AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

52| OPIA

Embry continued to stare up at the house, shifting his body weight on his legs as Callas blinked, breathing in deeply. Edward moved away from her again as she slowly stepped away from the window, making her way out the room. The white painted walls had some paintings hanging up in delicately detailed, golden frames, and two that Callas passed were long and relatively thin. On the left-hand wall, there was a blue coloured painting, it was pale, with light, pale colours of yellow, blue, green, and beige. It was a blue sky with a blue lake, a small pale mountain in the background covering most of the top half of the painting with a small wooden dinghy floating alone on the water. On the right-hand wall, it was a red painting, much darker, it didn't form a vivid picture, but instead had violent, harsh, thick swipes of reds, blacks, and dark greys, although mostly red. A complete polar opposite to the painting on the other wall. Callas assumed that there was some irony in the painting that Carlisle saw, giving him motive to leave them so close yet on completely different sides of the house where only one had light shining on it—the blue one. She slowly descended down the wooden stairs, holding onto the railing as her boots echoed with small thuds on each step, the aglets of her undone laces were left tapping the wood.

As her feet touched the ground, her eyes wandered over the rooms, or—what was—the open planned space of the house on one side. In one corner, by the front of the house, there was an area that jutted out at an angle with a large dining table—although Callas knew it was never used unless Renesmee, Jacob, or Seth were around. Maybe they used it. There was another part that caught her eye, as it was small and stowed away in one of the smaller corners of the room, before the kitchen wall separated the room, with three walls, that had bookshelves along the two opposite walls, a fireplace opposite the large open space in between with a large, seemingly newly painted, picture hanging on top of it. There was a small, fluffy, white rug in front of the fireplace, a wooden table in front of that and two dark green armchairs either side facing towards the rest of the house. Callas continued to walk straight through the kitchen until she stood in another room by the decking doors. They were large—ceiling sized—doors, with a dark mahogany coloured frame and clean glass windows. Callas unlocked one of them, opening it up before she stepped out, silently glad that she wore a jumper and her father's flight jacket as she felt the cold bite of the wind instantly.

Her dark baggy jeans, tucked into her boots, didn't have any hole in, but she did feel the cold on her legs as she noticed Embry wearing jean shorts, trainers, and a loose shirt. She got the feeling that he didn't drive up to Forks in his mum's truck. Callas wrapped her arms around herself, slowly walking towards the steps, taking in the large plant pots with bright coloured flowers. There were unused vases and large brown jugs around some parts of the deck as well, a set of chairs and a table were off to the side too, underneath a small cover. She turned her gaze back towards the house, seeing another sitting room through the glass. Another large painting of what looked like the forest and a large broken tree trunk hung across one of the walls, with a large grey carpet, two single brown leather chairs with a small table in between them, another large white sofa opposite them with a glass table separating them, and in front of the painting there was another sofa, a mixture of leather and fabric with two pillows while a lounge chair was in front of the window. She wondered how they were even able to afford the house with so many modern and expensive items, but it was probably best she didn't ask.

Turning back, she noticed Embry hadn't moved. With a sigh, she walked towards the steps and steadily made her way down them, keeping some distance between the two of them. "The cockroach said you wanted to talk."

"Who?"

"The cockroach."

"The character from Cerebus the Aardvark?"