chapter fifteen

So, there were two things that Este had found herself very clear on. One, Finn Carnehan was definitely not who he had portrayed himself to be while living as a friend of the demigods. Two? The Cullen family were very different from anything that Este or any of her family had come in contact with for that matter. Despite the seemingly growing alliance between the two families, Este found herself at a loss of what to think. Part of her wanted to turn them into gold bust because they infuriated her so much, the other? Just wanted to melt into the backseat.

There was that underlying question, though, that remained persistent in Este's mind. What is going to happen now? She knew that they would have to find anything to nail Finn's coffin in the eyes of the police just so that he could be taken away. Or, they would have to kill him. Though, it all had its risks as long as they remained clueless behind what creatures he was controlling to kill like he had been.

By the way that he had reacted, part of Este wanted to go and dig more into the possibility of Vrykolakas being the culprits behind the puppetiring. It was a possibility if some of the flesh had been eaten, maybe that was what the bite marks were from and maybe there were more than Este had even realized. Or as she had thought, it could be Striges that fed on human flesh and blood. That would also solidify why he had averted bringing them in as a possibility.

The stress of this entire situation happening right under their noses drove Este insane. How could it have taken them all so long to start piecing this together? And what had taken so long before the belief had been passed around the group? And the more Este thought about the entire situation, the more she fell into the depths of her mind feeling stupid. She should've noticed this from the beginning and instead she was too irritable and too caught up in Finn's feelings to notice things for herself.

Este's back was pressed against the backseat of the Cullen's car. Music playing lowly, something classical that Este didn't care enough to pay much mind to. It seemed though as if Jasper Hale had a need for speed, in Este's words. As his foot remained heavy on the gas pedal causing them to drive ridiculously fast from Port Angeles.

"Do you mind slowing down a little bit? I'd rather not hurl in your car because of your crazy driving," Este broke the silence as she made a face, not wanting the queasiness of her stomach get the best of her as she sat in a car with two undead teenagers, "Thanks."

It was silent for merely a moment after she spoke before Jasper muttered out, "No problem, ma'am," before focusing on driving once again, somehow having a map in his mind and understanding where he needed to take her.

"Don't call me ma'am."

"My apologies."

"Is it your brother that you live with?" Alice asked after a moment as they took a turn, the little light of the day had disappeared and down had come twilight, "Parents?" She asked harmlessly, but Este felt uncomfortable.

"Yes. My twin brother, our adoptive brothers," Este answered as she stared at her bracelet while chewing on her lip, "My father works a lot so he's never home. My mother died when my brother and I were really young," She explained while trying to explain about her father in a way they wouldn't understand.

"Twin?" Jasper spoke as he focused on driving and making conversation, Este found it rather odd hearing him speak as he had always been rather silent, "Which one is your twin?"

"My twin's, Newt, uh he's the one you usually see beside me in English. Sandy blonde hair that looks way too fluffy to be hair," Este wanted to add 'the class where you guys stare at me' but decided against it.

Jasper let out a small chuckle while Alice let out a giggle while turning so that she could look at Este, "That is quite the description," Alice smiled widely.

"Yeah well do not ask him for one on me. He'll probably just say 'brownish auburn hair that looks like a murder.'" She quoted her brother's past description of her. "And one of our adoptive brothers who lives with us is Kaz. Raven hair and blue eyes, be careful near him. He likes to pitch pockets."

"Oh?" Jasper seemed intrigued by her statement, raising an eyebrow as a small left on her lips as he looked back at her through the rearview mirror, "Pitch pocketer? You keep great company."

"Mhm," Este let out a small laugh as she fiddled with her fingers while she rolled her eyes before adding, "Then there's our adoptive brother, Titus. He's a spitfire. Think's he is a real ladies man and can run like no one I have ever seen before."

Alice grinned as she let out a small laugh, as she tried to piece things together, "He sounds familiar. He's the one that has been pinning after Wendy Biers, isn't he?" She asked before smiling at Este's nod of confirmation, "I thought the description sounded familiar."

Este nodded as she pursed her lips in a thin line. Her eyes cut out the window as they passed the sign to Forks, causing her to adjust herself in her seat again. Her grip on her dagger changed as the book in her lap remained on top of it, as if it was shielding it from the overly happy girl in front of her and the boy who looked like he could use a day off.

"Are you not goin' to ask us what we are?" Jasper asked with slight annoyance that was clearly not aimed at Este, but she couldn't pick up on where it was aimed at. He ignored the look that Alice shot in his direction before her gaze went back to Este.

"I'm trying to figure that out still, without being a crazed nosey person. But I'm fine with the simple answer of neither of us are normal and we've come to an agreement on that and who isn't to be harmed," Este remarked as she sighed, "The most I know and care about is I know neither of you are alive. Jasper Whitlock. July 3, 1863. El Paso, Texas. Mary Alice Brandon. September 24, 1920. Biloxi, Mississippi," She repeated back to them what repeated in her head.

A silence fell over them again as Este continued to look out the window. Wondering if she should've kept that bit of information to herself but she couldn't when those dates were constantly repeating in the back of her mind. Someone had to know and seeing as they were the ones that were in the car with her, she made the stupid decision to let them know that she not so fully knew what they were.

No one said anything, it remained dead silent as they pulled into her driveway, remaining silent as they watched Este get out of the car. The girl paused as she looked at the two who were staring back at her. Almost as if one of them wanted to say something, and Este wasn't sure what had made her pause, but something had. I wonder on a scale of one to ten how death feels to them, like imagine it's different than how everyone else feels it.

"Thanks for the ride," Este mumbled as she ran her hands through her hair as she placed her dagger back into her jeans and held the book in her hands, "I'll see you two in class tomorrow, I'm going to assume. Unless you dip out for another week out of nowhere," She shrugged her shoulders.

"No problem ma'am." Jasper forced out as his hands gripped the wheel tighter, his white knuckles seemingly becoming even more white as his skin stretched causing Este to give a small nod before turning on her heel.

    He's 100% calling me ma'am to piss me off.

"Eurydice, wait," Alice called after her, causing her to stop, Este looked at the girl who had leaned out the car window as the two girls shared a look, "Why don't..." Alice paused as her eyebrows furrowed before she looked at Este, "Why don't we all meet up one day after school to talk about what's going on and possibly answer some questions that we all have."

"I'll have to go over it with my brother," Este paused for a moment before sighing as she turned to look at the darkness, knowing that he was lingering out of their sight but not out of hers, "But I'm sure that he will be more than okay with such a thing happening. But, would you mind if we did it here?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes as she was awaiting an answer.

"That can be arranged," Alice nodded before she looked over at Jasper, placing a hand on his arm before turning back to Este, "As long as only people like you are there," Este knew what she meant by that and she wondered how Alice knew that there were regular mortals came and went under her roof, "It isn't hard to tell a difference between you all."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Este gave a swift nod before clutching onto her book tighter before she began to walk down the cobblestone path and onto the front porch of the home, sparing a glance back at the car that sat waiting for her to enter the home.

Este placed herself against the door after she had closed it as she looked at her brother who had emerged from the darkness. The two shared a similar expression before Este walked up to her room and shut her door, not wanting to know what else had been discovered and simply wanting to get an early night's sleep or simply the time to herself so that she could gather her thoughts with a racing heart. Ignoring the phone numbers that happened to be written in the book.

That next morning, Este, Kaz, Newt, and Titus drove together. Este was driving the group for once, while Newt sat anxiously next to her and Titus and Kaz remained in an uncomfortable silence in the back. Este looked at them through the mirror and mustered up a small grin as she looked over at her brother.

"If he has any sense then he won't show up today," Este remarked as she turned her eyes back onto the road, "He has to know that we're onto him or that we're done with him," She commented as she ran a hand through her hair, "Besides from the way the Cullen's were talking last night I doubt he's getting near school doors."

"You may be right but still, the stuff he had in those notebooks? That was beyond disturbing," Kaz made a face as he nudged the back of Newt's seat, "I've never seen this man go pale and he almost looked like a sheet of fine printer paper!"

"Because of what was written about my sister, Kaz," Newt mumbled as he looked out the window before looking over at Este, "Everything we've said before of who to stay away from has changed. It seems that Finn doesn't like them. That's an advantage," He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the seat.

    Right, they found some creepy manifesto against me in his house last night. Este tried to ignore that as she kept her eyes on the road.

"And they promised not to hurt us," Titus added as he snapped his fingers before nodding with a wide grin, "Let's take our wins and our losses. Personally, I'm going to focus on the major win: the supposed monsters aren't normal monsters and don't want to kill us."
"The only reason you are as happy as you are currently is because Wendy is going to be back today, Clark got back over the weekend if I'm not mistaken," Este commented with a short laugh as they pulled into the parking lot, "Today will be fun, won't it be? Everyones coming back during the chaos."

"We need to go back to the house of the Ancestors," Newt remarked after a moment as he ran his hands through his hair, it was clear he had barely slept and it seemed that everything he had read was plaguing his mind and Este knew she didn't want to know what he had read.

"Newt," Este pulled into the parking space as she looked over at her twin, "I know that we do and we really need to hurry up and figure out what we can, but the way you're wearing yourself down isn't going to make you helpful. Trust me, I'd know," She looked back at Titus and Kaz who were grinning, "What?"

"Hm? Oh nothing," Kaz swatted his hand at the two as if dismissing them while he continued to share the same grin that Titus was wearing, "It's just that you two are definitely twins. You two just did the same thing in the exact same way. It's really funny but also kind of alarming sometimes."

Both twin's let out a groan at his words before looking at each other and furrowing their eyebrows. Slowly moving closer to their doors before shaking their heads while Kaz roared with laughter and Titus was hitting the back of their seats. I'm about to turn around and swing at the two of them. Este wasn't too thrilled by their amusement.

"What did he tell you two! See!" Titus seemed to find the entire situation amusing as they got out of the car, leaning against the vehicle as they swung their bags on, "Oh my gods, it's Wendy! Wendy Biers!" Titus was almost on cloud nine as he had a dreamy smile on his lips, "Look at her."

"Go after her," Kaz urged the boy as Este shook her head in amusement, "Go on you little love-sick puppy."

"I swear, he's teaching me what it's like to be a parent," Este joked before walking around the side of the car as she linked arms with her brother, "We've got an English class that we are required to attend, dear brother. Are you ready for our journey?"

"Most certainly," Newt joked as he tightened the loop of their arms as they bid their farewells to Kaz and waved in the direction of Clark and Wendy as well as Elijah and Elyse, who all were in a gloomy circle as they talked about who knows what.

English was an awkward situation as Este found it. The twin's mainly remained silent as they went through their books while making sure that Finn never showed up, and it seemed that some other people had the same idea. As they had been there earlier than anyone else, almost as if they were waiting for him to show up just so that they could deal with him. Newt seemed slightly appreciative of this, and Este didn't pay much mind. Or she tried not to.

"Hey, Este, why doesn't Jasper walk with you to APUSH?" Alice had asked after the bell had rang, watching as the two twins both paused collecting their belongings, "Since you two have the class, I thought that maybe it would be a nice gesture," She smiled as she gave a swift nod to Newt, "And I can walk with you to class, since we share it."

    How convenient. Then Este realized something. Oh my god, the school is never going to let this one go.

"I can walk myself," Este commented as she noticed how tense Jasper had been the entire time, "I think he might need to go home, or to a massage therapist. He's tenser than tension," She commented before realizing that she had said that out loud, nearly going red in the face, "Uhm... sorry, that just kind of slipped out. What I meant was, is he okay with doing that?" Someone kill me.

The look on Newt's face as he held his hand over his mouth as if he was trying not to laugh or scold his sister as Alice let out a laugh, but Jasper just gave her a tight lipped grin, "It's not a problem, I suggested it."

Sure you did, just like you suggested that haircut I bet, "Well then, I guess we better get walking," Este swallowed thickly as she adjusted her posture, "Let's go Captain Tense pants," She joked as she gave an uneasy smile, "You know I mean nothing offensive by my jokes, it's just how I communicate and if it offends you then you can tell me."

Jasper simply shrugged as they began their walk out of the classroom, parting ways from Alice and Newt, "I'm not offended in the slightest, but if I am then I will let you know," She could tell he was struggling with his words, and she found herself wondering if he had some sort of speech impediment or one too many people asked to hear his accent.

"Good."

Elyse had moved her seat, sitting next to Este during Dr. Moore's class. The two shared some... very dark conversations as they sat at their desks. "You don't think that he's going to kill all of us, do you?" Elyse whispered to Este as fear provoked the mortal girl.

"No," Este shook her head as she looked at Elyse, "He won't lay a hand on you," She promised as she placed a hand on the girl's arm in an attempt to be comforting, "He wants me dead after all, and he knows that if he goes after any of you then I won't give myself up or some self-righteous bullshit," She hummed, "Not in the sense of trading off our lives, if he had you then I'd go into a fit of killing," She whispered.

"You and Newt scare me sometimes," Elyse whispered back in return.    

Este simply shrugged her shoulders before she cut a look back to Jasper Hale who kept his eyes trained on the board ahead causing her to look away as she placed her head in her hands.

That's a good thing, Este thought before she departed once again for math with her brother. The two met near the door before disappearing in for another long and lengthy class that was nothing but boring. And the two had simply cracked jokes while trying to keep the other at bay, as it was clear that both were riddled with fear and worry behind the masks that they had placed on for the day. After all, war had been declared on the family.

"Kaz and Titus are going over ways to track him down. Alice said that Dr. Cullen had a few ideas that we may want to hear when we meet. They want to do it soon. But none of them will be here at the same time until November," Newt added as he leaned closer to his sister, "Elyse and Elijah are being kept out of this but know enough to be cautious."

"Elyse is scared," Este admitted as she looked at him, "And rightfully so. But no one is going to get hurt from this. Titus needs to be careful around Clark and Wendy, just to make sure that Finn doesn't decide that they're great targets since they know about none of this," Este whispered as her brother nodded.

"And here's to our game of luck."