A/N: R&R if you so desire.
I do not own Twilight, I just play with the characters.
BELLA
"I can't believe I never thought about this before. I mean, come on, how long have we known the oracle?" Dakota says in disbelief.
"Well, Mary Beth has always come to us," Jen shrugs.
"I guess it just never occurred to me that she had a special place," I add.
"No one ever really thinks about it, but she's been able to hide out for much longer than you think," Jen just smiles at our ignorance.
"As long as you are enjoying this," I roll my eyes.
"Seriously, Mary Beth is a person under all that oracle stuff. She has a right to privacy of her own," Dakota defends Jen.
"Even if she is the head of the Council," Jen adds.
"Why can't we just teleport there?" Dakota changes the subject as we come to the bottom of what might be a mountain.
"Because there is a natural barrier here," Mary Beth surprises us by replying from behind. We spin around in a bit of alarm.
"I don't think that I follow," Jen is the first to recover.
"Well, I might be using the word 'natural' a little loosely. I found this place a very long time ago. Within a perimeter of jagged rocks, there is a rather unusual phenomenon that I have never been able to explain. When an immortal passes this border, they become human. Seers can't penetrate the bubble. Magic flees from witches. It's like you pick up your life from the day that you changed. The only exception is that you don't age at all," Mary Beth explains.
"Really?" the three of us say together as we turn in unison to look at the path ahead of us.
"Yeah, the funny thing is that this place fits the description of Shangri-La. It's also about where legend places such a place," Mary Beth chuckles while she responds.
"Authors never really get things right. I'm not surprised that James Hilton was a little confused," Dakota sounds very knowledgeable about this.
"You know, he based that place on old legends that he heard from an immortal. I mean, this place is out of the way, but not entirely isolated. Every so often, travelers, and later hikers and campers, come through. Imagine, accidentally coming across a place where you don't age? And then never being able to find it again? That kind of thing does not get forgotten," Mary Beth replies easily.
"It's probably those family stories that get told at reunions but not in the general public for the shame of sharing blood with the crazy person who invented a magical place where they felt amazing and did not age," Dakota adds.
Sighing, we all start our journey to the place that the oracle built. It is deep in the weird shield-like, bubble thing. We trudge and trudge for most of the day, only stopping to eat and answer nature's call. Mary Beth is clearly used to this trek. She is perfectly fine with walking all this way on a winding and occasionally steep path. I think I would rather move around the world a lot, than have to take this way to get to my home every time I wanted to be there.
"Color me lazy, but what's the point of living in a place that you can only access by walking for centuries to get there?" Dakota whines at Mary Beth.
"Darlin', we have only been walking for like a couple of hours," the oracle laughs in response.
I must have misheard her. Did she really say we have only been traveling couple of hours? We have to have been walking for longer than that. Maybe being able to transport myself and magically move quickly has made me really lazy. But, come on, how many places are there in the world where immortals have to rely on their human physical stamina? I wonder what Edward would make of this place. He always despises his vampire nature. Would he be really happy to be more human? I guess we could see if Mary Beth would welcome neighbors. Then we might build a house somewhere that is not nearly as deep in as her house is. This walk is verging on painfully ridiculous. I guess we just happened to hit a mealtime while we were going along.
"Finally," Dakota sighs as she practically collapses on Mary Beth's front porch.
"You guys are weak," the oracle teases us.
She unlocks the door and we all rush into the air-conditioned bliss that awaits us. All that we do is sink onto the comfortable furniture. Something is nagging at my brain, but I can't bring myself to exert the effort to bring it up to the front. I sigh at the same time as Jen and Dakota. It just feels so good to just sit for a spell.
"Is everybody comfy?" Mary Beth asks us, still amused at our lack of ability to breathe deeply and fully.
"Yeah," the three of us grunt in unison.
"Good," answers a familiar voice.
"Hey, mom," Jen greets that voice while Dakota and I shot up in our seats and turn to look.
"Why, exactly, are you not surprised to find her here?" I demand.
"Because this is the only place that no Seer can penetrate," Mary Beth answers for Jen.
"Because I couldn't see your mother, you knew where she was?" Dakota sounds more than a little confused and irritated.
"I suspected that she came here since she vanished from the time that Bella and I were watching her parents. The lack of visions on your part just fell in line with my suspicions," Jen snuggles more deeply in her comfy chair.
"Well, when did you get home?" a masculine voice speaks to Mary Beth.
"Not too long ago," she smiles.
"What. The. Hell," is all that I can say when I recognize the man behind the voice.
"Nice to see you too, Bella," Grim chuckles at me.
My mouth opens and closes in what probably looks like a fish motion. I just can't make words come out. How is he even here? I thought that all the Slayers were long since gone?