CHAPTER 7
"Bella, Bella don't move. Hold your breath!" Emmett hissed at me, grabbing my arms and looking into my face.
"Emmett, let me go. I'm not going to do anything," I said with a frown.
His frown mirrored mine but he didn't loosen his grip. "Come on Bella, we've got to get out of here."
"I'm not going to do anything Emmett!" I snarled.
"It's not that! It's a search party Bella! They're out looking for you! You're supposed to be dead remember? If they see you, they'll know you're okay. We've got to go. Come on," he urged. When I didn't move he let out an exasperated sigh and before I could react he slung me over his shoulder and ran back the way we'd come.
I was sure we'd gone at least five miles before he stopped and practically dropped me on the ground. I lay where he discarded me and looked up. We were in a small clearing that was letting in the small amount of sun we would get this day. Knowing what I would see, I lifted my hand and admired the diamond like quality my skin had taken on.
I felt Emmett slump to the ground beside me and looked over to see him lying on his side, watching me.
"You really weren't going to attack them were you?" he asked.
I looked at his face and replied, "the thought never even crossed my mind. I had…I didn't even want to attack them. Emmett, why am I different? Is something wrong with me?" I whispered.
He chuckled and shook his head, "no Bella, there is nothing wrong with you. You are absolutely perfect. I'll bet Edward will want to kill himself when he sees you and realizes what he gave up. No, I think your indifference to the smell and thirst for human blood might be your power, you know like the future seeing and the mind reading for Alice and Edward… but that's just my thought…"
"I hope so. I don't want to spend the next year, at least, hidden away in some remote hell," I whispered, looking up at the now cloudy sky.
"You wouldn't be alone Bella. We would all go with you and I would be there with you every step of the way, if you had to go. But I don't think you will. This…whatever it is…it won't just go away. I can tell that. You're going to stay special Bella."
I turned my head to look at him and I would have had tears in my eyes if I had been able to. "Thank you Emmett. You don't know how much you've helped me the last couple days."
He grinned, "does this mean that I never get to hear you talk in your sleep again?"
I couldn't help smiling back and he sucked in a breath. "Bella, you really gotta stop doing that," he reprimanded.
"Doing what?"
"Smiling at me like that! It's…if I was human it would make my heart stop, my breathing stop. I'd be immobilized. It's hard enough as it is."
Try as I might, I couldn't help a grin from sliding across my face. He growled and jumped on me. Then he began to tickle me.
"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it!" I laughed.
"You know, you should really just not talk or laugh or smile. All three of those things have the same effect on me."
"Alright, I'll just go around mute and looking sullen. Does that work out better for you?" I giggled.
He laughed, "I suppose not. But it really is hard to be around you." Then he rolled over so he wasn't on me anymore. Finally he got up, so fluidly that I wouldn't have seen him do it if I was human still. He held out his hand and helped me up. "We should probably go hunt or Jasper will kill us when we get back."
I turned my head away so he didn't have to see my smile and nodded.
"Oh come on Bells! Don't do that! I can handle it, I promise!" he said, trying and succeeding in sounding broken hearted.
I turned my head and smiled at him then followed him as he led me off into the forest on my first hunting trip.
Rosalie was home when we got back and was waiting for Emmett in the dining room. She only glanced at me before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately. To my utter shock, I felt a wave of jealousy shoot through me. I thanked my luck stars that Jasper wasn't there to pick up my emotions.
Then she turned away from me and, holding Emmett's hand, led him upstairs toward their room. She glared back down at me once before closing their door behind Emmett.
I let out a snort and walked outside to sit on the porch. Twenty minutes later I smelled humans coming up the driveway and I retreated into the bathroom to hide. Even from that far away I could hear the car motor come to a stop and the sound of two sets of feet walk toward the house. The doorbell rang and I heard the wind whistle past as someone answered the door.
"Ah Esme," said Charlie, causing me to grip the towel rack more tightly so that I didn't rush from the room and into his arms. "Is…is Carlisle here?" he asked. It broke my nonbeating heart to hear him so unhappy, miserable, and dejected. It seemed he was not taking the news of my disappearance very well.
"Certainly Chief Swan, just a moment. Won't you please come in and wait in the lounge?" Esme asked politely, though I could hear her acted heartache for her missing daughter.
He must have agreed because I heard his footsteps, and those of whoever was with him, come into the house while Esme rushed at human speed up to Carlisle's office. Moments later the two came back down.
"Chief Swan, can I help you?" Carlisle asked, letting his fake worry seep through his words.
"Well I told you I would come tell you every day whether we had found any sign of Alice and Bella and well, here I am. I'm sorry to say that we've found no trace of them. That storm that lasted two days washed out any trail they might have left. Even Sam Uley and Jake here haven't been able to find anything. I'm sorry," he said again.
I almost gasped. Jake was here? In the house of vampires? How had that happened?
"We understand. Just…please tell us when you find something. If you have no news don't feel obligated to come tell us. We know you have a lot to do, and with the added worry for Bella…" Carlisle said quietly.
Charlie didn't answer. But then I heard Jake's voice, "can I speak frankly sir?" he asked. He must have gotten permission because he continued, "it is my opinion, and the opinion of many people that this whole thing might not have happened if Edward hadn't left her."
I closed my eyes against the unexpected pain and stifled a groan.
"That is a very perceptive observation Jacob. And you might be surprised to know that some of us think so too. See, Bella came over for dinner and ended up staying the night. The next day she announced that she wanted to go camping. She would have gone alone if Alice hadn't forced herself on Bella. I've been thinking this whole time that it's really Edward's fault. None of us are happy about what he did or how he handled things."
Just then I heard a door upstairs open and then Esme's breath suck into her lungs.
"What is going on here?" Charlie bellowed suddenly. "When did she get back? Why didn't you inform us immediately?" I knew what must have happened. Alice must have come out of Carlisle's office and Charlie had seen her. What had happened to her ability to see the future? What about her normal instincts of smell and hearing? I knew I was further from the room in question than she was, so surely she knew that Charlie was here.
"Charlie, there are things going on that you don't understand!" Carlisle said urgently. I could imagine him with his hands up, trying to placate Charlie as Charlie grew more and more red in the face.
"Then make it so I do understand! Where is my daughter?" he demanded.
"Just let me explain. Sit down Charlie," Carlisle said with authority. I heard Charlie's footsteps and then a squeak as he sat down.
"Tell me what's going on," Charlie said only slightly less loud, pleading this time.
