𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘌𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘛𝘌𝘌𝘕

(the cursed witch, act two)

ALMOST EVERYTHING WAS BACK TO NORMAL—THE GOOD, PRE-ZOMBIE NORMAL—IN LESS TIME THAN NINA WOULD HAVE BELIEVED POSSIBLE. The hospital welcomed Carlisle back with eager arms, not even bothering to conceal their delight that Esme had found life in L.A. so little to her liking.

Suddenly, college was a priority, now that Nina knew she had a chance at survival and Edward had a new stack of applications for her to fill out every day. He'd already done the Harvard route, so it didn't bother him that, thanks to her procrastination, they might both end up at Peninsula Community College next year.

Nina had, after some convincing from Alice and Bella, returned to Forks highschool for her last few months. They had insisted Nina made the treacherous place much better.

Luckily for her, Edward had resumed his schedule from the beginning of the year, which put him in most of her classes again.

And even more so lucky, Kit had kept an even safer distance when he saw Edward's arm wrapped safely around Nina's waist.

The wolf pack on the other hand... they were wary about the Cullens' return. However, after some convincing on Nina's part, and her using the mate excuse, they let up on them slightly. The treaty was still in place, every day and every night, except on full moons. That was what Paul had proposed and what they had stuck with, though Paul had only said it because he hoped Nina would accidentally maul the vampires in her fervent state.

Even so, Nina had already told each of the Cullen's to stay inside on full moons and not to search for her till she showed up on their doorstep. Edward didn't like it but he agreed when he saw her glare.

"Get out, loser. I got shit to do," Nina grumbled, pushing Emmett's shoulder.

"Come on, Nini! Let me watch!"

"You'll end up dead, Griz," She warned him, glancing over his shoulder through the car window to see Jasper and Edward walking out of the Cullen house.

"Come on, Emmett!" Jasper called. "Stop bothering Nina."

Emmett gasped dramatically, "I am not bothering Nina! Nina loves me more than she loves all of you combined."

He was suddenly grabbed out of the car. "Delusional," Edward muttered, letting go of Emmett's shirt before taking his place in the car.

"I didn't mean you could come in his place," Nina sighed, glancing at Edward.

"Didn't you?" Edward smiled. "I'll leave before you try to hurt me," He reassured her. "But how many times am I going to get the pleasure of chaining you up?"

"Kinky!" Emmett called out as Jasper forced him back into the house. Edward only chuckled at his brother's words.

"It's not as cool as it sounds," Nina sighed. "And with my dad not here, and with Sam and the pack hating all of you, if I lash out, I could hurt you without even thinking twice about it–"

"Then I'll have a very cool scar–"

"Or be headless."

"Just don't go for my head then. Go for my hands, they grow back."

"That's so disturbing," Nina shook her head. "You're not going to give up, are you?"

"I promised I'd never leave you again–"

"I wouldn't classify this as leaving. I'd call it more of 'I need personal time.'"

He shrugged. "I guess I can leave after a little bit. Are you sure you want to do it alone though?"

They both knew Sam, nor the pack would be joining them now that Nina was back in the Cullens' protection. Nina thought their treaty was stupid but didn't argue.

She stared at him for a minute before shaking her head and grumbling. "Fine. You can come. Jerk."

Nina drove quietly down the serpentine lane till they reached the highway down to La Push. It wasn't till they were halfway there that Nina considered something.

"Emmett and Jasper are going to be waiting for us there, aren't they?"

Edward looked at her slowly. "No..." He dragged out the word. "Why would they do that?"

Nina only rolled her eyes.

"Alice and Rosalie are there too. Alice saw the location in one of her visions," He admitted after a second. "This whole 'not lying' anymore thing is really nice. Feels good on the non-existent soul," Edward added, with a breath of relief.

"Sure, sure. I don't think your siblings will agree with that," Nina chuckled. "This isn't really a family excursion type thing. It's almost more disturbing than you being half starfish."

"I can handle a few broken bones, darling."

"Can you? The last time you heard I broke a bone, you tried to kill yourself–"

If he could have blushed, he would have. "I thought we agreed not to bring that up again."

"I will always bring that up to make fun of you, Sparkles. You're very dramatic, you know? Very theatrical."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Just for that, I'll let you scratch me when you turn into a wolf so you'll feel guilty about it tomorrow."

"That's so twisted." She smiled. "Didn't know you had it in you, Cullen. I'm impressed."

"Rose has been helping me."

Nina pulled over, stopping the car on the side of a forest surrounded road. "We'll have to walk from here. I don't think Sam would appreciate us driving past his and Em's home."

"Do you want me to run you–"

"Not a chance," Nina said quickly as she got out of the car and walked around to the trunk before grabbing a backpack. "I still feel queasy thinking about the last time."

"It wasn't that bad..." He tried to defend.

"I slipped in mud and you laughed at me."

"You looked adorable."

"And you looked like a bastard," Nina grumbled, beginning to walk toward the forest, only for Edward to appear at her side. His cold hand reached out to take the backpack from her before he slung it over his opposite shoulder.

"You're such a bully," Edward chuckled, wrapping his free arm around her shoulder.

"Only because you deserve it, Jerk."

He squeezed her shoulder, bringing her closer to his side. "Your jerk."

A small laugh escaped her lips, "Yeah, sure, Old Man."

"Cool it with the insults, Darling. My ego's been bruised enough–"

"Which was completely your fault–"

"A fact you will remind me for how long exactly?"

"Till the day I die. Obviously. I hold grudges for a long time. I'm still mad at that bitch in grade 2 for stealing my sparkly pink pen."

"Really?"

"I fucking loved that pen," Nina defended, stopping in her tracks to hold her pointer finger against his chest in a threatening matter.

Edward held his hands up in defeat as a smile grew on his lips. "It was a very nice pen," He told her, seeing the pen vividly in her memories. "It wrote beautifully. And... Sarah was incredibly rude for stealing it and if I ever come across her, I will find out where the pen is and steal it for you."

"Good answer. Your frontal lobe has developed slightly, I see."

He smiled, leaning down ever so slightly to peck her lips.

"I love you, Nina," He whispered gently. "All of you. Even the fact that you smell like a dog."

Nina smiled, her nose wrinkling as she glared up at him. "I love you too, Edward... Even though your brain will never fully develop and I will constantly be stuck with a lesser minded individual. It's a good thing you're hot."

a/n

and that's... that, i guess. i figured since i'm quitting i might as well just give you the rest of new moon so you don't have to wait. i am logging out for (as of right now) good and i don't really plan on coming back to Wattpad.

if for whatever reason you wanna chat with me, you can find me on tiktok or insta (plvtoandmoon). i plan to post just character edits from now on and get out of the fanfic space. so if you like cool edits of your fav characters or if you want to make sure i haven't been hit by a bus or something, you can go follow me there and make sure I'm still kicking.

i wanted to say thank you again for all the love and support i have received here. i couldn't be more grateful.

-meg<3

(since i'm logging out and won't get any notifications any more, if you see hate comments on my books chew those bastards out for me, will you?)