Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students

by StarStrellaStar

Twins Isabella and Christabel are not your ordinary, everyday girls. At least that's what the teachers of FASGS, a magical school, say. Now, the two contrasting girls have to deal with their new lives and an unexpected secret that awaits them in the dark.

13. It Slowly Begins

A/N: Yay! Fanfiction finally works aagain and...oh I updated. Yes, yes I'm great and I know you love me especially because the chapter is 14, 695 words long. I don't know why but I'm writing pretty long chapters these days and that even though I'm stressed out beyond compare-.-

Right now my printer is going wild, because I decided to print FASGS. I kow it's weird, but because I'm all over the place these days and I wanna correct the first few chapters, I just thought that might be a good idea. It's actually only 94 pages, but if it were a book, I bet it would be about 200 pages :P and actually it's pretty amazing to hold this in my hand I'm very impressed.

Okay enough from me, I bet you wanna read and I can't blame you becuase it's getting really exciting:D

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Third POV

"That bloody bastard. I swear I'm going to fu-"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Master scolded lightly. "Watch your language, my dear."

Blossom was sitting on a wooden chair, hissing and cursing loudly as Nightmare attempted to clean her flesh wounds. Blossom had ripped her top off the moment she and Shadow entered the room, only to reveal a harsh burn mark on her left arm and a matching one on her right side, a little bit above her waist. Nightmare had a sadistic smile on her face as she cleaned off the blood and added ointment to Blossom's wounds. She obviously enjoyed the extra pain she caused Blossom.

"That shit hurts like a motherf-" Blossom started, but stopped when Nightmare jabbed her finger into the wound on her side. She gave a light yelp of pain while Nightmare giggled. "You little-" Blossom stopped once again, hissing at Nightmare.

"It is your own fault that you are injured. You should have been more thorough," Nightmare told her, no doubt thinking that she would have done the job so much better.

"I could say the same to you," Blossom spat back. "Isn't it your fault that I had to take care of this problem in the first place?" Nightmare's facial expression changed into a darker one and she hit Blossom on her bleeding arm, causing her to screech in pain.

"Keep it down, will ya?" the careless voice of Houdini said lazily.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was me who was hit by that crazy bitch, not you," snapped Blossom, glaring at Houdini.

"She has shown quite impressive skills today. The progress the twins are making is quite extraordinary, as well, however, I am afraid that Christabel's attitude may cause us problems," Master mused.

"Oh, please, just because Bella isn't as crazy as her sister, doesn't mean her attitude won't be a problem," Blossom commented.

"If it ever comes down to it, I believe it would be easier to take Christabel down," Shadow breathed.

"It will not come to that!" Master yelled, causing his minions to flinch. "Not yet, anyway. If I find out that any of you have caused harm to the twins in any way before their task is fulfilled, I will be very angry." The threat was easy to hear in Master's voice, and no one dared to argue with him. "Well, Blossom, I am very proud of you. You have completed your task."

Despite her pain, Blossom smiled proudly.

"But you could have done a better job," Master continued, causing Blossom's bright smile to immediately disappear. "There is a simple reason as to why I sent you. You could have made his death seem like a natural cause - perhaps a disease - but you messed it up when you let him to get away. Now we will have a lot more to deal with."

"I'm sorry, Master," Blossom apologized quietly. Master sighed before turning his attention to Shadow.

"Did you double check on Isabella?"

"Yes. All of the information we've collected seems to be spot-on with her," he answered.

"No, it's not," Blossom argued. "The target should be Edward Cullen. As a matter of fact, we should be targeting the whole Cullen family, as well as the Hales and the McCarty kid."

Master looked at her with a small icy smile etched on his face.

"Alistair must have warned them. What do we do now?" Houdini asked.

"You do exactly as I told you. Isabella and Christabel don't know the specifics. Alistair wasn't in the position to be supplied with that kind of information. You will have to keep a closer eye on them, though. I'm fairly sure that there are more Guardians in the school and Alistair may have told them who it is."

And with that, Master breezed out of the room.

Bella POV

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at the dead body of Alistair. Millions of question, all sounding the same, ran through my head.

How was this possible when we had just been with Alistair not long ago?

What did any of this have to do with us?

Why are we being watched?

Why us?

"Get them away from here," I heard a familiar voice instruct. I vaguely noticed that there were people rushing all around us, but I couldn't get myself to focus on that.

"Come on, Bella, lets get you to the hospital," a gentle voice said. All I could was nod back numbly.

A warm hand grasped mind and softly tugged me along. I noticed that it was Edward.

"Where are Chris and Dylan?" I asked. My voice sounded far away and monotonous even to me.

"Over there with Emmett and Rose," he answered and pointed to where the four of them stood. We walked over to them and when we approached, Edward calmly told them, "Carlisle wants us to check in at the hospital."

"Why? Nothing happened to us," Chris was quick to protest. Through the bond, I felt that she was just as confused and terrified as I was.

"He doesn't want anyone to go into shock, so we should just go. He's only looking out for us," Edward replied. "He wants us to want for him there."

"When did he say that?" I asked him. I was even more confused now, since I had no recollection of hearing Carlisle's voice at all.

"He didn't," was the simple answer I received.

"Well, then, lets go. We might as well get some tranquilizers or something while we're already there," Chris said as she started leading all of us toward the school's hospital.

"Oh, thank God nothing happened to you. I was so worried!" Alice came bolting toward us, leaving Jasper to stand alone a few meters away from us. She threw herself into my arms, catching me off guard and causing me to stumble. Edward was quick to steady the two of us and Alice released me, only to get a death grip on each of the others. When she was finally done hugging the life out of everyone, we proceeded to walk. Jasper joined us when we reached him.

"Did anything happen to you?" he asked, looking at Chris, Edward, Dylan, and I. I didn't really have an answer to that, so I just frowned a little at the question.

"You'll hear soon enough. Carlisle will, no doubt, be asking more than enough questions in a few minutes," Edward replied.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So she was green?" Mr. Decour asked skeptically, giving us a look of slight disbelief.

We were all currently seated in Carlisle's office. It was inside the hospital, and when I asked the others why that was, they informed me that Carlisle was also one of the school's healers. It seemed to me that Carlisle was doing a lot of things in this school, but I still had yet to see him stressed out.

Until now.

He continuously ran his hand through his hair - a trait I recently realized Edward had inherited from his father. He was sitting at his desk, while Mr. Decour was constantly pacing behind him, only slowing a little to occasionally glance out the window. Chris and I were sitting in the two leather chairs in front of Carlisle's desk, while the others sat on the couches on the other side of the room. Mr. Decour and Carlisle had decided to question us now, rather than Dylan and Edward, who had been in these seats just before us. That was because Chris interrupted when Dylan mentioned the woman in the maze.

Both Chris and I had been able to see her, using our enhanced senses.

"And she came out of the ground?" questioned Mr. Decor. We both nodded.

"Could you be more specific about that?" Carlisle asked gently, a stark contrast to Mr. Decour's current way of questioning.

"It was really strange. She wasn't just green. It was like she was a human plant or something. She kind of grew out of the ground," I explained.

"How did the four of you meet each other, anyway? Usually there are only groups of two or three in there, and even they often get separated from each other," Mr. Decour spoke again.

"Bella, Edward, and Alistair randomly showed up. I don't know how she found me," Chris answered, shrugging.

"I used the bond," I said when Carlisle and Mr. Decour's questioning gazes turned to me. "It led me to where she was."

"Do you know why Alistair went to find you?" asked Carlisle.

"Not really," Chris answered. "I guess he just came to give us the boxes that our wands used to be in." She took her wand box out of her purse and handed it to Carlisle. Mr. Decour tensed at that, and I wondered why that was. He closed his eyes for a moment and then his body relaxed. Meanwhile, Carlisle opened the box to see what was in it. Nothing special, just the dark blue satin cushion on which the wand used to lay. Beneath that was nothing.

"So he just went to give you these?" Carlisle asked in disbelief. Chris and I gave synchronized nods.

"Was there anything else he said?" Mr. Decour asked. His French accent was stronger than usual and he was looking at us intently.

I don't think we should talk about this in front of Carlisle, Chris thought toward me. I knew better than to flinch at her sudden appearance in my mind.

Don't you trust him? I asked her. If she said no, then I would have been rather surprised. I knew I trusted Carlisle a lot and I thought she did, too.

I do, but he will probably have to tell the headmaster or whatever. It's his job, she answered. She was right about that. Everything we told Carlisle now probably wouldn't stay a secret for long. He wasn't in charge here, so he would have to pass our statements onto the higher level power. We could talk to Laurent later on, Chris continued mentally.

I think we should talk to him after we find out the reason, I argued. If we have to find out, then he probably doesn't know, therefore there is nothing we can tell him and nothing he can tell us.

"Was there anything else?" Carlisle repeated Mr. Decour's question after he received no answer from us.

"No, that was all. We just assumed that it was a Halloween prank or something. Maybe one of those illusions in the maze," Chris answered smoothly, restraining herself from moving. She knew that nervous movement would give away the lie.

Carlisle hummed, "So it would seem."

"And why were you going to his apartment?" Mr. Decour asked, continuing with the Spanish Inquisition.

"I wanted to check on him because I had this feeling that it had been real," I answered.

"If you thought that it was real, then you were not under the impression that Alistair had simply been an illusion, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"So when you left the maze, you wanted to go and check on him, even though he was there? Or did he disappear when you left the maze? If that were the case, you should have been convinced that it was just an illusion."

"No, he didn't disappear. He gave us the boxes outside of the maze, and then we had been looking away for a moment and then he was gone."

"What distracted you?"

"Irina," Chris hissed.

"Irina Milian?" Mr. Decour asked, sounding surprised. We nodded.

"What did she do that diverted your attention?" Carlisle asked.

"She just came to talk, and then she left again, but when we turned back to Alistair, he was gone."

"Were you standing exactly outside of the maze?" Mr. Decour urged.

Dylan spoke up this time, "No, I beamed them away from the crowd, although not very far. We were just at the edge of where the forest starts."

Mr. Decour nodded slowly, not saying anything else. "So, what happened next? You walked to his apartment and found the blood trail on your way there?" All of us nodded.

"Why did you follow the trail, rather than waiting there or going with Alice and Jasper?" Carlisle asked, sounding upset about it.

"We didn't follow the trail. The strange plant woman came around the corner, and Chris had this incredibly strong urge to follow her, and I wasn't going to let my sister go alone," I said.

"And after that?"

"Dylan was suddenly right beside us, while she ran into a dark corner. I tried to hit her with a fireball, but somehow she disappeared, and then Edward showed up. It was barely even a few seconds," Chris told them.

"She disappeared in a corner?" Mr. Decour asked.

"Yes, it was really weird, actually. It looked like the shadow there was reaching out toward her, and then she was gone."

"The shadow..." Mr. Decour mumbled thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the door was being shot open with a loud bang. A girl waltzed right into the room and stopped in front of Carlisle's desk, giving him a harsh look.

"I want to know what the hell happened," she demanded menacingly as she slammed her fist down on the desk.

"Miss Merchile, you are not supposed to be here right now," Carlisle replied calmly.

"I don't give a shit about where I'm supposed to be. My uncle's dead body was found in his shop and you expect me to go to my room and wait until someone might tell me what happened?" she shrieked angrily.

"I know how hard this must be for you right now, Miss Merchile, but-"

"You have no idea how hard this is for me! You have no idea what I'm feeling! He was my only family. I don't have anyone else, so it actually is my right to know what the hell happened!" The girl's shoulders slumped and I could see that she was on the verge of tears.

She was wearing a short blue dress that didn't quite reach her knees and she had small wings on her back. I guessed she was supposed to be a fairy. Her dark blond hair had a lo of highlights in it, which were only amplified in my vision when she looked down to hide her face behind her bangs.

All of us seemed to be a little shocked at her abrupt entrance and her appearance, but we were dragged out of our daze when Carlisle's phone rang.

He picked it up. "Hello? Yes. Yes, it's already taken care of. Okay. He's right here. Of course, we'll be there right away." He hung up the phone and hastily hopped out of his seat. "All of you will go to your dorms, now. No stops on the way and no talking to anyone else," he said to us. We all nodded quickly. Then, Carlisle turned to face Mr. Decour. "All of the teachers are required to be in the conference room immediately. The IDM has been informed already. They sent someone from the Crime Control department and the Education department." The two teachers shared meaningful glances.

"I bet Aro is going to be thrilled," Mr. Decour commented. Both men sighed before leaving the room.

When they were gone, we all got up from our seats and looked at each other, not knowing what to do with the crying girl among us.

"Hey, um, Aika, do you want to come with us?" Emmett asked her carefully. Obviously he knew her somehow. She sniffed and pulled a tissue out of her purse before nodding weakly at Emmett's offer.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned and reached for it. Even though it was Tuesday today, we didn't have classes because of the dance yesterday, since a lot of students would have stayed out very late and most people wouldn't show up for class, and if they did, they'd probably just fall asleep or something.

"'Lo?" I groggily mumbled into the receiver.

"Get ready, we're having an assembly in an hour and a half," Alice's high-soprano voice blared in my ear.

I sighed and grumbled, "Fine, I'll go get ready."

"Oh, and wake Chris up for me, too. I don't want to call her. She's so grumpy in the mornings," Alice chirped before ending the call.

I hung up the phone and moaned as I started to stretch. I attempted to get up, but when I turned to swing my legs out of bed, an arm wrapped around me and pulled me back.

Oh, right, I'd forgotten that I wasn't alone in my bed.

Last night, we had both been completely worn out from the night's events, and neither of us really wanted to be all alone in the darkness. I hadn't said anything out loud, but Chris had sensed it and invited herself over to take up more than half of my bed. Because of her, my sleep hadn't exactly been relaxing, but it was still better than staying awake all night, which most likely would have happened if it weren't for her.

"Wake up, Chris, we're late for school," I whispered in her ear. Immediately, she opened her eyes and shot up in my bed, glancing at the clock on my alarm to check the time, and then jumping out of my bed, only to freeze.

She looked at me in sleepy confusion before glaring. "We don't have school today," she whined.

"No, we don't, but Alice called and apparently we're having an assembly."

"Assembly? What the hell?"

"Just go get ready," I sighed and lifted myself out of my warm, comfy bed.

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting downstairs, eating breakfast. There weren't very many people in the dining hall, and I assumed that most of them had already eaten breakfast. It was 11:30 after all, and the fact that the common room was full of people kind of helped me come to that conclusion.

"Hey, beautiful," I heard someone greet. I didn't need to turn around to know it was Damon. He walked up to Chris and placed a peck on her cheek. The look on her face told me that something was off. "So, where did you disappear to last night? I thought at first that you didn't make it out of the maze, but Alice and the others disappeared, too, and I know for sure they made it out." Damon looked at the two of us.

"Um, Damon, it's all kind of complicated and I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we have this conversation later?" Chris asked him, sounding much nicer than she usually did. Damon noticed this as well and eyed her strangely. She sent him a small smile, which he returned before walking off.

"Chris, what did you do?" I asked as soon as Damon was out of hearing range.

"Nothing."

"Chris!"

She sighed, "I kissed Dylan," she answered reluctantly.

"What? When?" I all but shrieked.

"Yesterday," she told me slowly, looking at something far away.

So many things had happened yesterday, but I really didn't want to remember the day. Everything good that happened had been overshadowed by one thing. Although I didn't know him very well, Alistair's death still upset me a lot. When we went back to the dorms yesterday, we had been trying to comfort his niece, Aika, who told us that her uncle had been the only person she had. Now he was gone, too. My heart ached for her when she told us that her parents died when she was little and that Alistair had been the one taking care of her for as long as she can remember. Well, before the academy took over most of those duties.

"Well, I kissed Edward," I told her. Chris' eyes focused back on me. "Yesterday," I added.

"What?" Now it was her turn to be surprised. I simply nodded. "Ha! I knew I was good, but I didn't think I was that good," she mumbled quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nevermind. It's not important. So, are you guys like together now?"

"What? No. Of course not. You do remember yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry."

I sighed just as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I quickly glanced at the display. It was a text message from Alice.

we have to get going!

She was bossy even through text message.

As soon as Chris and I stepped out of the building, Alice grabbed us and dragged the two of us along.

"Dylan, would you please work your magic?" Alice sighed, pushing us toward Dylan.

Dylan sighed and brushed his hand lightly over my body. He was careful not to touch me, but the fabric of my clothes. As soon as he was done, my clothes turned black. I had been wearing a tight fitted white t-shirt and a pair of denim skinny jeans, with the pair of ankle boots that we bought on our first shopping trip with Alice. Now, it was all black, and I noticed that all of my friends were also dressed in pure black.

"Alice, why-" I started, only to be cut off by Alice.

"Because someone died yesterday and we will wear black for the rest of the week," she explained.

"But we have to wear the school's uniform," Chris interfered.

"Yes, but we will have Dylan, Edward, or Emmett turn it black."

Suddenly, we heard a loud, resounding smack. All of us whipped our heads to look at Chris and Dylan. By the looks of it, Chris had just slapped Dylan straight across the face.

"I always knew that was going to happen sometime," Rose mumbled, looking highly amused.

"What was that for?" Dylan shouted in disbelief.

"For touching me," Chris stated and started to walk away from him. Alice looked at me in question but I simply shrugged. As if I knew what was wrong with her.

We all hurried to catch up with Chris.

"So, it's okay for me to kiss you, but I'm not allowed to touch you? How hypocritical can you get?" Dylan called behind her. Everyone except for me and Edward gasped in shock. The end of Chris' hair suddenly caught fire for a second before it vanished again.

Emmet let out a loud booming laugh and turned to Jasper. "Pay up, man," he demanded, holding out his hand. Jasper mumbled something under his breath and grudgingly handed him a dollar bill.

"You had a bet running?" Rose asked, not sounding very surprised. The two boys shrugged in response.

Meanwhile, Dylan was walking next to Chris and attempting to talk to her. She had started to walk faster, and he was actually having trouble keeping up with her pace. We couldn't hear what they were saying because of the distance, but it seemed like things weren't going very well for Dylan.

"Really, I should have seen that one coming," Alice murmured from beside me.

I shrugged and changed topics. "Where are we having this assembly?"

"The festival building. Hopefully they cleaned up in there already," Alice answered.

We walked for a while, talking a little, but not really bothering to keep up constant conversation. Occasionally, I would glance at Edward, who was walking on the other side of Alice. Every time I did, he was staring at me, which caused me to instantly look down and try to restrain my blush.

Chris and Dylan were still arguing, but I didn't think that Dylan was exactly playing his cards right. He really should know better than to try putting his arm around her shoulder or take her hand the entire time.

When we came to the festival building, it wasn't very crowded yet. There was a stage in it now and the room was filled with chairs. There was nearly no trace of the Halloween dance left. The only thing that remained a reminder of the dance was one of those flying pumpkins, which was racing around the room like crazy, laughing hysterically.

"Everyone duck!" Alice shouted just as the pumpkin came flying toward us. It flew over our heads and a group of people ran after it, trying to catch it.

We went to sit in front, and Chris appeared beside me, looking very annoying.

"I take it your talk didn't go very well," I released a light chuckle.

"I'd rather sit on a bed of needles than go through that again," Chris huffed and flipped her black hair over her shoulder.

A second later, Dylan came to sit next to her. I could practically hear her roll her eyes.

"So, what are we doing here, anyway?" I asked Edward, who had seated himself next to me for some reason.

"Well, if I had to guess, I would say that we're here because of yesterday's events. We only have assemblies when something important happened or is happening. And the fact that the IDM has been informed makes this rather interesting," he answered.

"What is the IDM?" Chris asked before I had the chance.

"It's the Impericum Democratic Maleficarum," Dylan answered her, grinning.

Edward had an amused expression on his face, while I was just plain confused. They didn't really expect this explanation to help me, right?

"It's the Democratic Government of Witches in English," Edward added for my benefit, obviously having sensed my confusion.

"So, there really is a government? How does that work?" I asked, curiously.

"Well, it's kind of like the US government, only it's international. Our current president is in Italy, I think."

"Oh my gosh!" Alice screeched suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Everyone asked at the same time. It was clear that there was worry in all of our voices.

"We're getting a new teacher," Alice whispered, hardly even loud enough for me to hear.

"And why is that a bad thing?" Rose asked.

"She's a demon," Alice answered, her eyes focused on something that none of us could see.

"Is that bad?" Chris and I asked in unison.

"Well...I don't know," Edward told me quietly. Everyone else looked confused, too.

"I thought demons weren't evil," Chris said.

"They're not. Well, not really. Just like witches and humans; some are evil and some are not. But we don't interact with them, so none of us has actually ever seen a demon," Dylan explained.

"Well, that's a first," Chris mumbled.

The room started to fill and a few teachers walked onto the stage. A long table appeared and they sat down. In the middle was a chair that looked more like a throne.

Edward must have seen where Chris and I were curiously staring, because before either of us had the chance to question it, he started explaining. "The school has something like a council. The headmasters are in it, and a few other teachers, as well as the principal."

"Who are the headmasters, other than Carlisle?" I asked.

"Esme is the headmaster of the elementary school, and the headmaster of the college is Mr. Banner. He's awful," Dylan told us with meaningful expression on his face.

"Attention students," the voice of an unknown teacher spoke as he stepped onto the stage. "Please settle down."

"That's Mr. Bergner. He's my French teacher and a total douche," Dylan said with a chuckle.

Mr. Bergner looked like he was in his mid-thirties and was neither handsome nor ugly. He seemed very insecure, though, and I wondered how a person like that could become a teacher. Even though he had just spoken, no one paid attention to him. If possible, the students began getting louder than before. Mr. Bergner had apparently given up and sat down at the table next to Mr. Decour. On the other side of Mr. Decour sat a young woman who was whispering something in his ear. She was beautiful with long curly dark brown hair and dark eyes. I couldn't be sure of the color because of the distance, but I was fairly sure they were green. Next to her was Carlisle, who sat next to the empty throne-like chair. After that was a blond woman who I hadn't seen before.

"Who is that?" I asked Edward, and subtly pointed at the unknown person who sat next to Esme.

"Her? Oh, that's Ms. Miller. She's sort of like the principal's person assistant."

I looked at her and wondered why I hadn't seen her before. She looked rather young. Actually, she looked young enough to be a student here rather than part of the staff. As I was studying her, her eyes suddenly focused on me. Her expression held nothing of interest, no emotion, and I quickly looked away.

"If you touch me again, I swear I'm going to hit you a lot harder than I did before," Chris hissed beside me. She slapped Dylan slightly on the arm.

Somehow, her behaviour was strange. If she had really kissed him, then why was she acting so cold toward him?

I couldn't concentrate on her strange behaviour any longer, though, because two things happened at once.

Edward decided to take my hand, making that electrical spark appear again. I looked up at him and saw him smiling down at me with a fond expression on his face. When he squeezed my hand lightly, I ignored my heart - which was almost bursting through my chest - and concentrated on the other thing.

A tall dark-haired man strolled passed us and moved up on the stage, sitting down in the middle of the table. Behind him was a woman with hair so wild and red it looked more like flames than actual hair. She was tall and thin and her movements reminded me of a cat.

"What on earth is the secretary doing here?" Dylan asked no one in particular.

"Are you talking about the redhead?" Chris asked him.

"Yeah. That's Ms. Nomad. She sits in front of Mr. Volturi's office all day, doing...well, nothing, really."

Ms. Nomad went to stand on the side, next to two men I hadn't seen before.

"And who are those two?" I questioned.

"Hmm? Oh, the one that looks a little grey is Demetri Sleigh. He's the janitor, but you hardly ever see him. The other one is James Nomad. He's Ms. Nomad's husband, and that's really the only reason he's even here," Dylan explained quickly.

Chris looked like she was going to comment on that, but she kept quiet because Carlisle rose from his chair and waltzed up to the podium. As soon as he stood there, everyone immediately quieted.

"Good morning, students!" he said lightly. Even though there was no microphone, his voice rang loud and clear throughout the room. There was no doubt that everyone in the room could hear him.

I figured it was some kind of spell.

"Good morning, Mr. Cullen!" a few voices shouted back, sounding like a choir with how in-tune they were with one another.

I turned to see that the greeting came from the older elementary students. A few people chuckled at that, but soon, silence once again ensued in the room.

Carlisle had a serious expression on his face as he spoke, "As all of you know, assemblies like this are only necessary when we have to announce something important. I'm sorry to tell you all that today, we also have to make an unfortunate, sad announcement. That being said, we regret to inform you that last night, Alistair Merchile was found dead." A few murmurs and whispers erupted throughout the crowd.

I guessed that we were the only people who didn't say anything. Thinking about Alistair's dead body was actually not what I wanted to do right now.

I hadn't even realized that I tensed up until Edward started rubbing soothing circles on my hand with his thumb. It helped me relax a little.

"Let's please have a moment of silence in honor of Mr. Merchile," Carlisle continued. As soon as these word left his mouth, everyone in the room went silent. Not a single person in the room murmured even one word, and the only movements were small ones of people bowing their heads respectfully. Occasionally, a person would release a quiet cough, but other than that, it was quiet. "Now, our principal, Aro Volturi, would like to say a few words, and announce the details we know about the death of Mr. Merchile," Carlisle said went the minute was over. He went to sit down again, and in that same moment, Mr. Volturi got up and walked to the front. He was an elegant man, and his movements were graceful and had a gentle air to them.

"Due to yesterday's events, the IDM has decided to enforce new rules for the school's security. As of now, we are positive that Mr. Merchile was murdered, thanks to the statements of a few students," Mr. Volturi's voice was calm and even a little soothing, but that still didn't stop the whispers from ringing out once again. They all came to a halt, though, when the principal cleared his throat. "To ensure all of your safety, we have a few new rules for you to follow. No one is to walk around campus alone after dawn - you must be in a group of at least three. From now on, you are also expected to be in your houses by eight at the latest." A chorus of groans from the students echoed around the room because of his latter announcement.

Mr. Volturi smiled gently and continued, "Also, we have a new teacher joining us. She has been recommended by the IDM, as they wanted someone here to check in with them every now and then. That is why Ms. Carmina is here. She will be assisting Mr. Decour in his specialization classes. I want you all to be open-minded, please. This is a historical moment for our school, and I don't want it to be ruined because of any kind of prejudices." He looked at the crowd with a strict expression. "Ms. Carmina is a demon, and each of you will try to make her feel welcome. Otherwise, the IDM might send all of you home until they find Mr. Merchile's murderer," he added.

The whispering stopped and was replaced by pure chaos breaking out. It seemed like everything was extremely excited. I could barely even hear Mr. Volturi dismissing us as Emmett lead us outside. He simply pushed us through the crowd, allowing us to get out as fast as possible.

"This new curfew is absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened to me!" Alice whined as soon as we exited the overly crowded room.

"Are you sure about that?" Rose asked her dryly.

"Well...no, but it's still horrible."

"Just deal with it, Alice," Edward sighed.

"I don't even think they're going to catch her," Jasper grumbled.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"Well, if she really grows out of the ground and vanishes in shadows, then I highly doubt that the crime department will be able to catch her." It was logical, and it definitely made sense. All of us nodded in agreement.

"You know, we should do something to distr-" Alice started, but was cut off when Damon caught up to us, followed shortly by Dean.

"Chris! You still owe me a talk," Damon shouted before wrapping his arms around her from behind, effectively pushing Dylan away, but it was obvious that Damon didn't notice what he did.

At the same time, Dean came to my side and lifted his arm to put it on my shoulder, but before he could do it, he dropped his arm. I looked at him in confusion, but he wasn't looking directly at me. I followed his gaze and realized that he was staring at my hand, which was intertwined with Edward's. I hadn't even noticed that we were still holding hands.

I quickly let go, ignoring the protesting sound that came from Edward and the urge to take back his hand.

"I think we need to talk," I told Dean, who seemed to be looking at anything but me. He nodded.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

I threw myself on my bed and released a deep, loud sigh. I'd never had to tell a guy that I couldn't see him anymore because there was someone else. Well, there's a first for everything.

It had been awkward, to say the least, since I actually liked Dean. Just not in the way that he wanted me to. I was pretty sure that he was on the verge of tears when I told him that I couldn't date him anymore, which only made me feel even worse than I already had.

I really just wanted to bury myself in my bed for the rest of the day. Alice and the others knew now that something had happened between me and Edward, and I honestly didn't want to deal with them right now. Chris was probably dealing with her own issues right now, so I just pulled the covers over my head and laid still.

The sound of my door being opened and closed again didn't even give me the slightest bit of motivation to move. I already knew that it was Chris, since the only other person to storm in my room without knocking was Emmett and he was usually a lot louder than that.

Chris collapsed on my bed beside me and crawled under the covers.

"How did your talk go?" she asked me, her voice giving away that she was exhausted.

"Great," I answered sarcastically. "I think I made Dean cry."

"Nice."

"How was yours?"

"It was interesting, to say the least. I mean, I've never seen Damon freak out before, so...yeah," Chris said.

"So, did you guys break up?"

"What?" I could practically hear her raising her eyebrows. "No. That would be stupid."

"Why would that be stupid?"

"Because I like Damon and he likes me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be wasting my time with him, right?"

"Then why did you kiss Dylan in the first place?"

There was a short silence before Chris answered. "I don't really know. It just...happened."

"Do you regret it?" I asked softly.

"What's with all these questions, Bella?" she asked, avoiding the question I asked her.

I sighed. "Just answer the question, Chris." I knew from experience that I had to pretty much interrogate her to get her to talk about her feelings.

"No, I don't. It just felt right, you know?"

"Yes, I know," I heaved another sigh. The emotions I was getting from Chris through the bond were all too familiar. It was the same thing I felt around Edward, only a little less electric.

"That's just so messed up," Chris mumbled.

"You know, I don't really get why you didn't break up with Damon when you obviously have a thing for Dylan."

"Because I like Damon. He's nice and sweet, and...I don't know...caring. But Dylan is arrogant, annoying, and stupid."

"So he's exactly like you."

Chris grew sarcastic at my remark. "Thanks so much, Bella."

"Oh, you know what I mean. You two would be perfect together."

"No, I don't think so. He treats me just like he treats every other girl he wants to have, and I don't like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Chris sighed. "You know that Dylan just goes from one girl to the next, and I don't want to be number 236 on his list. That's just...messed up, gross, wrong."

"So you want a happily ever after with Dylan? I never thought that you would be the romantic type."

"I'm not. I just don't like being treated like everyone else. But enough of me. How's Edward?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Did you guys talk?"

"Not yet," I mumbled. "I'm currently hiding."

Chris chuckled. "Are you scared of him?"

"No, I'm scared of Alice and Rose," I answered seriously.

"Yeah, I guess you should be," she replied.

Suddenly there was a knock on my door. Both Chris and I shot up and exchanged a confused look before we shouted, "Come in!" at the same time.

My breath hitched when I saw who entered my room. It was Edward. Speaking of the devil..

He looked at me with a small smile on his lips before his eyes wandered over to Chris and made that smile turn into a frown. I started to wonder why pretty much everyone reacted like this in her presence.

"Oh, Edward, what are you doing here?" Chris asked in a overly friendly, much too cheery voice.

"Well, I just...I want to talk to Bella," he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at the floor a little. I realized that he was nervous and I held back a giggle. It seemed ridiculous that Edward Cullen, of all people, would be nervous to talk to me. But why was he nervous?

My heart sped up in fear. Did he change his mind again? I didn't think I could handle another rejection from him.

"Go ahead, Edward!" Chris encouraged.

I released a quiet sigh at her insensitivity. Don't you have a boyfriend to mess around with? I thought to her. She flinched, and from her emotional response, it wasn't because I'd sent this quiet message, but rather because of what words I'd said. I smiled evilly to myself, but smoothed it out quickly. I didn't want turn into Chris and become sadistic and sarcastic.

"Alone," Edward stated, giving Chris a meaningful glare. She acted like this surprised her and looked at me for a second before she turned back to Edward and shrugged, hopping off the bed.

"I'm just gonna go to my room and sit right beside the wall, listening. Which I don't even have to do, since I have special Bella TV," she grinned at Edward as she stood in front of him. She reached out and tugged lightly on his shirt, smoothing out a few wrinkles on his shoulders in the process.

For some reason, it bothered me that she was touching him and grinning so brightly while doing so. If it weren't for the fact that I could read her mind, I would have thought she had a thing for Edward. Not that anyone could blame her.

"You better do it well, Eddiekins. Don't forget that I'll just be on the other side of the wall and that I'll be able to hear every word you say," Chris reassured him. "No pressure." She gave a quick wink in my direction before skipping out of my room.

"I really don't know how you managed to live sixteen years with her. Are you sure the two of you are twins?" Edward asked, pointing at the door that had just shut behind my sister.

"That's what my mom told my Dad," I said. "If it's true, then it's something nobody knows." I hoped I sounded as relaxed as I wanted to feel despite my racing heart.

Edward let out a quiet chuckle before sitting down on my couch. I quickly jumped up from my bed and scrambled to site beside him.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked him.

He looked at his hand in his lap. Before I realized what was happening, he'd grabbed one of my hands and idly began playing with my fingers. It didn't bother me in the least, actually I enjoyed the contact between us as much as I enjoyed his presence. I watched as his long fingers traced patterns on my hand and left that tingling sensation in their wake, making me momentarily forget why he was there. And even worse, why I was there.

"I don't hear any talking!" I suddenly heard Chris' voice sing from the other side of the wall. The sound of her voice startled me enough to pull myself back into reality.

I looked up at Edward shyly, only to find him grinning down sheepishly at me.

"Seriously, guys," Chris continued, "if I don't hear you talking in two seconds, I'll be in Bella's head, ruining your last bit of privacy. I'll even call Alice and give her a play-by-play. If you're making out right now, that should be highly entertaining."

Edward and I sighed in unison.

"I have this theory that maybe my parents accidentally forgot my real twin at the playground and took the child of some mafia boss with them instead," I said.

"That would explain so many things," Edward mused.

"Really?" I asked him, smiling flirtatiously. "Like what?"

Edward stared at me for a second open-mouthed before he blinked rapidly and closed it again. "Well, for one, you're not evil-minded. You're very sweet, caring, and considerate. You're also the most intelligent girl I've ever met, and you're the better-looking twin," he answered, grinning that crooked grin at me.

"Is that all?"

"No, not even close. But my vocabulary isn't vast enough to express how stunning you are, and even if it were, the words aren't up to par with your beauty."

I smiled in shy delight at that. As far as I could remember, no one had ever told me that. Well, actually, I was sure that no one had ever said that to me.

"I, uh, actually came here to ask you out," Edward broke the short silence.

"What?" I asked, a little dumbfounded. I didn't know why this was such a surprise to me, after all he did say that he cared about me and he had just made it sound like I was the most wonderful person in the world, so a date seemed to be the next adequate step.

"You and me, on a date. Whatever you like, you choose. The sky is the limit, though," he joked.

"And here I thought witches could ride broomsticks," I mumbled.

"It is possible, but no one actually does that. So, what do you say?"

"Hmm...I want to..." I stopped and thought about it for a minute. I came to the conclusion that I honestly had no idea what I wanted. Back home, it would have already been sunny enough to take a walk along the beach or go watch the ships at the docks. I internally sighed as I realized how much I missed the heat and the sun. Even though the sun is still shining on campus, it had gotten a little colder the last few days, much to my and Chris' dismay.

"If you could bring the sun and the beach here, that would be the most perfect thing ever," I said dreamily, imagining how it would feel to lay under the sun on the beach with Edward holding my hand while the sun beamed down, burning my skin.

I'd probably have a hard time deciding which was hotter: the sun or Edward. I smiled at that thought.

"The beach, huh? Well then, the beach it is! I'll pick you up from Alice's room on Saturday," Edward said enthusiastically, jumping up off the bed.

"Why Alice's room?" I asked him in confusion.

"Come on, you and I both know that Chris will probably tell Alice about our date, and then Alice will insist on dressing you. Which really isn't a bad idea..." his voice trailed off while he gazed at me intently. He licked his bottom lip slowly and I quirked a brow at him.

"I hope you're not imagining me naked, Edward." The way the tips of his ears turned red and his cheeks tinged pink made me laugh a little.

"I wasn't imagining you naked," he defended himself. "You were in a bathing suit."

Suddenly, my door burst open. "Okay, kids, time's up!" Chris shouted, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

Chris' sudden appearance managed to startle both Edward and I, and when my heartbeat finally returned to it's normal pace (well, as normal as it can be with Edward near), I glared at her.

"What the hell? Are you my father now or something?" I hissed.

"No, but I do have a very good connection with said person," Chris answered nonchalantly.

I didn't get why she was behaving like this. Normally she was all for leaving me alone with a guy, but of course she had to change her game plan when it came to leaving me with the one guy I actually cared about - the one guy I'd actually like to be left alone with.

"Well...I guess I should get...going?" Edward sounded highly confused as he looked from me to Chris and back to me. He bent down and brushed his lips across my check. "See you tomorrow," he murmured quietly to me, his sweet breath fanning over my skin and making me shiver.

I nodded, unable to answer him because of the effect he had on me.

"Bye Chris," he said, brushing passed her after he glanced back at me once more.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile in return and turned to shout after him, "It's Mr. Swan to you!"

I smacked my forehead at her stupidity and moved to crawl back into my bed. "Can't you be normal again? You're getting really annoying these days," I complained.

"Um, excuse me? Is that not the guy that seems to be awfully idiotic? You obviously like him more than you should, so I'm taking care of you."

"What is that supposed to me? Don't you think I'm capable of taking care of myself?"

"No, you're not. If he decides to go and break your heart again, I'm going to be the one who has to put the pieces back together one by one," she retorted heatedly.

I jumped up from my bed again and put my hands on my hips, mimicking Chris' position perfectly.

"I didn't ask you to do that. If he breaks my heart, then let me deal with it," I told her angrily.

"But you can't! You're not able to handle such things, and now if you suffer, I have to go through the same thing as you," she practically yelled.

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm emotionally unstable?" I shot back her at the same volume, my voice holding a little bit of incredulity.

Her face softened. "No, I just-" I cut her off.

"You just think that you have to be there to deal with my business instead of your own. You only want something to distract you from your own problems. You never deal with those. All you do is come around and poke your nose into my business."

"I'm only trying to help you. I don't want you to feel miserable just because Edward loses interest in you. You won't be the only one suffering, remember? The bond gets stronger with every passing day, and sometimes, I feel more of your emotions than mine."

"So this is really all about you?" I asked, anger seeping into my voice. I wasn't really one to ever get angry, but she was really pissing me off at this point. It was my life, not hers.

"No, it's not. But I'm telling you that your pain is going to be my pain as well, and-"

"And you can't handle it," I snapped. "And you think that if you can't handle it, then I can't handle it, either. You want me to take your advice so we can both save you from suffering. I can't believe you're being that selfish!"

By now we stood face to face, glaring icily at one another.

"I am not selfish. I do so many things for you and all I get in return is your telling me I'm selfish. It's nice to know that you appreciate me this much," Chris half-whispered.

"Oh, really? What do you do? All I can remember is you messing with things that should be left for me to deal with. I'm the one who does everything for you. I'm the one who always gets you out of trouble. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be here today!"

"Oh, please, you're not that super, Isabella. You're not perfect."

"I never said I was," I told her.

"But you make it sound like you think you are. I would have been perfectly fine throughout my life without your help. You, on the other hand, would not be what you are today without me."

"You didn't raise me, Chris, so stop taking credit for the things that other people did. You and I both know that you spent most of your time getting into trouble and waiting for me to get you out of it. I'm not your savior. Try and deal with your problems on your own and leave me alone for once. I don't need you," I hissed the last words at her with narrowed eyes.

She glared at me, her nostrils flaring, and opened her mouth to retort something, but then she snapped it shut and looked down at her hands. They were burning. She looked at me one more time before she stomped to my door.

I hoped that she would be smart enough not to touch my door, and surprisingly, she didn't. She did an angry hand motion and the door opened.

Well, congratulations, Chris, you've finally managed to use telekinesis as well, I thought to her, internally sneering.

The door slammed shut behind her with a loud, resounding bang and I stood there, glaring at it.

How could a person be so...so infuriating?

I threw myself on my bed and screamed into my pillow.

Dylan POV

I woke up abruptly, my skin sticking to my sheets due to the sweat covering my body. I took a deep breath to calm myself. It had been a long time since I woke up from nightmares. I hadn't really had any since I was a kid.

I glanced over at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was already 8 in the morning. With a sigh, I slumped back into my pillows for a second before I untangled myself from my blankets and heaved myself out of bed.

There was no way I could sleep again.

I trotted through my much too large room, and into my bathroom. Since the thick curtains in my room had been closed, the light in my bathroom blinded me momentarily when I walked in.

I would have to curse Alice again for insisting on letting me have a bright bathroom like that. Nearly everything was white, aside from the huge shower. That was black.

I quickly stripped and hopped into the dark shower before my eyes had the chance to burn in the bright light. I felt like I was hungover - which was not a pleasant feeling at all - but the dream had just been so vivid and realistic that I was seriously still shaking on the inside.

There had been blood everywhere and no way out of the room. Only me and-

I shook the thought out of my head and started chanting to myself that it had only been a dream.

After my long and hot shower, I actually felt better. By the time I stepped out, I was feeling like my normal self again.

A person that had yet to deal with a whole set of new emotions toward a girl that was the same age as my little sister.

I sighed at that.

Chris was definitely harder to get than any other girl I had ever encountered, but I knew that with a little time and effort, she'd be mine in no time at all. Just the thought of that made me smile. My mind would have wandered further if it hadn't been for my phone blaring.

"Alice, why are you calling me this early when we don't have school? Or rather, why are you calling me at all? You're room's just down the hall," I complained instead of answering the phone in a normal, polite way.

"Good morning to you too, Dylan! Carlisle just called and told me that we have an assembly today at 12. So try to be on time." And with that, she hung up.

I rolled my eyes and snapped my phone shut before turning to my closet and hastily dressing.

As soon as I had my shirt pulled over my head, I beamed into Edward's room and landed dead center in his big bedroom. His king-sized bed was right beside his window, and he was still laying on it, snoring loudly.

I smirked smugly to myself as I crept toward his bed.

It was rather fortunate that I was no longer crashing into things when I appeared in another place. A few years ago, I had to concentrate extremely hard just to change locations, and even harder so that I wouldn't crash into anything.

Now it was like a second nature to me, which was exactly why I was able to sneak up on the snoring Edward.

I sat down on his bed and looked at him. Judging by his smile, he must have been having a very happy dream.

And based on a few other symptoms, I knew it was a very very happy dream.

I bit back a laugh. When I was able to compose myself, I cleared my throat before speaking in the highest-pitched voice I possibly could.

"Oh, Eddiekins! Wake up!" I sang. I even went as far as tracing patterns on his arm for a second.

"I'm awake," he mumbled in a voice that did not sound awake at all.

"Get up, Edwaaaarrrdd," I sang again.

"No, I wanna stay in bed with you, Bella," he replied and grabbed my hand to place a kiss on it.

That did it. I burst out laughing so hard that his entire bed started shaking.

And that definitely woke Edward up. He bolted straight up in his bed and looked around in sleepy confusion with furrowed brows.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

I just shook my head, trying to catch my breath. "You...just...dream...Bella," I gasped out, but I couldn't finish. All I did was start laughing again.

Edward's eyes widened before he narrowed them at me. I knew that he was going to read my mind, and for once, I didn't bother starting a mental battle. Instead, I let him intrude on my thoughts. When he found what he was looking for, he gasped in shock and sunk back into his pillows, pulling the cover over his head.

"Don't you have your own life to live? Why do you have to ruin mine?" he whined, sounding like a petulant child.

"Oh, dear brother, I didn't come to ruin your life. I just thought I'd inform you that we're having an assembly today," I said innocently.

"When?"

"At 12, I believe."

"It's 9."

"I wanted you to be able to get up early, so you can get your makeup fixed."

Edward's head reappeared, the mess he calls his hair sticking in every direction more so than usual.

"You hangout with Emmett too much," he noted.

"Cam you blame me? The kid is hilarious."

He sighed and sat up again. "So why are you really here?" he asked.

"Do I need higher motives to visit you early in the morning?"

"Um, yeah, actually you do, since you're never really awake at this time."

"Well, I am today," I pouted.

He narrowed his eyes at me again. I turned back at him and entered his mind. There were millions of little different mechanisms in his head, each one with it's own special purpose. All I had to do was find the switch for his mind reading.

We did this every now and then. Edward would try to read my mind and I would try to switch his ability off. The sad thing about mind control, though, is that minds can shift and in that, it becomes harder to control them.

Edward always knows what I'm doing, so he can concentrate on shifting his mind consciously, which no normal person can do just like that; they'd have to learn how to control their minds to shift enough so that my mind control wouldn't work.

Right now, I really wished he couldn't do it because I didn't come into his room to talk about my disturbing dream. I just had the need to be around someone.

"HA! I got it!" Edward cheered.

"Dammit!" I cursed and pulled myself out of his mind.

"Pretty intense dream," he commented.

I heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I know."

"You know that's just more evidence that you-"

I cut him off, knowing he'd start speaking more nonsense about feelings again. "Yeah, yeah. You think I'm in love or something. I'm telling you, it's not like that. I'm just more attracted to her than any other girl."

"Then why does the dream terrify you so much?" Edward asked, getting up from his bed.

"I'm sorry," I said sarcastically. "Is it not a little disturbing to dream about a person dead?"

"Yeah, it is, but still, it wasn't just any person."

"I could have dreamed about you dead just as easily. It was probably just a mental reaction to yesterday," I muttered.

"Would you have freaked out like that if it had been my dead body that you were locked in a room with?" Edward asked as he disappeared into his bathroom.

"Yeah, of course! You're like a brother to me; you're practically family," I shouted so he could hear me.

Edward came back and leaned against the bathroom door frame with a toothbrush in his mouth and an expression that clearly said he didn't find that one funny.

Chris probably would have.

That thought made him grin and in return, I rolled my eyes at him.

"Don't say a word," I warned him.

Edward just shrugged and vanished inside the bathroom again. I heaved myself off of his bed and followed behind him.

"You know, you really aren't in any position to be giving me advice on how to handle the strange feelings I have around a Swan girl, since you, my friend, are in the same position," I advised him as I stood behind him, watching him brush his teeth.

"Yaa, bah unlike ooh, I acly hak tu hah," he answered, his toothbrush in his mouth.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

He rolled his eyes and spat quickly before he spoke. "Yeah, but unlike you, I actually talked to Bella," he repeated, looking at me meaningfully.

"What's that supposed to mean? I tried talking to her in the maze, but she just wouldn't listen," I argued back.

"Wa cou be cause you kiff er wizo skin."

"Hey man, don't brush and talk at the same time," I told him.

Edward quickly rinsed his mouth out and then he turned to me. "You can't just walk around campus and kiss random girls, expecting them to fall for you right away. That's not how life works."

"That is so not what you said before."

All I got in response was a glare.

I sighed and continued, "And it might not be how life works, but it certainly is how my life works. I've been using that technique since ninth grade and it's never failed before," I smiled smugly.

"That's because you carefully choose the girls who will fall for it. You've got a nose for such things. But you can't win Chris over that way. She does have a little of her sister's common sense." He smiled a huge, goofy grin at the mention of Bella.

"Okay, then, Mr. Game Plan. You know that you're advice is actually worthless, considering the fact that you didn't have a normal relationship yourself, and you're a mind reader. So I don't see why I should take your advice."

"Maybe that's because I'm a mind reader," he told me like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I rolled my eyes again before I beamed out of his room. I reappeared on the basketball court and immediately saw that I wasn't the only one up already. A few guys were playing a game of basketball and a few girls were watching. I knew some of them.

"Hey Dylan," the dark-haired girl of the bunch greeted, smiling at me.

"Hey," I replied halfheartedly. My original idea was for me to join in their game and play a little b-ball, but the boys seemed to be in the middle of a heavy battle right now and I really didn't want to disturb their game.

"Where have you been all this time? I never get to see you anymore. The past few weeks, you haven't even come to any of our parties," a redhead commented.

I scrambled in my mind for the names of these girls. I think the redhead was Cindy and the dark-haired girl was Cynthia or something. There was also another dark-haired girl sitting, but I had no idea what her name was.

"Yeah, I've been busy," I answered lamely.

"Oh really? We thought Kate was holding you captive. I was actually kinda shocked to see you with one girl for longer than five minutes."

I looked into her light brown eyes. Until now, I'd never noticed how plain and boring her eyes were. "I always stick around for more than five minutes. You, of all people, should know that," I said and ran a hand through my hair.

She stared at me wide-eyed while her friends giggled quietly and I smiled at her in return.

But for some reason, I wasn't able to keep up the smile. Instead, I started to notice other things about her. Her nose, for example, was a little too big and her lips were too thin for her face and out of proportion. Her hair bothered me because it didn't look as full, soft, and shiny as-

I stopped the thought. It was ridiculous for me to think things like that. I couldn't - shouldn't - be doing that.

But my mind seemed to disagree. In fact, my whole being reacted completely different from what I wanted it to. Cindy was a pretty girl, so why was I so...so...obsessed? Why couldn't I see the girl the way she was, like I used to, instead of imagining her as someone else?

I sighed and gave up. I already knew the answer, but I was still trying to get away from it. But now that I surrendered, the images started to whirl around my mind.

Her smug expression when we first met at the airport. Her angry glare when we met again. The shocked expression on her face when she burned off her clothes and realized she was naked. Obviously the sight of her naked body and her standing in front of me in her underwear. All of these things started to get to me now and I couldn't get her out of my head.

I noticed the most trivial things about her without her even realizing it. She liked to wear her hair down, for example, and whenever she was angry, she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Her favorite color changed depending on her mood, and currently, it was purple.

I wasn't even sure how I knew that, I just...did.

I breathed out another sigh. Christabel Swan was like a force of nature. She just bursts in and leaves more than enough evidence that she's been there. Plenty enough to keep people thinking about her for a long time. Just like she did to me. I couldn't get her out of my head when I was alone, but now that I'd kissed her and had a taste of the most exotically delicious fruit in the world, I couldn't get her out of my head, period.

"Hey, Dylan, what are you daydreaming about?" Cindy purred from beside me. She had scooted closer and positioned herself in a way that gave me a wonderful view of her cleavage.

Well, it would have been a wonderful view, had my mind not be overtaken by someone else entirely.

I shrugged in reply to her question and turned my attention back to the basketball game.

"You know, we really should get together again sometime. We haven't spent much time alone since our junior year," she said.

"Yeah, maybe," I answered slowly, then hurriedly added, "I gotta go." As soon as the words left my mouth, I beamed myself to my bedroom and threw myself onto my bed, resisting the strong urge to scream.

This was highly frustrating. How is a person supposed to be able to think right when all they can think about is a girl?

Being a teenager is definitely not as sweet and carefree as everyone made it sound when we were kids.

I laid on my bed and let my thoughts wander. Most of them revolved around Chris; my dreams mixed with memories.

My dream had started out nicely, but then everything turned darker. My memory of Chris laughing turned to one of Chris laughing at me. Her expression changed into something much more evil, and even though she was still beautiful, her face was nothing like it was supposed to be. All of the warmth had been replaced by a cold hatred and now she was slowly walking toward me.

When she reached me, she kissed me lightly on my lips and I closed my eyes to revel in the feel, only to snap them open abruptly when Chris suddenly thrust her hand through my chest and grabbed my heart, crushing it and leaving me laying there in excruciating pain. It hadn't even been real, yet it was still somehow the worst pain I could imagine. But all she did was laugh at my pain and attempt to hurt me even more.

"Dylan!" a sharp voice called, effectively pulling me out of my slumber.

I hadn't even realized that I'd fallen asleep.

Alice stood next to my bed, her tiny hands on her hips as she impatiently tapped her foot. "Get up, we have to go," she instructed hastily before strutting out of my room.

I quickly scrambled to my feet and followed her.

Just then, I realized that the little dress and incredibly high heels that she was wearing were all black. She was even carrying a black purse and her bracelet was black as well.

"Alice, why are you wearing all black?" I asked in confusion.

She turned to look at me with raised eyebrows. "You do remember that someone died yesterday, right?" she asked.

"Well, actually, I tried to put that somewhere in the back of my mind, but I guess I should probably go change, too."

"Oh, no, we don't have time for you to go to your room and change now."

Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows at her. "Okay, first of all, I can beam, Alice. And second, I'm also a witch. I know it's amazing, but it's true." With a hand motion of my clothes, they instantly turned black. "Happy?" I asked.

She didn't bother to answer. She simply continued walking along.

Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and Edward were sitting by the fountain, waiting for us. None of them were wearing black clothes, and Alice noticed that immediately.

"Why are you all dressed as if this were a carnival?" she snapped at them, sounding oddly similar to a mother.

"Um, Alice, this is a Chanel dress. It's not-" Rose started, only to be cut off by Alice.

"I don't care. Dylan, turn her clothes black as well."

I sighed and stepped closer to Rose.

"Wait, wait, wait," Rosalie said, holding up her hands in a halting movement. "You can't just turn it black."

"Don't worry, it'll turn back in 24 hours," I reassured her and lifted my hand to her shoulder. Before I could go any further, Emmett, who had already turned his own clothes black, interrupted.

"Hey man, no offense, but I'd rather do that myself," he pushed me away from Rose.

I didn't bother saying anything about that. My mood was momentarily not-so-brilliant thanks to that awful dream that continued to plague my mind.

"Let's go get the twins," Alice chirped happily as soon as all of us were clothed in black.

The two mentioned people stepped out of the Blue House as soon as we got close to it.

The moment I saw Chris, my mood brightened significantly. She was even more beautiful than I remembered, and I had only seen her the day before.

Alice skipped toward them and dragged them back to us. She was being as lovable and considerate as always.

"Dylan, would you please work your magic?" she sighed, sounding as if she was working overtime.

With a sigh of my own, I let my hand wander lightly over Bella's body. I tried to avoid touching her as much as I could, and since she didn't complain, I must have succeeded.

"Alice, why-" Bella started to ask as she looked down at herself while I turned to Chris. I didn't bother listening to the rest of the conversation. Instead, I simply enjoyed the sight of Chris.

She didn't look at me. Well, her eyes flicked in my direction for half a second before she turned to stare at something far away, but that was it. Her hair was like a curtain around her face, hiding it from other people. I knew that when her hair was like that, she was upset in someway, about something, or just in a bad mood. Again, I had to wonder why I knew such things.

I lifted my hand to her shoulder and was immediately filled with warmth as I touched her. Chris shivered for a second and this time, she did look at me. I tried to be as gentle as I had been with Bella and let my hand do the work without actually touching, but somehow, her body seemed to have some sort of magnetic force because I suddenly felt the need to touch her and I couldn't help it.

I let my hand trail down her body and was about to rejoice when a loud smack accompanied by a stinging pain took over my right cheek.

She'd slapped me. Straight across my face.

I looked at her in disbelief. "What was that for?" I shouted.

"For touching me," she answered in a rather cold voice and stomped away.

I shuddered at how similar she was to the dream Chris right now.

"So it's okay for me to kiss you, but I'm not allowed to touch you? How hypocritical can you get?" I called after her, knowing it would get her attention.

The end of her hair suddenly erupted in flames, only to vanish a moment later.

I knew it wasn't the time for my thoughts - I was quite literally playing with fire - but I couldn't help but notice how hot that actually was. I stared for a short second before I composed myself and rushed to catch up with her. Even though she tried to get rid of me by increasing her pace, I managed not to fall behind.

"You know, we really should talk," I said.

"I have nothing to say to you," she replied bluntly.

"Oh really? I believe you owe me an explanation as to why you just slapped me. You could have ruined my pretty face."

"Do I honestly have to explain why I slapped you?"

"Um, yes? You can't just randomly slap guys."

"And you can't just randomly grab girls," she retorted.

"Just admit that you liked it and you were embarrassed," I smiled at her.

"I hate that smile," she stated.

I instantly frowned. "You don't like me smiling?" I pouted.

"No, I don't like you smiling like that. When you smile genuinely, it's fine, but I don't like your player grin."

"Player grin?" I was really confused.

She didn't bother answering me, so I just shrugged and moved onto the next topic.

"Okay, so I've been thinking-"

"Oh, wow."

I ignored her. "And I really think you and I need to spend some quality time together."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" she asked in disbelief. Oh, I so got her.

"It can be whatever you want it to be, baby," I told her, waggling my eyebrows as I slung my arm over her shoulders.

"Ugh, do you even listen to yourself?" she asked in a disgusted tone and pushed my arm off.

"What's wrong?"

"You're being an ass, that's what's wrong."

"I am not. Was I not perfectly polite?"

"Yes, and you were also perfectly revolting. Seriously, why do you think I would fall for that?"

"Because every girl does?" I answered, though it came out more like a question.

"Well, I'm not part of that 'every girl', and I really doubt that every girl is that stupid. You just choose the really dumb ones."

"Are you saying that you're too intelligent to date me?" I asked. "You do realize that I'm in college, right?"

"I still wonder how you got in there. But still, that's not my point. If you were smart, you would get it," she muttered.

"Just admit that you're attracted to me and we can skip all of this nonsense," I suggested.

"Do you remember Damon? He's my boyfriend, which is why you and I are never going to happen."

"He wouldn't have to know," I said, not really meaning the words my mouth was spewing.

Chris sighed in exasperation.

Somehow, this was not working the way I wanted it to. Maybe Edward was right; I should think of a new game plan.

I took a deep breath. "Can't you just dump Damon and date me instead?" I asked, my voice almost pleading. I reached for her hand and looked at her intently.

Chris stared back at me in surprise, not saying anything. Then I saw something flash across her face and she snapped her hand back. "Why should I?" she asked quietly.

I frowned at that. I'd never really thought about that...I just wanted her to. "Why shouldn't you?" I retorted instantly.

The annoyed expression on her face returned and I guessed that I had answered wrong. Damn, why do smart girls have to be so complicated?

We couldn't continue our conversation because the others caught up with us then. I figured that wasn't really a bad thing, since the conversation hadn't been going very well for me.

I really didn't know how to get Chris. Throughout the assembly, I tried to be as close to her as I possibly could, but all that seemed to do was annoy and bother her, so eventually, I just left her alone.

The rest of my day was painfully boring. I didn't pay attention to anything the others said when we were all hanging out in Alice's room. Chris and Bella were no where to be seen, and Edward was also somewhere over the rainbow. We didn't look for them, though, because Alice told us not to. So we all just sat around and did pretty much nothing in particular.

Chris POV

"You really should talk to her," Damon mumbled softly as he gently played with my hair.

The teachers had announced that today was officially going to be the last sunny day. After that, we would have to deal with the cold of winter, so Damon and I had decided to sit outside. He was leaning against a tree and my head was resting on his lap. There were quite a few people running all around us, all of them enjoying the feel of the last day of summer.

"Why do I have to talk to her? She'll be playing all high and mighty again and act as if all of this was my fault," I whined.

"She's your sister," Damon answered.

"That's not a good reason."

It had been one week since Bella and I had gotten into our fight. She wanted me to leave her alone, so I did just that. She had Edward now, so she wouldn't need me to deal with creepy guys, anyway.

Bella had never known that half of the guys I beat up throughout my life had been punishments for their perverted idiocy. So many of them wanted to lure my sister in. Of course I'd never told her that because I knew that she would freak out over it and tell me that I shouldn't have to deal with it. I just let her believe that I was indeed a troublemaker, which I was, and only did stuff like that for the fun of it.

"Really, it's not right. You guys are so close and now you just throw it away?" Damon said.

"We didn't throw anything away. Bella wanted me to leave, so I did," I argued.

"Yes, but she seems to be quite upset with you."

"I can live with that. The only thing I can't live with is another makeout session with Edward."

Damon released a loud laugh at that.

I ignored him and closed my eyes to enjoy the sunshine.

This last week, I had been working really hard on keeping Bella's thoughts out of my head. She and Edward went on their first date, and he really came through on his promise by bringing her to the beach.

Or at least an illusion of it.

He had taken her to one of the school's many meadows and somehow magically turned the whole place into a beach. The spell only lasted for an hour, but Bella loved it anyway.

Ever since that date, the two of them had been inseparable. Some people need three dates before they hit it off, but Bella and Edward were already acting all lovey dovey after only one date.

As far as I saw it, they have officially been a couple for two whole days now.

I was happy for her. I was happy that she finally got what she wanted. But she was just too excited and happy while they madeout, so much so that sometimes it dragged me into her head.

That had been a new development with the bond, and I wasn't sure if Bella had that as well. Whenever she was feeling strongly about something, I'd get pulled into her mind. It was as if I were her in those moments. But unlike her, I didn't find the thought of Edward's tongue being shoved down my throat very appealing.

"You know what, Chris?" I heard Damon's voice.

"Hmm?" I hummed without opening my eyes.

"I'm just gonna take you to your room," he said and somehow managed to get up and throw me over his shoulder before I even had the chance to protest.

"Do you have to go all caveman on me? There are people here, you know that, right? I don't really want to give them the wrong impression," I complained and watched as people turned and giggled at us.

"Since when do you care about what other people think?" he asked.

"Since now."

Damon sighed.

He carried me all the way back to the house and in the direction of my room, ignoring my constant complaints. He stopped and I thought that we had reached my room, but he simply put me down and pushed me through the door in front of me, closing it just as quick.

In my dizzy haze, I thought I saw Edward squeeze himself out the door before it closed.

I was definitely going to kill Damon and Edward.

I was in Bella's room and she was sitting on her bed, staring at me in confusion.

"You better lock your doors tonight and if I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open!" I yelled in the direction of the door as Bella rose from her bed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me.

"That's a good question," I said and started to walk around the room. I sat down on her couch after a while of silence and saw the wooden wand box next to me. I picked it up and absentmindedly opened and closed the lid over and over again.

"Can you stop that?" she huffed in annoyance.

I shook my head and she sighed in return.

"Did you come here to apologize or something?"

"First of all," I started, "I didn't come here. And second, what should I apologize for?"

"First, maybe for always being all over my business-" I cut her off.

"I would call it 'always looking out for you and and taking care of things that could hurt you', so I don't really feel the need to apologize," I commented.

A hint of a smile tugged on the edge of her lips, but she continued anyway. "Second, for yelling at me-"

"I believe you started that."

"And third, for not being around for an entire week. I thought I was going to go crazy. I mean, seriously. I only got to see you in class. The rest of the time, you were never around," Bella rushed out the words.

So apparently she wasn't angry at me. And since I wasn't mad at her, either, I flashed her a bright grin and snapped the box shut for the last time.

It seemed I did that with too much force, though, because a piece of the lid split off.

"And you have to apologize for breaking that," Bella added with a grin on her own face as she walked toward me.

"I'm so so so so sooo sorry," I gushed and got up to grab her in a tight hug.

"I am too," she whispered.

"Ah, no worries. I wasn't even-" I stopped myself when I felt my foot come in contact with something. I looked down and saw that I had stepped on the piece that had broken off of the box.

I bent down and picked it up. It didn't even look like it was broken. It looked more like it was a lid itself. I turned it over and looked at the inside, only to find that there was something inscribed in the wood. The writing was extremely beautiful and looked more like a drawing.

"What is that?" Bella asked as she leaned closer to look at it.

"'And find the clues to solve the mystery'," I read. "'In the end, the light and the dark will be in their hands. A keepsake of old times; a reminder of pure times'."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bella and I mumbled at the same time.

"Do you think there's an explanation in my box?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to look."

I quickly walked to the door, only to find that it was locked.

"Guys, you can either let me out or get my wand box from my room," I called through the door.

"Why?" Damon's slightly muffled voice asked.

"Don't ask, just do," I hissed.

I heard him walk away, and a few seconds later, the door opened and he reached inside to hand it to me. I let the box drop and watched as it's lid also splitted.

"This is so cool," Bella commented and I nodded in agreement.

I read it over really quickly. "This seems to be the beginning," I told Bella, showing her the writing.

"What do you think that means?" she asked.

"I really have no idea," I answered and looked down at both pieces.

A long lost might, superior to others, sealed away by the bonded ones

To be found and unraveled, the bonded ones must return to life and find the clues to solve the mystery

In the end, the light and the dark will be in their hands

A keepsake of old times; a reminder of pure times

"Do you also get this weird feeling that it isn't a coincidence that we have it?" Bella asked me.

I looked at her and slowly nodded. "Yeah."

---

A/N: Haha we slowly reach the end...very slowly to be exact there are still going to be a few chapters, but still we're getting there :D So who can guess what this mysterious writing means? And who can guess who Master, Nightmare, Houdini, Shadow and Blossom are? And third question, who can guess who the other guardians are?

So many questions and I got the answers, I feel so important right now. Okay I have three good reasons why I need reviews: 1) I have a very important project presentation tomorrow and I need something to distract me

2) I only updated for you guys

3) My birthday is next week adn I don't know if I will update this week, so it will be the most perfect present:D:D

If you think these reasons are not good enough, you should review anyway, because seriously if you read it this far you might as well tell me what you think :P

Okay now that's all I gotta say and I hope someone gets the questions right, because I got a FASGS trailer (^^), the school's logo and a preview of the next chapter...isn't that motivating one price for each question, so you might wanna guess, except if you don't care than it really doesn't matter. Now that really was all I gotta say. See you guys next time:D