The Girl Who Was Taken (Renesme Cullens Twin Sister)

Seventy-Seven

We were in China when we hit a problem. Although I knew a lot of languages, and I had learned Mandarin a couple years ago along with a couple too many others like Cantonese and Shanghainese, but it was right before I ran away that one time, so I never took the time to really memorize and converse with them out loud. It became evident now that I never really mastered the pronunciation and as we travelled, coming across each local dialect and slang just made me more confused, so mind control was less than ideal lately.

Jane huffed, "Just say it with me," and she enunciated each word slowly "Jiǎn shuō de yīqiè dōu shì fǎlǜ."

"Yeah, okay. Ti shoo, de ye tu fally," I repeated back to her.

"That's not what I said at all," she complained. The president of the people's party of China whimpered in his bed in his pajama's, his face pinched together in pain, and Jane shushed him. "Be quiet." The rage in her eyes lit brighter for a second as she sent pain directly down his spine, and he whimpered into a pile of snot. His wife was crouching in the corner, she had crawled out of bed when we barged in, but she stayed in the corner, quietly chanting some sort of prayer that she probably believed would keep her safe.

There were children in other parts of the house as well, sleeping soundly, with vampires we enlisted to wait outside their doors, take out the real bodyguards.

I sat back, "What are you even having me say?"

"That he needs to listen to what I say."

I rolled my eyes, "That's not going to work completely."

"It'll give me room to go over everything he needs to know so that you don't have to repeat literally everything I say."

I lifted up the notebook we were using to make this easier, and I sifted through the pages. "Where's the translation for 'don't blow up nuclear bombs?' After I tell him that, I'll let you take over, but that's the most important part, I'm not going to half ass it. After that, we'll try it your way—" But before I could fully finish talking, I was cut off by my phone ringing in my pocket. My heart soared and dread filled me at the same time because I knew it was Paul. He hadn't called in a while, and before that, they had been sporadic. But he was calling me now, and if I didn't pick up I knew it might be another month before I heard his voice again. It only dawned on me in that instance that our time zones were different, it might be daytime for him.

I was snatching the phone from my pocket and hitting call before I could really contemplate the decision. I put my finger up to Jane so she wouldn't start talking at me again, and I got up from sitting on the bed, and walked out into the large hallway with a high ceiling and intricate gold details and pillars. Farther away from the president so his crying wouldn't be heard in the background sound. "Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Hey Storm," Paul said from the other end. "I miss you, how are you?"

Just hearing his voice made me melt a little, and I leaned my back against the wall. "I'm good, I miss you too." Then from the other side of the wall, I heard the president cry out in pain again, and I knew Jane was only getting started with her torture.

"What was that?" Paul asked.

"Um," I stuttered, and made to walk the rest of the way down the hall, passed a vampire man who was part of our entourage. "Just kids playing outside I think," I said. "...Yeah, I'm looking out the window. They're playing tag or something. Who knows, they'll cry about anything."

I passed another vampire, a shorter woman, and she looked at me suspiciously, even though I was the one in charge here. I made sure to warn her with an ice-cold glance to keep her distance, and she turned quickly and continued walking. Then I ducked out into the next doorway I passed. It was a large gathering room, maybe a living room, with a seating area that dipped into the floor, and I walked down the short steps to walk into it. "How are you?" I asked, trying to distract him now.