Made of Magic | j. hale

03; Kaleidoscope

When Ana arrived at an empty home after work that night, she was more exhausted than usual. Maybe it had been all of the social interaction she had had that day, between school and her waitressing job, but she couldn't wait to crawl into bed that night.

She skipped upstairs and dropped her book bag onto the floor next to her bed. Her bedroom was small but had enough space to hold all of her possessions. She had a full-sized bed pushed into the corner of the room, a short oak nightstand next to it. There was a tall dresser on the opposite wall and a desk where her computer and a pile of half-read books sat. There were pairs of sneakers and boots strewn around the floor. The most prominent thing, though, was all of the old pictures, drawings, and ticket stubs that covered all four walls. There were hundreds of them. Pictures of her parents, old friends, places she had been, concerts she had gone to. Little momentos, things that meant the most to her.

Ana pulled her hair into a high ponytail and peeled off her skinny jeans to change into a pair of flannel pajama pants. She took her jacket off and sat at her desk. She opened her laptop, and for what seemed like the millionth time, typed in Forks, WA.

The same links popped up as they always did - recommendations for pubs, the diner that Ana worked at, national parks. Nothing out of the ordinary. What she did find, though, was a link for information about La Push beach. When she clicked it, she found that the beach was actually a reservation for the Quileute tribe. Ana wasn't sure why, but she began looking into the tribe as if her life depended on it. Maybe, it was just more interesting than Forks.

What she had discovered wasn't what she was expecting, though. She had found legends saying that the tribe descended from wolves. Apparently, they had magic in their blood that awakened in the presence of some sort of blood-sucking 'cold one.'

Ana hadn't realized how deep into her web search she was until she looked at the time and discovered that she had sat there for nearly three hours. It was one in the morning, but Ana felt the need to know more. She wanted to talk to someone who could tell her what was real and what wasn't. Her sense of reality was a little astray, what with her sleepiness and strange thoughts circling her mind.

She decided she would ask Bella tomorrow before school. Ana knew Bella's dad, Charlie, was friends with Billy Black, who lived on the reservation. Maybe Bella knew something about it.

Ana climbed into bed and pulled her white duvet over her shoulders. That night, she dreamt of wolves and pale-skinned demons with red eyes.

--

The next morning, Bella had cleared absolutely nothing up for Ana. If anything, she had only confused her more. The only thing she had explained was that the 'cold ones' were supposedly vampires. But Ana knew that vampires weren't real. That kind of magic just didn't exist.

When Ana walked into her history class, she was pleased to see Alice already sitting at the desk next to Ana's. What she hadn't expected, though, was the blonde-haired boy she had seen yesterday, sitting one desk behind and to the left of Alice. This was Jasper, Ana knew. The boy Alice seemed to believe Ana was 'destined' to be with.

Ana had to admit, she wouldn't mind being with him. Just looking at him caused a warmth in her stomach to grow. His eyes were different now. Before they were dark, a brown so deep it was almost black. Now, though, they were a beautiful, bright shade of topaz. They matched Alice's. And Edward's, actually. Strange.

"Hey!" Alice greeted. "Are you ready for Port Angeles tonight?"

"Yeah, for sure." Ana sat in her seat and crossed one leg over the other delicately as she turned to Alice.

"Ana, this is Jasper, my brother."

Ana turned her head and looked at Jasper to give him a warm smile. He returned the favor, but there was something about his expression that threw Ana off. He looked distant, almost like he was in pain. She couldn't help wanting to know everything about him. Something was drawing her to him, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," he said. Ana could detect it immediately, the subtle southern drawl in his voice. She remembered what Alice had mentioned the day before, that he, too, was from Houston. It made Ana smile in a childlike way.

"You too," she replied. Ana took in his features. He was delightful to look at. He wore a dark gray t-shirt, a thin black parka, and dark jeans. "Alice mentioned that you're from Texas. Me, too."

Jasper gave her a half-smile. He could hear her heart beating rapidly when she spoke, like she was nervous, or maybe excited. He could feel her emotions radiating off of her, but it wasn't like anything he had experienced before. Usually, people only felt one thing at a time. Boredom, or happiness, sadness, whatever it was. But, somehow, Jasper could tell that Ana seemed to have felt everything all at once. He couldn't pinpoint one specific emotion, it was like he was looking through a kaleidoscope.

Alice spoke up then. "Jasper, Ana and I are going to Port Angeles after school. Did you want to come with us? As long as it's okay with you, of course," she asked, looking towards Ana for confirmation.

Just as Ana was going to agree, Jasper shook his head at his sister. "No, thank you. I'm having dinner with Emmett." He tore his eyes away from Ana to look knowingly at Alice.

"Oh," Ana's mood dropped slightly. She almost hoped he would say yes. She was dying to speak to him when he was less tense, maybe he would be outside of school. "Well, maybe another time then."

Jasper could tell by her tone of voice that his answer had disappointed her. But her safety was more important.

Ana was grateful when Mrs. Eckart walked into the room, ushering the other students into their seats to begin the class. Ana hadn't even realized that the room had filled up during her short conversation with the Cullen siblings. She was entirely fixated on Jasper Hale.