The Simplicity of Life is a Lie Chapter 10: Untraceable, a twilight fanfic

*Update Note

This chapter has been fixed by the most amazing beta: SheikahLover

A gigantic thank you to her, by the way. The changes have made a world of difference. Seriously, I cannot express how grateful I am for the changes. *

Thank you for the lovely reviews, hitting follow/ favorite, and just reading my story. Just this week I've gotten almost three thousand views on the chapters. It's breathtaking to see how many of y'all read my stuff.

Hopefully you made it this far to read this note because I've got a story changing question/ idea/ proposal/ thing. How would y'all react to Amy and Edward getting together, or just harmless flirting before Bella comes into the story. I've set the story four/five months before Bella arrives. Do you still want Bella and Edward to be canon? Or do you want something completely different, like Edward and Alice dating the whole time? Alice doesn't have her mate yet in the story, so anything is open right now. I'm just going to repost this at the bottom to make sure y'all read it.

Chapter 10:

Any belief that Amy and her mother were the worst to ride in a car with was gone from Erica's mind in a matter of minutes. Why? Simple. Because being in a car with several of the Cullen family members was a thousand times worse. Instead of a middle age woman making remarks about her daughter's schoolmates driving the car, there was a silent and threatening teenager that kept her eyes glaring at Erica more than they were on the road. Usually in car rides with Amy, Amy would sit up front with her mother or to Erica's immediate left. This time Amy was sitting to the left; only with a strangely happy teenager that had choppy hair between them. In the front of the vehicle, sitting next to his twin, was Jasper. His glare was more unnerving than Rosalie's; his eyes seemed to know more about Erica than she did.

It felt like each moment she moved, even if it was to turn her head towards the window or scratch her head with her hand , they all looked at her. Even Amy, which Erica didn't really understand. Alice seemed to be the only one comfortable in the car. She would speak to her siblings or try to strike conversation with Erica.

"Now, what happens later isn't going to be the most enjoyable." Alice told her, but she wasn't that apologetic. If anything, she looked way too excited.

Erica didn't know how things could get worse. Everything she knew about life was wrong. It sounded like a melodramatic statement, but it was true. The week before she merely assumed that there was a resemblance between Jasper Whitlock and Jasper Hale, the days that followed afterward had her convinced that something else had a play in that, and today it was confirmed that the Cullens are not human. She just didn't know what they were exactly.

They all had yellow— but others would say golden—eyes. Their skin was extremely pale, going far beyond sun starved. From what she felt, with the brief contact between her and Jasper, they were cold. She knew the temperature that lack of circulation had; her mother and she both had poor circulation that left them with cold and numb fingers. Jasper, and assumedly the rest of his family , had a body temperature akin to the new freezer her step-mother bought. Erica was pretty sure that Jasper was even colder. She felt silly for her next observation: their inhumanly beauty. The entire family had an almost eerie and dangerous appearance , that left her feeling both awed and fearful.

Their good looks had been questionable, especially when they moved to town years before. While Erica had been an awkward sophomore, still with long frizzy hair and a retainer for her slightly too narrow palate, the Cullens still had their same height, hair length, and looks. She didn't think it was biologically possible to remain completely the same. Other students had questioned it at first, but then no one simply cared if there was something wrong with the Cullens. To the rest of the student body, the Cullens were an entirely different entity; one that wasn't meant to be questioned or investigated.

Now she was going to get answers to her questions , and frankly she wasn't sure if she wanted the truth.

As they drove on , she tried to look at the passing sights. Once they left the school, she could watch the several suburban streets they drove by. She had never noticed just how many white painted houses Forks had until now. It was almost obnoxiously dull, blending in with the overcast cloud coverage. It wasn't too long until they were getting closer to the city limit. By then, there were only trees surrounding the secluded road.

The car ride was ridiculously fast. While it had taken Mrs. Clear fifteen minutes to navigate from the Morgan house to the Cullen Manor, Rosalie only needed five minutes. It would have taken any normal person twenty minutes. But, normal people don't exceed the speed limit by one hundred miles per hour.

Rosalie was out of the car before Erica even noticed she had turned it off. It was the slam of the driver's seat door that alerted her. Jasper had gotten out of the car like any other person would. Getting out of the car had spiked her nerves. Amy had gotten out of the car with ease, Alice sliding after her. Before Erica could even move to exit the car, she heard an unsurprising hiss of impatience. The urge to childishly take as much time as she could to leave the car hit her, but she valued her life too much to do so.

She raised her hands to sign, wanting to ask what they were going to do. But before her fingers could form the first word, Amy tugged on her upper arm dragging her out of the car. Erica allowed her friend to lead her up into the house. Before stepping on the front porch, she turned her head back to the dirt path up to the house. She didn't see Edward's car in the driveway, only a smear of tire tracks leading to the paved and sloped driveway. Erica didn't get the chance to think about it much once Amy pulled her into the large building. Once they had walked through the doorway attached to clear glass walls, there was a wall separating the small area from the house. Only yesterday had Erica stood on the other side of the glass door. Now that she could see inside the house, she noticed that the ceilings had a tint of dark orange to them, which matched the framed door and wall. On the other side of the brief wall was a large living room. There was a large portion of white carpet in the middle of the wooden floors. On top of the carpet were gray, almost green, sofas. One whole side of the room was made up of glass. When she was walking into the room, she caught a small glimpse of the black countertops in the kitchen.

She wanted to continue examining the manor, only to be stopped when Amy pulled her into a seated position. What caused Erica to clam up were Dr. Cullen and his wife sitting directly opposite Erica and Amy. They weren't as threatening as their adopted children. The last time Erica had seen Mrs. Cullen, she was smiling with polite interest. Now she looked ready for a funeral, while staring grimly at them. Dr. Cullen simply studied them, his expression unreadable.

The others were scattered about the room. Alice stood behind the sofa where Amy and Erica sat in. Rosalie decided to stand next to her adopted mother, with Emmett holding her from behind. Edward leaned against the wall separating the living room and the front door, watching everyone's interactions in silence. Jasper stood near the entrance of the room, intently staring at the wall across from him.

For a few minutes, there was only silence and unnerving stares.

Until Erica tried to break it, which didn't turn out so well seeing as though she was signing and not speaking one word.

"I suppose you all want to ask us some things?" There was an urge to be snarky, but that right was taken from her when Jasper and Alice revealed they understood signing. That combined with Edward's strange way of answering her thoughts as well.

Dr. Cullen looked over to his eldest adopted son, Jasper. He relayed what she said to the other four in the room that didn't know what she said.

"Yes," Dr. Cullen confirmed what she knew. "To be honest we aren't quite sure how to proceed."

"I say we kill them." Rosalie sneered. She started to growl, but was cut off by a stern look from Mrs. Cullen.

"We're not killing anyone Rosalie." She was severe in her tone, not looking away until Rosalie did first. "We simply want to understand how you both figured this out." She was speaking to Erica this time.

Erica had moved her hands up to sign, only to find that Amy was holding her right hand. Unable to successfully sign one handed, she started thinking.

'You guys aren't completely untraceable. There were no big documents, aside from the Jasper Whitlock information on the solider website. But, there were some minor ones. Several people posting about their high school crushes, or old university crushes, for example. There was even a picture, blurry but still somewhat definable, of Dr. Cullen several years ago; twenty-five years to be exact.'

Erica had done her searching the night she and Amy printed out the information on Jasper Whitlock. Amy had cemented her reincarnated theory with the information they acquired.

As she expected, but no less startled by, Edward repeated her thoughts word for word. It was frightening to know he could do that, leaving Erica to feel stripped of her own skin. Overruling that feeling though was excitement, and a thrill with the idea that he could actually hear her voice.

"That shouldn't have happened." Jasper spoke first, pacing back and forth in the room. "I have people hired to delete any of those traces."

'Like I said, there were no big documents, only little stuff. I doubt your people went on MySpace, it was only created last year.'

It was slightly amusing to hear Edward say MySpace.

Jasper didn't acknowledge her, still wandering the floor instead.

Next to Erica, Amy still squeezed her hand. The brunette girl was bouncing one of her knees, tapping her fingers on the kneecap. It seemed to be the only noise, as the Cullens didn't make any sounds of breathing, shifting, or even stepping as they walked across the elegant hardwood floors.

"It's because of what we are." Edward answered for her observation.

Prying her hand away, she signed. "And what is that exactly?"

Jasper stopped his pacing, facing her. "You mean, you have no clue other than we've lived for a long time?"

"Well, I didn't even know that until you confirmed it just now. "

It seemed Rosalie didn't need to understand sign language to follow along.

"Alice, Edward, why the hell did you two let her know so much and come here then?" Rosalie being quiet was scarier than her yelling, Erica then decided.

"Because she needed to know," Alice stated from behind, starting Erica.

Rosalie shifted her eyes to Amy. "Then why is she here?"

"Erica wouldn't have come without Amy." Alice replied, touching Erica's shoulder. "She had severe attachment issues."

Erica was affronted. "I can be perfectly unattached when I need to be."

Alice wasn't convinced. "Your heartbeat says otherwise."

Erica's hands reached up to her heart, looking confused.

"It rises when you lie. Its basic information Eri," Amy said as if it should have been obvious.

Erica overlooked the remark with a frown. "Why don't you just tell us everything we want to know?'

"Normally I'd vote for that one, but you can't know."

The rest of the people in the room looked over at Alice. "We can't tell her anything else, not until we have determined that she can be trusted." She said simply.

"What about me? Don't I get to know?" Amy questioned loudly, waving her hands around, hoping to capture their attention.

" No. Sorry." Alice didn't look remorseful in the slightest.

A/N: Alice definitely ships *insert couple name for Erica and Jasper*

glowgreen4me: Thank you! Their relationship, or soon to be relationship, will have a long development.

SheikahLover: Thank you! I was worried that they would be out of character, so that's reassuring. As for Jasper knowing sign language, I was going to add that bit in this chapter, but I want to wait until Erica and he actually speak one on one. I seriously can't stress how much I enjoy your reviews, they help me so much. It must be really annoying on your half, I make the same mistakes over and over regarding one or two words and apostrophes. The part about the ellipsis was greatly appreciated, seeing as the next chapters might have their fill of awkward pauses. Concerning Amy and Edward, I hadn't actually considered them getting together. I've set the story four/ five months before Bella arrives (I have exact dates written down for it all.) Now that you've sort of brought the idea of Amy and Edward, it has me curious if anyone would find that predictable or weird without Bella dating him in my story.

xXSilentSanctuaryXx: Thank you! I'm glad you find her witty! That's awesome! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I can guarantee that she will get her time with them in the next chapter. :D