Pinned but Fluttering

Chapter 34

From Chapter 32:

Finally I forced out the unbelievable words, “H-h-he j-just exploded...h-he...there was fur...and...huge teeth...and....,” I stuttered. Taking a deep breath, I gazed deeply into Edward's eyes which were large in his pale face. Somehow I felt calmer, and I was able to speak a coherent sentence.

“H-he turned into a wolf...a gigantic wolf...the size of a horse. And he was growling at Sam and me. And he had huge sharp teeth and claws.... I...I thought he was going to attack us....” My voice dropped, as did my eyes, which I focused on my hand in Esme's. “I was so scared.”

Chapter 34

My words were met by complete silence. Every one of the Cullens were frozen...as if they were fixed in place by a magic spell or something.

Tears welled up in my eyes against my will, and despite trying to blink them into submission, they trickled down my cheek. Slowly I raised my head, my glance first focusing on the purple-ringed eyes of Edward Cullen.

He was utterly still, his hands gripping the top of the carved end of my bed; his eyes, though starkly black, were somehow aflame with something that looked like fury.

Edward had never looked so terrifying...or so beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off him as his gaze burned into mine.

The silence was broken by a sharp cracking sound as the wooden bed frame under Edward's hands crumbled into shards and splinters.

But the sound seemed to reanimate the Cullens. Carlisle and Esme exchanged panicked glances while I heard Emmett mutter, “Fuck, man,” under his breath. Rosalie looked nearly as upset as Edward, and Jasper made a hissing sound as he flinched backward, almost as if he were being bombarded with something.

Alice's voice was the first to ring out after the destruction of part of my bed. “What the hell is going on?” she screeched. “I can't see anything this afternoon!”

What did she mean, she “can't see anything”? Was she going blind? Or did she just have a lash in her eye?

But wait—how could she know that she wouldn't be able to see this afternoon?

Okay, I was getting confused...or at least more confused than usual. I felt that funny wrinkle pop up on my forehead as I tried to make some sort of sense out of Alice's exclamation.

Then I pushed aside my interior questions as Alice's panicked voice morphed into controlled annoyance for a moment. She spoke quickly, almost too quickly to be easily understood as she imperiously pointed at the floor at her brother's feet. “The only thing I know for certain is that Edward had better clean up his little mess there as Mrs. Jane will be arriving in twenty minutes.”

Okay, but how did Alice know that?

But Alice's fear returned as she finished, “But later this afternoon, everything just disappears....” Her face took on a far away expression, as if she were daydreaming, or was at least trying to. Then she shook her head sadly, moaning, “Nothing! After four-seventeen this afternoon—nothing!”

How did she know this? And down to such a specific time?

The Cullens were already pretty damn weird, but Alice was getting stranger by the second....

Carlisle ghosted toward Alice so quickly that I gasped quietly; fortunately, no one but Edward turned toward me as their attention was riveted on the tiny brunette. Carlisle took Alice's hands in an apparent attempt to calm her. “Do you think someone is coming?” he questioned cryptically.