Bella
As soon as I opened my eyes I was bombarded with images: across from me, the miniscule imperfections in the wall jumped out at me in sharp relief; above, a faint beam of light stretched from the balcony doors toward the wall above me, blinding me when I looked at it; within the beam of light, tiny dust motes swirled and danced. I kept my eyes half-closed to watch them circling each other. The light refracted off of them in every color of the rainbow, and I was transfixed.
Through the open window I felt a gentle breeze tickling my skin and I felt laughter bubbling up inside me at the sensation. I inhaled deeply. I could smell the dust, and then the paint on the wall, the silk of the drapes, the polyester carpet fibers, the leather couch, and beyond that the wooden balcony above green growing grass and moist earth. I could hear the blades of grass waving gently in the breeze, and even farther out the splashing of water over rocks.
As I was focusing on discovering how far I could listen, a sudden soft chuckle from right beside me startled me. Before I had even finished thinking about turning toward the sound, I was sitting upright in the bed and looking at Evie. Every movement I made was more instantaneous than the thought behind it, and my brain felt as if it held volumes of empty space waiting to receive information and store it.
Now that I was looking at Evie's face, I stared at her in astonishment. It was as if I had never seen her before. How had I never noticed the way that each individual hair on her head shimmered with a different tone of bronze and copper? That her skin shone with a luminescence as if she were lit from within by a white flame? That her eyes danced with a million different shades of red, orange, amber, and gold?
She returned my gaze with a cautious look. Was she unsure of my reaction, or had her feelings for me changed with my transformation? Fear took hold of me now. I was seeing things differently- was Evie seeing me differently? Then her brow furrowed in a familiar look of frustration and I grinned, instantly relaxing.
"You were thinking you'd be able to read my thoughts now, weren't you?" I asked her, and was startled by my own voice. It sounded loud to me, and full, as if layered with symphonic harmonies. She laughed at my expression, and my grin came back immediately. I could listen to her laugh all day. As I continued to stare at her, I longed to find the right words to tell her how much she means to me, but nothing even came close. I needed better words.
"Yes, that is what I had hoped." She answered gently.
"Are you disappointed?"
"I think I have already come to terms with the idea that the curiosity will drive me mad. But the way I see it, I'd rather be stark raving than face even a single moment without you. How are you feeling?" She asked me.
"I feel strange, like my senses are on overload." She nodded, understanding. This must be how she felt every single day.
"And are you...hungry?" I could hear the double meaning behind her question.
Evie watched me intently while I considered her question. I didn't feel hungry, but then I had no idea what hunger or thirst should feel like to a vampire. "No, I don't think so." I told her.
She sighed heavily in relief. "So it's true, you're not a blood-drinker. If you were, that would be all you could think about right now."
I accepted this. "Carlisle was right then. But how is that possible? I was bitten."
"I have no idea. I've never heard of anyone surviving a bite and not becoming one of us. But you have definitely changed. Your skin, your hair. You look like a vampire, and move like one. But your heart still beats." She was looking at me with an expression of awe.
"So it doesn't bother you? That I'm...different now?" It was harder than I thought it would be to voice my current fear aloud. The fear gripped my heart in a vice and my pulse was deafening in my ears.
But Evie laughed again musically. "What sort of person would I be if I denied you now, after you have been nothing but accepting of me?" Her gaze intensified. "I thought I'd lost you yesterday. I couldn't bear it if anything ever happened to you. Bella," she said, and my name on her lips was like a caress. "I love you."
The purest feeling of joy welled up inside of me at her words. It banished every doubt, every fear I'd ever had. "I love you too, Evie." Her answering smile was dazzling, and before I could stop myself my hands were reaching for her. Without pausing to consider the consequences I pulled her to me, kissing her fiercely. She returned my kiss with abandon and I was certain I would be consumed by this desire. I didn't mind: there were worse ways to die.
But our kiss was interrupted by a light knocking on the door. The sound was so loud to my ears that I jumped, and found myself crouched across the room before I had even realized I had moved. Emmett, who had opened the door halfway, was in a defensive half-crouch and staring at me warily.
"Emmett, your timing is impeccable as usual." Evie snapped at him. He relaxed his stance and leaned against the door frame.
"So sorry to interrupt," he returned with a knowing smirk. "But you are going to be late."
"Late?" I asked, standing up and walking back toward the door, trying to keep my movement slow and controlled.
"School." He reminded me.
"What?" I cried. "You can't expect me to go to school after everything that's happened!" The anger that raged through me was excessive. I stopped to take a deep breath. I was not usually an angry person.
Evie noticed my concern and placed her hands on my shoulders. "You're okay, lass. Your emotions will feel very intense for a while. Vampires feel everything more powerfully. You will get used to it, after a while."
"But I'm not a vampire." My voice broke. "I don't even know what I am!" Panic was setting in, overwhelming me. "I have to talk to Carlisle!"
"Shh, it's okay, you're going to be alright." Evie's calm voice broke through my panic. "Carlisle is at the hospital right now," she explained, "and we have to go to school." I opened my mouth to protest and she placed her fingers gently on my lips. "No arguments. I will be by your side to help you. If we don't go, we will have to explain to Charlie why you were absent after spending time at my house." The logic was working. I nodded in acceptance.
"When does Carlisle get back?" I asked. The panic was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
"He's on a twelve hour shift, but he told us before he left that we will have a family meeting tonight at midnight."
Relief washed through me now that I knew we had a plan. "Ok good."
"You can do this," Evie told me, squeezing my hand. "I'm here to help you."
"Thank you," I told her, squeezing her hand in return.
"Um...ouch." She winced, pulling her hand out of mine. "Go easy on me, Bella."
"Oops! I'm sorry!" I massaged her hand gently. "Guess I don't know my own strength yet. Hey that reminds me…" I turned to Emmett. "Still wanna arm wrestle me?"
"You're on!" He grinned. "But later. Rose and I are heading up to the crash site to see if the Jeep can be salvaged. See you kids tonight!"
My nerves were fried by the time we arrived at the school parking lot. I had never felt so out of control. But Evie took my hand in hers as we stepped out of the car, and her touch steadied me. As we walked into the building hand-in-hand, everyone stared. This time I didn't care. Now that I had found Evie, and after everything we had been through, my previous fear and insecurity seemed silly.
Jessica was openly gawking at us when we walked into English together. I decided it was time for me to clear the air. I took a deep breath and released Evie's hand so she could take her seat. Her eyes met mine, asking if I was sure. I nodded, then went to sit beside Jessica. It took all of my concentration to make myself take each step at a normal pace.
"Hi Jess," I greeted her.
"Hi Bella," she returned. I was relieved she was talking to me again. "You look...different."
"Oh!" I suddenly realized that my transformation must be very visible, even to humans. "Yeah, well when I was in Seattle over the weekend I went to a spa. You know, seaweed wrap, deep conditioning treatment, the works." I was surprised at how easily I lied. I hoped it would be a sufficient explanation for the differences in my hair and skin.
"Wow, where did you go? I've been needing to get my nails done."
"Um, I'll get you the info." I made a mental note to reasearch spas in Seattle latter. "Look, I should have said this last week but I'm really sorry about how I've been ditching you. I wasn't trying to disclude you, I was just...dealing with some stuff."
She nodded, then seemed to be on the verge of asking me something. I had never seen her so tongue-tied, and I guessed at the reason why. "So, the truth is I'm kinda dating someone now." I told her.
Her face brightened, and I could tell she was elated to be the first one in school to get first-hand confirmation of today's gossip. "Is it Evie Cullen?" She whispered excitedly.
I nodded, a grin spreading unbidden over my face. It still astounded me that I had found someone so incredible.
"I can't believe it! How did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?" Her questions were coming so fast it almost made my head spin. "Wait!" She held her hands up, palms toward me like she was stopping traffic. "Has she kissed you yet?"
The blush that covered my cheeks was answer enough for her. I chanced a glance toward Evie and saw that she was staring fixedly toward the front of the classroom, but her cheek was slightly lifted in my favorite crooked smile. My blush deepened, and I was saved from having to answer any of Jess's questions when Mr. Mason called the class to attention.
Then as the bell rang to end the class I took evasive action. "So how was the dance?" I asked Jessica, and she launched into a detailed rundown of everything I had missed. A small part of my brain was listening and remembering everything she said, while the rest of it was focused on walking normally.
Jessica followed me around for the rest of the day, badgering me for details about the Cullens. She was positively delighted when Evie joined our table at lunch. She seemed to be feeding off of the stares of the rest of the school. The more people looked at us, the bouncier she got. Evie held my hand under the table while I ate (we were both secretly relieved that I was still able to eat actual food) and we exchanged smiles in between answering Jess's questions.
I felt as if I had been away from my friends for years rather than just a week. It felt really good to be sitting with them again, especially with Evie now beside me. I was sitting there relishing in the company and conversation when out of nowhere the panic started creeping up on me again. I realized that I could sit here and talk with my friends and make plans, but I was no longer truly one of them. The weight of this realization was staggering.
Thoughts were swirling in my head faster and faster as Evie walked me to biology. She never let go of my hand as we took our seats at our lab table. I looked down at the smooth blacktop and remembered my first day of school here. The day I met Evie Cullen. My human memories were blurred and fuzzy to me now, but I remembered thinking I was the invisible girl before I moved here. Now I was anything but.
It was difficult to wrap my mind around everything that had happened since that day, but one thing was indisputable: my life had changed, and nothing would ever be the same again. Even without knowing what I had become- no longer human, but also not a vampire- I did know this: I wouldn't go back and change it even if I could. I didn't know what the future would bring, but I knew I had Evie by my side and that made all the difference.
I breathed a sigh of relief when class ended. I opted not to go to gym- I was having enough trouble just placing one foot in front of the other without accidentally running people over. Evie skipped Spanish and we walked back out to her car.
"Well, that went well." Evie smiled at me and I smiled back as I buckled myself into the passenger seat. It occurred to me that I might not even need the buckle. Was I immortal now? I didn't know. Better not to chance it on my first day though. "Now for the hard part." She continued.
"Wait, that was the easy part?" I gaped at her.
She nodded. "That's right. Now we have to go to your house and wait for Charlie."
Evie
I listened as Bella's heart rate accelerated. "He'll know something's wrong." she said.
"Possibly," I agreed. "Although you'd be surprised by how much people fail to notice because their minds only let them see what they are expecting to see."
"True," she acceded. "But my dad is a cop. It's kind of his job to pay close attention to detail."
"We'll think of something," I told her, but so far I had no ideas.
We spent almost four hours practicing acting human. We walked all over her house taking slow, measured steps. Once she had mastered that we worked on making the slow pace look natural by swinging our arms slightly with each step. She figured out how to relax her face so it didn't look like she was concentrating so hard. I had to admit I was impressed by her progress. Most new vampires took years to assimilate back into society. Then again, Bella was something else entirely. I wondered, not for the first time, if the reason she was immune to our gifts was somehow related to her strange transformation. There had to be a connection- I didn't believe in coincidences.
We sat at her kitchen table to await her father's arrival. I reminded her to fidget when sitting because our stillness was a nonverbal alert to our inhuman nature. She had her homework on the table to give her something to work on when he arrived. She was focusing on taking deep, even breaths when I heard the police cruiser turn onto her street. I looked at Bella to see if she had picked up the sound- she had. Her eyes were boring into mine, full of apprehension. I smiled, trying to be reassuring.
"I'll be right upstairs," I told her, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. "You can do this, just be yourself." I squeezed her hand and then ran up the stairs to wait in her room. I sat on the bed and listened intently as Bella greeted her father.
"Hey dad." Good, she sounded casual and natural.
"Hey Bells." He hung up his coat and gun on the hook behind the door.
"You hungry?" She asked him, and I heard her chair scrape across the kitchen floor. Her footsteps crossed the small room followed by the sound of the refrigerator opening. "We have leftover salmon."
"Sounds good to me." His chair groaned as he sank into it heavily. "Did you do something different with your hair?" He asked her, and I tensed forward listening with all my might.
"Oh yeah, Alice gave me a makeover." She lied smoothly, to my astonishment.
"That's nice. Did you have fun at the Cullens then?"
"Sure did," she answered airily. "They are all really nice." I snorted. My family was a lot of things, but I could not recall anyone ever referring to us as 'nice'. I could hear the crackling of oil as the fish cooked.
They ate their meal, conversing pleasantly. The tension in my shoulders relaxed and my anxiety was replaced by awe. I could not believe Bella was handling herself so well. She had once been shy and hesitant; now she was confident and self-assured. She truly was remarkable.
At long last Bella climbed the stairs to her room. Her face was triumphant. "I did it!" She whispered. "I acted completely human!"
"Yeah, for the first time in your life!" I teased her and she punched me playfully on the arm. "You were magnificent," I added. "A total natural. Are you sure you've never done this before?"
"What, convinced my dad that I'm just a regular and completely normal human teenager? I am positive I have never done that before!" We laughed together, feeling the weight of all of the stress and anxiety lifting off of our shoulders. "Now what?" She asked me.
"Now, we have to go figure out what you are. I have a feeling that you will always be a mystery for me to solve, Bella Swan."
We waited until we heard Charlie's snores coming from the living room, then crept downstairs and out the door, closing it silently behind us. We walked down the street and around the corner to where I had parked the Volvo.
Once at home, we settled ourselves in the living room and speculated about what had transpired yesterday.
"What did Emmett do with him? With James I mean." Bella asked me.
"They burned the body," I answered carefully. She nodded and moved on to her next question.
"And Victoria and Laurent?"
"Disappeared. But Alice is keeping a lookout for them, in case they decide to return. I doubt they will, after what happened to James." Bella's expression darkened at the reminder.
"I didn't mean to kill him." She whispered. "I know that he was trying to kill me, and that he would have done it without even hesitating, but…" she stopped, unable to continue, and I wrapped my arms around her. As soon as she put her head down on my shoulder she was overcome with sobs. I held her until her shoulders stopped shaking and she relaxed against me, exhausted from releasing all of the stress of the past two days.
"I guess your tear ducts still work," I joked after she had recovered herself.
She laughed, wiping her cheeks and sitting up. "They definitely do." She croaked.
"You really are still part human." I told her, awestruck.
"Is it possible the transformation was interrupted?" Bella asked me.
"I considered that. Everything was proceeding as usual until the venom failed to stop your heart."
"So...am I still...alive?"
"It would appear so. We would have to run some tests to determine if you are immortal like we are."
"I would be willing to test your mortality," Emmett said as he joined us. "How about that wrestling match? Are you ready to get skunked?"
"Bring it on!" She cried, and I grinned. This was going to be good.
I followed the two of them outside to a large flat boulder that was waist high. They stood opposite each other, and Bella placed her elbow on the boulder with her palm extended. Her eyes sparkled with challenge. Emmett rolled up the sleeve of his right arm and did the same. Next to his rippling muscles, Bella's arm looked flimsy and delicate. I suddenly worried that she could get seriously hurt. We still had no idea what her capabilities would be.
They locked palms and the match began. For the first few moments nothing happened. Neither of them was budging even a fraction of an inch. I could see determination in the hard set of Bella's jaw. Then suddenly there was a loud crack.
I rushed forward to see how badly Bella's arm was broken. But when I got there I realized the source of the sound was the boulder. It had a large fissure across the top as if it had sustained a blunt trauma. I looked from Bella's victorious grin to Emmett's dumbfounded expression in disbelief. He was actually rubbing the top of his hand as if he was in pain.
He shook his hand out to ward off the pain and then extended it to Bella. "Well done," he congratulated her, shaking her hand with a grin back on his face. "How about a real wrestling match?" I could already see that he wasn't going to let this go until he bested her at something.
"Not so fast," Alice chimed as she skipped across the lawn to where we stood. "Carlisle is almost home."
"Alice!" Bella cried. "You're alright!"
"I'm fine. Bella, I am so sorry that I let that vile..that monstrous…" Alice was sputtering in her fury.
"I'm fine too, Alice. Better, in fact. I just beat Emmett at arm wrestling. So please, don't feel bad about what happened to me. It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad that you and Esme are okay. I thought…" Her voice broke.
"It would take more than that to get rid of me." Esme joined us and embraced Bella warmly. The relief in Bella's eyes was palpable.
"Alice," Bella said, "there was something that James said that has been bothering me. He said you didn't recognize him. He called you the one that got away. Did you know him?"
"I've been racking my memories trying to figure out how he knew me. But everything before I turned is dark." I could hear the stress in her voice.
"I think you were his mark once." Emmett said, to everyone's surprise. "Before we burned him, we searched his pockets. We found this." He retrieved a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "It has your name on it, Al. Yours too, Bella."
She took it from him and read it, gasping when she found her name. "Mary Alice Brandon." She read aloud. "But there is no date next to it. All of the other names on this list have a date next to them."
I took the paper from her to see for myself. Sure enough, about halfway down I found Alice's name. The very last name on the list was Bella Swan. "The one that got away…" I murmured. "If these names are his victims, these must be the dates that he killed them. He has been keeping track for all of these years, like one of those sadistic human psychopaths. But he never got you, Alice. That is why there is no date next to your name. Because you got away."
"But how?" Bella asked, as shocked as the rest of us. "The only way I escaped was because my blood killed him. Obviously that wasn't the case for you, Alice."
"Because I was turned." Alice said, understanding lighting her eyes. "Someone turned me before he could kill me!"
"But who?" Esme asked her.
"I wish I knew." Alice responded sadly. "I would thank them if I could."
We stood there, each of us silent in contemplation, until Carlisle showed up.
"Good, you're all here." He said. "Let's go inside, shall we? Emmett, would you please extract Rosalie from the garage?"
Emmett jogged off toward the garage while the rest of us returned to the living room. Once we were all gathered, Carlisle spoke.
"Bella," he addressed her, "I'm sure you have many questions regarding your transformation. I hope to be able to answer some of them adequately. But the main question is this: if you are neither human nor vampire, what are you exactly?" Bella was leaning forward in her seat expectantly. "I wish I had the answer for you. Unfortunately, I have never come across a situation such as yours in any of my travels." She looked crushed when he told her this. I gave her hand a squeeze. "But I do know of some who might be able to help us."
I tensed, hearing in his thoughts where he was heading with this. "No, absolutely not!" I couldn't stop myself from objecting. "The Volturi have had you on their list for centuries! You can't expect to just waltz back into their territory and ask for a favor."
"You're absolutely right." Carlisle surprised me by agreeing with me. "I'm not going to. Alice is."
A stunned silence fell over the room, and then we all started speaking at once.
"I should be the one to go," I told them, "I want to find out what happened to Bella."
Carlisle shook his head. "You are too close to Bella. If Aro touches you, he will see everything. Alice is the only one who can predict where Aro will be and therefore avoid him."
Jasper's objections were the loudest. He had had his fill of the Volturi and their idea of justice after the war. "You can't send her there alone!" He shouted.
"I don't intend to." Carlisle replied calmly. "I expect you will want to accompany her, as well as Emmett and Rosalie."
"But they know what Jasper looks like." Alice said quietly.
"It is a risk, I do not deny it. But with your combined abilities I am confident that you may be able to answer more than one question for us. You will enter their compound under the guise of searching for information on the one who turned you. You will do this, and I hope you find the answers you seek. But while you are there, you will also search for information about any prior circumstances in which a human was bitten but did not become a vampire. The other three will wait outside in case they are needed. Alice, you will be able to see how the Volturi receive you."
As he spoke, I watched with Alice as a new vision came to her. She had already made her decision. She would be able to enter the compound and search through the archives unfettered. "Looks like we leave during spring break." She told the others.
"Why not just ask them what they know?" Rosalie interjected.
"I feel it would be prudent not to reveal Bella's existence until we know more about her."
Bella stepped forward then. "I can't ask you all to risk your lives for me again. Isn't there any other way?"
"The Volturi are not dangerous unless you break their rules. We all want to know what happened to you Bella. We are a family, and what affects one of us affects all of us." He placed a hand gently on her shoulder.
"Thank you," she said, her voice thick with emotion, "all of you."
"We begin our preparations tomorrow." Carlisle told us, and with that the family meeting was over.
Bella was quiet as I drove her home. I knew she was worrying about my siblings' trip to Italy. I didn't know how to comfort her, because honestly I was worried too. Everything Carlisle had told me about the Volturi made me want to stay as far away from them as possible. But I couldn't think of any other options, and helping Bella figure out what had happened to her was my top priority now. I wished fervently that I was the one going to search the archives, but Carlisle's logic was sound. I could not find a reason for me to go, as much as I wanted to.
Besides, if I was going with them that meant I would have to leave Bella. As much as I hated being left out of the mission, I was also grateful to have an excuse to stay. I decided we needed a distraction.
As I parked the car down the street from her house, I turned to Bella grinning with anticipation.
"What are you up to now?" she asked me, already able to read into my expressions.
"Bella Swan," I asked, "will you go to the prom with me?"
She burst into laughter, her eyes shining. "Yes, Evie Cullen, I would love to go to prom with you."