Eden watched Bella groggily wake. When the mind-reader had gotten home, Bella unlocked the door to let her in before continuing to slam her pillow onto her head and drown out any other noise in the room. Eden figured that she would update her in the morning. From the other side of the room, she had been able to hear the bass-boosted track connected to Bella's CD player and old, pink headphones.
There was an odd uncertainness to her, a tense feeling that her cousin so obviously didn't want to think about. Regardless of whether or not Eden could read her mind, she knew when something was wrong with her. Eden herself had been woken a few minutes before to the girl's whimpering and shifting in her sleep; so much so that when Bella had woken, the CD player clattered to the ground as her headphone chord was pulled out of the device.
"You alright, Bella?" Eden called softly when her cousin's breathing had calmed down enough for her to kick off her boots and untie her braid.
"Nightmare. You wouldn't even believe the things that Jacob told me, E," Bella mumbled, tugging off her obviously uncomfortable jeans and refusing to sit up vertically. She untied her braid, ripping the hair tie out and combing through the plait with her slim fingers. "'Scary stories' he told me. Scary stories, my ass. He gave me more questions than answers."
Eden frowned slightly, for once wishing that she were more caught up with Bella's life in forks. "Whose Jacob?"
"Black. His dad gave me the truck, we used to make mud pies together or something when we were younger," Bella explained, frowning slightly as she glanced at the pillow from her laying position. "We went for a walk on the beach at La Push, he lives at the reservation and goes to school there and stuff. But anyway, he told me all about these legends with the tribes down there."
"Huh. Is he cute?"
Her cousin gawked at her for a moment, before glancing down with an almost guilty expression. "I guess so. But I think he has a crush on me, I barely had to smile before he agreed to tell me them."
"You flirted with him?" Eden snorted a giggle, teasing her. "I didn't think you had it in you. What do the legends say anyway?"
"You won't believe it, but Jacob seemed to. Apparently, they're all descended from wolves. And the Cullens- well, they were mentioned too, I guess." Bella's voice was taken down to a small mutter, and Eden felt a twinge of concern. It was obvious that it wasn't the full story, and she was nervous for a moment that Bella would go too far in. If the legends the boy had mentioned were right about the Cullens, what was stopping the legends about the wolves or the vampires themselves from being exposed?
Before Eden could respond, her cousin stood quickly, swaying shortly as the blood rushed downwards. She grabbed her bathroom bag from the desk, muttered a short goodbye and told Eden that she was going to shower.
The mind-reader frowned, tugging a blanket over her shoulders and sitting up, folding her legs. She ran her fingers through her thick, dark brown hair and glanced at the clock sitting in the middle of their desk. 5:34am, Sunday. She groaned and fell back into her bed.
The ride back from Goat Rocks, on both Edward's back and the silver Volvo, had been pleasant. She had napped for around half an hour once in the safety of the heated car after hours spent wandering around the forest and watching Edward hunt. The sun had been a welcome warmth, and Eden never got over the luminosity that came from his skin. Her mind flickered back to the near kiss they had as the shower turned on, and she blushed. They weren't dating, but nearly every part of her wished they were. The vampire had yet to tell her why his family had accepted her so quickly, even with the disgust plain written on Rosalie's face whenever she passed any other human and Jasper's newly turned senses. He had reminded her on the trip back when Eden had asked: she would be told when she was ready, and it seemed that Edward would be the judge of that time.
Eden tried to fight rising thoughts. Why her? What made Eden so special? Besides the mind-reading, she was a normal girl, just as lost as anyone else in the gloomy town. It wasn't a secret that Edward could theoretically ask out any girl in the school, and she hadn't missed Jessica's jealous thoughts as the light brown-haired girl remembered asking out Edward at least twice. And yet, Edward had held her hand, had held her, had chased her through the school, and left her a giggling, breathless mess. It was Edward that liked her.
It was clear that Bella's shower didn't last as long as she had hoped it would, as the sound of the hairdryer came as an extra distraction. It was another one of the moments that Eden wished so fervently that she could read the girl's mind; she'd be able to help, to understand her spiraling thoughts. When Bella returned, she was dressed in soft grey sweats and went about silently making her bed.
"Now it's getting weird, you never make your bed," Eden commented suddenly, frowning. "What's up?"
"It's just... the legends-" Bella lowered her voice, and glanced at the closed door, "-kind of make sense."
Eden's frowned deepened, and she fiddled with her sleeve. "You don't actually believe that stuff, right? They're just stories."
Bella hummed quietly in response. She announced softly that she would be getting a bowl of cereal, and Eden chimed shortly in to ask for a banana. Bella smiled for the first time that morning. Before the girl left the room, Bella shuffled to the old desk in the middle of the room that separated their beds and switched on the old computer. Eden had heard from Charlie's thoughts and complaints about the speed of the internet in the house, or the lack thereof.
Sluggishly, Bella returned and passed the banana. She ate her cereal in slow, careful bites, glancing out the window and responding only distractedly when Eden made an attempt to make conversation. She offered to take her cousin's bowl and slipped downstairs. Charlie wasn't home, and a short glance out of the curtained window told her that his cruiser was gone. Likely for fishing, but Eden hadn't had the chance to hear. Eden washed the bowl with quiet diligence, effortlessly throwing away the banana peel and enjoying the quiet hum of the house. It wasn't that she didn't like Charlie being home, but there was a certain appeal to the peace.
When the girl returned, her cousin was sitting on the wooden chair in front of the computer, the CD player and headphones stacked beside her. There was a quiet song playing, much different from the music that Eden had been able to hear from across the room the night before. The computer was opened to a search engine, a single word typed in, and the pop-ups that usually occurred already clicked away.
Vampire.
Bella sat impatiently tapping as the search loaded, Eden's frame was all but frozen in the doorframe. She moved slowly in, perching on the side of her already-made bed and silently thanking her cousin for making her bed.
"Bells-"
"Just- give me a second."
The dark-haired girl sifted through too many links, a mixture of movies, tv shows, underground metal music and gothic cosmetic companies. Her eyes narrowed in triumph when she found a promising site – Vampires A—Z. Tapping again, she waited for it to load, clicking away each add that came up. Eden didn't say anything, feeling her heart pound. The screen loaded with a plain white background and black text, almost academic-looking.
"'Throughout the vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such a fearful satisfaction, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious qualities of both.' A quote by... Reverend Montague Summers." Bella stared at Eden with an unreadable look.
Eden tried again. "Bella, I-"
"Let me read this."
The Danag flashed after another click of the mouse. It told a story of a creature that worked with humans for years until a woman cut her finger and a Danag sucked her wound, enjoying the taste so much that it drained her last drop of blood out of her. Bella kept scanning, clicking down the alphabetised list. The myths seemed to centre around beautiful women as demons and children as victims, and many of the stories mentioned bodiless spirits and warnings against improper burials. Three specific entries seemed to catch her attention, and the knot that had twisted so far into Eden's stomach only deepened. The Romanian Varacolaci was one, a powerful and undead being that could occur as a beautiful, pale-sinned human. The Slovak Nelapsi was a creature so fast and strong that it had the ability to massacre an entire village in a single hour after midnight. The Stregnoi benefici, however, contained only a single brief sentence.
Stregoni benefici: An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all evil vampires.
"There aren't only bad ones," Bella mumbled, no longer talking to her cousin. Regardless, Eden barely breathed. Bella continued, glancing back at the other girl. "Speed, strength, beauty, pale skin, eyes that shift colour. That's from the site. Jacob's stories add blood drinkers, enemies of the werewolf, cold-skinned and immortal. They don't match. Not properly, at least. And aren't they not supposed to come out in the day?"
Eden's eyes narrowed slightly. "Bella. What you're implying is serious."
"I'm trying to look out for you!"
"None of it matches. You're overthinking this. They're just stories."
It felt weird being anything but happy with Bella, Eden concluded. She didn't like it. Her cousin sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before aggravatingly turning off the computer at the main power switch.
"You're right. I'm sorry," Bella sighed again, a light blush dusting her cheeks. "I feel so stupid. It's this dumb town- no, it's the entire dumb Olympic Peninsula."
Eden stood, relief washing over her. She moved over to her cousin, uncharacteristically leaning over her back where Bella sat in the chair and wrapping her arms around her. "Let's just... Go for a walk. Get out of the house, you know?"
Bella nodded slightly, embarrassment plain on her face. The girls pulled on boots and an extra raincoat each, moving out the door. It was overcast outside, with the promise of rain all-too calling. They moved east on foot, dodging the dusty-red Chevy truck and angling across the yard towards the forest. Eden had taken the route before, and Edward's advice against walks in the woods washed over her for a moment before being pushed away. It wasn't long before the road and house were invisible from deep within the forest, and the silence was only broken by the constant squelching of damp earth and cries of jays high above.
Eden knew her cousin's sense of direction was hopeless, so she led the way across the thin ribbon of a trail leading deeper. The path snaked around the Sitka spruces and the hemlocks, the yews and maples. Bella pointed out each one with a small grin, telling her cousin that Charlie had noted them all to her in earlier days.
As Bella's anger ebbed away, so did her pace. Eden watched as she stepped over the ferns of a recently fallen tree, sitting carefully against a living tree resting aside it and making sure her jacket was between the damp seat and her clothes. Eden sat beside her.
"I shouldn't have come here," Bella admitted. "My nightmare last night happened in woods like these – too green."
There was a piercing silence. The birds quietened, and raindrops increased actively in frequency. Raining. Bella sat silently, absorbed in her thoughts. As much as Eden tried to get rid of the suspicion, she knew what her cousin was thinking about. The Cullens being vampires.
Eden slept dreamlessly that night, worry twisting through her and exhaustion from waking early hitting her. It was sunny outside, and Bella woke shortly after. The other girl skipped to the window quickly, feeling warm sunlight hit her face.
"Not a cloud in the sky," Bella declared with a grin. She pulled open the window, sucking in the relatively dry air. "Nearly warm, too."
Charlie was finishing breakfast when the girls descended the stairs, picking up on Bella's heightened mood immediately. "Nice day out," he commented, and Bella agreed.
He responded with a pleasant smile, his thoughts telling Eden that he hoped she would enjoy the warmth alongside Bells. It was easy to see why Charlie and Bella's mother Renee had married quickly, Eden mused. It was easy to see how he could've been a young romantic.
With a bit of elbow grease, Bella and Eden managed to open both windows of the truck, and they ended up being earlier than a lot of the other students. The girls moved towards the seldom-used picnic benches on the south side of the cafeteria and sat down with their jackets underneath them.
Eden knew that Edward nor the rest of his family wouldn't come that day, and having confirmed that she could sit with Bella's group, Eden knew she would spend the morning glued to her cousin's side.
"Bella, Eden! Hey!" Mike called, and the girls turned to see the boy coming towards them in khaki shorts and a ripped Rugby shirt, waving.
Charming, Eden snorted mentally.
"Hey, Mike," Bella greeted, waving back full-heartedly and her good mood keeping her up.
Mike's thoughts rung clearly. See, she likes me. She wouldn't smile like that if she didn't. I bet she wanted to go to the dance with me. I wonder what's so important in Seattle...
Tidy spikes of his hair shone golden in the sunlight, a grin etched on his face with a pure delight on catching Bella. He sat on Bella's left, and she angled her body so she could talk to the both of them.
"Morning Mike," Eden said politely, though she didn't get as much of a greeting as he nodded shortly.
The boy leaned towards Bella, catching a strand of her hair that had been lightly rising in the breeze. "I never noticed before – your hair has red in it."
"Only in the sun," Bella humoured him for a moment, her face twisting slightly as he tucked the strand behind her ear.
She's so pretty...
Mike cleared his throat. "Great day, isn't it?"
"My kind of day, Newton."
Eden shifted in her seat, not at all wanting to contribute but feeling the need to. Not for the first time, she wished that the Cullens were there today. "We worked on the essay yesterday."
He hit his forehead with the heel of his hand, a frown and curling of his lips telling them more than his words did. "Shit. That's due Thursday, right?"
"Um, Wednesday, I think," Bella told him, fiddling with a few locks of her hair.
"Wednesday?" The boy frowned. "That's not good... What are you writing yours on?"
Dang, stupid essay, Mike's thoughts chastised him.
"On whether Shakespeare's treatment of the female characters is misogynistic."
Mike stared at the girls for a moment, the confusion plain on his face. "I guess I'll have to work on it tonight. I was going to ask if you wanted to go out, Bella."
"Oh."
Eden frowned, coughing loudly at the unexpected comment as Bella cringed away and Mike didn't notice. "That's my cue. I'll see you at lunch, Bells."
Wait, now's my chance! Mike glanced sharply up. "Hold on, Eden. I just- Bella, have you noticed anything off about the Cullens?" My Bella, of all people, should understand.
Bella bit her lip. "I don't know. They seem nice."
"But there's something seriously wrong with them! I mean-"
Eden cut in. "Excuse me, I'd rather you not talk about my friends like that."
Mike turned back to her, his thoughts turning confused and a little hurt before flicking to a stubborn triumph. She got defensive quickly. Maybe she's had thoughts of it too? Maybe it's some complex with Edward being abusive and tricking her-
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Stupid pine tree, stupid Mike...
It was Edward's thoughts that interrupted anything else, his "voice" ringing the loudest even over Newton's rambling. Eden's head snapped up and she glanced around sharply, being drawn to the forest's shadows. He was there. Something fluttered through Eden, and her eyes darted from tree to tree, instinctually trying to pick up Edward's frame.
I know you're here, Cullen.
Guilty.
"R-right, yeah. Sorry. I just meant that like- anyway, Bella. We could get dinner or something, I could work on the essay later..." Mike stuttered for a moment before untactfully changing the subject and leaving Eden's thoughts to wander.
Eden glanced down at her phone. The bell would ring soon.
I'd come find you, Eddy, but I don't have much time left.
I'll miss you. He sounded disappointed, the anger wearing off.
I will too, dork.
"Really Mike, are you blind?" Bella asked him incredulously, waving her arms shortly.
Eden quickly gathered that she had told the boy that Jessica liked him, with extra help from Newton's short, sharp, and confused thoughts.
"Oh," he exhaled slowly, a dazed look crossing his features.
Bella stood quickly. "Anyway, it's time for class and Eden and I can't afford to be late."
The bell rang as though on cue, and the three stood. They walked in silence before Eden said goodbye and walked to her first class. She didn't pay too much attention and grimaced as the voices and thoughts she heard grew loudly. She regretted eating breakfast.
It hit her all too hard that Edward was like her buffer; he stopped her mind from being too crowded, and without him, she was powerless. It was her hunger that usually kept her grounded, something to focus on besides letting her mind wander. Across the building, Eden could hear Jessica's thoughts bubble with enthusiasm as she invited Bella and Eden to go dress shopping with Angela, Lauren and her, and excitedly thought about dress styles. Eden only knew that she had been invited alongside Bella when the girl had thought about how uncomfortable the mind-reader made her.
Eden mused that Bella would be hesitant to come as Lauren was going, and she had half the mind to be concerned as well.
A maybe. That works, Jessica's thoughts of the dance were interrupted by her acceptance of Bella's obvious answer.
Absentmindedly, Eden answered a question the teacher had asked her, easily slinking into his head to uncover the answer. She went back to staring at her book. Angela, from another room, was wracking her brain in an attempt to figure out how she would replan her study routine to fit with going out that night. All around her, students buzzed with electricity. The girl lowered her head into her folded arms and left the classroom quickly when the bell rang.
Another class passed, and Eden shuffled to meet her cousin and the group at the cafeteria. She got more than a few stares, and she fiddled with her jacket sleeve as a few comments slipped about her being without the Cullen family. Eden glanced at the empty table and considered all-too-easily just sitting alone until Bella's voice called her over.
All of the group was already there, and Eden sat down hastily between Angela and Bella. She wasn't surprised to see Mike hold out a chair for Jessica whose face lit up in response. Different thoughts hit Eden from Mike, and she grimaced slightly at the nature of them.
Good-naturedly, Angela chatted with Eden. They hadn't spoken much before, and Eric chimed in a few times to add to the conversation as he spoke to Bella and a few others that Eden hadn't known the names of.
"So, Eden, would you want to come dress shopping with Jess, Lauren and I tonight? Bella too, of course," Angela asked as the girl knew she would. "We're gonna drive up to Port Angeles. I know you're not going to the dance, but I'm sure you could find a dress to wear on a date with your boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Tyler spoke up, a clear frown etched on his face. Lauren all but glared at the mind-reader, and she was glad that the pretty girl couldn't hear Tyler's thoughts of taking Eden to prom.
"Edward Cullen, right?" Angela confirmed, and Eden felt a warm blush flitter over her face.
Eden fiddled with her jacket sleeve. "He's not my boyfriend. We're just friends."
"Friends that flirt all the damn time!" Bella chimed in with a loud, teasing sigh as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Tyler didn't comment on the previous notion. "But you're not dating, right?"
God, I hope she denies, Tyler thought, and Eden shifted in her seat, not used to being put on the spot.
"Not... exactly-" she stumbled over her words, flinching slightly when Tyler nodded brightly and grinned at her, leaning back.
Lauren threw more insults than Eden would have cared to admit she knew through her thoughts, directing at her as though she knew that Eden could hear them.
The rest of the day passed slowly, the thoughts in Eden's head only getting louder and more abrasive. She could listen to every complaint in her gym class in the last period as badminton rules were drilled into her head, knowing that Bella's class would have the same talk. She listened against her will to a group a few buildings down as they thought about the Cullens, likely talking about them in person and reflecting naturally. Eden listened to the drained teacher of her gym class complain about the lack of enthusiasm, listened to the receptionist ponder gossip she had heard from her neighbour. She heard people move about in the houses near the school, thinking about the day and not at all concerned or aware of the fact that a mind-reader was listening.
Blood dripped onto Eden's hand as she stepped outside of the school and faced Bella, trickling from her nose and leaving a trail across her chin.
A/N
Sorry for inconsistent updates. Life has sucked a little bit lately, but I've had more time on my hands and I should be able to upload more frequently. Thank you for all the support for this story.