Rain: A Twilight/Percy Jackson Crossover

6|Dinner at the Cullens'

DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Rick Riordan and Stephanie Meyer. I own nothing.
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BELLA STRODE RIGHT through the Cullen's front door, not even bothering to knock. Maybe she just came here so much that she didn't have to.

     Annabeth had not been looking forward to this; she already felt animosity towards Alice, and the scene from the previous day where Edward had tried to prevent she and Bella from leaving kept replaying in her head. It didn't help that, had the girls taken his advice, Jacob never would have kissed her. Annabeth quickly rid herself of those feelings, however, by remembering how good it had felt to see Bella's controlling boyfriend defied, and that, disgusting as it had been, Jacob's kiss had given her a better excuse to be uneasy around him than gut instinct.

     "You coming?" asked Bella. Annabeth had hesitated in the doorway of the giant house. For some reason, she could feel a foreboding entering her mind that hadn't been there before, less annoyed and angry, and more... scared.

     Take deep breaths, she told herself, trying to calm down. Annabeth trying to focus on the house and get her mind off of the reason that she was in it. She noticed the beams in the open living/dining room area, and realized that this used to be a couple of separate rooms that had had their walls taken out to create one giant space. Judging from the trim and base boards, this house was pretty old, probably built sometime in the very late 1800's, early to mid 1900's, and had been renovated a good bit. She saw how the wall at the very back was completely glass, and she noticed that there was a metal covering that could be pulled down to cover all of the windows, like a weird set of blinds. Annabeth wondered why in the world they would need a screen like that, and couldn't come up with any positive sounding answers.

     "Bella!" a happy voice called, causing Annabeth to nearly jump out of her skin. She turned to see a woman who had to be in her early twenties, smiling at she and her step cousin. "And you must be Annabeth," the woman continued, still smiling brightly.

     "Hi, Esme," said Bella, grinning. "Yes, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, this is Edward's mother, Esme."

     Annabeth stared at Esme. "You're Edward's mother? But..." She looked between the two women, confused. Esme gave a light laugh, and it was one of the sweetest sounds Annabeth had ever heard.

     "I've always been told that I look young for my age, not to be vain. And, I'm sure Bella mentioned, Carlisle and I adopted all of our children. We were a bit younger than most parents at the time." She stepped forward. "Dinner is almost ready, and you're in luck, Annabeth. My two oldest, Rosalie and Emmett, are back home from college visiting."

     Esme led the way to the kitchen, which was large and open and bright. The ceiling lights made a glare in the shiningly clean counters. Annabeth could smell something cooking—she quickly deduced that it was lasagna. Salad ingredients were littered across an island in the center of the room.

     "Oh, that smells great, Esme," Bella said, giving the older woman a knowing smile, as though they were sharing an inside joke.

     "Thank you, Bella. Rose, set the table," Esme said, her tone changing at the end. Annabeth turned to where she was looking, and saw a beautiful blonde girl, probably around nineteen or twenty. She leaned against the wall, scanning Annabeth lazily. Meeting her eyes, the girl rose an eyebrow.

     The girl made her way to the cabinets, and opened a drawer to pull out some silverware. "Who's this?" she asked, motioning absentmindedly towards Annabeth with a fork.

     "This is Annabeth Chase, Bella's cousin—"

     "Step cousin," Annabeth muttered, not thinking they would hear.

     "—who's staying with the she and Charlie for awhile. I've told you this before." Esme turned to Annabeth. "This is one of my older two, who I mentioned earlier, Rosalie."

     "Nice to meet you," Rosalie said monotonously.

     "Nice to meet you, too," Annabeth said, using the same tone. Rosalie smiled wryly.

     "Rose, start setting out the food. Where's Emmett and Jasper?"

     "Not sure. They went out into the woods about twenty minutes ago," answered Rosalie with a shrug, as she put the covered tray onto the dining table, and then sat down, motioning for Bella and Annabeth to do the same.

     As if on cue, the backdoor opened and in trooped Edward with two other young men, both looking around his age. At the same time, Alice came sashaying down the stairs, followed shortly by another man.

     "Annabeth," said Esme, "this is Emmett and Jasper, and this is my husband, Carlisle."

     "Nice to meet you," said Annabeth shortly and lamely. She felt a bit guilty for being rude, but she didn't exactly trust these Cullens, none of whom seemed exactly human. If she was being honest with herself, they frightened her.

     Everyone sat down to eat. Annabeth and Bella are pretty quickly, as Esme had turned out to be quite the cook, but everyone else seemed to be just pushing their food around their plates. Annabeth was positive that she hadn't seen even one of them put a single bite in their mouths; instead, they had scraped the food around to make it seem as though they had eaten. It was a trick Annabeth had used all of the time when she was younger, whenever her stepmother had made a dish that she wasn't the fondest of.

     After Bella and Annabeth's plates had been cleared, the company settled down in the living room, Esme saying that she would clean up the kitchen later. Annabeth sat next to Bella on the couch, listening as Edward played the piano, an instrument he turned out to be rather talented at. She watched as Esme settled down with a sketchbook and Dr. Cullen picked a book off of the shelf by the fireplace and sat down next to his wife to read. By the stairs, Emmett and Rosalie began the foundation for a house of cards, and Alice sat at the foot of the stairs, watching, with Jasper next to her.

     The atmosphere was very relaxed, and Bella seemed right at home, but Annabeth couldn't seem to help but remain tense. Her thoughts stayed on the way that none of the Cullens had eaten dinner, and how, even though it was getting late, they were making no attempt to get ready to settle down for the night. There was also the strange air about them, something—maybe just her instinct—that couldn't shake the feeling that there was something incredibly inhuman about them, and not just their good looks.

     Finally, Bella deemed that it was about time she and Annabeth be heading back home. They said their goodnights, and got into Bella's truck, driving back to the Sean household.

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