Sorry this took longer than usual! I'm doing an intensive Chinese course and it's taking up most of my evenings. I have this story outlined to the end though so no worries it'll definitely be finished! Thank you to all of you who are still supporting this story, I'm ever so grateful! Hope I replied everyone :)
Loop, II
Isa walks through the streets, watching people go about their business as though nothing has happened. She would've felt dazed, except her mind is too lucid, her senses sharp to the point of discomfort.
She's aware of every blink, every rustle...
Amidst the sea of people, she feels adrift and detached. She's not one of them and, unconsciously, they know. The humans instinctively shy away from contact and a small gap forms around Isa in the moving crowd.
Still, anomalies exist.
Someone bumps into her and an apple falls, rolling to the ground.
Isa bends down and picks it up. The lady smiles at her, a sleeping infant draped over one shoulder. "Thank you."
Isa stares. It's the same young woman from Marcus's memories. The woman's eyes widen as they slide down Isa's clothing.
"Didyme!"
The voice is familiar and Isa freezes as she sees a very human Marcus hurrying towards them in jeans and a T-shirt.
"Everything all right?" he asks, taking the grocery bag from her arm.
"Oh yes," Didyme says, not taking her eyes off Isa. "Clumsy old me bumping into this young lady over here." She reaches out and touches Isa's shoulder. "My dear, are you all right?"
Marcus looks at Isa and her heart nearly stops—except there is no recognition in his eyes. Concern colours his expression. "Do you need any help?"
Isa follows their gaze and realises that she's still barefoot, wearing the same torn, bloodied dress from Volterra.
"Do you think we should call the police, Marcus?" Didyme murmurs, placing a slender hand on his arm.
Marcus turns his attention to Didyme, ready to affirm her suggestion. But when he looks up, just a second later, the girl has vanished.
-xx-x-xx-
From high above, Isa watches the couple search for her, watches them give up and make a brief call to the police.
A game that leaves no trace in the running of time.
Her existence, like every queen's, has been erased from this timeline. Even if they had her full name, the police would never find Isabella Marie Swan in their records.
Didyme casts one last worried glance around the square and Marcus puts an arm around her shoulders. The couple finally disappears through the crowd.
Isa traces the window pane, feeling oddly numb. Her breath mists against the glass—a sign that she's real—and then even that, too, vanishes.
"Goodbye."
She touches the sheer silk of her dress. The thrum of power pulses underneath her skin, surfacing at the slight whim. The torn dress transforms into a floral shirt, leggings and ballet flats—the same outfit she'd been wearing on the eve of her birthday.
She smooths down the fabric, lets down her hair and steps out into the sun.
Today, just today, she'll be seventeen again.
-xx-x-xx-
With her strength carefully glamoured, she blends in more easily. A breeze sweeps her brown hair and she strolls into an ice-cream parlour, contemplating the various colourful flavours until a dog begins to bark loudly and aggressively.
She turns and its teeth are bared at her, hairs raised, still barking as a boy restrains it. "Down, boy! Sit! Sit!"
Isa stops staring at the dog and stares at the boy instead. It's Jake. He pulls at its leash with some difficulty before a girl—Leah—takes over and guides the dog out the of the parlour. "I'll take him home, gotta go pick up Seth anyway," she calls out over the loud barking.
Jake stares after Leah's dog in puzzlement. "Sorry about that," he apologises to Isa, rubbing his neck. "He's usually very well-behaved, don't know what got into him."
That dog knew better than most of the humans. "It's okay," she says.
"I'll get you some ice-cream to make up for it," he offers. Before she can refuse, he's already pushing a cone of chocolate and vanilla into her hand. "I'm Jake, by the way."
I know. "Thanks, Jake." She smiles at him, unable to help herself from holding onto the foolish sliver of hope that he might remember. After all, once upon a time, he'd loved her as much as she loved him.
But his expression, though warm as ever, remains clueless.
She swallows the sudden surge of frustration and reminds herself it isn't his fault. There's a short pause as she considers giving him her old name. But hearing him use it with the inflexions of a stranger... she'd rather not.
"I'm Isa," she offers instead. "Are you doing anything?"
His eyes light up. "Do you want to grab a cup of coffee sometime?" He begins to pull out his phone but she holds up a hand.
"No, not sometime." She smiles faintly. "Now."
He checks his watch, drumming his fingers anxiously on his lap. "I have to go back to my dad's shop and fix some—..."
"I'd love to come."
A grin splits his face. "Really? It's kind of gross, you know, oil and dirt and all that stuff."
"All that stuff," she repeats, catching his infectious grin. "Show me your worst."
"You asked for it."
She gives the untouched ice-cream to a little child, who beams brightly, and hops onto the bike behind Jake. He gives her a helmet, revs the engine and they zoom down the road.
"The speed all right?" he shouts over the wind.
Faster, she wants to say but she doesn't want to turn him into human pretzel should they crash into a lamp post or a tree.
"It's perfect."
He's flashing her a grin from the side mirror when everything begins to spiral out of control.
The engines of a truck roar behind them.
Jake swerves prudently to the side but the truck only presses closer.
"What the actual fuck—…" Jake begins to swear and Isa sees the human driver slumped over the wheel, dead as a doorknob. Alarm bells begin to ring in her mind when she senses a strong vampiric presence.
Six of them, closing in from all directions.
Heart pounding, she grabs the handles and swerves off the main road into the fields, glamouring Jake's presence from the approaching vampires. Jake's eyes widen as she slams on the brakes and yanks him off the bike.
"What's going—…" he begins but she presses a hand against his forehead.
As his eyes roll back in his head, she berates herself for her stupidity. He no longer belongs in her world. Her selfishness has endangered his life.
The vampires are coming even closer.
She can teleport him home but what if they can follow her?
"I'll hold them back."
She nearly kills him in her fright.
"How long have you been following me?" she asks, torn between irritation and gratefulness as she meets his golden ones.
"Since Volterra collapsed and the time voids were released." Edward is unsmiling. "I thought you knew."
A muscle twitches in Isa's jaw as she realises that his thread has been thrumming in her subconscious, together with millions of others. "I'm overwhelmed."
"You're new," he corrects. "I'm here to help."
"Edward—…"
"Take care of him and come back. Go," he urges.
"I…" she hesitates. "Thank you, Edward."
His small smile is the last thing she sees as the surroundings blur and she takes the sleeping Jake home.