Disclaimer: You have no idea how sick I am getting of writing this sentence over and over again; I do not own Twilight. It's pretty much a given; If me, or anyone else for that matter, owned Twilight, then what the hell would we be doing writing about it here when we could just be adding to the series and making money from it? Anyway, I also don't own anything that looks familiar or sounds familiar. A lot of it belongs to the show Charmed and everyone who created, wrote, directed, and all that other junk for the show.
Rated: T.
Author: Paige Turner.
Summary: AU. '…' Honestly, I can't think of a summary to write for this. Just know that if you like my other stuff, you like supernatural, and you like A/B, then you should definitely give this a read. It's my favourite of all of my stuff right now. ^^
Bella.
Tanya.
Kate.
BELLA
'Wait just one minute there, missy.' Great; that was Tanya's reprimanding voice. Whatever it is that I might have possibly done couldn't wait until I got back? Until I had gotten back and explained why I had just been in England?
'You were in England?' Kate exclaimed.
Again; this couldn't wait? Seriously guys.
'Listen,' Tanya began. 'Just because she's got a broken heart doesn't mean you need a broken head, alright? Put on a helmet and that coat I bought you before you leave. You're riding a motor cycle for goodness sake.'
Grudgingly, I got off the bike and went to the back metal cupboards in the garage. A sleek black helmet with a tinted visor was there, along with a black leather coat. Fancy as hell, but annoying to remember to use. Picturing a big brick wall, I slid on the coat and helmet, not wanting those two yahoos listening in on my apology to Alice. My life wasn't some drama to be watched or read about.
And then I was off, flying down the driveway with an enormous grin on my face. I really missed going that fast. Sure, Tanya's mustang was fast and all, but there's nothing out there that can beat a motor cycle; if only for the fact that you're not cooped up in a box. I like feeling the wind in my hair, because then it honestly almost felt like flying. Who doesn't like flying –other than airplanes, those things terrify me, which Tanya and Kate like to giggle about- everyone's had a dream where they've flown at least once in their life.
The trees of the forest whipped past me as I raced down the road, the lines splitting said road in half becoming one long yellow streak.
All too quickly for my tastes, since I wanted to ride more and I hadn't really thought of what to say, I could spot a twisting gravel driveway that led to a big white mansion. Sighing, I turned into it and slowed down to nearly a snail's pace, practically crawling up the driveway. You know that feeling you get; you get de ja vous but you know for certain you've never done or seen or heard whatever it was that gave you de ja vous? I got that right about then; riding my motor cycle up the Cullen's driveway trying to think of an apology for Alice. (1)
Parking off to the side of their garage as to not block anyone who might try to leave or enter, I pulled off my helmet and set it down on the seat. I kept the coat because it was only then that I realized I was shivering. And it was only on their porch, about to knock, that I realized why. My shoes were the only thing that looked like it did when I left for the dance. My pants had grass stains on them, dirt stains, and the ankles were wet, probably from the puddle, along with the front of my shirt, all dirty and wrinkled, and my tie had dried blood on it. I raised a hand to my nose, but figured that it must have been the other girl's 'because I wasn't bleeding at all.
Re-tucking the front of my shirt into my pants and trying to smooth everything out, I knocked on the door. I listened for footsteps as my heart beat wildly in my chest, but heard none. So you can imagine how high I jumped when the door opened. Yeesh, they sure were very quiet.
Esme was standing there. At first she seemed like she was trying to be miffed at me, and reasonably so –I imagine Alice told her what happened- but once she saw me standing there, dirty, wrinkled and shivering; her face broke out into concern. "Get in here, Bella. What happened to you?" She asked, pulling me into the warm mansion doorway.
"I, uh, I fell." I replied, hugging my coat closer to my body. Esme's golden eyes looked skeptical, but she didn't say anything. "I-Is Alice home, by any chance?"
Esme hesitated, like she was waiting for an answer herself before nodded. "She's up in her room. I'll call up once I'm done making you some soup."
"That's not necessary." I tried to tell her.
She just waved it off. "You're shivering and cold and damp, Bella. You'll catch a cold. When I call up; you'll come downstairs, have some nice hot soup, and watch TV in the living room all bundled up in blankets. Understood?" She said, putting her hands on her hips.
Ducking my head, I muttered my reply. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good!" She beamed, waltzing off to the kitchen.
Now to Alice. Upstairs. In her room. Now. As in; right now. Any time, feet. Come on; don't be such a chicken. I took a deep breath and slowly made my way to the stairs, creeping up them one at a time. I still hadn't thought of what to say. What do you say to that? 'No, I wasn't running away from you, I was chasing a Witch whose messing with the only family I have left.' Yeah, like that would bode well with her.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I could already feel the stutter, and I hadn't even started talking yet. Maybe I should come back later. You know, go help Esme in the kitchen with the soup first. No, you go and you talk, Bella, and you make things right.
Seriously though, first you need to stop talking to yourself. It's a little weird.
I shook my head, stopping in front of the very last door on the second floor. Gulping, I raised my fist, knocking on the wooden door, not entirely sure it was audible. "Come in." Guess it was.
"H-Hey, Alice." I stuttered, peeking in the open door. It was dark in there, like real dark, no lights, and I couldn't see a thing. Still, I didn't want to risk Esme listening in, though I knew she wouldn't intentionally do that, so I closed the door behind me. Which, you know, evidently wasn't smart seeing as I tripped over my own feet trying to walk to her desk.
Giggles! That was a good sign! I could hear Alice's giggles as I pushed myself to my feet again and flashed a smile in the direction of them. "I guess you can't see anything, huh?" She said.
"Well, er, no. My eyes haven't adjusted to the dark yet like yours." I mumbled, brushing off my tie even though her floor was cleaner than I was.
"The desk chair is about three steps to your left." She said her voice quiet and sad sounding without the giggle.
And it was, I found out as I sat down on it, fiddling my thumbs. "S-So, how come you didn't go see a movie with the others?" I asked.
She sighed and I could just faintly make out her form laying on her bed. I was starting to see a little better, but still not well enough. Only shapes and forms. No detail. "Didn't feel like it." She murmured.
I cleared my throat, looking down at my feet. "Well what did you want to do?"
"Go home to lay in the dark and kick myself." She replied without missing a beat.
Ah. Brutal honesty. "Oh." My voice sounded kind of strangled. Why did she want to kick herself? Did she regret asking me? "Um, w-why?" I asked meekly.
She sighed again, sitting up against her headboard and put her head in her hands. "I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just… I thought…." She laughed sadly. "I should have taken a hint watching you freak out when Jessica tried. I'm sorry."
Hold on a minute, what is she saying? Shaking my head, I stood up and went for the bed, bashing my knee on it in the process. "Gah!"
"Are you alright?" She asked, moving to see if I was okay.
I waved it off. "Peachy," I said dismissively, trying to turn her focus back on the conversation. "Listen Alice, this is… different, for me. I turned her down," I paused. "Well I think I did; I'm not really sure what happened there, she was acting kind of weird." I shook my head again. "Anyways, I turned her down because I don't like her like that. I've never liked anyone like that. Well, until you. And I wasn't running away from you."
Alice's golden eyes shone in the dark, and I could see her face finally; her smooth lips pursed, looking black rather than red in the dark like this, her bangs hanging down in her eyes. She was looking at me curiously, but with hope in said eyes. "Why did you run away, then?" She asked.
Right. Huh. What to say… what to say… "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it's not important anyways. What's important is that I should have stayed. So, I'm sorry." Feeling bold, I reached up to tuck her silky hair behind her ear, brushing my fingers along her cheek in the process.
Alice was beaming yet again, a big grin taking place on her lips as her eyes sparkled. "Bella?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I have that kiss now?" She asked, biting her lip.
"…Yeah." I squeaked.
Alice swooped in, capturing my lips in a sweet, tender kiss. Feather light, but all the same; it caused fireworks to explode behind my eyelids.
She pulled back far enough to rest her forehead against mine, biting her lip while she smiled at me again. My eyes were wide and I felt like I was near the point of hyperventilating while my heart thundered in my chest achingly loud. Closing my eyes, I leaned forward to kiss her again.
XXxXXxXXxXX
There was fast paced padding of feet running up the stairs and down the hall towards the bathroom I was in. Esme felt that hot soup and blankets weren't enough to prevent any cold, and sent me up here to take a hot bath too. I was kind of glad; this bathroom was loaded. So many different kids of shampoos and soaps, bar soaps, gel soaps, foam soaps, bath salts, bubble bath (Which I might have used), bath scents. Everything. And it was so relaxing. If I wasn't so scared of accidentally drowning, I could have totally fallen asleep there.
And since there was a billion rooms and washrooms in this mansion, and both Alice and Esme knew I was in here; I hadn't locked the door because I felt it was unnecessary. Looking back on it, that was a very stupid mistake for me to make.
The bathroom door swung open and I squealed, nearly jumping out of my skin as Tanya and Kate marched in, closing the door behind them. "Hey!"
"You need to tell us what happened right now!" Kate said, hoisting herself onto the bathroom counter.
Tanya nodded, sitting on the toilet seat. "It's been eating at us all night."
Glaring at them and making sure I had bubbles over me, I growled. "I'm naked here!"
Tanya scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, it's a bubble bath, you're covered up." Kate snickered and I glared at her. "And even if you weren't, it's not like you've got something we've never seen before."
Blushing like mad over the subject of this conversation, I huffed. "What?" They've seen me naked before? When!
Kate gave a nod. "Unless in the past twelve years or so you've gotten like a tattoo we don't know about."
I averted my eyes, looking to the wall.
"You did?" Kate gasped. "Where? Let me see!"
I sunk further into the tub as she hopped off the counter. "No, I'm naked in here!"
"One thing at a time, guys." Tanya said, pulling Kate back. Kate huffed and crossed her arms, sitting back up on the counter. "Now, tell us what happened, right from the beginning."
"Seriously guys. This isn't the time, nor the place. I can't even look at you right now, and my bubbles are diminishing!" My voice rose an octave when I noticed that my bubbles had started to diminish.
Tanya sighed. "Fine, but hurry up." She said, getting to her feet with Kate and walking to the door.
"My clothes?" I asked.
"Right. Sorry; you'll have to suffer just regular old jeans and a shirt." Kate said, tossing a bag of clothes beside the tub. I frowned.
When they left, I stayed in the tub for a few more minutes, staring at the clothes until sighing and getting out. They were in fact regular old clothes; jeans, a long white shirt, and a black My Chemical Romance T shirt over top. I quickly towel dried my hair and made my way down the stairs and into the living room where I could hear everyone else.
The room and everyone in it was fuzzy and I could barely make out faces until Esme handed me my glasses I asked her to hold onto. When everything was clear, I saw Emmett staring at me with a grin. "What?"
"You look normal." He replied.
Huffing, I put my hands on my hips. "And exactly what does that mean?" I snapped, but then paused and realized for the first time that my glasses were crooked. Frowning, I took them off and felt along the rims. Yup, definitely crooked. How the… oh. I raised a hand up to my face, feeling the top of my cheek under my left eye and winced. A bruise was starting to form there.
"What's wrong?" Esme asked, looking worried as I put my glasses back on. "You're hurt! You've got a bruise! How did that happen?" She asked, looking closely at it.
Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I shrugged my shoulders. "Must have tripped sometime tonight or something." I replied, blushing.
"Bella…" She said, clearly not buying it. "Hold on, I'll get some ice."
'Is that part of the reason you ran off?' Tanya asked.
'Yeah.' I replied, frowning again. Freaking Witch person got me in the eye. I had barely felt it at the time, I was just focusing on stopping her, but she got me fairly good.
Alice was up on her feet and in front of me seconds later, looking closely at the bruise. "Are you alright?" She murmured, ghosting her fingers over it. I would have nodded had the possibility of her poking me in the eye not been great. Instead, I settled for shrugging my shoulders indifferently.
"We probably should be heading home." Tanya said, frowning as she walked over to me, looking at the bruise. "It's late and there's school tomorrow."
Alice frowned, stepping closer to me. "So soon? You guys just came back." She said, her hand reaching out for mine, hesitating for a second before she intertwined them. I smiled down at her and she smiled back.
"What else happened while we were gone?" Kate asked, her mouth hanging open while she sat beside Jasper. She looked to him and he nodded with a smile before she looked back to me and Alice. "Seriously?" I nodded, looking to Alice who also nodded. Okay, it was official. "Finally!"
"Finally?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. Only after had I realized Alice said the same thing.
Tanya nodded with a scoff. "It was really, painfully, obvious there."
"Are you kidding me?" Alice said, looking to Kate and then her family. "It was a toss up for the longest time. We've got bets around the house on how she feels for me."
Kate furrowed her brows. "You just had to look at the signs." At the raised eyebrows she saw, she explained while I huffed and looked away, fighting off another blush. "Bella doesn't talk to people, she most definitely doesn't smile at them, she hardly looks at them, really. She's always smiling and laughing around you, Alice." Kate said in a very 'duh!' voice.
"I'll be waiting in the car!" I called out, pulling Alice along behind me as I marched outside to the mustang. "Shoot. My bike." I murmured, swinging on my coat.
Alice waved it off. "Leave it. It'll give you a reason to stop by tomorrow after school." She giggled. Blushing, I nodded, looking to my feet while I muttered some ridiculous answer. "Alright, well I suppose I'll see you at school tomorrow." She said, rocking back and forth on the front porch, her hands shoved into the pockets of her sweat pants. With every rock, she got closer and closer to me. "So… goodbye." She murmured.
"Bye." I whispered back, still not moving from the steps in front of her.
We stood there, rocking, and fiddling with the hem of my shirt, staring at each other with a smile on both our faces. "See you." She said.
Nodding, I absently replied. "So long."
"Au revoir."
"Later."
"Until we meet again."
"Um… okay, you win." I sighed, looking down with a smile.
Alice smirked. "Bella, you have to leave so I can miss you!" She huffed, pushing on my hips. I walked backwards, smiling down at her, only stopping when my back met the car. "Was that so hard?"
Dramatically clutching my chest, I nodded. "So very painful. I don't think I'll make it! Tell…my sisters…that…I…"
"Stop being a goof and get in the car, Bella." Alice grinned.
Gasping and clutching my sides, I widened my eyes, pretending to be dying. "Oh no! I think perhaps I need the kiss of life!"
Alice shook her head with a smirk, and for a second I could have sworn her eyes flashed before she pressed her lips against mine. "Better?" She mumbled against them.
"Mm. Still a little sore." I whispered back, my hands reaching to tangle in her hair.
"Gross! Don't do that on my poor baby!" Tanya squealed, running over to shoo us away from the car as she wiped where I was leaning on with her elbow. "Swap spit somewhere else."
"Tanya!" I exclaimed, my cheeks on fire.
Alice giggled, skipping up the stairs of the porch, patting Kate's shoulder as they passed. "See you guys tomorrow." She chimed.
I grinned up at her before climbing into the back of the mustang.
I couldn't wait for tomorrow.
xxXxxXxxXxx
"And then you two yahoos busted in the bathroom." I finished.
We were all up, lounging on Tanya's bed, sprawled out in odd positions as I retold the story of this evening. Kate's head was hanging off the foot of the bed, Tanya was laying in the middle of the bed, my head was resting on her stomach while my feet were propped up on the wall by the head of the bed. I wasn't one for girl talk -the conversation got that feeling once I started talking about how I raced over to the Cullen's place- but if they always ended up like this, maybe I'd start making exceptions. I hadn't chilled with those two like this in years.
"Thoughts on the subject?" I asked.
"You two make a very cute couple!" Kate cooed.
"Not what I meant." I muttered.
Tanya huffed. "I don't know. I think I might remember someone like you described at the dance. There were so many people all dressed up. It could have been Erik wearing a hood I saw."
"And you say they had the same affinity as you?" Kate asked.
Nodding, I bit my lip. "They… they didn't use it as much as me though. And they were exhausted. Why wouldn't they suck in more energy from my ring, or even people from the street we ran down?"
"Maybe they were new to it as well?" Tanya suggested.
"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders.
There was silence for a few minutes as everyone chewed over what I had told them. I still couldn't believe that she got away. "Do you guys want to go have a look around as much as I do?" Kate asked quietly.
"Yes." Both Tanya and I replied. Tanya sighed, sitting up. "It's late though and we can't just skip school in the morning."
Grinning, I sat up as well. "Not a problem." I closed my eyes, focusing on pushing energy out from me to them instead of sucking it from them. They gasped and I smirked, waiting a few seconds before stopping. My ring shone, replenishing my spent energy and I looked to the others who looked wide awake now.
Tanya smiled slowly and then nodded. "Okay, go get dressed and we'll meet back here after. Bella, you remember the destination of your first shimmer there?" I nodded and she looked to Kate. "We should probably bring Kiki just in case."
We didn't actually need him. It's not like he could fight if something happened, but just having him there… it would help. We drew strength from his presence, I guess because he was Charlie's who was our dad.
When we regrouped back in the room, we were all wearing black which I thought was tacky. It's not like we were robbing a bank or anything. Jeeze, we were corny sometimes. Tanya was wearing black high heel boots, black tights, a black cardigan, and her black coat. Kate wore black jeans, black sneakers, a black hooded sweater with the hood up, and her coat as well. I was wearing my black combat boots, black dress pants, a black blouse with the sleeves rolled up, grey suspenders, black goggles to cover my eyes -I didn't want her recognizing me by my eyes- and a black fedora. What? I like to look good. Sue me. Kiki was perched on my shoulder, and I reached down, taking Kate's hand who took Tanya's, and then shimmered.
The brick street, just like before. It was wetter than before though, which led me to believe that it had rained here since last time. Still, I looked around, nodding to myself as I recognized the buildings. "This is it. It's where she Blinked to. You think she lives around here or something?"
Tanya pursed her lips, looking around as well. "Hard to say. If she does; how'd she even know of us? But if she doesn't; why Blink here?" She mused. "Where'd she run to?"
Turning around again, I pointed down the street. "This way." I replied, starting down that way with those two following. It was just the same as hours ago, only fewer people walking the streets, and less buildings were open. I pointed to where the mail box used to be. "Took out a mailbox there when I tried to get her." Kate's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's what I did. This affinity is much… more different than I first thought." We passed the mailbox spot, going further down the street. "And then she turned down this alley." I led them down it, shivering slightly. Should have brought a coat. "Got the wall." I murmured, running my fingers over the bricks that were punched further into the wall than others. This time we walked around the big puddle instead of running through it and I nodded to the apartment building. "Went in there, in the trippy apartment, then out the window on the other side." I grabbed each of their hands, shimmering to the other side of the building. "And then she ran down there." I pointed to the corner.
Kate and Tanya looked around, crouching down to look at the broken glass that was still on the ground. I looked up to see that the window had been replaced though. Kate put her hands on her hips, pursing her lips as she looked from the broken glass on the ground to the window above. Then she looked at the building in general and hummed to herself, furrowing her brows. "Maybe they've got cameras or something we could look at."
"Cameras?" I asked, making sure I had heard her right. Yes, they installed cameras because they knew I'd be coming to search for someone who probably, but not definitely at this point, is magically harassing my family. Life was just that easy.
"Don't give me that look. Cameras, you know, some sort of security system." She explained, glaring at me.
"Oh, but they do! They've got spinning rooms, and ear drum shattering noises." I clasped my hands together, twirling around. "Those were fun."
"Enough with the attitude, let's just go look and see." Tanya said, sensing a fight brewing. I sighed and nodded, smiling apologetically at Kate. Being back here just put me in a bad mood. There was so much more I could have done. She might not have gotten away if I had.
Kate smiled back and we made towards the door of the building. "What floor were you on?" She asked.
Pursing my lips, I thought back to it. I couldn't exactly remember what floor; I just remembered scrambling up the stairs after her. However, my last shimmer should be vaguely fresh and I could probably find it. "Um…" I reached out, placing a hand on both their shoulders, shimmering to the top of a flight of stairs. "This one."
Tanya held open the door for us both, looking up into corners of the hall. "Ah, there. See?" She said, pointing to the corner of the hall we had just stepped into. "Look, it's angled so it gets the whole hall. There's no way it'd miss the two of you."
"I don't think that was there before." I murmured. They both looked at me, raising their eyebrows and I frowned, closing my eyes. I remembered the hall, racing down it after her… the window shattering as she flung herself out…skidding to a stop at the sill… looking over my shoulder to see if the noise disturbed anyone from their apartments…shimmering down to the road below. I don't remember seeing any camera, and a big black one against cream coloured walls definitely stuck out. But I didn't know for sure. "I don't know, maybe I was just too distracted to notice it." I shrugged.
"Come on, let's go have a look. The security office is usually down in the basement so it's out of the way and not tempting anyone to break into it." Kate said, heading for the door we had just walked through.
"Anyone but us." Tanya smiled.
Kate was right. The security office was down in the basement, right passed the janitor's office and closet. No one was in there, or if they were, they were on their break or maybe in the washroom, so I stood guard at the door while Kate sat in the chair in front of all the monitors and screens. She went to type something in, I don't know what –I was complete crap with computers and all that stuff- and jumped as it shocked her slightly. "You okay?" I whispered.
She continued to look down at the keyboard, furrowing her brow. "Fine. That just felt a little… funny."
"If you're fine then hurry up." Tanya whispered, turning on screens. "I want to get out of here before anyone comes back."
So I stood watch at the door, looking down the long dark hallway, and back the way we came. There were no noises even, to suggest that someone was here or on their way back. Just the cliché dripping of some sort of pipe off in the distance that made me roll my eyes. My whole life was a cliché. Honestly.
"Bella…" Tanya murmured. "I think you should come take a look at this…" She trailed off.
Curious and a little apprehensive, I walked over to the two, looking over their shoulders at the screen their eyes were glued to. I stumbled back, shaking my head as I watched it replay over and over.
Me, my long black/blue hair, the white clothes, everything down to the very last detail about me, was running down the hall. The window smashed, and I watched as I skidded to a stop, looking down below, cursing, before looking over my shoulder and then shimmering away. It was all how I remembered it, exactly, except for one screaming detail.
There was no other girl dressed in black in the video.
"No." I murmured, shaking my head and then said it louder, like that would make them believe me. "No! She… She was there!" I pointed to the window. "She smashed the d-damn thing! I swear, I p-promise she was there." Holding my head in my hands, I began to pace. She was there. I know she was. She threw energy balls back at me. She took out the knife. Got me in the eye. She-she was real. "She was there you guys, I wasn't chasing a ghost or my imagination or anything. You have to believe me!"
Tanya and Kate exchanged looks, both smiling at me like I was a frightened little child. That only made me more angry. "Look, Bella," Tanya began in a soothing voice, trying to calm me down. "Maybe you were just a little stressed…"
"No!" I shouted. "I wasn't! I know what I saw and I saw her!" I yelled, running a hand through my hair before pulling my hat back on. "M-Maybe it was a spell. You know, to block her from security systems like that. Maybe she's a fugitive and can't afford to be caught on tape."
That seemed to spark a thought in the two and I sighed in relief. I needed them to believe me here. I couldn't go at this alone, clearly, and those two needed to believe me if they were going to help.
The security office door swung open and we froze, relaxing when we saw it was just another regular Witch. She had short red hair that was dyed, looking almost black, with one silver eye, and another gold that kind of reminded me of the Cullens. She smiled, revealing pearly white teeth as she blushed and looked down to her feet. "Sorry, I thought I heard something and came to check it out. I couldn't sleep without knowing what was going on down here." She said, wigging her bunny slipper clad feet. The girl waltzed over to us, skipping and twirling, kind of like Alice, but much sloppier. "What are you looking at?" She asked, coking her head to the side.
"N-Nothing." I replied hastily.
She scooted right up beside me to look over the others' shoulders as well, frowning. "That doesn't look like nothing. That looks like the girl who ran through this building a couple of hours ago." She replied, resting her hand on the back of the chair, her fingers grazing mine.
Clearing my throat, I pulled my hand away, shoving it into my pocket. She glanced up at me, a slight frown on her face but quickly smiled. "So you saw the chase?" I asked.
Her brows furrowed. "Chase? Was someone chasing her? Makes sense I guess, she tore through here with a vengeance, running like crazy. I would be too if someone were chasing me." She said, looking back up at me, batting her eyelashes.
Trying not to show my discomfort, I stepped back, pretending to be deep in thought. "So… you didn't see another girl dressed in black? A big black hood?" I asked.
She bit her lip, shaking her head as she looked away to the wall beside me. "Nope, can't say I did."
I could feel Tanya and Kate's eyes back on me and I knew their heads were full of doubt again. "Thanks." I sighed, looking down to my feet. "You've been a, uh, great help…"
"Alex." She chimed, skipping over to me again, forcing me to back up against the wall. Had she never heard of personal space? "It's short for Alexandria, but I like the sound 'Alex' has."
Nodding while I looked down at her, just now realizing how short she was, I thought of Alice. "Well thank you, Alex."
"And you are?" She asked, smiling up at me.
"Isabella." I murmured, stepping around her and to the others who had turned everything back off.
"Wait!" Alex said, right at my side again. "Do you want to come upstairs for some hot chocolate?" She asked, looking to the others. "All of you, of course."
"No thanks." I replied. I had to get home and figure out what the hell was going on. I didn't just imagine that girl. You can't imagine injuries.
"How about something to eat?" She asked, looking to those two alarmed when they opened the office door. I shook my head, trying to step around her again. "Watch a movie and rest up? It's awfully late."
Pointing to the ring on my finger as I once again managed to step around her, I replied. "We're covered, but thanks."
She bit her lip, looking around wildly trying to think of something. What is with people lately? Everyone wants to talk and hang out and make friends. They haven't a clue about personal bubbles and don't know when to take a hint. "Maybe we could brainstorm about the girl in black?" She asked hesitantly.
"Again; no, and again; thanks anyways." I said firmly, trying to get my point across as I backed into the hall to the other two. Alex took a step forward but I gave her a look and she stopped.
She frowned, glaring at the floor. "You don't like redheads, do you?" She said, crossing her arms. "Fine." With that, she turned on her heel and marched down the dark hallway away from us.
"Did anyone else find that exceptionally creepy?" I asked, turning to the other two.
Kate shrugged. "Happens all the time, usually with boys."
Sighing once again, we walked back down the hall to the stairs. When we passed by the janitors closet I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I really hated it when people just let their things be strewn out all over the place. Just because you rent an apartment doesn't mean the whole building is your house. I was tempted to go find Alex and march her down here to make her clean it up, but I'm not usually one for confrontation.
There was a bunny slipper, matching Alex's perfectly, on it's side outside the dirty, old dented janitor's closet door.
XXxXXxXX
"Maybe it was a Terror?" Kate suggested.
Making a face down at my bowl of cereal, I shook my head. "It wasn't a Terror. I wasn't scared, and I could use my affinity." I mumbled back, using my spoon and rearranging letters in the milk.
"Another spell then, maybe?" Tanya asked, sipping from her coffee mug while she sat on her stool at the island.
Again, I shook my head, looking up at her. "I searched Duchess all night. All night. I'm seriously really glad I bought this ring."
Kate bit her lip, looking to me. "I've got a question that's not really related to this." I raised an eyebrow and nodded at her. "How could you see last night? I mean, when we went too? You were wearing goggles and you didn't have any contacts."
"Oh." I replied, smiling. "Some of them are actually prescription lenses in the goggles. I thought it would be neat and come in handy some day. I was right." I grinned. Kate gave me a look and I huffed. "Fine; I was quite bored one day and the random idea popped up in my head. Happy?"
"Very, you geek." She laughed. I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Enough you children, I don't want a food fight started over this." Tanya said with a little smirk of her own.
Kate's pop tarts shot up out of the toaster and she beamed, licking her lips. She placed them on a plate, reaching behind her to pull the toaster's plug out of the wall, jumping again as a little spark flew from the socket to her fingers. "Oh!"
Both Tanya and I were on our feet, over by her in a second. "Are you alright?" Tanya asked, lifting up her hand to look for burns.
There was none. Like none at all, and Tanya's arm hair stood up on ends. I giggle as her eyes widened and she smoothed it down. She was very self conscious of her arm hair, even if it was blonde and hardly noticeable. It was weird, I know.
"Do you keep dragging your feet over carpet lately?" I asked, shaking my head and sat back down at the island.
Kate shook her head. "No, there's no carpeting in the manor."
"Rugs." Tanya put in, not looking up from her arms while she continued to smooth down her arm hair.
Rolling my eyes at Tanya, I paused, before they grew wide. "Wait one damn minute!" I said, holding up my hand. Both of them froze, looking to me. "I read this. I so read this somewhere. In Duchess I think or maybe at that store a couple days ago. Kate, I-I think that's your affinity!"
Kate cocked her head to the side, looking at Tanya's arm. "Static?" She asked skeptically.
"No, you goof. Electricity. Maybe. I'm not sure, but it stands to reason. I slowly grew into my affinity; not being able to sleep because I didn't realized I was sucking energy from you two all the time and kids at school. Maybe this is you growing into yours; getting shocks from electrical appliances and things that have electricity running through them!" I beamed, doing a little twirl of my own. "Honestly, sometimes my superior intellect astounds even myself." I giggled.
"Maybe big head, over there is right." Tanya murmured, walking over to Kate. "Is there any way to check?" She asked, glancing up at me before looking back down to Kate's hand.
Huh. Not that I could recall, no. But maybe if… I frowned at them. "I have an idea, but I don't think it's very safe." I murmured. They looked at me expectantly. "Alright well here it is; I could make a big ball of energy, pack it real tight, and hold it between your hands. It'll spark, depending on how tight I pack it and how much energy I layer on, and if I'm right; the spark will… um, do something?"
"A real genius." Tanya muttered. I glared at her.
"How's it unsafe?" Kate asked, looking at my hands wearily.
"If it works; either I'm going to get shocked or you're going to get hit by a tightly packed energy ball." I replied, like I was stating the weather outside.
Kate looked up at me like I was insane. I wouldn't put it past me at this point. "Easy peasy, right?" She said sarcastically.
"Quit yer belly achin' and put up em' dukes of yers." I said in the best hick voice I could muster. Again, the two looked at me like I was a loon. Huffing, I grabbed her hands, holding them up and then put mine up, palms facing each other.
The air between my hands rippled and then I started maneuvering my hands in the motion of packing a ball, actually feeling the weight of the energy. The tighter and more I packed, the more golden and white light would spark and flicker, and soon I had a big flashing ball hovering in-between my hands.
Biting my lip, I looked up to Kate, concentrating on keeping the ball between my hands and not letting it fly off anywhere. "Alright, hold your hands over and under it, and I'll hold it on the sides."
Kate's shaking hands hesitantly came up, pausing before getting close to the ball, her right hand up top with her palm facing the ball, and her left below, with her palm facing the ball. "Now what?" She asked when nothing else happened.
Well crap, there goes my plan…hold on. "Try touching it." I said and her face whipped up to look at me. "It won't hurt you as long as you don't break it. Don't poke it, but put your hands on it like you're going to hold it."
Kate gulped before slowly doing so. Her face split into a grin as she actually felt the energy, laughing joyously.
That's when the sparks and flashing started turning blue. "Oh." I yelped a little, jolting. That kind of stung. "Ah!" I grimaced. The flashing sped up, getting even brighter and bluer. "Ouch!" I nearly jumped in the air. That freaking hurt!
"What's happening?" Kate asked, looking at me with concern.
I shook my head. "Nothing, keep going!" I shouted, trying to be heard over the cackling of the ball. It sounded like little snaps, the sound you hear when your hair is all statically and you run your hands through it. "You've got it now; I'm going to just slip my hands off and let go-"
"No!" Kate gasped, looking at me with wide eyes as she let go of the ball to grab my wrist.
The moment her skin touched mine I froze, feeling the shock run through my body all the way to my fingers and toes. A strangled noise escaped my throat and Kate quickly pulled her hand back. Without the electrical current running through me and holding me up, I collapsed on the floor of the kitchen. The energy ball, with electricity running through it, shot off and exploded a cupboard, letting cereal and whatever else was in there rain down onto the counter.
Staring unblinking at the side of the island counter, because even blinking hurt at the moment, I slowly exhaled, wincing slightly.
"Bella! I'm so, so, so, sorry!" Kate was gasping and blubbering. She was almost having a panic attack over it, her breathing off and jagged while she sobbed.
Tanya was kneeling on the ground in front of me, looking me over with worried eyes. "Bella, can you move?" She asked, trying to keep calm.
"N-Ahh!" I cried out when I went to wiggle the fingers of the hand Kate had grabbed.
"Okay, that's not good. Don't move." Tanya said, biting her lip. "Kate you need to pull yourself together, Bella you stay put, and I'm going to go get the car out of the garage." She raced off and I heard the front door open but not close.
"Bella, I really didn't mean to. I just, I was scared that the thing would hurt me if you let go. I'm so sorry. And so stupid, I should have just trusted you; you always know what you're talking about. Especially with this Wiccan crap." She slapped her forehead. "I'm so sorry."
"I-" I grimaced, licking my lips. It was getting better though. I wasn't in so much pain anymore. Just my hands and wrist where she touched me. "I don't always know." My voice cracked and I realized how dry my throat was. I felt like a cartoon character whose voice gets all rough and everything after they've been electrocuted. "All of this was just a guess."
Kate smiled a watery smile at me. "Still, your guess is always the one to go by. I'm so sorry, Bella." She said, taking my hand. My eyes bulged as a high pitched noise cracked through the back of my throat. She immediately let go. "Damn; I keep doing that! I'm so sorry!" She said again.
Tanya came running back in. "We're getting you to the hospital. Kate, grab her feet, I'll get her shoulders."
Scooting away from her hands, I glared. "I can walk. It's just my hands."
"Don't be a hero, Bella; you were just electrocuted." Tanya replied, going to grab my shoulders again.
"Seriously." I growled. She was smothering me with affection right now and I couldn't handle it. "I can walk, just help me up."
They did, Tanya keeping her hands on me until I was in the car with Kate in the back who had her hands shoved into her pockets. Then Tanya raced around to the other side of the car and peeled out of the driveway like a bat out of hell. I would have grabbed onto the door or anything at that point, had my hands not hurt so bad. "Slow down!" Kate yelled as we blew through a stop sign.
"There's no time!" She screamed back, her eyes wide as she looked out the front windshield. "What if there's internal bleeding that we just can't see?"
"From being electrocuted?" I scoffed.
Tanya's wide eyes were on me next. "What if something's wrong in you now? Mom would kick my ass if she knew I did nothing about this!"
Kate and I exchanged looks at the little outburst of Tanya's who didn't even seem to notice she had said anything.
She screeched to a stop in front of the hospital, whipping her door open to run around to my side. I stepped out quickly before she could reach in a yank me out, and Kate did so as well, both of us keeping our distance from Tanya. She was a little wound up.
Carlisle was there when we walked up to the front desk. He seemed surprised, smiling at us as he walked over. "Hello girls, shouldn't you be at school?" He asked, glancing at the watch around his pale wrist. "Class starts in just a few minutes."
"Bella was shocked!" Tanya yelled, gaining everyone's attention. Nurses, secretaries, doctors, patients checking in and out, and people waiting for news. They all looked over to us and I felt my cheeks redden. "Show him!" She said, turning to me.
Stepping a little farther away from crazy, I nervously glanced up into the kind golden eyes of Carlisle who smiled at me, waiting to look. I lifted my hands, palms up and his eyes widened. "Whoa!" I said, getting a closer look. "That's kind of cool!"
Carlisle covered up his chuckle with a cough and put on a serious face. "We should get this looked at though; they're not regular burns."
My palms and wrist was red, but within that, looking like little bolts of lightning and squiggles, were pale burn marks. Even more pale than my regular skin. The ones on my wrist were long and reached half way to my elbow. I looked back at Kate, wanting her to check this out because I kind of felt like Harry Potter, only a female, less cool version. She had her head ducked though, a frown on her face looking guilty as hell.
Carlisle ushered me into a room before I could try and comfort her though. I sat down on the hospital bed/desk thing, the one you always use when going for checkups that has the drawers that pull out if you're really tall to lay your legs on, swinging my own legs back and forth as Carlisle treated my burns.
His golden yes glanced up to me before he looked back down at my hands. "May I ask how you got these burns?" He asked.
Uh oh. "Um, yeah. My r-radio was acting all…w-whacky. I'm not so good with technology and stuff, so I just, uh, smacked the side of it, h-hoping to get it to work like that. Instead I was b-burnt." I replied. I was never a good liar, mostly because I got so nervous about them believing me, that I would start to stutter. And anyone who knew me and knew that about me, would know I was lying. It really sucked big time.
Carlisle hummed after looking at me for a few seconds. He reached to the counter beside him and started to wrap my hands in gauze. "This is for until they have a chance to heal somewhat. A day, day and a half maybe. The burns aren't deep, just on the very top surface of skin."
"Will they be permanent? Like Freddy?" I asked, leaning forward anxiously.
"Freddy?" He asked.
"Krueger!" I explained.
His brows furrowed before recognition flashed in his eyes. "Ah, I seem to remember that from one of Emmett's movie marathon nights. It's hard to tell at this point, it depends on how you heal; but they won't mutate into anything like that; if they're permanent, they'll look like this. Cool; as you put it."
Smiling sheepishly, I fought back a blush. "Okay."
Carlisle got to his feet, sighing and running a hand through his blonde hair. He started to clean and tidy everything up. "So I heard the news when I got home last night." He said and I froze.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-What news?" I asked, almost not getting it out.
Carlisle gave me a look over his shoulder, his eyes amused.
"Oh. Th-That news." I mumbled. "And?" I asked nervously.
He turned to face me, looking at me like he didn't understand how I couldn't already know the answer. "And I couldn't be happier for the two of you."
"Really?" I asked, shocked.
He nodded with a kind smile. "Yes, you both deserve someone wonderful, and you're both perfect for each other." He replied.
"Really?"
Carlisle chuckled. "Yes, you're almost complete opposites. You c-"
"Complete each other?" I asked. He chuckled again and nodded. "So that's where she gets it from." I murmured to myself.
Carlisle grinned. "I'll admit; I'm an old romantic." He said. His face became serious again as he leaned back against a counter. "Now, I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or awkward and I apologize in advance for that, but we need to have a little talk."
"A-About?" I asked, though I already knew where this conversation was going.
"Alice." He answered.
We stared at each other for a long while after that; me because I didn't know what else to do and I was trying to not get a nose bleed from all the blood rushing to my head, and him, well, he looked like he was searching for something. "She's very important to me; I love her like she is my own daughter."
I nodded. "I understand. She's really hard not to l…care for." I replied.
He nodded as well, still searching for whatever it was that he was looking for. "It's been a long time, a very long time, since she's shown interest in anyone. For a while there, Esme and I were really concerned." Again, I nodded; not knowing what else to do. "And then you showed up. She's had feelings for you since the second she laid eyes on you apparently,"
"I don't think you're supposed to tell me that." I cut in quickly. He faltered, frowning as his brows furrowed when he realized that, indeed, he was not supposed to tell me that. "Don't worry; I won't tell her you told me."
He smiled gratefully at me. "Thank you. Well, my point here is that this isn't just some…fling for her, Bella. Her feelings are true and genuine, and I just don't want to see her get attached and then hurt if this is just some experimenting for yo-"
Once more, I cut him off, unable to stop myself. "I may do a lot of experimenting; it's one of my hobbies, but I would never do that with someone's feelings." I looked at him seriously and could see his eyes light up like he found what he was looking for. "And I can assure you, whatever it is I…f-feel for Alice is true and genuine too. I'm a little rusty in the emotion department, and I'm probably going to screw up a lot, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of making Alice happy, because that's all I want." I finished.
Carlisle nodded for a final time, standing up straight and smiled at me. "That's all I was looking for." He said, patting my shoulder lightly. "Now, you run along to your sisters and make sure Tanya calms down and slows her pulse or she might pass out." He chuckled.
"Alright." I said, hopping down from the bed/table thing. "Crap," I muttered, continuing at his raised eyebrow. "I'm not going to be able to ride my bike tonight. I left it at your house."
"I could always send someone over with it." He replied, holding the door open for me.
"How'd they get back?"
"I'll send two kids." He smiled.
"Or, you know, you could all come over." I said, wanting to see Alice tonight still. "Esme hasn't seen inside the manor yet and stuff."
Carlisle smiled again. "What time?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I fiddled with the gauze on my hands. "Supper?"
"Perhaps after. We've got a special diet; gluten free, and it would be easier on you girls if we just ate before we came over." He said with a small frown. I nodded, waving over my shoulder to him as I walked back to my sisters.
xxXxxXxx
"Okay, how long do we have?" Tanya asked, running her hands through her hair as she looked around the living room. There were blankets and pillows scattered about the furniture, and said furniture was all angled towards the TV instead of how it should be. There was remotes laying about, books, nail polish and brushes all over. In the kitchen there were dishes to be done, spills to be cleaned up, and the whole cupboard thing still. Our rooms were messy, or at least mine was; the blankets all tangled up, clothes flowing from drawers, books and papers scattered about up there. Who knew what else. The whole house needed a good cleaning, really.
"Uh. I said like six o'clock." I replied, glancing to the grandfather clock up against a wall of the living room. "So, four hours."
"Four hours?" Kate yelled, whirling on me.
Pointing a finger of a bandaged hand at Tanya, I stomped my foot, not willing to take the blame for this. "She was the one who wanted to eat out for lunch!"
Tanya whirled on Kate. "You wanted desert."
The two started going back and farther, bickering at each other, getting louder and louder. "Alright alright, shut up!" I shouted and they fell quiet. "Thank you." I flashed them a smile. "The grocery shopping is what took longest here, so if anyone is to blame it's the market."
They seemed to be pleased with this alternate thing to put the blame on. "Why did we even have to stop by there? It's not like they're eating here, what with their gluten free diet, or whatever it was." I said, frowning. That kind of diet would totally suck. It'd probably suck more if I knew what gluten was.
Tanya shrugged, walking to the kitchen. "We needed groceries anyways. We were down to cereal and canned goods for sustenance here at the manor." Both Tanya and I shuddered when we looked in the cupboard that held the canned goods and Kate's ravioli that she loved. Kate stuck her tongue out at us, crossing her arms. "Okay, anyway, we need to get started. Um, Bella, since you don't have use of your hands really, you can stick to…er… tidying things up rather than cleaning."
Kate huffed when I grinned over at her.
"And Kate, you can do the living room and upstairs bathrooms. I'll get the kitchen and downstairs bathrooms, and then we can all move onto our rooms. Got it?"
"Got it." Kate and I replied in unison.
It was around six o'clock by the time we had finished and we were all flopped on the couch, resting. We had eaten supper while cleaning, stopping into the kitchen to munch, before heading off to continue. The house was spotless, everything in it's rightful place and put away. There was not a lick of dust anywhere, not a crooked cushion, other than what we were sitting on. And most importantly, all Wiccan items were up in the attic, locked behind the door. Hopefully Esme wouldn't ask to see in there, because we still hadn't come up with an excuse not to.
Tanya got all dolled up, a short red dress; playful and fancy at the same time. Kate was wearing a light V neck sweater and a black skirt. I wore black dress pants and a white blouse with a black vest, all untucked and just thrown on. I was being lazy, not wanting to tuck and crease and be all tidy myself. "I feel like a boxer." I muttered, looking at my bandaged hands. One hand was wrapped around and around and around all the way up my wrist and nearly to my elbow for the burns there, while the rest of it and the other hand, were all wrapped up, in-between my fingers and thumbs so I could still use them.
"Well you don't look like one." Tanya replied absently.
Frowning, I slumped back farther into the couch.
Only to jump back up when the bell rang.
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I was going to keep going for the whole evening at the manor, but then I realized how long this was, and got lazy. ^^ So this is all you get for today.
Review anyways. And I hope you all read carefully; there are hidden, er, well I can't tell you, but I still hope you read carefully.
Annnnd. If anyone got the reference (1) there, you get brownie points.
-Paige.