A/N: Yeah, it kind of took us (Lish the fish and myself) a few hundred years to finally finish this chapter. Sorry about that. My mind was jsut occupied with lots of other things and we all know that real life tends to get in the way every now and then. Well, right now I'm busily updating all of my stories, typing furiously more than one chapter at a time and I don't even know where to end and where to start.
Ah well, at least I managed to update this :)
Have fun ready, I'll be at the bottom
Bella Pov
"Ladies and gentlemen, the plane will soon be landing. Please fasten your seat belts and prepare for landing."
I yawned and stretched in my seat before I put on my seat belt. Flying first class always made me sleepy.
I rummaged through my purse and pulled out a hairband and mirror. My makeup was slightly smeared and my hair was in slight disarray. I didn't really like wearing makeup, but it worked with the image I was portraying.
I pulled my hair into a neat ponytail and fixed my makeup quickly. I pulled the horrid pumps back on, already starting to fantasize about kicking them off. Then I waited patiently.
I gazed absentmindedly out the window while I waited for the plane to land.
While I was not particularly fond of the idea of following the instructions of an unknown person, I was definitely excited to see my two friends again.
I heard the buzz of the captain's voice, but I didn't pay any attention to that. I knew that we had landed since I was looking out the window but I remained still in my seat, since I never got off the plane immediately to avoid the rushing madness that the other passengers would most likely cause.
So I sat patiently in my seat and watched the people passing by until I finally got up, grabbed my things, and waltzed off the plane as fast and gracefully as I could in these shoes.
I rushed through the usual airport madness without paying much attention to anyone. I scanned my surroundings every two seconds carefully from behind my sunglasses, but I never saw anything out of the usual.
"Your passport please, Miss," the man behind the counter demanded politely.
I stopped looking around and send him an apologetic smile before I rummaged through my purse in search of my passport.
He flipped through the pages quickly. "Your first visit to London, is it?" he asked casually.
I grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "I'm already, like, totally excited. I've always, like, wanted to go shopping in London. It's gonna be so completely fabulous." I squealed quietly and then giggled right after that.
The guy only looked at me with an annoyed stare and then handed me back my passport. "Well, then have fun with that shopping trip of yours, Ms. Crane."
I waved at him and went to get my luggage. As soon as I turned my back at him, I let my smile drop, rolling my eyes from behind the lenses of my glasses, and pushed my way through the mass.
Thankfully it didn't take me long to find my suitcase and I was soon on my way out.
I didn't like spending too much time in a crowded place and this was definitely a crowded place.
Why are there always so many people at the airport?
I quickened my step—cursing the shoes while doing so—until I crashed into a cart.
"What the—" I started to say, but I was interrupted by the person pushing the cart I had crashed into.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such a dirty mouth," a female voice scolded.
In between rubbing my pained leg and picking up my purse from the ground, I looked up at the person.
She was a blonde, with a model-like body but an average face. She seemed to be somewhat around my age and had a really strong British accent.
"Sorry," I apologized quickly.
She only waved me off and winked. "No need to worry," she said before she pushed her cart passed me.
I turned around to look at her retreating figure, shaking my head.
Some people...
I pushed my sunglasses up in my hair and resumed my walk out of this building.
Merely five steps later, I crashed into someone again.
A tiny girl with big curls on her head, a pair of thick glasses on her nose, and quite the contrary in the body department than the previous person I crashed into.
Her reaction was also not like my previous victim.
She threw her hair over her shoulder, glared at me, and hissed something that sounded like "idiotic klutz" while she got away from me as fast as she could.
I stared after her for a few moments and then hurried to get out of there as fast as possible. There was no need to bump into another person today.
As soon as I stepped out of the enormous airport building, I saw a limousine parked in front of the entrance which had the two letter CC written on it in a fancy golden cursive script.
Whoever "CC" was definitely had way too much money.
I walked up to the driver standing next to it as confidently as I could. "Take care of my luggage, will ya?" I asked him sweetly when I came to halt in front of the startled man. He was elderly, but still seemed to be in good shape, so I didn't feel too bad about thrusting the handle of my suitcase into his hand and just getting into the back of the car.
The inside looked just like I imagined a limousine to look. There were three different leather benches and a table with a champagne cooler in the middle. I smiled and leaned forward, grabbing the bottle and one of the glasses on the table.
It had been too long since I had gotten to enjoy life like this.
Soon I was settled on the bench right beneath the little window that connected the back and front, with my battered copy of Wuthering Heights and a glass of champagne in my hand.
I started reading at a random page and found myself immersed in the story until I heard the door of the car being opened.
I didn't look up, but waited for someone to say something.
Nothing came.
I resumed reading until the motor of the car suddenly roared to life.
The hum of the window rolling down made me look up.
"Am I right with the assumption that you all have been invited?" the driver asked, looking a little bit lost.
I smiled sympathetically at him, knowing full well that he had a lot to deal with at that moment.
He looked at the people I knew were behind me, before he shrugged slightly and turned back to the front, the window closing slowly.
With a sigh I turned my attention back to the book in my hands.
It must have been about half an hour later that I decided that it was time to put the book down and refill my glass.
The other two people in the back of the limo looked up as well and I noticed that they looked completely unknown to me.
However that didn't mean that I didn't know them or had never met them.
The corners of my mouth twitched but I struggled to keep a straight face as all three of us were staring at each other.
"Blonde, huh?" said the one with the curls and the glasses. The way she asked was more joking than casual.
"Curls," I replied curtly, trying to sound nonchalant.
We all looked at each other in silence for another moment, before we finally started laughing.
"I can't believe that you are a blonde," Alice gasped.
"Oh please, did you hear Rose's accent?" I wheezed in return.
"There is nothing wrong with my accent," Rose defended herself.
"No, but your makeup…" Alice retorted with an exaggerated shudder.
"You're the one to talk. You have giant curls on your tiny head."
We continued laughing a little longer until we eventually ran out of funny remarks.
When all of us had calmed down, I carefully pulled out the pins in my hair that kept the wig in place.
It took longer than it should have for my thick mahogany brown curls to fall down my back.
I pushed my hair back and then removed most of my makeup.
Next, I discarded the pink jacket that I was wearing and then wiggled out of the short skirt, revealing a pair of slacks that I had managed to fold up to my thigh.
I pushed the pants properly in place and kicked off the pumps, only to make a pair of flats appear out of my purse.
I put them on and turned my attention back to my two friends.
Rose had now removed all of her makeup and the contacts, making her look like her gorgeous self again. It was still a miracle to me how she managed to make herself look less attractive. She too had changed and now sat there in a pair of hot pants and a white long shirt with a silvery pattern on it.
She had also stolen my black pumps.
Alice had gotten rid of the long curls and had arranged her short hair in the usual spiky halo that made her look like an adorable little pixie.
She had thrown the glasses on the table and looked a little thinner now.
Seeing that she had been hiding a little dress with a ruffle skirt underneath a t-shirt and jeans it was no wonder that she had looked a little bigger before.
"You know guys, I think we need a new ritual to recognize each other," I noted. "My leg is going to bruise permanently if Rose keeps knocking her carts against it."
Rose grimaced slightly.
"Oh gosh, we really need a new plan. I crashed into three women today and the airport security was already starting to keep tabs on me."
"How did you make it to the car then without them watching?" I asked her.
"Oh, they probably watched but I just went up to that driver guy and gushed about wanting to drive in a limo once. Alice passed by and joined in on my whining."
I nodded in understanding. I was pretty sure that we were safe so there was no need to worry all that much about the fact that we were all connected through the car.
"So did any of you find anything on CC?" Alice asked.
"Nothing at all. It's hard to find something without any information," Rose replied.
"Let's just hope it's not some pervert," I mumbled.
"Quick change of topic," Rose announced, "We need to do something about Barcelona."
Both Alice and I sighed at that. It had been a topic for quite some time.
"I'll try and think of something," I promised.
Rose nodded. "Alright, now what was that that Alice told me about you flirting willingly with a guy?"
I groaned and slumped back in my seat.
"What? It's a big deal."
"No, it's not."
"Bella, it is a big deal seeing that you are never really attracted to men," Alice chirped in.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"I admit that I'm never really attracted to men that cross my way- especially at work- and I admit that I might have reacted a little differently to that particular guy, but I did to flirt with him. So stop letting your imagination run wild," I told them calmly.
"What do you mean ' you reacted differently'?" Rose demanded right away.
"Nothing," I replied with a sigh.
I should have known that I would be sighing a lot as soon as the three of us were reunited.
"Did you stumble?" Alice asked curiously.
"No."
"She probably walked against a glass door," Rose joked.
"Not that I know of."
"You fell on your face, didn't you?"
"No."
"Did you stutter?"
"No."
"Spilled coffee all over him?"
"Nope."
"Gaped at him, open-mouthed?"
"Jeez, no. We are talking about my life here not some romantic-comedy."
"Well, one of your lives," Alice corrected.
"Yeah, yeah." I answered dismissively.
"So what did you do then?"
"I didn't do anything. I just... I might have blushed," I admitted, knowing what was going to come next.
"What?"
Sometimes it was amazing how insanely high- pitched female voices could be.
"Isabella Swan, you didn't blush since... since...I think I never saw you blush." Rose said thoughtfully.
"Oh, she did blush alright when we were in college and I started dressing her properly," Alice noted.
"Oh yeah, I remember that. Ah, good times."
Rose looked at something far away before she snapped back into reality.
"So you blushed while talking to him?"
"Could we please just stop talking about this?"
"Noway, this is way too interesting. You acted like a goofy teenager in the presence of a man and we hadn't been there."
Alice let out a wistful sigh. "You should totally call him."
"What?"
That was definitely not something I had been prepared for.
Alice looked like she was pleased with herself now that she had managed to catch me off guard.
Thankfully this conversation had to end when the car came to a sudden stop.
I had no idea where we were but judging by the amount of trees around us, I came to the conclusion that we had left the city behind.
The door opened and Alice jumped out immediately, followed by Rose and me.
The limousine had stopped in front of one of the biggest mansions I had ever seen in real life.
It was practically a castle and the fountain in front of us made it even more surreal.
The giant mansion was surrounded by a pretty large yard as well which was definitely nice to look at although I didn't know where the beginning and where the end was.
I turned around quickly and noticed that the trail that the car had driven along was very long but I could see the gates.
I also realized that this mansion stood on top of a little hill.
Whoever CC was, he had a lot of style as well.
While the three of us were gaping at our surroundings, the driver was gaping at us.
"Err.. Weren't all of you...I think... Maybe I should retire."
He shook his head and then seemed to be dismissing the fact that the three people that had gotten into the car now looked completely different.
"Just follow me," he instructed and led the way up to the mansion.
Behind those glorious doors was a beautiful entrance hall with a giant staircase in the center. The hall was big enough to be a ballroom, although I was pretty sure that the various doors that led away from the hall would reveal that there was a separate ball room somewhere.
"Whoever lives in here has way too much money and loves historic items," Rose noted quietly, pointing at a few statues in the room and at the ceiling.
Apart from the biggest chandelier ever there as also a big painting of Salvador Dali on the ceiling.
"It must have cost a fortune to get that painted on the ceiling," I commented, completely in awe.
It was like a museum in here and looking at the the little wooden stand beside me told me that there were a lot of valuable and antique things around here.
"Ladies," the driver, who seemed to be the butler as well called to us and motioned toward a door at the far right.
He led the way again while Rose muttered something about golden ornaments and diamonds somewhere.
Alice was looking at everything with wide eyes and was playing around with her fingers.
I sighed at the two of them before I scolded myself mentally for not being any better. I had already detected the controlling panel for the alarm system and might have calculated where the next exit would most likely be.
I shook my head to get rid of these thoughts and instead into a big room right behind Alice and Rose.
This place gave a whole new meaning to the term 'living room' and that was not only because of the TV that took up an entire wall and a couch that was big enough to enable an entire neighborhood to sleep on it.
"Just take a seat and I will inform the master that you have arrived. Do you wish for anything to drink?" the driver-and-apparently-also-butler asked.
I declined politely as did Alice and Rose.
I noticed that the man looked around the room with a frown as if he were looking for someone before he hurried out of the room.
"Do you think it would be possible for us to take over this house?"Rose asked casually as soon as we were alone.
She leaned back on the couch, sinking into the pillows, and put her feet on the glass coffee table in front of us.
"Not likely, Rose," I answered with a giggle.
"But still possible," an unknown male voice suddenly spoke.
The voice was deep and loud- definitely intimidating.
It startled all three of us enough to look around the room frantically.
From behind the little bar at the other side of the room appeared a big, bulky guy that was now moving in our direction.
His hair was dark and curly not quite suiting his overall scary exterior but that was hardly important.
What was important was how fast we could get out and save ourselves before this guy made kebab out of us.
The muscle mountain lifted his beer bottle in some kind of greeting before he took a sip and pulled a grimace.
"Damn, these British people don't have any taste at all."
He slumped down on the couch in a safe distance and then watched us warily.
"Who are you?" he asked boldly.
"Who are you?" Alice shot back before Rose or I could say anything else.
The big grizzly seemed to find that amusing since he grinned at Alice, revealing adorable dimples on his face.
Maybe he didn't look as intimidating as the first impression made it seem.
"Sorry, I don't think I can tell you that," the grizzly answered with a shrug and took another sip from his beer.
"Well then, I guess you understand why we won't tell you anything either."
Grizzly guy narrowed his eyes at Alice, who didn't seem to be scared of him.
"You are not working for CC, are you?"
He made the question sound more like a fact.
"No, we are not," Rose chirped in,"you don't happen to know who that is, do you?"
The guy's eyes now flitted over to Rose and widened for a second.
Rose tended to have that effect on lots of men.
"I don't think I would be here if that were the case. I take it that you have been ordered here as well?"
"That's right," I chimed in this time, picking absentminded on my nails.
"Hmm..."
His thoughtful hum sounded more like a rumble.
Silence followed since everyone seemed to be occupied with his or her own thoughts.
I looked around the room and discovered a few more art pieces that were almost irresistible.
Especially the stone mask, covered in glitter and feathers caught my interest.
I remembered seeing it before and I remembered how badly Alice had wanted it but couldn't get it.
Back then it had been in a magazine where they wrote about some rich historian who bought this special piece of art as an anniversary gift for his wife.
I scrambled in my mind to recall the name of that person just when a new voice spoke up.
"Oh, I see that all of you have made it here safely. Welcome."
Just when these words had been spoken, I remembered.
I jumped up and twirled around.
"Carlisle Cullen," I exclaimed proudly.
The person who had spoken was a middle-aged handsome man with blonde hair. His blue eyes widened slightly at my sudden outburst but he regained his calm posture right away.
Behind him stood a little woman with beautiful caramel colored locks and a gorgeous heart shaped face.
She looked a little startled at my outburst as did everybody else in the room.
"Err... Bella are you on something?" Rose asked me carefully.
I pulled a grimace at her before I hurried to explain.
"Four years ago right after we met, Alice suggested that we should work together to get the Salomanian mask. She was crazy about the thing and got on our nerves 24/7. Jake finally pulled together every single piece of information that he could. Do you guys remember that?"
Alice scowled when she answered," Oh yeah, some idiotic rich guy bout it for his wife and it was nearly impossible for us to get it then."
"Exactly. Now look what is hanging on the wall over there."
Alice and Rose both looked over to where I was pointing and Alice immediately gasped and jumped up to inspect the mask from a closer distance.
"The idiotic rich guy was named Carlisle Cullen, historian and author. To be exact, Dr. Carlisle Cullen. He has a Ph. D in Egyptian and European history. He's better known to us as CC."
"I must say, I'm quite impressed," the handsome blonde said genuinely .
"I take it that you are Ms. Swan?"
I quirked an eyebrow at him but nodded anyway.
It was still a mystery to me what he wanted from us.
Since he knew our real names it couldn't be anything related to our 'job'.
Alice opened her mouth, probably wanting to ask him what he wanted from us, but he silenced her by lifting his right hand.
"All of your questions will be answered at dinner, but for now, I would like for all of your to get settled in your rooms. Winston will accompany you there," he said and then gracefully exited the room, his wife by his side and the his butler staring at us expectantly.
"He doesn't honestly think that I'm staying here without even knowing why, does he?" Rose complained, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Seeing as you have traveled across the globe to see him, I think he's not far off in his assumption that you'll be staying here for a while," grizzly guy commented.
"I didn't travel across the globe," Rose snapped at him.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Don't be so mean, darling. How could he have known that?" I questioned before I followed after Winston, who was already leaving the room.
Winston led us up the enormous staircase and I couldn't help but notice the carvings in the dark wooden railings.
"Am I the only one who sees extremely valuable stuff everywhere I look?" Alice whispered quietly from beside me.
"No, you're not," I breathed and ran my hand over the wood. "It's beautiful."
"It's challenging," Alice retorted, even though my last words hadn't been meant for her. "How am I supposed to live a healthy life if I get pulled into situations like this?"
"Alice, you're not living a healthy life," Rose whispered to her, joining the conversation while the two men eyed us from behind.
"Oh be quiet, you know what I meant," responded Alice, a little too loudly.
I let out a hiss to remind her that we were not alone.
Alice turned back to me. "Bella, please remind me that I am in control of myself and that I don't need any of this," she pleaded, waving her hand around.
I gently placed my hand on her shoulder and, at a normal volume, told her, "Alice, you are in control and there is no need for you to doubt that."
She smiled gratefully at me, while Rose shook her head. She'd never liked these moments because she didn't see the sense in the whole thing.
Once we were on the upper level of the house, I was once again awestruck.
The royal red carpet and the cream-colored walls were one thing, but the various paintings on the walls of the corridor made it hard for me to believe my earlier words to Alice. If she managed to keep herself in check at this place, I'd have no doubt that she was truly recovered.
"Follow me," Winston called when the four of us were standing still, staring at the place with open mouths.
I quickly snapped my mouth shut and followed him, mostly because I wanted to see all the paintings and photos on the walls.
"Friedrich," I whispered in awe.
"Pardon me, Miss?" Winston said, though I hadn't been talking to him.
I pointed at the painting we'd just passed. "Caspar David Friedrich, a German artist. 19th century, romantic. Painted mostly landscapes. This is a copy, though - the original is in Hamburg."
"Well, Miss, you are certainly well-informed, although not well enough," Winston replied and smiled almost arrogantly as he kept leading the way.
"What?"
Rose drew in a sharp breath, knowing that Winston had just severely bruised my ego.
"I could tell you more about this special piece, but seeing as it's only a copy, I don't see the sense," I snapped defensively.
"Of course," Winston responded, unconvinced.
I narrowed my eyes at him before zeroing in on the next painting. "Édouard Manet, a French artist. Late 19th century and again, the painting is a copy. The original is in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris."
"Why does she know all this junk?" I heard the grizzly guy ask from behind me.
"She doesn't have very many hobbies," Alice answered.
"Again, I have to inform you that you seem to be slightly misinformed," Winston said, now visibly amused. "This is your room, Miss..." he then added quickly and gestured to the door next to the Manet painting. He'd let his voice trail off, though, when he realized that he didn't know my name.
I gave him the evil eye and silently stomped passed him, shutting the door behind me with as much force as I could muster.
As soon as the annoying butler was out of my line of sight, I calmed down and turned my attention to the room.
It was big, held entirely in white. Right on the opposite side of the wall was a big window that stretched as far as the wall with a white side board beneath it that was just as long.
The view was so beautiful that I couldn't bring myself to pay attention to the king-sized white bed that seemed to have been built in the style of German middle-aged beds. I looked outside the window and saw a beautiful little pond, flanked by a group of trees with stunning shades of yellow, orange and brown swirling on their branches in the wind. It was times like these that I felt I truly appreciated Autumn.
I noticed a little TV area in the room and beside it, the door that led to the bathroom, which was a mixture of blues and whites. I also noticed my suitcase standing by the foot of the bed and forgot about my annoyance towards Winston.
With a sigh, I threw myself on the couch and remained still for a moment.
My eyes wandered around the room. I always had a habit of inspecting my surroundings carefully.
One, two, three...
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.
"Come in," I called in a bored voice. Knowing them it was probably Rose or Alice - most likely both.
"The rooms are so beautiful," I heard Alice gush before she stepped into my view with Rose trailing behind her.
"I wouldn't mind staying here for a longer amount of time," Rose said casually. She threw herself on the bed while Alice pushed my legs aside to get seated on the couch beside me.
I only grunted in response to their statements.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked immediately, "Don't you like it here? You should, 'cause the view alone is enough to convince an average person."
"I know, I know. I admit that the whole place is really beautiful and kind of intriguing, but-"
Rose groaned loudly.
Both Alice and I turned to look at her with confused expressions.
"What? I know Bella's now going to say something that makes all of us hate this place. We've barely even arrived!" she said defensively.
"Sorry, but I thought you would want to know that there are three surveying cameras installed in this room alone."
"What?" Alice shrieked, jumping up and looking around wildly.
"Yeah," I said lazily, pointing up to the curtain, where the first one was hidden. "There is the first one. The second is attached to the TV and the third is hidden in the chandelier up there."
Alice and Rose followed my movements and looked straight into each camera. Now that I pointed them out, they actually saw them. It was some kind of advanced technology, seeing as they were as small as they were. A normal person wouldn't have been able to find them.
"Oh man," Alice sighed. "Talk about creepy."
"Do you think they can hear us, too?" Rose wondered.
I shrugged. "Probably."
She sighed. "And here I thought I was going to like this place," she muttered.
"Sorry to disappoint."
We all sat there in silence for a few minutes.
"Do you think they know something?" Alice asked after a few moments.
"There is no way that they know anything," Rose replied.
"I'm not too sure about that," I mumbled. "Why else would we be ordered here with no specific reason?"
"Maybe they are perverts and plan to misuse us for their own personal pleasure?" Rose offered, not really sounding like she believed that.
"Then it would be weird that they had us travel across the globe to get here," Alice threw in.
Rose merely shrugged. "It's also weird that the letters were sent to our actual addresses."
"That is indeed very strange," I mused. "That combined with the fact that we are being watched should tell us that they know who we are and what we do."
"You think they're cops?" Alice shrieked.
"No way, Al," Rose scoffed, "cops aren't nearly smart enough to find us."
"She's right. According to Jacob, they don't have anything that could lead them to us," I agreed.
"What? Last time I saw him he told me that the FBI was now officially looking for me."
Rose groaned. "He didn't mean Mary-Alice Brandon, you idiot. He was talking about-"
"Rose," I hissed and gestured toward one of the cameras.
"What? They already know who we are."
"But we don't know how much they know and it would be wise to keep a few things to ourselves, in case we need to vanish."
She rolled her eyes. "You know that's not going to be a problem whatsoever."
"For you," Alice chimed. "But that's only because you are all over-"
"Alice," I hissed again. Sometimes, I wondered if they wanted to be discovered.
Alice rolled her eyes now as well.
"So what do we do now?" Rose asked, trying to find something we could talk about in this situation.
I sighed. "I don't know. We can't even call Jake, 'cause he made himself disappear yet again."
"He's such a coward," Alice mumbled.
Rose made an agreeing sound, while I just stayed silent.
A knock on the door echoed throughout the room.
"Err... Come in," I called.
The door opened and Winston peeked in. "Dinner is served," he announced.
Rose, Alice and I looked at each other before we got up and followed Winston.
The grizzly guy was already with him, inspecting each of us with a calculating expression.
"See something you like?" Rose asked him, sarcastic and cocky.
"Most definitely," he answered with a wink.
Alice giggled, while Rose rolled her eyes again.
We all followed Winston back downstairs into a big dining room, decorated in all kinds of golden ornaments.
Carlisle Cullen definitely had too much money.
The dining table was set for seven people, which made me frown in wonder.
"Are you having dinner with us, Winston?" I asked the gray-haired man.
He only chuckled. "No, but the young master will be joining you soon," he answered before he left the room.
"I guess we should get seated..." Alice remarked and sat down.
I sat down beside her and Rose took the seat on my right.
The grizzly guy seemed to have taken some interest in Rose and sat down opposite of her, leaving two seats to his right empty.
I inspected the silverware on the table and came quickly to the conclusion that they were beautiful, delicate, very expensive antiques.
"They're antiques," Alice whispered to me and lifted a knife, pointing at a crest that was engraved in it.
Of course she would notice something like that.
"It's our family crest," a voice spoke up from behind.
We turned and saw Carlisle Cullen enter together with his wife and a young man behind him.
It wasn't hard to see that he was their son. Not only because Winston had mentioned a 'young master', but because he had the same blue eyes as Mr. Cullen, and also blond hair.
The Cullens all got seated, looking at us with varying expressions.
While Mr. Cullen seemed to be kind of excited, his wife eyed us with a wary expression. Their son just seemed to be curious, which made me wonder if he even knew why we were here. Probably not, seeing as we didn't even know the answer to that ourselves.
"Are we going to get our questions answered now?" Grizzly guy asked.
A mere chuckle was our response. "Let me make the introductions first, while dinner is being served," he then said and moved his hand under the table.
A distinct buzzing sound was to be heard and I guessed that it was the signal for whomever to serve dinner
"As Ms. Swan noted earlier, my name is Carlisle Cullen," he started.
It made me feel a little uncomfortable that he used my name in such a casual manner.
"This is my wife, Esme, and my son, Jasper." He gestured toward each person. Then he turned toward his wife. "Darling, this is Emmett McCarty. He is a...retrieval specialist of sorts." He motioned toward the grizzly guy, who didn't seem to be very comfortable with the fact that Mr. Cullen knew him. I knew exactly how he felt.
I frowned slightly at his words. What in the world was a retrieval specialist and why did it sound like there was a little more to it than that?
"Then we have Rosemarie Whitlock," Mr. Cullen said, and I watched how Rose shifted in her seat. "She is probably one of the most talented grifters in the world. I'm not even sure if we got her real identity or not."
I grimaced. With Rose, nobody could ever be too sure about that.
"This is Mary-Alice Brandon. She is an expert thief, pickpocket and safe-cracker. She is also quite the acrobat."
Alice let out a quiet giggle, but stopped when I nudged her lightly.
"And last but not least we have Isabella Marie Swan. I wouldn't call her a thief - as a matter of fact, it's hard to classify her. She's something like a strategic criminal. The three girls work together most of the time and she is the team's mastermind."
With these words said, he turned the attention to his food.
I hadn't even realized that we all had plates in front of us now.
Esme Cullen looked at each of us before she started to eat as well.
I just sat there, a bit dumbfounded.
"Just for the record," Rose suddenly spoke up, "you did not get my real identity."
"What?" Alice and I exclaimed at the same time, staring at her in disbelief.
"What what?" she asked back.
"You told us that your real name is Rosemarie Whitlock. I even laughed at you for having such a crappy name!" Alice said.
"Oh yeah, I lied. It's not my real name."
"You lied to us?" Alice and I asked in unison.
"Of course I did," Rose said as if it should be the most obvious thing. "I lie to everybody. It's my job."
"But we're your best friends," I replied.
"Which is why I let you interact with the one identity that I like the most." She said all of this in a perfectly calm voice, not even looking at us.
"I don't believe it," I muttered. We had been best friends ever since the day we met in college. I had always thought I knew them and then Rose just reveals now that that's not even her real name. Maybe she didn't even like us and just used us as a cover. Who knew what she was really like?
Maybe she was an assassin.
"Before any of you ask. I only lied about my name and some parts of my biography. I still love you guys like my own sisters and I'm not some kind of psycho that just uses you or something," Rose stated as if she had read my mind.
I quirked an eyebrow at her, but she didn't say anything else as everyone else at the table looked on, amused.
"Are you going to tell us your real name?" Mr. Cullen asked.
"No. It's not like it matters anyway. She died a long time ago," Rose responded in a clipped tone.
Alice and I exchanged looks, still trying to process this new piece of information.
"Then it is no surprise that I couldn't find out your real name," Jasper said quietly.
All eyes now rested on him.
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
He looked up and jumped slightly when he realized that four sets of eyes were looking at him, slightly menacing.
"I tracked each of you down," he replied after a few seconds.
"How did you do that?" Grizzly - Emmett - asked him.
Jasper shrugged. "It took me some time. My dad wanted me to find some suitable people for his purpose, so I kept tabs on all kinds of crimes going on. I mostly based my work on security camera footage from around the world. None of you were ever actually to be seen, but each of you has a certain, unique...style. For instance, the girls always work together. So I talked to some people, hacked a few databases, and eventually found you."
"You make it sound easy. It shouldn't be that easy to find out who we really are," Alice noted.
"It's not easy," he said. "In fact, it's quite impossible. But I'm a profiler and a good one at that, so I have a knack for reading people without even meeting them. It makes it easier to find them."
"Tracker sounds more accurate," I mumbled.
Jasper chuckled. "I guess you could say that. I've never actually tracked a person down before; this was the first time."
"Pretty good for a first-timer," Emmett grumbled, obviously not pleased that he had succeeded.
Neither was I, to be honest. If this guy ever decided to work for the government, we would be screwed.
"Yeah, but it took me about three years."
"Three years? Just how old are you and don't you have any hobbies?" Rose asked him in surprise.
"I'm twenty-eight and I do have a few hobbies...tracking you down just happened to be one of them."
"And what exactly do you need us for? It has to be something big if you let your son spend three years of his life to find the 'right people'. How do you even know that we are suitable for whatever you have in mind?" I asked Mr. Cullen, who had only been watching us.
"Oh, I'm pretty positive that you are the right ones. You are the perfect combination for a team and none of you are overly violent in your...jobs, so that works just fine for me." He cast a slightly nervous look in Emmett's direction as he said that, which probably went unnoticed by everybody else.
"Well, it's certainly nice to know that our working styles impress you, but would you mind telling us what you need from us?" Rose asked, sounding pretty annoyed.
Carlisle smiled gently at her. "I need you to work for me," he answered. "As thieves, of course."
A/N: So I hope this answers some of the questions that you guys have been asking. The prologue was not some time in the future but rather the past...
Well now I don't really have anything to say soooo... Just review and tell me what you think :D