the wheel.
"And you immediately thought of us?" Still calm.
"No. He... mentioned your family."
He was silent, staring at the road.
I was worried suddenly, worried about protecting Jacob.
"What did you do then?" he asked after a minute.
"We did some research on the Internet."
"And did that convince you?" His voice sounded barely interested. But his hands were clamped hard onto the steering wheel.
"No. Nothing fit. Most of it was kind of silly. And then..." She stopped.
"What?"
"I decided it didn't matter," She whispered.
"It didn't matter?" His tone made me look up. His face was incredulous, with just a hint of the anger I'd feared. When I looked at Christian, he looked like he was in a permanent state of surprise. It was the main expression he'd had on his face since we started talking.
He echoed Edward. "It doesn't matter?" He was only asking me this, I knew for sure.
"No," I said softly. "It doesn't matter to me what you are." His face softened as this registered. It was almost as if he would hardly believe what I'd said.
A hard, mocking edge entered Edward's voice as he spoke again. "You don't care if I'm a monster? If I'm not human!"
"No." Bella echoed me.
He was silent, staring straight ahead again. His face was bleak and cold.
"You're angry," Bella sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything."
"No," he said, but his tone was as hard as his face. "I'd rather know what you're thinking â even if what you're thinking is insane."
"So we're wrong again?" She challenged.
"That's not what I was referring to. 'It doesn't matter'!" he quoted, gritting his teeth together.
"We're right?" I gasped.
"Does it matter?"
Bella took a deep breath. "Not really."
After a few minutes of silence, Edward pulled onto the shoulder of the road. I realized we were on a familiar street as Christian got out and held the door open for me. We were about an hour from Dad's house on foot.
"Let's go," he said to me.
I glanced from him to Bella, not knowing where this came from or what to do.
"If you wouldn't mind, Alexandra, I'd like to speak to Bella alone, as Christian would like the same opportunity with you. He'll get you home, if you agree." Edward said, turning to look at me. He seemed sincere.
My sister held out her hand to me and I took it in mine and squeezed. Giving her a knowing look, I stepped out of the car into the dark of night with Christian Hale.
I watched the car as Edward drove off with my twin and heard Christian speak up from beside me.
"So... it really doesn't matter?" He asked gingerly.
"Well, even if it did, Bella's made up her mind and it's not like I'm gonna leave her alone with a vampire." I said honestly.
His face fell and I guess this wasn't the answer he'd hoped for. He started walking briskly and I was almost jogging to keep up.
"I'm not saying it does matter. I was just saying if it did that I would've stayed withâ"
"Don't worry. Message received." His voice was cold.
Before he could get any farther away, I grabbed his arm, which was also cold. I tried to turn him around, but he didn't budge no matter how hard I pulled. He did stop walking, though.
"Stop it!"
Christian was taken aback by the ferocity in my voice and he turned to look at me, silent. I closed the distance between us and looked up into his golden eyes. They were intense as he stared back at me. The wind brushed past us and I watched him stiffen. But, after holding my breath for a few seconds, he reached up and tucked a strand of black hair behind my ear.
"It doesn't matter," I whispered.
His hand dropped from my hair to one of my hands at my side. He intertwined his fingers with mine and started to close the space left between us. As he got closer, I chickened out and cleared my throat. He stepped back quickly but didn't let go of my hand and we turned to start walking in the direction of my house.
"So... I have questions," I started.
"I'm listening." He had a sly smirk on his face and that made me want to fall into him.
"Well, back in the clearing... you still haven't explained what you did with the weather."
"Oh. You mean," he looked at me and his eyes lit up, quite literally, "like this?"
I was about to ask what he meant when a small white flurry passed between us. It was lightly snowing before I knew it. I watched in silence as little bits of snow caught in my hair as they blew by. I glanced up at Christian's face and saw that once again, no snow touched him.
"That happened last time, too! During the snow day at school, you were completely dry even though everyone â including your family â had snow melting on them."
"So you noticed huh?" He said as we started walking again.
"That explanation..." I trailed off.
"You know how Ed can hear thoughts, yeah? Some vampires have gifts, some don't. I happen to be one of those with a gift." He gestured his free hand in the air. "Weather manipulation."
I was stunned into silence.
"Though, you releasing part of the frozen rain â that was unexpected, and as far as I knew, impossible." He continued. "Next question?"
"Oh, uh," I fumbled, "how'd you get my phone number?"
His face lit up. "Speaking of which, 'I know about you'? Were you trying to sound menacing?"
I let go of his hand and covered my face in embarrassment. "I don't know what I was trying to do. I was frustrated." I said, talking through my hands.
"Well you certainly got me thinking." He laughed.
Still covering my face, I picked up my pace. My face probably resembled a tomato at this point.
"I will say, though," he kept on, "I drove Emmett near mad when we were away. It was a long three days."
I dropped my hands at this. "Three days? Didn't you just get back today?"
"No, we got back Sunday."
"Then why weren't any of you in school?" I was frustrated, almost angry as I thought of how much disappointment I had suffered because of his absence.
"Well, you asked if the sun hurt me, and it doesn't. But I can't go out in the sunlight â at least, not where anyone can see."
"Why?"
"I'll show you sometime," he promised.
I thought about it for a moment. "You might have called me," I decided.
He was puzzled. "Why?"
"Nevermind," I didn't have a reason for him to call me just because he couldn't come to school. "So, how old are you?"
"Ah, I'm eighteen. Sorry, might've mentioned that."
"But you're a vampire... So how long have you been eighteen?" I probed lightly.
"I'm not totally sure if you want to know that answer, but it's been a good while now." He looked almost bashful.
"Well.. then let's start with where you're from?"
"Europe," he answered quickly, "But to not stand out, I've had to adapt my way of speech."
"Come on," I pressed, "I really want to know how old you are."
He stopped walking and turned towards me. "Well, I was turned in 1468."
I almost choked in surprise.
"But I'm technically 555 years old, but to answer your first question, I've been eighteen for 537 years."
He looked at me shamefully when I didn't reply. "I'm sorry, Alexandra."
"So... The European Renaissance, huh?" I laughed inwardly, because I honestly had no idea what to say to that.
"You're such an old man."
Christian burst out a laugh before getting serious again. "Can I," he looked down, "hold your hand again? You're really warm."
I held my hand out to him. When he took it, we started walking again.
"You know I'm dangerous, right?" Christian spoke up after a few minutes; we were getting closer to my house.
"Aren't all vampires supposed to be?" I questioned back.
"Are you not scared at all? Not even in the slightest?
"Not even in the slightest."
He seemed to think about this. Before I knew it, we were standing in front of my house. When I looked up into our bedroom window, I saw Bella looking down on us from behind the curtains, waiting to spill the details of her and Edward's conversation.
I turned back to find Christian staring at me, thoughtfully. He put his hand out to cup my cheek, but froze in my hair.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he sighed.
"Tomorrow, then."
I looked away and walked to the front door, ready to open it.
"Alexandra?" I turned and he was right behind me, leaning toward me. His pale face just inches from mine. My heart stopped.
"Sleep well," he said. His breath blew in my face, stunning me. It was the same exquisite scent that clung to his jacket, but in a more concentrated form.
He leaned away, waiting until I had stumbled in the house to disappear.
When I made it to our room, I closed the door and leaned against it, letting all my weight slide to the floor. Bella was sitting on her bed, watching me, waiting.
"So.. are you two like, together?" She asked me after a long breath.
"What? No." I clammed up. "We're just... friends, I think. It's complicated."
She raised her eyebrow at me.
"You're still wearing his jacket."
I looked down and sighed. I hadn't even realized. I wonder if he knew? Did he think I was trying to say something by keeping it?
"What about you and Edward?" I needed to change the subject. I didn't know where Christian and I stood exactly, just speculation, and I didn't want to fry my brain trying to guess.
"I guess we're kind of together. He said he couldn't stay away from me." She blushed.
"Creep." I was trying to be funny, but Bella didn't like that.
"Christian followed us, too, remember? I don't see you running from him."
"I was joking, Bell. Did you find out anything new?"
"Well, vampires don't sleep. Like ever." She said, slowly. I figured the information was still sinking in. "What about you?"
"Christian has a gift, too, like Edward. It isn't mind reading, though. He can control the weather." I started getting excited just talking about it, again.
"You should tell him to keep it sunny," she quipped,
"That'd be too uncharacteristic. You'll have to live with the clouds. Sorry."
After another hour or so of conversation, we both laid down for bed. Alone with my thoughts, I realized a number of things. One: the Cullens were vampires. Two: Bella and I could very well be way in over our heads, in danger, even. And three: my only sister was completely and irrevocably in love with Edward Cullen.