There is much to say in this author note, so pay attention:

-Much to my elation, and giddiness, I discovered that over half of you didn't predict that Miss Garratt equals Esme. Unfortunately my ego swelled to become disproportionate to my writing skills.

-Also, if you don't receive a teaser, is because it probably happened during the day, at which point, I have no access to the computer, and by the time I found said review I was in the process of the posting the next chapter. Why waste time finishing the teaser when you can just have the whole chapter five seconds later?

-ALSO about the teaser, if you noticed the one you received was extremely short. I didn't want to give away what defines this entire chapter.

-Many of you have asked just how, if, Bella escapes from jail. Does she break out? Does Edward miraculously show up on the Women's side and whisk her away into the sunset? Very intriguing and out of this world answers I received—and much more to my elation, not a single one of them was right.

Shocked you were wrong? Are you curious to find out what the answer really is? Then just let your eyes drifts below…

Chapter 18

"I told you Miss Garratt, I'm fine." I soothed her as she was stroking my arm worriedly; I had blacked out for a minute or two when I found out about him.

"It's probably because you haven't been getting your nutrients; you're still just an adolescent after all." She reasoned to herself, I was so relieved; she was making up my excuse for me. I just kept nodding.

"My body will adjust." The truth was my body had already adjusted to the lack of food from being on the other side; for once, I realized I could see my rib cage. I was so much sallower than before.

Now that I knew that Miss Garratt was the mother of the man whom I fell in love with, it made complete sense physically. I could see Edward in her so much now, it hurt. I supposed my mind was so preoccupied on surviving on the other side to even notice it.

Their eyes were the same shade of emerald; her hair was withered and longer, but I could still see it her; that in her younger days it was long, shiny and bright copper.

I also saw some traits in her I saw in him that weren't physical; she took care of me in when I was incapacitated, and I have also grown to care for her, but in a different way. What was with this gene pool that drew me so?

But now, whenever I looked at her, I saw him as well; my vision was now unintentionally tainted by him as well. It was complicated, whenever I saw her, I wanted to look away and never look back; but another part wanted to stare at her and never look away.

I really wanted to get off the subject of Edward, but it was like opening the gates holding back flood water with her. Once she started talking about him, she couldn't stop.

"He was the cutest baby, chubby, very chubby." I wanted to laugh at her reminiscing, but I also wanted to crawl under a rock and die or stuff her mouth full of cotton, just so I wouldn't have to hear it. All I heard was 'Edward this' and 'Edward that' for such a long time.

She talked about nothing but Edward for hours on end, I found after a while I was able to tune her out by staying in the realm between sleep and awareness; finally I couldn't take it. I snored obnoxiously, hoping she'd stop. And she did. I felt guilty for deceiving her, but I just couldn't handle it.

She never spoke of him again, even when I was awake.

But I became worried. Over time I began to notice something.

She spoke less often of anything, not just Edward, and I often found it harder to get her attention, as if she were drifting away. She was starting to resemble the women who were already gone; I wanted to drag her back from this, but I felt powerless. Her eyes became glassier, and her words made less and less sense.

Soon it became less and less like her taking care of me, but more me taking care of her; and that frightened me.

I kept trying to shake her to get her attention; soon, she stopped eating her food. Or she stopped trying to get it. So I would make sure she got some, last time I had to all but stuff it down her throat. Anything to keep her alive.

This went on for an immeasurable amount of time; and I began to worry about my own mental status. I would soon become like them; I would give my life to avoid it. I didn't want to experience the feeling of slipping away into oblivion; to die without dignity.

The rhythm of my new life was set, it was inescapable. Every time the latch in the high ceiling would open, I would hear the squish of food hit the floor in front of me. Then it would close.

Except for a few times; those few horrible times.

One would come down, with a large blade or something and would make yet another slash on Miss Garratt's arms. Slowly. I would always cover my ears for her screams. After a while, I didn't have to, she grew unresponsive to the pain.

Eventually she made a few slashes across my forearm; I screamed like I'd never screamed before. I felt it was deep; and Miss Garratt could only turn her head and look apologetically at me.

I ran my fingertips over one of the open gashes, clenching my teeth at the burning and throbbing. They were going to do it slowly. One at a time, until I died.

I was currently laying my head against the wall, trying to drift into sleep when I heard the latch above open up. I automatically grew still and cringed.

This was it; they were going to do it again. The sound of the extremely long ladder hit the floor; I curled up into a ball and began to shake. Miss Garratt only rested her hand on my shoulder comfortingly, knowing she could do nothing.

I waited for the terrible pain I knew would come, but I only heard footsteps. My heart thudded against my rib cage, as if trying to escape; only the sound of chains rattling hit my ears.

I peeked up curiously; this was out of routine. I silently relished the break of monotony. I thrived on the change. A Hawk was toying with the chain against my ankle; then she did something I never thought would be done.

She unlatched the chain against my ankle.

I was far past shocked; I was speechless, and I didn't dare move. Perhaps she wanted to hurt me in a way where I had to be standing? I hadn't stood up in so long… I've surely lost some muscle mass. Would I be able to stand?

She clutched me roughly by the arm and yanked me to my feet; I threw a glance to a very surprised Miss Garratt.

"Come on." The Hawk grumbled spitefully, with resent in her voice. I wondered why; what grudge could she hold against me?

"Where are you taking me?" I asked boldly, unable to restrain it; Miss Garratt hissed in disapproval.

She turned around, her eyes blazing. "Out."

I threw my glance back to Miss Garratt. I was leaving this god-forsaken room. I was leaving; but Miss Garratt wasn't. I should be able to turn around and leap out of here happily, ready to do anything to never go back; but something held me back. Someone.

Miss Garratt had helped me when I was at my lowest; I couldn't leave her. It would kill me.

"I'm not going. Not without her." I told the Hawk in an unfamiliarly stern voice I found; the Hawk stopped. Her shoulder rose up and down like she was chuckling.

"You have no choice." With one more sharp tug, she grabbed me by the waist and started climbing the fearfully high ladder. "If you squirm or fight back I will drop you. That's a promise." She growled, I gulped, prepared to be as still as possible.

Her strength was great, for she was able to lift us both up the ladder; but I was more concerned for the woman who would be left behind. Miss Garratt just stared up at me, tears rolled down my cheeks and I gazed at her. Her life would be hell, whatever was left of it. She was almost dead already.

Despite this, her lips curled up into a weak smile at me. She had nothing to smile for; why was she smiling? Because of me? Or had she finally lost it? Either way, I felt the warmth of tears rolling down my cheeks.

As we neared toward the light radiating from the hole in the ceiling, I reached my hand out meekly toward her; she reached hers out as well.

As the Hawk lifted me up through the hole, I saw Miss Garratt close her eyes and she sank back into a catatonic state. My heart broke. She wasn't going to survive much longer.

I was suddenly yanked upward, to my feet. I had to cover my eyes from the light; the room was all pure white, and brightly lit. My eyes stung from the sudden light. I had recently been immersed in nothing but blackness. The contrast was immense.

As soon as I was on my feet, hand cuffs were clamped to wrists and two hawks came to flank my sides; we started walking down an endless looking corridor.

"Where are we going?" I asked every so often; annoyance and restrain shown in their eyes, but made no move to stop me; I wondered what was stopping them now.

We came to a side door in the hallway; they pushed me through it. There was an enormous tub with various soaps, but they looked like they had been thrown together at the last moment, as if such things were to never exist here.

They ordered me to undress; I was very suspicious, but I didn't object. After I had done what they ordered me to, they all but drowned me in the bathtub. The water was cold; through the icy pain, I let myself remember my showers on the other side and how much they resembled each others. They roughly washed me with different liquid and foams.

I was embarrassed at first, but then I realized just how much they despised this. I grew ashamed.

After they had run me up and down with fizzy soaps; they put me in a weird slip dress and trotted me back in the hall.

The Hawk to my left glowered at me. "You have been kissed by an angel. Otherwise the only way out of that room is death." They were obviously going against protocol.

We walked for what seemed to be an eternity, before we got to a door. An innocent enough looking door; a bright, white door.

One of them opened it, and sunlight spilled across my body for the first time in so long; I instinctively urged toward it. They held me back with brute force. My eyes adjusted and I saw a big heavy carriage with the intricate symbol that had also been tattooed into Edward's arm.

After they took the hand cuffs off me they shoved me forward and pushed me into the open carriage. It was magnificent. Was this a mistake?

The interior was elaborately designed, with black and red velvet, silk, and satin. It look fit for someone rich; although the inside was beautiful, I discovered that it had no handles to open the doors. I was trapped either way.

In front of me lay a tray of some of the most delicious looking food I had ever seen. I feared they might be trying to poison me. But if they wanted to kill me, they could just do it with a knife, a sword, anything. Why were they going to such great lengths to poison me?

I had never been so confused in my entire life; wasn't I just rotting in a dungeon on punishment not too long ago? What happened to move me up so much?

The Hawk driving willed the horse to go forward, and we were on the move; I should have been elated to be leaving, but suspicion sank into my stomach.

Eventually I got around to eating the food in front of me; it was wonderful. My taste buds had never been treated so much; and I wasn't passing out. Or throwing up. Or dying. So I figured it was okay. I finished it all in at least five minutes.

A glass of a strange colored liquid lay in front of me, and a glass of water stood next to it; I decided to take a taste. It was a deep shade of red in color, when I brought it up to my mouth; the smell of it sent me reeling. The taste was so awful; I finished the whole glass of water just to wash away the taste. Now, that must have been the poison; it was terrible!

Afterward I had a strange sweet aftertaste in my mouth, and I realized it must have been some type of wine; I'd never had it before. I wasn't allowed to. Why would they think I'd want it? I left it alone after that.

We had ridden for hours, I saw the sun go from one side of the sky to the other; I was so happy to be free of that place. I kept rubbing my ankle gingerly, elated to be free of the shackle. I wanted to be able to not question the good things I was receiving, but I couldn't help the feeling in my gut that something was wrong.

Finally I had gathered enough to courage to ask again where we were going.

"Ma'am?" I called out the front window to the driver, she didn't respond. "Where are you taking me?" She didn't even bother turning around. "Hey, lady!" I called, abandoning any attempt at politeness. "Where are you taking me?" I screeched. She whipped around, her eyes on fire.

"You are so lucky you are in the position you're in now or I would strangle you right here and now for such utter disrespect!" She scolded the desire to kill in her eyes.

"What is my position?" I yelled back, pressing my face to the glass; her face hardened even further and she turned back around.

"You have been chosen as a wife for a new member of the Core. You should be eternally grateful to whoever chose you. Though I don't know why anyone would choose the likes of you for a wife, aside from your obvious lacking in looks, your attitude is rotten." She spat.

I fell back into my seat. Chosen as a wife.

My father's journal had mentioned that. I gazed up at the ceiling; I was to be married to a stranger. But why was I picked? Who would pick me? Was this why I was getting all the special treatment?

When I was little I had always dreamed I would marry a man, one I loved, although I knew it would never happen. I never wanted it like this; I hadn't wished to be forced. I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe, my heart was being constricted, my breathing grew shallow.

What did that mean? What would come from the position? I remembered that my father had said that the purpose was to…create an heir.

I kicked my legs against the seemingly fragile glass of the windows, and screamed at the top of my lungs. But the windows refused to break, and I continued to thrash anyway. Anything to escape!

"Hey!" She pounded her fist against the glass. "You know, I can always tell them you died in The Hole. Watch yourself girl." She growled and twisted back around. I stopped thrashing, but I continued to shiver.

What would it be like? Was there any way I could stop it? Oh, I dearly wished there was. Why was I being chosen as a wife? I was positive I wasn't desirable, what with my criminal record, and I certainly wasn't the most gorgeous in the colonies by any standard. Why me?

Questions buzzed in my head the whole rest of the way, and the tears streamed continuously down my cheek; but my thoughts occasionally strayed away from my impending destiny. To the poor woman, the mother of the man who had affected me too much than I should have allowed, the woman who had kept me sane at the expense of her own. My heart ached for her, she was still in that horrid place; doing nothing but nothing.

The only way out of there was death anyway, so I would never see her again. I pressed my fingers mournfully to the glass of the window, wishing to escape. To get back to that relative freedom I'd lived my whole life. When in truth, I never really was free.

The driver and I didn't spark up anymore rousing conversations. I was too lost inside myself to even bother. I just gazed out the tinted windows as we neared closer to society; we drove straight through the heart of some unknown colony, and the women all around acted as if nothing were out of the ordinary, these windows were so dark, they wouldn't have been able to see me anyway.

I yearned to be just another face in the crowd, nobody special, not a criminal, not a wife, just a girl.

We rode until I could see The Wall in the distance, my heart clenched and my stomach flipped; we got even closer, and I could it was becoming less populated with citizens, and more with Hawks. It was heavily guarded, and the driver to give identification just to let us pass the huge front gate.

This place was the focal point of my phobias and fear of hawks and the Volturi. I curled up in the carriage, not wanting to leave now that I saw I would be released into a sea of the ones I feared so greatly. They all walked around, weapons ready, and deadly; but we didn't stop.

Continuing, she rode us to The Wall itself; it appeared as if we were going to crash into it. I closed my eyes, for she made no move to stop.

We didn't crash, we didn't stop; we merely slowed; opening my eyes I saw that there was a gaping arch going straight through The Wall, like under a bridge. My jaw dropped; I never thought they would consciously let women cross.

Women (well Hawks) had been crossing this whole time, under our noses! My eyes were like disks; there was a way to cross that was made on purpose (well it made sense, how else would they get wives across?).

My whole life I was convinced there was absolutely no way to cross. Everything I'd ever known had been questioned since a few weeks ago. The basis of everything I was sure of, was being tested, and being proven false.

Many Hawks guarded this passageway to the other side, and we had to wait twenty minutes before they let us pass.

Going under The Wall once more, I felt a change within me, like I was settling into another version of myself. The person I had been on the other side before. I never thought I'd be back here again; I couldn't decipher if this emotion was euphony or devastation.

A huge castle-like building glimmered behind the looming trees, the trees that were just as strangled as the ones on my own side, not the free ones I'd seen. The place was enormous in itself, fit for royalty; it was the biggest structure I'd ever seen, second to The Wall. It was complex in design, and ostentatious to say the least; it was beautiful, but terrifying.

We reached another gate, and we were admitted once more; I gulped as the carriage finally came to a halt.

The door was ripped open by Hawks; only they weren't Hawks I'd known. They were men, though they were exactly the same as the ones I'd known. Cold in the face, cruel, and uncaring.

I shrank back and they grabbed me by my forearms; I hissed in pain as they grabbed my arm with the gashes on it, though they had started to heal, they were almost scabbed over. I was yanked out, and the second I was out, the carriage rode away again.

With my hands behind my back, I was walked into the castle, like an ornament; nobody stopped to stare, as if this sort of thing was to be expected.

Absolute burning loathing built up inside me like a cup catching rain, and I was soon drowning in it. I wanted to push them away and run, but I was to be still. My teeth clenched and I hung my head, for I did not want to look anyone in the eye.

I was embarrassed to be seen; being on this side was strange. But I only felt hate for these people.

The Hawk to my right looked down upon me with his penetrating gaze, as if he could find out everything about a person by turning them to jelly by his stare.

"This must be some mistake," He was talking to the Hawk to my left, but he was looking at me. "Surely there are better women out there than her." He spat, I gulped, afraid to look away as he insulted me. I knew he was telling the truth, for I held the same question.

The one to my left just laughed and we kept walking; I wondered where we were going for the millionth time. But I didn't dare wonder aloud; for that had gotten me nowhere.

As we continued, I started to see women; beautifully dressed, and glowing, they stood talking quietly to each other. Their smiles radiated the utmost happiness and joy; I couldn't stop staring. Apparently, the hawk with the deadly gaze noticed.

"That's what a wife is supposed to look like." He half whispered in my ear.

Fine! I wanted to tell them, take me back then!

Don't upset them… The voice reappeared.

Oh, I shouted facetiously in my head, I'm so glad you decided to come back! You were gone so long, I almost forgot about you. And we can't have that can we? I spat internally.

Everything was going perfectly, I was not needed.

By who's definition of perfect? And you're not needed now either. Perfectly? How could it possibly say it was going perfectly?

You ordered me away. It replied coolly.

Oh yeah, like that's ever stopped you before. My snarl was more menacing in my head than I sure it would have been in real life.

It didn't reply after that, but it was always present; I tried to ignore it, I had more pressing matters at hand. Like my fluctuating marital status.

We came to a room, it was (once again), luxurious inside, and there was no way out. There was a large window, the carpet was bright white and high, there was a big puffy bed against the wall. A vanity sat against the opposite wall, covered with makeup I never even knew existed; there was a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls were, as expected, off white. There was another door to a bathroom at the end of the room.

"Clean yourself some more and put on the dress on the bed." He said before shoving me roughly into the room and locking the door behind them; turning around I saw the door had no interior handle. I could only guess the windows weren't breakable.

On the bed, I discovered one of the most beautiful dresses I'd ever seen; it was deep ocean blue, had long sleeves, and the neckline was modest. I knew it would look great even before I put it on. But I wished I didn't have to, it was obviously to look good for whoever chose me; that part still confused me to the edges of sanity. In the bathroom, I saw many soaps and shampoos in the claw footed bath tub; I knew why I was receiving this treatment, I wanted to deny it. But truthfully I needed it more than anything after spending who knows how long in that hole. Even after the Hawks had cleaned me, it was just to get me halfway decent, not the epitome of clean by any standards.

The bath was much different than the shower I had gotten used to, the water was warm and it had bubbles and Rose petals. Afterward, my skin was softer than it had ever been; I should have enjoyed it, any other time, I would have. Just not under these circumstances.

I put on the dress, but I didn't bother looking in the mirror, how it looked on me was hardly an issue.

Now, I just sat on the bed, contemplating.

How could I get out of this? I certainly couldn't escape, that was out of the question. What if he changed his mind? They wouldn't let me go even then, I'd seen much too much. Perhaps this place and The Hole had something common; maybe there was only one way out.

I banished the thought and flopped back on the bed and covered face with my hands; there was no way out.

The door was thrown open, and I shot up into a sitting position with a sharp intake of breath. A few Hawks came in, and one actually held out their hand so I could place it in his, as if I had a choice. The gesture was laughable; I placed it in his and we all walked out. I felt like I could finally walk with some dignity. A very, very little amount of dignity.

"Where are we going?" I asked timidly, peeking up at the man to my side. He didn't answer, and soon I saw why.

Rounding a corner, what I saw made me want to stop dead in my tracks, it made me want to turn around and run faster than the wind, it made me want to evaporate into thin air.

Edward stood leaning against the wall wearing black; not like the Hawks, but more formal. He wasn't even looking yet, for he was glancing in another direction.

My heart told me to shut my eyes and turn my head down, but I was stuck; with my head up and my eyes wider than a doe's, I was faced with meeting Edward's gaze for the first time since I found out who he really was.

His head turned to my direction and his eyes locked with my own; his widened in surprise like mine were. The entire world around us paled, and all I could see was his green eyes. I wanted to rip my eyes away from him and look elsewhere, but when I looked at him, all I could see was all the lies he told, and how much I had cared.

My mouth hung open; what was he doing here? Shouldn't he be home or—

"Meet your fiancée."

Dun…dun...Dun! Yeah, you all probably saw that coming too… or maybe you didn't. In which case I'd be ecstatic.

Review for the rest of the teaser:

"I know what your mom would say," I started, getting up the nerve to continue. "In fact I know exactly what she would say if she were here. If she could see you, so tainted."

"You have no clue what you're saying." He sounded truly hurt, and angry; I knew I shouldn't have cared, but a fresh wave of guilt engulfed me.

"I know I'm just a kid to you, but I know precisely what I'm saying."

"How? How could you possibly understand?" He growled.