Unbelievable

Chapter Four: Secrets

I pulled into the school parking lot, and my eyes were instantly drawn to the black pickup truck parked across the lot. Isabella was leaning nonchalantly against the corner of the tailgate, her expression an odd mixture of amusement and intense focus. A smirk hovered about her lips, and her eyes snapped up to meet mine. Oddly enough, the moment our eyes met, it was as if I couldn't look away from the knowledgeable glint in her violet-blue eyes. However, my concentration was quickly broken when I heard a loud squealing noise pierce the still morning air.

A faded gray van, which was being driven by an annoying teenage boy named Tyler Crowley, slid across the parking lot, the tires traction-less against the black ice that I'd not even noticed on the drive from home. The out of control vehicle and the panicked boy inside were heading straight for my smirking daughter, and I felt a deep sensation of horror welling up inside of me.

"Don't move."

Those words were the only thing that stopped me from rushing to her side and standing in the way of the hunk of metal heading straight for her, my family's secret be damned. Her voice was calm, despite the situation, and she smiled a bit, winking just before the van reached her. I was paralyzed, frozen into inaction by her bizarre reaction to her own impending doom.

That's when it happened.

The van had been mere seconds away from crushing her, and she moved so quickly that I barely saw her, even with my impeccably sharp vampiric vision. One moment she was leaning against the tailgate of her truck, and the next moment she was perched on the hood as if she'd been there all the time. Tyler's van just barely missed her truck by less than an inch, instead crashing into the ancient Toyota parked next to her.

Screams rang out, but I hardly noticed. I was too busy staring at Isabella's relaxed expression, dumbfounded by her seeming unconcern with what had just occurred, not to mention the impossibility of what she had just done. The steady sound of her heartbeat stood in stark contrast with what I'd just witnessed, and it was only when Emmett's hand wrapped around my wrist that I came back to reality.

"Oh, God..." The words escaped my lips in a breathless murmur, and my mate was wide-eyed and slack-jawed when I spared a glance in his direction. "What the hell just happened?" I demanded, my voice too quiet for any human to possibly hear, my lips moving so fast that any human would think they were merely quivering as I breathed in and out.

"That was so fucking awesome!" Em responded at the same volume, awe clear in his voice, and I slapped the back of his head almost reflexively. I loved my mate, but he was a bit oblivious on occasion and I had no patience for his antics after what I'd just witnessed.

Isabella laughed the second my palm met Emmett's head, before hopping onto the ground and striding toward the school doors. Immediately, I followed after her, leaving Emmett with a quick kiss. I had to be certain that she was unharmed, though I'd seen that she was perfectly fine, against all odds. I had to know what was going on, what she knew and what she didn't know. No human could possibly have moved at the speed at which she had moved mere moments ago. No amount of adrenaline could account for such incredible swiftness.

That left only one possible conclusion, one that didn't fit with everything else I'd seen of her so far: she wasn't human.

At the same time, I didn't see how she could be anything but human. Her heart was beating and there was blood flowing through her veins, but her scent didn't provoke my thirst in any way. Nor did she incite the thirst of my siblings or mate. She moved as quickly as a vampire, perhaps even more so, but she exhibited no sign of the typical vampiric frustration of moving at human speed. She spoke to me in a way that clearly demonstrated the fact that she knew that I would hear her, and she also seemed to hear my conversation with Emmett.

The most convincing piece of evidence as proof of her humanity, however, was the fact that I'd been human when I conceived and carried her, and her father had also been undeniably human. I would have noticed if he'd been as spectacular as even the dullest of vampires, and he had been distinctly mortal, though he was certainly far above the average human – I wouldn't have accepted anything less.

I shook my head in frustration and confusion, my eyes never leaving the back of her head as I trailed her through the hallways filled with complaining teenagers, all of them whining about how early it was. My lips twitched into a frown when she approached the doors leading out of the school and swiftly exited through them. That side of the school backed up to the forest, and Isabella didn't hesitate to melt into the thick undergrowth, vanishing into the haze of green.

I sped up, unwilling to lose sight of her, and I was stunned to find that I had already lost sight of her. Panic welled up in my chest, but I forced myself to follow her scent trail, inhaling the familiar scent - I'd never forgotten that incredible smell from my all too brief time with her when she was born - which wound deeper into the woods. The trail eventually led me into a small clearing, where I found her waiting for me, sitting patiently on a large rock outcropping. Her eyes were closed, but it was obvious that she wasn't sleeping, particularly when she spoke.

"Hello, Rosalie." Her eyes opened, and I searched them intently for answers. "I'm sure that you have questions, but before we begin I want to be perfectly clear when I say that there are some things that I'm not ready to speak to you about," she told me seriously, a solemn frown on her face. It seemed almost as if she was conflicted about the words even as she said them, but I didn't mention it.

I nodded slowly. "I understand," I responded honestly. At the moment, she held all the cards, and I didn't feel that I had any right to demand anything of her, regardless of the situation. If she wanted me to know something, then she would tell me. It was rather simple, and I was content to keep it that way for as long as she wanted. After spending so long without her, I was glad simply to be in her presence.

She smiled with genuine happiness, and my heart melted at the sight. "In that case, you should know that I'm aware of the fact that you are my birth mother," she said quietly, her eyes growing a bit softer.

My own eyes widened. I was blown away, despite the fact that I'd suspected that she must know. It was one thing to suspect and quite a different thing to know that my daughter knew who I was. "How?" I breathed, the question falling unbidden from my lips. It wasn't impossible that she should know – in fact, it was fairly obvious – but I had to know.

"I researched my birth and, after learning your name, I searched for all of the information about you that I could find," she told me candidly, tilting her head as if to study me where I stood before her. For a moment, she reminded me of Carlisle when he was observing a patient's behavior. "I learned everything ever recorded about your life, all the way up until your disappearance, which I assume was the date of your transformation," she concluded with a shrug.

I couldn't help the proud smirk that formed on my face, before I was reminded of the seriousness of the situation. As much as I wanted to know how she felt about being my daughter, there was a more pressing matter at hand - Isabella's actions in the school parking lot. "As glad as I am that you know all of that, I have to ask you something," I said, watching her carefully for her reaction. She simply smiled, her eyes unreadable.

"Feel free to ask me anything," Isabella told me, not giving anything away with her expression or her voice.

"What just happened in the parking lot? How did you move so quickly?" The words rushed from my mouth, my curiosity reaching new heights. "Everything I know about the human race tells me that you shouldn't have been able to do what you do. All my senses tell me that you're human, but you moved faster than most vampires and acted as if it was nothing to you," I murmured, confusion washing over me once more. None of it added up.

Isabella chuckled quietly. "That's one of those things that I'm not willing to answer," she said firmly, her voice calm. "However, I will tell you that I'm not fully human, though I was at one time. A lot of things have happened in the past seventeen years," she said thoughtfully, a hint of darkness creeping into her voice.

Those few sentences set off an alarm in my brain, and I began to worry more than ever about what I'd missed in my daughter's life. I couldn't dwell on that just yet, though. "I hope that eventually you'll feel differently, but I understand wanting to keep things private," I said truthfully, trying not to let on just how much I wanted to be close to her. The bell rang for first period, and I frowned. "Would you please join my family and I for lunch in the cafeteria later? They're all excited to meet you," I confessed, and she grinned.

"I'd love to, but I'll see you before then," she commented. "After yesterday, I convinced the office staff to fit my schedule to yours. They weren't exactly eager, but I insisted that it was best for me to be close to my long lost twin sister," Isabella elaborated upon seeing my questioning look.

I grinned when I heard the cover story that she'd come up with for the two of us. It was perfectly believable because she'd grown to resemble me exactly, apart from the golden eyes that I now sported. Although, I was slightly put off at the thought of being called her sister, I knew that it was best for everyone involved. The humans weren't quite gullible enough to believe that I was her mother when we both looked the same age and were enrolled in the same year of high school.

"In that case, would you mind it if I walked you to class?" I wondered, eager to spend more time with my daughter.

"I'd love to, but there's something that I have to take care of this morning. So, I won't actually be going to class until third period, but I'll see you then. We can talk some more," she said with a soft smile.

"I'd like that." I covered up my disappointment with a quiet sigh, but a knowing glint appeared in her eyes that implied that she could hear me. "I suppose, I'll see you then. I hope that everything goes well for you," I answered vaguely, unsure how to respond to her ambiguous mention of having something to do. I would have loved to ask her what she was doing, but I felt that it might be too personal of a question when we'd only spoken once.

Isabella hummed. "I have a feeling that everything is going to go perfectly... I'll see you then, Rosalie," she said, giving me a small salute before turning and vanishing farther into the forest. "Tell Emmett, Alice, and Jasper that I said hi," she called back to me, her voice fading.

I shook my head in amazement, getting the uncanny feeling that my life was about to get a lot more interesting with Isabella in my life, and I wasn't too sure yet if that was an entirely good thing or not...

To Be Continued.

A/N: I loved writing this chapter! It's great getting further into the storyline with Rosalie and Isabella - lots of secrets and a couple of answers showing up in this chapter! Things should be becoming clearer in the near future, but we have a long way to go yet! I hope that you all enjoyed! Let me know with a review, and thanks for reading!

~A Thousand Undiscovered Stars