AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

51| LEARNING ABOUT THE NOMAD

Reed looked away. "Jesus," he hissed in anger. "Then what happened?"

"Then..." Callas paused. "A-Are you asking as my brother or an officer?"

"Does it matter? Either way, it's my job to make sure you're safe."

"I guess so." Callas looked back down to the ground. "I then looked to the door, seeing it was unlocked and slightly open when it was definitely locked before. Nothing was out of place... but my computer was on. There were three documents. One of them was a typed message from Will. The other was different tabs on folklore, specifically vampires."

"And the other one?"

"Just an article... I didn't read it." Callas made sure to keep her heart beat levelled, so they wouldn't know she was lying. There was a time and place for everything, but talking about their mother's death wasn't exactly something she wanted to talk about right now. She would, of course, at some point when it was just the two of them, but she wasn't going to talk about it in front of her friends and strangers.

"What did the message say?" Jacob asked after Callas's pause.

"Just for me to remember, that I know, but I need to 'think very hard', and something about him not making me forget everything?"

Edward sighed. "That explains why I couldn't hear everything."

"Excuse me?"

"When I read your mind, before, part of it was fuzzy... now I know why."

"Could you maybe tell the rest of us who don't?"

"It's simple really. Will must have told you things before, or maybe you already knew them, but he compelled you to forget, or at least block them from coming back to the surface. I won't be able to read them unless either you do remember them, or he makes you remember."

Reed tilted his head. "What if there was a reason he made her forget? Like, to keep her sane? Alive? What if remembering does more damage than what's already been done to her? She's already seen him heal before she knew anything about our world."

Edward stood up. "There's only one way to answer that and know for sure."

Callas sighed. "I'm going to have to remember."

Edward nodded. "But you won't have to do it on your own."

"Thanks..."

Seth nudged her arm. "Anything else creepy happen?" She could tell he didn't really want to ask that, but it was necessary.

Callas looked from him to Reed, gulping. "What?" He asked.

"When I went back into the bathroom, one of your police files was in the sink."

"You read one of my confidential police reports?" Reed placed his elbows on his knees as he sat forward, linking his fingers together tightly.

"No. No." She shook her head quickly. "But Will might have. He stuck a police picture of the scene on the mirror. I only saw the date and knew it was Henry's case. I put the picture back, I didn't look at anything, I promise," Callas rushed out, wanting nothing more than Reed to believe her.

"You sure?"

She nodded again. "I wouldn't have been able to read your handwriting anyway."

Reed sighed. "That doesn't make this any better, Cal."

"No. I know. But I just need you to know that I wouldn't read anything I wasn't meant to, definitely not something that involves you or your work."

"Okay." Reed nodded.

"But that's not all." Callas winced.

Reed breathed through his nose deeply. "What else happened?"

"Will was in my room, standing behind me."

"Of course, he was," Reed muttered. "That bloodsucking freak is going to pay."

Callas winced again. "And—"

"And?" Reed interrupted loudly.

"Yeah..."

"Okay." Reed sighed. "'And' what?"

"I almost fell off the side of the cliff, by the beach."

Reed's eyes widened. "What did Will do to you?"

Callas pulled a face. "He didn't do anything per say, he only watched as I was almost run over by a truck."

"Why am I not surprised. You okay?"

"Just a few cuts and bruises, nothing I can't handle."

"You're unbelievable."

Callas let out a sigh, staying silent after his comment. Jacob and Reed already started talking about ways of getting to Will, but in the back of her mind, she knew their attempts were pointless and wasted. Will wouldn't allow himself to slip up and be caught by anyone he didn't want to be caught by. Bella stood up and left the room, and Callas could see that she began to talk with Carlisle and Esme while Emmett, Rosalie, and Renesmee were elsewhere in the house. She remembered that Jasper and Alice were out hunting, so they wouldn't be there anyway. She stood up, blocking out the others as Edward and Seth joined in the conversation with Jacob and Reed. Callas knew she wouldn't have anything important to say to them, she had only just been introduced to the world less than twenty-four hours ago—her eyes were now open and the world seemed a lot bigger than before, which terrified her. Her feet dragged along the carpet, towards one of the walls where she looked at some of the pictures in the frames. Some looked old and stained, ripped and crinkled, and definitely not of this time period. She moved along to stand in front of the other bookshelf that was in front of the piano.

After everyone else began talking, possibly coming up with a solidified plan, Callas stood still, looking at the spines of the books. "Someone wants to talk to you," Edward spoke behind her, causing her to jump and turn around to face him. He motioned his head to the window. Callas walked over and saw Embry step out from the tree line, looking up at the house.