~ Isabella's POV ~
I lowered my hood as I was no longer in need of it. The sun had set beyond the horizon, the sky now a blended blur of bruised purple and dishwater grey. With the absence of warm daylight shining down on us, the cold wind returned and brought with it another wave of temptation coming from Jacob. "We'd ought to get back," I told him. Holding my breath, I dropped from the driftwood to the stone that cracked together beneath my boots. "Mordecai will be waiting for my return to continue my training."
Jacob shrugged carelessly and hopped to my side to accompany me to the road. "Do you think you'll be able to do it?" He wondered aloud, "Lower your –" He beckoned to my head with the flick of his wrist.
"My shield?" He nodded, but his furrowed brows showed he was not entirely certain what my ability was or how it worked. I thought about his question for a step, unsure on whether answering truthfully or lying would be the best way to approach it. In the end, I settled with: "Kai remains hopeful."
He huffed as if I had made a joke. "But you don't." I suppose he did know me well enough to tell when I was avoiding the question, or knew my mannerisms at least. I kept my expression hard and my eyes empty of betraying emotion. I could lie to the others but I could not deny to myself that I was questioning the possibility of retrieving my memories and keeping my current ones; to doubt was impractical as my worry would not sway the direction of the outcome of this mission, this I knew, but emotion was a cruel hindrance I could not escape.
If truth be told, it would not damage my existence in any meaningful way if I were incapable of remembering Bella Swan before the time we had was up; when the Volturi guard members Kai brainwashed into believing they were close to finding us on the other side of the planet became self-aware of the compulsion, then our training and work would be put on hold whilst we figured out where to go and how to stay alive.
And whether it would resume at all after that was another matter entirely.
"We'll all see what is to come. Only time will tell." He seemed to understand what I meant by this and dropped his smile. I did not want to add to unwelcome depression that had captured us in this moment but I could not stop myself from saying what I said next. "Whether I am successful in my mission or not, things are only going to get worse for us all before they can begin to get better."
We walked in silence until the damp sand and wet pebbles turned into concrete and we were once again on a road. We both knew it would have been by far a great deal easier for Jacob to phase and the two of us to run through the forest until we parted ways at the border but neither one of us brought it up; it seemed neither one of us was in any hurry to get home. This time with Jacob had been pleasant; he was easy to talk to and with him the silence between conversations did not feel uncomfortable or strained as they did with Edward and the Cullen's.
I had spent only a short time with him but it was easy to see why Bella had fallen. Not only was he attractive physically but he was a gentle soul – yet at the same time unafraid to voice his opinions and defend those who've touched his heart. Though this reunion must have been just as difficult – if not more difficult – for him as it was for Edward. Edward had been fortunate enough to have Bella's love in return for what was going to be an eternity but Jacob had loved a girl, had seen her love for him in return and then was left to watch her run back into the arms of someone who had broken her heart.
"So, we're here." His voice distracted me from my thoughts and sympathy, and to my surprise we at a crossroads. The path ahead of me lead towards Forks, the one behind us back the way we had come and the one curving to the left lead towards the highway.
"I suppose I'll see you soon." I told him, genuinely wondering when I would next have the opportunity to spend some time with someone who wasn't wanting to get in my pants and someone who wasn't Alice. I set off walking but he reached for my hand and tugged on my fingers.
"Wait!" He urged and I pulled my fingers free. I may have liked him over several of the others but that did not mean that he could touch me whenever we pleased. Personal space was still a concept the people of Forks had yet to discover. I began to ask him what he was doing but he spoke first, an idea lighting up his dark eyes. "I want to show you something." He peered over his shoulder towards the forest.
"I don't have the time, Jake-" I argued but he dropped his head back and grinned.
"Please? It's not that far from here, I think you'll like it." He pleaded with his puppy dog eyes.
Puppy dog eyes? I amused myself.
"I suppose Kai can wait another half an hour." I sighed begrudgingly.
"Yes!" He exclaimed, flashing his pearly whites my way as he let go and set off not down any of the roads but towards the trees he'd had his eye on. So much for staying clean. He ran ahead but I walked at a relatively human pace behind him, knowing that if I were to run by his side I would have to slow down. He may have been equally as fast in his wolf form but as a human he was nothing but mundane. I listened to the sounds of the forest, the chirping birds, hooting owls, the squirrels darting from branch to branch, tree to tree and knocking fragile leave to the ground as they lived their insignificant little lives.
I had lost sight of Jacob but his scent lead me farther uphill, tackling the incline of the mountain. We did not stay too far from the ocean as the crashing waves echoed between the thicket along with the cry of gulls. When I found him again he was wiping sweat from his brow and rubbing his hands on his already dirt smudged shirt.
"This had better be worth my while." I snarled, a bare hint of joke to my voice. Using my hand, I flipped over a fallen trunk and landed in a puddle of fresh mud. I cared not for the boots but more for my safety as Alice would have something to say about it. A few moments later he parted a mass of tangled and dead leaves aside and strolled on through. I followed.
We emerged from the forest onto what appeared to be the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The curving edge only a few feet from the treeline, a risk to anyone who happened to stumble across it unaware of the dangerous drop far below. Jacob stood stupidly close to the edge, his boots scratching up craggy broken pieces of stone and dirt, tuffs of dead grass were snatched away by the wind and carried to the sea; which looked a beautiful dark shade of blue-green due to the dusk.
"What are we doing here?" I asked, lifting both hands as well as a brow. This place was hardly exhilarating. Jacob did not answer, instead he was moving; I turned to find him unlacing his second boot and unbuckling his belt. Any other time, any other place, seeing a man undress would grant me with a small modicum of satisfaction, but here on the edge of a cliff and with a man who'd already turned me down twice today? It made no sense. (Unless he'd changed his mind? I'd had sex in much weirded places than this.)
"We…" He paused as he tugged his shirt up and over his glorious body, balling it up and dropping it to the ground without a shred of care for it anymore. "Are going cliff diving." He nodded to the ocean and put his hands on his hips.
"Cliff diving?"
He forced his socks into his boots. "Yeah, we jump from here into the water. Over and over." I did not ask for an explanation of the activity. The name was self-explanatory. But what possible gain could come from throwing myself off a cliff? In the past, I had done so numerous times and for many reasons: the most recent of which was when I threw myself from the highest mountain range in all of Alaska just to give myself a few extra seconds to get to Kai and safe his life. And that mountain was ten times higher than this one.
"And why would I want to do that?"
"For fun!" Goosebumps rose to the surface of Jacob's coppery skin but if the cold bothered him he failed to show it.
"Fun!" I scoffed, "This is your idea of fun? Oh, Jacob. You need to get laid." He laughed wholeheartedly and nodded, rolling his eyes.
"Tell me about it." He mumbled but made no move to get dressed. "Us Wolves do it to loosen up. To show off to the new recruits. Bella did it." He added suddenly.
"Bella Swan – innocent, fragile, accident prone Bella Swan jumped from this cliff?"
"Yeah! Almost got herself killed too if I hadn't found her and pulled her ashore." I tried to picture Bella doing such a thing but found it difficult. Better yet…I tried to remember. Remember as I done with the Rabbit, but to no avail.
"Why on earth would she do such a thing? I understand you mutts, you lot aren't as easy to kill – well, - you're harder to kill than humans, but Bella?" I was confounded.
"It was after Edward left. She was going through a hard time, tried to distract herself from it by doing stupid shit. Things Edward wouldn't like. Driving and crashing motorcycles, jumping off cliffs. That kind of stuff. Only she didn't realize how bad the waves were that day." He stretched his arms, his muscles rolling beneath his skin. He approached the edge, his bare toes hanging over. His smile had faltered. "I'd never been so scared up until that point. When I pulled her out of the water and she wasn't breathing. She was so pale. She looked dead. My heart stopped. I don't know what I would've done." He sucked in deeply through his nose and I copied just to taste the salt in the air. "Then she did die." He looked up at me, smiling again but this time his smile was closed and he could only force one corner of his mouth to move.
I did not like to see Jacob sad. I did not care for the miserable air his story had created. He went to speak again but just to stop him I shoved him lightly on the shoulder and sent him sprawling into open air. He yelled out a long, flat tone before hitting the water with a slap that made even me cringe.
I squatted down and tore up a patch of grass, watching as he resurfaced. His mop of black hair covering most of his face. He tread water for a second before letting out a howl of laughter and cursing my name.
"Hey! You were right!" I hollered back, "This is fun!"
"Your turn!" He yelled up to me. I glanced towards the town. No one could really see us from here and not at this time of day. "Come on! The waters great!" He teased. I really should have told him another time and gone home to Kai. I should have resumed our training and worked hard on my mind, I should have done a lot of things.
"Eh. Fuck it." I shrugged and flung myself after him.
The air and wind rushed by at an impressive speed but the world refused to blur. I saw the water rise as I fell and I hit the water like a stone, delving deep into the murky depths. Opening my eyes, I found myself in an endless world of green, grey and black. Above the water the waves did not look very angry but beneath the water the current tried savagely to weigh me down, determined to tear me apart.
It was strong but I was by far the stronger party. It took no effort for me to kick my way upwards. When I broke the surface, I threw my head back, my wet hair slapping against the back of my soaked shirt. I searched for Jacob only to find him standing on a small patch of sand beneath two stretching pieces of rock. The forest behind him presumably leading back the way we had come. He looked happy, happier than I had seen him before. He clapped and I bowed my head, bobbing up and down in rippling sea.
He cupped his hands. "Race you to the top!" He roared, bouncing backwards into the green. I frowned, unsure if he really thought winning was a possibility. I shook my head again and wiped the water from my eyes, staring up at the charcoal grey face of the cliff: broken, sharp, jagged, and a piece of cake. I dug my fingers into the rock then scaled the side of the cliff. I rolled over the edge just as he stumbled through the trees but before I had a chance to speak, to stand upright, he kept going. He tackled me like a football player and the world spun around me as we hurtled back to the sea, laughing all the way down.
When I returned home later that evening my training did not only resume but it intensified. Kai was displeased I'd spent so long out but also pleased I'd had some fun. Though after a shower he begun – and failed to stop – reminding me repeatedly that we had only a few short weeks before the spell he'd cast on the brainless members of the Volturi guard (Currently searching the Middle East and Asia for an imaginary Bella) wears off and they report back to Aro of Kai's betrayal. Then Aro would send a full battalion here. We hoped to be long gone by the time they showed up, with or without my memories.
It was the first of October when I saw the Cullen's again. Only a few days had passed since Alice had snatched me away from the peace and quiet of the apartment to look around my old home and journey to the reservation to introduce myself to the Quileute Elders. A few days but the freedom I'd experienced in them had been bliss. I spent my nights (and sometimes my mornings, if I were feeling up for it) sat on the floorboards across from my tutor working on controlling my shield. I'd successfully located it and had been able to dig my metaphoric fingers into its walls and push. It felt ridiculous to confess but it felt as if my mind were slowly growing, expanding like a balloon. I hadn't yet gathered the strength to stretch as far as another person but Kai was over the moon with the progress we had made.
It was enough for him to issue a break and a trip to Forks, if only to get away from the apartment and training for a while. Though when we arrived at the Cullen home we found we were not their only visitors.
He slammed his foot on the breaks at the start of the road leading to their lawn. His eyes alert with panic. "There are others here." He said when he caught their scents. Unlike he, I knew the scents and identified them immediately. The fighter in me settled and I flexed my clenched fingers.
"It's okay. It's the Denali Coven – they're like distant family to the Cullen's. I met them a while back, I was with them when you showed up in Forks." He took my word for it and continued down the road.
"Can we trust them?" He was no longer in a joyful mood but cautious of these strangers.
I took a moment to answer. "I believe so." And I did. I may not have placed my life in their hands but they were close enough to Cullen's for me to say they could be trusted. Perhaps Irina was the only exception, but I remained true to my word.
When we turned onto the lawn there was already another car parked there, a silver one and most definitely belonging to the Denali's. When our engine cut off I heard muffled voices and footsteps as they all came to greet us. They all looked stunning, which annoyed me. This was Kai's first time meeting the Denali sisters and I felt unusually protective of him; I had come to learn of the sisters' history with seducing willing men and leading them to their deaths – the origin of the legend of the succubus. Of course, Kai would not fall for their spell of beauty but discovering just how many innocent men had fallen prey to their desires had left me feeling somewhat protective.
"Isabella." Kate greeted me with a nod, Irina ignored me. However, Tanya smiled and opened her arms to hug me as if were old friends. In the past, I would have used her open arms and exposed torso to punch a hole through her chest, but now she was an ally and that kind of behaviour would be frowned upon. I hugged her back, cringing internally. I was not much a hugger, not unless we were naked and fucking.
"Pleasure to see you all again." I lied.
"The feeling is mutual." Tanya said sweetly into my ear before leaning back. Her eyes flicked over my shoulder to Kai.
"Uh – This is Mordecai." I shrugged and tucked my palms into my jeans.
"Kai, Please." Kai swooned, cocking his head to the side and putting on that charm he'd practically perfected.
"So, your abuser was saved after all. How wonderful." Irina commented, destroying the civil mood between us all. It took Kai's arm gripping my own to stop me from snapping back at the bitter vampire, but I found the strength to do so. I had come to realize Irina's unpleasantness carried with her wherever she went and infected whomever unfortunate enough to meet her. Irina bared her teeth briefly at my move before she bounded her way back into the house.
"Don't listen to her." I told Kai but he'd already shrugged off the comment.
"Irina has always found trouble in trusting strangers. I'm Tanya." Unlike her sour sister, Tanya was very much interested in making Kai's acquaintance. She offered him her hand and he accepted it. Her fingers hung in the air for a split second as if she were expecting him to kiss them but – luckily for the two of them– he let them drop, much to her bewilderment. I was sure Tanya had little experience with being turned down. She was beautiful after all with her strawberry-blonde, loose ringlets that twisted and curled down the nape of her neck, getting lost in the fur-lining of her coat. Her lips matched the shade and she'd even powdered her cheeks to give the impression of a touch of heat. And though Kai was a smooth-talker, a lady killer, he was in love with me and would show no disrespect, even if I took none from it.
"Hey." Was all Kate said before Tanya glanced her way. "Um – glad you're alive?" She sounded as if she weren't particularly bothered about meeting Kai. Which was why she was my new favourite.
"Pleasure," Kai finally murmured. I peered between them as Carlisle and Esme walked over with Eleazar and Carmen by their side. He looked uncomfortable but held out his arm to beckon Kai and I forward.
"Eleazar, Carmen. You remember Isabella."
"Isabella, how are you?" Carmen was talented at sounding like she cared.
"Well. Thank you. How is Astrid?"
Everyone laughed as if I had told a joke I myself did not understand. Nor did Kai but he laughed anyway as to be included. Carmen titled her shoulder and I peered over towards the house and – and Astrid was perched at the top of the steps leading to the doors, licking her paw. I brushed past the others and strode as quickly as possible, careful not to frighten her away. She looked up as I approached but did not flee, instead she arched and stretched her paws out before stepping onto my knees when I sat by her side. I smiled as the cat forced her small head beneath my hand and I scratched the top of her head as she purred. The affection I had for this cat was greater than that I had for Edward.
"- And this is Mordecai." I glanced up as Camren and Eleazar shook hands with Kai.
"Ah. Yes. It is a pleasure to see you…again." Eleazar said.
Oh, that was right. I only just recalled that Eleazar and Kai had met before in the seventeen-hundreds, when Kai himself had been but a newborn. It took Kai only a second to recall this, his eyes widening at the memory.
"You were there the day Aro made me a guard." He said matter-of-factly.
"I was. I'm sorry to say I knew what he had planned for you but did nothing to stop it."
"I can't blame you. You would have put yourself in danger."
"Thank you. But as it would turn out both of us have found ourselves away from Volterra and Aro at last."
The two begun to share stories about what it was like that day, explaining to Carlisle, Esme, Eleazar and the others the details of their first meeting. I listened in but was more occupied with the cat on my lap to join in. The front door opened and Rosalie spotted me.
"Tanya seems to be awfully friendly this evening." Rose made no attempt to hide her grin as she made her way over to me but kept her eyes on the two others. Tanya and Kai both heard her comment but offered only mutually awkward glances our way before resuming their conversation.
"I'm not worried." I told her, folding my arms and leaning back against porch.
"Really? I would be. She's had her eye on two of your lovers."
I realized what she meant. "She and Edward-?" The question hung in the air. The thought of she and Edward did not confuse me in the slightest. In fact, it made perfect sense. I found myself unusually encouraging the possibility of Edward and Tanya. They were both beautiful in the same way, and to me would make a perfect match.
"No – it never went very far. Edward could not bring himself to care for her romantically." Rosalie said, reaching across to stroke Astrid's swinging tail. I could not figure out why. She was a little out there but she was beautiful. Though Edward never seemed to be that interested in appearances, otherwise he wouldn't have chosen an average, pale, blotchy human. I heard the rustle of something in the forest and Astrid caught it too, her head snapped in the same direction, the hairs on her back standing up. A rodent, probably. I could imagine Astrid leaping into the ferns to hunt whatever it was.
The thought of Astrid hunting a living creature reminded me that I had still not fed and the burn of my thirst was getting worse. Even Astrid's blood smelt unbelievably good. Though the thought of harming Astrid caused an ache in my heart. An ache I had only ever felt towards the dark-haired man across the garden.
"Isabella, are you okay?" Rosalie wondered with genuine concern on her beautiful face. As if somehow sensing that the very essence running through her thin veins that gave her life was tempting the lucky individual she'd allowed to stroke her, Astrid leapt upright and slinked into the house. Funny, how the blood of a cat could still put me on edge. Could still tempt the hunter. I refused to take in another tempting breath but nodded. When Astrid's scent faded behind her I let out an exasperated sigh, forced on a humble smile and replied.
"I will be once I have fed." I told her.
"Will you be hunting tonight?" Rose asked almost casually. Will you be murdering, tonight? It made me smile but I did not explain why. Murder meant little to our kind, both she and I – everyone in this garden – knew that all too well.
"I don't know." I answered honestly. I had been thinking a lot recently about the arrangement I had made with Billy Black, Jacob's father. I'd promised him that I would only feed from blood bags which Carlisle could steal from the emergency room, and though Carlisle had been more than willing to do so when I told the Cullen's what the Chief of the Quileute tribe had demanded of me, I was not overly eager to make good on my promise. He wouldn't know if I hunted in Port Angeles, and what he did not know could not harm him.
"Well if you are, you'll have to wait until midnight." She informed me.
"And why is that?" I asked, wondering why she thought she could tell me when and when I couldn't feed.
"We're taking you out somewhere, to visit another place and tell more stories."
Brilliant. "Alice's idea, I presume."
"It wasn't mine…" Scolded Alice as she skipped over, clinging to Jasper's arm. "It was Rosalie's."
I glanced sideways accusingly at my friend. "You disappoint me, Rose. You had such potential."
We left the Cullen home at ten that same evening. And by 'we' I mean myself, Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett and Kai. Carlisle and Esme chose to stay home and entertain their houseguests. They said the place the others were to show us was not a place they spent very much time. I knew what they meant the moment I realized where we were.
"I fail to see what's so entertaining about a High School. Especially one in Forks." I said as the seven of us made our way across the abandoned parking lot towards Forks High School.
"This is where we first met, kind of." Alice sang as she led the way. I had already paid a visit to this sad little place my first evening in Forks when I had been hunting Victoria down and following what I'd believed to be her scent to this very building – only now did I recognize the scent as the Cullen's and not Victoria or her companions. I'd argued about coming here but Rosalie – whom too my surprise had been the one to suggest it – was adamant that it could be beneficial to see the place Edward and I had first met. Alice had argued a – in her opinion – stronger case: it would be fun.
"Did you play football?" I asked Emmett when I caught him glancing up at the wooden signpost built onto the hilltop to the left. It read 'Forks High School. Home of the Spartans.' I remembered seeing this very sign my first night and mocking how pathetic it was.
"Me? Nah." Emmett shrugged the thought off but from the way he said it I could tell he would not have minded being quarterback. "I'm too good for anyone in this town." He winked and I smiled.
"I played." Kai said, "When I was just a boy. I would run in the streets with the other children." I did not know too much about Kai's life before joining the Volturi. He had never been interesting in reliving his own memories. I imagined he would have made an adorable child, despite the fact I loathed children. Edward caught up with us but did not intervene. I did not need to bother asking if he played. I would imagine Edward as the gloomy, morbid kid who sat beneath the bleachers scowling. With Edward and the conversation we'd had earlier on the mind, I bumped his elbow and shrugged.
"What's the matter, Edward? Don't you want to go back to where it all started?" I took his hand in my own and tried to disguise my surprise at how soft his fingers were. I then skipped forward and spun beneath his arm, prancing like a love-struck child at a ball. Edward's body stiffened, his eyes hardened but a smile tugged on the corner of his lips
"Sourpuss" I muttered beneath my breath. Kai was smiling along with the others. He seemed to be able to tell I was joking, attempting charitably to cheer Edward up. That my hand touching his meant nothing.
"Let's go." Alice called and I turned in time to see her kicked off the ground and soar a good twenty feet into the air before her tiny form vanished over the edge of the rooftop. Jasper was next to jump, followed shortly by Emmett and Rose who went hand in hand. Kai didn't wait for me, he flew up after them and landed by their side.
"I'm only here because it could help you." Edward said suddenly from behind me. I straightened from my stance to face him, my brow lifted questionably.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean visiting old places does me more harm than good. For you, it's a chance to relive your old life but for me, it's a reminder of what I've lost."
What a miserable, melancholic man. He had been doing well the other day, he'd smiled and he'd joked. I hoped to see that Edward again soon. I didn't know what to say so I said nothing at all. I turned, bent my knees before kicking up from the ground. My hand caressed the wooden wall surrounding the rooftop as I flipped my body over and landed steadily on my feet. Alice was across the way, opening the same skylight I'd used to break in the first time.
We all looked at one another before she shrugged. "Let's go." And he jumped inside.
The halls were dark and of course abandoned this time of night. It was exactly as it had been the first time I'd seen it, only with a fresh wave of body odour, deodorant and blood. Our footsteps were the only sound; the tapping of Alice's heels and the squeaking of Kai's shoes bounced off the walls.
"Aww." Alice said as she lay her hand flat against one of the greyish blue lockers. "This one used to be mine."
"I'm surprised it isn't bejewelled." Kai teased.
"It was." Jasper said, earning himself an accusing look from Alice for telling us. I laughed along with the others until Alice turned away and stormed off like a child throwing a tantrum down the hall.
"They made me remove them." She sounded sincerely disappointed.
"Some people have no sense of style." I joked, moving to follow her.
"Clearly." She sang, walking backwards with a spring in her step. We moved silently through the halls, barely speaking, just looking. I'd seen dozens of high-schools in my time. I'd seen schools when they were nothing but a bunch of peasants in torn rags in a ramshackle barn. There was nothing spectacular about this place at all: a handful of small buildings made up of dull, colourless classrooms. The most interesting place so far had been the principal's office and that had only been because of his secret stash of "cigarettes" hidden beneath his desk.
It wasn't long before Emmett lead the way through a set of blue doors into the largest room yet; the cafeteria. The trays, condiments and trolleys to collect food were on the far side of the room beyond two dozen round tables. It was dark in here; the only light came from the full moon shining in through the east wall which was made up entirely of glass panels and doors.
"This is where we first saw you," Jasper told me. I had been right the first night in this place, that the table in the corner did belong to one or more immortals. It had never occurred to me that vampires were attending school and not hunting for potential prey. As if they'd had an unspoken agreement, they sat in their allotted seats, smiling at the memory. Kai and I looked at one another, communicating only with our eyes.
"You were sat over there." Alice said, pointing with a painted nail to a table across the way. I strolled over to the table and circled it, pulling in the scents of the humans who'd sat here earlier that morning but found nothing familiar. I tried to picture human Bella looking at the Cullen's, at Edward specifically; swoon and in love. No, agaian I tried to remember.
"Oh!" Alice cried after a minute of silence. "Show her the lab!"
"What's special about the lab?" I asked, disappointed with myself for not being able to remember as I had with Jacob.
"You'll find out when you get there," She shoved me lightly towards the doors then went to move Edward.
"We aren't going with them?" Kai asked, his heavy brows hanging low on his eyes. I would have wanted him to come but Alice shook her head.
"No, let them do this one on their own." She said. Kai looked over the short girls' messy head of hair to meet my eyes, pleading with his own. I doubted he wanted to be left alone with the other Cullen's, especially when there was nothing to do but wait for my return. I shrugged, not prepared to take on Alice or her rule.
"I'll be back soon." I told him, nodding a promise. He nodded back, understanding and then leaned back against one of the tables.
I followed Edward willingly away from the others and back through the school. Thankfully he didn't speak to me or even look my way until he reached the science block and he stopped in the threshold of another classroom. The lab we stepped into smelt heavily of a variety of chemicals and plant life. It was a simple lab with a single desk in the corner at the front of the room for the teacher and several rows of empty desks before a wall of windows. Edward stood behind me in the threshold just taking in the room as a whole. I second glanced just in case I had missed something but I hadn't. It was only that this place meant something to him when it did not to me.
"What happened here?" I wondered as I slowly made my way between the desks, tapping my fingers across the smooth surface.
"This is where we first met. No one sat next to me, no one needed to until you started school and needed a new lab partner." One thing I noticed about Edward: he always looked down when he smiled. He moved further into the room, his eyes on one specific desk by the window. I arched a brow and he answer my unspoken question with a curt nod. I hopped onto the desk and crossed my ankles, leaning back on my elbows.
"How did it go?"
"Terrible, the first day. It was the first time I caught your scent and it almost destroyed me. You've no idea how difficult it was for me to stand being in the same room as you and not kill you."
"I don't know how you did it. But then again, I don't know why you and your family would want to give up human blood in the first place, but to each their own. If it were me I probably would have given in."
"I considered it. It took every ounce of strength I had to refrain from lunging at you, but I knew if I did then I'd have to kill everyone else in the room. Every second was agonizingly painful but I thought about my family. I'd ruin all Carlisle had built for us here and we'd have to move away again because of me."
"You're strong." I told him, unsure on why I'd complimented him. It sounded strange on my tongue, to compliment Edward without mockery in the words. It was true though, to be able to resist the blood of your Singer is an accomplishment for even mature vampires. Though I had never met many who had chosen to resist the kill. I wondered if I had a singer? Who they were? where were they? Would I kill them immediately or attempt to hold off to savour the moment?
"Should we go back?" Edward asked, jerking his chin towards the door. I shrugged and hopped off the table to join him. I'd expected him to go on a little longer to reminisce in excruciating detail about the first time he saw Bella, how beautiful he was and how it was love at first sight and all that other bullshit.
We met the others on the way back (Alice had seen when we'd been returning and came to meet us) and made our way back through the lonely hallway to the skylight.
"Wait!" Alice gasped, we spun to find her at the end of the hall. She was staring at a wall. "Here," Alice said calling me over. I moved to stand by her side. She was looking at one of a wall of framed photographs, each showing the entire student body clad in mustard yellow graduation gowns. The photographs were named by the year, going as far back as black and white photographs. She pointed to the body graduating a year ago, or more specifically, four students on the right-hand side.
I recognized one of the boys. I had seen him too my first night in this small little town. The jock with the unkempt blonde hair and smug, boyish grin. He had seen me too and had double-glanced as I passed but I hadn't realized at the time that he was staring not because of my indisputable beauty but because he probably recognized my face. The girl he had his arm around (assumingly his girlfriend) was pretty for a human: clear face, broad smile, mousey brown locks teased to suit the shape of the cap, hand on hip in pride. The other girl was much more of a natural beauty with hair as black as Kai's but as long Rosalie's; yellow glasses lit up her dark eyes and complimented her olive complexion. Her boyfriend (if he was lucky) was fist pumping the air and biting his lip, cap already high above the others, his chin-length sleek black hair a blurred mess.
"That's, Mike, Jessica, Angela and Eric." She pointed to them individually so I would know who was who.
"Who were they?" I asked, curious as to why she was showing them to me.
"They were your friends." She told me. My eyes involuntarily widened at this as I had not expected Bella to have friends that weren't werewolves or vampires. She didn't seem the type to make conversation, to want to get to know someone else. I don't mean that in a shallow way – hey, she could have been shallow for all I knew – but from what I had heard about her she was an outcast, quiet.
The suffer-in-silence type.
"Where are they now?" I wondered but I didn't truly care. Which I suppose should have bothered me.
"Jessica, Angela and Eric are at colleges. Mike's father died last year so he came home and ended up managing the shop his mother owns. It's sad, really."
"Hmm." I murmured. Sad indeed.
"We'd better go." Emmett called. "Carlisle won't want us to risk being seen."
Alice nodded and together we flew up and out of the skylight back to the roof. We leapt down to the ground and made our way down a set of stone steps into the same parking lot as before.
"Edward?" Rosalie said from behind. "Did you tell Isabella about what happened here?"
He glanced over his shoulder and then smiled. "Where she first started to suspect there was more to us than meets the eye." He added. I looked around the empty parking lot. Nothing out of the ordinary to my eyes, other than the fact it was on a slope which seemed unusual.
"What happened?" Kai asked, coming to a halt and by doing so stopping the others.
"The ice was pretty bad," Edward explained, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets. "Bella was on this side of the lot, we were on the other." He glanced back towards a section of the parking lot by the steps we'd come down after leaving the school. I imagined their cars – looking out of place in this small, simplistic town – parked in a row by that far wall. "A van lot control and swerved on the ice."
"It would have crushed her if Edward hadn't jumped in the way, knocked the van aside with his hands." Alice praised.
"In front of everyone." Rose very clearly scolded.
"And no one saw?" I wondered, imagining the scenario playing out in my head.
"Fortunately, not." Edward said, "But she did. She knew I was not by her side when the van swerved, she knew I'd somehow crossed the space in a second and she wanted to know why. It was when she began her mission to discover what we truly were."
"And now look where we are." Emmett said. "A lot can happen in three years."
"Tell me about it." I laughed.
The others seemed to be heading back the way we had come but a thought came to mind. The conversation I'd had with Rose earlier. "Actually, I'm not coming back just yet." I said, dropping behind. The six of them turned to face me, each with curiosity in their golden eyes. Kai's red ones showed me he already knew. I reached up and wrapped my hand around the base of my throat, feeling the scratchy burn of the thirst. I'd left it far too long and if I didn't hunt that night then the next time I caught the scent of particularly alluring blood I may not have had the strength or willpower to hold back. "I think it's about time I handle my thirst."
They had all hunted already so I would be alone, and I think I would have preferred it that way. I doubted any of the Cullen's would have felt comfortable watching as I took innocent lives anyway and Kai – well with Kai I had no issue of him watching but again, I was nearly beyond the point of no return and if he were to make any indication of being interested in my prey then I knew there was a possibility of my harming him to ensure the kill was mine.
"I'll meet you at home." I told him and he nodded, not in the mood to argue and to argue with a hungry vampire was never a clever choice. I turned then ran back at the school. I ran fast, building up speed before I kicked off with all my might and soared high over the building and back towards town to begin my hunt.
Asher's Note:
Hello Readers! Chapter Twenty-One is here! Sorry it took a while for me to update. I've been very busy with work lately and our schedules have changed meaning I am doing more hours. I do try to write a little every opportunity I get. Not a great deal happens in this chapter. I was re-watching New Moon and imagined Jacob attempting to convince my Isabella to join him in a few jumps and I really wanted to include it here. To show that he is one of the few to make her smile and have fun. We skip a few days and discover a little of her progress, I did not want to show too much of the training as there is only so much to describe when they are sat on the ground for twelve hours. I did bring back the Denali's in this chapter; I feel we did not get enough of them in the series and I myself am very intrigued by their relationship as a family and the legend of the Succubus. (Of course, Astrid had to come back also.) I also wanted to include a scene where Isabella visits the school with the Cullen's who show her places that meant something to Bella. The lab, the cafeteria, her friends, etc. Speaking of her friends, we will be seeing one of them very soon…
This was kind of a messy chapter in the sense that I rushed to get it finished and kind of threw two scenes I needed to put somewhere in the plot into this chapter just to have them in there. I hope you review and let me know how it worked and how it read. Also, I believe I've finished plotting out the chapters for the entire rest of the story. I have planned another 20 chapters, give or a take depending on length.
Also, I think I've included a lot of throwbacks to the original 4 books (And even the novella and genderbent version) in this story but if there is anything you would like to see at some point I would love to hear and maybe put it in. (As long as it doesn't clash with the plot I have planned, that is.)
As always, thank you for waiting and reading and I hope to update soon!
Responding to your reviews:
Goldielover: Thank you! Yes, memories are surfacing here and there but not at the rate they need to be and not in the way they would like. Also, Edward would have blown a gasket at her thoughts about Jacob. How did you feel about him and Leah? I wonder.
Traceybuie: Thanks for your review. I agree, but I thought as the chief of the tribe he would be suspicious of anyone and anything he doesn't understand, especially if they could hurt the people of this town. What Kai did to Bella is something he can't entire wrap his mind around – a little how Charlie knows something happened but doesn't really get it in Breaking Dawn. I like your idea and that's exactly what she plans on doing!
Hopestreet: Thank you! It is showing through and she doesn't really know how to feel about it yet. Isabella is starting to think and feel a little more with each passing day. She is smiling more, laughing more and is not as cruel as she once was.
Guest #1: You are on chapter 5 when you reviewed so you probably will not see this response, but I will reply anyway. You said you do not understand why Edward didn't run after Bella when she fled? His family stopped him, they did not know what was happening and did not want him to risk getting hurt.
Alice: Thank you! Sorry it has taken so long to update!
Guest 2#: What confounds me is how people can take the time to demand I update yet not take the time to give me advice on my writing or the story! I try to update when I can.
~Asher~