A/N: Thanks you guys for your reviews! They are incredibly motivating for me, and I love them. I am so excited to introduce you to the second section of Kidnapped! I know you guys are eager to see Bella and Edward interact again (me too!) so I'm thrilled for what's coming!

Recap. Previously on Kidnapped: Edward tried to protect Bella and then tried to kill her - only narrowly stopped by Carlisle and his brothers. Alice took Bella away and took care of her in a hotel room for a couple days. On a drive to take Bella to an unknown destination, Bella begged to go home and Alice chewed her out. Unbeknownst to Bella, Alice recorded the interaction and sent it to Edward, who is now under the impression that Alice and Bella are heading back to Forks. Oh, and with Carlisle's refusal to aid suicide, Edward has given up on protecting Bella from himself.

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Book Two.

Returning.

When Alice told me we were heading back to Forks - just minutes after her big lecture - I thought she was playing a cruel joke. It certainly did feel cruel.

So I couldn't wipe the big, silly grin off my face when I saw the "Welcome to Forks" sign flash by. "Wow, excited to see Forks," I muttered to myself with a snort.

Alice heard me and laughed too, glancing at me. "Bella, I think you're warming up to us!"

I smiled timidly. "I can't wait to see Charlie. It feels like it's been weeks!"

Alice's smile faltered.

"Oh no, Alice-"

"Bella, I should have told you-"

"No, Alice, we're so close - no, you can't do this-"

"Whether or not you believe me, I wish I didn't have to. But I have a very personal interest vested in keeping you alive, Bella. You're not going home, not tonight at least." She glanced at me. "Please don't make a fuss."

I sat speechless, filled with an anger that surprised me. Alice's intentions were obviously good - pure as rainwater. Yet I felt this rage bubbling over, and I struggled to refrain from lashing out. I squeezed my eyes and felt an angry tear slip past the lid. "Pray tell, then, Alice," I said through gritted teeth. "Where are we going?"

"We're going home."

"But you said-"

"My home, Bella."

I gasped and my heart thudded unevenly in my ears. I couldn't remember quite how to breathe. I realized I didn't just feel afraid - I felt genuine terror.

"Why Alice?" I hated how shaky my voice sounded. "I thought you wanted to protect me? Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Bella," Alice said with mock patience, reaching out for my hand. "I thought I asked you not to make a fuss."

"And I thought I asked you to take me home! To my home, not yours!"

"Technically, you never made that distinction," Alice joked nervously.

I was speechless. All the hell I'd been through over the past few days were for nothing, then?

"So is that it. We're just giving up." And I felt it - hope extinguished. Here I am heading right back into the same situation we'd left, except with roles reversed; this time, instead of Edward trying to protect me, he was trying to -

My mind caught again on the same question that has haunted me from that first day. What was Edward Cullen threatening to do to me, anyway?

"Can you just tell me, Alice, if I'm going to die anyways?"

"Hmm?" Alice responded distractedly.

"What's the secret?"

"What secret?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Alice."

"Listen Bella, you don't need me to tell you. If you don't know the answer then you don't want to know the answer," she said cryptically. "Now, shhh, I need to pay attention."

If you don't know the answer then you don't want to know the answer. Alice's frustratingly cryptic words echoed through my mind. and I realized she was right. I had enough clues by now; I could figure it out. I wasn't really asking Alice to tell me what she was - I was asking Alice to tell me I was wrong.

I wasn't asking her to tell me the truth. I was asking her to change the truth.

Did I already know? Maybe I didn't want to know.

I felt that irrational surge of anger once again - and this time at myself. I wasn't wrong when I said I made the cowardly lion look like the terminator. Here I was, facing imminent death, and I couldn't even bring myself to admit that it was happening.

Well if I'm going to die, I'm going to get one thing right, I thought angrily.

I imagined those onyx eyes and flaming tendrils of hair on the gaunt figure crouched in the woods, and shivered. I'm going to face him.

I'm going to look death in the eyes.