The Girl Who Was Taken (Renesme Cullens Twin Sister)

Thirty

I laid my hand down. A royal flush. At least I thought it was a royal flush. This card game really made absolutely no sense to me. "I WIN!" I squealed before Felix could tell me otherwise.

"No, that's not legal. If this was vegas, they would have shot you already." Felix was watching me again today. It had been a long time since I came back, but they were not letting up on the babysitting. I still hadn't gotten a second to myself.

"It's not Vegas, it's my bedroom, and by being the owner of this casino, I say I win." I scooped up his pile of money--which was actually just monopoly dollars.

"No. You can't use a joker as an ace. That cards not allowed in this game."

"You dealt it into my hand. So really, you set me up here."

"Okay. I'll redeal, did you see the other joker?"

"I don't want to play."

"We still have an hour until you can go to practice."

"We can do a lot in an hour besides playing stupid card games. Like go outside, maybe?"

"You know the rules." He scooped up the playing cards. "We could build card castles."

"You're the worst babysitter ever," I said. It wasn't true. He was one of the better ones, but I liked giving him a hard time.

His face became grim. "Take it back."

"Jane at least opens the window." I looked at it with wanderlust.

"No. Last time was the last time. You promised."

"Do you know how long it's been since I've climbed a tree?"

"We're not going outside."

I stepped over to the window, tracing my finger over the glass, staring out at the night scenery. "My skin is so pale, I look like a ghost. I haven't seen the sun in so long."

"No." He didn't budge from the ground. "We're building card castles. Now sit down." He threw half the pile of cards in my direction. They scattered around my feet.

"Do you think the moon would give me a tan?" I asked. It was large and round tonight. I picked up a card, breathed on it, and stuck it to the window blocking the bright round rock that was floating through space around earth.

"You're a vampire, you're not supposed to be tan," Felix said.

"Well, I'm going for a walk and I'll find out." I unlatched the window, nugding it open, and feeling the cool air on my face.

"We'll get in trouble again," he groaned. The card I had stuck to the window detatched itself and fell, flittering all the way down to the ground.

"You can't honestly tell me that I'm not allowed to go and fetch that." I looked back at him to see clearly in his face that he was given up on complying with the rules. Tonight was gonna be fun.

We ran down that side of the tower. I picked up the card, a seven of hearts, between two fingers and then proceeded to throw it like a frisbee. It went farther then I expected it to.

Felix ran over to grab it, then turns around just long enough to say, "Fetch." He folded the card up into a mini airplane, faster than I thought possible, and threw it far up into the sky.

Just a hop, skip and a jump, and we were soaring over the walls. Up into the midnight sky, and I caught the tiny airplane in mid jump, spinning around and flinging it again. Farther and farther we went, like rocket ships, sailing above the city. Unseen by the late night community that scattered on the streets below. Our laughter was heard like the distant howls of ghosts.

We stood on the water front buildings, over looking the sea. Wind blew salt across my face, and the water rumbled angrily. Felix threw the little plane, and it sailed across the waves. It did a tiny flip, then sunk right into the dark depths.

"No! You have to save it. It's going to drown," I whined at him.

"No time. You're going to be late for practice. We have to head back."

"I'm not going back until you get me my airplane. It's the seven of hearts. We can't play without a complete deck."

"I'll get you a new deck."

"I like this deck, and that specific card. It now holds memories, and you can't replace memories."

"You can get it yourself."

"You're the one who threw it."

He grumbled, but then ran off into the thrashing water. I jumped off the building and sat down on a bench on the boardwalk. And that's when I heard it. Barely audible over the noise of waves. A foot crunch the sandy ground, right behind me.

A/n

So..An actual cliff hanger. I actually did it..wow...

QUICK tell me your predictions for the next chapter!