The sun was streaming in when my eyes opened next. And Carlisle's hand was no longer on my arm. Esme's gentle humming was no longer next to my ear.
Sitting up, I looked nervously around the room. In the darkness the night before, I hadn't been able to take in my surroundings. The room seemed fairly simple- while it had a dresser, a sidetable, a bookshelf, and even a desk, there seemed to be very few sentimental objects in the room. There were no framed pictures or little trinkets on the shelves. It looked sort of...bare.
As quietly as I could, I slid out of the bed. Sneaking towards the door, I hesitated. Would it squeak when I pushed it open? Would the doorknob make a clicking sound?
So, so slowly, I opened the door. Just barely enough for me to squeeze through. It was completely silent. Holding my breath, I quickly crossed the hall and reached for the doorknob to Mato and Takoda's bedroom. I would feel much braver once they were beside me.
A hand fell on my shoulder and I jumped, yelping as I spun around. A blonde woman was behind me, her hazel eyes widening at my reaction.
"Shh, it's alright, Hun. The boys are still asleep- come to the kitchen so we can get you some food."
No.
The word was caught in my throat as the woman put her hands on my shoulders and guided me down the hall. I glanced back at the room my friends were in, hoping my quiet yelp had woken them up. But this was a vampire's house- the walls were likely very well sound-proofed. And the door stayed closed.
There was counter with tall chairs that I was guided towards. I sat down stiffly, watching as the woman pulled a container out from the fridge. "I'm Kate," She greeted. "Carlisle is something of a cousin to me, I suppose. Renesmee used to call me Aunty, but you can just call me by name, if you prefer. Or Ms. Kate. Whatever makes you more comfortable."
I nodded. She took the lid off the container and handed it to me with a spoon. Despite my nerves, I smiled. It was one of Esme's breakfast parfaits- complete with oats, yogurt and berries. She must have made some food for me before she left. A little taste of home.
I was mostly silent as I ate, keeping my eyes wearily on the woman in front of me. She didn't look mean. She had a constant smile on her face.
"Elody and Tanya will be back soon," she promised. "They made a run to get more human food. Carlisle said those boys eat quite a bit. You don't seem to be the same way."
Looking down, I realized I had only taken a couple of nibbles. Though I didn't usually eat a lot in general, I was even less hungry now that I was alone with a stranger. It left me with a twisty, bubbly anxiety in my tummy.
"So what sort of things do you like to do?" Kate asked, trying to make conversation.
For some reason, this felt like a trick question. So I just shrugged. "I don't know," I answered softly. "Anything."
"Do you like to play or read or write?"
At least now I had options to choose from. "I like to play," I announced. I watched to see her reaction, wondering if that was the correct response. Maybe she only liked children who preferred reading and writing.
Kate smiled. "What sort of games do you like?"
Now this was a question I could answer easily. "I like dolls," I told her. "And also I like marbles. And tag. And hide-and-seek. And chalk. And Koda and Mato are teaching me to play soccer. I'm not that good at it, though. You have to kick the ball with the inside of your foot, but my foot always wants to do it with the front."
Though adults often found children's games boring, Kate kept her eyes on me as I spoke. I went quiet, realizing I might be rambling. Once again, I wished that Koda and Mato would wake up. They never cared if I rambled.
"Are you all done eating?" Kate asked, and I nodded. She put the lid back of the parfait and placed it back in the fridge for me to finish later. "Follow me," she called, heading out of the kitchen. I did so obediently, but came to a stop at the scary looking stairs she was trying to lead me towards.
Seeing my hesitation, Kate glanced back at me. "Come on, Honey. This just goes up to the attic. I want to show you something."
The attic? She wanted to take me up to the attic? But attics were dark and dusty and creepy! That was the last place that I wanted to go. But her eyes were still on me, so I just said , "yes, ma'am" and unwillingly followed her up the steep wooden stairs.
She's going to murder me. I'm definitely dead.
Once we actually made it up to the attic, I realized it wasn't so bad. Except for the giant trunks, that probably had bodies stuffed inside. But there were big windows that brought in light, and no webs or spiders in sight. I didn't even see a layer of dust over everything. It actually looked... sort of pretty.
Kate led me to one of the trunks and opened it. I flinched, but sighed in relief when there was no decomposing body stuffed inside. She pulled out a basket and placed it on top of the chest. "Here we are," she said, pulling out a few of the wooden objects inside. "These are some of the toys my sisters and I played with back when we were children. Take a look and see if there's anything you fancy."
Toys? These bland, wooden objects were toys? My eyes immediately went to a doll, the only pop of color, and I reached for that. It had a faded blue dress on and curly blonde hair. Kate smiled. "That was my Mother's," she informed me. "She passed it to my eldest sister, and it then became mine."
Uh-oh. "Sorry," I said, rushing to put it back. But she shook her head at me.
"Go on," she urged, pushing it back into my arms. "It was meant to be played with. Not to sit in a wooden carrier for centuries. I'm sure you'll appreciate it far more than me."
I stared down at the porcelain doll in awe. It hadn't been used so long ago- by children from a different century. It had survived a whole different world. "Thank you," I said to Kate, carefully cradling the doll to my chest. "What's her name?"
Smiling, Kate reached for the basket. "Her name is Mary. But you may rename her if you want."
Shaking my head, I smiled down at the doll. "No, I like it. She looks like a Mary."
Kate led me back down the stairs and showed me to the living room. It had massive windows, but unlike the Cullens house, actually had curtains. She placed the basket of old toys down on the wooden floor for me to play with, and sat on a white chair to watch me.
Okay, so she wasn't so bad, after all.
For a while, I just played with the doll and blocks. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I finally asked her how to use the other toys. One was a spinning top, and you had to wind a rope around it to make it work. And another was a ball connected to a cup- the goal was to throw the ball into the cup. But my favorite was a button with a string looping through it. When the string was spun around and then pulled tight, the button would spin wildly.
Eventually, Mato and Koda made their way out of their bedroom. Mato looked sort of grumpy, so I assumed that Koda had woken him up as he climbed out of bed. They were both still in pajamas, too, and came to kneel beside me.
It was nice to know more than them, for once. Usually Mato and Koda were the ones teaching me games, and not the other way around. But I got to show them how to use these old toys. Mato was really good with the spinning top.
The front door opened and I froze. Mato and Koda didn't seem concerned at first, but Koda noticed my sudden stiffness and elbowed Mato. Both of their eyes fell on me before moving over to see who had entered.
Two more women entered the room- one of them had blonde hair that looked almost identical to Kate's. The other girl had curly ginger hair. They each had a bunch of groceries in their arms, but weren't struggling with them.
"Hello, Takoda. Mato." The blonde woman greeted. Then her eyes moved to me and I quickly glanced away.
She set her bags down on the floor and kneeled down in front of me. "Hi, Camellia," She said softly, ducking her head to meet my eyes. "I'm Tanya. I'm very glad to meet you."
Her hand was extended out to me, and while I hadn't shaken many hands, at least I now knew what I was supposed to do. So I placed my hand in hers and awkwardly shook it.
"Carlisle said you were nervous about coming here, but they'll be back soon. And there is nothing to worry about, Darling. Alright?" Tanya kept her voice incredibly gentle as she addressed me.
I nodded, embarrassed that she was acknowledging my fears in front of everyone.
Kate and Tanya both stood to carry the groceries to the kitchen, leaving only the girl with ginger hair with us. She was ignoring us, so I ignored her, too. I saw no reason to draw unwanted attention.
Koda didn't think exactly the same as me- he had always been far more extroverted. "Hi," He greeted happily, leaning to the side to see her past Mato. "I'm Takoda. This is Mato and Ammie. Are you Elody?"
She glanced at us as she took off her coat and put it into the closet. "Um- yeah. Hey."
I elbowed Koda. Clearly she didn't want to talk, and would not appreciate the invitation to play with us that I was sure he would offer next. She may have only been fifteen, but apparently that was old enough to not want to interact with children. Koda looked at me in confusion, but seemed to take the hint. Elody walked right past us, not even glancing at our toys.
Mato's eyes met mine. He was glaring. 'I don't like her,' he mouthed, no sound actually leaving his lips. I just shrugged. She hadn't been mean exactly... she just hadn't seemed too interested in playing with us. Maybe she was too old to like the same things as us.
But as the day went on, Elody's attitude seemed to get worse and worse. At first she just ignored us. Then that progressed into annoyed glances. And then she stood up and went to hide away in her room, only coming out to mutter to Tanya that we were being too loud. Then Tanya would tell her that we were being as quiet as children could be, and she would sulk back to her bedroom.
Each time, Mato's would turn to look at me as he rolled his eyes. Once, he forgot to wait for Elody to turn away and she saw. She had narrowed her eyes as my cheeks flamed, but Mato was far bolder than me- he had just met her stare with a cheeky grin.
I was sure that wouldn't earn us any points in her book. It was probably best to just avoid her. Which wasn't hard, with how much time she was spending in her room. It seemed any noise, from a giggle to a rolling marble, irritated her.
Tanya told us that Elody had been changed young, and the 'moody teenager' phase had stuck. But Renesmee was eternally frozen at about eighteen, which was a teenager, and she didn't act like that. I was convinced that it was just within Elody's personality to be so grouchy.
The day passed smoothly enough- we mostly played inside, since it was freezing outside. We briefly ventured outdoors to make snowmen, but the snow was frozen and hard. That meant most of our day was spent playing hide-and-seek in the house, or rummaging through the basket of old toys. Koda and I wanted to play with our stuffed animals, but Mato didn't have one. And he didn't seem too interested in using the doll that had been gifted to me.
The sun seemed to set much later in Alaska. It was still high up in the sky when Tanya called me to take a bath. It almost felt like the afternoon. Esme had told Tanya and Kate that I needed to be supervised in the bath, which was embarrassing. I didn't want them to think that I was a little baby. But Tanya at least allowed me to do most of the stuff by myself, and only stepped in if I needed help.
Which didn't work too well. Esme had always given me my baths, so I got shampoo in my eye. And couldn't reach the end of my hair to lather it with conditioner. And apparently missed a lot of spots as I washed myself with the washcloth.
Baths were hard.
I asked if I could sleep on the floor in Koda and Mato's bedroom, but Tanya said no and tucked me into bed all alone. "We cleared up this room just for you," she told me, pulling the covers up around me. "You must be tired of having to share a room with a boy. Girls need their privacy."
Privacy? From Koda? He was maybe the one person in the world I didn't feel like I needed it from. I was his imprint, so he would be anything I wanted. And I wanted him to be my best friend. So he would never even consider being anything else.
Tanya turned off the light and closed the door before I could tell her as much.
Carlisle had packed the nightlight for me, but I had forgotten to ask Tanya to plug it in. And I wasn't supposed to touch outlets myself. But the sun was still high, and the curtains here were not as thick as the ones in my bedroom back home. Little rays of sunlight made their way in, illuminating the room.
But why was the closet door cracked open? Why did the house make little noises so often? Why did the shadow from outside seem to create a twisty hand on the wall?
I tried to brave it. I really did. It was still unclear if Tanya would be as strict as my parents if I broke a rule. And the last thing I wanted was to get into trouble with my Aunts, or with Carlisle when he returned to a bad report of my behavior.
But then there was a creaking sound from somewhere in the house. And suddenly I was out of bed, quickly making my way to the door. I threw my own bedroom door open, and then the one across the hall. I shut it behind me quickly, before any vampires could appear and try to grab me.
Koda and Mato were in the same bed, but as far apart as possible. That was probably a restriction that Mato had set up. But whatever the cause, it worked well for me. I scurried into bed between them, my shoulders pressed against theirs. Two people fit into this bed easily. With three, it was a little squished.
Both of the boys appeared to be sound asleep as the bedroom door creaked open. I quickly shut my eyes and pretended to be sleeping, too. I felt fingers move the hair away from my eyes, and then someone- Tanya, I thought- sighed. I waited for her to scold me, or even pick me up and carry me back to bed. But a second later, I felt a blanket being placed over me and the door closed.
There was a little chuckle beside me, and I opened my eyes to see Mato shaking his head. "If you don't want your own room, I'll take it, Sticks."
I stuck my tongue out at him, cuddling into the warmth that being between two werewolves provided. Nobody needed their own room. This was just like a sleepover- it was fun and happy and safe and warm.
It was perfect.