Chapter 16: Secrets Revealed.
When Bella awoke the next morning, she groaned realizing what day it was. It was Saturday. It was the day that Bella and Angela both agreed to go to Port Angelus with Jessica and Lauren. "God I hate shopping." Bella spoke to the room. When she sat up in her bed she got a chill. She looked over to the window and saw it was open. Bella didn't remember leaving it open but she didn't question it. She had a feeling of why it was open but she had hoped that the answer would soon reveal itself. Bella looked at her phone once more and saw that it was about 8:30 am and she had enough time to take a shower, so she grabbed a towel and headed over to the bathroom. The door was closed and she heard the shower already running so she decided to grab a quick breakfast so Charlie could finish his own shower. A few minutes later Bella was just about to finish her cereal when Charlie came down, dressed in his long sleeve button down shirt and jeans. She had to admit, she got her fashion sense from her father. "You're up early on a Saturday Bells. What's the occasion?" Charlie chuckled. Bella groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm going shopping with a few girls from school." That's when Charlie busted out laughing. Bella rolled her eyes and headed upstairs to the bathroom with her father's laughter following her.
It was around 9:30 when Bella stepped out of the shower. Just as she was getting dressed she heard her phone vibrate and when she looked at it, she saw that she was getting a call from Angela. "Hey Ange." she greeted her best friend. "Hey Bella. You ready for today?" "To be honest, I'm really not." Bella said as she put her pants on, holding the phone to her shoulder with the side of her face. "I know after yesterday, you deserve a rest from running around. Do you want me to tell Jessica you don't wanna go?" Angela asked. Bella really thought about it for a good minute. On the one hand, she could stay home, get some rest and hang out with her dad. On the other, she could go and take that chance to go over to the library and check out the book of Quileute legends. Bella was a little bummed that she hadn't talked to Jacob since the day they talked. She was gonna make it a point to hang out with him tomorrow if he wanted to see her. "Naw Ange. I'll go. I need to head over to the library today anyway." "Ok Bells. I'll see you soon then. I think Jessica and Lauren are coming to pick me up now. They should be here really soon." Bella smiled and said goodbye. "Alright, I'll see you soon." The town girls hung up the phone and Bella continued to get ready for her day.
Jessica, Lauren and Angela picked Bella up at around ten o'clock. Right on time. They had to honk the horn of their car to get the girl to come out of her house. When she came out the door Angela smiled a genuine smile and Jessica and Lauren had one of those smiles that just kinda creeped you out. The drive over to town was relatively quiet. Bella just looked out the window and looked at the scenery instead of gossiping with the two girls in the front of the car. She wondered what Alice was doing right now. Was she thinking about her? Was she spending time with her family? What was she doing? By the time she was done with her internal questioning, the four girls pulled in to a parking space in front of one of the shops in town. It was a dress shop. Bella rolled her eyes just as she walked through the doorway. 'God please kill me now.' She thought as she entered the shop.
Most of the time Bella sat on one of the window sills facing the street while the girls tried on their dresses. She looked out the window a lot thinking about the Cullen's and their traits. The paleness of their skin, their amber eyes-like gold. "Hey Bella! This dress would look really cute on you!" Bella heard Jessica's voice ring through the space between them. She looked at the girl holding a cornflower blue, halter type dress. Bella wasn't a fan of dresses to begin with but she decided to humor the girl and took the dress from her to try it on. She ventured into the dressing room and stripped her clothes to slip the over rated piece of fabric on her body. She put her feet in and brought the halter loop over her head. When Bella looked at herself in the mirror, she gasped and kind of jumped a little. She actually looked good. 'Well this is unexpected.' Bella thought as she smoothed her hands over the fabric. She starred at the dress for a good minute till she moved to take it off.
Bella walked out of the dressing room, walked over to Angela and smiled at her. They both walked up to the counter to pay for their dresses and walked out the door with Jessica and Lauren. The four decided that they would go to a restaurant to get something to eat. By the time they walked out of the shop, it was almost dark. When they got to the front door of the restaurant, Bella took a look across the street and saw the library almost calling to her. This one was odd because it was still open past sunset. She touched Angela's shoulder and told her that she was going to the library real quick to check out a book. Angela nodded her head and told her to be careful before letting her go. Bella jogged across the street and walked through the door of the library. When she walked into the building, the librarian greeted her. She was an older woman with frosted blonde hair and glasses. "Hello dear. How can I help you tonight? Are you looking for anything in particular?" Bella thought about telling the woman why she was there and decided she looked nice enough and asked her. "Can you tell me where the book of Quileute legends is?" The woman thought about it for a moment and smiled before saying, "Oh yes. We actually just got it back. School project dear?" Bella just nodded in response as the librarian went to the return bin and pulled out the old looking book and set it on the counter. "You look new here, can I sign you up for a library card?" Bella smiled and nodded her head. After she gave the required information, the librarian scanned the book and handed it to her. "Here you go dear. Enjoy it and good luck on your project." Bella thanked the woman and walked out the door.
When she began walking back to the restaurant the sun was down and darkness covered the street, except for a few select spots. Bella suspected that the girls had made their way back to the car on the other side of the small shopping center and decided to take her time getting back to them. As she walked, Bella heard a couple of low sinister voices behind her and chanced a look as to who was possibly following her. Three men who looked a little of the unsavory type, were walking behind her and they were coming faster. "Hey baby, wait up a second." Bella started walking faster. When the men came up behind her, she started to run. She ran as fast as she could and in the panic, she couldn't recognize where she was and she screamed for help. Bella could feel the breath of a man on the back of her neck one minute and the next she heard a scream and the breath was gone. She stopped and looked behind her and saw that the two other men that were chasing her were still after her. That's when she saw two bright headlights attached to a canary yellow Porsche.
When the car turned to reveal its passenger side door, the driver opened the window and Bella was shocked to see who was inside. "Alice?" The little pixie did not look happy. "Get in the car Bella." The girl outside of the car still didn't believe what was happening or that Alice would even have such an expensive car. "Alice? What the hell?" Alice growled and said, "We don't have time for questions Bella, just get in the fucking car." Bella did as she was told, opened the passenger side door and got her seatbelt on. She almost forgot about the book she had just taken out of the library and prayed she had held on to it as she ran. "Is this what you're looking for?" Alice asked as she held the book in front of Bella's face. When Bella reached for the book, her fingers brushed against the pixies and she once again felt the shivering cold skin of her hand. The yellow Porsche that was still running sped off into the distance as the two other men caught up to the two seemingly defenseless women. There was nothing but silence in the car as Alice drove the way back to Bella's house. "You know where I live?" Bella asked. Alice thought about how she would respond. She looked at the book in Bella's lap and knew what it was. She knew that Bella would what she and her family were in a matter of hours. Alice knew that she would be able to keep her secret for only a little while longer. "My dad has it on file at the house." Bella seemed satisfied with her answer for there was nothing else said on the way back to her house.
When the yellow Porsche pulled up to the house by the forest, Alice and Bella sat in silence for nearly an eternity. "Alice-" Bella spoke making the pixie jump. Alice looked over at Bella with pitch black eyes. She reached out with a firm hand to touch the pixies face staring into her dark eyes. When Bella's hand was a hair away from her face, Alice grabbed her arm and took a deep unneeded breath. "Bella, I know you want answers and you'll get most of them in that book, but right now you need to go inside. I'm not safe to be around right now. I'll come by in the morning and we'll talk more ok?" Alice brought the girls hand to her face and kissed the heel of it-feeling Bella shiver-before letting it go. "Go Bella, I promise I'll be here in the morning when you wake up." Bella nodded her head before opening the door of the car. "Just be careful getting home Alice." The pixie smiled. "I'm always careful Bells. I'll see you in the morning. Think of me." Bella nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I always think of you." Alice smiled, started the car and drove off into the distance.
Bella walked into her house and found it empty. "Dad?" She called out. When she didn't get an answer, Bella shrugged her shoulders and thought, 'He must be working the late shift tonight.' She grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and saw the note on the door confirming her suspicion. She ran up the stairs to her room with the book of Quileute legends under her arm. When she got to her room, she set the book down on her desk and sat in the chair in front of it. Bella opened the book and at the index she found a phrase that caught her eye. 'The Cold Ones.' She turned to the page and began reading. As she read, everything began to make sense. At first Bella thought it was crazy, but it began to sink in as she finished the passage. The ice cold skin, the color changing eyes, the strength and speed. Everything added up. Alice Cullen and her family were vampires.