perennial - rosalie hale of twilight

Chapter 10

  "Hello?" I called outside her door.

  "Come in, Rose," replied the voice on the other side.

  I opened the door and walked inside. Edythe sat still in her room. I could tell she was already dressed for school; I recognized the clothes Alice had picked out last night when I watched her plan everyone's outfits.

  "How are you feeling?" I asked.

  "Fine now." She smiled at me. "I've been in much worse situations."

  "How do they look?" I asked. I've seen werewolves before, but they were not the ones Edythe had faced. The ones we met decades ago were long gone.

  "Big," she said. "The one who found me had brown fur and black markings around his eyes. The other had dark silver fur, and the largest was black. There's no doubt he would be invisible to the human eye in the dark."

  So, a new generation of the Quileute wolves have phased indeed.

  "You were there when the treaty was made?" Edythe asked.

  I nodded once. "They caught us hunting. It would've gone down to a fight if Carlisle hadn't proposed they talked things through."

  "Why do you think they are here?"

  I shrugged.

  Edythe didn't ask any more questions after that.

[DECEMBER 2004]

  "It's time!" Alice's voice carried all throughout the house.

  We all gathered in the living room the moment we heard Alice's voice. It was time to draw names for the traditional Secret Santa.

  Christmas wasn't really something we celebrated anymore until Alice and Jasper came along; Alice always insisted on making an event out of it. She has always loved parties and celebrations. I can't say I'm against this one either since it'd be one less monotonous day in our immortal existence.

  Alice has already put everyone's names in a little box. She made Esme draw one first. Carlisle was next, followed by Emmett, me, Edythe, Edward, and Jasper. Alice got the last piece of paper in the box.

  We unfolded the paper at the same time, and mine revealed Esme's name.

  Not long after that, Emmett bugged Alice, Edward, and Edythe to spill who his Secret Santa was and what he'd be getting but none of them caved. There's no doubt that Alice had already seen who we all got. Edythe and Edward would have heard from our minds as well.

  "No, Alice," said Edward when Alice was almost giving in. "Resist the urge to blab."

  "Come on, Alice," Emmett encouraged. "You know you want to."

  Jasper, standing behind Alice, put his hand over her mouth. Alice made no move to stop him; she really was resisting the urge.

  "Sorry, Emmett," said Edythe. "You'll just have to wait 'till Christmas morning to know."

  Emmett pouted.

  "It's okay, babe," I said, patting his arm. "It's more fun when it's a surprise, don't you think?"

* * *

"Merry almost Christmas!" Alice exclaimed, holding out a pair of pajamas.

  It was finally the twenty fourth of December, and the entire house was livelier than ever. Part of the tradition is Alice making us wear matching pajamas on Christmas eve. This year, we wore red and green pajamas with bells and mistletoe on them.