Bella the Witch (2021)

Chapter 5: When I Wore A Younger Man's Clothes

Sunday morning came with Dad kissing my forehead goodbye and leaving for his exciting day of fishing with his old friend Billy Black. We all had to have small pleasures in life I guess.  I didn't dare eat anything that morning. I couldn't risk getting sick upon reentry when I got put back in my body.  I performed the ritual exactly, and called upon the mirror to find Edward Cullen. The mirror showed me a mountainous  landscape covered in snow. Edward sat at the edge of a cliff above a frozen and treacherous drop.

"Corpus meum spiritum meum."

I sat to his left, letting my bare feet dangle over the side and followed his sight to the sky. Like his siblings, in a space where he didn't have to pretend, he had a quiet and undisturbed air about him. Unlike the last time I saw him, his eyes were  gold and the darkness around his eyes had vanished. 

He sighed. "Are you going to stare at me all day?" He asked. Behind us another man came out from behind some trees. His skin was olive toned, his hair dark and short. He had golden eyes which crinkled when he smiled. There were more them? 

"Just didn't want to disturb you is all." The man held his hands up playfully.  His cadence and the fluidity of how he spoke reminded me of Spanish. 

Edward kept his eyes to the horizon. "I wanted to thank you, Eleazar. You and Carmen have been more than hospitable."

"You know you're more than welcome here, whenever you need. But don't you think it's time for you to go home?" The man known as Eleazar sat next to him.

"I suppose it is but I'm afraid I don't have the strength to. This was something unlike anything I've come across. For the first time in ninety years, I thought I was going to loose control again."

"You did the right thing, Edward. You removed yourself from a situation that could've harmed someone else; you deserve credit for that." Eleazar put his hand on Edward's shoulder. 

"No, I don't." He shook his head and stood up. "That was the bare minimum of what I should've been able to do. I should've been able to go back to class the next day and acted like everyone else."  He paced back and forth and ran a hand through his unkempt hair. "I never want to feel that way again."

"I understand, I do. Running away isn't a solution, you miss your family. Your real option is to go back refreshed and be ready to face this young woman again." As I suspected, he smelled my magic on me, it had to be. But none of the other Cullens have shown signs that they have, so was this apart of his gift?

"She's some insignificant girl, living a normal life and has to worry about her grades and what her hair should look like on a day to day basis." Ouch.

"Maybe so, but that is what's precious about humanity, worrying over everything and nothing. We used to be like that; we'd wondered if that certain girl would let us lead them in a dance or whether their father knew how to shoot or not." Eleazar chuckled. "Put yourself in her shoes, try to remember what it was to be human and even though she might not make a difference in the grand scheme of things, she means something to those she cares about."

Edward nodded in agreement and stared out into the horizon again. Behind his eyes, he was going over everything his friend had told him. "What is it?" He asked suddenly. Eleazar hadn't said anything, the new vampire looked around as if he was searching for something. He could have a mental ability like his siblings. 

The gentleman vampire's gaze turned to me or rather where I would have been if I was there physically. He squinted his golden eyes as he looked directly at me. I clamored away, shuffling back from the cliff. There is no way he can see me!