Into the Woods
By: Everleigh Allen
Chapter 23
The sun sifted through the trees casting an array of sparkles on the various Cullen's.
They looked like the disco balls at Studio 54 but in the forest.
They left minutes after Charlie came for Bella and it was Jasper who spoke with the Chief because of his calming nature.
The Chief was visibly embarrassed, but no one could blame him. When it came to your kids in danger, not much else mattered but their safety.
"It was about here." Edward said and the Cullen's broke up, looking for the tree that was embossed with Bella's bloody hand print.
"See anything?" Esme called out, but they all shook their heads.
There was no trace or even smell that Bella had been there, let alone bleeding.
It was like the whole thing with Bella and Jake never happened. There was no blood, no hand print, nothing.
"I can't smell the blood, anymore." Edward said, sniffing the air. "And you know how potent it is to me."
"Could we be in the wrong area?" Esme wondered aloud, her eyes darted around the area.
All eyes went to both Edward and Alice but they shook their head to the negative. "This was it. I remember that large rock. This was the tree."
He bent down and looked at spot where the hand print should be.
It wasn't.
"It didn't rain," Edward said, perplexed. Blood stains and dries dark yet there was no trace of it.
"I think," Alice said, racing from spot to spot, them to the tree, finally nodding her head in affirmation. "I think it's been absorbed. Look at this tree compared to the others… it just looks-"
"Healthier." Esme finished. I was true. The tree looked healthy and bright.
"Bella should bleed all over the Mom's garden; it's the only thing that's going to help at this point!" Emmett said seriously. Edward hissed and crouched down in defense. "What? Don't get so prissy! You know that Mrs. Crawly needs to go down! Special fertilizer my ass."
Edward was growling and his teeth were bared. Fingers curled. He was ready to pounce.
"Always the drama queen," Rosalie rolled her eyes.
She was bored.
It didn't take much.
"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, knock it off, right now!" Esme said in a way only a pissed off mother could. "There's no way anyone is going to make Bella bleed over the begonias… unless she wants to, of course."
Edward straightened up and looked thoroughly chastised.
"Now, let's put the pieces together."
"Bella has voodoo blood now?" Rosalie scoffed but all eyes darted to her. "What? What did I say?"
"Is it even possible?" Esme asked. "She did live in there at one point."
Carlisle was already shaking his head. "I don't think so. That's a religious conviction more than anything else and not what those on TV portray it to be. There's something we're missing. I just don't know what it is yet."
"Well," Edward bent over and picked up a bunch of leaves sifting through them with his fingers, looking for any type of sign from Bella's injuries. "Her mom gave her an old, empty box, a necklace, earrings with a symbol on it. Oh, and the rocks… lots of various crystal rocks."
"Bella's mom is a hippie?" Emmett said. He was grabbing up forest rocks and crushing them in his hand, letting the pieces of sand to fall to the ground.
Edward shrugged. "I only really met her once and it was not in an ideal situation."
"Yeah, I think not." Rosalie laughed and received Edward's glare with a shrug of her shoulder. She whipped her hair off her shoulder.
Alice came forward, her eyes hazy but there wasn't anything Edward could see from her visions. She was blocking whatever she was getting for some reason. "Was there anything else Edward?"
"Nah, just an odd poem."
"What's the poem?" Esme asked, happily coming closer and then sat on a nearby log. The others followed suit, except Emmett who was climbing a tree and hanging off of it by his knees.
"It went something like,
Into the woods
Deep into the woods, on the Gaelach day
She laughed as she watched the wild bluebells sway
With a flick of the light doth chance a teasing fae
While into the woods watching, the dire one lay
With mirth and mayhem doth she play
Straight into the woods where the spirits slay
Alice smiled, "Well, that's interesting. Did you break it down?"
Edward shook his head.
"It's not hard. Let me try. Deep into the woods on Gaelach day… The chosen Irish person- maybe Bella, is going into the woods…. Laughed as she watched the wild bluebells sway… well, when does the wild bluebells bloom?"
Alice looked at Esme who looked thoughtful for a moment before she said, "Late April to May, usually, maybe later depending on the climate."
Alice smiled and nodded, "So she's in the woods during the spring sometime. What's next?"
"With a flick of the light doth chance a teasing fae," Rosalie recited.
"That could be a play on light in the forest-"
"It could also be us." Rosalie interrupted. "We are supernatural."
Alice nodded. It was easier than rebuffing Rosalie as she would just shutdown. It was exciting that Rose was actually trying to help, "Yep, or an actual fairy. Maybe some woodland creature."
"A Sylph," Jasper added. "They light up, I think. In my dungeons and dragons days we learned all about mythical things. I loved playing that game."
"Of course you did," Alice snickered, "As I enjoyed the role playing."
There was a sudden amorous feeling sweeping through the forest that everyone could feel. The vampires seemed to move towards their mates like magnets… except Edward, of course.
"TMI, Alice." Edward sneered.
Emmett was all about looking into the Whitlock closets for said costumes.
"Shall we continue?" Everyone nodded. "While into the woods watching, the dire one lay, was next." Esme interrupted all of the sudden lusty thoughts moving around the group.
Esme's adopted children were nymphos.
Well, except for Edward… yet.
"Something is going to be lying in wait. Could be an animal," Alice said making eyes at Jasper, hoping he was getting the signals she was throwing out there.
He was.
"Or a wolf. A shape-shifting wolf."
Everyone agreed.
"With mirth and mayhem doth she play," Edward sighed. "This one gets to me."
"Bella's playing with fire!" Emmett boomed into the forest, causing birds to squawk and scatter. "Come on baby, light my fire." He sang while gyrating his hips since the lusty feelings never seemed to dissipate.
Edward smacked him on his arm with a menacing glare.
"What? Even she said she was the lizard king." He snickered.
"It is fitting," Rosalie agreed. "Lizards are woodland creatures, too."
Esme shook her head at Emmett's and Rosalie's antics. "No, I think it means one person is good and one is bad and she's in between them."
"Straight into the woods where the spirits slay," Carlisle added the last line to a very quiet group. Edward looked at Alice, who looked like scared.
"That could be anything, even us." She whispered.
There was nothing else to say.
Bella was texting Edward when Charlie walked into Bella's room that afternoon.
He had Billy Black coming over for dinner and they were going to talk about the Jake situation.
Bella was not pleased, but Charlie insisted there wouldn't be anything to decide about Jake's fate while at dinner.
She felt differently. She felt as if this was a set up and she was about to be handled or guilt tripped into letting Jake mosey on out of all the stuff that he had put her through the night before.
With a raise of her hand, Charlie stopped talking.
"I will only meet with Billy if Carlisle and Edward are here, too." She said.
Charlie was perplexed and irritated that the Cullen's would be involved in what he now considered a family affair.
Then he dropped a bombshell on her.
He told her that he had called Renee and told her about the whole Jake attempted kidnapping.
With the newfound teenage rage, Bella screamed at him, bounded up the stairs and slammed her door and locked it.
But she was grinning inside.
Edward wanted Renee back in Forks and now she had no choice.
Renee was on her way.
"Renee's coming to Forks," Edward said out loud as he looked at the texts on his phone. Bella suspected that she and Charlie were going to discuss the possibility of her going to Florida with her mother so the whole aggravation with Jake would cease.
"Well, of course she would! Florida is not werewolf or vampire friendly. To Renee, it's ideal." Alice scoffed.
"Do you see anything?"
Alice's face became still, her eyes open but unseeing. Finally, after several moments, Alice shook her head and refocused.
It all played out in Edward s mind.
A plane arriving in Port Angeles on a rainy day.
A red rental car pulling into the Forks Motel.
A blonde woman and a man with a baseball hat get out of the car.
She laughs but her eyes are darting around her. She's uneasy and quickly moves toward the motel door, curling her arms around her.
Cold.
Scared.
A police cruiser pulling up to the same motel.
Charlie Swan getting out of the car and glaring at the man in the baseball cap.
All three walk into the room, the door shuts and the lock clicks.
The visions fade.
"When?" Edward asks.
"Sunday. She'll be here for a week."
"Why are they meeting without Bella?"
Alice shrugged. "Don't meddle, brother. You know what happens when you meddle."
"The last time you meddled, the whole future changed." Alice said in her mind." Let them be for now. I will watch them for you and Bella. Go. She's waiting for you. Oh, and Charlie seems to think that she needs more than pepper spray."
"What do you mean?"
"He's thinking about buying her a gun." Alice said aloud.
"With her clumsiness?" Edward scoffed. "That's idiotic."
"It's a non-issue. Bella won't allow it."
"Oh, and Edward?"
Edward froze but turned his head toward Alice.
"Be careful. Go… slow."
Edward nodded and grabbed his keys before he walked out the front door and got into his Black Volvo.
.
A/N: Bah human responsibilities... We are half way done. :D Thanks for sticking with it!