A/N. So many big thank you's for the reviews and kind words and support for my last chapter. Keep it all up.
And I'm sorry for the cliff hanger, but you know how it is, always keep them wanting more.
Anyway, as always, All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer.
After this, things are going to really start taking shape.
Read and review and enjoy!
Chapter Two
She was...breathtaking! I had my fork in my hand, stopped halfway between my chin and my mouth which was open in a wide, comical O. I followed her as she walked into the cafeteria. She was so elegant. Every step she took had a bounce in it. The only way to describe it is she walked happy! That sounds dumb but it's true. Even if you just watched her feet you could imagine her face smiling, which it was. The most mesmerising smile I could ever dream of. Her flawless white teeth gleamed in the harsh cafeteria light and her short hair bounced about her head but always landed perfectly. Her eyes were the purest honey and she was so tiny, I had the biggest urge to wrap my arms around her and make sure that the world could never hurt her. She was dressed simply. Blue skinny jeans, flat, black boots and a white peasant top that hung off her shoulders. She was exquisite.
She glanced over in my direction and I dropped my fork to the table with a loud clatter, a piece of cucumber rolling onto the floor. Blood flooded my cheeks and I quickly ducked under the table to retrieve the AWOL utensil. I scrabbled around between the feet of my table-companions and found my fork, quickly returning to my seat. As I righted myself my heart sank slightly, she wasn't there any more. I craned my neck until I found her sat at a table surrounded by other, impossibly beautiful people. I was aware that people had begun to design their pets...such as the labradoodle, I found myself wondering if people who were rich enough had begun designing their children yet. Natural birth and human evolution could not create so many perfect creatures! There was a girl with hair that was so incredibly blonde and perfect it reminded me a field of wheat. A big, burly guy with short, wavy black hair and a childish grin, a boy with blonde hair who resembled the blonde girl and a great deal and finally another boy who sat leaning slightly away from the rest of them, copper hair pointing in all directions and a slight scowl scribbled across his features. I took them all in, memorising their features instantaneously, but my eyes could not be removed from the short, dark haired girl for more than half a second.
"So you've noticed them?" I spun around, aware of someone talking at me. It was Jessica.
"Sorry?" I tilted my head slightly to create the impression of interest. I'd seen it done on TV a thousand times.
"The Cullen's. The one's who just walked in." Jessica lifted her chin in their direction and my eyes returned to their previous resting place. Mike, Angela and Ben also peered in that direction.
"Dr and Mrs Cullen adopt lots of kids. Good Samaritans or something, I don't know. Anyway those are the Cullen kids. Rosalie and Jasper are the blondes. Emmett's the big guy. Edward is the moody looking one and Alice is the small girl. They're all really smart and totally gorgeous but very private so don't take it personally if they ignore you for the rest of your life." I could hear the sarcasm and also scorn in Jessica's voice as she spoke. As soon as she finished the entire Cullen table, except for Alice, the beautiful Alice, burst into snickers. They looked to one another and glanced quickly at our table before giggling to themselves again. All except Alice. Her face was set in stone and her eyes were focused on her thumbs which she was twiddling furiously. I scowled to myself. There was just something too perfect about them. I couldn't place it but it reminded me of the Institute.
A few minutes later and the bell rang. I followed Angela out of the Cafeteria, working my way through a crowd of students, most of whom were staring at me, and made my way towards my next class. Biology. Big fun! Angela was already sat next to someone in this class. I walked up to the teacher. Mr Butler, and introduced myself. He pointed towards a seat right at the back of the class and said I could partner with Miss Cullen. Great, the blonde, superior Cullen would be my lab partner for the rest of the year. This should be entertaining. I dumped my bag under the desk and pulled my stool out. Sitting at the high table with my notebook in front of me. I tapped my pen against the paper impatiently. I felt a breeze against my cheek and looked over to see my lab partner walking towards me. It wasn't Rosalie. It was the other Cullen girl, Alice. I swallowed hard, more of a gulp really. With her size I felt sure she would have been a year or two below me. Evidently not.
Alice smiled sweetly at me as she took her seat. She extended her hand and I took it graciously, it was colder than it looked, but then again, to me most things were cold. I made sure not to squeeze. Watch your strength Bella.
"Alice Cullen, pleasure to meet you." She shook my hand slightly and flashed an absolutely dazzling smile.
"Bella Swan, good to pleasure you." I swear my heart almost stopped when I realised what I had said. I could feel my brain working over time. What did I say? What did I mean to say? Did she realise what I said? Alice was smiling at me, barely containing her laughter.
"Err...I meant to say good to meet you...sorry, my mouth isn't attached to my brain right now." I released her hand, blushing furiously again and looking down at my pen on the table. I heard Alice snicker and looked over, though she was giggling, her brow was knitted in concentration or frustration it was hard to tell.
The lesson got under way. For about half an hour we sat there in silence, scribbling notes as Mr Butler lectured on mitosis. Something was niggling at the back of my mind. Something was wrong. I tried to push it to the back of my mind. The end of the lesson came quickly. My heart had been pounding most of the way through. I'd been trying to think of things to say, anything, just to make conversation with Alice. The bell screamed at us, I jumped slightly and began to pack my bag, Alice and the rest of the class doing the same. Alice offered her hand again, smiling as sweetly as she had before.
"See you around Bella." I took her hand and that was when it hit me. My eyes went wide and Alice looked uncomfortable. She dropped my hand and turned on her heel quickly, darting out of the class in a matter of seconds. My hand was still tingling. I'd realised what was wrong. Where she'd shook my hand, where her thumb had pressed against my skin, there was no pulse. When we sat next to each other making notes, it had been so silent. Silence. Silence coming from Alice. There was nothing. Throughout the hour Alice Cullen never took a breath and heart did not beat, not even once.
I was frozen to the spot for a few more moments. What was she? My head was spinning and I was gulping down oxygen. I felt like I was going to pass out. Was she from the Institute too? Was she like me? I had to tell Charlie. I grabbed my bag and quickly sent Charlie a text explaining that I would be leaving school early and I needed to speak with him urgently. I wove through the rest of the students. A woman on a mission. I ignored the glances and blatant stares and found my way to the nearest exit. The fresh air was like a smack in the face and I relished it. It allowed my focus to come rushing back, I began to formulate a plan. Number one, get out of school. Number two, find Charlie. Number three, explain situation to Charlie. Number four, investigate. Number five, possibly run away or hide under my bed like a baby. I was walking a little faster than I should have and I was concentrating so hard that I didn't even notice someone coming up behind me. The hand on my shoulder caused me to jump about a foot into the air. I spun around, immediately on the defensive and saw the boy with copper hair who was sat with Alice at lunch. He still had that slight scowl on his face.
"I just want to talk." He held his hands up and took half a step back from myself. He had the same blemish-free skin and perfect golden eyes as Alice, only his were a little darker around the pupils. They were so alike, I concentrated a little harder on this boy, Edward I think Jessica said his name was, and I realised that he was JUST like Alice. No pulse, not breathing, no heartbeat. My instincts took over, the area around me began to dim slightly until Edward was the only thing I could see clearly. I lifted my right leg, bending it at the knee until it formed a perfect right angle. I then snapped my foot forward as hard as I could, catching Edward full force, square in his chest. The boy went flying backwards. I'd put too much strength into the kick. He flew through the air, crashing into an old, battered, brown pick-up, causing a massive dent in the passenger door and the truck to spin out of its parking space, clipping a a row of bikes parked next to it and causing them to topple over like a row of dominoes. Less than a blink of an eye. That was how much time had passed. Too long, I should have left already. I saw the look of absolute horror and shock in Edwards face. He definitely wasn't a normal human. That kicked would have snapped any other persons spine. I turned on my heels and ran into the forest. What on Earth was I going to do now?
I ran through the trees, ripping branches and roots out of my way. I was a blur. At this speed I could reach Alaska by sunset. My senses were on high alert. Was I being followed? No...wait...yes! There were...three of them, two on my left, one on my right. I glanced over my shoulder. Edward was on my right, about fifty feet behind me and the two other guys from lunch, Emmett and Jasper I think, were on my left, a little further behind than Edward. How could they be running this fast? I decided to try and leave them in the trees. I sprung from the forest floor and landed on a thick branch about thirty feet up. The bark cracked slightly under my feet but I kept running, leaping from branch to branch, leaves were dropping all around me and I was aware that I had a few in my hair, to mention a few twigs. The wildlife skittered out of my way in a hurry. I heard a thunk behind me and saw the blonde boy, Jasper land on a branch a few trees away. My plan didn't work. I had no idea who my enemy was. They were obviously strong and fast, but how strong? I couldn't risk a confrontation, I had to keep running. I threw myself out the tree, doing a somersault before landing back in the dirt and resuming my frantic running. I twisted and zigged through the trees, hoping my pursuers would make a mistake and literally trip themselves up, no such luck. I began to realise that they weren't actually trying to catch me; they were just keeping pace. I wonder if they could catch me? I took a violent left turn, crashing into a tree at least a hundred feet tall and causing it to topple over into the nearest tree behind it. The deep roots erupted out of the soil, it was like a volcano. Soil, worms, roots, they all went flying everywhere! The guy with black hair was going too faster and couldn't adjust his trajectory. He went straight into the clump of roots. His mouth and eyes wide open. I kept running. The roots didn't stop him or his companions for long. Less than a second later and they had already caught up again. This time more determined than ever. The two guys on my left began to push, causing me to veer on my right. If I went to far right then Edward pushed on my other side causing me to veer left. They were herding me! Where were they taking me?
I realised the trees were thinning. We were coming to a clearing. This was it, they'd been looking for a quiet, open face to attack me, take me down. I tensed all my muscles, this was going to hurt. They'd grouped up behind me, the big one was in front, Emmett. I turned a full 180 and stopped in my tracks. I put all my weight on my back leg, gritted my teeth and braced myself for impact. About a second and a half later Emmett came barrelling into, impossibly soon after that I felt another weigh added to his and then a third. I'd taken them by surprise. This was good. I grabbed Emmetts shoulders, digging my fingers into his skin...although it felt more like solid rock! I heard him hiss, hopefully in pain, before I put all my weight, fear, anger and strength behind my arms and shoved as hard as I could. Emmett and his two companions went flying backwards into a few young trees. I heard them snapping, I heard the boom of them hitting the soil and the snarls of anger. I ran again. I ran straight into a pair of stone arms.
I'd been flipped over onto my stomach with my arms pinned behind my back. A weight was on my legs and my face was forced to the left, grass was tickling at the corner of my eye. How did they sneak up on me again? I must be getting rusty. I thrashed about but couldn't move. I couldn't even gain a millimetre of space or freedom! The weight on my legs never moved and the grip on my arms never lessened. After a few more thrashes, I began to notice my surroundings. I was indeed in a clearing, but it wasn't a forest clearing. The grass was cut short, I noticed an elegant, black iron bench under a gazebo that had ivy clinging to its roof. There were boulders and gravel...this was a garden! I twisted my neck slightly and saw the biggest, most beautiful house I had ever laid my eyes on! It was a mathematicians dream1 There were so many angular walls, a high, sloped roof and windows!I couldn't count the windows there were so many! It was breath-taking and unsettling. What was it doing out in the middle of the forest? I noticed the blonde girl, Rosalie stood just in front of me, she was crouched with her fingers splayed in an aggressively feline stance. Behind her stood a woman with chocolaty hair and warm eyes, a worried look curled over her lips and behind her, with his hands on his shoulders stood a tall man, sunlight blonde hair and inquisitive features. There were more of them. None of them had heart beats.
Fear had seeped into every pore in my body. I was sure they could smell it on me. My heart was beating faster than normal, which for me was quite an accomplishment. My eyes darted over all of their faces. The three guys had joined the others in front of the house. Emmett had a crooked grin, Jasper had his arms folded and Edward had his thumbs tucked into his pockets. They obviously didn't view me as a threat. Of course they couldn't, I was pinned down!
"Please let our guest up." The man's voice was soft, quiet, I wasn't sure I'd heard it at first or if it had been in my mind. The weight on my legs shifted. My arms were pinned tighter against my back and I felt a cold hand grab my waistband of my jeans and lift me to my feet. I was given a second to right myself and get my balance. I looked at my captor, it was Alice. She barely came up to my shoulders and yet she was able to pin me down with the ease of a man four times her size.
My knees were twitching. I didn't know if they wanted me to run or collapse. I looked around sheepishly, waiting for the bullet or knife or rope that was going to finish me off. Instead the man stepped forward. His hand were at his side and as he got closer he moved them away from his body, his fingers spread and palms facing me. I recognised it as a peaceful gesture. He was showing me he was unarmed and meant me no harm. I didn't believe him yet.
"My name is Carlisle, this is my family. Who are you?" He spoke crisply, there was a hint of an accent in his voice, as if he'd lived somewhere entirely different to this place when he was younger. I clamped my mouth shut. My Institute training over-rode every thought in my brain. DO NOT give them any information. I had to find a way to escape.
"We mean you no harm." He stepped closer.
"Bella, her name is Bella." The sweet voice behind me almost shocked me into peacefulness...almost.
"Bella." Carlisle tilted his head to the side slightly. "Why have you come here Bella? What are you?" He looked at me curiously, taking another step closer. He was just beyond an arms length away. Just at the point the cloud cover that appeared to constantly inhabit the skies over Forks parted. Sunshine flooded the area in waves. It hit the house first, causing rays of light to be cast in every direction, reflected over the immense amounts of glass. Then it hit my captors and reflected off their skin. What? The light was reflecting of their skin. It was bouncing off them, like marble. They were shining! They were actually, fricking shining! What, the actual, hell? I looked at them one at a time, each more beautiful than then next. My eyes stopped on Alice's face, barely two inches away from my own. The light was shinning off her skin in a ballet of colours. Reds, pinks, blues, purples. It was so beautiful it made me want to weep. My eyes drifted from her skin to her eyes, they were the darkest of black now, a vivid and violent contrast against her beautiful, mesmerising skin.
"So beautiful." I barely managed to whisper the words before my legs gave way and my world went black.