Hey again its a new chapter the story is unfolding ooo dum dum dum !
Disclaimer:
US: we both own all the books so technichally....
Edward: no.
Us: Your just mean !
I found myself in Wonderland
Get back on my feet, on the ground
Is this real?
Is this pretend?
I'll take a stand until the end
- Avril Lavinge – Alice underground
Previously
"Guess who I saw today!"
"Who? Tell me, tell me!" she said bouncing on the sofa. "Ooh, was it Ben Barnes? Yum." She drooled.
"No. Someone even better - Edward!" I squealed. Alice's face turned as hard as stone, her body completely rigid. Then she spoke quietly but seriously, with a tone I couldn't quite fathom.
"Edward? What do you mean Edward?"
*****
"What do you mean, what do I mean Edward?" I said getting worried by the look on Alice's face - something's up.
"I mean how do you know his name?" She said this to me slowly as if talking to a five year old.
"Oh! That." She nodded "Well, I had a dream last night with you, me and him where we were all secret agents on a case. It was so cool!" She looked at me.
"Bella! The point?"
"Oh right. Well, in the dream we started hugging and stuff and I said his name whilst talking to him. I don't know how my mind came up with that one, but I think it fits" I told her and her expression became relaxed "But the dream felt so real ya know? That would have been so cool the two of us as spies!"
"Yeah. Cool" she looked out of the window, expression distant. Her head then whipped round "I'm gonna go make a call" she said as she stood up and shuffled into the kitchen down the hall. I knew it was wrong but I had to know if something was up, so walked into the hall and eavesdropped. I couldn't hear much but from what I could hear Alice wasn't very happy.
"I stuck my neck out for you! ...No you listen... Bella is fine...making sure of it... keep your distance... she's getting suspicious" Keep your distance? Was someone stalking me? Does Alice know about this stalker? Was she encouraging him? No? She would never do that, encourage a stalker. Its ridiculous. There was a long pause of silence where I could hear Alice taking frustrated breaths.
"I think she's remembering things .... No... She told me she had a dream about... three of us she told me ...your name... need to tell HQ" My mind was spinning with all this information - my brain couldn't process it quick enough. What did she mean I was remembering things and HQ? What the hell is she on about? Is there a stalker HQ or something?
I managed to break away from my thoughts just to her the end of the conversation. "I'm worried Edward... remembers to soon...Bad ...I know, bye" Edward? She was talking to Edward? I was right about his name, but how? This is impossible, maybe… maybe it was a different Edward but that still doesn't explain the whole HQ thing and me remembering and 'keep your distance'.
Well at least I know he's not a stalker. Probably. He did seem to show up everywhere the past few days so it would make sense, but then she said something about my dream then about me remembering things. Could that dream be a memory of some kind? No, it can't be me and Alice are not spies. Plus if it was that would mean that Edward and me were together.
Nope. Not possible.
Although, it would explain some of the strange things going on during the past few days like, when I 'first' met Edward.
I saw two green eyes looking back at me giving me that déjà vu all over again.
Those eyes...
He smiled into my neck as our bodies where pressed against one another. He wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me too him in a loving gesture. I could feel his breath on my neck sending shivers down my spine tracing his fingers along my bare hip bone, his green eyes capturing mine for a second.
"Bella" he moa...
Oh dear lord. Was I just having fantasies about a total stranger? A total stranger whose hand I was still clinging to for dear life.
And then him and Alice at the coffee shop;
His head shot up and he looked over here, I blushed and looked away but Alice kept on looking I noticed they seemed to be almost having a conversation with their eyes. It lasted for all but a second, I just about caught the exchange in their eyes. After a short amount of time his eyes flashed to mine then back to Alice, Alice's head whipped round to face me, a smile planted on her face.
"What was that about?" she looked at me confused bringing her espresso cup to her lips.
"What was what about?" she said giving me an incredulous expression
"Well, Alice, I highly doubt you where having a staring contest with him"
"What if I was?"
"Well, I've got dibs" just as I said this the guy looked up and smiled, oh God did he hear me!? No. No, impossible, I'm imagining things. Then why did he look so pleased with himself? Whilst I was pondering this Alice had took her phone out and started texting. I leaned over and took a look over her shoulder and she immediately moved it from my line of sight.
"God Alice, you would make a crap spy"
"Really? And how would you know?" her eyebrows raised "Wait, that doesn't make any sense."
It all does kind of make sense when I think about it - but how could me and Alice be spies? We've both been in between jobs for the past six months. Before that we both just had temp jobs because neither of us had found the right job yet! Oh god! It makes sense! But how could I not remember?
Then before our jobs we where both at college me majoring in English and Alice in fashion, Although come to think of it I never saw her diploma for her degree. I don't remember the last time I saw mine either. I jumped as I heard her start to walk towards me, her footsteps getting louder. I debated confronting her about it but I didn't know enough to accuse her of anything. Plus if I was wrong she would be pissed at me for listening in on her conversation.
Before I could debate with myself any further she rounded the corner, jumping when she saw me in the hall.
"Bella? What are you doing?"
"I was just thirsty and was getting a drink" I lied "Why? Was that conversation private?"
"Oh no!" She said quickly "Just wondering" She turned around, walking towards the living room when I had to go open my big mouth again and come out with one of the most stupid things I could think of. Go me!
"Just getting a cup of tea" Shit! Why did I say that and what in God's name made me say tea! "You know me and my tea addiction!" I chirped lying through my teeth. You see, when I lie I tend to start rambling and spurt a load of random word vomit.
"Since when?" Alice said turning back around to me slightly bemused at my odd behaviour.
"Since now!" Damn it!
I skipped into the kitchen and grabbed a tea bag out of the box I kept for Alice and other guests and plopped it into a cup. I grabbed the kettle and poured the water that was left in it in the cup. Like the idiot I am I started drinking it, then gagging as I realised the water was cold, I didn't add milk and I hate tea!
"Bella you hate tea" I know but I'm an idiot who's very bad at lying!
"No I love it!" I exclaimed trying not to gag as I swallowed the tea in my mouth. To save myself from any more misery I put the cup down "You know what? I'm not thirsty anymore, shame really because you know how much I love my tea!" I lied weakly shuffling out of the kitchen to the living room. Oh my god, well that didn't make her suspect anything at all, nooo!
Why? Why am I so incapable of lying to her?
I could hear the pitter patter of her footsteps behind me as she walked into the room. She walked round to sit on the sofa and looked at me.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Her eyes searched my face "You seem a bit… jumpy?"
"Me? Jumpy? No!" I spluttered. I honestly think my brain was still fried from trying to process all that information and it wouldn't let me be sane again this afternoon. I'm not usually this stupid, I'm not! Really, I swear.
"O…kay. Whatever. Anyway, I've got to be somewhere this afternoon, so I can only stay for a little while, alright?" Alice said, looking at me like I was some kind of science experiment. This is all too weird! Why am I being so paranoid?
"Whatever. Great! Um, where d'you have to be." I was trying to be bouncy, and normal. I was obviously failing, as Alice gave me another strange look.
"Err, it doesn't matter. It's not important." Alice was brushing me off? What was with all this vagueness all of a sudden? I feel so hurt. Maybe Alice doesn't love me anymore! God, I'm Bipolar…
"Well, come on, if you've got to go to it, then it must be important. Why won't you tell me where you're going?" I asked a little concerned. It wasn't like Alice to be so secretive. She wasn't ill or something, was she? Maybe I'd got the phone call all wrong and it was actually something serious about Alice. "You're not ill, are you Ali?" I said softly, hoping the nickname would make her feel better.
"What? No, of course not, Bella. It's just this errand I've got to do. It's alright; I don't have a disease or anything." She smiled. "God Bella, you always jump to the wrong conclusions." She shook her head and stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom now." She announced.
"Thanks, Alice, I really needed to know that!" I yelled at her retreating back. I sighed and turned to the TV. God knows why I'm being so silly today. I rummaged around on the sofa, looking for the remote. I know it's here somewhere… Ah-hah! I pulled it from beneath the unwilling cushion and blew the fluff off it. Right, now. What to watch…
I pressed the on button and the TV blared to life, nearly deafening me with an irritating jingle about some cereal. Yes, I really need to hear a song about some cereal to go make me buy it! Advertising really confuses me sometimes.
I channelled surfed for a minute, and when I couldn't find anything interesting, I settled for the News. Might as well see what's been going on in the world …
Within five minutes I was thoroughly depressed. What was with the News? Why couldn't they talk about anything cheerful? Why was it always about death and dismemberment? Especially BBC News. They were incredibly unhappy. They didn't even smile reassuringly about anything! No. Of course not. They just sat there stone faced while telling me that a whole country was starving. What happened to helping people?!
I mean honestly they tell you good evening or morning then they go tells us about a country that is in the middle of a war or starving or someone's been murdered. God forbid anything cheerful happen in the world now that we be a sign of the apocalypse!
"And lastly, Sir Aro, of Volturi Operations has donated a substantial amount of money to The Priory Group, a charity that specialises in mental health care. Here is Jack Hadley to tell us more."
"Thanks, Sarah. The news that the infamous Sir Aro has donated money to a mental health group has sparked a lot of curiosity. As many of you know, Sir Aro is not known for his generous nature, so many have questioned his own sanity. Is his brilliant mind finally slipping? Or is this simply a ploy to make himself look good? We contacted his publicist, but all she could report is that he has donated £100,000 to the group. Back to you, Sarah."
"Thank you, Jack. Well, that's all we've got for now, folks, but here's the Weather with Katy Marsh." The woman gave a very plastic smile, and the screen switched to a picture of rain and a well dressed brunette holding a clicker.
"And as you can see, tomorrow will be wet and windy, with temperatures not going above 3 Degrees…" She droned on.
Well. That was a waste of time. Only one nice thing happened all day, and they question the guy's motives. The world was sick. I did recognise the name Sir Aro, though. I don't know why though… I didn't think he was that famous, and to be honest, the name kind of freaked me out. I didn't know why, it was just like my brain did not like him. Ridiculous.
Alice came thundering down the stairs at that moment.
"I'm back!" She sang. "Miss me?"
"I'm depressed. Leave me alone." I said, burrowing my face in the cushion,
"Why? What happened in the ten minutes I was gone?" Alice questioned, looking incredulous.
"I watched the News! It was so horrible. Nothing nice happened except for this one guy, Sir Aro or whatever his name was donated some money. And it's weird because he kind of creeped me out and I don't even know who he is! I don't like the News…" I rambled.
"Um, right. Okay then. Wait, did you say Sir Aro?" Alice said, looking worried. And pale, I'd never seen her go quite so white. Huh.
"Yup. Why?" And that was when I started to flash back.
"Bella, beautiful Bella. How wonderful to see you. And you've brought your charming friend Edward with you. Splendid!"
I grimaced back. Aro was gracious, yes, but I didn't trust him one bit. He was the Italian Entrepreneur, who'd made millions with his inventions of various frightening weapons. Edward and I had been told to investigate him. HQ were interested in his somewhat more…shady dealings.
"Thank you Aro, you don't have to be quite so nice you know." I said, glaring at Edward to get to the point of our little meeting. We'd had a game of Rock Paper Scissors to see who had to interrogate Aro. I'd won. To be honest, we were both slightly scared of Aro…
Edward rolled his eyes back at me and opened is mouth. He did have such a nice mouth. "Anyway, Aro, the reason we're here is that we've had reports of you being connected with a recent murder. I'm sure you've heard about it. The killer has been using products with your logo on them, and we wondered if you knew anything about it. We aren't suggesting you're the culprit, of course." Edward said easily. See. I knew it was better for him to ask the questions.
I looked at Aro. Was it me or did he look slightly shifty? I looked closer. I was beginning to suspect that he did know something, especially because his eyes kept flickering to the door, like he wanted to escape.
"I can assure you my lovely young ones that I have nothing to do with any murders." He sniffed. "How distasteful." His Italian accent only made it sound more like a lie. He smirked. "Well if that's all you came to discuss, won't you stay for lunch? Me and my daughter, Jane are going to have a delightful Roast."
"I'm afraid we'll have to decline, Aro. However, it does sound great." I pushed in. Damn. I was feeling really hungry as well.
"And we're still not finished." Edward raised his eyebrow. "Anyone would think you're trying to deter us Aro." He laughed. "I assume that's not the case?" God, he did actually sound quite chilling. Note to self: never get on Edwards bad side.
Aro tossed his long black hair over his shoulder, and gave Edward a glowering look. "I hope you're not trying to imply that my business is illegal, Mr Mason. I run a perfectly legal operation, albeit one that trades in weaponry, but it keeps me and my daughter comfortable. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I have nothing to do with those murders." His black eyes flashed, making him look dangerous. With his pale skin, he did kind of look like a vampire.
"But, with all due respect sir, you do have something to do with it. Your products are being used to murder the victims" I pointed out. I know I was being a smart arse, but I couldn't help it. Aro turned his glare on me. "The least you could do is give us the record of who you've sold any of your products to in the last six months."
"Fine." Aro replied curtly. "But that is all I will do, Miss Swan. I will not have the British secret service investigating my company. I will fax the records directly to you. Now will you leave me alone?" He sighed. Well, that was a change of heart. One minute he's begging us to stay for lunch, the next he's telling us to bugger off!
We nodded, but looked at each other; we both knew we'd be coming back with some more questions sooner or later.
I came back to my own mind and shook my head to get rid of the weirdness. Why did this keep happening? I was getting sick of these 'visions', and in fact I was starting to wonder if they were real. The conversation Alice had was swimming in my mind too. I was getting really confused. I looked up at Alice, whose eyes were downcast. She was also biting her lip. In short, she looked guilty as hell.
"Alice, what the hell is going on?"
ooo cliffie hope you enjoyed this chapter ! Next update will be soon.