“Hi Bella!” Alice screamed and hugged me tight as Jasper smiled almost apologetically at me from behind her. Her excitement at my now vampire-ness was incredible. Now she really did have a beautiful sister-in-law to – I grimaced – ‘play with.’

“So, what do I learn first?” I looked at them both apprehensively after being released from Alice’s hold.

“Self-control,” Jasper explained, “Is essential, especially if you’re stronger than all of us right now. You won’t need to hunt for a while, since your body tissue is absorbing your blood – the reason you’re so much stronger.”

“I knew that,” I said dreamily, remembering the day Edward explained all these things about newborns to me. What I now was.

“Yes, well, once you need to, we’ll take you hunting,” Jasper replied, “All of us will come. But for now, you’ve got Alice and I. Alice will see if you have any talents out of the ordinary, and since I’ve most recently learned the basics of it, I will teach you what I know in self-control. When Edward returns he should be able to teach you further, since his control is almost as flawless as Carlisle’s now.”

“Well Alice doesn’t need to go looking for any talents,” I looked down and began to penetrate Alice’s thoughts. She had two things going through her mind: Impossible! She can’t not have a talent! And: She knows what it is already?

I urged the latter up to the top of her thoughts, forcing her to realize it.

“So you already know what it is,” Alice answered calmly, completely unaware of what I had just done. “Have you tried it?”

“Mhmm,” I smiled and explained to them what I had already explained to Edward, taking a seat on the couch as I did so.

They sat on the loveseat across from me, listening intently as I described just how I’d manipulated Edward’s, Emmett’s, and finally Alice’s thoughts.

“Wow,” Alice breathed, “It worked on three experienced vampires completely undetected by them… This is amazing Bella!”

“Well not completely undetected,” I admitted sheepishly, “Edward could tell when I did it to Emmett. He said his thought process went all funny. Then he remembered that he’d changed his own mind a little fast earlier on…”