OMG I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! My computer broke down, and it took me forever to fix it! So, to make up, I made this a really long one! Enjoy :-)
"But Maaaaaaaxxxxxx," Nudge wailed, "You burned the miniskirt that Alice gave you, and all you're wearing is jeeeeaaaannnnns."
I gritted my teeth, "Nudge, we are on a top-secret mission to find the old lab, deactivate the stupid expiration dates in all of us, and the sneak out. Oh, yeah. We have to do it all without the vampires noticing! Speaking of which, we're in a group with eight vampires, a dhampir," A/n: Dhampir means "half-vampire", "And, oh yeah, a werewolf. And my jerky father. WE CAN NOT GO TO THE MALL."
Then, of course, Alice had to join her.
"Max," She wheedled, "I know that you don't like shopping, but it could be fun, I promise," I swear, her bambi eyes were almost as good as Nudge's.
The seventeen of us were all hanging out in the courtyard, in front of a clock that apparently had a lot of past history between the so-called Edward and Bella. The younger kids had already squeezed ice-cream out of me (I'll admit, it wasn't that hard. The Cullens have lots of money, and I have no scruples about free loading). Now Nudge wanted to go to the freaking MALL.
I shot a desperate glance at Fang, which, I'll admit, was the first time I'd acknowledged his presence since the almost-kiss on the plane. Ah! Not even thinking about that! Not even thinking about that!
Fang smirked. Thanks for all your help.
"Carlisle," I said, "You agree with me, right? We need to get in and out of Volterra as quickly as possible."
Carlisle pursed his lips, thinking, looking annoyingly like, well, a vampire. Edward grinned at my thoughts. I glared over to where he and Bella were sitting next to each other, and mentally thought, Stay outta my mind!
"Well," Carlisle said, "I don't see what the problem is. Surely the Volturi won't notice us."
"In my world, surely always happens," I muttered. Aloud, I said, "Look, Nudge, I'm sorry, but I can't stand malls." Nudge and Alice both pouted and gave me puppy eyes simultaneously.
"Shopping," The werewolf said. He wore only a pair of sweat pants and must have been freezing, "That sounds good. This is the last scrap of clothing I own."
What would he wear when he was out? Edward chuckled. I gave him a Max-glare, the kind that I like to think makes people quiver in their boots.
"I wouldn't mind shopping," Fang said. Hey! He was supposed to be on my side! What kind of a right-hand man doesn't stick with his leader?
"Max?" Angel said.
I refused to look at her.
"Max?" She tugged on my sleeve. I automatically looked down, and the full force of her puppy eyes. I winced, and tried to look away, but I could not escape her attack.
"Um, Carlisle?"
"Yes, Max?" His voice was amused. Darn him.
"Do you think it would be okay if we," I took a deep breath, "Okay if we went to the mall?" Nudge, Alice and Angel squealed with delight.
"Why, certainly," Carlisle said, "Jeb, Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Jacob and I will stay and work out a battle plan. The rest of you will go have fun."
"What? Me, too?" Bella screeched.
"Yes, you!" Alice said, grabbing her arm and tugging her away-in the direction of the nearest mall, I assumed.
"Wait," Fang said, "Does that mean that I have to go?"
"Yes," I replied automatically, "If I have to suffer, you have to suffer. You should have stood by me when you had the chance."
Fang muttered swear words under his breath. Nudge tugged me after Alice.
"Bring me back some sweats!" The werewolf called.
"And a shirt," I grumbled under my breath.
"Mall," Iggy said, plotting, "Which means girls shopping. Which means girls trying stuff on. Which means changing room doors that I can blow up, and the Fang can describe ow!" I hit him on the head.
"Sexist pig!"
"Stop beating up on the blind guy," Iggy muttered, rubbing where I'd hit him, although he must have been faking it, because there was no way that measly blow would have hurt him.
"I think shopping is fun," Renesmee, the quiet half-vampire, said. Her voice was a sweet purr.
"There is no way you are related to me," Bella grumbled under her breath.
We arrived at the mall in a timely fashion. Immediately, Nudge and Angel and Renesmee kidnapped Bella, and Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy went off in search in boy-type clothing, (Also, because they wouldn't be caught dead in Macey's.) Alice smiled and pulled me into. . .
"Gah! Victoria's secret!" I yelled, trying to escape. Stupid strong vampire dragged me back into the store.
"Look," She said seriously, her golden eyes meeting mine, although she was about six inches shorter than me, "I know you want to look pretty for Fang, but first you need to get the right clothes."
"Who says I want to look pretty for Fang?" I said, the roof of my mouth suddenly very dry.
"It's written all over your face. You're totally in love with him," Alice giggled at my shocked expression.
"I'm. I'm not in love with him," I argued, my stutter making the words sound flat.
"Whatever! Just try the clothes on anyway," Alice said, flouncing into the store. I followed her, muttering about how it would never hide my wings, although calling the clothes "clothes" would be an exaggeration.
Four hours and two dozen stores later, we'd actually found some clothes I could wear, while hiding my wings (although most of the stuff made my face turn beet-red). Our large group met back at the entrance of the mall. Bella was wearing a full-length cocktail dress, and I swear, if she had any blood, she would have been blushing furiously. Nudge looked like a skater girl, and Angel was decked out in a tutu that I would never have allowed. Gazzy and Iggy wore matching shirts that said ARSONIST CROSSING and Fang had changed out of his black-t-shirt-and-jeans ensemble to a different black-t-shirt-and-jeans ensemble.
"Hey, Max, you're not wearing any of your new clothes!" Bella exclaimed, obviously feeling that if she had to die, I had to die, too.
I, of course, blushed red at the thought of myself in those clothes.
"Wow!" Gazzy exclaimed.
"OMG, Max!" Nudge said.
"I never thought I'd see that," Fang said.
"What happened?" Iggy demanded.
"Max blushed."
Naturally, this made them all crack up. When they were done laughing, Alice was grinning from ear-to-ear.
"We'll have to do this again when we're back in Forks!" She exclaimed.
I frowned, "What do you mean, back in forks?"
"When we're at school and all of this is over, silly!" Alice scoffed. She reached down and patted Renesmee on the head (although Renesmee wasn't that much shorter than her.)
I frowned, "I think you're misunderstanding, Alice. We're not staying in Forks permanently. We're just passing through. We can't stay in one place for too long, otherwise the School will find us."
"What?" Bella exclaimed, "You're leaving!"
"Well, not this instant," I said, feeling uncomfortable.
"But I'll miss having you around! You're like. . .another sister to me!" Alice exclaimed.
"Well, the school never gave us a choice," I said.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I tensed. Whenever I felt nervous, something bad was going to happen. Everyone in our large group froze; ah, so nice to be among people with the same good senses as you.
"Just passing through?" A pretty little girl's voice said. We all turned. The four people all wore robes in varying shades of gray. There were two children, one boy and one girl, who could have been twins of each other. Next to them was a tall man with olive skin and short-cut hair, and another man with dark hair and crimson eyes.
"Alec and Jane," Alice said, nodding her head at the two children, "Felix and Demetri. So nice to see you," Her voice was cold and utterly unlike the happy tone she'd used just a few minutes ago.
"Nice to see you too, Alice," Felix said, grinning.
"Aro wants to know what you are doing in Voltura," The child called "Jane" said, "He also wants to see the strange children that smell like birds."
Alice frowned, "You've been keeping close tabs on us since we entered the city, haven't we?"
"Of course," The boy named Alec said. He glanced up at the sky, "It is almost night, and cloudy. Come and see Aro, and the rest of the Volturi."
"No thanks," Alice said.
The little boy frowned, "Let me revise that. It's not an option."
"Hey, wait, wait!" I interrupted, "Are you guys planning to 'go at it'? Fight?"
The boy, Alec, sneered at me, "It is none of your concern, human."
I bit down the Who are you calling human? remark I'd been about to make, and put two and two together, "You're part of the volturi."
"Genius, Max," Fang said, rolling his eyes.
"You shall come with us," Jane said, an order. Like hell I was going to be ordered around. I narrowed my eyes.
"Max," Fang said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "I don't think we can fight them."
I wanted to groan, but he was right. Unfortunately, that meant we had only two options; fly away now and escape, but leaving our new friends behind, or join them and be kidnapped down to be snack food for a bunch of hungry vampires.
Fly or stay? Fly or stay?
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