Redshift by Ashlynn Chantrea (free ebook reader for ipad .txt) 📕

appearing to talk to anyone specifically, “You can feel them. You can tell what they’re thinking. It makes it difficult to disconnect.”

“You sound like you know the feeling.” Alice said.

Laney nodded.

“I can feel their life energy.” Pim said. “When it disappears in my hands it feels wrong. It’s bothered me from the beginning.”

“I have a direct link.” Hector told us, “If I use my talent on them while I’m hunting, I can feel the pain I’m causing as they die.”

“Is it that way with the animals you were hunting?” I asked.

“Nah, I can’t control animals. Just humans and vampires.”

“Must be the wrong wavelength.” I mused.

“Not everything is science, Adam.” Rain said. “Somethings just can’t be explained.” Zephyr added. “Magic doesn’t always play by your rules.” Meadow stated.

“I disagree. Magic is just science without an explanation…yet.” I retorted.

They narrowed their eyes at me. There wasn’t ever a delay in response with them. Everything they did together was in perfect synchronicity.

“Careful,” Pim mock whispered, “You’ll upset the charmed sisters.” He was smiling. I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or them, though.

“Don’t let his inflexible analytical mind get to you, girls.” Laney said, also smiling.

“I’m not inflexible.” I protested.

“You are kinda weird, though, Adam.” Hector said, chuckling.

Edward started to laugh, hard. We all looked over at him. Everyone else looked as puzzled as I was. It made me feel better; like I wasn’t the only one missing out on the joke.

“I’m sorry,” He said still laughing a little, “Hector just thought of Adam looking at his reflection for the first time.”

My friends started laughing as well. They explained to the rest about my aversion to being good looking. They all found it very amusing.

“Just because I’m the only one here that isn’t vain, doesn’t make me weird.” I said in response to their laughter.

“You’ll get used to your appearance.” Carlisle said, trying to be comforting.

“It isn’t really about good or bad. I really don’t care either way. It’s how noticeable I am now. It was so much easier to study people when they didn’t know I was watching. Now, anytime I look at anyone, they notice and react immediately. It’s disruptive.”

“Disruptive?” Bianca asked.

“Now I have to worry about the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.” I explained. My attempt was unsuccessful.

“The principle states that you cannot observe something without affecting that which you are observing.” Carlisle clarified on my behalf.

“Technically, the principle applied to you as a human as well.” Edward observed.

“You didn’t know me then.” I replied, “I was as good as invisible. I didn’t even have to wear sunglasses most of the time. People’s eyes just scanned right over me. It was like I wasn’t even there.”

“Sounds lonely.” Laney commented.

I shrugged, “I never noticed.”

“So, now that you’re one of the pretty ones you don’t get to look at the rest of us like we’re under a microscope anymore.” Bianca teased.

“On the bright side,” Rain started. “You’ll probably never get turned down,” Zephyr continued. “For a date now.” Meadow finished. Then they said together, “You might even get asked out.”

“You’ll grow accustomed to that as well.” Edward said, grinning to himself.

Bella looked at him through narrowed eyes.

“Just because my features more closely line up with the Fibonacci sequence? It hardly seems fair.” I said, shaking my head.

The triplets, Bianca and Hector stared at me blankly. This was becoming intolerable.

“The golden ratio? The mathematics by which we judge beauty?” They still looked at me like I had just spoken in a language they didn’t understand. “Troglodytes.” I huffed under my breath.

“Ouch!” Laney reproached me, “That’s a little harsh.”

“Yeah, ease up, professor. Not everyone got to finish high school, let alone college.” Pim added.

“And it is disputed whether the Fibonacci sequence does correlate with the visual interpretation of beauty.” Carlisle said.

“You have to admit, the math fits.” I argued, “Symmetry and a certain order of spacing and measurement make for a more beautiful face. Rosalie is a perfect example.”

As soon as I had said it, I felt Laney move. She had been standing slightly behind me so I didn’t see her face. She didn’t say anything or even make a sound but I could feel it when she left. I turned to where she had been standing. She had run out the front door, leaving it open.

“Way to go, Adam.” Bianca said in a demeaning tone.

“What did I say?” I asked as I turned back to them.

“You don’t have much experience with girls, do you?” Pim asked.

I lifted an eyebrow in reply, shifting my eyes to meet his.

“For a genius, you can be kind of dense.” Bianca said.

“Don’t you get it?” Rain said like it should be obvious. “You just called Rosalie beautiful.” Zephyr said like it was an explanation. “Now Laney thinks you like her.” There was a tone of condescension in Meadow’s voice.

“I didn’t say anything about liking anyone. All I said was the math indicates she’s beautiful. How people look shouldn’t have any effect on emotional attachment.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she knew that’s what you meant before she ran out the door.” Bianca said, her words drowning in sarcasm.

“Now who’s the Troglodyte?” Hector taunted.

“Tell me the meaning of that word and I might accept that criticism.” I retorted.

That shut him up.

“I don’t understand why that would upset her though.” I said, still confused. “My loyalties haven’t changed. It doesn’t matter who I meet or what friends I make from here, I won’t abandon you.”

“No one thinks that, Adam.” Pim said.

“Then what? She’s offended by the idea of me liking Rosalie?”

Bianca and the triplet shook their heads at me. Each of them shared the same expression as they stared me down. At that moment I felt like I could read what they were thinking, like it was printed on each of their foreheads. Moron, it read.

“How is that fair? And the irony of it is I don’t even like her! Of everyone here, I like her the least.”

Rosalie growled from up the stairs.

“She has that effect on people.” Edward said with a smile.

I had started putting my foot in my mouth. I was too flustered to argue this clearly. It upset me that Laney was upset. Not just that but that it was something I said to make her feel that way.

Alice walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. At first I mistook it for a comforting gesture. But then I looked in her eyes. They held a look like she was trying to explain calculus to a preschooler.

“I don’t know how you missed it,” She whispered, “but Laney likes you.”

“Where we’ve been, what we’ve been through, tends to make you cling to those around you that you trust. In three days, I’ve made closer friends than I did in twenty seven years as a human. We’re all close.” I told her softly.

“No doubt, bossman.” Bianca said, her attitude a bit nicer now, “But you had to have noticed that it was different with Laney.”

“Yeah, we’re friends but I don’t hold your hand all the time.” Pim teased.

“She’s intimidated here. I was being comforting.”

“Wow, I’ll admit I’m not the best at picking up hints from girls, but you take clueless to an entirely different level.” Hector said.

“She likes you.” Rain said, “The question is,” Zephyr said, “Now that you know,” Meadow said, “What are you going to do about it?” They said as one.

I didn’t have an answer. This was uncharted territory for me in every sense. As a human, I had different priorities. Work was the center of my life, everything else sort of orbited around it. I had dated and I was by no means a virgin, but that part of my life was trivial and transitory. I hadn’t ever met a girl that I felt like I couldn’t do without. I hadn’t met ‘the one.’

Laney was different. From the first time I saw her I felt drawn to her. There was a magnetism between us, I could feel it physically and emotionally. But I didn’t know how to define it. Other than to call it attraction.

So what was there to do about this situation? So much was happening around us. It was important to stay focused, not lose sight of the danger coming for us. When we were on the run it was easy to stay focused. Instinct pulled the mind in one direction; survival. Now that we were momentarily safe, I could feel how distracting everything else could be. This had to be what ADHD felt like.

“Let her down easy, bossman.” Bianca said, “She’s not as tough as she looks.”

I looked at her, confused, “Why would I let her down?”

Then I ran out the door, following Laney’s scent. It was strange but it came naturally to me. I had been near her so often I knew how she smelled. She had an interesting mixture of earthy smells like cinnamon and cloves while also smelling slightly floral. She had her own distinct scent, it was similar but not exactly like those things. And I liked it so it was easy to pick up.

She had run fifty miles into the forest before she stopped. I reached the end of her trail. I couldn’t see or hear her but her scent was still very potent. I looked up.

She was perched at the very top of one of the pine trees.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered.

“For what?” She inquired, not looking down at me.

“For being clueless.”

“As if,” She replied, smirking.

“Hey!” I called, “I got that reference.”

She chuckled briefly then made a “W” with her thumbs and index fingers, “Whatever.”

She still wouldn’t look my way and the amusement faded quickly from her expression.

“You know I wasn’t referring to you when I called the kids troglodytes, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I know.”

“You do know my reference to Rosalie was purely academic, right?”

“Yeah,” She remarked sharply, “I do.”

“Then you know that while the calculation is viable, it is also subjective.”

“I thought math couldn’t be subjective. It’s all about absolutes.”

“It is. One plus one will always equal two.”

Laney huffed.

“What’s subjective is its meaning.”

She finally looked at me. She didn’t look happy.

“Look, one plus one equals two. That doesn’t mean that I care. It is what it is.”

Her brow furrowed.

“Rosalie is beautiful. Doesn’t mean that her beauty holds any significance to me. When I look at her I literally see an equation in my head: a+b is to a as a is to b.”

“I don’t see how that’s supposed to make me feel better.”

I climbed up the tree. She didn’t move. She just watched as I quickly pulled myself up, branch by branch, trying to be careful not to break any while I used them to lift myself up. It was more complicated than it sounds. I stood on a branch lower than hers so we would be face to face.

“Beauty does not equal attraction. Rosalie is beautiful. You…are attractive. Rosalie’s beauty doesn’t signify much since we’re all beautiful to varying degrees. To me, you are far more alluring. But I suppose that has more to do with who you are than the structure of your face.”

“Really?” She asked. She seemed so unsure. Why would I lie to her?

“Absolutely.”

The corners of her lips pulled up, making a faint smile.

“Sorry I ran out like that.” She said sheepishly, “I bet the others were wondering what the hell is wrong with me.”

“Not at all. They all immediately jumped on my case. All the girls got mad at me.”

“All of them?”

“Well, not Carlisle’s family but Bianca and the triplets did.”

“Aww,” She said, grinning. “That’s sweet.”

“Not for me. The kids don’t like it when mom and dad fight.” Her eyes widened, she looked stunned. “Sorry, is that weird? Maybe it’s from hanging out with these docile vampires but I’m starting to think of our group as a family.”

She didn’t say anything but the astonishment was fading to a more pleasant expression.

“I don’t really know what to call us, but I feel like we’re more than the band of renegade soldiers we started out as.” I said.

“No, I like to think of us as family but…mom and dad?”

“In terms of maturity, we sort of are the surrogate parents of our group.”

Her nose wrinkled as she made a face.

“Okay, not parents.” I said, smiling at the look of disgust on her face, “Leaders, though.