Chapter Seventeen: Heroes and Monsters - Angela
"Time grabs you by the wrist. Directs you where to go. So make the best of this test, and don't ask why. It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time. It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right."
- Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Thursday, September 15, 2005
It was late afternoon and Joshua was sleeping in my lap. I found myself absently humming to him, a melody that mom used to sing to me as a child. I knew the words, I knew the song by heart. Yet I had no passion left inside to sing. That part of me felt as dead as my best friend, but at least she got to exist in another form. I wasn't sure I could connect to anything ever again.
The house was busy, with dad in his office pacing as he practiced through his sermon for the week, mom was fussing over Isaac, and I was a mess of emotions. I hadn't gone back to school yet, in fact I had barely been able to get out of bed. Intellectually I knew it was something like depression but I had never been depressed before. I didn't have a definition for what was wrong with me, a malaise, funk, or maybe it was just an extreme form of existential crisis, boiled down to the fact that I couldn't figure out a place for myself in the world anymore.
I knew Bella was alive, well kind of, but something else was weighing on me so much that I could barely focus, concentrate… function. School felt irrelevant and my life seemed to be pointless. I had tried to figure it out, and I knew it had something to do with my collapsed worldview, because even after I lost my faith, I couldn't reconcile reality with creatures like the Cullens. It made me doubt everything I thought I knew. What else was out there in the darkness, lurking just beyond our knowledge?
"Angela, could you bring Joshua over here and take Isaac?" Mom asked, and I nodded without saying a word. My parents assumed that my mood was related to Bella's 'death', and to a degree they were right. She was the person I would usually talk to about stuff like this, without her I would turn to Alice or Rose, yet beyond one short call, I hadn't heard from anyone.
I woke up my brother who stretched and yawned in a way that was beyond cute. I picked him up and carried him over to the highchair mom had set up for their lunch. Isaac was a mess, and she gave me a look asking if I would take care of it. She handed me my other brother after I got Joshua situated and trudged into the kitchen to use the sink to give Isaac a bath. It was a relatively mindless action, he loved bath time. I continued to hum, getting him clean and dressed and back into his playpen. After I was done, I just headed upstairs to my room without another word. I might have heard dad call for me, but I ignored it. I crashed on my bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow I passed out.
I dreamt of woods, tall dark stalks of cold beauty. I was running through those woods, intent on something. I could feel anger seething and driving me forward. I kept going faster and faster, until the trees became a blur. Then I was at the ocean, the dark waters crashing over again and again, with only the white lines of foam visible, crisscrossing the surface. It was the kind of churn that would eat up a swimmer and crush them against the rocks of the cliff I was standing on. Then without hesitation I threw myself into the sea, and as my body plunged into the frozen depths I woke up.
Alice's ringtone was halfway through its first cycle.
I picked up after two more rings, just before it went to voicemail. "Alice?" I answered without any perceptible emotion.
"Angela, you okay over there?" Her voice was not as bright as usual, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know why.
"I'm fine, just a little down. I haven't been back to school yet." I sniffed a couple of times and coughed once, attempting a fake illness. "And I think I'm coming down with a cold."
"Oh, well this can wait I guess." Alice sounded a little sad.
"Maybe that's for the best." I hung up before she could say anything else. I looked at my phone and resisted the urge to throw it at my wall.
"Angela!" Mom called from downstairs.
"Coming mom." I said impatiently, slipping my phone back in my pocket.
"We're going to the mall, and then grocery shopping, we have to pick something up for your father. So, we'll be gone for a few hours. Do you want to come with us?" Her question was weighty, and I knew she was trying to help. I shook my head.
"I'm going out." I said coming up with an easy excuse.
"Oh, where are you going sweetie?" It sounded like the last thing she wanted to know, but I had to tell her.
"I promised to spend some time with Alice today. I just talked to her, she called to tell me she is on her way to pick me up." I hoped I was able to lie effectively since I wasn't very good at it. She gave me a wide smile, but I could see a little frustration in her expression, thankfully she didn't say anything.
"Okay, could you help me get Isaac and Joshua in the car?" I nodded easily, and helped her corral them, get their shoes on, and then carried them out and strapped them into mom's SUV. Dad came out after we were done and kissed me on the cheek before getting in the car. He was still looking over his notes, and I couldn't imagine how mom was able to handle it all. Yet, she turned and tried to smile at me as they pulled away, just as my phone rang again.
"I'm coming over." Alice said quickly and hung up without letting me respond.
"That's fair." I muttered to myself and just sat down on the front porch to wait. It took Alice all of ten minutes to arrive, a drive that would've taken me nearly thirty. She was standing in front of me in a blink, and I shuddered slightly at the sheer unnatural quality of it.
"I was going to wait, maybe a week. Once we were sure. Looking at you now, you need reassurance. We're not monsters." Alice held out a hand to me, and I stared at it for what felt like forever.
"Okay." I took her hand and she pulled me up. I turned and locked the door to my house, and then followed her to the Porsche I was all too familiar with. Once we were on the road, I finally actually looked over at her. She didn't look right, there was nothing in her expression that felt like the Alice I knew.
"What's wrong?" I was surprised by the amount of emotion in my voice.
"Plenty, but nothing you should worry about. I'm just thinking a lot lately. How are the twins?" She seemed distant and detached, which was so unlike her that it had me really worried.
"You're avoiding the subject, but the twins are fine. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again." Was Bella the issue, or was something else troubling her? "Something's off about you. Fess up, is it Bella?" I pried, and she shook her head at me.
"Bella's great. She's adapting better than we could've hoped. She was able to stop mid-hunt, which is basically impossible at her stage of this life. We think she has some kind of shield." She looked a bit confused and worried.
"Are you upset about Edward?" I was a bit worried about that fallout, I couldn't imagine Bella forgiving him.
"She's still pissed. We can forgive but never forget, our memories are indelible. She still hasn't really spoken to him, and I can't blame her. No, I'm upset because of something else." She was frowning, her concentration on the road.
"Oh? Maybe I can help." I offered, and she almost chuckled. I would've felt insulted, but I honestly wasn't sure what I could do for mythical monsters and their internal drama.
"You being you helps. The family is just facing some adversity we were hoping to avoid, and some things have developed that are putting everyone on edge." She was being evasive, and I didn't know why.
"That's vague, what kind of adversity?" I said looking over to see if I could gauge her reactions, but when I did, I could tell something had changed. Alice was stone faced and immobile. "Alice! Alice, are you okay?!"
We were speeding too fast down a narrow two lane road outside of Forks proper. At the speeds she was driving we were only five minutes from her house, but it was still miles away. The path before us was a winding and dangerous section of highway that wound around a nature reserve. The sharper turns were blind, and one was hazardous in poor weather. It was also a busy route since it was the major thoroughfare to Port Angeles and then beyond to Seattle. I wasn't sure if she was having a seizure or something even more serious, I had no idea what affected vampires.
Then her hands fell from the wheel as the black top began to curve to the right. Immediately we started to drift to the left. Ahead of us, only four hundred or so meters away, was one of the nastiest blind turns in the entire area. It was the obligatory 'Dead Man's Turn' which of course my mother hated when I drove through it. More accidents and fatalities occurred here than anywhere else within a thirty mile radius. I grabbed a hold of the steering wheel and attempted to put us back into the right lane. Then suddenly she tensed up and her foot pressed hard against the accelerator. After a second of pressure the metal began to buckle under the force she exerted, and then it broke off at the gas pedal. I fought hard against the wheel which threatened to rip loose from my grip.
"Alice, we're going too fast! Alice! Wake up… please!" I frantically yelled, glancing at the speedometer and watching as our speed was still increasing steadily.
I realized screaming was doing no good and unhooked my seatbelt so I could reach under her with my leg to try and force her foot off the gas pedal. I found the right leverage, but it was like trying to move a rock embedded concrete, she wouldn't budge. I looked up at the turn approaching fast, and swerved fully into the left lane to get a wider arc on the turn. It was the only way we would be able to take it at the speeds we were moving. Then I heard a large air horn, the kind attached to big rig trucks. The warning was typical around this turn as a courtesy to avoid head on accidents.
A head-on collision with a truck or a sideways flip into the forest, where the roof would likely get impacted by trees, neither was an appealing option. But they were the only two that seemed available to me, so I searched my brain for anything else. Like a flash of lightning it occurred to me that Alice might be able to survive a fall from a moving vehicle. So I unhooked her seat belt and opened the driver side door. Then I scooted to the far side of the car and pushed against her with all my strength. She rolled like a rag doll out of the door. I jumped into the driver's seat and slammed my foot on the brake. Unfortunately the damage to the accelerator had locked it into place so the brakes were sluggish to react.
The speed and the distance to the truck was too short, there was nothing I could do to completely stop the forward momentum. I took a deep breath and reached for the seat belt in a vain attempt to mitigate the damage to myself. But the belt was locked because of the pressure on the brakes. I closed my eyes, and I felt almost euphoric, as I realized this was the moment of my death.
Then something hit the right side of the car, I looked over to see a pair of unusual mismatched eyes peering into the passenger's side of the car. The stranger motioned for me to cover my face so I looked away from the window. I heard a shattering noise and a gentle pair of hands grabbed a hold of my right arm. Then he pulled me out of the car. I felt like I was in free fall for a second before we hit the pavement.
Once we landed I looked up quickly to see Alice's beautiful car crash head first into the truck. The driver of the truck was obviously slamming on his breaks in a panic, but it was far too late. The crash was spectacular, the metal twisting in a deafening roar, and the two vehicles slid forward almost twenty feet before skidding to a stop. The stranger pressed two fingers to my neck to check my pulse and then looked into my eyes for a moment.
"Steady pulse, no concussion. Do you hurt anywhere?" His voice was calm, but I could see worry in his expression. I was bruised but otherwise fine, thanks to him.
I shook my head and looked at him with curiosity and gratitude. He just smiled at me briefly and was up and running towards the truck before I could even thank him. He checked to see if the door was locked, and punched a finger into the keyhole and pulled on something to unlock the door. Then he climbed in and carefully brought the unconscious man out of the truck despite there being at least a two to one weight difference. The stranger quickly carried the driver to the side of the road and checked his vitals like a doctor. Then sighed deeply and looked back at me and moved over to me in a blink. Then he offered me a hand to help me stand.
"Angela." He said in an oddly reverent tone of voice. I blinked at him, feeling confused.
"How do you… oh my god, Alice!" I began to frantically search around for her, and spotted her a ways back down the road where the thick rubber burn marks started. I couldn't tell if she was hurt, so I ran over to her as fast as my legs would carry me. I felt shaky and unsteady but I shook it off as adrenaline. Alice's clothes were a little tattered, but there wasn't a single sign of injury on her arms, legs or face, but she was still staring blankly up into the air, her eyes unfocused.
The stranger came up beside me before reaching down to pick her up. I looked at him feeling a bit helpless. "Is she dead?" I honestly couldn't tell.
"She's physically intact, I have no idea why she is inactive. Does this happen to her a lot?" The question implied I knew about her gift, which explained how he was so open with his own unnatural abilities.
"I honestly haven't known for long, so I have no idea." I heard my voice crack slightly, and he led me to where he had set down the driver. Laying Alice down a couple of feet away from him.
"You're in shock Angela, I should get you home." Concern laced his tone. I looked into his earnest eyes and noticed the beauty in his face. My savior was gorgeous.
"No, I need to make sure she's alright." I set my posture and tone to appear as determined as possible, but it came out a little broken. Then I felt my legs give out from under me and gasped as I felt solid hands catching me effortlessly.
"Very well, but I need to clean this up first. Give me a few minutes then I'll get both of you home." I nodded, not sure what he meant. Then he set me down carefully and turned towards the wreckage. As I blinked he was next to the hulk of twisted metal.
He took a long minute to stare at it, as if figuring out how to tackle something so impossible. Then he wrapped his hands around the frame and proceeded to pull the broken car from the front of the truck with a visible amount of effort. The damage was pretty extensive, with a chuck of the front of the truck crumpled in, the radiator was leaking, the front grill was gone and one half of the hood was hanging off.
The car was a total loss with the engine compartment crushed almost like an accordion, and the frame was severed at a point between the engine and interior. It made me sad, I had spent so many hours in that car on our trip, and in seconds it was gone.
"I need to give legitimacy to this crash, would you object to me sacrificing a deer?" He glanced over and was clearly deferring to me.
"I… guess it doesn't matter." I almost felt sick, but I couldn't think of another way to define this crash. There was no way anyone would've survived in our car. I would have died. I almost died. I began to feel my heart race, and he was at my side and crouched down. He almost reached out, but hesitated and instead smiled at me.
"It matters. I can find another way if you wish." I shook my head, and he nodded. "I will make it a clean kill, the animal will not suffer."
"Please, I know you guys hunt but I still don't like the thought of killing. Even for food." He flashed a sad smile and his expression was haunted.
"I'll be right back, there are no cars coming for miles." I nodded absently, not really absorbing what was happening to me yet. I laid back and stared into the sky, trying to make shapes out of the thick grey cloud cover. The grass was softer than I expected, and I almost drifted off. He was back in what felt like seconds.
"You may not have injuries, but you shouldn't sleep, you're in shock." His voice was oddly soothing, and I nodded although the movement felt strange, almost like I was moving my head in slow motion.
"How long have you been gone?" I said, pondering the passage of time. Had he only been gone seconds? Or had it been hours?"
"I was gone for just a few minutes, there was a herd nearby." I sat up and the largest buck I had ever seen was lying at his feet.
"This part will be unpleasant, I would advise not to watch." I nodded and looked away, but as I listened to him pick up the deer, curiosity made me turn and watch anyway. He had backed up a good hundred feet holding the deer in front of him, and then raced towards the truck. Letting go just a few feet from the front of the truck and dodging out of the way of the blood spray.
The impact was disgusting, but the damage was impossible to deny. He even managed to get one of it's horns through the lock he had destroyed. Then he picked up Alice's car and held it above his head with a grunt straining like a professional weight lifter at a competitive event. Then he slowly and carefully walked into the woods. He was gone for a while, but when he returned he had a rag in his hands wiping off black grease.
"Such a beautiful machine, a shame to see it die like that." He sounded sad, and glanced back from where he had disappeared with the car.
"Rose can restore it I bet, we should get it back to the Cullens." I honestly wasn't sure if the car was a lost cause, but I was sure she would be up for the challenge.
"Edward mentioned her love of cars, I'll do that." He smiled widely at me. "Let me finish this up before someone comes along."
I nodded, and then he began to pick up the remaining pieces of the car, moving with a speed that I could barely see. It took only a couple of minutes to clear the road, and then he retrieved the driver and placed him gently in the driver's seat deftly avoiding the deer's antlers. As he walked back to me I felt awe on my face, but I struggled to repress it. When he was a couple feet away he looked down at me and held out a hand.
"Let's get her home. May I act as your feet for a little while?" I nodded at him again, and took his proffered hand which gripped my hand tightly but not in an uncomfortable way. Then in one fluid motion he brought me up and onto his back. He made sure my arms were secured around his neck before reaching down and picking Alice up and into his arms, being careful to cradle her comfortably. "Hold on tight, and you might want to close your eyes." I just shook my head.
"What's your name?" I asked before he started to move.
"My apologies. My name is Mason. It is a great pleasure to finally meet you." He smiled widely, and then he launched us into the wilderness. Seconds into the run my hair began to whip around, and I wished I had enough courage to let go of one hand to tuck my hair into the back of my shirt.
"So you know the Cullens?" He looked back with a wide smile and a glint in his eye.
"We were just acquainted yesterday. I understand they are basically your other family, am I understanding your relationship with them correctly?" It wasn't a question I was expecting, and it drove a spike of fear and pain down deep into my stomach. It was more than just the wind that made my eyes water.
He seemed to notice and began to slow down before stopping. He immediately knelt down just enough so that I could let go without falling. Then he set Alice down gently at the foot of a tree. Even though she seemed indestructible, he showed remarkable care. I didn't know who this man was, but he felt like my knight in shining armor. He turned towards me after making sure she was settled and his long white hair triggered a memory.
"It's you." I said through a gasp, he was the man who had tried to comfort me that one random Sunday all those months ago.
"Yes, we did meet once briefly. Although I must confess that meeting was not a coincidence." He looked down, almost in shame.
"How so?" I wasn't sure this was going to be easy to hear. Had another one of their kind focused on me personally? It almost made me shudder in terror.
"To preface, I do not have a coven if you are aware of our society. My nature precludes me from interacting with most of my kind. To a degree I have been searching for Carlisle and his family for decades. Yet, now that I have met them, I fear I shouldn't interfere with their lives. Just as I have with yours, inadvertently." He spoke almost formally, and while he didn't seem upset or nervous there was something in his voice I couldn't place.
"Go on." I urged him to continue.
"Last September, before your friend Isabella's accident, I was exploring the town, wandering around trying to gauge what the people here were like. That's when I heard someone singing, and I found you and your remarkable voice captivating." That made my eyes widen almost involuntarily. "I wasn't expecting you to stop, and when you came to the window I caught a glimpse of your face. A part of me wanted to introduce myself then, but you were human and I couldn't justify ruining your humanity simply because I found your voice to be beautiful." As he spoke I found him looking at me intently, his eyes darting around my face as if memorizing every line.
"The shadow, that was you?" I had always wondered if that was a person or just my imagination. He nodded once in confirmation.
"I left because I did not want to intrude on your privacy anymore. I went back to my house to start my rebuild, and worked on it for months without a break. I will admit I thought about you often, wondering what your life was like, if you wrote any songs of your own or just enjoyed Paul Simon's lyrics." His smile was charming, and I felt myself blush.
"Simon is great, but I do try to write my own songs. Bella's a writer so she's been helping me with lyrics." I tried to sound unfazed by the romantic implications of what he just admitted.
"Graceland was one of my favorite albums." He chuckled softly, but then his expression shifted again to one I could only guess as worry. "My apologies, I realize this must be very odd for you. We are basically strangers."
"You just saved my life, we can talk as long as you like." I fidgeted a little, in truth I was entranced by this man.
"Perhaps not now." He glanced down at Alice, and I found myself nodding in agreement. Although I felt a bit of disappointment that he hadn't finished his story.
"Could you tell me the rest of that story first?" I begged without sounding as pathetic as I felt.
"Of course. I worked on my house for about six months, and then one day I decided to take a day off and explore the town. I'll admit I had thought I was going just to enjoy the people and the conversations, but in truth I wanted to see you again. Just a glimpse, but somehow I was presented with an opportunity to speak to you. I was not trying to eavesdrop, but I overheard your argument with your father about your crisis of faith. I wanted to make sure you were alright, so that's why I stopped to ask about your wellbeing"
"When I left I was content that you were alive, but I did worry about you these last few months hoping you had found your place in this world. Then I read about your friend Isabella in the paper. I rushed to your house to see if you were okay, although I have no idea what I was planning. Everyone was so solemn and clearly grieving that I thought about introducing myself. It was silly and selfish, but as I stood there trying to figure out what I could do I overheard another conversation, this time with Alice. She spoke of my kind and Bella's transition and it terrified me that you were now connected to a world that could easily consume you whole. I knew I had to check on them to make sure they had good intentions. Thankfully the Cullens seem to be genuine and honorable. I am deeply sorry for any invasion of privacy. I do not wish to seem as though I have a claim on you either. I… I simply wish you well."
I stared at him, this man was clearly attracted to me. I almost laughed, this powerful creature had been thinking about me all year. Me of all people. Silly, awkward, boring Angela Webber. Yet he never interfered with my life or tried to pursue me, his only actions were to make sure I was safe in a rather extreme situation. Then he saved my life. I felt my heart flutter, and my stomach turn. Was this the person I was destined to meet? I shook my head and pushed that aside, I did not believe in destiny. Or fate, despite the woman lying not five feet away who frequently played with threads of the future.
"Thank you, thank you for caring." I managed, despite feeling conflicted about my life being swept up in a whirlwind of immortality and monsters. Although by every metric, this man was my hero. He looked a bit shocked by my reaction, as though I would admonish him for acts that could hardly be considered stalking. I wished he had approached me, but I could understand his hesitation.
"I don't understand." He said, clearly confused.
"You didn't want me involved in this life, am I right?" I explained.
"Yes, but how could you know that?" That didn't seem to alleviate his confusion so I bit my cheek trying to figure out the wording.
"Carlisle didn't want to bring me into their life either, not because they don't care about me. On the contrary, I know they love me as a member of their family. They just didn't want me to have to choose between my humanity and what they are." I was looking down, I couldn't look at him for some reason. Although if I had put any thought into the feelings it was because I was deeply attracted to him, and yet he also represented everything that had set my world on edge.
"I see, you are practically sisters with Isabella, am I right?" I nodded, realizing that no matter what, I thought of Bella first. I loved her like she was family, so Sister was as apt a description as anything else. I just hadn't adjusted to the fact that she was no longer human.
"Yes, except for blood. Even then, I think we're like fourth cousins twice removed if you go back far enough." He raised an eyebrow. "It's a small town and Charlie's family goes back generations and so does mine."
"Charlie?" The question about the name was curious, surely he was aware of Bella's father.
"Sorry, Charlie Swan, Bella's father." I clarified.
He nodded once, "right the police chief. He must be suffering. As are you, I can tell you're troubled. Is there anything I can do?" The question caught me off guard, and I immediately shook my head. How could he know what I was feeling? Was it obvious that I was struggling?
"Please do not take offense, I just remember your face the first time I saw you and you seem so different now." The answer brought home how much things had changed since the crash.
"Who are you?" I asked in wonder, he seemed to know me so well.
"Hopefully a friend." I met his eyes again and felt something strange, perhaps a connection that I couldn't explain.
"I think I can accept that, let's get Alice home." I smiled and nodded, and then looked down at Alice who was still staring into nothing.
He picked her up again, and I climbed onto Mason's back, this time putting my hair in a quick tail tucked into the back of my shirt. The run took minutes but it felt longer. It was almost as if we were flying, dodging trees and obstacles as if they moved out of our way. We came upon the house from a different direction than I had ever seen and realized there was an entire wing of the house I didn't even know about. We circled around to the front and that's when the family was alerted to us.
Emmett, Carlisle, Rose and Esme came out to meet us, followed finally by Edward. I looked around for Bella but she wasn't there. Carlisle reached out for Alice and Mason transferred her to him easily.
"What happened?" Rose came over to me as I hopped down, and quickly wrapped me into a tight hug.
"Alice picked me up because Bella seems fine, and then she just zonked out. We were speeding down towards Widow's curve and we crashed head first into a truck. I got Alice out of the car, and then Mason here saved me at the last second." She looked at him and nodded in gratitude but her expression was very conflicted.
"Thank you." Esme said, coming up on my other side and pulling me next to her, while giving him a thankful smile. Her embrace was comforting, she had always been like a second mother to me.
"Alice." Edward said, drawing my attention as we made our way inside.
"What can you hear, Edward?" Carlisle asked, as he set Alice down on the chaise part of the main couch in the lower living room.
"Nothing, it is as if she isn't there at all." He said looking deeply worried.
"Where's Bella?" I asked, searching around the room.
"She vanished several hours ago, Alice was keeping an eye on her. Now I'm not sure." Carlisle said with a frown. "I let her go because she has shown remarkable control."
"That may have been foolish Carlisle. Even a shield like hers can break." Mason warned.
"It seems to be what I do lately." Carlisle frowned and glanced at me.
"Um, Edward?" Rose said suddenly, and when I looked over I found him slouched next to the chaise with the same blank expression on his face as Alice. Carlisle immediately moved over to check on them as the front door opened and in walked Bella.
"What the hell?" She started before spotting me. Her expression shifted wildly for several seconds before rushing towards me. Emmett was then suddenly there, blocking her, along with Rose and Esme.
"I'm fine, I just wanted to hug her." Bella frowned, and Emmett gave her a side eye.
"Are you one hundred and twenty percent sure?" He asked, clearly not convinced.
"A thousand percent. I just spent the day in Seattle, sorry Angel I promise you can come with me next time, and I didn't succumb once." I had totally forgotten about our plan to visit Seattle, her accident prevented us from going.
"Impressive." Mason said with a wide smile.
Then the rest of the family moved aside and Bella pulled me into a hug. I leaned my head against her hard shoulder, and noticed she was now the same temperature as the rest of them.
"I missed you." I whispered.
"It's been two days. How's Dad?" She pulled back with a small chuckle.
"Not good. I'll keep an eye on him like I promised." I couldn't tell her about the funeral, if she knew how broken he seemed… I couldn't push that kind of guilt on her now when she was in such a new place both physically and mentally.
"What in the fuck was that?" Alice said with a quivering voice. Startling everyone and drawing our attention.
"Tell me that wasn't real. Oh thank god!" Edward said a second later after he did a scan of the room. Alice then looked at all of us, and visibly shuddered a few times.
"What's going on?" Carlisle asked with obvious worry.
"A nightmare, and I have no idea how to stop it." Alice's voice sounded broken and haunted, and I almost wanted to run away. Instead I straightened up and let go of Bella to stand on my own.
Author's Note:
This was originally a third of the length of this chapter, and had ended on a cliffhanger with Angela closing her eyes before the crash. I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what would happen afterwards, and had to alter some of the things Mason did to fall a bit more in line with the strength of the vampires in canon. While they would be able to lift something like a car, it wouldn't be without strain for example. Mason's feelings towards Angela are complex and will not resolve quickly. Angela's journey is really just beginning here, and I hope this starts to bring this story into focus a bit.
Next Chapter: The Nightmare - Alice
Thank you for reading!