Chapter 22 - 22: Edythe

"Are, are you ok?" I asked softly, trying not to startle the girl. She had a round face, with a little childhood chubbiness still there in her cheeks. The side I could see from my vantage point had tear stains falling down them. (Pic) At my words, the girl jumped a little, but she had no fear in her dark eyes as she turned to look at me. She didn't try and wipe her face free of her tears or shrink away from me. She looked at me challengingly, "What are you doing on my people's land?" "I am sorry, I was running through the woods and heard a scream. I just wanted to make sure no one was hurt or in danger." "Go back to your side of the river Pale Face. Learn to mind your own business as well." The girl said as she turned her back to me and walked into the trees nearest to her. My first thought was of anger at how she treated my concern for her, but then I remembered the rage in her scream and let it go. I shrugged my shoulders and then returned the way I came, looking for another shallow spot to cross the water. Walking back through the trees toward town, I pulled out my phone and saw that there was no way I would make it back to school for class. I sent a text to Bella telling her not to wait for me and do her own thing after school. I was trying to think of what to tell Charlie when he heard I skipped classes today. This naturally led my mind back the why I had left school, and my irritation grew again as I heard her words ringing in my head. "Forget I told you this." In Edythe's velvety voice. Then a point I hadn't focused on before came to the forefront. The dismissal in her eyes when she finished speaking, not waiting for, or even expecting a reply to her words threatened to enrage me yet again. This thought startled me a bit. I knew her words made me mad, but that didn't warrant me taking her words to heart. I could have told her to shove it and go on with my day. But looking back, all I could see was the insult on every level, and the impact I allowed it to have on me. Why did this bother me so? I had dealt with many spoiled princess types in my last school who thought I should worship them because of who their daddy was. Or because every other boy treated them that way. But I had never let it get to me before. What was different this time? In a deep part of my mind, I came to the realization that I couldn't recall the details of what any of the previous princess girls looked like, but I could recall every detail of what Edythe looked like. Both times I had seen her. I brushed that thought off with the justification that I had more recently seen Edythe than any of those other girls. She would fade with time as well. I just let my mind wander as I picked my way through the forest for the next hour and then surprisingly, I came across the rock slab I had used yesterday to meditate on. I managed to beat Bella home by about 5 minutes. She seemed distracted when she walked into the kitchen. "You ok sis?" She shook her head, "Yeah… Just a guy in Biology. We talked a lot, but he didn't really say anything. What about you? The coach asked why you didn't go to gym today and told me to try and talk you into joining some sports teams. Again." I smiled at her, "Yeah. Sorry, something spiked my temper, so I had to get out of there to cool off. Nothing to worry about, sorry if I troubled you. I am going to run over to the station and tell Charlie about me skipping before he gets a call from the school, and I'll do my workout as well." "OK, I think I'll make enchiladas for dinner. I bet Charlie hasn't had much of that style of food, at least I haven't seen a Mexican restaurant in town." "That sounds good. What do you think of the chances he is willing to try sushi? I could really use a good tuna roll." Bella laughed, "I tried to get him to go to a Sushi restaurant when he came to Phoenix before you moved in. It didn't go well. He thought they were bringing us bate to go catch a fish to be cooked." "HA ha, that would have been great to see, but I bet he was just being snarky about the food. Ok, I'm going to head out for my workout. I will see you for dinner. Quick question though, what was the guy's name in Biology?" Bella blushed, "You keep your nose out of it. Don't let me catch you asking around at school about it either, or it's salad dinners for a week." I quickly left the kitchen. With all the running I had done today, I decided to just go work out at the station. Once I got there, I saw Charlie was in his office going over some paperwork, so I went and knocked on his door jam. "Hey Charlie, just a heads up but I ditched classes after lunch. My temper got the best of me after a girl said some stuff. I am not sure why it got to me so much today, I will try harder to keep my cool next time." "I did get the call about you ditching class, don't make a habit of it kid." "Thanks, Uncle Charlie." The rest of the night was calm and mundane. Though I think Charlie has a taste for Mexican cuisine now. -(Edythe POV)- Edythe sat on the couch where Alice had left her and lost herself in thought. Since she had woken from the pain of the transformation into this new life, she had been able to read the minds of those around her. Her brother could do the same, but he had a much wider distance that his mind could reach. Neither were aware of it until Carlisle pointed out that we were answering his thoughts as much as his vocal questions. It was a big adjustment to stop doing this. The other part was the name being spoken in thought, though I had it much easier as Edythe was one of those names that were cramming relative's names together to arrive at. Luckily, it never became popular, but I felt bad for Edward in that department until his name fell out of use. Our first year was spent mostly apart from people though, until we could control the thirst actively. It didn't bother me that I wasn't as powerful as my brother mentally because I was able to learn to turn it off. For some reason, Edward's ability was always on, and he had to focus to tune people out. But I became the opposite, I had to reach out to hear, like I had an on-off switch. It wasn't until the late 1990s that I learned that I could convince people of things, Carlisle called it compulsion. The first time I had compelled someone was when a boy wouldn't stop asking me out on dates. I looked him in the eyes and told him, "I want you to forget about me." From that day forward he had no recollection of me. His friends just figured that he got tired of asking me out and chose to ignore my existence from then on. But reading his mind, I could tell he really couldn't remember me at all. It made life so easy, all I had to do was make eye contact and tell someone what I wanted them to do. It worked great when people became suspicious of us. I would just tell them to ignore their suspicions. It made us all safer. No human had ever resisted my compulsion before now, even the Vampires I had used it on could only shake it off after some time. Jasper had once asked me to compel away his craving for human blood but that didn't last too long. I suspected that if it was against someone's nature then the compulsion was weak. I couldn't bring myself to try anything too mind-altering on a regular person. Was that it? Was the thought of Thomas interfering in Bella's life so against his nature that he couldn't be compelled? No, that doesn't sound right. We can't read his mind either and my compulsion must be a mental thing. It was weird, Bella's mind was just silent as if hidden beyond her or Edward's reach. But Thomas's mind was like it was protected by a flame, it burned anything that got near it. Jasper's emotion control worked on Thomas, but Carlisle said that was more of a chemical control than mind control. It was very difficult to work out the abilities of Vampires. It was also assumed that the abilities increased over time. Not that any of this would help me work out what to do about the problem I created today. Esme came down from her office upstairs, "I overheard your conversation with Alice dear. Can I help in any way?" Edythe looked at her mother of nearly 100 years, "Hi Mom, could you maybe give me some advice?"