Evie was sat on her roof, staring at the blue sky. Everything was clearer now. She knew Jacob's real reasons behind his departure and Embry's part in that. But now, what to do? She had no idea. She was flattered that both of them were holding her close to their hearts. But the thing that they both shared in common and that was irritating her was that they were making desicions that were not their places to make. She was well aware that all both Jacob and Embry want her to be happy. But they could decide for her. It was not their place to chose what could or could not make her happy. Because even though they had good intention, at the end of the day, they got it wrong. Because Evie is also human and emotions change. Jacob thought he was no good for her so he was willing to let her go. But all Evie needed was him. And Embry thought that telling her the truth would hurt her. But being kept in the dark was worse.
And I'm perfectly capable of making my own desicions, she thought.
Thinking about everything that happened in the past few days, the obvious problem was the lack of communication. When it came to serious talks, none were willing to converse. Evie knew they had to work on that. Or it would never work out.
Evie let out a long sigh. Why her love life was so complicated? Or her life in general? Since all those supernatural stuff began to happened, it was one hell of a rollercoaster. She had to admit, she was like Jacob sometimes. Remenicing the good old days, when she was still human, when she was having fun with her friends at school, when her dad was still alive, where there was no things such as vampires or shape shifters. Just... reckless teenagers thinking they could be on top of the world. This time seemed so far away and yet, it was just maybe a little bit more than a year ago. It seemd to far away she felt like she had forgotten what school felt like. She had not put a foot in a school building for ages she felt like. She missed it. But since she became a shifter, she was homeschooled. Shifters couldn't risk being too much with humans. If they loose their tempers, it could be desastrous. As much as she hated it, she kind of understand why the pack distanced themselves to her at the beginning. They didn't want to hurt her, they didn't want what happened to Emily to happen to her. But still, Evie would have done things differently.
Evie let out another sigh. Reminicing wasn't good. It would put her in a worse mood. And being a shifter wasn't so bad. The super strengh and enhanced senses was of use. And it gave Evie a purpose, something to fight for. She liked it. She had always wanted to help people and being a shifter made her feel like she was doing something (even though no one knew).
The Clearwater girl then suddenly stood up. She had enough to think and reflect. She had been doing that for days and she was done. Staying in bed and staring at the ceiling while reanylising her life over and over again? No more. She needed to loosen up, to think about something else than love problem. She needed to disconect her brain for a while. She needed to spend some times with her friends. And not the shifter ones. Embry or Jacob would be there and she had no desire to see them or she would be overthinking again. Besides, she wanted to see the Cullens.
So she went to their house.
But as she was getting closer to the fancy house, Evie frowned. Then a smile quickly reached her lips. She smelled the scent of two familiar people. A sour sugary one and a human one. Evie smiled even more and sped to their house. As she got closer, Alice stepped outside to welcome her like she was used to do. But something was different and Evie noticed it. Alice was not as cheerful as she used to be. She had a grave, even anxious expresion on her face.
"Hey," Alice greeted. But she sounded quite stressed.
"Hey! Ed and Bella are back? I smelled their scents," Evie asked, joyfully at the idea of seeing her newlu wed friends. But her smile slowly faded as the unenthousiastic mood of Alice. It was not normal at all. The pixie vampire was not behaving like a pixie!
"Yes...," Alice quietly said. Evie walked up the stairs of the poarch.
"What's wrong, Alice?" Evie asked in a serious way. She knew something happened. And by the face of her friend, it must be something bad.
Alice sighed.
"Come with me," she only said.
Evie didn't protest and followed her vampire friend to the living room. There stood all the Cullens. Evie's frown deepened. She sensed the tense and gloomy atmosphere. It was thick and densed, full of tension. All the Cullens were near the couch, looking grave and preocupied, where Bella, body half covered with a blanket, was sat. Edward was unexpectedly secludent in a away from the group, the face even gloomier than the others. He seemed anxious, disturbed, afflicted, torn. Evie didn't had any mind reading abilities but she knew something happened. And when she turned to Bella, the shifter understood. She looked incridibily skinny, bony even. She was pale and not in a sane way. Her skin was looking grayish. Her face was craved, as if she had no muscle and just a skull. She seemed thin and frail and fragil, as if the slightlest move could break her in tiny millions pieces. Bella was not near the Bella Evie remembered leaving for her honeymoon. She seemed like living corpse, moving dead body, a zombie. At this point, Evie was even wondering how she could still breath.
But Evie got back to her sense quickly. She glanced at the Cullens and then back at Bella.
"You look... stunning," she joked. The situation was obviously pretty bad so no need to add even more tragedy.
Bella chuckled.
"That's surely the side effect of the pregnancy," Bella smiled.
But Evie lost her smile. What did she just say? Did Evie hear right?
"What?" She asked, sounding grave. There was no way... This couldn't be...
"Rose?" Bella asked. Rosalie walked over to Bella and helped her standing her. And when she got onto her feet, Evie's face becale paler. She took a step back as her breath got caught into her throat. Evie stared at the Bella's big belly. Something that could not be possible. Now she understood why the Cullens were so stressed, why Edward was so preocupied. It explained the sick look. And it was the only solution because there was no way Bella would ever sleep with another guy. But the question was: how could a human be enpregnanted by a vampire?
Bella sat down.
"How's this possible? I thought vampire couldn't conceive," Evie stressly asked Carlisle.
"I don't know...," the doctor said. "It seems that female vampires cannot bare children, but male vampire still can conceive. I've never seen anything like this before. Ultrasounds and needles won't penetrate the embryonic sack," he said.
"I can't see it either and I can't see Bella's future anymore," Alice added.
"We've been researching legends, but there isn't much to go on," Carlisle said. "What we do know is that it's strong and fast growing,"
Evie kept quiet. There were in thick fog. They were in the unkown. No one knew what what would happen to Bella. But by her current state, it wouldn't end up well. She was drained of her energy, of her life. She was slowly dying. There was no doubt. And Evie couldn't let that happen. Bella was her friend. She couldn't let her die. But it was just a baby. It wasn't its fault. It couldn't be punished for a something they are not responsible of. It couldn't be punished for just living. Evie didn't want any of them to die.
The shifter walked over to Bella and crouch down before her. Evie took her hands and look at the Cullen girl straight in the eyes. No joke, just pure seriousness. Bella was not use to that look on Evie's face. Last time she saw her like that was when they were all discussing how to defeat the newborn army. Evie was very mature. Bella sometime forgets that the Clearwater was two years younger than her.
"Do you want to keep it?" Evie asked.
"Evita," Edward stepped in. It was strange to hear him calling her by her full name, he must not be very joyfully at the idea. Not at the idea of having a baby, but at the idea of loosing his mate. But Evie tried to ignored him.
Bella looked at him.
"Don't look at him. Look at me," Evie said. Bella looked back at Evie. "What do YOU want? Do YOU want to keep the baby?"
"Yes," Bella said without one ounce of hesitation. "I want to keep the baby. It's just... I cannot just not... I don't know how to explain this-,"
"You don't have to. It's okay," Evie soflty reassured. Bella smiled at her, glad that she was understanding. To Evie there was no desicion making process here. So she stood up and turned to the rest of the family. Her eyes met Edward's. He looked away. She knew that he knew. "I'm sorry. But I'm on Bella's and Rose's side on this one,"
"It could kill her!" Alice stressed.
"I know," Evie said. "And I hate this possibility. But this is not our choice to make. You cannot force her to do something she doesn't want to or you cannot choose what is best for her. This is Bella's life and she is the only one that knows what is best for her and what she should do. Would you want to have the ability to choose being taken away from you? Believe me, I experience that and you'd hate it. It was obviously nothing compare to the current situation but it's her choice and we must respect it,"
Now they were all navigating in the dark. And only God knows how it would end.