'Not swimming the way you swim, but Bella and her father put a most lovely carved birdbath in the yard for me. It's big enough for quite a few. You might even enjoy it, but it's rather high,' Flora answered, as conversational and friendly as could be. Wasn't that nice. Bella's familiar was making friends with the only child she'd ever met that she didn't like. That was so lovely. Bella hurried to her feet, bringing her own stool around for Linnea before she went to fetch a glass of water. There was no mistaking the way Bella's face lit up at the mention of expecting. "Oh, congratulations!" she gushed, happily. Don't be too happy, what if it's like the other ones? That little comment of Flora's was for Bella's mind alone, and she determinedly ignored it. Although now that she thought about it, it was hard to imagine this woman raising three so thoroughly disturbing children. Her husband must be a real piece of work, Flora thought. Bella silently told her to shut up shut up for the love of God I'm not hearing this, but, of course, it was too late. Flora had such an awful habit of speaking her mind, and then the turtle asked the million dollar question.
'Probably because Bella's angelic blooded and your elemental's demonic. That, or the way yours threatened to beat mine with a baseball bat yesterday. You know, it could actually be both. Yesterday wasn't the greatest day for first impressions. I would have been there but Bella made me fly away in case more bombs went off.' Bella froze, feeling like she was a balloon and someone was slowly letting all the air out. Good going, big mouth, she thought. She could feel waves of amusement coming from Flora. There, the familiar said to Bella. If she really is the antichrist, her head'll start spinning around and she'll vomit pea soup. I saw that in a movie once.