I just went through my previous chapters and *hopefully* fixed all of my typos and any inconsistencies. (Example, I accidentally said Billy in place of Harry once). I will be taking the time to proofread before posting however I am doing this from my phone so please be kind to any mistakes.
Chapter 18
As we pulled up to the treaty line, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I had been following my gut since this whole thing started and it hadn't steered me wrong yet, but I couldn't help but feel this way. These people were my family before. Alice had been my best friend and I was about to accuse her of something like this? I mean she'd never directly done anything to me but she definitely played some role. Just like this morning, we had a wolf listening in to keep the 2 patrolling wolves in the loop.
After about 10 minutes of waiting, at exactly 12:00 P.M, 3 cars pulled up to the side of the road and parked. First was Edwards Volvo, with Alice and Jasper in the back. Next was a very muddy Hummer, Emmett's new vehicle of choice and then Carlisle and Esme in their Mercedes.
The Cullen's lined up on one side of the treaty line and the pack on the other. Carlisle stepped forward, but not too far, likely having memorised the treaty line exactly.
"Bella, it's good to see that you're safe. We've been worried for your safety since Alice can not see you while you're with the Quileute Pack." Carlisle spoke, looking only at me.
I smiled kindly back, Carlisle was a good man, fangs or no fangs and I wouldn't disrespect him for the actions of his adopted daughter. "Thank you for your concern Carlisle but I am extremely safe here on the reservation. Listen, what I called you here about is not an easy thing for me to say but I feel it has to be said." I looked over their faces. Edward, likely reading everyone's thoughts, Jasper trying to keep the air calm, Esme, well, she looked proud, Carlisle looked confused, Emmett looked like he was ready to pounce at a moment's notice, hating being near so many wolves and Alice seemed apprehensive.
"I don't believe that anything that has happened involving me over the past 18 ish months has been an accident. Alice…" I looked at her now, unsure how to feel as Jasper sent calming waves my way. I shot him a look and I could feel the calm disappear and heard an apology mumbled from him. I looked back at Alice. "Alice, when you moved here, and saw me move here, did you not see Edward's reaction to me, to my blood?"
"The future is never definite Bella, you know that." Edward looked to Alice like he was listening to her thoughts.
"No, but how in all the number of possibilities you saw, did the call of my blood not show up even once?" Edward turned his full body to Alice's now, as did Esme. Carlisle kept his eyes on our side of the line, likely looking for any sign that he may need to protect his family.
"I…"
"Ok, so that day I nearly got crushed by Tyler's truck, if it hit me, I would have had a closed casket funeral and likely been saved by Carlisle in the hospital, right? Or how about the baseball game? How did you not see James, and did you know who he was or was that a surprise?"
"What do you mean?" Alice looked panicked now.
"Alice?" Edward asked, his voice showing an emotion I couldn't decipher. "Your thoughts. Back to when you were human. You saw him before?"
"He was after me, before I was changed." Alice hung her head as I continued.
"How did you not see him using a video of my mom as bait? Or him biting me? I would have been safer in Forks instead of running. And speaking of bites, how did you not predict Jasper on my birthday? Every single time your visions failed you, it very realistically could have ended in me as a vampire, and every single time your visions worked, it was to keep me close to your family and planning to kidnap me? What are you hiding Alice? What is your obsession with me?"
All eyes were now on Alice as she looked up into my eyes. Edward glanced at me once though, with a look of guilt on his face. He probably felt that way because of not seeing things sooner. " You're my best friend, Bella. I'd never do anything to hurt you. I just, you were always meant to be family and Edward refused. I just wanted you safe and as a vampire, I never would have to worry about you, I couldn't have that if Edward was calling the shots. My visions, at times, can be much more certain than I let on. I knew you'd be in Forks when I was only 18 years old, as a human."
"How… how is that even possible? Half the time you can't predict five minutes from now." I couldn't believe what I was hearing and based on the looks of the men and women around me, neither could they.
"Certain things are easier to predict. I mentioned this before and explained that the weather is one of those things. Another is those I have a good connection with. Jasper, and my family, those are other things that I can see clearer more accurate visions of. You're obviously not weather…"
Alice let her words hang in the air as we took in what she was implying. I could hear the pack talking behind me quietly but couldn't make out their words. "What does that mean?" I eventually asked.
"When I was human, something happened to me. I… was taken advantage of by someone I. The asylum I ended up pregnant. Since I was being held there, my baby was taken from me to be given to a family who couldn't have children and I was so overcome with hunger when I was changed and got out that I couldn't get my head together enough to get my baby back. You are a direct descendent of that baby. She went on to live a normal, happy life. She got married and had a child of her own, though a bit later in life, after some struggles with fertility, a son. That son then had you. My daughter was named Helen by the family that took her in." I gasped, no, it couldn't be the same Helen. "known to you affectionately as Grandma Swan. My grandson is Charlie and my great granddaughter, well, that's you. I never meant to do anything to hurt you but the day I had a vision of you, it was of you, having a vision and I knew you were special like me. I just wanted to keep you safe and the best way I knew how was to make you one of us."
I couldn't wrap my mind around what she just said. We were family? I guess that explained why she always liked being around Charlie.
"That makes no sense." Edward spoke up now. "Bella doesn't have visions." The second the words were out of his mouth, he turned toward Jacob. Well I guess they now know. "She'd had visions?"
Jake thought for a moment before responding. "We never knew if the alpha's imprint was chosen because she had premonitions or if they were gifted to her because she was chosen as the imprint since previous imprints of the Alpha have had premonitions. I guess now we know."
"Bella," all eyes were back on Alice as she continued to explain herself. "There's more to your powers. You are so very special. The reason that Edward can't read your mind is because you're a special type of shield. We've encountered shields before but you're different. With the right training, even as a human, you could do so much. You'd just need to think of it as a physical thing, right now it is a mental shield but the visions I've had of you, oh wow Bella… You can move the shield away from your body and make it a physical thing, a physical barrier, a mental barrier and with the right training you could even block out Jasper's abilities. You are absolutely unique Bella."
It would be an understatement to say I looked like a cartoon with my mouth hanging so low it touched the ground. This was all too much and definitely not what I expected from our meeting with the Cullens. Just then, Rosalie appeared from the woods.
"Babe!" Emmett called to her, rushing to her side, picking her up and spinning her around. "Where the hell have you been? You just left. A simple text was not enough."
"I'm so sorry Emmett, I just couldn't have Edward reading my thoughts." She placed a kiss on his cheek. "I told them about the plan to kidnap her and I just didn't want you guys to know what was going on. Bella sent me a text and let me know about the meeting. When I heard Alice's confession I knew it would be safe to show myself."
"I'm just glad your back. I missed you so much." It was heartwarming to see the way they were together. I looked away and Alice caught my eyes.
"Bella, I'm so sorry for everything I've caused. This whole thing is my fault. Everything. I just want to make it better, that's why I convinced everyone to come back. I needed to fix what I'd done. Then I saw your broke your wrist and I panicked. Please forgive me for going about things wrong, I just couldn't live with myself if you died because of my actions."
I thought about it for a moment but there was no way I could forgive her just yet. Words were nice but I had to see that things were going to be different. "I can't, not yet. It's going to take time."
"I completely understand and I promise I will do whatever it takes to earn back your trust." She nodded her head frantically, "Just name it."
"Time, mostly just time, and an effort on your part to accept me as I am. I won't ever be changing into a vampire. I want a life and kids and to grow old."
"Of course."
Just then there a howl in the woods.
"Jake? Is someone hurt?" I asked, worried for his brothers.
Jake shook his head. "I don't recognize the howl. We have distinct sounds, just like our human voices. This one isn't anyone that's already phased." Jake looked over to Embry who was phased at the tree line and nodded. Embry phased back into his human form, hiding his body behind a bush.
"It's Quil."
Oh God, finally… I mean it sucks but now Jake and Embry could have their best friend back. No secrets. "Go!" I said to him, encouraging him to be by Quil's side during this difficult time. He looked at Jake for confirmation.
"You heard the woman. Get out of here. Sam, you should take over for Paul now, he's probably exhausted. I think we've got it here." Embry phased back and took off through the woods and Sam followed behind him while Jake just smirked, staring at me.
"Jacob!" Edward scolded, visibly upset.
"Shit," Jake looked into my eyes. "Sorry honey. I may be an alpha now but I'm still a teenaged boy." I gave him a look that showed how confused I was before it clicked and my eyes went wide. "Hard to control these thoughts."
"What were you...?"
"This morning. The kitchen." He responded. My face was red and I turned away from the Cullen's. It wasn't fair to Edward to have to deal with those thoughts. He still loved me. Loved me enough to walk away when he knew it was safer for me that way. It wasn't fair to him. "I'm sorry, Bells." I could tell that Jake meant it. Based on his need for me to shower before the meeting at his house, I doubt he wanted anyone to see how he saw me this morning, especially not Edward. "Playing an episode of Avatar: The last Airbender in my head now. I should be good until we go."
I took a moment to compose myself and turned back around. "Ok so this means I can go back to normal?? School, work, home, without fear of being kidnapped, yes?"
Carlisle nodded. "Of course, and we will continue to keep an eye on you and your home during the night."
"Oh, given the circumstances of everything that has been going on, I told Charlie, everything. Obviously there's some new things to discuss but maybe, Alice, did you want to be there for that?"
"Oh Bella, I'd love to tell Charlie. I can meet you tonight."
"Actually, I'm going to stay in La Push for one more night, then head over in the morning for school."
"Alright. Oh, and Bella? About your relatives, there's something else. Your grandfather, Geoffrey, well his mother was Quileute. She had him and a daughter named Molly. Molly was Quil's grandmother. You're cousins. And I also have the answer to a question that I'm sure some of you might be wondering regarding a certain parentage?"
I looked at Jake, confused. "What is she talking about?" Jake looked at Leah and Seth, the only members of the pack left after Quil phased for the first time and then looked back to me.
"Embry's mother is from the Makah reservation. The bloodlines for us wolves is Uley, Black, and Ateara. Seth and Leah have all 3 bloodlines, maybe that's why Leah was hit with it too. Paul and Sam have Uley blood. Quil has the Ateara gene and I have Black and Ateara. Embry, we don't really know about. Nobody knows who his dad is and nobody wants to talk about it because it is between one of our dads and none of the options look good. All were married when he was conceived."
"Oh." I turned back to Alice, "How do you know who it was?"
I came to see Helen. Since Geoffrey was Quileute, he had many friends down there. I overheard a conversation he had with the one who had fathered Embry. He was filled with remorse for the affair but wished to know his son. The mother refused though and there was nothing he could do about it. He talked about how much it hurt that he couldn't see his child but she said if he admitted to it and made her look like a home wrecker that she would take Embry far away. He realised watching him grow from afar would be better than never seeing him again."
"Who is it?" Jake asked. I wasn't sure if he even really wanted to know the answer based on his expression.
"Embry is the son of Quil Ateara the Fourth."
