3. The watchers

Forks had never felt this silent.

The day after the van incident, the hallways of the high school buzzed with gossip—Tyler’s near-crash, the way the truck had stopped, the fact that I walked away with nothing but a scratch on my palm. A scratch I wasn’t even sure happened.

But the louder the whispers got, the quieter the Cullens became.

Especially Edward.

---

I caught him watching me during English, jaw clenched, arms folded, foot tapping like he was holding back from saying something. He didn’t speak to me. Not once. But when class ended, and I stepped into the hallway—

He was there. At my locker.

“You shouldn’t be alone right now,” he said, no preamble.

I raised an eyebrow. “You stalking me, Cullen?”

His eyes didn’t move from mine. “Someone should be.”

I didn’t flinch. “That a threat or a confession?”

He looked down for a breath. Then up again. “What happened yesterday—it wasn’t just a lucky escape. You know that.”

I turned to grab my book. “Do you?”

He didn’t answer, but his presence stayed tight, rigid.

“You moved before anyone else could,” I said, voice low. “No hesitation. Like you knew what was going to happen.”

“I did.”

That made me stop.

He sighed softly. “I heard the van skidding. My hearing’s... different.”

A pause.

“You’re different too,” he added, carefully. “The truck shouldn’t have changed direction like that. You weren’t even looking at it.”

I didn’t respond. Couldn’t.

He leaned closer.

“Whatever you are, Aster...” he whispered, voice almost a plea, “please don’t pretend it didn’t happen. Not with me.”

---

At Lunch

The Cullens were all there.

And I was now very much part of the unspoken conversation at their table.

Alice gave me a wink when I walked in. Emmett raised a brow like I’d passed some kind of test. Rosalie glanced at me, cool and sharp, but not with hate—more like she was evaluating a chess piece she hadn’t expected to move yet.

Carlisle and Esme weren’t at school, but somehow, I felt them watching too.

When I grabbed my tray, I felt a hand brush my elbow.

Jasper.

He leaned in. Not too close—but close enough.

“You feel like lightning,” he murmured.

I turned to him, caught off guard. “Excuse me?”

He smiled faintly. “The emotional kind. The kind that makes the hair on your arms rise.”

That was the first time I saw his teeth.

Beautiful. Deadly.

I blinked, and he was already walking away.

---

In the Courtyard

It was Edward who finally cornered me.

Not dramatically—no declarations of doom—but quietly, in the tree-lined courtyard where no one else went after lunch. The wind blew cold through the pine, and I tucked my hands into my jacket.

He stood a few feet away.

“I need you to know something,” he said, voice serious. “We’re not what we seem. Any of us.”

“I figured.”

He blinked.

“You stare too long. You move too fast. And none of you have ever eaten a real school lunch.”

That made his lips twitch, almost a smile.

Almost.

“But I’m not going to ask what you are,” I said. “Not until you’re ready to tell me.”

He looked surprised. Genuinely.

“You’re not curious?” he asked.

“I’m drowning in curiosity,” I admitted. “But I’m also not stupid. Everyone has secrets. And the more people dig into mine... the more dangerous things get.”

His eyes darkened. “So you do have something to hide.”

I smiled faintly. “Don’t we all?”

---

That night, I dreamt of mirrors.

A thousand of them, stretching across a frozen lake. And in every one, I saw myself—but different. My eyes glowing red, my fingers curled with power, my mouth whispering words that cracked glass.

And behind me, always just a breath away... was a golden-eyed shadow.

Watching. Waiting.

Wanting.

---

To Be Continued…

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