Previously on Engraved:

"The dark daughter…"

"Spirited with time…"

Then everything turned red, and my whole body burned. I screamed, I ran, I shook but at the end I fell in a dark trench.

I woke up with a gasp. Sweat drops gathered at my forehead and neck. My body was burning, maybe I caught a cold. My right hand burned more, right around my wrist and I pulled it up to my eyes.

No cuff.

I sighed.

Maybe I'm unwell. The dream felt so real and so dramatic. Like I have heard those words before, I like I have known exactly the meaning of those words long time ago.

Why me? Ugh, shit. It was eight o'clock in the morning. I took a shower and dressed in some jeans, black boots with heels, a grey and black plaid shirt. She did her hair in loose curls and got ready.

Grandma had made her special pancakes with chocolate chip and cinnamon. She devoured them thanked her grandma before leaving.

Grandma had given her a long list for grocery shopping. Then Renee had asked her pick up her birth control pills.

I decided to due the grocery shopping first.

I entered the store and the stench of rotten vegetables and old stuff hit my nose. I hated it.

Potatoes (2 sacks)

Garlic

Loaf of bread

Vinegar

Mi-

Oomph!

"Sorry!" A lady said rushing to pick up the stuff that was in her hand.

"No, it's my fault. I should have been looking where I was headed." I said helping her pick up some of her stuff.

"Ah, thank you deary. I really do need t get this stuff home before my husband comes back and asks where lunch is." She said laughing.

"Oh, sorry for colliding into you like that." I said scowling at the list in my hand.

"You don't look to be from around here deary, are you visiting." She asked. She was very pale and probably in her early thirties. She had no wrinkles, or worry lines, or a dark spot or anything. Her skin was flawless.

"Yea there is a fine line between visiting and staying." If mom falls for an idiot again.

"Either way my name is Esme Cullen." She gave my hand a shake and I smiled at her easy going nature.

"Pleased to meet you Esme, my name's Isabella. But call me Bella."

"It's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl like you." I smiled at her. She was nice, and I liked that. She had that mother-ly vibe that Renee lacked.

"Esme if you don't mind, can you tell me where I can find…Miracle seasoning." I read right of the list.

"I don't use that type of seasoning but…check the third row, that's where all the seasoning products are." Thanks goodness she knew.

"Well I'll see you around then. Grandma will kill me if I don't get home soon." I smiled at her and left after she said,

"It was very nice meeting you Isa…Bella."

"Same here Esme." Indeed it was heartwarming.

Picking up mom's birth pill control was a total different matter. The drugstore was full of people. I mean four loud ass people with no business in my business but still that was a lot.

After getting the prescription I hit the road. When I got back home, Renee was waiting for me with a big Cheshire grin on her face. And that was a scary thing.

I handed Grandma her ingredient and she gave me a small smile when Renee approached me.

"Guess what Bella!" I think that was a question, but her yelling my name decreased my brain function.

"What?" I whined.

"We are going to a party!" Oh no.

"No!" I said and helped grandma unload the bags.

"Come on, live a little child." Renee said.

"I don't like parties though."

"But you're going to like this one. And you can wear whatever you want. It's a casual gathering of Forks."

"And who, in the name of Zeus, invited you?" I asked opening a can of Coke.

"Charlie."

"Of course he did. Charlie is a good man." Grandma looked at me pointedly and I knew what I had to do. I had to go to the party, meet this man and tell him to back the fuck off. Too easy, I can so do this.

"Guess what? He is going to be my date!" She continued on and Grandma and I ignored her.

"So where is this party?" I asked her as she threw dresses out of her wardrobe.

"I don't know, but Charlie is picking us up." She said excitingly.

When the time came we both got ready. I wore some skinny jeans, my dressy black boots a black tank top and on top of that a grey cardigan that hugged my curves. (Pic On profile)

Mom wore a dark purple dress that seemed to fit her perfectly. When Charlie came I looked at his car, a police cruiser and gave my mom a look. I grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter.

"Bella come on, it won't be that bad." She whispered harshly as we walked down to the steps.

I looked as Charlie came out of his car. He looked okay, if Renee liked the moustache type.

He came over and kissed Renee on the cheek. Renee introduced us.

"Charlie this is my lovely daughter, Bella." Charlie forwarded his hand, and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you" I shook his hand, and shocked him when I squeezed his hand a little tight.

"Lead the way, I'll follow." I said after a quiet awkward moment.

"Alrighty then, Renee…" He opened the door so Renee could get in the passenger seat. He looked back at me and I narrowed my eyes at him. He gulped and ran to his driver's seat. I followed him, and he insisted on testing my patience, with driving slow as a snail.

I swear Renee had something to do with it. Once we got out of the car, he had already lost major cool points. We had stopped in front of a beach house. It was beautiful.

Charlie walked in the front with wine in his hand, Renee next to him and me in the back. Charlie knocked the quietly, and the door opened to reveal a short girl. She wore a cute pink dress, which seemed to be made for her. Her short hair bounced as she hugged Charlie and greeted Renee.

"This is Renee's daughter Bella." Charlie introduced me. I smiled at the girl and she looked at me for a strange second then nodded her head in greeting. She invited us in and I looked around the house. It was pretty, and with a perfect view of the ocean.

The waves seemed to crash with such a power, it was hypnotizing.

"Bella would you like something to drink?" I was brought out by my reverie as Alice held up a glass of coke. I took it from her.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" She asked following my gaze back to the waves.

"It's…"

"Magical." Alice responded and I nodded.

"Yea, Sue has a pretty good taste in houses." She pointed to a small Native American woman dressed in all white. She waved at me once she caught sight of me and walked towards us.

"Bella! Renee already talked so much about you." I chanced a glance at Renee and she winked at me then went back to flirting with Charlie. Meany

"It's nice to meet you Sue."

"My son's are going to put music on in seconds, just find me if you need anything. Or ask Alice she's no stranger. And if your mother hits it off with Charlie, you might need to know me more often. I'm Charlie's sister." She kept talking and talking. She reminded me of Renee, and I smiled at that. Maybe this wouldn't be that bad.

"So you're in high school Bella?" Alice asked.

"Last year" I said with a grin.

"Lucky. I still have a year after this."

"How old are you Alice?"

"17. You?"

"17"

"Wow, and you're a senior. Forks high is going to have a shock seeing a new student in a long time." She laughed to herself. I looked at her confused.

"We don't really have new students. Gossip starting in August will be all about you." She murmured.

"In that case, I'll make sure we move away from this place before that happens." I said almost to myself.

"I don't know. Your mom seems pretty crazy about Charlie." Speaking of Charlie…

"Tell me about him." I asked her. She smiled taking a sip of her coke.

"He's simple. No sense of 21st century what so ever. He loves beer and tv. Never married. He seems like he cares for your mother. He's very dedicated and respectable." She complimented him a lot. Beer and tv bothered me though.

I thought about this for minute…would he be really bad. Should I tell him off, to stay away from mom and take away whatever happiness my mom has left?

Alice tucked in a loose strand of hair behind her ear, revealing an Aztec designed silver cuff on her left hand.

"Nice cuff…looks priceless." I told her. She smiled and brought her cuff to her eye level and examined it.

"Thanks. It's very important to me. It's a family tradition, so to speak."

"How?"

"My mother has one…where is she?" She looked around quickly, and smiled once her eyes landed on someone. I followed her gaze and smiled when I saw Esme.

"It's Esme right?" I asked Alice. She looked shocked for a minute then recovered.

"Yea how'd you know?"

"We met at the grocery store earlier." I told her. Alice waved Esme over and I couldn't help but let my eyes travel to the cuff on her left hand. Esme's cuff was sterling silver, with beautiful designs drawings. (On profile)

"Bella, was it?" I nodded and she smiled. "I see you met my daughter Alice. I hope she was no bother."

I shook my head, "Not at all. She's a good company to have at a strange place."

"Well, don't consider us strangers, we are more like neighbors." Esme grinned. I nodded, chuckling.

"I suppose so."

The front door opened, letting the night breeze in sending a chill down my back.

"Rosalie!" Alice sprinted towards a blonde girl and wrapped her arms around her. The blonde laughed and the man next to her, a very big man, laughed as well.

"Sup, pixie." He greeted her. Alice dragged both of them towards us, and once again my eyes traveled to her left hand. She wore a cuff as well. Family tradition indeed. Looking at all their cuff's reminded me of the one I saw in Port Angeles. But that one had gems, it wasn't like theirs.

"Rosalie this is Bella, she moved here with her mother. She's Ms. Dwyer's granddaughter." Alice introduced us and we both smiled mutually at each other.

"Where did you move from?"

"New York"

"From a big city to a small town. That's a big change." The man next to her said.

"I'm Emmett by the way; I'm pleased to meet you."

"Emmett where is Edward?" Esme asked coming from behind him.

"He just dropped us off and left. Something about going to Port Angeles. He looked really deep in thought." Rosalie answered.

"And Jasper?" Alice asked.

"He's going to be here in few seconds." Emmett answered. I looked confused as ever with their family conversation.

"Oh Bella, I can't wait for you to meet Jasper. He's my boyfriend. And Edward is my brother." Alice said filling in the blanks. I nodded in understanding.

"So how are enjoying the beauty of forks so far?" Rosalie asked. We were all sitting down now, on the couch. Few new people had joined us. There was Jessica; she seemed to just ignore me. Then there was Tanya, a royal bitch in a little black dress.

Mike, the desperate white boy, who was in love with Jessica. But she looked like she had no idea. And then there was the sweet Angela. The only new addition I favored. But Rosalie had no problem with Tanya or Jessica. Alice talked only to Angela, just like me. Emmett was in the kitchen getting us all drinks.

Jasper had arrived, he was nice, I suppose. He had dirty blonde hair that hung loosely in front of his eyes. He looked nice that way. He was completely smitten with Alice. She kept giving him goo-goo eyes and they kept kissing each other. No one seemed to find that odd, not even the parents who were all huddled together in front of the TV.

"I love nature; the green has a surplus beauty. It's refreshing from the city-life." She smiled.

"I bet. I remember the time I went on a field trip to California, there wasn't much green scenery."

"Have you never been out of this small town?" I asked her.

Jasper answered, "We like it here, this is our birthplace, and we learned to appreciate the beauty."

"I don't know who wouldn't." Seemed like a perfect secret place for me. It was tiny, and had a home-y feeling to it. The feeling of belonging settled in me and I liked it.

"Pizza!" Emmett yelled as the door bell rang. Everyone laughed. Emmett placed all the boxes of pizza on the dinner table and one by one everyone stood up to go get it.

"Well?" Renee asked settling next to me.

"Well what?" I asked her.

"Well what do you think? Think you can settle down here for few years?" She asked.

"I can always try, mom." I smiled. She grinned. For her this was the beginning, and for me this was fate.

Something is going on in this town, and the answers are the Cuffs. Tanya even had one. Jessica didn't, and something tells me she will get one and soon.

What is going on around here? I had checked Sue's hand, she had one as well. This scared me. Something wasn't right. But for the sake of my sanity I will try to ignore it.