"What the hell, Edward?" Alice moaned as I got into the car.

"I couldn't let her die!" I shot back.

"I know," she sighed and buried her face in her hands. "We need to leave."

"Yes."

This is going to look so obvious.

"Not everybody is as perceptive as Bella,"

"Well, if she didn't know before she definitely knows now. She saw you from across the lot!"

"I am aware," I said through my teeth.

Alice made a frustrated noise as she sifted through visions, trying to figure out what Bella would do next. There was nothing concrete, just wisps of possibilities that could go either way.

"I can't do this anymore." I said morosely, staring out to the lot. The ambulance arrived with its sirens on full blast. I watched as Bella and Tyler were hurried away into the van. She didn't look back at me.

I felt Alice's cool hand grip my shoulder. "I can't imagine how hard this must be for you."

I clasped onto her hand, holding onto her for strength. "We should leave tonight, before Bella gets any more time to ask questions."

"All right. Nobody's going to believe her after she hit her head like that, though."

"It doesn't matter. She knows or is close to knowing that we're not normal. It's not safe for us anymore. We're meant to keep our identity a secret."

"Lest the glorious Volturi chew off our asses," Alice said bitterly.

I grimaced.

The Volturi were the closest thing to a royal family we vampires had. They had established themselves as the global police of our kind, making sure nobody exposed our truth lest it reignited a war between humans and vampires. One of the benefits of modernism was that superstitions had long ceded into the back of people's minds. But we still had to be careful. There were people around the world who still believed in the supernatural.

"Let's go home." Alice said gently.

I nodded and put the car into drive as the ambulance left the lot.

If ever there was a time I needed to hear Bella Swan's thought, this was it. But that would only and always be a dream now. I had to leave.


Bella's POV

I pretended to sleep in the ambulance. Tyler wouldn't stop apologising. After five times, it kind of got annoying.

It wasn't his fault. The weather was crazy today.

And so was my English teacher.

I wondered if I really had imagined it. Maybe he had been walking by me. Maybe I'd imagined seeing him across the lot.

There was no way he could've gotten to me so fast. He'd come out of nowhere, slamming us to the floor as the van screeched toward us. My head had hit the ground as he shielded me with his firm body… how had he gotten the van away from us? I remembered his grip slackening, an arm shooting out… Tyler's truck fell on its side… but had… had Mr Cullen really done that? Had he shoved Tyler's truck off its wheels?

There was no way that was possible. No way.

I was dreaming.

Maybe this was all just a weird dream.

I opened my eyes and blinked into the sterile while light of the ambulance. I pinched my hand. The sting of my skin confirmed this was really happening.

But then… how the hell had he gotten to me so fast? How had he stopped the truck from crushing us? That would've taken superhuman strength and Mr Cullen was nowhere close to having the muscle mass capable of accomplishing such a feat.

Ugh. I was insane. There was no way half of that had happened. Forks had officially made me crazy.

I feigned sleep again as we arrived at the hospital and awaited with dread Charlie's arrival.

The Sheriff didn't take that long to arrive, barely five minutes since Tyler and I were admitted.

"Bella!" Charlie burst in through the door.

"Dad," I sighed, "I'm okay."

"Bella, thank God," he stopped before my bed. Charlie's brown eyes were watery. "Are you oaky?" He asked, taking hold of my shoulders. "What happened?"

The warmth of his hands caught me off guard. His watering eyes made a lump in my throat grow. We just about hugged when one of us was leaving the State—and even that was a one-armed thing.

I squeezed Charlie's hands. "I'm fine, dad, I swear. I didn't get hit, I made it out of the way."

"How did you?" Tyler asked suddenly, strapped to the bed beside me.

Charlie looked at him suspiciously. "Were you driving?"

Tyler looked back at him fearfully. "Uh, yeah."

"You can kiss your license goodbye." Charlie growled.

"Dad!" I griped. "Nothing happened—"

"You could have been killed, Bella." Charlie rounded on me. "Do you understand that?"

"Yes," I said calmly. "But I wasn't. I'm fine."

Charlie took a deep breath. "If anything had happened to you, I swear to God,"

"Hey, don't think about it," I said firmly. "What's done is done. We can't change the past."

Charlie shook his head at me in disbelief. "You nearly got killed and you're comforting me."

I smiled half-heartedly.

"Let me speak to one of these doctors," Charlie said, turning around to a white coat.

"Bella?" Tyler whispered as Charlie's back was to us.

I turned. "Yeah?"

"How did you get out of the way?" Sincere confusion was all over his face. "I don't know what I hit but I don't remember anything between us."

"Uh, Mr Cullen pulled me out of the way."

Tyler stared back at me blankly. "Mr Cullen? I don't remember… all I saw was you and I was trying to turn the car but I lost control of my wheels…"

"It all happened really fast." I offered.

Tyler nodded and fell back against his pillows. "Yeah. Damn. I'm so sorry, Bella."

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault." I said, turning back as the doors burst open again.

"I heard the Chief's daughter was in town." A handsome, handsome man strode through.

I pinched myself to make sure I was awake because I had to be dreaming.

"Doctor Cullen," Charlie sounded relieved as he shook hands with the beautiful blond doctor. He had the same pale complexion—Cullen! Jeez, my brain was so slow. He was a Cullen. He was their father!

I surveyed him as he approached with a warm smile on his face. His eyes were slightly darker than Alice and Mr Cullen's, some type of brown and black jewel. The beauty gene in their family was insane.

"Hello, Isabella," Doctor Cullen said with a velvet smooth voice much like Edward's.

"Hi," I said almost breathlessly.

"Is she all right?" Charlie asked anxiously.

I looked at Charlie, grateful to have an excuse to look away. "I'm fine, dad."

Carlisle chuckled lightly as he pulled out a small pen-torch from his pocket. "Look here, please." He held up a finger above my eye and shone the light in the other. He switched eyes and then checked the back of my head with his cool fingertips, a welcoming feeling from the heat pulsing on my scalp.

"Your vitals are good and there's some swelling that'll go down with some good rest and an ice pack if the pain is too much." He smiled at me—I forced myself to breathe evenly—and turned to Charlie. "She's going to be fine. You can take her home."

Charlie sighed with relief. "You're sure?"

"Positive." Carlisle clapped him on the back then looked back at me. "Take care, Isabella." His eyes glowed with sincerity and he said my name like he'd known me for a long time. I was startled by the volume of care in his voice.

"Thank you." I replied.

Carlisle smiled and left.

"Hey, I'm really sorry, Bella," Tyler began,

"Let's get you home," Charlie said loudly, putting his arm around me.

Tyler fell silent. I threw him a feeble smile as Charlie led us out of the hospital.

When we were in the police cruiser, Charlie turned to me with a sheepish look on his face. "So, honey…"

I groaned. "Did you tell mom?"

"I thought you were near dead, Bella," he said defensively. "Of course, I called her."

I glared at him. "Dad, she's going to be freaking out!"

"I'm sorry." He said genuinely, shame-faced. "Here," he held out his mobile to me.

There were fifty missed calls and a dozen messages. I threw him another glare as I called my mom back.

"Sorry," Charlie said again as he started the car.

"Charlie?" Renee all but screamed.

I sighed. "No, it's me, mom."

"Bella? Oh, God, Bella? Is that you? Are you okay? What happened? Oh, God, I knew sending you to Forks was a bad idea!"

"Mom, calm down!" I said desperately. "I'm fine!"

"I knew something like this would happen!" she was hysterical. "I want you home, right now? Do you hear me? Pack your things and I'll get myself on the first flight to pick you up—"

"Mom, take a deep breath," I said. "You're not thinking rationally."

"YOU NEARLY GOT KILLED! WHAT IS RATIONAL ABOUT ANYTHING TODAY?"

I tucked the phone against my chest and glared at Charlie. "You are cooking dinner for a month."

Charlie looked fearful.

After the most hysterical conversation I had ever had with my mother, I came home and went straight to bed to lie down for a while. I had to keep Charlie's mobile with me as mom texted about every thirty seconds to see how I was doing.

It was going to be a long week before Renee felt I was all right again.

As much as I'd told her not to come to Forks, there were times you just needed your mom. But Renee needed comforting more than I did and I couldn't handle playing grown up right now. I had to figure out what on earth had happened today.

Conclusion one: I had confused seeing Mr Cullen across the lot from the other times I'd seen him there and in the rush of almost being crushed by the van, I had muddled his being next to me with that memory.

Conclusion two: Mr Cullen had super speed powers that allowed him to get to the lot and grab me.

Problem two: what the hell had stopped Tyler's van from crushing the both of us then?

I tried to think back to that moment of Mr Cullen coming out of nowhere and slamming into me. We'd fallen to the floor. His arms were a cage around me.

The van was screeching. I could see the grey sky and rain drops were everywhere.

Mr Cullen's arms loosened as the van spun closer to us…

His hand shot out.

The van fell back from his touch.

I jolted upright in my bed. I'd gone insane. I had officially lost the plot. There was no way those memories were real.

I checked my forehead: my temperature was okay.

Super strength. Super speed. I knew those words from somewhere… where had I seen them before?

I stared around my room in confusion for a while, racking my brains.

Then it hit me.

I gasped and ran to my bag, shaking out all my books until I yanked out my notes from my essay research.

"I've genuinely gone crazy," I moaned.

"You okay, Bella?" Charlie called, knocking on my door.

"Huh?" I looked up as the door opened.

"What are you doing on the floor? With all your books?" Charlie took in the wreckage around me.

"I… I forgot something. I mean, I left something with Alice," I began talking quickly, "I need to get something from her—"

"Woah, you can't go anywhere!" Charlie said as I made to rise.

"Where's my truck?" I realised.

"It's still at school but I mean you can't leave after what happened to you today! You need to rest!"

"Dad!" I sighed angrily. "I've got a sore head, it's not a cracked skull!"

"Can't you just call her?" Charlie suggested desperately. "Bella, you've been through enough today. Surely you can wait to see Alice until tomorrow."

"Dad, this is really important!"

"And so are you." Charlie said to the spot over my shoulder. "Now," he looked back at me, "I know I may not be winning any awards for parenting but I sure as hell know I can't let you just walk out of here and drive after nearly being hit today! You need to rest for at least a day."

I stared back at him angrily. If my head hadn't been throbbing, I would've stormed past him in true teenage style. But I relented. "Fine, whatever. I'm going to shower and sleep." I grabbed my towel from my bed and stalked past him.

"Come on, don't be like that." Charlie sighed.

"Goodnight, dad." I said resolutely, shutting the bathroom door behind me.

I stripped and climbed into the shower, turning to heat way up. The water pouring over me did something to calm my anger at Charlie calling Renee, at Renee having a seizure over the phone; at Charlie not letting me go out. I knew he was right, I probably shouldn't be out driving after today but I needed answers and I needed them now!

Because either I had truly gone crazy or Mr Cullen was a vampire.

And as much as I hated to even acknowledge it, Mr Cullen being a vampire made more sense than it seemed unlikely.

But if he was a vampire or a Cold One as Jacob had said, that meant… gah. Alice. Doctor Cullen. Their whole family. Each was as impossibly beautiful, oddly pale; they all had varying eye colours I myself had seen change. They were too perfect to be human.

If they were vampires though, creatures known for hunting humans, how were they living amongst us? Doctor Cullen was a doctor for crying out loud! Mr Cullen was a teacher! And Alice… she'd become my closest friends. Could they really be monsters?

Suddenly, the conversation I'd overheard between Alice and Edward came rushing back.

"I'm a hundred and eight years old, Alice…"

Immortal. Oh, my g… and then Alice's too perfect lie, about it being a play rehearsal and—

God, I couldn't believe I was even having this conversation with myself.

I needed answers. And I needed them fast.

Mr Cullen was going to have a hell of a lot answering to do tomorrow. And he'd prove this was all just a terrible misunderstanding. Because there was no way he was a vampire, right? There was no such thing as the supernatural- I mean nothing really went bump in the night, did it? It was just our imagination running wild with sounds: creaky floorboards, winds and trees...right? Had I hit my head too hard or was I on the cusp of finding out that there was more to life than I had ever thought possible?

I was insane, right?