WREN OFTEN WISHES THAT SHE OCULD REMEMBER THINGS ABOUT HER LIFE PRIOR TO BEING RESCUED. Everything was harder for her than everyone else. She had to learn how to read, how to write, how to ask for things. She didn't know how clocks worked, didn't recognize the violin, and had trouble with the days of the week.

Every single human learned these things as they grew up, but Wren was starting over. She had a hard time talking to the Volturi, with Jasper, or through the phone. Her cheery optimism was fading just like a child's does as they grow up. Her room held her deep bouts of silence. Her haunting specter was growing to be a rare occurrence. When she did slip through the halls, it was for feeding or compelled by Jasper.

Part of her changing nature could be associated with the increasing flashes of dark places that reminded her of the night her captor tried to murder her. Every time she became too anxious, she would see him. Sometimes he was by a lake, others he was talking to a young, yellow-haired woman.

She never spoke to anyone about the flashes. Everyone was worried about security or the upcoming party. Wren didn't want to become a bother, so she tried to remain contented in her room.

Wren pointedly observed that Jasper, desperate to integrate himself, often invited her out to the lawn. She would go, talk to a few people, then would quietly excuse herself back to her room. It wasn't that she didn't want to try and socialize, she had been good at that for the first week she'd been inside the castle, rather that the flashes coming while in public were not something Wren wished risking for simple social calls.

They increased whenever she began thinking hard enough. This was the part she hated the most. It was as if she was enslaved to her mind, to the flashes, never to piece things together as she wished to.

Hundreds of flashes had occurred the week prior to the one she was in now. Wren hadn't left her room except to feed. Jasper had allowed her to remain inside, but she noticed the concern written on his soft features. For a moment she wondered if she'd made a great mistake, never telling him, but then she remembered that he could feel what she did. Wren doubted that he didn't know.

For the first time, it wasn't Jasper who compelled her to leave the safety of her room. She'd heard a faint knock at the door, too soft and quick to be him.

"Come in," Wren whispered her response, putting down the snow globe she'd been messing with.

Her doppelgänger was the one who entered the room, hair done in a ponytail that swung with every step. River, the woman her Jasper had spoken to her about, who'd only seen her a handful of times on the lawn and otherwise. Wren gave her a small smile and wave before she began playing with the bangles on her wrist that Rosalie had left with her.

"Caius wants to speak with you about something in his office," River explained as she continued to stand in the open doorway, "I'm here to guide you."

It wasn't her place to refuse, so Wren began her walk over to this office. She hadn't spoken with Caius much, only brief nods and glances of acknowledgement. She supposed it was odd, seeing as River had come to this place first. Wren wondered if she was imposing herself somehow, and this was why Caius wished to speak with her.

Wren gulped down venom as she felt herself getting clammy again, noticing the clear images in her head beginning to appear.

This was exactly what she hadn't wanted to happen. She continued to walk. She had to. This carefully kept secret of hers could be exposed if she didn't walk in a straight line or, forbid, fall over like she had the first time she'd seen his face again.

However, this wasn't the usual flash, rather she saw a desk, with Caius clearly looking over some papers. Just as she saw the image it left. Wren contained her frustration as River knocked on a door.

Caius was still looking at those papers.

---

I WAS THE ONE TASKED WITH BRINGING WREN OVER TO CAIUS' OFFICE. I'd tried to offer him my own insight on her state, pointing out that she barely knew her way around and likely wouldn't be recovered enough to offer any clues, but Caius has always been stubborn. Whether or not this was their only chance at figuring out who he (I refuse to speak his name) really is, Wren had come to the Cullens in worse shape than me and had her whole life erased by that monster.

She was clearly in a worse state than she'd been in when she'd been brought to Italy. I knew it just from her stumbling through the corridors. Wren, being a vampire like myself, shouldn't have had the ability to stumble unless there was something going on.

I wondered if it would be useful to mention what was happening to her to Caius when I came inside his office, but realized that her being there... well, it's quite rude to talk about someone when they're in the room with you.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't come down to you, Wren," Caius admitted with an unusually solemn look on his face. "I am out of options. We don't know what this man looks like, sounds like. No clues have come forth in our investigation because he can completely erase our memories of him."

As he did with her, I thought for a moment before staring down at the ground. There was no way that Wren could offer up more information than me. I was the one who could remember how long I was with him. No matter how painful those memories, they were useful for Caius' strategy.

"Do you know what he looks like?" Caius asked pointedly. "If we could see what he looks like, unless he comes back, there's a way to get him. Aro could go over what you have left of your memories, see if he could paint what he looks like from it. We can't fight what we can't see."

We both waited for the answer. She wouldn't speak at first, her eyes looking towards the ground and then at the door, practically begging to be let out of the situation.

I hated doing this to her, letting it happen.

She had lost the most in his fight to do horrible things to women and get away with it. However many years he'd been doing this, I was sure that Chrissy, Wren, and I were the only ones to escape. He would have killed any other woman who tried to leave. God, I knew he wanted to kill me, in the end. That's why we had to leave. It was the end of the line for us if we didn't escape his grasp.

Opening up the can of worms, letting someone crawl through your memory, it isn't for the faint of heart. I only allow it because Aro has to know what happened for him to be what I need him to be as a boyfriend. Wren has nothing opening her up. Jasper can feel what she feels and that's what makes them work, but that doesn't lend itself over to the rest of the Coven.

Finally, finally, she spoke up.

"He can see what I have seen," she allowed, "If he doesn't talk to me about it."

I wanted to comfort her, but I knew that Wren was sort of a loner in her own way and doesn't like that form of comfort. Jasper often mentioned to others that he preferred that she wasn't so on top of him physically, since his gift made any contact a potential overwhelming situation given that even positive emotions are intense for him.

Caius took a moment before he responded but eventually let out a, "I will let him know."

---

SHE ONLY SAID YES BECAUSE SHE FELT HOPELESS. Wren left the meeting quickly after the decision had been made. She'd rushed back to her room to find Jasper reading a book on their plush bed.

Something was greatly wrong with her, that was for certain. Wren leaped into the bed next to her mate, grabbed a pillow, and huddled underneath some throw blankets to panic.

How many people could say they saw things before they happened? Few, and Wren did not want to be one of them. She felt trapped once she realized she'd seen Caius reading papers before she'd arrived. Why would she be able to see that if not for something being wrong? She had spoken with a few guards before about gifts, but they seemed very useful and not at all terrifying as what she was going through. They lived their lives, spending day after day doing normal things while Wren felt consumed by the flashing scenes ruminating in her mind.

It had to cease.

She would have all of this madness stop once she met with Aro later in the afternoon. Wren suddenly wanted what she had before, when she first came and a bit before when Rose still was within her grasp. How cheery she had been. How ghastly she was now.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Jasper asked from above the throw blankets. "Was the meeting that bad?"

Of course he would think the meeting went bad. With all of her nerves, Wren wondered if she was really built for being a vampire or if she'd have been better off being made into a massive slushie. At least, according to Emmett, those tasted good.

"I am not happy," Wren admitted in a moment of clarity. "I hate not knowing."

"Do you want to start some lessons to get you caught up, darling?" Jasper asked, opening up the throw to look at her for just a moment. "I can get you those if it would help your transition."

No, no. That was only a part of her problem. Wren despised these flashes, of them never fully turning off and her having no clue what they meant. She was lost and hopeless in her pursuit of being normal because despite not knowing much, she thinks she was normal before. That must have been why this hurt so much. To be normal before, then to lose it all, and now she will never be normal again. How horrible for her. What else could she do besides hate it and accidentally end up hating herself?

If he was asking about the meeting, clearly he didn't know as much as Wren thought before. How worrisome. How bothersome. It was easier when she could batt her eyes and have him figure out what she wanted.

"Something is wrong with me," was Wren's second admission after figuring out everything she had to in the moment. "I am not normal like the other guards. They have control over themselves and what they can do."

Suddenly, the whole blanket was off of her and Wren gasped when Jasper grabbed a hold of her arm and looked her straight in her eyes.

"What is happening?" Jasper loosened his grip and took in a deep breath. "Is that why you've been so antisocial?"

"I don't know what that means-"

"You've- Wren, darling," Jasper tried to laugh but it was strained, "you've been avoiding people like the plague and stumble around in the room looking like you've seen a ghost-"

"What is a ghost-?"

"That doesn't matter, okay?" He stopped and put a hand on her cheek. "Something has been wrong for a while and you've never told me about it. Now, I thought you would say something eventually, but you're freaking out and if I'm going to be soaking that up I at least deserve to know why."

They talked for hours.

---

girl you knew she had to be gifted cause lord knows the three stooges and their wife are not finding this man alone.