A gorgeous group walked together in pairs down the busy sidewalk. Drawing eyes from all directions as they moved—the eldest appearing couple in the lead. The man held his arm out to escort his wife. They moved gracefully forward with gentle smiles.
A group of teens followed the couple. Two fierce-looking women who held hands and kept their faces ahead as though everything was beneath them. The blond kept a blank look while the brunette smirked slightly. Just behind the two women was a tall blond male giving a petite brunette female a piggyback ride. The male had a small, doting smile while the female hid her face in his shoulder while she laughed. And behind them all were two tall male teens who were discussing whether or not aliens could exist. The other teens in front would join in with their opinions on occasion. This was also why the petite brunette kept laughing. The discussion was getting reasonably intense, which made it funnier.
"We shouldn't be doing this. We should be keeping a low profile at all times," Rosalie finally interrupted the discussion. This statement caused groans to erupt from all the other teens.
"You've been such a buzzkill since that warning! It was just a little reminder. We're always good anyways," Emmett grumbled.
"He's right," Esme said with a small smile as she stopped to look up at Rosalie. She affectionately held her cheek, "You're too hard on yourself and your siblings. We always play it safe. No one has ever gotten too close to suspect anything. Alice and Edward make sure of it. We don't draw attention." She said with a reassuring smile.
The family looked at her incredulously as they looked around them at the New Yorkers currently gawking at them while pretending not to.
"Well, we can't help it if we look good," Esme rolled her eyes, "This amount of attention is normal. They don't think anything else of it," she defended and rejoined Carlisle, who only chuckled at her response.
The family accepted that answer.
"Baby, they're right. You've been too worried. We've been good. You deserve to have fun every once in a while. Relax. This is just a little vacation in The Big Apple. There is so much going on at all times that people won't remember us," Serafina said as she released Rosalie's hand and put her arm around her waist, bringing her closer. She then kissed her cheek, "Please? I've shown you my home. You still haven't shown me yours. We can stay a few extra days after our nerdy little trip to the museum."
"Hey!" Jasper exclaimed in offense.
"You brought us to a museum, Jazz. It's educational. That makes it nerdy," Serafina explained.
"No, no, no! It's not that bad! It's a pirate exhibit! It's not like we're learning at an actual museum!" Emmett defended as he covered his eye with his hand, "Argh matey!"
Strangely, even Edward grinned as he gave an "argh" back. The whole group laughed as they all tried their hands at being pirates. Serafina even did her own as she crooked her finger in a faux pirate hook and poked Rosalie in her belly. They all waited for it.
Rosalie finally laughed and gave them all an "argh" back, allowing them to continue to the museum happily.
"Jazz told me this is a special exhibit they're putting on after discovering a lady pirate! That's exciting, right?" Alice said from her position on Jasper's back.
"Really? A woman pirate? That is exciting!" Esme commented.
"Amazing. She must have been remarkable to get her men's respect," Carlisle commented.
"A tough S.O.B.," Emmett agreed.
"I'm curious to see what they found. A lady pirate is pretty impressive," Edward agreed.
The family entered the museum and checked their coats. Then, they stopped to figure out their game plan. They debated whether to start clockwise, counter-clockwise, or go straight to the main event, which was advertised as the lady pirate.
"We should split up. I don't want to keep hearing about how bored those two are," Edward gestured with his chin toward Serafina and Rosalie.
Rosalie was currently looking at a loose thread in Serafina's sweater. She was trying to decide whether to pull it out or not but wasn't sure if it would cause a bigger problem. She was just about to ask Esme's opinion when Edward made that comment. She and Serafina both looked up at him and glared.
"We didn't even say anything!" Rosalie scoffed.
"You didn't have to say anything," Edward said, giving the two a knowing look.
'Fuckin' stupid,' Serafina thought.
"See, that right there," Edward gestured to Serafina, "You thinking that about the exhibit, I can do without that."
Serafina looked him square in the eye, "I wasn't thinking that about the exhibit." She said with a large mocking smile now covering her face. Standing just behind her, Rosalie couldn't help looking over Serafina's shoulder to give Edward a mocking grin of her own. She could only imagine what Serafina thought, but considering Serafina's reaction, she could guess.
Edward frowned as he turned away from the couple.
Esme quickly shut the two down with a look, "Sorry," Serafina said to Esme. Looking at Edward with narrowed eyes, she said, "Then you go to the left. And we'll go to the right."
"I'll go with you, Ed!" Emmett practically shouted as he jumped to Edward's side when he noticed Rosalie signal Esme. The two women were now looking over the loose thread. He didn't want to be delayed. He just wanted to look at the exhibit.
"We'll go ahead!" Alice said with a smile. She had already dropped from Jasper's back and now skipped ahead with Emmett as Jasper and Edward followed.
Esme deftly pulled the thread without affecting the rest of the sweater. Rosalie gave a sigh of relief that the sweater wasn't damaged. She gave a grateful smile to her mother.
"Now, you girls better not do this on your own. You can make it worse by doing that. But Mama knows her clothes," Esme winked.
"Thanks, Mom!" Serafina smiled.
"Well, ladies? Shall we?" Carlisle asked as he offered his arm to his wife and looked at his two daughters.
"Actually, I think we will start from the other direction. I don't want to end up smacking Edward," Serafina pointed in the opposite direction of the others.
"We'll meet at the main event later," Carlisle nodded as he and Esme walked away.
"Why are we starting in that direction?" Rosalie asked.
"Because I saw a closed-off staircase. I think the upstairs of this place is empty, and we can have some fun up there," Serafina whispered in Rosalie's ear as she gave her ear a light nip.
Rosalie gave a low gasp as she looked back at Sera, "All right, but we can't go all the way! We have to be quick. We have to meet the others later." The two smiled as they snuck away.
Thirty minutes later, the family, minus the female couple, finally made it to the main event. They were all slack-jawed at the sight. There were many artifacts on display to support this pirate queen theory. But they knew better. They just didn't know what to make of it.
"But," Emmett began.
"This isn't true," Edward mumbled.
"I believe it!" Alice said with a laugh.
"No, she wouldn't," Jasper said firmly.
"We'll just have to wait until they get here to ask," Carlisle said.
"They've been a while," Esme said while looking at her watch, "I wonder how she's going to take this."
The two women in question came over while giggling. They didn't know why their family stared at a particular exhibit, looking immensely confused. But they didn't care. Rosalie tried to act nonchalant about their tardiness.
Before Rosalie could make an excuse, she was abruptly cut off by Emmett, "No one believes you. We all know you two were off somewhere sucking face. We don't care. But Serafina, you'd tell us if you were a pirate, right?"
Rosalie was embarrassed for only a moment before Emmett's question completely threw her off. Rosalie moved over to join Emmett's side as she looked at the exhibit, but her jaw dropped as the others had. Then she turned her gaze to Sera.
Serafina wasn't embarrassed. Only confused. "What pendejadas are you talking about?" she asked as she went to the front of the exhibit, where her own jaw dropped. But the shock was quickly replaced by sadness. But even the sadness only lasted momentarily before her anger erupted.
"That's my stuff!" Serafina growled out.
The humans around subconsciously stepped back from the gorgeous group, deciding to wait until they cleared off before checking out the exhibit themselves.
"You were a pirate queen?" Jasper asked incredulously.
"No! That's just my stuff!" she said in annoyance. She almost reached out to break the glass, but Rosalie could see her intentions at a glance and immediately held her back.
The trunk she had stashed away near the docks in Mexico was displayed. She had forgotten to return for it after she made it home more than a hundred years before. The dresses the queens gifted her were all placed on mannequins. There were two gold bars with her brand placed on them. She didn't want to travel carrying them, so she only melted down a few to carry on her person, along with some precious stones.
Her anger dissipated when she realized there were too many witnesses to do a smash-and-grab there and then. The sadness came back. She explained to the others how her things had shown up there.
"Well, okay, but what about that door? They say it came from a ship sunk in the Yucatán Channel. How did that symbol get there?" Carlisle asked.
A large wooden door was off to the side as a decorative piece. It was remarkably well preserved. The sign's explanation stated it was because that part of the ship had sunk deeper and was quickly covered by sand, protecting it from rotting underwater with the rest of the ship, and only the captain's quarters had survived.
She recognized the door. It was the one she had threatened the ship's captain with. Her mark was clear as day on it. The flame with wings surrounded by the heart. Yes, this was her work, alright. How did the door get there?
"Where is that channel again?" she asked curiously. She wasn't a fan of geography.
"It's between Mexico and Cuba," Emmett said. He was a fan of geography. He had a new hobby of his own now. The family had begun watching X-Files as a family a few years prior. And although they hadn't had a Bigfoot episode yet, Emmett still believed. He would now leave on occasion to travel in hopes of seeing one.
"Between Mexico and Cuba?" Serafina mumbled. She then looked to the others, "I didn't sink his ship. It was just a threat. I don't know who did that. But I was never a pirate. I only chartered his ship the one time from Italy," she shrugged. She wasn't in the mood to explain things further. She was upset about her stuff.
She looked around a bit more at the items in the exhibit. They had even put the large stone marker in there. She had placed the marker to remind her where she hid the trunk. It was also used to block the opening where she hid the trunk. No one should've been able to discern what it was or what was hidden behind. It was nearly five hundred pounds. And her symbol that she carved on it was small. It wasn't something that would've been noticed with a glance. How did they find it? How did they move it? She clenched her jaw as she kept glaring.
Rosalie watched her expressions change with worry. As did her family. They weren't sure if she'd blow up at any minute. They constantly changed from watching Serafina to Alice and Edward.
Serafina finally froze as her expression changed to a look of horror. But when they looked at the others, Alice was still reviewing her vision. In contrast, Edward couldn't help his chuckles. When they looked at him, he had a wide grin, "she just remembered she had a few other stashes scattered around Mexico from other trips she had done before. She's scared they might have been touched, too."
Alice shook Serafina's hand to draw her attention once she returned to herself, "I saw you get to a few spots, and your stuff was still there. You'll be fine."
Serafina didn't look much better. She gave Rosalie a pleading look, who immediately brought her in for a hug. Rosalie knew her mate had an unhealthy obsession with her treasures. But she turned to her family, "We're going to go get her stuff. We'll have to do a New York trip some other time."
"Ooh! Can I go? Maybe I can find Bigfoot down south?" Emmett asked excitedly.
Rosalie and Serafina gave each other a devious look. It was quick, too quick for the others to catch. Then they innocently looked at Emmett, "Yeah, of course! Let's go!" Rosalie smiled.
After the three hugged the others for a quick farewell, Emmett pumped his fist in victory as he waved goodbye to the family and happily followed behind the two women. The family watched suspiciously but waited until the three left before turning to Edward. They might not have seen the look the two women gave each other, but they still knew each of their characters.
Edward rolled his eyes, "They took him to carry their stuff."
The family nodded in understanding as they went back to enjoying the exhibit. Alice and Edward weren't concerned, so they knew the three would be fine. They would just have to wait for them to finish their treasure hunt.