-1A/N:I know I know it took a long time but I have a good reason.
The book I was using for this story was a library book and my grandma gave it back. And I have good news, great news, and bad news.
Good news: I will continue this story
Great news: I will make a different version of Bella turning half cat half human after this story is finished.
Bad news: I can only update this story on the weekends because the rest of the week until summer vacation I'll be busy because of exams (wish me luck!) and it takes a while to type this story.
On with the story.
Disclaimer:I own nothing.
Bella spent the rest of the day working on the Beau-line designs. She was so absorbed by her work that she didn't even notice as, one by one, the other designers in her department switched off their lights and went home.
At eleven-thirty, Bella shoved her design boards into her large leather portfolio with one hand while she used the other to dial the mailroom. But the manager explained that all of the couriers had gone home. Bella would have to deliver the designs to Hedare personally. She just hoped she wasn't too late.
Bella took a cab to the Hedare factory, and walked into the complex hauling the heavy portfolio. She tried the door to the printing building, but it was locked. Bella checked her watch. She was late. Late-and fired! She thought, pounding on the door. "Hello?" she called. "Anyone?" there was no reply. Looking around, Bella saw that there were lights coming from another section of the factory- research and development. Maybe I can get in through there, Bella thought. She hurried around to the back and found an open door. Breathing a sigh of relief Bella hurried inside.
Bella had been to the Hedare factory complex before but never to this section. She needed the printing division, but wasn't sure how to get there from where she was. A chill skittered down her spine as she looked around at the brooding walls lined with a spider web of dark pipes. Silence seemed to fill the space around her. A dim light shone from around a corner and Bella hurried toward it.
"I don't care that the FDA never saw the headaches, the nausea, or the fainting spells. Those are symptoms I can live with" Dr. Laurent, the head of Hedare research and development, said to the figure half-hidden in the shadows of his office. The only light came from video screens, which displayed moving bacteria magnified by an electron microscope. "And with what we stand to make from consumers demanding their fix, I can live with it being addictive. But these side effects from the long term studies. . ." Behind him, the images on the monitors shifted to show images of women, the skin dripping from their faces like molten wax. "I can't live with turning people into monsters-"
The figure in the shadows murmured softly.
"I thought I could live with it. . ." Laurent said, shaking his head, "but I'm . . . not sure anymore. . ."
Out in the hallway, Bella heard low voices from down the hall. Greatshe thought, relief flooding her body, now I can ask someone for directions.Spotting a half-open door, Bella pushed it open gently and stepped inside.
Bella walked cautiously into the lab and looked around. What is that?She wondered, spying the monitor. On the screen, a computer image of a woman's face was changing. The face was old, lined with fine wrinkles, but slowly it began to morph, becoming hard, stony, and almost skeletal. . .
Bella backed away from the image, slamming into a table behind her.
"Who's there?" Laurent barked.
Bella was sure she had seen something she wasn't supposed to. She didn't reply. She just ran.
As Bella fled, the door at the end of the hall began to open. She froze, ducking back around the corner.
A man stepped through the door as another emerged from the lab. Bella knew who they were-Carlisle and Emmett-James Header's assistants . . . and bodyguards. She hurried away from them.
Emmett joined Carlisle, and the two men followed the sound of Bella's footsteps.
Bella found her way into a large production area. She ducked behind some machinery, her back to a vat.
"Come on out" Emmett called. "It's okay. We'd just like to ask you a few questions."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Bella stepped out from her hiding place. "I'm sorry. I think I'm in the wrong-"
BANG!
A bullet sliced through the air, slamming into the vat of Hedare cosmetics just above her head. Without thinking, Bella dropped her portfolio and ran.
She ran blindly, not knowing where she was headed, desperate for a way out. Bullets flew as she raced down a metal ramp. Please, please, let me out of here, Bella begged silently as she darted into a waste treatment area.
A maze of metal catwalks wound over a pool of dark water. Bella could hear rushing a liquid and waste chemicals pouring through the web of pipes overhead. Bella's heart thudded in fear as she faced several enormous pipes that led away from the treatment area. Bella had no choice-there was no other way out. She picked one and ducked inside.
Bella scurried through the pipe, dodging as air whooshed past her. Putting out her hands to steady herself, she stumbled forward . . . until the pipe suddenly ended.
Below there was nothing but a long plunge to a raging river below. Gasping, Bella turned back, but she didn't get far. A tidal wave roared toward her. They had flooded the pipes. There was no time to react as the massive wall of water crashed over her, sweeping her over the edge.
And then everything went black.
Bella woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She sat up. . .
. . . And fell off the top of her bookcase.
Bella blinked. What happened? Why was I on top of the bookcase? She thought groggily, suddenly realizing that her muscles were stiff, and her muddy clothes from the night before were strewn all over the apartment.
Bella's machine answered the phone.
"Bella, where are you?" Alice's worried voice said into the machine. "Hedare is on the warpath. And Edward called. He says you never showed up for your date."
Feeling dazed, Bella glanced at the clock. 1:50 p.m. Bella read the numbers through a thick fog. They didn't make any sense. This is morning. . . isn't it? She wondered. Is it early morning? But Alice's concerned voice snapped her back to reality-no it wasn't morning. It was late-super late! Bella leaped to her feet, unable to believe that she had been asleep for so long.
"Look, I'm really worried," Alice went on. "Please call me. What's going on? What happened?"
Alice's voice was cut off by a beep.
"I. . . I don't know," Bella said to the empty room. "I don't remember. . ." she glanced up at the window. It had been broken. Glass was strewn beneath it. "What happened?" Bella asked out loud.
A meow cut through the room.
Bella looked over to see the golden-eyed cat, eyeing her coolly from the top of her dresser. Innocently, it began to lick a paw.
"You," Bella said. She walked toward the cat, and tentatively stroked its fur from its forehead all the way down its back. "Did you. . .did you do all this?" there was something about this cat-Bella could almost believe that it had broken into her home and made a mess of the apartment all by itself.
Reaching out, Bella checked the tag on its collar. "You're freaking me out, kitty," she told the cat slowly, her hands shaking. "You've got to go home, now."
The cozy wood-frame house was nestled among a concrete jungle of high-rise apartment buildings. Bella double-checked the number just as the front door opened.
"Are you Esme Powers?" Bella asked. "I got your cat off a ledge. Now it won't leave me alone." she held out the cat to the woman, who looked to be in her mid-fifties.
Esme didn't take the cat. She studied Bella's face for a moment, and then said "I think you should come in."
Bella hesitated. "Oh, I can't. I'm sorry. Thank you, but I'm late for work and I . . ." Her voice trailed off. Esme had already turned and walked back into the house, leaving Bella holding the cat.
Sighing, Bella stepped through the door and found her way into a cluttered living room crowded with cats. Several of them swarmed around Bella, nudging her ankles and rubbing against her legs, as she took a seat on the couch. Esme brought them each a cup of tea, and Bella tried to gently shove away the adoring felines while the golden-eyed cat eyed her regally from the back of her couch.
Esme sat down across from her. Bella had so many questions; she wasn't sure where to begin.
"Midnight," Esme said.
"I'm sorry? What?"
Esme's eyes flicked to the golden-eyed cat. "Her name. She's an Egyptian Mau, a rare breed. Temple cats; Said to have special powers."
"Right," Bella said in a wry voice. "Like popping out of nowhere and scaring people to half to death?"
A smile twitched at Esme's lips. "Among other things."
"This has been a terrible day already." Bella shook her head. "And I can't even remember most of yesterday. And every time I turn around your cat is. . ." Bella stopped herself. "I'm sorry this isn't your problem. I don't even know why I'm telling you, it's just-"
"It's alright," Esme said gently. "Tell me. Please."
Bella hesitated. There's something odd about this woman,she thought. Bella somehow felt that Esme would understand what she had been going through. But there just wasn't time to get into it. "I'm sorry. I can't. I've got to get back to work. I am really late."
"Then I think you should come back" Esme said with finality. "Anytime. I'm always here." just then, she swatted at a calico cat that was lapping up Bella's tea. "Socrates! No caffeine." Esme looked at Bella. "It makes him irritable."
Bella smiled and stood up. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain why she was six hours late for work, but she knew that it was time to face the music.
Wordlessly, Esme took a small wooden box from the table in front of her. Lifting the lid, she pulled out a molded ball of green herbs and tossed it at Bella.
Without thinking, Bella caught the ball and brought it to her nose, inhaling it deeply. A soothing sense of calm swept over her, and Bella shuddered in relief.
Esme stared at Bella, her eyes wide. "Catnip," she said.
As if that explained everything.
"What is wrong with you?" Hedare had been bellowing at Bella from the moment she had reached her desk. "You never delivered the designs. You do not, in fact, even know where they are. And you do not know where they are because, and I quote, 'I can't remember'? Your incompetence is staggering."
Bella, who had been scribbling in a notebook, glanced up at her boss. "Hmm?"
Hedare look as though he was about to burst a blood vessel. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Not as much as you're listening to yourself," Bella snapped.
Hedare snatched the top page out of Bella's notebook, and his expression grew dark at what he saw. It was a nasty caricature of him-smoke and fire spewing from his head. Hedare crumpled the paper in silent fury, then turned on his heel and stalked off.
A cold wave of fear washed over Bella. What have I done?She thought dizzily. She hadn't meant to be rude. She honestly didn't even know how it happened. It was like someone else had temporarily taken over her body. "Mr. Hedare, wait," She called sincerely. "I don't know what got into me. I'm sorry."
Hedare turned to face her, his eyes like daggers. "Sorry? Is that all? 'Sorry' isn't nearly enough."
In a flash, that other person in Bella's body resurfaced, and Bella narrowed her eyes. "Then let me try a remix," she demanded in a deep growl. Bella could feel the entire art department watching her, but she didn't care. In fact, she wanted them to hear. "I'm sorry for every minute of my life I've wasted working for an untalented, unethical, and unappreciative egomaniac like you."
Hedare eyed her coldly. "Clean out your cubicle," he said before he walked away.
Suddenly, Bella felt her mind clear. What just happened?She thought desperately. "Wait!" she shouted. "Mr. Hedare!"
Hedare didn't stop.
"I didn't mean-Mr. Hedare! I was kidding!" Bella stopped in her tracks, and whispered,
"It wasn't me?"
Alice came and stood next to Bella as she leaned against a cubicle wall, exhausted and confused.
Alice grinned. "My hero," she said.
All right now you all know what to do.
Review and remember I except all types of reviews including flames to which I hope help me get better. But caution nasty ones will only be used to make a campfire for when I go 'camping'. (Wink, wink mmmm tasty deer oh right back to the authors note thing).
Until next time and I will try to update as soon as possible.