The Banshee -Paul Lahote-

Chapter 12

Mavis sat on the couch alone. Jasper and Alice were talking on the love seat. They were still keeping a close eye on her, scared she would leave again in a dissociated state. It was her first day of summer break, but it had been raining all day. Mostly everyone was home for the day. Other than Bella and Edward, who never seemed to be around.

For some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about a certain werewolf, Paul Lahote. He was giving her the cold shoulder but demanded Jacob let go of her so that he could warm her up. It was odd. Jacob had mentioned something about protecting her because of him, but Mavis couldn't figure out why. But Jacob said he wasn't allowed to say, and she wasn't going to push him.

Mavis was also thinking about one other thing, her dreams. Bella was right to focus more on the surroundings. It keyed her in on a couple of details, but nothing helped figure out what was going on.

It was nearly lunchtime, and the rain didn't seem to be letting up. Mavis wanted to go on a walk, clear her head, but that wasn't an option. Closing her book, she pushed from the couch. Alice and Jasper didn't think anything of her actions, continuing their conversation.

Mavis grabbed the curtains and ripped them open, wanting to see how bad the weather was. But as she threw her arms back, revealing the outside world, she noticed one thing. It wasn't raining. The sky was cloudy, but there was no rain. Mavis could still hear it. A downpour of rain, but the trees were dry.

There was no rain, and there hadn't been for hours. Mavis gaped, continuing to stare through the window. "Who's there?" A voice whispered in the back of her head. Mavis jumped forward, raising a hand to the window. As her hand touched the glass, it began to break under her fingers. Mavis raised her left hand, letting it rest on the glass. She watched as it began to splinter. The cracks grew in size, traveling in all directions. "Who's there?" The rain grew louder and louder. All of her senses were focusing on the voice. It was a male voice, young in age.

"Mavis," Jasper raced from his position beside Alice and to his daughter's side. Her mood had changed in a matter of seconds, and it alarmed him. The feeling of his hand on her shoulder caused Mavis to turn away. The noise faded, but not entirely. "Are you alright?"

She turned back to the window, and her heart stopped. The glass remained completely unscratched. Not so much as a dent was present. "Mavis," Alice joined him. "What's wrong?"

"The glass," Mavis traced over the window with her index finger. "It was breaking."

Both of the vampires examined the area but didn't see any indication of breakage. "Honey, the glass is fine." The rain, the voice, and the glass breaking seemed to relate to something important. She recalled glass breaking in her dream, but not what caused it to break. "Mavis." Alice turned her away from the window. "What happened?"

"He was calling me," Mavis muttered. "But I can't focus. There's too much going on."

"Mavis," Jasper glanced at Alice. "What are you hearing?"

Mavis didn't move a muscle, "voices. I'm hearing voices."

~~~~~~~~~

Everyone was talking about her. Carlisle continued to glance at her every few seconds. The group sat in the living room with books on different subjects. Mavis rubbed at her head, wishing that she could figure out what was going. The rain had faded, but the information was there. It seemed to be just out of reach, and Mavis had no idea how to grab it. The voice was calling to her, almost begging her. "What are we supposed to do about this," Jasper tried to keep his voice down. "We are no closer to answers, and Victoria is still out there."

"I know," Carlisle responded. "I'm searching the texts, but there isn't anything about dreams. Her abilities are far beyond any others."

Mavis tried to block out the noises in her head, but it was impossible. The sound of rain was gone, but somewhere distant, there was another sound. "Who's there," she whispered. Alice and Rosalie glanced at her. "Who's there?" Mavis's head tilted to the side, and a familiar noise floated through her mind. The splintering of firewood, but she knew now it wasn't firewood.

There was no rain and no voice. Just the sound of something breaking, over and over again. "Mavis," Alice whispered.

"I can almost," Mavis stopped herself. The headache she had from all of this was unbearable. She pushed the table out of the way, standing up quickly. "I can't do this." The blonde girl marched out of the room, wanting to get some air outside. As expected, the entire family followed her.

"Mavis," Carlisle called out. "You need to talk to us."

"About what?" She hadn't meant to be so loud. Throwing open the back door, she stepped onto the deck. "I don't know what any of this means!"

"Neither do we," Rosalie yelled back at her. "But we want to help you!"

"How?" Mavis wanted to cry. She rubbed her head roughly, begging the sounds to go away. "I can't think everything's so loud." The breaking, it had to be something important.

"Try and relax," Emmett tried to help her.

Mavis glared at him, and he put his hands up in mock surrender. Rosalie elbowed him, knowing this wasn't a joking matter. "I feel as if I'm going insane."

"You're not," Esme promised her. "But we can't help you if you don't tell us what you hear."

"I don't know," Mavis pulled at her hair. She turned away from them, closing her eyes. The sound wasn't overly loud, but it felt as if it was bouncing off different parts of her skull. She wanted to scream in frustration and pain.

"Mavis," Carlisle put a hand out for the others to stay put. "Talk about how your feeling. What are you thinking about?"

"What," Alice glanced at him. "What's that going to do?"

"Just trust me." They did trust him. "You talked about a voice. Who's voice is it?"

"I don't know." Mavis took a deep breath and reopened her eyes. "It's right there," she explained. "I can almost reach it, but I can't. It's just out of reach. I can't focus on it. There's too much going on."

"And what do you want to do about it?"

"Carlisle-" Alice stopped talking as he put a hand up. He was onto something, but the others weren't sure what.

"I don't know," she cried out. "It's right there, but I can't get it." Mavis dropped her hands. "It makes me want to scream."

That seemed to be what he was waiting for. "Okay," he said. "Then scream." Mavis didn't move. "Mavis, scream."

Mavis didn't hesitate. The urge was too great. She clenched her fists and opened her mouth. The sound that came out was ear pinching. All of the Cullen's hunched over, covering their ears as Mavis screamed into the night sky. It was powerful and carried for miles.

Somewhere miles away in a La Push, the Uley pack were sitting around another fire. The group was laughing at jokes and eating an abnormal amount of burgers. Everything seemed right in the world. As if they were untouchable just for that moment. But a distant sound, a scream, caused all of them to leap up from their positions. The sound was one they had never heard before. "What the hell was that," Leah asked in a defensive position.

Sam glanced at Jacob, a knowing look on his face. "That," he began. "Was the scream of a Banshee."

"Mavis," Jacob turned towards the trees. The rest of the pack stared ahead, unsure of what the scream meant.

Mavis felt all the pieces fall into place. The scream faded from her throat. The others around her slowly dropped their hands, almost nervous she would do it again. "Mavis," Carlisle spoke first. "What is it?"

"The person in my dreams," she turned to them. "It's Riley Biers." They all stared at her, "he's creating the newborns."