"Happy now, Edward!" Jasper exclaimed as he slammed the front door closed."Bella is alive and well!"

He nearly ran into Alice who was shoving her feet into a pair of hiking boots.

"Thank goodness," Alice scrambled to her feet and hugged her boyfriend. " I was about to go out looking for you!" She released Jasper and glared at him. "I was worried sick!"

Alice's worry wasn't unfounded. Last spring, Carlisle went to wake Jasper up for school only to find his room trashed and the bed empty. After a frantic three-day search, Quil Sr. found him unconscious in the woods near the border of La Push. Jasper insisted he had no idea how he got there or what happened to his clothes.

"Where were you?" Alice asked Jasper.

"Rescuing Bella," Jasper replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Someone had to do it."

Bella scuffed. Rescued? More like made her life flash before her eyes. It took about a half-hour to drive from La Push to Forks on a day with ideal weather and zero traffic. Jasper, who'd had his license for less than a month, managed to make it home in under fifteen minutes. How they didn't end up in prison or a fiery crash Bella would never know.

"My beloved!" Edward rushed into the entryway with Emmett and a scowling Rose close at his heels" You're alive!"

"Told you she'd be fine," Emmett muttered.

After a bone-crushing hug, Edward held Bella at arm's length to check for damage. Satisfied that there was none, he turned to Jasper. "Thank you. Your bravery will be rewarded!"

Jasper would probably get a kick out of being knighted by a real prince.

Jasper sighed. "Whatever. I'm going upstairs. All this tension is giving me a headache."

Alice raced up the stairs after him. "We're not done talking! You can't just leave the house without saying anything!"

"The same goes for you, Bella," Emmett said. "You can't just take off like that without saying something."

"Sorry," Bella said. "I didn't mean to worry anyone. I'll let someone know in person before my next trip to La Push."

Edward's eye twitched when Bella said La Push. Bella could tell he wanted to say something but held back for some reason. She'd ask about it later when they didn't have an audience.

"It's alright, Bella," Emmett said. "It was just a misunderstanding. No harm done."

"That's it?" Rose threw up her hands."She ditches us and a single sorry makes it okay? Unbelievable!" She stormed upstairs bumping Edward's shoulder on the way past. "Racist prick."

Emmett looked up at the ceiling and back at Bella and Edward.

"Go with Rose," Bella said to Emmett. "I need to have a word with Edward."

"A talk is probably a good idea," Edward said. "We have a lot to discuss."

"Call if you need me." Emmett narrowed his eyes and looked at Edward. "I'll come running."

Bella did not doubt that he would even if it meant facing the full extent of Rose's rage.

Edward went to the living room and sat down on the couch. Bella sat on the other end as far away from him as possible. Not getting the message, Edward started to scoot towards her.

Bella held up her hand when there was one cushion left between them. "Stop. That's close enough."

Edward furrowed his brow but did not try to close the gap between them.

"So," Bella started. "Want to explain why you were so worried about me going to see Jake?"

"Do you want to explain why you didn't think to tell me that Jake is a Quileute?"

"Because Jake is my friend. It doesn't matter where he lives."

"It very much so matters where Jake lives."

Bella scowled. "Why?"

Rose's comment now made sense. Bella was disappointed but not surprised. Edward came from a time in which "savage" or "red skin" would be an acceptable term for a person like Jake. Edward would be mistaken if he thought they were getting married any time soon. She'd never be with a racist.

"It's becoming clear to me that your generation has forgotten the old ways," Edward said. "There are things you don't know about the Quileutes."

"Like what?" Bella asked.

Edward ran his fingers through his messy hair. "The Quileutes are dangerous, especially when young."

Edward was the one who had a lot to learn about the Quileutes if he thought even for a second that they'd hurt her.

"I get that the Quiletes are different than us but that doesn't make them monsters!" Bella exclaimed. "They're kind people with a rich history and a strong sense of community. The people of Forks could learn a thing or two from them."

Bella buried her head in the sand as a child when people made ignorant comments about the Quileutes. That time was over. She was a nearly grown woman capable of standing up for her friends.

"My feelings about the Quiletes have nothing to do with the color of their skin," Edward said.

While still angry, Bella was relieved she wasn't going to be forced to live with a racist.

"Then why do you hate them so much?" Bella asked.

Bad things happened to Bella in Forks, Phoenix, and most places she went on vacation but never in La Push. La Push was her safe space to unwind and blow off steam.

Edward rubbed his temples. "When they reach maturity, Quileute men gain the ability to shift into wolves. They have sharp teeth and fangs that can rip a soldier in half."

Bella remembered the first time she heard the legend of the spirit warriors. She had nightmares for weeks of cold ones coming to Forks to drink her blood. She couldn't sleep without all the lights on until her father explained that the "cold ones" in the story were really white settlers who tried to take over the Quileute's land.

Bella stared at Edward. "You're joking, right?"

Edward was sixteen, not six. He couldn't possibly believe werewolves were real.

Edward placed his hand on her shoulder sending a comforting warmth down Bella's arm."Please just listen to me. You can't go back to La Push. It's not safe, especially for you."

"Yes, it is," Bella argued. "I've been going to La Push since I was a kid and I have no intentions of stopping."

This isn't up for debate," Edward lowered his voice. "As your future husband, I forbid you from ever returning to La Push."

Edward was a spoiled prince with a bad haircut who expected nothing less than perfect compliance from his subjects. Too bad for him the time of all-powerful kings and spineless wives was over.

Bella removed Edward's hand from her shoulder as if it were a rotten fish. "You can't forbid me from doing anything."

Bella wondered if the all-consuming rage she was feeling was what Rose dealt with on a daily basis? If so, she had no idea how Rose continued to function. The devil on her shoulder was screaming for her to ignore everything else and put Edward in his place once and for all.

"Please just listen to me," Edward begged. "This is for your own good. I love you and want you to be safe."

Bella rolled her eyes. She didn't know how they did things in his time but in modern-day Forks, people didn't propose to near-strangers especially in high school. What Edward felt for her wasn't true love. Real love required years of commitment, compromise, and trust-building. Even then, it wasn't guaranteed to last. Her parent's marriage didn't even last until Bella was in kindergarten.

"Tell me something," Bella said. "You claim to love me and say La Push is dangerous, yet Jasper was the one who came to save me. Why is that?"

"No Masen can enter Quileute land. The wolf pack would have killed me on sight if I crossed the river."

"What river?" Bella asked.

"You know, the river that runs around Forks."

"The Black river?" Bella recalled her father telling her about a wet spring when the Black river nearly washed Forks away. "That doesn't exist anymore."

Edward paled. "What do you mean?"

"They drained the last of it when my dad was a kid."

Edward closed his eyes and mumbled the Lord's prayer. "This is bad. Really, really bad."

"What's the big deal? It was six inches of mosquito-infested sludge water."

Billy Black, Jake's father, once drank from the Black River on a dare when he was a kid. He ended up in the hospital with a nasty spinal cord infection and never regained his ability to walk. Some of the tribal elders protested but most people agreed getting rid of the river was the right decision. The next kid dumb enough to take a sip might not be as lucky as Billy.

"The Black River wasn't just a river," Edward said. "It was a boundary between us and them. Without it, Forks must be overrun with monsters."

"For the last time, the Quiletes aren't monsters! Their school soccer team comes to play ours every year and the worst thing to ever happen was a sprained ankle."

"I'm not just worried about them! Edward said. "The river was enchanted to protect Forks from horrible creatures like vampires, fairies, and witches." Edward looked out the window as if expecting to see a witch soaring through the night sky.

"So you're telling me the river was magic?"Bella couldn't help but laugh. "Bloodthirsty monsters would see a couple of inches of water and run the other way?"

"Yes."

"That's ridiculous. Magic isn't real."

Edward looked at Bella as if she'd grown a second head. "How can you not believe in magic? You're sitting next to a portal to other worlds talking to a man who was dead two days ago."

"There's a scientific explanation for how the TV works and the same is true for how you got here."

Bella was certain of that. The alternative would mean reexamining everything she thought was true.

Edward touched the scar on his neck. "Why did you kiss me?"

"What?"

"If you don't believe in magic then why did you kiss me? What reason would you have to kiss me if you didn't believe a true love's kiss would bring me back to life?"

The smug grin on Edward's face made Bella's blood boil. "Because Emmett dared me to. He said he'd give me his allowance money. It scared us half to death when you sat up. We thought you were a monster!"

Bella instantly regretted her choice of words.

Edward looked like he'd been slapped "You think I'm a monster?"

Bella chose her next words carefully. "Not anymore. I was just scared. I didn't expect something like that to happen."

Like her, Edward was probably terrified. Life as he knew it was over. He'd woken up in a strange world with a new set of rules. His family was missing and his "true love" wouldn't say she loved him back. Worst of all, he believed the town could be overrun with monsters at a moment's notice.

Edward turned away from Bella. "So you didn't feel an instant connection? You just wanted Emmett's money?"

Bella couldn't deny she felt something when she saw Edward laying in his coffin. As for what that something was, she couldn't say for sure. Pity? Righteous anger? Love?

Edward took Bella's silence as an answer. Without saying another word, he left the room and went upstairs without looking back. There was no stomping or slamming of doors. Just deafening silence.