Chapter 1

I thought it was obvious. Your gifts have appeared. This makes things much more interesting!

My eyes wide, I turned to Jas, who didn't seem to realize he was emitting his emotions until he felt mine. I'm guessing that's what happened, at least, because he started again and turned to me. I couldn't help myself; I started laughing. We knew what was happening from the rainbow fog, as I would forever call it. So we weren't all that freaked out, just surprised, maybe marveling at this new part of ourselves. We'd seen Edward and Alice work their powers, but this was different. We'd had it before, but not in this life, so to experience it firsthand felt crazy. Jasper joined in my laughter, the emotions coming from him changing to a giddy sort of humor.

Yeah, I thought to myself.

This does make things more interesting.

We calmed ourselves down, wiping tears of laughter from our eyes. I recalled all my previous experience with my gift and managed to get the shimmery layer of whatever backs into my head. Jasper calmed himself down and got a handle on his emotions, which stopped his projecting. If I remembered my stuff correctly, he actually usually could only project when he was trying to, unless his emotions got the better of him. I checked to make sure Em and Rose weren't affected, but aside from sleepy grins, they seemed too out of it to really experience anything.

We sat together, thinking of the past and how to understand our gifts better. I kept going back to my past life, as I had been the closest to having everybody therefore gaining more knowledge about this weird juju. It was also the clearest; the farther back the life, the more blurry and hard to remember.

I didn't exactly delve in, as that would cause unwanted side effects, but I did skim across the surface, like a collection of little thumbnails of video and sound. It was kind of cool. It was really cool.

Wait. Doesn't this mean I can copy gifts if I want?

Well, it depends. Ugh, here we go again. I would so ditch if I could. Anyways, you're still human, so the gift isn't as powerful. So you might not be able to do all the things you could as a vampire, or just not as well or as thoroughly. Whew, at least that one was a shorter one.

But I should still try, stretch my limits, develop the power, experiment, and try it out, right?

Sure, I guess. Actually, that's a good idea. If you develop it more as a human, then when you are Changed, it could make you more powerful.

I'm glad you agree. But, seriously, you talk about my Changing into a vampire as if it's inevitable. Isn't there the chance that I remain human? I mean, nothing against being a vampire, but I'm perfectly happy being mortal right now. Isn't it ultimately my choice, up to me?

The reality is you probably will end up a vampire, sweetie. Of course you think you're fine now, but wait until vampirism. You get a whole bunch of upgrades. I guess it is your choice, technically, but from what I know, it's your destiny to be a vampire. Especially now that you've met your friends and will meet Pete and Char again soon. Oops. Wasn't supposed to say that bit. Anyhow, it could be that you meet some hungry vamp and they Change you, in which case it'd be their choice. Who knows?

Wait, did you say that I'm gonna see Pete and Char soon? When? How? What do you mean?

Like I said, I wasn't supposed to tell you that part. Let's just leave it be, 'kay? I've said too much already…

Fine. I'm only letting this go because I'll get it out of you eventually.

No comment.

But isn't that a comment?

…

Okay, nothing?

Give me time to think of a good response, okay? Sometimes my genius takes a while to kick in.

Uh-huh.

Oh, don't pretend like you can always automatically think of a comeback. I live in your head, remember? I know the truth.

Uh-huh.

What? No! Shut up!

Uh-huh.

Okay, I know you're trying to annoy me, but it won't work, so shut up!

Uh-huh.

You know what? I'm just going to be the better person…voice…whatever I am…and step away from the situation. Metaphorically, of course.

Uh-huh.

Grrr.

I contained a laugh. Usually Skydd was the one annoying me, now the tables were turned, I gave her a taste of her own medicine, and all that. I'd have to say it was much more fun being on this end. This was very entertaining. I might have to antagonize her more often…

Don't even think about it, buddy.

Uh-

-And if you say uh-huh again, I will…I will…do something…sabotage you in some way with my hold over your mental faculties! Ha!

Uh-huh.

I heard Skydd snarl in frustration, then retreat back into my mind. Again, mental laughter. But soon, I grew curious about my gift and tried to test it out again. From what I could gather, the shimmery, vibrate-y bit was my physical shield. But what about mental? I searched my mind and came up with an interesting part of it. There was a veil, kind of, or a thin bubble. It was transparent and gossamer, but felt surprisingly sturdy. I tried my best to expand it, and while it leaped over around Jasper with little effort, I couldn't get it to grow any larger. I grew frustrated, and put that aside, deciding that I wouldn't get anywhere further with that right now.

I heard Edward and Alice's footsteps start over, and frowned. The clock showed that it wasn't time for rotation yet…oh. Edward had been expanding his radius, and found that he could dim the thoughts in his head so it didn't bother him too much, but he could also tune into a specific person like a radio channel. His radius was big enough to cover the whole house now, and since he could deal with it and tried to give us as much privacy as possible, he didn't feel the need to try to shrink it. So when my shield cut Jasper's thoughts off, he must've felt the absence. While Jasper's mental voice was still quieter, Edward apparently tuned in more subconsciously since they were brothers. Mine was still silent, and now I knew why. Curiously, when Em and Rose were like this, if Edward tried to tune in to them, he'd just get some weird feedback mixed with white noise and confusing bits and pieces, as we'd discovered earlier.

Poking their heads in to make sure we were alright, Edward and Alice looked relieved that we were.

"Hey, sorry, it's just, Jasper's thoughts…" Eddie seemed confused and slightly worried, still.

"My fault. Our gifts kicked in and I was experimenting." We'd explained our past-selves' and now our present-selves' gifts as best we could to everybody after the ordeal with James and Victoria.

"Congratulations! Now Emmett has to stop calling us the Magic-kids. That was so annoying." Alice rolled her eyes at Emmett, who was still unconscious on the floor. As if on cue, his nose twitched. I stifled the urge to laugh, again unnecessarily. Huh. Am I really going to be this easily amused?

Well-

Don't. Just don't. That was a rhetorical question.

Oh, so you're allowed to annoy me, and I'm not allowed to annoy you?

Uh…yeah…I would like it that way…

Too bad. I'll let it go this one time, but don't expect it in the future.

I know.

We spent the rest of the time waiting for our currently unconscious friends to wake up by experimenting with our individual gifts. Mostly Jasper's, and mine since they were the newest. Jasper would try to influence Alice and Eddie-boy, and I would try to block them. Sometimes, though, Jasper would subtly change their emotional states and see if they could tell the difference. He wanted to be able to make his synthetic emotions feel as natural as possible in case he needed to sneakily influence anybody in the future. It took him a few tries, but soon, he could slowly manipulate their emotions without them even knowing. Which made for some entertaining scenes. I also played a bit with my physical shield, noticing that I could make the shimmery bit disappear for more covert mojo. I could seal it close to somebody like a second skin, and even use it to lift or trap people. The latter had a weird effect on my perception, like the world was vibrating a little.

Remembering that bit from my most recent life, I felt assured. That aspect was still there, although I couldn't do it as easily as I had before. I could only lift things at most only a slightly heavier than I could in real life, although it seemed people were easier than objects. It made me feel slightly woozy afterwards, and I learned not to strain myself too much or I'd exhaust myself. I didn't push myself, realizing this fairly early on. I was still left feeling the effect of lethargy, even if it wasn't too bad.

It was a little after midnight when Rose started to stir, coming up slowly and looking a bit confused for a second before sitting up. She looked at Emmett lovingly, then at the rest of us. Blinking, she just kind of sat there until Emmett emerged. Unlike Rose, he sat up suddenly, eyes snapping open. They grinned at each other, kissed, then surprisingly broke apart and looked at us.

"So…what's up?" Emmett grinned, before twitching, his eyes going blank. He shook himself out of it, though, and remarked, "Whoa. That whole merging-personalities thing takes some getting used to."

Rose nodded. She seemed focused on keeping herself on track. I sympathized with them, remembering how my thoughts had run off in all different direction, many foreign and not what I would normally think, at all. The patterns and personalities were different. In fact, they were still a little off sometimes, another lasting effect of James and Victoria's horribleness. But Alice and Edward had merged completely and successfully, so Em and Rose should be fine, soon.

We didn't get much sleep that night, filling each other in on what had happened in that period of time. Em did indeed pout at the loss of the moniker for Edward and Alice, but quickly got to work thinking of something for all four of us. That little bit of normalcy got us all more relaxed, spending the night both talking and laughing, only a little off put by the brief lapses in Rose and Em's personalities.

That morning at school, we were all tired. To compensate, we were all a bit grouchier, touchy, and snarky. To put it simply, we weren't very social.

Of course Lauren picked that day to make another attempt at bugging us. Which, to say the least, didn't go very well for her. Again, we were at lunch, although we weren't eating very much. Em was asleep on the table with his arm serving as a pillow, and the rest of us were not far off, although Jasper and I still tried our best to stay vigilant. Our gifts had taken a lot out of us, though, and while we made sure it didn't affect our ability to perceive immediate threats, I wasn't as aware of the entire room as I would've liked. All the same, I spotted Lauren coming as soon as she got up, groaning and putting my head in my arms. It already took a lot of my restraint not to hit her, knock her out, or kill her as is. Her seeking us out when I was particularly cross was not going to help my restraint. I calmed myself, but still found my mind slipping into a darker frame.

Jasper sighed, as well, since Mike had found the need to try and flirt with me since his stepbrother had started officially dating me. He also tried it with Alice. . Edward scrubbed his face when he saw her posse heading this way. Rose had fallen half asleep, tucked into Emmett.

Obviously trying to take advantage of our sleepiness, Lauren tried, once again unsuccessfully, to assert her dominance. "Like, I can see that you're tired, so I'll take it easy on you bitches. Admit that I'm Queen around here, and stop tricking these hot pieces of meat into liking you, like however you're doing it. Then, like, I'll leave you alone, and when you go all boo-hoo at totally becoming even bigger losers than you are now, I'll let you, like, join in with the other losers, so you'll at least have a few, like, friends." The nasal quality of her voice and her orange skin irritated me even more than normal, but I managed to stay where I was and not even give her a verbal lashing. That had to win me some kind of restraint award, right?

Lauren looked offended at being so easily ignored and dismissed, so her followers filled in the silence of her shock.

Mike crouched at the end of the table, between Alice and me. He made a pointed effort to check us out as obviously as possible, raking his eyes over our bodies. I felt dirty, and not in a good way, either. I wanted to take a shower, just to wash off his gaze. Seriously, he was even more repulsive to me than James. Jasper's jaw was turned to steel, again, and even Edward drew Alice in closer to his side.

He turned to face me first, laying on a creepy smile and waggling eyebrows. "Hey babe, nice legs…what time do they open?" I willed myself to stay silent. Jasper took a deep breath in, letting it out after five beats. Mike should've stopped there, but he kept going. "That's a nice shirt. Can I talk you out of it? I mean, I know milk does a body good, but damn girl! How much do you drink?"

I turned to him with my iciest glare and made sure to speak slowly and clearly so he could understand. "I won't go out with you, Mike. Ever. Much less sleep with you. You disgust me. And you should probably stop trying to flirt with me, pathetically by the way, before either Jasper kills you or I do."

Mike's slimy grin faltered for a second. His eyes snapped over to Jasper, who was giving him a death glare. Wisely, he backed off, although dumbly, he turned his attention towards Alice.

"Were your parents thieves? 'Cause someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes." Alice gave him a look that clearly told him she was freaked out and the opposite of interested. It was the same look I'd seen her give the nasty guy's bathroom down the hall. Mike, however, didn't seem to take the hint. Or maybe he ignored it. With a glance at Edward, he stepped up his nonexistent game. "When God made you, he must've been showing off. I'm convinced I'm in heaven, because I'm talking to an angel."

Edward ground his teeth together and Alice looked so repelled she couldn't figure out how to say it. Luckily, she settled for just getting up with her lunch and moving all the way to the other end of the table. Edward followed her, but not without shooting one more nasty look Mike's way. He wasn't usually as…male, I guess…as Jasper and Emmett were, but that didn't mean Mike trying his miserable best to get in his girlfriend's pants didn't piss him off. Mike looked a little rebuffed, but quickly put on his stupid persona again, making the universal 'call me' sign at the both of us before getting up and rejoining Lauren and Jessica. Jessica was staring longingly at Mike, although I personally found no reason she should find him attractive. But that was just me.

I guess, objectively, he wasn't bad looking. He was on the football team, and didn't have bad acne or skin problems or anything like that. His eyes were blue and his hair blonde, although he put way too much gel into it for my liking. While he still had baby fat clinging to his cheeks, he was focused solely on sex. To average high school runner-up prom queens like Jessica, I suppose he could be appealing. Too bad he was in the running for Most Likely To Catch An STD, only second to Lauren. Also, too bad he was a 'player', and probably only had sort-of feelings for Lauren, at his most attached to a girl. Poor Jessica. Always a follower, and never quite as popular as Lauren. Of course, I didn't sympathize with her in the least much less pity her. Pity is a horrible emotion, and I know I wouldn't want anybody to pity me. I did, however, understand her reasoning a little more, and I did lessen my hate towards their collective group to mostly just Lauren and Mike.

Lauren, mistakenly taking a cue from Mike, tried for the umpteenth time to flirt with our guys. After being turned down quite clearly from each male, and subjected to us females' iciest glares, she finally got the hint. Normally, that would've been it, but she had the nerve to try and 'diss' us with one more comment.

"God, you bitches. No wonder your parents don't love you, I mean like, you're so unlovable I bet you'll end up, like, completely alone. And Rose, I heard your mom, like, died, and if I was her, I would've like, done the same just to get away from, like, you. No wonder she worked so much, like, when she was alive and stuff." She sneered at us, making her appear even more like a demented rat dipped in way too much suntan oil and stuffed into clothes too small and not at all weather-appropriate.

After everything, that was the last straw.

Rose's temper immediately flared, after the initial shock and flash of grief wore off. She rose, all but vaulting over the table, and punched Lauren straight in her plastic nose. Mike and Jessica made the mistake of trying to step in and help their ringleader, but by that point I'd knocked both of them onto their backs. By the hollow sound it made, Mike's head hit the ground pretty hard, which was totally by accident. Note the sarcasm. Rose was still punching Lauren, trapping her legs so the faker girl couldn't even try to escape. Lauren was crying, but she wasn't bleeding too badly yet, so I didn't see the need to step in. That may have been my anger talking, but at that moment I didn't much care.

It was only when the crowd of students gathering around started growing large, then parting slowly for a teacher that I pulled Rose off of her, whispering in her ear to calm her down. Lauren wasn't worth getting thrown out of school. Her stupid words really hit a sore spot in my friend, and probably against her will, tears started streaking down her face as she tried weakly one last time to get out of my grip and bash in Lauren's skull some more. Alice was at her other side, comforting her. I tried my best to do the same, but like I said before, I'm not so good with crying people. The teacher had arrived on the scene by then, and with a inward groan, I realized it was Higgle-whatever, the teacher who hated me the most.

"What? What is this? Wha-Ms. Swan!" oh, so she's spotted me. This should be good. "I should've known it was you, such a troublemaking delinquent! Constantly disrupting my class, correcting me with that snarky tongue of yours. Of course you're the one responsible for this…this…this…unacceptable behavior! I shouldn't have expected anything less from you and your smart mouth! I hope you don't think you're getting away with it this time, young lady, because the principal is going to suspend you for weeks! At least! Maybe I'll finally be rid of you, preying on innocent students like Lauren. Are you okay, dear? I'll get you to the nurse after I've dealt with Ms. Swan, here." She then proceeded to drag me, just me, off in the direction of the main office.

She maintained a vice grip on my arm, not bothering to ask for my side of the story, or any other side than the one she'd formulated in her mind. She muttered under her breath to me the entire time, condescending and unnecessarily critical comments that had my anger stewing in the pit of my stomach. She might be a teacher, but some of the things she said certainly weren't teacherly.

Weren't good teachers supposed to listen to all sides of the story and be fair, reasonable, and calm? She obviously missed that part.

When we arrived, she had to let go of my arm to talk to the secretary. Good for her, too, because a few more of those snide insults and I would've gotten physical, not even caring about the repercussions. And in the mood I was in, she would've needed a miracle.

I massaged my arm as I waited for the principal to see me. I actually wasn't all that concerned. Principal Buchar and I were actually on fairly good terms. This wasn't the first time this particular teacher had tried to pin something on me without any proof. He had dealt with this situation before when I'd been framed for many a prank or small-time vandalism. Didn't she know that if I was going to vandalize, it would be much more destructive?

Finally, he called me into his office. I strode over to his door on the right, and smirked to myself when he instructed the harpy-lady who I had the misfortune to call teacher, to wait at the door. He then proceeded to gesture for me to have a seat in front of his kidney-shaped desk while he strode over and closed the door, lowering the blinds for good measure.

"So," he started, his face mildly concerned, "I heard that you assaulted a student named Lauren and her two friends, Mike and Jessica. Now, I am well aware, as you know, that Ida seems to…jump the gun a little, when it comes to things you may or may not be involved in, so I wanted to hear your side of the story." He signaled for me to speak.

I tried my best to look as wrongly accused as possible. While it was true that I was framed, I usually instinctually masked my emotions, except for when I was reacting strongly. Therefore, if I didn't make an actual effort in this situation, I'd look pretty impassive. And that might make me seem guilty. Putting a large amount of fake stress and earnestness into my voice, I made sure to look him straight in the eyes, again so as not to look guilty while taking in my surroundings like I usually did.

"I don't know why she was so mad at me…I didn't…they tripped, and then she was being so mean, and I just…" I paused here, taking an artificial deep and calming breath. I made sure my voice was still just slightly shaky, though. "Well, as you know, Principal, Lauren seems to have some kind of grudge with me. I don't know why, I just…I try my best to be nice to her, but she…she says the most hurtful things to me and my friends. One of my friends, Rose, well, she recently suffered a loss, and we're all trying our best to be there for her, so naturally we feel very protective, and when Lauren implied that her mother died to get away from her, we all got very upset. Rose was crying, and Lauren just seemed happy that she managed to hurt her and…well, I'm afraid I might have snapped." Okay, now that I took responsibility, I should really play the role of the apologetic but responsible teen girl who regrets her actions.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do it, and I know it was wrong, but I was so protective, and I'm so sorry. And then Mike and Jessica fell when they went to help her, and I realized what I was doing, and is Mike okay? I hope he is, his head made a pretty scary sound, I hope he's okay. I'm so sorry, Principal, sir, and I know I was wrong, and I'm willing to take all the blame and whatever consequences you think are fair. I accept them, and I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. Just please, don't punish my friend Rose for my actions, I don't know what I would do if I hurt somebody else…I'm so, so sorry." I looked down, even managing in a few fake sobs into my hands.

Principal Buchar came over and patted my shoulder, with a sympathetic look on his face. Good, he bought it. Rose should be clear of any repercussions. Which was even better, because Lauren deserved it.

"I see. I can tell you know what you did was wrong, and you regret your mistake, which is very good, Ms. Swan. I also know that you had to miss a few days of school last year because you were being treated by a psychologist for traumatic events that happened when you were younger. I have some notes that say you form very deep attachments as a result, and are expected to be very reliant on and protective of your friends, as well as loyal. It even says that if you are away from them for too long, especially Mr. Whitlock, you could even have panic attacks and breakdowns." I knew those forged notes would come in handy sometime. "All things considered, it was very understandable that you would defend your friend from bullying, even if I disapprove of the physical way you had to handle the confrontation. However, since you understand and regret the things you did wrong, I will be sure to take that into account when thinking of a fair consequence."

I smiled secretly into my hands, under the guise of more sobbing. Looking up at him, I made sure I looked relieved and grateful, but also still a little regretful. "Thank you, sir, I appreciate that very much. I am very, truly, deeply sorry for my actions."

He smiled understandingly at me, and that was when I knew I had him, hook line and sinker.

As I left the office to rejoin my friends at lunch, I saw Principal Buchar seemingly scolding my 'teacher' for jumping to conclusion and overreacting rashly, and that was just the topping to the cake. I also passed a shaken-looking Mike and Jessica and a bleeding Lauren on the way back, and I smirked tauntingly at her. I recounted all this for said friends as soon as I rejoined them, where Rose had recovered and everybody was assuring her that her reaction was understandable, and Lauren was absolutely lying. She already harbored some guilt, thinking that if she had been a better daughter, her mother wouldn't dove into her work so much, and wouldn't have been one of the only ones in her office that Sunday when the disgruntled ex-employee came in with a gun and nothing but blind rage in his head.

Rose looked at me, saying, "You didn't have to take responsibility for that, Izzy. I was the one who punched her, I should suffer the consequences."

Smiling good-naturedly, I assured her, "Don't worry about it. Lauren deserved it, I mean, I would've done much worse if you didn't. Besides, this way I could talk Buchar into giving out a lighter punishment. Plus, this way that teacher that has it out for me even more than the others got a stern scolding. Remember the excuse I gave for our absence at school after the whole James and Victoria thing? I knew that would come in handy later on."

She smiled, giving me a hug, which was rare for Rose to do, especially in public. We both weren't very overly touchy-feely or affectionate. Except with our respective boyfriends.

Alice spoke up then, while squirming her way into our hug. "She's right. Lauren did deserve it. Even I was going to punch her in her lying mouth. You just beat both of us to it."

The guys all nodded in agreement, Emmett stealing Rose away from our embrace to envelop her in one of his signature bear hugs. He then kissed her, reassuring her over and over until he was satisfied that she was okay and wouldn't take Lauren's words to heart. Rose gave him a smile so filled with love that it was almost blinding, and the thought made my own heart warm. I looked at Jasper, giving the couple their privacy, and he smiled back at me. I don't know about him, but I was thinking once again, how lucky I was to have such close and healthy relationships with my friends. Well, that and how much I'd like to bash in Lauren's face, too.

That's more like the Izzy I know.

Hello, Skydd.

Oh? You're actually being nice and polite? You must really be feeling that warm and fuzzy. I mean, your replies are only one or two words, too.

I am.

Well, then. I don't really know what to do. Normally, I annoy you for fun, but if you don't react, then it's not fun anymore.

Oh?

Yeah. Sigh. Oh well. I guess I could compliment you.

On what?

Your persuasion skills. On Principal Buchar. Pretty good, Izzy, even I have to admit.

Thanks.

Yeah. Oh, and another thing. Since I'm being nice.

Yes?

Earlier? When I accidentally let it slip you'd be seeing Pete and Char soon?

Uh-huh…

Well, you have to go to them. I have the address, and you have to go soon. Like, this weekend during break. By the way, how do you feel about a road trip to Texas?

WHAT?

AN/: I FINALLY GOT MY POWER BACK! YEAH! I'M ACTUALLY WARM! Anyways, I hope you liked the first chapter...thanks to all the reviews, favorites, and follows. I looked at my email alerts, and was all like, "WHOA!" Which is usually a good thing. Hehe.