𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆.
chapter twelve; The Vision
" That was sweet. "
For Rowan, tomorrow couldn't be sooner. Every day after school, Sacha and Vanessa would be working with her for hours on end, pushing her past exhaustion. It was to no avail, though, seeing as the only thing Rowan could do on on her own at the moment was send a light leaf a few yards away. The weekend was the only time in which she could catch a break.
"So, I heard that you and Bella are friends again." Jacob spoke as he sat next to Rowan at the beach as they watched Quil and Embry play volleyball.
"We never stopped being friends," Rowan replied, playing with the sand in front of her. "but yeah, we resolved our issues."
"That's good. I knew you two would figure it out."
"Speaking of Bella," She said, "did you know that she has a boyfriend now?"
"Really, who?" Jacob asked.
"Three guesses." Rowan replied sarcastically, "Edward Cullen."
"What about Edward Cullen?" Quil yelled from across them, ignoring the ball that was flying towards him and hit his head upon impact. "Ow!"
Embry only rolled his eyes at him for not paying attention, but he let the volleyball roll down as he joined in on the conversation.
"Uh, Bella. She may or may not be dating Edward." Rowan repeated.
"Out of all the fish in the sea?" Embry derided.
"Seems so." She said, "They're attached to the hip at school."
"How does Evelyn feel about one of your best friends dating a Cullen?" Quil asked, "I bet she's pissed."
"Well, she's not too fond of the idea." Rowan told him.
Witches always had a natural distaste for vampires, since they went against everything they stood for. Being servants of nature by blood, they maintained balance within the world. And vampires went against the natural order, the undead who would feast on defenseless humans.
But with the shapeshifters, their hate for the cold ones went deeper. And even though Embry, Quil, and Jacob were still humans, they had Quileute wolf blood running through their veins. So that would explain their hate for the pale faces.
"Enough about the Cullens." Embry said, quite visibly repelled by the subject. "A little birdie told me that prom's coming up at your school. Has someone asked you?"
"I'm a lowerclassman, of course no one has asked me." Rowan replied, in an obvious tone.
"Well, that must be a relief for you, Jacob." Embry teased.
"He was so on edge about you getting a date. 'Do you think a guy will ask her to prom?'" Quil said, mimicking him. "'What will happen if she finds someone?'"
Jacob and Rowan immediately looked away from each other, trying to hide their crimson cheeks. But Rowan quickly regained her composure and smiled smugly at the two boys standing in front of them.
"Yeah I'll remember this conversation when prom comes up at your school and you two can't find any dates." She spoke.
"Of course I'll find a date. I'm too hot to handle." Quil said, smoothing out his hair.
"Oh, please." Rowan scoffed, throwing a bit of sand in his direction.
"Hey!" He yelled as her picked up a small pile himself and flung it at her.
The girl responded by grabbing two bigger handfuls, and tossed it at both him and Embry that time. She laughed slightly, but immediately stopped once he saw their game faces.
"Ah, you shouldn't have done that, princess." Embry rasped.
Before they could attack, Rowan quickly got up and made a run for it. Though she knew it would be of no use, since they were both much stronger and faster than her. She felt sand hit her back as she quickly kneeled down to gather more, however as she did so, she tripped.
"Wrong move." Embry said, about to cover her in beach. But just as he was about to do so, Jacob came up from behind him.
"Hey, Embry." He smiled mischievously, placing his hand on his head. As he let go, a bunch of sand spilled off of him.
Jacob then darted towards Rowan, helping her up. They both dashed away. "Go, go, go!"
For quite a while did they chase each other back and forth, resulting in each of the four to be covered in the grainy soil. They didn't stop then either, and what really made them put an end to the was seeing Sam, Jared, and Paul approach the beachside. They knew that the group would have something to say about the way they were fooling around, and didn't want to cause a scene.
"Look everyone, it's the hall monitors on steroids." Embry said, watching them get closer to the shore. They were laughing about something.
"Why do you and the girls even hang out with him in the first place?" Quil asked Rowan.
* * *
With the fun she had at the beach, Rowan almost forgot about the planned meeting with the Cullens. She decided to go, but only for Bella's sake. It certainly wasn't something she was jumping for joy out of with her aunt, in fact, it took many attempts of persuasion to even get her agree to go, but even then she was incredibly reluctant about it.
The aunt and niece arrived at the Cullen household promptly at 7:30, with no delay. Edward was the one to open the door for them before they even had to knock, since he knew that they were near from a mile away. The smell of witch was very potent.
"Rowan, Evelyn." Edward greeted, "Welcome to our home."
"Edward." Rowan said. Evelyn only gave a low hum in response.
"Well, follow me." He told them, and they followed suit up a few steps of stairs onto a new floor.
It was the first time that Rowan had entered that house, and even though she'd hate to admit it, their home was very open and beautiful. The decor was aesthetically alluring. However, with staring at all of the interior, she almost didn't realize the rest of the family standing side by side, facing them.
Rowan only gave a short wave, just because she didn't want to be too unfriendly. A few of them smiled slightly, but the rest gave her blank stares.
"Evelyn, You've made it." Carlisle Cullen welcomed, being the first to speak. "Thank you for taking your time to visit with us again."
"Again?" Rowan asked, confused. She had no idea that her aunt had ever willingly gone to see them before that day.
"Where do you think I went when Bella found out about us?" Evelyn whispered between her teeth, although the two knew it would be of no use. She then pulled away from her niece and tried to give a smile back to the doctor, but it faltered a bit. "Hello, Carlisle. Esme."
"It's nice to see you." The pretty, pale brunette simpered.
"Could we interest you in something to drink?" Carlisle asked.
"Besides water?" Evelyn said, referring to the fact that they had no other food or drink in the house.
"Actually, yes. In fact, we bought some beverages for this very occasion." Esme replied with a playful wink. It was rather strange for Rowan to see the normally tight-lipped vampires show emotion.
"Very well." Evelyn nodded.
Edward, using his unnatural swiftness, sped towards the kitchen. He was back within a matter of a few seconds, recently placed drinks in hand. He handed them to his family, who then served them to Evelyn and Rowan. Both slowly sipped on what seemed to be cider, awkwardly.
"I would assume that Circe doesn't know that you're here." Carlisle said.
"You'd be correct." Evelyn told, "And I'd like to keep it that way. With her and her... traditional beliefs."
"Yes, I completely understand." He said before changing the subject. "Well, shall we get started?"
* * *
The Cullens led the two to their dining room table, in which they all took a seat at. It was decently large, with eight seats. Esme and Carlisle sat and the heads, while Rowan and Evelyn took a seat at a side with the four chairs.
Strangely, Alice, who along with the other Cullen children, didn't talk to Rowan when she first arrived, practically jumped at the opportunity of sitting next to the girl. Jasper then sat next to Alice, and the rest settled across.
"Now, I know that since the beginning of time, our kind hasn't necessarily... let's say, gotten along with each other."
"Wonderful start, Carlisle." Rosalie said, wiping her nose.
Carlisle ignored her and continued, "But that doesn't mean that we can't work together. You two are witches. Witches and vampires have never mixed well together, but I believe that's because of certain approaches that were made."
Rowan was about to make a comment, when Edward beat her to it. "We have very different values than others like us. And we believe that instead of making enemies with you, we should become allies, close friends instead."
"Never once, has our family done something that could effect our association in any way. We value our relationship with you lot too much to do such a thing." Esme said, giving a warm, affectionate, smile.
Rowan quickly grabbed and softly squeezed Evelyn's hand from underneath the table. Though Edward had talked to her about their possible fraternizing, Esme and Carlisle went deeper.
And she could tell that Evelyn was effected by their choices of words as well, once she saw the regret and apologetic look on her face. She quickly shook it off though, and did so with a quick cough.
"Oh, I do suppose you're right." Evelyn groaned, after finding nothing to despise them for but lifelong preconception. "But I also know that you didn't just invite us here for a fun chat. What's going on? Lay it on me."
She instinctively looked to both Carlisle and Esme, but they already had their gaze on the girl next to Rowan, Alice. And after gaining a nod of approval, she began.
"Something's coming. A war, maybe? I just know it's bad. I don't know what, when, or why, but for it we need to really need to get along for when it happens."
"Do you know with who?" Rowan questioned.
"Didn't catch that either. But There was a lot of bloodshed." Alice told her.
"Oh my god." Evelyn gaped.
"Don't your visions change though, Alice?" Rowan asked her, "Can't we find some way around it?"
"No, I'm afraid not." Carlisle shook his head, "Her visions are subjective. she can only see the future once a decision affecting it has been made."
"Rowan, when we talked in the forest, that's when she got it." Edward said.
"Becoming... friends with Edward probably caused her to get it." Emmett said.
"But aren't some visions more certain than others?" Evelyn asked.
"This one seems definite." Jasper replied, speaking for the first time since they got there.
"Wait. Wait hold on!" Rowan yelled slightly, "If Alice got the vision when Edward and I were talking and agreed to get along, maybe becoming mutual with you guys isn't the best idea after all."
"That's not how it works. Doing so only made her see that you were a part of the equation." Edward explained, "That becoming allies now, will cause us to deal with it together. And don't you think that there will be power in numbers?"
"I should hope so." Evelyn said, very worriedly. "I don't like the sound of this."
"I don't think this is the place to worry." Alice responded, "Or the time. It's not coming too soon, and as Evelyn said, there might be something in the near future that will cause this to not happen after all. But before then, we should be careful."
"Of course, I understand. Thank you, Alice. Carlisle, Esme. Thank you for having us over. I do agree that becoming allies here on out will definitely prove useful." Evelyn said.
"I'll see you out, by the front door." Edward said, before they he went to do so.
Rowan was about to get up and follow, but Alice stood up in front of her. "I have a feeling even if the vision doesn't come true, we will be great friends."
Rowan couldn't help but smile at that. Even when they never talked, she would go out of her way to smile at the witch and be friendly towards her. And though Rowan was still clouded by judgement at the time, she would always smile back.
Rowan almost jumped when Edward started to walk towards her, "Thinking of leaving already?"
"Yes, I just... I'll see you later, Alice." Rowan replied with an uneasy smile.
"Oh, I hope so too." Alice replied with a smile of her own, before turning around and leaving.
"That was sweet." Edward said, "Now, if you're ready, I'll show you out."