After the awkward conversation of how I was conceived, I decided to head right to my bedroom when we got back to the house. Dad didn't mind—he went across the street where the dinner party was still going on with Charlie, Sue, and the rest of their family. I rolled my shoulders, wondering what to do for the rest of the night. It wasn't even nine o'clock, and school was still six weeks away, so it's not like I had to be up by six the following morning. Dad had told me that he had to go to the fire house the following day, but that he'd be carpooling with Deputy Channing, so he would be leaving me the car in case I wanted to 'wander'.

I decided to get out of town the following day and, knowing there wasn't a movie theater in town, Googled the closest one. It was called Deer Park Cinema, and I decided to look over their releases. Clapping my hands with pleasure, I discovered that they had Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2—a film that had come out just a week before that I hadn't seen yet. I went onto my laptop and ordered the tickets online with the credit card that Dad had surprised me with and printed them out immediately. I then decided to update my social media and did so quickly, my profile picture of a rose clearly not my face but I wasn't a very photogenic person. I post about my move to Forks to be with my father and my handful of friends comment about how much they will miss me.

I find myself looking again at the reading list for my European Literature class and find that I have read most of the material—Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet by William Shakespeare; Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austin; Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell; Ulysses by James Joyce; Les Misérables by Victor Hugo; Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront; and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens among the works. I'd read Austen, of course, along with Shakespeare and Orwell, and I'd also read Hugo and Bront but for the rest, I had not. I'd read Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens, but had not yet the pleasure of reading Great Expectations, something that I greatly looked forward to. Pushing away from my laptop I decided to do a bit of reading before bed, looking over my already-set-up bookshelf and deciding to look again at Wuthering Heights.

Taking out my copy, I thumbed to where my bookmark had been placed—about halfway through the book—and was perplexed to find some strange handwriting written upon the piece of paper I was using for a bookmark. I shut the book immediately, thinking that I was overtired from the trip... I must've imagined all this, right? The restaurant had been particularly exhausting, and I had had a good long run that day... Perhaps it was that bothersome boy who had nearly killed me in his Jeep earlier, right?

I resolved to peek again—what harm could it really do? I deduced quickly that it was far too old-fashioned to be mine, and I knew it didn't match my mother's or father's curled style of things. I wondered why someone would bother to even write me a note, especially in my book—they'd defaced my personal property without meaning to, I reasoned. The words were simple and yet I found myself altogether frightened at the prospect of someone going through my belongings...

Be safe—and don't go into the woods alone.

Lying back upon my bed, I went over in my mind who the possible culprits could possibly be—who was the real guilty party here? What it really came down to was who was familiar with my hiking habit, so I could eliminate a fair amount of the population of Forks, Washington right off the bad. I had the book open against my chest, as Yellow by Coldplay began to play in my bedroom speakers, as I attempted to decode the message and wondered if, by chance, someone potentially saw something that I didn't. As I felt my eyelids growing heavy, I wondered why someone would want someone like me—a mere speck in the grand scheme of things—to be safe.

. . .

As I pulled into my designated area for my car back at the Cullen house, I turned off my car and stepped out, the snow crunching beneath my feet as I locked my door. Looking up, I caught Richard staring at me, and I raised my eyebrows at him, to which he looked away rather quickly while I did my best not to laugh. Alex and Katherine got out of the back of my car, chattering away; there was something very 1950's about Katherine and I wondered if she was from that particular era as we walked up to the house. Opening the door, we went upstairs to the living room, and I found myself inexplicably drawn to Richard's side, something hid body language told me he didn't mind.

Carlisle and Esme were waiting for us as we entered the living room, which clearly looked like something out of a Better Homes & Gardens catalogue. Carlisle steps forward, as head of our coven, and places a polite smile upon his face as he steps first toward Richard, and he immediately extends his hand. I notice that Esme sees how close we are, as well as the severe closeness between Alex and Katherine, but she does not verbally comment.

"How do you do? I'm Carlisle Cullen," he says, shaking Richard's hand.

"Richard Kingsley," Richard replies. "This is my cousin, Katherine Charleston."

"How do you do, sir?" Katherine says, taking Carlisle's offered hand.

"Fine, thank you," Carlisle replies. "Do you mind if I...?"

Richard smiles. "Not at all." He sits when Carlisle motions for him to do so and Katherine does the same, albeit at an appropriate distance, while Alex sits upon the arm of the couch next to her, and I take the spot beside Richard. "Ask away," Richard says, touching my hand briefly, letting me know he is pleased to be near me.

"When were you changed?" Carlisle asks.

"The end of August, 1934," Richard replies easily. "I was born in London, and my parents moved to New York when I was about thirteen, so we never lost the accent, any of us. I was sent to my aunt's house, Katherine's mother, in North Carolina when I was twelve, after the stock market crash. Katherine's mother helped me grow into a man, but I contracted polio and was sent away to a hospital. The bills stopped being payed as my aunt was informed that I would not be cured and..."

"St. Joseph's Hospital?" Carlisle asks.

Richard nods. "Yes, as a matter of fact..."

Carlisle finds himself in shock, before turning to Esme. "When we lived in Appalachia, I went down to North Carolina to see if there was anything I could do at St. Joseph's for the tuberculosis patients..." He turns swiftly back to Richard. "Were you aware that you had tuberculosis?" he asks him.

Richard shakes his head. "No, I don't have medical degrees. Law degrees, yes. Language degrees, certainly, and many others, but not medical."

"But you were not aware that you had tuberculosis?"

"No," Richard replies. "I lost weight and was exhausted—too exhausted to walk—so when the town doctor came to the house..."

"He diagnosed polio," Carlisle says, shaking his head. "Were you coughing up blood terribly?"

He nods emphatically. "Yes. After three weeks in the hospital, after the exhaustion tapered off somewhat, I was coughing up blood."

"What date?" Carlisle asks. "What date in August?"

"The twenty-ninth," Richard replies. "I woke up alone in the woods..."

"The Pisgah National Forest," Carlisle whispers, "I remember now. I carried you over the Black Mountain under cover of night and left you near Mount Mitchell."

"It was you, then," Richard says softly. "I hardly recognized you—you wore your hair differently and your eyes were black."

"I was thirsty," Carlisle confesses. "The only mammals I could find were white-tailed deer and coyotes—the bears were hiding."

Richard chuckled at that. "That was all I drank—when I wasn't sneaking off to the farm to see Katherine. There had been plans for the pair of us to be married off to the farmer's children next door, but Katherine..." He turns to her. "Would you like to tell Carlisle your story now?"

Katherine smiles. "Richard changed me," she says softly. "I was due to be married at the end of the week and I absolutely did not under any circumstances want to marry Harold Abshire—he was a perfectly bothersome boy who didn't respect women. The only thing I insisted upon with him is that we wait until our wedding night, a luxury he wouldn't even give me, though I asked for nothing else..."

Something clatters from upstairs then and, in an instant, Rosalie has entered the living room, a look of pure horror upon her beautiful face. "Katherine?" she whispers.

"Rosalie?!" demands Richard, taken aback.

"Rose!" cries Katherine, and launches herself in her arms.

Carlisle looks so shocked he cannot speak, so Esme does so for him.

"Rose, do you know Katherine?" she asks.

"Katherine was my closest friend after Vera," Rosalie says by means of explanation before pulling back to gaze upon Katherine. "You were to come to Rochester for the wedding but..." She shakes her head.

"Royce King—terribly nice boy from what you told me in your letters," Katherine says softly, and we hear a thump from upstairs, followed by a roar and something splintering before heavy footfalls fill our ears and Emmett walks into the room.

"Never say that!" he screams, his eyes locked on Katherine. "Never!"

"Emmett!" Rosalie cried, holding Katherine close. "Katherine was practically my sister growing up, as she was an only child! Katherine's like family to me..."

"And I'm, like, your husband," Emmett thunders back. "The words 'Royce King' aren't welcome in this house!"

I purse my lips. "You just said it."

"Dammit!" Emmett cries, turning around and running as fast as he can towards the back door, which opens from the other side as Bella and Edward troop in.

Seeing Emmett's face, Edward grabs Bella and pulls the pair of them into a corner as the raving mad vampire runs out into the night. "What did we miss?" Edward asks.

"How many are in your family?" Katherine whispers to Rosalie.

"Well, there are my parents, Carlisle and Esme, who you've met," Rosalie replies in a more patient manner than I've ever seen. "I have three sisters, Alice, Bella, and Beth, and two brothers, Jasper and Edward. Then there's my husband, Emmett, and my niece, Renesmee, of whom I am particularly fond."

Bella snorts at that; next to her, Rosalie was Renesmee's favorite female of the family, but it was so clearly a tie between her and Esme.

"And then there's Alex, who you've met—we're looking after him," she says. "Beth joined our family just four months ago..."

"Four months?" Richard asks, turning to me. "You're kidding."

I shake my head. "Not kidding."

There is a sudden whoosh and Jasper and Alice suddenly troop downstairs, bright smiles upon their faces.

"Beth exhibits an incredible amount of self-control," Jasper explains. "I oversaw training Newborn vampires for fighting purposes."

"Jasper and I trained Beth to be civilized in mixed company," Alice puts in.

"Other than Bella, a vampire with such incredible self-control hasn't existed since Carlisle," Jasper says admiringly before he turns to look at him. "Do you have any biological brothers or sisters we don't know about? Maybe you and Beth really are related somehow..."

Carlisle chuckles. "Only child, I'm afraid, unless my father had another child that I didn't know about," he replies, smiling at me before turning to look at Richard and Katherine. "I welcome the two of you, if you would like to stay."

"Thank you," Katherine replies. "I'd like that."

"Thank you, Carlisle," Richard says. "That would be nice."

The back door opens then, and a more-reserved Emmett enters the house, apologies written in his face. "Sorry," he said.

Rosalie crossed from Katherine and walked elegantly towards him. "I know you are," she replies, standing on her toes and kissing him on the cheek.

Emmett puts his arms around her as she turns back to Richard and Katherine, all the while her husband has questions in his eyes. "What can you do?" he asks Richard.

Richard smiles, looking over at a vase of purple roses that Alice has carefully arranged earlier that afternoon, placed dead center upon the glass side table by the window. All with his eyes, without lifting a finger, Richard narrows his eyes ever so slightly—so slightly that a human wouldn't notice it—and freezes the water, so as the green stems of the roses are trapped in a block of ice. Edward is shocked, while Emmett looks pleased, and Carlisle looks fascinated, while Alice lets out a shriek of horror.

"Stop that!" she shouts. She crosses the room to fix the flowers, but Richard raises his eyebrows and the block of ice quickly melts. Alice turns back to Richard and swipes the vase away with one quick movement. "That'll be enough of—"

Richard zooms forward then and places a hand upon Alice's arm, and she blinks, shocked, as she looks up at him.

"Was I just screaming at you?" she asks.

Clearly amused, Richard nods. "You were."

"Why was I...?"

Richard places his hand upon her arm again, and she quickly pulls back, away from him, and springs to Jasper's side.

"—that! Don't do that!" she shouts, turning around and marches into the kitchen.

"Memory erasing and recreation—fascinating," Carlisle whispers.

"Don't forget the freezing and melting," Emmett chuckles. "Hey, could you freeze Alice's flower water again, even though she's out of the room?"

Richard smiles, and we hear a shriek from the kitchen.

"Dammit!" Alice yells, charging back into the living room. "You!" she says, and runs at Richard, shoving him back-first into the wall.

I feel my jaw drop as Richard effortlessly goes through the wall, half-way, and lifts his hand to wave at us before slipping back into the living room. "Weren't expecting that now were you?" he asks Alice.

Alice sputters, clearly in shock. "I just wish I could see what you're thinking of doing," she moans, shaking her head. "If I could just anticipate..."

"My ability of memory restoration and amnesia inducement prohibits such abilities from entering my thoughts," he replies easily. "Another vampire was unable to hear my thoughts or see my memories, and he touched me..."

Edward visibly stiffens, and Carlisle opens his mouth to speak.

"Richard, do you know this vampire's name?" he asks.

Richard nods. "Yes. Aro."

"You've met the Volturi?" Bella demands, quickly on her guard. "Were you one of them? I mean... Well, were you? Were you and Katherine...?"

"No." Richard shakes his head, his voice firm. "They wanted to get their hands on us, especially when they knew of her gifts..."

"Her gifts?" Carlisle asks. "Katherine? You're gifted, too?"

"Yes," Katherine replies.

"Would you show us, please?" Carlisle asks her.

Katherine looks to Richard, who nods, and she sighs a little. She raises her eyes to Edward and walks up to him, and I note that Bella immediately assumes the position to put up her shield, but Edward stops her with his hand. "She won't hurt me," Edward tells her, and Bella immediately steps back.

Katherine smiles in a friendly manner and reaches out and takes Edward's hand, who complies willingly, and her eyes widen then. "You loved your mother very much," she says softly, too softly for any ordinary human to hear. "Elizabeth Masen loved you so much that she begged Carlisle to keep you safe from the Spanish Influenza in 1918. Carlisle saved you and created you first..." She shivers. "That hospital was so cold...everyone around you was sick and dying..."

"It was quite hot," Edward puts in.

"Emotionally—you were all alone, but for Carlisle, after your mother held on as long as she was able to... Your father...you two were not close..."

Edward stiffens, clearly offended.

"You pretended to be Carlisle's brother-in-law in those early days before striking out on your own... You killed people—murderers, rapists, robbers, criminals...all dead because of you. Dead, dead, dead...all dead." Katherine shakes, her voice rising. "You believe you did the right thing and you did! Killed them all, all, all..."

Richard rushes across the room and grabs Katherine, severing her mental connection with Edward while I watch, stunned. "It's okay, Katherine, it's okay..." He says softly.

Katherine lets out a scream then, falling to her knees and bringing Richard down to the floor with her. "He thought Bella was dead!" she screams, shaking all over again. "His view of the world went black! Poor, poor Edward, feeling as if he had to reveal himself to the humans so that he could join Bella—"

"Katherine!" Carlisle shouts, and the unfamiliar voice snaps her out of it. "Richard, if it is all right with you, perhaps I could..."

"Examine her? By all means." Richard brings Katherine to her feet, and notices the shocked look on Alex's face as Carlisle brings Katherine to his home exam room. "You can go with her, if you like," Richard tells him.

Alex smiles tightly in thanks and follows them.

Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper return upstairs, while Bella gently pushes Edward out the back door and through the woods, back to the cottage. Esme stands there for a moment, watching as I close the distance between myself and Richard, desperately wanting to reach out and take his hand. She smiles; she knows what I am feeling, despite not possessing Edward's gift of thought-reading—she possesses something far greater. She has the mind of a mother, and knows full well what mutual attraction looks like.

"You could bunk with Alex, Richard, in the attic," Esme says softly. "I'll leave some towels out for you. Katherine can bunk with Beth, if that's agreeable."

"Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Cullen," Richard says, not taking his eyes off me.

"Esme, please, Richard. Goodnight," she says, and slips out of the room.

Richard's hand is at a fist by his side, and I find myself drawn to it, almost as if there is an invisible force connecting us to one another. When my hand finds his, he latches onto it, almost as if my hand is his lifeline. There are no words between us, but there don't need to be; our eyes do the speaking for us, and although neither of us have Edward's ability either, we know that something has transpired this night, and that Richard and I must be connected forever.

. . .

School resumed the following Tuesday, and Carlisle was able to enroll Richard and Katherine, who had decided to stay with us. The cover story with Richard and Katherine was that they were siblings who Carlisle and Esme were taking in for a time. Richard was staying with Alex in the attic, while Carlisle and Esme had gotten a second bed for my bedroom so as Katherine could be comfortable.

Richard had gone into the main office on the first day and had somehow managed to charm Ms. Cope, the receptionist in the front office, into giving him an exact copy of my schedule for his own classes. How he managed to do that, I have no idea, but it was wonderful to be near him for six more hours every day. Alex and Katherine had modified their schedules accordingly, and Richard and I were together all day long. Bella and Edward had told us of this table by the massive lunchroom windows that was the undisputed Cullen table and Richard, Katherine, Alex, and I all sit there, although I am the only resident Cullen at Forks High School to speak of.

It is on the Friday at the end of our first week back that Theo shows up randomly in the lunch line, and I do my best not to make eye contact with him, feeling mortified at how I'd behaved at Minnie St. Clair's party. Richard, Alex, and Katherine had already gone to the table; I'd gone to the library after literature to do some research on Harriet Beecher Stowe for an assignment in A.P. Government, thus delaying my arrival.

I mechanically shovel some salad onto my plate—the shredded cabbage and carrots staring up at me, foods I barely touched as a human—and slip a cheeseburger to round it all out. I grab an individual carton of chocolate milk—one thing I missed about human life was the sweets that were constantly dangled in front of me—and top the meal all off with a cookie. I make my way to the cashier, who was always blown away by my physical perfection, and I handed over my credit card to be swiped. It goes through instantly and it is handed back to me, whereupon I wish the plump woman a good day before slipping out into the eating area, where I see Minnie St. Clair flirting with Richard.

In that moment, I wished that I had telepathy, and then I could tell Alex to freeze time so as I could drag Minnie out of the lunchroom, haul her off to the woods, and maul her to death in proper bear fashion. Gritting my teeth, I find I am being pushed over the edge when she drapes her hand over and over his arm, and he seems to be hanging onto her every word like a proper buffoon.

I find I am so unaware of my surroundings that Theo has found me again. amidst all my inner thoughts—including but not limited to—Why me?! Of course, there was the rather typical, Dammit, can't Minnie St. Clair find someone else to bother? Followed by the classic I want to claw your eyes out! Stay away from my man! I turned to Theo, fixing a proper smile onto my face and allowed him to engage me in conversation. As far as this innocent human was concerned, we had exchanged our numbers and a kiss—a New Year's kiss—so, therefore, I must be like his property now...or something...

"Beth! Hi!" Theo crows, clearly pleased to see me.

I smile, more reserved than he is. "Hello, Theo. How are you?"

"Wow. Your voice really is amazing," he says. "You should join our choir class."

I raise my eyebrows. "Choir?"

"Yeah!" he says. "I'm the Student Choir Director."

I blink, shocked. "Well, I'm in drama right now, and the Christmas play just happened and I'm pretty whipped out from all that..."

"Will you be doing the spring musical?"

"Missed the announcement," I reply. "What is it this year?"

"Wicked," Theo replies. "Rumor has it that Minnie St. Clair is a shoe-in for Glinda."

"I believe that," I mutter.

Theo laughs—high-pitched, nervous. "So, listen, about the party..."

"About that," I say, peeking at Minnie hanging off Richard across the lunchroom and feeling my rage bubbling beneath. "Did you still want to go out?"

He sighs. "Listen, I was really drunk that night..."

I turn back to Theo and smile. "I'm not your type? Is that it?"

"Yes!" he says, full of relief, and then backpedals. "No! I mean..." He sighs and steps closer and I put my hand up against him to create a façade, and he stiffens at my coolness. "I mean I'm...I'm not..."

I smile. "You're gay?" I guess.

Theo sighs and lowers his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

I can see that he's telling the truth; I mean, I was the one who had kissed him. "Would you still like to be friends?"

He blinks. "You're not upset?"

"Why would I be upset? I know that it's not my fault."

Theo laughs, getting the joke. "Yeah, I'd like to be friends." He sighs. "My family doesn't know yet so do you think you could..."

"Hang around you just enough so that they think we're together?"

Theo blushes. "Yes."

I smile. "No problem, but you really should tell them..."

"I'm waiting for just the right moment," Theo replies. "I just turned eighteen and I want the dust to settle after graduation, you know?"

I nod. "Of course."

"I was thinking of going to Port Angeles next weekend to, I don't know, walk around and get dinner... You in?"

I nod. "Of course." I stand on my toes and kiss him on the cheek. "Cover story—it's our first official date."

Theo laughs, shivering at the coolness of my breath. "Thanks for doing this."

"No problem," I reply, lacing my hands through his as I lead him over to our table. "I'm as free as a bird in a tree."

. . .

Later that day, Richard and I were in drama together, and he was ill at ease about what had happened in the lunchroom. Using my shield to the best of my abilities, I'd been able to keep him from hearing the bits of conversation where Theo and I were merely pretending to be a couple. He and I had an eternity, so it wasn't as if it was the end of the world to mess with him ever so slightly.

Our drama teacher announced that Wicked had been cast, but that they were short the female lead—Elphaba. Richard had gotten the part of Fiyero, and Minnie, naturally, is playing Glinda. Theo is playing the Wizard, and two friends of Minnie's are playing Madame Morrible as well as Nessa, respectively. I walk confidently up to the drama teacher, Mr. FitzGerald, and ask him for the chance to audition for Elphaba, ignoring the fact that I must do a scene with Richard by the end of the week for The Taming of the Shrew, of which I've already memorized.

Although annoyed with the lateness of my audition, he summons Minnie and takes us to a rehearsal room, where he goes to the speaker system. He plugs in his iPod and plays the knockout number for the show, Defying Gravity. I don't know what I managed to do, but by the end of the number, Mr. FitzGerald is staring at me, jaw flapping open like a proper codfish, and I know full well that Mary Poppins would be pleased. He immediately offers me the part and I accept it, all the while I can sense that Minnie is annoyed. We step out into the hallway together, as she must get back to her scene group where they are going to do a scene from Hamlet.

"Richard is certainly good-looking," Minnie says.

I nod. "Yeah, I guess."

Minnie is clearly fishing, but smiles nonetheless. "I'm thinking of asking him to the Tolo Ball," she informs me; it is a combination of a winter ball, where the girls ask the guys. It is a masquerade theme, just like our prom that year, except prom will be held at the Elks Lodge while the Tolo Ball will be held in our gym. "Everyone knows that even though it's only been a few days that he's crazy about me."

We'd stopped walking by this point and Mr. FitzGerald had already slipped past us and back into the drama room. Sensing that we were alone, I considered reaching out and slamming Minnie into the wall—I'd completely lost control. Nearly shaking, I turned to her then and she caught my eye, quickly going white and staring at me as if I was a monster—I was, in fact, per societal rules. "Best watch your step, Minnie," I say to her, knocking into her before heading back into the drama room.

Outside of Shakespeare's text, I don't say a word to Richard for the rest of the day. I manage to convince Katherine to ride up front with me on the way home, and, as soon as I've parked the car, I jerk the keys out of the ignition and leave my school things in there. I run into the woods as soon as I've cleared the main property line—I need a hunt, I'm smart enough to know that. As I dash through the trees, I know that Richard is behind me—he'll be wanting an explanation of some kind for my silent treatment. The scent of the mountain lion hits me like moth to a flame, and I charge in the direction that I feel it stalking.

Without hesitation, I leap through the grove of trees and ambush the big cat; as it roars at me in protest, I latch myself onto its body, my fangs tearing at its throat without mercy. As I feel the red liquid escaping from its throat wound, I drink it up like a starving drug addict would to heroin. I needed this now, more than anything; I imagined the mountain lion as Minnie, and that I was drinking her blood for sustenance. Her black eyes never making themselves innocent and lovey-dovey for Richard ever again...

"Beth! You've drained it dry. Let it go."

I dropped the beast immediately, angry at Richard for interrupting me. A wind blew around us then, and I sensed a lone deer close by, and I ran toward it—I wanted more. I found the deer in no time, Richard at my heels, and attacked the impressive buck, barely managing to escape unscathed from its imposing horns. Looking myself over, I was pleased at my efforts to keep myself clean—in my training, it was something that Jasper had taught me. Turning back to Richard, my head was no longer swimming with a desire for blood, but a desire for him. I wanted him, and I'd never wanted anything so much.

Closing the distance between us, I ran for his arms, and loved the feeling of it when Richard puts his arms around me. I leaned down my head and kissed him with a reckless abandon that I'd seen in many teenagers—I wanted him and all of him. We didn't need to come up for air, and such a thing was pure bliss.

"What...? What about Theo?" he asks me softly.

I sigh. "He and I...we're not..."

"But you kissed." He pulls away from me then.

"Richard..." I step towards him, like I'm compelled to do so.

He shakes his head. "I can't do this, Beth," he says, and slips back to the big house.

I am angry beyond belief that Richard wouldn't allow me to explain as I trudged back to the big house myself. I returned to my car and got out my school things, returning to my bedroom, where I wasn't surprised to see Katherine gone. I got onto my desktop and finished the final touches on my essay before printing out the thing and lying back in my chair, annoyed. I still had a dozen or so math problems to complete, and I had to write about the insignificant lab we'd done in physics that morning. Plus, there was my report for government and my paper for European literature.

"At least I don't need sleep," I mutter to myself, and force myself to get back to work on this terrible assignment.

I go through this same mundane activity presently known to the public as "homework" for the next two weeks. Now that Alex had his own set of wheels, he was driving Katherine and Richard to school in the mornings. Other than hunting and school, I'd barely left my room for the next two weeks, with no interaction from the family whatsoever. As I sit there at my desk keyboard keys clicking away against my nails, I let out an audible groan, feeling grossly human as I do so.

"Weather calls for sunny and warm tomorrow."

I turn and see Alice standing in my doorway. "Hey to you, too," I tell her.

She comes inside and perches on the edge of my bed. "Can't think why you and Katherine have these things," she mutters, fiddling with my goose down comforter. "It's not like either of you are using them."

"Hey!"

"What?" she asks, completely innocent. "You respect yourself and Katherine is from an era where they don't do that sort of thing. It's perfectly understandable."

I shrug. "I don't know. Sometimes I just lie there and think. It's still comfortable, even though I don't sleep anymore."

She purses her lips. "Maybe."

"Yes, I know what you use yours for, Alice."

She grins, her teeth white and sparkly. "Don't knock it 'till you try it."

I shrug. "Not happening."

"Why? I saw you and Richard kiss in the woods. And then there's Alex who still has some feelings for you..."

"He's with Katherine..."

"Nothing's been decided," Alice tells me quickly.

I roll my eyes. "Seriously."

Alice sighs, stiffening ever so slightly as her thoughts are interrupted by a vision. I find I am shocked when Jasper doesn't come crashing through the door; he had some business to take care of in Seattle that day, but it still didn't explain why he couldn't manage to anticipate Alice seeing something of importance, thus running back to her side. "I..."

I get to my feet and zoom over to the bed, holding Alice by the shoulders. I am the same height as Bella is, so I'm about five inches taller than the tiny Alice. "Alice," I say. "What's wrong? What did you see?"

"I..." She shakes her head. "I see darkness..."

"Darkness?" I ask her, confused. "I don't understand."

She sighs. "I see you with someone, but I can't see who it is..."

"Richard?" I ask immediately.

"No. No, I'd see him."

"Alex, then? He's bonding with Katherine significantly, so maybe something happens between them and then he and I decide to give it a shot..."

"No," Alice says, more firmly this time. "I'd see him."

I lower my eyes. "Sorry. I'm just confused..."

"The last time I had this blankness was when..." She stiffens. "You're going to be dating one of those mutts!" she growls.

"A mutt?!" I demand in shock.

"One of the Black Pack," Alice replies. "Edward read Embry's mind on Christmas when you met him..."

"Did he now?" I ask, not entirely surprised. I was pleased with having Edward as a part of my family; he was like the protective older brother I'd never had.

"He did..."

"And?" I ask her. "What did he come up with?"

"Although any ordinary human wouldn't think so—especially after the way you treated him..."

"Yeah?" I ask her, still adding two plus two and getting six.

She sighs. "Embry... I think that's my blind spot when it comes to you—the blind spot I've seen marring your future since day one..."

I feel myself stiffen. "You mean... You mean, from the time I was turned, you saw a blind spot in my future?"

"No, not since you were turned," Alice replies. "Since you met Bella and Edward at the airport, at LAX."

"Couldn't you have seen it the day I decided to move here?" I ask her. "Or the day my mom booked my plane ticket?"

"No," Alice replies, "because even if you moved here, you would have been a senior in high school, so you wouldn't have ever traveled in our circles, unless you went to the hospital for Carlisle to treat you..."

"And the plane ticket?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No, because your flight from LAX to SeaTac—the flight your mom booked—was in Coach. Bella upgraded you to first-class—they had an extra ticket; I was supposed to go with them because Jasper was going to visit Peter and Charlotte and I wanted to get away, but then he changed his plans, so I stayed here... And then, that morning, when they first met you—you bonded over a copy of Pride and Prejudice, I remember that—that's when everything changed..."

"And you saw everything?"

Alice nods. "Yes, yes, I saw it all. I remembered telling Edward to keep quiet and for Bella to not go and see her dad until you'd settled in properly. I saw your habits of hiking and so when I mentioned things to Emmett..."

"Emmett?" I asked.

"Yeah... I told him to follow you," she confesses.

My mind flashes and I remember after my hike, when I saw Edward and Bella in their meadow together that I'd nearly been killed by a Jeep—Emmett's Jeep. I remember him yelling with joy at the fact that they'd nearly gone off-road in a residential area... "Jasper was with him," I say softly.

Alice nods. "Yes. I told him to go to keep Emmett's emotions in check. I didn't want Emmett doing anything too reckless..."

"Nearly killing me isn't reckless?!" I demand. "Although I suppose I was undead a few days later anyway, not that it matters..."

"Beth, please. I told him not to kill you..."

"Well, gee, Alice, that's awfully comforting, isn't it?!"

"What do you mean?!" she cries, getting to her feet.

I snort at her attempt to seem vicious and draw myself up to my full height. "It's kind of a moot point, isn't it? I'm dead—I'm freaking dead! I'm walking around like a damned zombie half the time because I feel like I want to blow my brains out from the sheer boredom of my everyday life!"

"What's so boring about it?"

"Alice, I took advanced classes from the seventh grade onward. That means that my classes were exact copies of the upcoming year. My junior year was an exact copy of the senior classes I'm taking right now. Half the time I'm bored out of my mind and the other half of the time I just want to slaughter my entire class..."

My bedroom door opens then and I sense Jasper behind me, attempting to calm me down. I am quick on my feet and turn to him then, unleashing my shield to prevent him from manipulating my mind. He narrows his eyes at me, attempting to dissuade me from using my ability to allow him to calm me.

"Cut. That. Damn. Thing. Out. Right. Now." I say these words through my teeth as I charge past him and outside, running to the edge of the woods; Jasper has the good sense not to try to follow me. I charge into the trees, not even caring about direction anymore; I had always had an incredible sense of direction as a human, and now that I was a vampire, it was no different. I found myself shutting down, allowing my body to do all the work as I ran faster and faster, deeper and deeper into the woods.

I was shaking by the time I stopped running, and I found myself at the base of the Olympic Mountain range, over thirty miles away from the Cullen house—my house now, too. I find myself able to take down my shield out here and, once I ascertain that there are no humans around for miles due to the coldness of the weather—it had to be below freezing up upon this peak—I let out a massive scream as I lifted my hands into the air. The lightning erupted from my fingertips and attacked the sky with a vengeance, seemingly cracking open its surface and allowing it to shed the tears that I wish I still could.

"Richard," I whisper, knowing that nobody in their right mind could hear me. "Richard, I'm so sorry..."

It is around ten seconds later that I feel a hand upon my shoulder and, turning, I see Richard standing just opposite me. My response is immediate and I launch myself into his arms, the lightning changing into snow due to my happiness with that weather. I feel him chuckling against my lips' vicious attack upon his, and he locks his arms firmly around my waist, pulling me to him rather quickly. I find I don't want Richard to ever let me go, and I find I wouldn't be against him and I potentially engaging into some controversial activity upon this mountaintop.

"Richard..."

"I know," he tells me, drawing back and cupping my face in his hands before leaning down and placing his forehead against mine. "I know—but not yet."

I huff, disappointment radiating through me as small sparks of thunder and lightning echo from far away. I reach up and grip his hands, still placed on either side of my head. "But I want to..."

He chuckles. "I know."

"Soon?" I ask, like a child.

He sighs. "Theo..." His voice is soft, pleading.

"He's just a friend," I whisper back. "He's not a threat to you and me, Richard. It's you I want to be with."

"But...?"

I sigh, pulling away ever so slightly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be kissing him anytime soon. I'm just going to be holding his hand and he'll maybe put his arm around me. Besides, he'll probably be more interested in you than he is in me."

Richard blinks. "E-excuse me?"

I purse my lips. "You're going to find out anyway—but this can't get out, not yet."

"So, Theo is gay?"

I nod. "Yeah. Yeah, he is."

"So, you two are...?"

"Acting," I reply. "I guess his parents are really conservative or something—I don't know all the details. All I do know is that I want you."

Richard sighs. "I'm not thrilled with the idea but, bottom line, you're helping this guy." His arms tighten around me. "If you're mine..."

"I'm yours," I assure him. "If Minnie keeps her hands off you."

Richard chuckles. "But what if I want to play the field?" he whines.

"So long as I get to play, too," I tell him.

He rolls his eyes. "Why am I not thrilled with that idea?"

"Because you're a guy," I reply. "You're a guy who wants it all, but doesn't want to afford me the same luxuries."

"You should be a therapist," Richard says. "You know everything."

I shake my head. "I don't know everything. I know enough—enough to know that I don't want to analyze people's heads without Edward's ability."

"He told me to come up here," Richard tells me.

I smile. "I know."

"See? Everything," Richard says, as we proceed to jump down the mountain.

"Well, I do know one thing..."

"Yes?"

I grin up at him, not giving him the information.

"Say it," Richard says.

I raise my eyebrows at him. "Your mother told you to speak in such a manner to a lady?" I demand, pretending to be shocked.

He sighs. "Tell me, please."

"Very good," I tell him. "As the younger vampire..."

"Yes?"

I laugh. "As the younger vampire... I have the advantage!" I cry out, scaling down the rest of the mountain effortlessly, now running through the woods with the kind of reckless abandon that I'd been missing from my life since my transformation.