Chapter Three: The Past
It took several days for the euphoria at the Volturi incident to fade away – not that days exactly mean much to vampires. Emmett especially seemed to look at me with a new respect; I was no longer the weak link of the family. I thought it was probably that, at least, but perhaps it was the knowledge that if he tried to mock me then I could stop him with just one command.
Carlisle and Edward were keen to experiment with my skill, taking it in turns to be my guinea pigs. Esme offered her services once but the thought of controlling helpless, soft, motherly Esme made me cringe – something Edward was quick to pick up and pass on. Rosalie watched for a while, but she tired quickly and soon dragged Emmett upstairs. He was less eager to stop watching (and mocking) but he was soon lured away with a flirty giggle and a promising look. Alice and Jasper were sitting nearby with their eyes trained on us, but Alice kept flickering between the past and future out of habit.
“I wonder if you could control people’s free will..?” Carlisle said quietly. I looked at him tiredly and saw the questioning expectancy in his expression. “She’s worn out, Carlisle,” Edward hinted. Carlisle nodded. “Shall we make this the last test then?” I nodded wearily. “If you wouldn’t mind…” I listened carefully to Carlisle’s request and then turned to Edward. “Are you ready for this?” He nodded in reply, so I commanded, “You will fall in love with Carlisle.” Edward stood still for a moment, looking from me to Carlisle expectantly. “I’ve got nothing,” he concluded, and I sighed. “Sorry; I’ll try again.” But Carlisle shook his head. “No, I think you just can’t affect peoples’ emotions or free will. I didn’t entirely think you would be able to.” I started to tremble from fatigue, until Jasper pulled me by the hand onto the sofa next to him. “You looked knackered,” he said softly in explanation. I smiled gratefully at him and flopped weakly against the back of the sofa.
I could hear Carlisle and Edward murmuring urgently to one another, but I couldn’t be bothered to listen in and simply closed my eyes out of habit. “Mia?” I groaned inwardly and looked up at Edward. “There was something I needed to talk to you about. It’s kind of important.” I nodded and heaved myself back off the sofa before following Edward into the dining room. He closed the door behind us despite the pointlessness of the action; one door wouldn’t stop the others from hearing if they wanted to listen.
“It’s about your past. Carlisle, Jasper and I have been doing as much research as possible, and we think we’ve found your old life.” I was startled by his bluntness as much as the news and took a deep breath before digesting it at all. “We can’t be certain, but everything seems to fit,” Edward continued, “A seventeen year old girl with blonde hair and green eyes went missing in the town where we found you and on the same date, so it all seems too much of a coincidence to not be you.” I nodded vaguely. “S-so w-what…what?” I stammered. Edward sighed and rested his hands on my shoulders. “You can do whatever you want about it. We – I – just wanted you to have the option available to you.” My eyebrows knitted together uncomfortably. “Edward, I’m very grateful to you and I don’t want you to think otherwise but I already have a pounding headache so would you please stop trying to read my thoughts? Please?” He nodded graciously and stepped back. “Of course; I’m sorry.” I sighed uncomfortably. “I think I need to go upstairs for a while, if you don’t mind.” I saw him nod once and stumbled upstairs, falling weakly onto my bed.
