Chapter 21: Stalking the stalker
"Did
you hear that mommy? Aunt Rose is making me a flower girl."
"I
know, sweetie." I said, smoothing her hair before kissing her on
the forehead
"And Alice designed my dress." she added
"I
know. Are you excited for the wedding?" I asked her
"Yep.
What about you?"
"I'm very excited." I told
her
Emmett snorted.
I glared at him, but then re-focused on
Renesmee. She giggled at our exchange.
"Don't even think
about it, Emmett." Alice warned him quietly
"Why
not?"
"Because the odds are not in your favor again.
Bella may have extremely good control, but she's still a newborn. She
has the strength to hurt you."
"Oh, Alice! Bella would
never hurt me. Right, Bella?"
"Hey, you never know."
I smirked,"I could slip." I said and smiled at Edward
"Sure
you could." Emmett mumbled
"Well if you're all heading
back to the mall tomorrow you could use a hunting trip, just as a
precaution." Carlisle suggested
"I still don't like this
idea." Esme half-whispered
"Mom." Emmett
complained, "There will be four of them and only one other
vampire. It'll be fine. Although I could go and just take care of
her. If that made you less nervous." he tried
"Emmett."
she warned gently
"We'll get along just fine."Edward
said,"Plus, Bella is the strongest in the family." he
smiled
"Edward, one day I'm gonna...
"Enough. There
will be no violence. I will not tolerate it." Carlisle said
loudly
"No violence." I agreed
"Just snooping
around some store and reading her thoughts to get some info."
Jasper informed Carlisle
I laughed out loud at the
plan.
"Ridiculous,isnt it?" Alice laughed
"So
who is going?" Liliana asked
"Jasper,Bella,Edward,myself
and you." Alice replied
"Please be careful."
Esme said for the fiftieth time befor we got into the Volvo that sat
sparkiling in the driveway
"We will be." Edward assured
her
"Okay." she agreed, and headed back to the
house
"Bye Mommy and Daddy." Renesmee called from the
steps.
We waved and gave her little smiles as we backed out onto
the street.
"What's the plan?" I asked
"We can't
walk in like regular customers. She'll notice us." Liliana
pointed out
"Do you think that she would recognize Jasper and
myself?" Edward asked
" not." Alice
murmured trying to see if Haley would or wouldn't recognize them
"So
Edward and I will go in. Alice, what type of store is it?"
"A
women's clothing store." she giggled
"So I guess you'll
be recieving some more clothing." Jasper laughed
"Sounds
good."
"So we'll go in and I'll distract her. Edward
will read her. Alice, keep an eye out to see if she decides to do
something. She may recognize us and decide to run, or even attack.
It's important to keep our secret a secret. Bella, make sure she
can't get into our heads. I know that she's a tracker, but I could
sense that she felt that watching us was no big feat. Meaning that
she obviously thinks she is very powerful. Liliana, if she does get
away, figure out a way to stop her."
We all nodded. I felt
more confident now that Jasper had taken over. We all had roles, and
it was very important to be ready in case something were to
happen.
"You're upset." Edward whispered
"A
."
"You haven't done anything wrong."
"I'm
stopping Jacob from seeing Renesmee. They're meant to be together.
Amd if their not able to be friends maybe they won't be able to be
more."
"Bella, that will not happen."
"But
how do you know that?"
"I don't. But I know that love
never ceases. Even when those two people are separated.I know that
from experience. We're only protecting him. You don't want Jacob to
become Aro's guard dog, love."
"I guess so, but I still
feel so...
"Guilty?"
I nodded
"Me as well. I
know what it's like to feel like a part of you is I was
able to I would make sure they were together every second of every
day. To have them separated hurts me. I know it hurts you, but it's
safer. If Jacob was here, they would both be in
danger."
"Okay."
"Feel less guilty?"
he asked giving me his crooked smile
"Yes."
"Good.
Because it's time to start spying."
"Okay. Edward park
over there." Alice said leaning iver the seat and pointing to a
spot over to the left
Edward swiveled the car into the narrow row
and gracefully slid into the miniscule spot in the middle of the
row.
"All right. Jasper and I will go into the store. I know
that the three of you can sneak in, but Alice can you still try and
find some quick disguises?"
"Come on Bella." Alice
said, suddenly appearing at the passenger door window
Edward
quickly leaned over and kissed me.
"I'll see you soon. Alice
or Liliana. Just think of a place to meet when you see that we're
done."
"Bella, come on." Alice urged me again
This
time she opened the door and pulled me out.
She danced towards a
side entrance of the mall, with me and Liliana following behind her
like puppy dogs.
"In here." she said motioning towards a
small accessory store near the entrance we had just come
through
"What? No wigs?" I asked
"No, Bella. No
wigs." she said, as she placed some clip in blonde highlights
into my hair.
"What's the rush, Alice?"
"No
rush. Just anxious." she mumbled turning to Liliana and twisting
up her hair into a fancy twist.
"Bella go find some makeup
and some glittery clips or something. Liliana, you too." she
said motioning to a rack in the corner
Alice took her spikes and
parted them into two small ponytails, and she brushed some of the
shorter spikes into bangs by simply pressing her fingers down on her
hair. She secured it with a thin black headband.
"Excuse me
if you're going to use that merchandise, you'll have to
purchase it."
Alice turned to the cashier and gave her a
charming smile. The young girl tried, but failed to cover her
astonishment.
"But please take your time."
Alice
hurried over to me and traced my eyes with smoky eyeliner and
smoothed some dark shadow over my eyes. Liliana cam up beside us.
"Am
I good?" she asked
"perfect." Alice said, smiling,
and headed to the register
"The total of your merchandise
is...
"87.65?" Alice asked handing over her silver
credit card
"Um.. is. Good at mental math huh?"
"Guess
so." she said taking back the card and slipping it into her
bag
"Let's go meet them."