𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 

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𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

╰┈˚ · ° .  IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF MARCH, the temperatures started to rise more as the day passed. It didn't snow as much as in February and temperatures were going up with more frequent rain then snow storms.

There was one thing though, that it was going to change the dynamics of our neighboring town, Fork. And that was the arrival of a new person, a girl.

Maddison Swan never had the best relationship with her older sister, Bella. They were born only between a year and two months from each other, but even with the similar ages, it never guaranteed them a healthy relationship between them. When Renee, the girls' mother, moved to Phoenix, Arizona, Isabella went with her leaving behind her father Charlie and her little sister Maddison. Through the years Maddi's sister visited Forks just like she went to Phoenix from time to time, but it had all stopped years ago. Now, only some awkwards phone calls were exchanged between the two siblings. But everything was going to change now for the Swan sisters, because Bella was going to move back to Forks to live with Maddison and their father while Renee traveled alongside her new husband.

As for Maddi's words, the two couldn't have been more different. She knew that even if years had passed since they last saw each other face-to-face, none of them had that much of drastic personality change.

Sherif Swan had invited Amelia and I plenty of times at dinner at their house during the short but still very intense friendships. Doing slumber parties at their residence or even just going there to talk and do what normal friends would do was something that us three had done multiple times. Apparently, a new thing for all three since neither of us had ever had a close female friend or friends at all in mine and Amelia's case. Jacob Black, Mia's twin brother, had known the Swan girl since they were born. A long friendship of years and years so that now they could be called best friends.

Apparently, Charlie had gone to the Port Angeles airport to pick up his eldest daughter. He had organized a small dinner, inviting his best friend, Billy Black, who brought with him his son, Jacob. The boy who had known Bella from only making mud pies together during their childhood a couple of times. Mia and I had been invited too from the Sheriff, probably in hope for us three to extend our friendship group to the eldest Swan.

Honestly, both Mia and I really wanted to be somewhere else other than there, we could already feel how awkward it was going to be between Charlie and Bella, that from Maddi's words, they had a very similar personality. Very shy and introverted with a heavy dose of awkwardness, but unfortunately, us witches had promised to Maddison our presence, and we were not going back on our words. Also because we knew really well how much our friend was feeling in that moment thanks to our magic, the gift of empathy was a curse and a blessing most of the time. Her emotions fluctuated between a state of dread, anxiousness, happiness, and so on before doing all the cycle once again.

As the afternoon approached, Amelia and I, with aprons tied to our waists, were helping Maddison with the preparation of the dinner. Well more so not helping, but still, we were there. Our moral support was for sure felt. Probably.

"Do you think she will like this?" Maddi asked as she stirred the bolognese sauce in the pan. The girl was a nervous wreck as of now. She was checking everything she was cooking three times, from the seasoning, to the perfect time for the oven, the perfect flame for the stove... She had even checked three times if she had set correctly the timer, which she was eyeing every five seconds.

"Yes, Maddi, I'm sure she will love it." Amelia said, swallowing down the annoyed sigh that I knew she really wanted to let out. "Now stop being so nervous because we can feel it and it's really annoying." Her gentleness, as always, did not last much. But she was Amelia Black, she had her own kind of bitchiness and we loved her for that.

I chuckled at the deadpanned look that Maddison gave her. Her eyes held a stern look, one that said 'I'm ready to give you the scold of the year' but she held back, decided to just say "You two really need to start to learn how to block it."

"It's not that easy." I huffed. My head banging on the wooden cupboard as I spoke. We had tried doing that for the last month. Still, not a very positive outcome coming for either of us. As I said before, the empathy development of our magic was a blessing and a curse at the same time. We could not just block all the emotions that someone was feeling, but still, it helped us calm down the two shifters, notice if someone was upset, and I was sure that in the future it would become a very important gift to help the pack.

"You will, don't worry. I know that it takes time but you are already starting to soften the amount you receive, right?" Maddison gave us a supporting smile, one that she would always give us always when she helped with the training. She was right, we had achieved in slightly muffling any emotions that were not our own. But it was a skill that required us to focus on them first, not an instinctive one that we were able to practice without thinking.

"Still." Almost sounding defeated, Amelia added with a grumble. "I thought it was going to be much easier to be honest." I could only nod in agreement. Mastering this type of magic was a lot harder than our elemental one.

Just as comfortable silence stretched between us with only the sound of the wooden spatula that Maddison was using to stir the sauce to break it, the hum of the Chief Swan car entering the driveway of the residence was heard snapping us all from our thoughts.

Maddison froze in her spot. Her smile, that previously had been softly gracing her lips was now twisted with anxiety, her body almost trembling with nerves.

"Calm down, Maddi." I groaned trying to shake off her emotion, physically shaking my arms.

"It's going to be fine. And if not, you know that both our houses are open for you." Mia added with an encouraging grin.

We all took our aprons off, and Mia didn't waste another second before taking the Swan girl by the shoulders and lightly pushing her towards the front door where her father and big sister were for sure to come from at any second. "Trixy, will keep an eye on the food. Now go and greet your sister."

"Why me?" I asked confused.

Amelia sharply turned towards me with an icy glare, her finger pointing at the kitchen at my back. I rolled my eyes at the girl, but still, I complied by taking Maddison's previous place behind the stove as Mia stood under the arch that divided the kitchen from the entrance, her eyes pointed at the entryway where Maddi had disappeared from to greet her sister outside.

With the front door open we could faintly hear Maddison speaking with Bella. And from the sound of it, and even more when the three entered inside, Isabella Swan was awkward as fuck and very much shy. Just like Maddison had told us. Maybe not with those exact same words but nevertheless, the same meaning.

"These are my friends." Maddi waved at us, her anxiety skyrocketing as she shifted from foot to foot. That was our clue to help her, I guess.

Mia and I exited the kitchen with a somewhat welcoming attitude, ready to salute the new member of the Swan house.

Giving Bella a half smile I nodded my head in greetings "Beatrice Uley." I introduced myself. "You must be Isabella." I said trying not to sound too harsh or completely unbothered. I wasn't the greatest with people, definitely a lot worse when I had never met them before.

"Just Bella." She replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear giving me the most awkward smile that I had ever seen. She even beated the one her father would make.

"Then you can call me Trixy." I said with a light chuckle trying to make her feel more comfortable. Between me and Amelia we for sure didn't give the most relaxed vibes, plus the girl had just moved, her entire life was about to change. Making her feel slightly better would also help us since she was emanating very high frequencies of emotions.

"Amelia Black." The air witch introduced herself not even bothering to cover her smirk with a fake smile "Don't call me Mia." She then had to add. At least she made it sound less bitchy than what she would usually do. A big step for her because Amelia Black didn't care about making people feel comfortable or changing herself to make them.

"Oh for fuck sakes." I groaned under my breath "Don't mind her, she is a bitch. She pretty much insults everyone and she practically does not give a damn about it." I explained to a frowning Bella who had apparently taken Mia's comment to heart. "You get used to it after a while." I added trying to soften the older girl a bit.

"Mia can be a bit harsh and cold but she really is not, deep down." Maddi said with a warm smile. We knew that Amelia was going to say something harsh that most people would be very insulted by. She was like that.

"But I really am." Mia commented with a indignited scoff at the Swan's comment.

"Go and take a look at the food that is cooking before we will not have any dinner to eat." I glared at my friend trying to make the message pass between us for her to shut the hell up. "Please." I added knowing that at least she would be more inclined to do it.

Rolling her eyes Amelia stuttered back to the kitchen "Don't worry about her, really. She has a heart." I said to the eldest Swan sister. "Deep deep, very deep down." I joked sending her a wink to which she lightly smiled at. I gave a last smile to the family of three, before I too, walked back inside the kitchen.

"What did we say before?" I asked as soon as the air witch was in my sight and the family of three had walked upstairs.

"I did go light on her. And you know it." She replied, rolling her eyes as she focused on the cooking dinner on the stove.

"That was you toning it down?" Maddison asked as she too entered the kitchen. Even if she wanted to, the girl couldn't fully suppress the twitch of her lips as she spoke.

"What? I was trying to be funny."

"You were not." I snorted knowing my friend really well. "You were just being your fantastic bitchy self."

Lips twitching in her infamous cocky smirk Amelia replied in a dramatic whisper, "Thank you." One of her hands on her heart as the other wiped the non-existent tear from under one of her eyes.

We chuckled at her dramatics, Maddison once again taking the lead of the cooking, setting herself behind the stove and double checking everything else.

"She is awkwards as fuck." Mia stated after a second that silence had fallen between us.

I pursed my lips trying no to laugh but really, I couldn't help but let a comment out. "True"

"You too, Trixy?" Maddi glared.

"Hey, I was very much polite and kind to her!"

"She was, but that does not change the fact that she is as much of a bitch as me." Mia commented. "She just hides it much better than me."

"True."

"You two are impossible." Maddison sighed, pinching her bridge between her index and thumb.

"And you still love us." Amelia said, grinning like a mad woman.

"Unfortunately."

══════ 🜂🜁🜃🜄 ══════

╰┈˚ · ° .  We heard honking coming from outside, making Amelia, Maddison and I stop from the chit-chat we had been having. Charlie walked down the stairs directly towards the front door talking out loud enough for us to hear.

"That must be your dad and brother." He glanced towards Amelia for a second before he was quickly out of the front door.

Turning off the stove and making sure that the things in the oven would not burn, the three of us followed after Chief Swan outside.

"Girls!" Billy Black said with a warm smile that made one appear quickly on all three of us girls. His son, Jacob, was standing behind him, his hands on his father's wheelchair as he shifted from foot to foot.

Amelia flickered her father's hat, grinning down at him. Her way of greeting him apparently. We had seen her do it more than once.

"Billy, Jacob." I nodded my head at the two adding a sincere smile directed at the older Black.

"Jake!" Maddison squealed, launching herself in the arms of her best friend "It's been so long." She said letting out a sigh of relief once she was between his arms.

"We saw each other three days ago, Maddi." Jacob laughed while hugging to himself his best friend. "And plus, you don't have much time anymore since you are always with your new friends." He said it as a joke but both Mia and I could feel the bitterness in his emotion seeping through his words.

"Bella, you remember Billy Black?" Charlie asked as his elder daughter walked out of the house.

"Yeah." She said with a smile shaking the man's hands "Wow, you're looking good."

"Well, I'm still dancing. I'm glad you are finally here. Charlie here hasn't shut up about it since you told him you were coming." Billy commented while giving his friend a side glance.

"All right, keep exaggerating. I'll roll you into the mud." Chief Swan rolled his eyes embarrassed.

"After I ram you in the ankles."

The two started to fake fight a bit farther away from us. The elder Quiluite, rolled his wheelchair as his friend evaded him by jumping side to side. Amelia was shaking her head at her father as we all couldn't help but chuckle at their antics.

"Five dollars on your father." I commented looking at the two adults that were now faking fighting with the addition of fake punches thrown in there.

Before the air witch could answer me, Maddi spoke. "Bella, this is Jacob. Amelia's twin brother."

"Hey." Bella saluted as the male walked to stand next to her.

"We used to make mud pies when we were little." Jacob said with a smile.

Oh, he liked her. I grimaced looking towards Mia who had the same look on her face. Well, that was going to cause some problems and drama since even if she would probably never admit it, Maddison liked him as more than just friends.

"Right. No, I remember." Bella replied, continuing to nod as she placed her hands in her jeans pockets.

"She doesn't." Mia commented loud enough for just me to hear. It was kind of painfully awkward to see Jacob and Bella talk with Maddison standing next to them excluded by their conversation.

"Maddi." I called her. The girl smiled, stepping towards us almost heaving a relieved breath. "You think that maybe later we could try again with the blocking thing?" I asked, trying to distract her as her emotion saddened more as she kept glancing at Jake trying to flirt with her big sister. She probably just understood that he liked her. Or more so, still likes since she had told us that Jacob had always harbored a secret crush on Bella even when they were little.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled slightly, making Mia intertwine their arms together to pull her focus more onto us.

"Yes, please. I really can not do this anymore." She whined dramatically. It was true, it wasn't the easiest thing feeling what everyone around you was but now, I knew she was doing this to take Maddison's mind off her crush liking someone else.

"So what do you think?" Charlie suddenly asked his eldest daughter coming back towards us teens with Billy not far behind him. He patted the orange truck with a bad paint job that was parked in the drayway next to where we all were. A present for Bella and an attempt to make her feel better about moving her entire life here to the cold and rainy town of Forks.

"Of what?" The girl asked her father.

"Your homecoming present."

"This?" Bella asked bewildered while pointing at the truck to her left.

"Just bought it off Billy here."

"I totally rebuilt the engine for you." Jacob said to Bella. Totally flexing his mechanic skills.

"Oh, come on! Oh my gosh! This is perfect. Are you joking me?" Beaming at the truck, the girl opened the driver door only for it to smack into Jacob. "Sorry." she mumbled as she quickly stepped inside her new car.

Mia and I both snorted at the same time making Billy glare sternly at us. Once again the two teenagers were immersed in their world. "C'mon Maddi. We have dinner to cook." I said starting to drag the girl inside by her arm.

Scoffing, the Swan girl said, "More, I have dinner to cook."

"We are there for moral support. Do not take that for granted, Miss. Swan." Amelia said. Her voice stern, adding to the joke.

══════ 🜂🜁🜃🜄 ══════  

╰┈˚ · ° .  Dinner was soon brought to the table set for seven in the almost never used dining room. The meal was passed between jokes made by the two adults, Jacob trying to flirt with Bella and Mia and I trying to not let Maddison think too much about that.

"You are as alway an amazing cook, Maddi." Billy Black said, complimenting the girl with a genuine smile on his face. "I love your cooking. It's always the best."

"Yes." Bella added while pursing her lips "You are a really good cook."

"Thank you." Maddison slightly blushed with a beaming smile "Both of you, really."

"Where did you learn?" Bella asked her sister after taking a sip from her water.

I had turned towards my friend ready to hear her reply even if I already knew the answer, but a wave of magic and awareness passed through my body. Like an alarm alerting me of something.

"Trixy." Mia whispered as alarmed as I felt "What is it?"

"Do I look like I know?" I whispered back trying to not let the others notice the panic that was slowly increasing inside of me. My mind tried to get the answers that it needed from my magic but only came with nothing. "Okay, fire. I need fire." I said, knowing for sure that the flames would help me come up with an answer.

The problem with having our coven not complete was this, everything was only at half. Everything was much more difficult. Spells, our empathic gift, even control over our own elements... Everything was unbalanced.

"The candle." Amelia nudged me, her eyes darting to the scented candle on the shelf of the antique china hutch. One of the many that Maddi had previously lit trying to get the house to smell better after all the cooking. It was a small flame and quite far but fortunately I had an open view of it without anyone blocking me off. It took me more time than normal for my magic to enter its trance-like-state. But soon, I could feel its comforting warmth even from the distance, and words started to be whispered by its red, yellow and orange flame as the wick burned.

"Trixy." Mia shook one out of my trans as unsuspiciously as possible. Fortunately everyone at the table other than her was too immersed into the conversation of how Maddison prepared the dishes that we ate for dinner to notice that something was off. Everyone but Billy Black.

"What was it?" Amelia whispers behind her glass of iced water.

"Cold ones. They are on our territory." I whispered with a dread coated tone.

We exchanged panicked looks, our inner instincts going haywire. The need to protect our tribe was felt stronger than ever.

We together stood up from our seats abruptly, sending the table into silence "I'm sorry but we have an emergency." Mia stated to the other as I tried to give Billy a nod that communicated what sort of emergency. A supernatural one.

"An emergency?" Charlie asked, confused.

I took my phone out of the pocket of my jeans. "Family emergency. My brother does not feel very well and as you know he has been really sick a couple of months back so it kinda worries me whenever he does not feel well now." I said the first thing that came to my mind. The excuse seemed pretty good as Charlie frown deepened.

"It's okay. I hope he feels better soon. Let me know if I can help in any way." Charlies gave me an awkward smile that at that moment it really made me see the similarity between him and his eldest daughter.

"Yes of course." I nodded at the man before turning to Bella with a smile "It was good meeting you Bella."

"I'll go with her to make sure Sam is okay. Goodbye Mr. Swan." Mia saluted the man "See you at home." She then added to her two family members.

Nodding my goodbyes to the three males I followed after Amelia towards the front door.

"I'll walk you two outside," Maddison said with a smile and eyes that spoke that she clearly knew that something else was going on. As soon as we were far enough to not be in their hearing range, she quickly asked in a hushed tone, "What's happening?"

"Remember those spells that we did to make us know if a cold one was on our territory?" Mia asked. She did not wait for Madison's reply before continuing "Well, they got triggered."

"You mean the Cullens broke the treaty?" She asked nervously. She knew the consequences of them doing that.

"Maybe. Maybe it's not them but we need to o a spell to be sure of who it was."

"Alright, just let me know when you get your answers. Or I can come with you if you want." She quickly nodded, still trying to grasp the events happening.

"We will let you know." Mia stated. After all, wolf or not, witch or not, she was still one of us. "Your sister is here and you have not seen her in a long time. Plus Jacob is here too. Why don't you came at Tryxy's house first thing tomorrow morning?"

Looking towards the kitchen then back at us she nodded her head giving us a small smile. "Yeah, you are right. Be careful."

"We will." I kissed her cheek. Mia doing the same after me. And then, we both climbed inside my truck, quickly directed towards the Rez.

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited for this act to begin.

There is a time jump of one month after the end of Act 1 but we are finally in the twilight timeline.

Of course this story will follow the movie very loosely since the pack was more of a side thing from the entire franchise and this fic is based on them and the witches.

I promise, Paul is coming. And I swear there is a lot of him in this Act.

And I hope you like the new cover for this book!

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Thursday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾