Your Princess is in Another Castle

Chapter Four: The Time of Arduous Trials

Bella was kept locked up in her room for over a week. She was fed regularly, Victoria opening the door so quickly that Bella could not even use the occasion to knock the monster over the head and rush out through the opening her captor's unconscious body would provide. So Bella began to wait by the door almost all day, seething in anger and clutching her chamber pot as a makeshift weapon. But that did not pan out well either.

Victoria could smell her through the other side of the door and would only chuckle in amusement. "I can sense where you stand princess. If you do not move, than you do not eat, for I shall not venture to open this door till then."

And stubbornly, Bella refused to back off and consequently went hungry for that day.

Thus, she was forced to wait out the full sentence of her imprisonment and on the last day of it, Victoria strode into the room, letting the door wide open and filtering in bright light like rays of hope.

"I have decided that you have spent enough time in this room. And I hope that your stay here has enlightened you to the foolish nature of attempting to escape."

Bella merely glared dirtily at Victoria and letting out a haughty little sniff, brushed past her to finally stretch her wings. The rest of the castle was a sight for sore eyes but Bella did not feel comfortable like she had in exploring it before. Victoria had said she could hear and see what Bella did, so the princess would need to be more careful with her actions. She would wait it out, would lull Victoria into trust with her compliant behavior. She would do it no matter how long it would take even as she felt time slip from her grasp like water.

Bella would walk the hallways of the castle and peer out windows, sighing wistfully, or she would go to the library and read books to pass the time. Books about romance, which made her longing for Edward subside. She missed him and wondered when he would find out that she was being held ransom. James had said he would go to meet the crowning prince but where even was Edward, and would the monster be able to make it to him in time?

Questions Bella did not have the answer to and would no doubt not have any time soon. But when the grace period of two weeks passed, Bella swung into motion another plan of hers. It was time to escape once more. She could feel Victoria's scrutiny lessen. The prickling sensation of thousands of eyes left Bella and she could move more freely, could breathe more easily, and so she took the chance.

The exit she had last used had been blocked off by Victoria and so she needed a new one. In the dead of night she scrambled from the castle, cloak over her shoulders and food pack tucked around her back as she crept through the underbrush in the dark. She knew the castle had a stable on the grounds. During her many passes at sighing by the window she had noticed horses with saddles feeding on the hay tossed outside for them. While they had been unattended, they looked cared for and Bella knew she had to get to them because they would be most suitable for riding.

It was a feat that was considerable given how it was dark and she had to rely on the moon for guidance. It provided weak light and so she expanded her other senses, following the strong smell of horse manure, the sound of their shuffling hooves, until she was able to get into a holding stall with a horse in it. It's saddle was tacked up on the wall outside it, and with clumsy fingers she reached for it. It was heavier than she expected it to be and she lugged it towards the horse. She had ridden and tacked up horses before, but never in the dark and never while a clock hung over her head, counting down her minutes until Victoria discovered something was wrong.

Bella should not have worried.

"Boo."

A voice breathed right into her ear and Bella let out an unladylike squeal as she dropped the saddle onto her foot. Her noise startled her horse and he reared up to neigh loudly. Bella flattened herself against the wall, hand to chest to press back on her beating hard. Who had that been? Was she in danger? She wished she had thought to bring a weapon.

But as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see the glint of red eyes in the night and knew it was Victoria.

"Vict-" Bella's was cut off by a tight hand on her throat. A hand that dragged her out of the stables, half bent and with tears pricking into her eyes.

Victoria was furious, hair streaming behind her as she marched Bella uncomfortably back to the castle. "Are you really daft enough to make another escape? It seems your foolish human brain needs to be taught another lesson."

Bella tried to speak, tried to defend herself, but the hold was too tight. She clawed at Victoria's fingers at her throat but to no avail. Only when they had reached Bella's room did Victoria relent, tossing Bella viciously so that she stumbled and fell onto her carpeted floor. And then as Victoria sneered over her fallen form, the door was slammed shut and Bella once more was locked up.

This time the punishment was also a week and Bella knew better than to wait by the door in hopes of knocking Victoria out and escaping. She used her time to draw plans out using the grime found between the stone bricks on the walls, scrapping her plans whenever Victoria would stop by with food.

Bella would wonder where this food came from, and if there was a possible exit there? That would be her next exit plan, she decided, and this time when her week was up, she did not bother to try and trick Victoria. She merely raced off to the kitchens and tried to use the exit from which scraps of food were left out for collection.

Victoria predictably was on the other side, even though she had been nowhere to see once she'd let Bella out of the room with a disapproving nod of the head. Running into her was like running into a house and Bella fell back onto her behind with a loud gasp of air being knocked out of her lungs. Victoria merely stood above Bella and watched the princess collect herself, brushing the dirt off her dress skirts.

"Still you attempt these vapid notions of escape. Do you not understand? That it is safer here, indoors than out there?"

"I do not understand why you have to keep me locked up, like some pet," Bella grit out, hands curling up in anger. "Do I not have any rights."

"No," is Victoria's simple answer, an answer that incises Bella and she lunges at the woman, beating at her chest with her fists.

"Just let me go! I do not wish to be your captive. I want to see my fiance. I want to see my family. Please, just let me go!" Bella is close to tears, close to breaking down but she will not for she knows her tears would only be readily mocked by Victoria.

The red haired woman grabs at Bella's fists, stopping them as if they are mere air, and holding onto them tightly as Bella struggles. "You would do well to behave, or else we might more permanently keep you from Edward."

The death threat is clear and it does nothing to calm Bella. "James would never do that."

"I am not James," Victoria hisses out, eyes dancing black and predatory. She pulls back her lips showing off sharp canines that look ready to tear into Bella's neck. Hands inhibited, Bella kicks at Victoria now and the woman merely growls and hefts Bella over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the princess screaming and kicking all the way. "Put me down! Put me down this instant!"

"You are going back to your room and that is final," Victoria growls out and Bella is hapless to escape.

Surprisingly this time Bella's imprisonment does not last as long. Perhaps Victoria has realized that there is no point in keeping Bella put when Bella will only try to escape once more. And Bella does indeed try, more than once, in fact. One time she gets her bedroom window open and makes a rope from the sheets of her bed, only for Victoria to pull the rope up as Bella is climbing down it and then use that own rope to tie Bella's foot to the bed during the night so that Bella can no longer escape. Bella claws and claws at the tight and itchy rope but short of cutting her own leg off, there is no escape from it until Victoria unties it in the morning, or for when Bella needs to use the loo in the middle of the night.

Which gives Bella another idea. The latrine has an exit somewhere, somewhere outside of the castle. It is a disgusting option, one she hesitates to take and that really tests her mettle in wanting to escape, but one she manages to finally push herself into doing.

When Victoria captures her from it, she has something like respect on her face. "You are one crazy human," she murmurs before throwing a stinking Bella into a cold tub of water so that she may wash. "Clean yourself, and quickly, or else you will freeze."

"Could you not have warmed the water first?" Bella chattered as she hugged her arms to her chest and tried to feel her toes.

"Escapees do not get warm water. Now wash," and Victoria none too kindly throws water over Bella's hair, chilling her further.

The escape attempts become daily now, and almost a sort of game between them. Victoria seems to have lost her anger at Bella and instead gained amusement from seeing the princess struggle, while Bella only becomes angrier and angrier by her failures.

"I love your tenacity," Victoria comments on attempt 20 which involves Bella on the rampart of the castle, trying to scale it with yet another ladder of sheet ropes. Victoria easily pulls Bella up and lets her fingers dig into Bella's soft neck flesh as she lets her hang past the ledge with nothing but her hold on the human to keep her from plummeting into the ground below. "But will it be enough to keep you from a deadly fall? What if during one of your escape attempts you were to get hurt? I would not want that," Victoria said, a slightly sadistic look on her face as she took pleasure from Bella's kicking feet and panicked pulse under her hand. Bella hung onto Victoria's arm like her life depended on it, because it did. And Victoria's hold was not tight at all. It was too loose.

"Hmm?" Victoria arched a brow and shook Bella a little and the princess let out a small scream, fear building in her veins. "The only danger to me right now is you," she managed out and this made Victoria purr.

"That is correct. And do not forget that. The scariest thing around here is me." Her voice dark on those words, she set Bella safely onto the rampart and let go. Bella rushed to her feet, running back into the safety of her bedroom so she could calm her heart. Victoria's chuckle followed after her, mocking and taunting her hasty retreat.

It took two days before Bella felt sound enough to try another escape after the terror of the last one. After the terror of Victoria nearly dropping her. For this attempt, Bella simply tried to walk out through the front gate. Naturally, that would not work, but she was running out of options, short of killing herself.

"Lacking creativity, little one?" Victoria mocked as she strode up to block Bella's path, hands on hips, that cat like grin on her face. "Getting tired?"

"Never," Bella spat back with vitriol. "I will escape one day."

"And perhaps sooner than expected."

Bella who had been ready for a rejoinder from Victoria, was taken aback by this positive statement. "Surely?"

"James is on his way back, and he has word to bear."

Bella's heart began to pump harder in her chest and her cheeks flushed in joy. Good news, surely good news was to come? So lost in her musings over seeing Edward soon- sadly her thoughts had been a bit lacking on him but only because of having to make all those plans and not because the ardor of her love was waning- that she did not catch the way Victoria's gaze caught on the flush of her cheeks or the beating pulse in her neck.

The red head took a step forward before she could remember herself and cleared her throat to clear her mind. "Be ready to meet with him tomorrow afternoon. And do not try to escape," the last part is a threat but Bella throws back her head. She will not let this woman bully her.

"Watch me." And it's an empty threat but she takes relish in how Victoria's nostrils flare. Before the monster can say anything else, Bella strides off back to her room, back straight and chest filled with hope over Edward's arrival, for surely he has come to rescue her.

She cannot sleep that night or the next, as she paces and wears a hole in her rug. Edward will be here soon. He will come to rescue her.

She watches with a hawk-like gaze the bridge for any signs of carriages, barely leaving for food and bathroom. On the third day she spots a black and gold carriage making way over the bridge and she gathers her skirts and rushes down the stairs as quickly as she can, arriving out of breath in the main entrance hall.

Victoria is already there, hands behind her back. She's dressed up a bit more nicely today for James's arrival. She has on leather trousers, a white ruffled shirt and a gold vest that combined with her red hair makes it look like she is part of a flame. She doesn't turn when she hears Bella arrive, and the princess worries if Victoria will begrudge her this, will barricade her back to her room. But she does no such thing. She merely speaks, arrogantly as always in regards to the princess. "You sound like a wheezing old man. Surely you must get into better shape princess, what would the prince think of your poor health and how you've been letting yourself go?"

"My poor health is only because of you and your rough handling of my nature."

"You are no delicate flower. Your sojourn in the latrines has spoken as much, for what true princess soils herself in such a manner?"

Bella fumes at this, but she will not let Victoria's open derision of her ruin her joy at Edward's arrival. The giant doors open and emit the travelers.

Which consist of James and his personal servant. Bella's hope shrivels up in her chest but she refuses to let it die. She stares out in the coming dusk, into the world outside in back of James, staring until the doors close back up as if by magic.

"Victoria, princess Isabella," James dips his head respectfully to each of them. "I hope the stay in the castle was not too dull while my presence was lacking."

"It was not dull in the least," Victoria says, laughter thick in her voice, as well as secretive mentions to Bella's many fruitless escapes. But if she is to tell James of Bella's attempts, she gives no clue of it in her speech now.

"Where is Edward?" Bella cannot hold herself back from the words that escape her tongue.

James disposition sombers."Dine with me, and I shall give you the truth you desire." He leads the way to the dining hall and Bella reluctantly follows him, dread sitting ugly on her stomach.

When they get there the table is already set despite no one being in sight. Bella now has enough information to gleam that monsters similar in ability to Victoria are doing this. Victoria has speed that allows her to do things even before the blink of an eye so it makes sense that James must have someone else in the castle who can do the same and who works for him.

"Sit," he beckons and Bella sits down at her plate, one filled with delicious lamb while he settles down by a goblet of rich thick blood.

Neither say a word to each other. He sips his meal while she attempts to eat hers but finds her appetite has deserted her.

"I suppose I ought to get on with it," he speaks up at last, setting his goblet down with a troubled sigh. "You must be fraught with nerves."

Bella eagerly sets down her fork and fixes her full attentions on him, dreading and yet elated to finally have word on her betrothed.

"I left to go find your husband to be, one Edward Cullen, however, my journey was not eventful. Your husband is currently off the maps, embroiled in some monster hunting mission."

These are not the words Bella had been expecting to hear. "Nothing? Nothing at all came from your trip?"

"That is what I am saying, correct," he nodded his head. "I am as disappointed as you, princess, but I will not give up. I have hope that his quest shall finish soon and then I might find him and speak to him civilly on the matters."

Bella is upset and she can feel the need to scream and pound the table fill her. She resists those unladylike urges. "Then what am I to do in the meantime? Whittle and waste away here, in this castle?" Her tone of voice raises and James does not scold her for it, though other men might have.

"As I mentioned prior, I had been hoping for a better outcome and I am sorry that the resultant one does not please you. But there is not much else both you and I can do except wait until he is finally done with his work. I do not even know concretely where he is. My hope is that he shall return to his castle at the conclusion and therefore be more readily accessible. Til then, princess, we both wait." With a sweeping grand gesture he rose from his seat and left, goblet of blood in his hand.

Bella was not even allowed a quick moment to digest her unhappiness before Victoria was by her side, ready to guide her to her room.

The princess followed her up, not in the mood to even argue with Victoria, who found it suddenly an opportune moment to make fun of Edward.

"I hope the sniveling git gets killed on his quest. It would do us all a lot of good. Even you."

When Bella didn't respond, the red head did not look pleased. The princess was too deep in her thoughts. She was worried about her prince, about him coming home back safely. She had desired to be saved, yes, but she mostly desired his safety first and foremost. While unhappy, she was in no real danger here. He, however, was battling dangerous beasts. She would hate to see him hurt.

Perhaps Bella should start up her escape plans once more. But not until James left. She would need to spy on the man, find out what details he knew about Edward's location and then leave once it was assured where the prince was.

But would Victoria stop her once more? Had she already told James about her plans before? Bella needed to be certain.

"Why did you not tell James about how I tried to escape?" Bella rounded on Victoria, and is unable to hold her curiosity in.

Victoria seems startled by this question. She parted her lips but no answer fell out of them.

"Why did you not?" Bella repeats and finds herself breathing a tad harder for reasons she does not know why. Mayperhaps it is because she had spun on her heel and Victoria had not been expecting that, thus the two of them had very little space in between them. And Victoria's predatory nature is causing Bella's body to have strange reactions. Or maybe it is the scent wafting up from the monstress. She smells so deceptively sweet for someone so needlessly cruel and bloodthirsty.

Their eyes lock, brown on crimson. Bella can see a glimmer of panic in them. At last Victoria speaks, taking a step back to clear her head. "I did not wish to drag his attentions to something of so little worth. He has far more important matters to be beholden to than a pesky little human."

Steel slides over her eyes, coats her tone, protecting and hiding what little of human like emotion Bella had spotted before.

Bella knows this is not the true answer, for she has begun to notice that Victoria frequently uses defensive words when she feels vulnerable or cornered. Still, she cannot press harder on this issue for it would only anger Victoria without viable product assured, and she turns to head in the correct direction of her room.

James stays for the duration of two weeks time, in which Bella is forced to be on her best behavior for she does not want him to suspect her of seeking to escape. She attends dinner meals with him and they yet again converse on a myriad of topics that challenge them morally, and mentally. He even lets it slip what breed of monster they are.

"Vampyres," he breathes out, looking sad as he labels himself. "Bloodthirsty creatures of the night that feast on one's life force."

"But you do not seek to be that way."

"No, I do not. One can avoid their nature, can fight against it if only they are strong enough. This town is full of those who fight the monster inside them each day. We are living proof it can be done. That we can be good and not despicable mindless creatures as we have been labeled as such," he said, morose expression on his handsome face.

"What if you received a chance to remove your vamprye nature? Would you take it?" Bella inquired.

"I would, because then I could finally end my cursed existence and enter the gates of heaven."

Bella was careful not to press James further on those issues, she did not want him to suspect her of plotting against him. For she knew one certain way to escape this castle and it was by death; something that was reviled by the church and that which she did not want to partake in.

Perhaps if Bella could not escape and would not take her life to do so, than she could do something to Victoria. Not...kill her, for that was an almighty sin, but weaken her enough that Bella could safely get away.

This was only an idea she enacted once James finally departed from his castle to seek Edward. Unfortunately, Bella had been unable to track down James to eavesdrop on where he was going, and neither could she weasel it out of him during conversation, so it seemed she simply would be forced to run away again and this time she would hurry back to her home castle to her father, rather than Edward's castle here. That one had been infiltrated by Victoria with scary ease. In her own castle, they might have a harder time tracking her down.

Brain whirling with chaotic thoughts and hands slightly shaking with nerves, Bella went to the library, spending hours searching, fingers tapping on spines of books, cheeks puffed out to blow dust off of old covers, and hands feeling cool leather and crisp pages. She searched every conceivable nook and cranny in the library making sure she didn't miss anything.

And then she took the books back to her room where they would be safe from prying eyes. She did not want Victoria intruding on her studies.

Surprisingly the castle had many books on vampryes and they came from the world over, myths and legends and true stories about these foul beasts from one end of the world to the other. There was so much to absorb and it made her head throb for some of the passages contradicted themselves with other passages she had read. It was hard to figure out what was one standard for these vampryes if there were so many varying accounts.

It was utterly frustrating.

The one thing the books seemed on agreeing on was a stake. A stake through the heart could kill anyone, human or beast and so Bella would need to fashion one. But where could she get such a thing from? She glanced around her room, wondering if there was any wood she could whittle down here.

She opened up all her drawers, upended their contents and at last found that one of the boards in the drawers shelves was a bit loose. With time she could pry it off and use it. Now, all she had to do was get a knife.

She couldn't get one from Victoria when the vamprye brought her meals up because the monster would notice. No, Bella would have to sneak into the kitchens and get one there. Making her way as casually as possible into the kitchens was nerve wracking. She kept glancing over her shoulders as if she could catch Victoria following her. But the woman was no where in sight. Yet, that did not ease Bella's nerves. The kitchens were empty as usual and she hastily found a small fish knife she could hide in the folds of her dress and take back upstairs with her.

Once there, she began to whittle down the wood according to the diagrams in the old textbooks. It was not an easy feat for Bella had never done something of this sort and splinters pierced the soft flesh of her hands. It took her much effort to get a stake and even then it was shoddy workmanship, but it would have to do.

With that weapon secured, she could now focus on planning her escape once more.

Bit by bit she stole food from the kitchen's, she readied a cloak and some comfortable riding clothes- clothes she had stumbled upon in an old study she had wandered into on her days of exploring the castle.

Victoria left her alone for the most part, only bringing her food to her room. The vampyre almost looked disappointed that Bella wasn't trying anything troublesome and Bella did her best to seem meek and uninterested when Victoria showed up. She hid the books on vampyres out of sight and instead pretended to be heavily invested in some sappy romance tale.

The charade worked for Victoria would curl up her upper lip and sneer at Bella's love sick sighs.

Once enough time had passed, Bella made her bid for freedom. She gathered her supplies together and snuck out in the cover of the night. She stayed close to the brush on the sides of the road, crossing the bridge in a quick run. Thus far Victoria had not been alerted to her disappearance and Bella let a small smile cross her lips.

She did not have a horse like she had on first escape attempt and she needed to get one from the village. As it was night, she doubted that anyone would be up to sell her one so thievery would be what she had to resort to. She'd never stolen anything before and a thrill of excitement ran down her back at that prospect.

How would she even do it? Would she be able to break into the stables?

She need not have worried for she was no where close to approaching the town when rough hands grabbed her.

Her shrill scream echoed in the air and she was brought face to face with red glowing eyes and pale skin in the moonlight.

Victoria. Victoria once more had found her. "How did you know?" Bella hissed out as she struggled to free her arms from Victoria's hold. Her stake was pinned to her side and if she could only reach it she could use it.

"You are predictable. What other reason would you have for brooding in your room if it were not for making means to escape?"

"I could be sleeping, or studying, or day dreaming. It does not mean I am planning," Bella tried to jerk free.

"But I was right, was I not?" Victoria arched up a brow and casually tossed Bella over her shoulder. Bella barely struggled this time, simply too worn and defeated to try to do so. How could she ever get past Victoria? She was running out of ideas. Running out of patience and determination and time.

When Victoria set her down in her room, Bella merely slumped over on her bed and laid there, looking up at the ceiling. Victoria looked discontented by this behavior. "Not going to fight me on this?"

"What would be the point in that? Nothing I do is ever enough."

Victoria frowned on that but said nothing more, leaving Bella to wallow in her own misery.

Nothing worked, so perhaps she should do nothing.

That was why when Victoria would bring up food, Bella left it untouched. She would endure a hunger strike. Maybe in this way she could irk the vampryess into relenting. At first the plates of untouched food did not bother Victoria. She merely took it as Bella having no appetite. But as the days wore on, it began to bother her.

"Why do you not eat?"

"I do not feel like it," Bella would shrug in answer.

"Eat!" Like a little child throwing a tantrum, Victoria kicked the tray closer to Bella, rattling it's contents.

"No." And Bella turned her back on Victoria and continued reading her book.

Victoria let out a growl of extreme frustration and left in a hurry.

Good, Bella was aggravating the red haired monster.

A hunger strike was not as easy as Bella expected it to be. Her stomach hurt and tried to eat itself and she was so tempted to snatch up a dinner roll and fill her face with it. But she did not; she resisted with all she could. Her stomach would growl in protest but it was beholden to her and her whims.

Reading provided an ample distraction to her and so did looking out the window- with those two she could almost forget the hunger gnawing her belly. The weather was growing cooler and soon snow would fall. If she did not escape soon, the weather would be too treacherous for her to even make it regardless of if Victoria came after her.

With the cooler weather Bella found herself with new friends. Wolves began to scour along the brush surrounding the castle and Bella opened the window in order to spot them more clearly. They were huge, and unlike any sort of wolf Bella had seen before. They reached almost up to her shoulder from her calculations up here in the castle.

And they looked hungry. Their coats were mangy and clinging to their bones. "Looks like I'm not the only one starving," she said out-loud and did not expect the way in which one of the wolves perked up it's head, tipping its ear as if listening to her. "Is the coming winter not treating you well?" Bella asked, continuing to speak to it.

This time the russet colored wolf padded up to her, tongue lolling out of its jaw. It looked as if it could almost understand her. "I almost wish I was out doors with you. I am trapped here in this castle by none other than monsters. It is almost a story out of a fairy book. All that is missing is the evil witch to curse me with some sleeping spell or something along those lines."

The wolf let out a sneeze that almost sounded like a laugh.

"Oh but listen to me, taking up your precious time and talking to you as if you could understand me," Bella sighed and shook her head. Her hunger was making her delusional. Was making her talk to animals now.

She closed the window and watched from behind the glass as the wolf stood there a bit longer before it bounded up to join the rest of it's pack that was scrounging around in the brush.

The days dragged on and they felt like forever to Bella, for she had nothing to do in her room except read her books, ignore her hunger, and on occasion talk to the wolf from before on things wolves could not understand. And Victoria would continually get angrier and angrier at Bella for not eating, though her words were marred by panic. Panic, because she was responsible for the little human and if harm came to Bella, than James would have her head for they had no leverage otherwise with the war on the Cullens.

"What will it take to make you eat?"

"Set me free and you shall receive your answer."

Victoria tightened her jaw and said nothing to that. Bella was beginning to feel like she might have a victory.

"You hear that, my gallant wolf Sir Reginald," Bella cried out to where the wolf was waiting for her, head tipped to the side. He came here at the same time each day, with or without his pack. He would stay for a couple of minutes, listen to Bella, and then leave.

Bella wondered why that was, and she would not be surprised if he was an enchanted animal of some sort. Her life already had the makings of a fairy tale story.

He yipped up at her, taking well to her naming of him. "I might be free soon." She smiled gleefully and did a twirl before she got too dizzy and had to sit down. Not eating for ten days straight had lent her to feel out of breath and tired.

But, it would soon pay off, or so she thought. However, Victoria did not come by the next day to set Bella free, but to bring up another point.

"If you do not eat you shall die, and then how shall you reunite with your husband to be? For surely your body will not last in fasting until he arrives," Victoria said, a smug look on her face because she knew she had proven a point to Bella that the princess could not refute.

Grumbling angrily, Bella reached for the loaf of bread on her tray and tore into it, at last relinquishing her tight hold on her hunger. Victoria was right as much as Bella was loathed to admit it. Bella would not last until Edward came. There was no point in starving herself otherwise.

Yet again, Bella had no upper hand on beating Victoria and her indefinite stay in this blasted castle of monsters.

She could see no way out of this pit of despair.

A/N: Posted this chapter a bit early than usual. Chapter five is when the romance plot kicks in and when Bella and Victoria's relationship begins to change.