Low clouds and drizzle were the setting as Bella Swan drove Rowan and her to Forks High at the start of the new school week.
Rowan got out with her umbrella and walked over to Bella's side of the truck and waited for her to get out with her backpack so they could share it on the walk to the school.
Bella looked exhausted - it was soul deep. Rowan had noticed the shift before Bella even spoke. Bella's soulmate-thread although still thin and wavering was brighter in the morning dim light. As if someone out there had reached out toward Bella.
"Rough night?"
Bella hesitated and then nodded, "Yeah...I dreamt again."
Rowan wouldn't push; she knew how it was to have something fantastical to happen suddenly in one's life. She would give Bella whatever time she needed.
"It was the same place." Bella's gaze was distant, "But this time he was there."
The glow sharpened, a steady beat against Bella's ribs.
Rowan nearly stumbled, "Are you scared?"
"Yes." Bella whispered, "But I'm also...I don't know." She paused her boot, kicking a piece of gravel. "It feels right, like he's supposed to be in my story."
Rowan smiled softly, "Then trust that feeling."
Bella let out a shaky breath, catching Rowan's smile she felt relief surge inside her. At last someone believed her.
---
WITH THE CULLENS
Edward Cullen stood on the steps of the school, his gaze fixed on the new face in the school parking lot. The same as the one in Alice's vision a month ago, the same face in the not-memory he received from the library aid, Rowan. He waited for the moment where she would look at him, with the fascination he knew would come but as she passed with Rowan at her side her gaze flicked to him and she only gave a polite nod before continuing through the high school's doors.
Edward stumbled, "What?"
Jasper snorted as he felt Edward's shock.
Alice frowned, "The vision changed. It's not her. She's not yours, Edward."
Edward shook his head, "No, that's not possible."
Rosalie rolled her eyes nearby.
Japser inhaled sharply, "That woman - Rowan - her aura is getting stronger."
Edward's jaw tightened, "Whatever she is, she is interfering with my..."
Jasper interrupted him, "She's not doing it on purpose. She's merely shining a light on everything around her. She's showing you unintentionally that whatever instinct you keep mistaking for attraction is wrong."
Edward froze, his teeth clacked loudly in his mouth as he clenched them.
That came too close to the truth.
He had felt something from seeing Bella but when she looked right past him, it was like the illusion shattered like glass.
Rowan's aura.
Bella's disinterest.
Everything wasn't aligning with the way he thought destiny was.
And he hated not understanding something.
---
BACK TO THE GIRLS
"We'll do lunch together." Bella nearly commanded as she left Rowan's side for her first class.
Rowan slipped into the library, but her magic didn't want to settle.
Bella's thread had pulsed again - warm, steady, and expectant.
And with it came a call through her own.
Rowan braced herself against a bookshelf as the sensation rolled through her senses.
Her three threads connecting to her one came with an echo of thunder.
While Bella's was like footsteps echoing softly down candlelit hallways.
Rowan closed her eyes.
If Bella's thread kept strengthening...
If her three kept reaching for Rowan...
Forks High was about to become a crossroads to a fate that it wasn't built to contain.
The library lights flickered.
She whispered into the morning's quiet, "Everything is starting."