LXXXIII. Seeing Double
Heading back to the market was the biggest mistake ever. The merchant and his cronies had followed our tracks and had been waiting in ambush. If Edward hadn't grabbed me in time, I'd have ended up a pin cushion whatever pointy things they were throwing.
"I swear, if I die, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life."
"Good, I can't live without you anyway," Edward peered behind the cart before giving me a roguish grin. "At least that way I get to spend time with your ghost."
"You're disturbed."
"I am crazy about you."
He tried to kiss me but I warded him off. "How can you be in the mood for kissing right now?"
"How can you look so beautiful right now?"
I managed to smile despite my exasperation—Edward was being outrageous, which meant he was almost normal again. "What's gotten into you?"
"I don't know," he said. "Eavesdropping. Sneaking around. Knowing everything we do and seeing how stupid and young everyone is…" He chuckled and shook his head. "Plus not hearing thoughts or feeling thirsty. Once I stop thinking about our present, I feel oddly free."
I dared a glance between the wheels of the cart. "I'm glad you're having a wonderful epiphany while we're running for our lives. Literally. Edward, what are they going to do to us if we get caught?"
"We won't."
"And if we do?" I pressed.
Edward gave me a helpless grin. "I don't know, Bella. This world feels new to me too."
"You grew up here!"
He tapped the side of his head. "No human memories, remember?"
"They're there somewhere, we just got to dig a bit deeper."
Edward made a face. "No more diving into my memories. Once is enough."
"But what if you saw something important?"
"What if you scrambled my memories again?"
"Yeah, I don't know if I want to deal with Edward of the Middle Ages," I said. "All you wanted to do was—"
He put a finger to my lips just as five shadows loomed over us.
Oh shit.
Scratch the vampires and the Singers, right now I was more scared of the red-faced merchant whose horses we'd stolen. Judging by the sweat rolling down his temples, his scowl and the pointy thing in his hand, they were so going to chop off our hands... if we were lucky.
I swallowed audibly.
As Edward began to move beside me, I squeezed my eyes shut and wished fervently that we were anywhere but here.
The ruby vibrated and burned against my chest as a flurry of movement unfolded before me. The breeze flapped in my face as Edward no doubt fought with the people trying to skewer us. When I opened my eyes, I was still in the market and the five angry merchants were gone.
Angry shouts echoed from the distance.
Or not.
I ran, pushing past various people and nearly upsetting an apple cart before I realised Edward was nowhere in sight.
"Edward? Edward?!"
I looked around wildly, half-running, half-craning my neck to find my mate. Did the merchants catch him? That made no sense. Edward was an incredible fighter. There was no way he would've gotten caught, absolutely no way—
The shouts were getting closer and I panicked. Did I run or look for Edward? As I stumbled and nearly face-planted into the dirt road, Edward was there, draping a rough cloak over me and pulling me along.
He was so fast, I had problems keeping up. We tore through the crowd, weaving through people and carts before finally sharply rounding a corner.
I doubled over, gasping.
Edward was barely out of breath as he grinned at me, eyes sparkling with exhilaration.
"We have to—" I said, still unable to catch my breath. "We have to— Where'd… Where'd you get those clothes?"
He tilted his head at me, his eyes brilliant and bold and he gestured at his ears.
I don't understand you, he said, except he wasn't speaking English.
"The clothes," I said, gesturing at his attire. He was wearing the clothes just like the people at the market place and every time he shifted his weight, something jingled at his hip. "The clothes—"
Then I realised there was something odd about his gaze. They were too bright, too carefree, reckless. Impressionable.
Oh hell no.
No, no, no, no.
This wasn't my Edward.
I backed away, nearly tripping over my own legs again but he caught my wrist, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me down just as our pursuers ran past, yelling.
My heart pounded as I stared from human Edward to the market crowd, not knowing which one unnerved me more. He pulled the hood over my head and gestured for me to follow him deeper into the narrow alley. It was dark and stinky, with nothing but a dead end.
If this was anyone but Edward, I'd have run the other way screaming. As it was, I followed him blindly, watching as he moved several crates out of the way to reveal a small opening at the bottom of the wall. He knelt and the pouch at his hip jingled again. It seemed so narrow that I drew back, shaking my head.
There was no way we were going to fit through that.
But he held out a hand, eyes so earnest that I couldn't help but give in. We crawled through the narrow space—him going backwards and me forwards. Several times, I thought I was going to get stuck but miraculously, we emerged unscathed on the other side.
He let go of my hand and gestured for me to keep up my hood, clearly thinking I didn't understand him. He flashed me a heart-stopping smile as he glanced at my clothes, the dirt on my face and the way I twisted my hands together. And then his eyes stopped at my neck. I realised my ruby was exposed and hurriedly tucked it back under my shirt.
Human Edward was staring at me in a new way. It was an expression I'd never seen on vampire Edward and I wasn't sure I liked it.
Do you need help? He asked me slowly. Help?
I'd never needed more help in my life. But I couldn't afford to screw up the future.
I shook my head.
Human Edward tilted his head, intuition flashing in his bright eyes and I felt almost like he could see right through me. No wonder his gift was mind-reading.
Come with me, he said.
I shook my head again. I couldn't follow him. I needed to find my Edward. I needed to know what happened—Andronikh had been a teenager the last time we'd seen him, how was it possible that human Edward was already this old? Unless… Unless… I clutched at the ruby under my jacket.
Unless the ruby had taken me to a different time.
Then the people who'd been chasing us in the market just now—they couldn't have been the merchants from whom we'd stolen the horse. And they must not have been chasing after me but after human Edward.
I looked at him then—really looked at him—and realised that the jingling pouch at his hip was too finely-made compared to everything else he was wearing.
This Edward didn't want to help me. He wanted to rob me.
My hand flew to my neck and I slowly backed away from him. "Don't even think about it."
He laughed and held up his hands. Not as gullible as you seem, then, he said. His eyes smouldered as he took in my face. You can keep the cloak, beautiful. Human Edward flashed me another hypnotising smile and walked away, the pouch jingling at his hip.
I stared after him. How many more versions of my mate was I going to meet before this was over?
I reached for my ruby, willing it to take me back to the angry merchants, but nothing happened. It was still warm but it was no longer glowing or blinking. Did this thing recharge on its own? How long did it take?
I bit my lip and then made a beeline for human Edward, praying he wasn't going to steal my ruby.
Hi guys! Thanks to those of you who are still reading. It's really hard to keep a regular update schedule these days! I promise I'm doing my best to squeeze in updates between my thesis and presentations. Sometimes I wish I can split myself in two (or three or four!) I will do my best to update in a week or two. Take care guys and thanks so much for those of you who are still taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it!
Update 05/12/2020
Hello guys, I'm really sorry but I'm most probably going to put this on hiatus until May 2021 when I can update this regularly. It's really hard for me to write right now and I think it's hard for most of you to keep track of the story too between the long updates. I thought about putting this on hiatus for months, I hate not finishing things and I keep thinking I can keep updating... but it's becoming clear that I can't keep up while writing a thesis and studying for my medical licensing exam. I also started this way, wayyy back and am in a totally different headspace now so I have to take time to rewind and figure out what I was thinking back in high school and it is a pain when RL interrupts. But I will be back to finish this! Thanks so much for your patience with me so far, especially those of you who keep taking the time to leave encouraging messages, it means a lot to me! This is the first novel-length story I'd ever completed in 2016, a huge milestone for me, and I really want to edit it properly. Thanks also for reading this long note, hope to see you guys in five months.
