Forever Young

Chapter 20

My lessons were much easier to understand now that I wasn't confined to the study all day. But my days were still stressful, in their own way.

I was still mostly used to Esme, Carlisle and Bella. So when I was handed off to Jasper and Emmett as part of my schooling, it made me really nervous. I watched them both closely, not sure if I could trust them, or even if they really liked me.

Emmett was apparently really good at building, so that's what he was teaching me. Jasper was with us, too, but seemed to mostly be following Emmett's lead. Today we were building a fountain to go beside Esme's garden. It sounded simple, in theory, but there was a long list of instructions to assemble it.

Was this a joke? There was no way I could do this.

Jasper sat next to me on the ground, holding the instructions in front of both of us as he read them aloud. Every now and then, he would stop, pointing to a word for me to read. It was usually pretty easy- words like of, to and or. Every once in a while, I would completely blank on the sound a letter made, though, like when I couldn't remember if it was a J or a G that started the word 'Go'. When that happened, Jasper would say the word for me, and I would repeat it back. 

Emmett seemed more focused on math, and I found it kind of difficult to go back and forth between the subjects so quickly. As soon as Jasper and I read off an instruction, Emmett would call me over, asking me to help him figure out the measurements. And, every time, I would struggle to count out the correct inch on the ruler, despite not always knowing which number was which.

After what must have been close to two hours, we finally got the fountain done. Jasper connected it to some pipe thing, and we watched as water began slowly streaming out of it. Jasper was pleased, but Emmett seemed bored.

"Hey, Ammie," he called, and I glanced over. "Do you think you can make the water do something a little more... interesting?"

I grinned at that, bringing my hands up in front of me as I concentrated. Slowly moving with the current of the water, I pushed my hands out suddenly, completely altering the direction of the current. The fountain now seemed to be defying gravity, the water shooting straight up and then morphing into the shape of a heart. Because I had altered the current, it would remain that way, even after I walked away.

"Wow," Emmett said, poking at the water. It was temporarily disrupted, but quickly pulled back into its shape. "That is really impressive, kid."

It was hard for me to fight back my proud smile, but I managed pretty well. 

"What else can you do?" Jasper asked me. 

I shrugged. "I grow stuff a lot. And I can alter the wind, water, fire and the earth. So I guess anything to do with that. And I turn invisible, obviously. But that doesn't do much good, since it doesn't even work all of the time. Nessie saw me the first time we met, even though I was using my power."

Emmett began walking into the yard, waving me after him. He gestured for me to climb on to the swing and I did, allowing him to push me. "Can you have the wind push you back and forth?" He asked. I nodded, and brought the wind to me, showing him what I was capable of. I didn't need to worry about my hair being blown everywhere, because Esme had put it firmly in two braids that morning.

"You know that your power works fine now, right, Darlin?" Jasper asked, standing in front of me. Thankfully, he was far enough away that I didn't accidently run into him as the swing came forward. I couldn't have stopped on such short notice.

I nodded. "Yes, Sir. I know. But I just mean it can glitch, I guess." Unlike with Edward, calling Jasper 'Sir' came without thought. Something about him screamed 'powerful', and there was no denying his presence was an authorative one.