Seismic Shift Chapter 3

The moment my soul recognized yours

My heart shivered…

There's been a fever in my bones ever since.

~Michelle Schaper

There was no concentrating to be done today. All I could see was pale white skin similar to mine, but hard to the touch. Copper hair, long enough to be sexy and standing up everywhere. Eyes like amber with secrets locked inside them for centuries.

I jumped as the screen door slammed, and turned the page on my science book. I might have been twenty, but I'd only been in school for five years. It was my goal to graduate this year and be done with such banalities; I enjoyed learning but couldn't abide the structure of school. I wanted to write, to draw, to paint. To dance with the flowers in the meadow, or on the beach, with the surf as my partner. I didn't want to be tied down to a job in this tiny town, to marry a Quileute and pop out babies. I needed to be free, I needed to be autonomous, but the tribe had a pack mentality.

That's not to say I didn't love and care for them. They had taken me in, Sue and Harry, and they were the only parents I had. I simply didn't want to live with them for the rest of my life.

“Hey, Bella,” Seth greeted me as he came into the kitchen for a snack. His backpack slid off his arm and thumped to the floor.

“Hi, Seth.” I erased the doodle of a wolf with gold eyes on my homework as he rummaged in the refrigerator.

“Studying, huh?” Seth was a senior this year as well. He and I would graduate together.

“I've just got to finish this theory on solar detonation for my physics class. Did you know it may be possible to produce detonating thermonuclear reactions in the sun- a process similar to the triggering mechanisms in a thermonuclear bomb?”

I looked up when he didn't answer me. “Uh, sorry, B. I didn't understand half of what you said.”

Seth looked sheepish, but I just shook my head. Where did the capacity for superior intellect get me but fucking lonely? Nobody on this reservation completely understood me, and it pissed me off. Closing my book with a slam, I raced out the screen door that Seth had come through minutes before; it slapped as it closed like a hurried goodbye. I ran, pushing my muscles, considering phasing. If I did, they'd know where I was going; Sam and Jared were on patrol in wolf form.

Without conscious thought I ran to the meadow where I'd met the vampire boy the day before. Okay, boy was a stretch, considering that I had no idea how old he was when he was changed or how long he'd been alive. Undead. Sentient. Whatever the fuck he was.

I stopped dead center, almost comically hitting the brakes and skidding, my shoes tearing up clumps of grass and earth. Centering my inner being, I closed my eyes and listened, the breeze singing me her song and the birds adding their chorus. A grasshopper caressed his wings to add a throaty solo, and there in the distance was the babbling brook, the off-key singer that has no clue how terrible she is. The sun warmed my exposed skin before playing peekaboo with a rain cloud. I shivered at an unexpected premonition of blood and destruction, fleeting through my brain, and then I smelled it.

Honey. Leather. A smile curled my lips and I opened my eyes.

“Our sun contains about seventy-four percent hydrogen by weight. As the sun blasts away, the isotope hydrogen gets consumed as a fuel for thermonuclear reactions. If we could create a higher temperature and density in a limited region of the solar interior, we could conceivably create the thermonuclear cascade that scientists speculate about."

He watched me as I ranted, and I was pleased to see that the expression on his face was not blank as it had been on Seth's.

“But there isn't a statistical chance that a self-sustaining reaction could be started in the sun! The explosion you describe would annihilate the Earth and the solar system as we know them today."

“I don't know about you, but I don't dream of the end of the world.”

He was in front of me, four or five feet away, his hands in his pants pockets. He wore a light jacket over a t-shirt today. “I don't dream, remember?”

His voice was intoxicating, drawing me closer. “That's right. So what do you do at night? While people are tucked in bed and slumbering, unaware that something sinister lurks in their quaint town?”

Edward chuckled, and it was decidedly melodic and not the least bit sinister. “I read. About solar detonation and quantum physics. Atom restructuring and Socrates and anatomy and physiology. I listen to music. Sia and Daft Punk and Mozart. Debussy. I need variety to stave off boredom.”

“Daft Punk, really?” I laughed. He smiled beatifically.

“Your laugh carves its signature into my subconscious until I feel you everywhere I am.”

I stopped; stopped laughing, or thinking, or breathing. I moved the few feet between us and stood vulnerable before him. My hand raised of it's own volition, hesitantly touching his cheekbone. Ancient warnings whispered in my ear of the dangers of blood drinkers, but I ignored them.

“You won't hurt me.”

Edward stared into my eyes as he answered my statement. “I could not, or I would be hurting myself immeasurably.”

The pads of my fingers burned as they met with his skin, matching my internal temperature. I'd never felt connected to any person before. It was a novel feeling, the way my heart pumped faster, my senses heightened and seemed to home in on Edward. I didn't think I'd enjoy being separated from him anymore.

“Where did you come up with something so beautiful to say?” I asked softly, staring into warm butterscotch.

“You,” Edward said simply. “The words come when I see you, crowding my brain.” He caught the fingers that still brushed against his cheek and pressed my palm to his face.

I would be consumed by the fire, and gladly. This creature made of ice would burn me alive. “Do you feel it?”

“There is a connection,” he agreed. His breath washed across my face, smelling sweetly of mint.

“Why do you think that is? We couldn't be more different if the cosmos had tried to create two opposite beings. You don't smell bad to me, and you aren't cold.”

Edward leaned even closer, his face inches from mine. “Perhaps the cosmos created you for me.”

The thought of that turned me on, sent my body into vibrations. I stepped away quickly, horrified at the thought of phasing so close to him. The destruction would be devastating for the both of us.

“Did I say something wrong?” he questioned in confusion.

I held my hands in front of me to ward him off. My arms trembled, the glittering noticeable as I fought to clamp down the urge to become completely primal. “No. No. Just give me- a minute.” I shook my head violently.

I focused on Edward as I gritted my teeth and locked my body down. His expression was one of concern, a frown wrinkling his perfect brow. When I had tamed the beast within, the shaking subsided, and I felt drained. I sank to the ground, laying my face on the bent grass, concentrating on breathing steadily as I heard him come over.

“Bella? Are you alright? What was that?” Edward's elegant fingers brushed through my hair as I recovered.

“I almost shifted in front of you,” I whispered. My eyelids slipped closed as he stroked my temple gently.

“And that would have been a tragedy, would it not?” His velvet voice was lulling me to sleep.

“Mmm hmm.” My last conscious thought was that I was a werewolf in a vulnerable position, trusting my well being to a vampire.  

I woke alone, sitting up slowly and glancing around. The clouds hovered near the ground, and it was nearing nightfall. I would be in trouble when I made it home. When I started to stand, I felt a piece of paper in the palm of my hand.

Smoothing it, I read Edward's perfect script. It was his phone number, with an added, forgive me. What for, I didn't know. I stretched before starting to jog in the direction of the reservation. I had to face the music, but I wasn't looking forward to it.

It was Sam that greeted me at the border, as though he had been watching somehow, or just pacing neurotically in hopes of running into me.

“Bella!” he called my name sharply. Sam was tall, towering over the others easily. His black hair was cut close, and it was as shiny as his coat was when he phased. He was shirtless, and I glanced at his tribal tattoo with envy. “Where have you been?” he demanded.

I walked up to him, my arms crossed in front of me in defiance. “I fell asleep in the woods.”

“You ask for danger, Bella. You invite it upon yourself, upon us all. I know you go past the boundary, or I could keep better watch. Why do you do this? Why do you make me lecture you about the dangers out there?” He paced as he spoke, and he was indeed lecturing me.

“I'm no Goldilocks, Sam, and I'm not afraid of bears. Are you?” I lifted my brow in challenge.

He stopped in front of me. “You know the only thing we have to fear is the cold ones. The same that live nearby have lived here before. We have no proof of the safety of being off the treaty lands!”

“I know you believe it, Sam. But I don't. I've seen no reason to agree, no proof.”

“What is that stench?” he said suddenly. He leaned forward and sniffed at me, then leaped away as though he'd been burned. “You've been around one!” he accused.

“I haven't!” I lied. “I just ventured near a place where maybe one had been. I smelled it too, so I left.”

“I don't believe you,” he snarled.

“I don't care.” I turned away from him and headed off to my own house, my heart pounding. It took ages to finally calm down enough to sleep, but when I did my head was filled with dreams of Edward.