Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

XLII. Thunderball

Mel declined Emmett's offer to join them for a game of thunder baseball, but Carlisle came upstairs a moment later to remind his newest daughter that she was not allowed to be anywhere without supervision. Melaina glared at the ground; they still didn't trust her.

So twenty minutes later, Mel stomped down the wooden stairs to the living room. She was tired and grumpy and in no mood to socialize.

"Melaina," Carlisle warned.

"I don't feel like watching a game I can't participate in," Mel complained. She stuffed her feet into a pair of blue and white Converse.

"You know that you're always welcome to join in the fun."

Mel scoffed at Emmett. "Yeah right." She thought back to the first time she watched the Cullens play baseball. "I could barely see the ball in the air last time." She would fail at keeping up, even if they went easy on her.

"You cannot be left in the house alone," Carlisle reminded her again.

"What is there even for me to do? I'll just be sleeping, I promise. Ask Alice if you have to."

"Her visions change with the sway of decisions."

"My decision was to sleep." She grabbed a bag of Chex Mix that she left on the coffee table and crunched angrily on the snack as she waited.

"Melaina!" Alice called from the stairs. "You have to wear your jersey! We're going to take a family photo in our matching outfits before we leave."

A shirt was thrown at Mel's face. Without moving from the couch at the center of the living room, she pulled off her sweater and buttoned the jersey over her tank top.

The back of the blue and white jersey had the number seven, which was usually her lucky number, but today--not so much.

~*~

Edward left early for Bella's to officially meet her father, the Chief of Police.

Mel dragged herself to the garage when Emmett announced it was time to head out. Mel paused opening the Volvo's door when Alice appeared by her arm.

"We're running to the field. The rain has made the ground too muddy to drive without getting stuck."

Mel groaned. "Do I seriously have to go? Could you tell Carlisle that I'll be fine at home?"

"No, Mel. We go as a family. You can sleep in the Jeep," Alice promised. She produced a pillow seemingly out of thin air.

"Thank goodness," Mel said dramatically. "As long as I don't have to participate."

~*~

Melaina clung to Jasper's back like a koala. She latched her arms together in front of his neck, and he held her legs  firmly around his waist. He ran alongside Alice at what had to be the speed of light.

When Jasper stopped running, Mel opened her eyes. He gently set her down on the squishy grass and caught her when she stumbled.

"Whoa, drunk," Mel joked as she gripped her head.

Her vision stopped swirling, and she could see the familiar open field that she had been to a few times before. It was twice the size of an actual baseball stadium with bases and a pitcher's mound spread half a mile apart from each other.

The sheet of rain soaking her hair and clothes on the run had dwindled down to a drizzle, as Alice had correctly predicted.

When Edward and Bella drove up to the field in Emmett's monster Jeep, Mel kicked them out of the vehicle and commandeered the backseat for a nap.

Melaina assumed it would be just another day of vampire thunderball.

She had underestimated the draw of disaster to the human girl that was Isabella Swan.

~*~

Mel heard the commotion between her siblings and Bella to some degree, but she was too far gone in her sleep to know the danger her family was suddenly in.

Alice drove the Jeep back to their house with Mel still sleeping curled against the backseat.

Emmett stood in the bed of Bella's truck as he waited for her to cause a scene and leave Charlie for his safety. Bella used her mother's excuse to break her father's heart. Edward helped her pack a few bags before they headed out to meet with the family.

~*~

One of the three nomads from the baseball field did not want to be involved in James' games. Carlisle led Laurent to their home to discuss the situation.

Laurent cocked his head; he could hear a steady human heartbeat. It wasn't Bella's, since she had yet to return with Edward. "Another pet?"

"A patient," Carlisle corrected firmly. It was safer if the nomad did not know that Melaina was being fostered by the vampire family.

"She's dying?"

"Yes," the Cullen patriarch lied smoothly.

"How unfortunate." Laurent didn't sound the least bit sorry.

Bella and Edward rushed into the house with Emmett loping behind them.

Edward and Emmett growled at Laurent, then the planning began once Carlisle explained why the nomad with dreadlocks stuck around.

Through the arguments of Rosalie and crying of Bella, Melaina slept soundly. She was picked up out of her warm cocoon and passed from one set of cold arms to another. Jasper placed her limp frame in the passenger seat of the Mercedes. 

Bella and Alice climbed in the back of the car. Edward and Bella said their goodbyes before Jasper stepped on the gas and the Mercedes shot out of the open garage.

The next time she awoke, the skies would be clear and bright with a beating sun and no sign of rain for miles.