I ran like hell. I had no idea where I was going but I had to run. I had to get away from these... others! I didn't even understand why I was so scared of them.
I figured I'd split into four and run to warn my sisters. But I had to do it quick. The mind reader was catching up fast. I split into two first, in the off chance he would follow the decoy. I could tell he hesitated a bit, but ended up running for my replica. I sighed in relief but there was another. a very big one but definitely not as fast. To be on the safe side i split both me and the other. We all ran in opposite directions, but there were even more than four. A fragile-looking girl with short black hair was on my tail in a second while I looked through the eyes of my other duplicates.
The mind-reader was chasing one and a very beautiful blonde girl was chasing the other.
In the few moments it took for me to see this, I wasn't watching. With a hard slam I rammed into another one. How many did they have?
She had brown, long, wavy hair and had red eyes. She was a new vampire. But she didn't act like it. She wasn't ruthless or crazed. She was calm. She grasped my arm with her immense strength and looked at me with a neutral expression.
She basically dragged me back to my starting point with the small one leading the way. The large boy and the mind-reader was holding one each of my replicas. The blonde was right behind, holding the last of me. They looked around, confused.
I found their mouth-dropped expressions very funny. I laughed. It sounded pretty dramatic as all of me did.
"You'll never find which one is real," I hissed.
I split again, making eight total. The newborn and blonde grabbed one each and the other two ran off to warn my sisters.
"What should we do, Edward?" the small one asked the mind-reader. He thought a minute and looked into my eyes. I had a feeling he knew that I was the right one.
"We are the Cullens," he introduced his group. "I'm Edward. This is Alice." He motioned to the small one. "This is Emmett, Bella, and Rosalie." The large one, newborn, and blonde. "And that's Jasper." A curly blonde was at Alice's side in an instant.
"May we ask what your name is?" Alice asked politely, following Edward's lead. I thought for a second about if I should tell the truth.
"Cecelia," I said slowly.
"Do you mind if we know which one is you?" Emmett laughed once and said it in mock politeness.
"No," I said at once. Emmett sighed.
"We can wait it out," Rosalie said, as if I wasn't present. "She can't do this for that long."
"I bet she would give in if we take her by surprise," Bella suggested lamely.
I couldn't hold it in any longer and I didn't have the strength to only have the words leave through one mouth.
"Get out of here!" I whispered through all of my decoys. "There are others of us here. Run!"
"You have friends here?" Jasper snapped, but not unkindly. I narrowed my eyes but didn't answer.
"Rosalie," Edward ordered. "Go tell Carlisle and Esme and ask if they can help get her friends. I have a feeling they'll think us hostile."
"I'm not letting this go," she said. "It might be her."
"It's not," Alice said. "Go."
Rosalie gave them a sour look but took off.
"I agree with Bella," Jasper said, unexpectedly. "Take her by surprise."
Everyone was silent for a moment, deep in thought. I watched as Edward slowly raised his head from looking at the ground. He turned to Bella and gave a short "sorry". I didn't realize why until he leaned down and kissed the duplicate he was holding.
It wasn't me but I could still feel it. My silent heart seemed to drop a few inches inside my chest. I lost the grasp of my replicas and they all sucked back into the real me. I stumbled on the spot for a second but soon opened my eyes.
Emmett snickered as I glared at Edward.
"Take her inside," Bella said. Alice nodded and picked me up, completely unnecessarily.
"Let me go!" I hissed. Alice didn't respond and went inside the large white house.
She put me down on a white sofa in the large living room. The room was big. There was a large black television in the front of the room though, somehow, I didn't think they used it. A short, glass coffee table was in front of the couch with the TV remote on it.
Maybe they did watch television.
A few tall lamps stood in the corners and another table next to the sofa has a short one. On this table there was a chess box that seemed to be overflowing with chess boards. A set of stairs led to a large second story. On the wall next the the steps a small framed collection of what looked like graduation caps, all in colored order, was hanging. Next to it, to my surprise, was giant, wooden cross.
After I looked around I sat straight up.
"You aren't going anywhere." Emmett stepped in front of me and lightly pushed me back. "Not until we find your friends."
"I'm going to find Nessie and Jacob," Bella said. "I don't want those friends of hers to.... get the wrong idea. I think going through that once is enough."
She walked outside, kissing Edward on the cheek on her way out. As she grasped his hand for a moment I noticed a golden wedding band. They were married.
I watched as Jasper and Emmett unboxed the chess set, only to find eight boards and one set of pieces. They set all the boards together, one along the other until they had at least a ten foot long chess game. I watched as they started the intense game.
I watched and waiting. Hoping Emory and Summer had done what I asked. Hoping they had left.