Bella walked down the path for fifteen minutes and then she veered off the path.
I exchanged a glance with Alice but continued to follow Bella. Bella walked through the wild forest for an hour. We all kept a silence.
Suddenly she stopped and whipped around. She looked towards our direction with narrowed eyes.
"Shit!"
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Chapter 7:
[EPOV]
We froze. It was impossible. There was no way she could see us.
"Who's there?" Bella called.
We decided not to answer but to remain silent.
"I said who's there!" Bella called again and then she mused. "Maybe I'm just becoming paranoid? Who would want to follow me?"
After a few minutes of staring into the trees, Bella decided that no one was there after all.
She continued down the path she was going. After a while she came to a tall iron fence. The top of the fence was marred with sharp spears and skulls. From the looks of it, beyond the fence was a graveyard.
I paused with the others at the base of an old oak tree. From here we could see Bella but she couldn't see us.
"She's not going to climb the fence is she?" I asked.
"She'll get hurt if she tries," Esme said worriedly.
"No human can jump over a fence that high," Carlisle murmured. "Especially someone her age."
Bella had a look of concentration on her face. I just hoped that whatever Bella was planning wouldn't involve her getting hurt.
After a few seconds her face smoothed back into a look of delight.
"Bandit!" she crooned softly.
I was puzzled. Who was she calling?
Suddenly there was a screech and a bat flew over the fence to her. A vampire bat to be exact. He landed on her shoulder.
Bella stroked his head and it screeched again.
"Shhh…" she whispered. "You don't want anyone to find us do you?"
Bandit nuzzled her neck.
"Now you know what to do right?" Bella whispered and the bat flew off her shoulder without answering.
A few seconds later it reappeared with a thin rope dangling in his mouth.
Bella rushed over to a nearby tree and picked up a heavy rock. She brought it back to where the bat was hovering and placed it against the fence. She climbed on it and grabbed the rope from Bandit.
We watched in fascination as she tied the rope around the nearest spear pole. She did a double knot and gave it a light tug. She decided it to be sturdy enough and nodded her head in approval. The bat settled down on a nearby skull. He watched alertly.
Then Bella did something that shocked us all. She started to climb the fence with the rope.
To say I was amazed would be quite an understatement. Bella looked so fragile. She was thin as a pin and so pale. She looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks and badly needed sleep. And now here she was climbing a huge and sharp fence that was quite impossible for someone her size to do.
Bella climbed over the wall and jumped down. She turned the rope over so it was on the inside of the fence. Anyone outside the graveyard would be unable to come in using an entrance other than the front gate that was currently locked.
We jumped over the fence and hid behind the largest tree in sight. An old spruce that looked like it had survived several dangerous weather hazards.
We watched as she zigzagged through the graveyard and came to a stop in front of a large marble headstone.
The headstone read…
Here lies Renée Swan…
May her soul rest in peace. Her soul watches over the lives of her family and friends…
R.I.P.
