I don't own the characters—just the plot line.

Unbetaed because my beta broke her ankle & has enough on her plate without wordsmithing my ramblings.

Chapter 15: Something Wicked

Bella stared, blinking wildly at the space where the apparition had disappeared.

"Was…was that…" she stuttered, feeling all of the blood drain out of her face.

"It appeared to be," Edward murmured soothingly, holding her tightly.

"I thought it was you," she whispered meekly, refusing to look anywhere other than the spot where Anthony stood. "He groped me and I thought it was you."

"Well, I suppose I should be flattered. If not a bit jealous."

Bella slapped at Edward's arm.

"Ghost or no ghost, he doesn't need to touch another woman like that."

"Anthony! Please come back," Bella pleaded, frantically searching the dark corners of the spring house. "We're here to help!"

The silence continued and Bella felt her heart drop. She sighed dejectedly.

"He won't answer," Edward said flatly, staring at her in the faint light. His face held the expression of one trying to riddle out a very difficult problem and was no closer to the solution than when he had begun.

Bella felt self-conscious at the attention and tried to turn away but he would not let her.

"That's because he thinks you've cheated on him. Or, at the very least, that Marie cheated on him," he continued, his hand gently caressing her cheek.

"How could he think that? It's obvious that I'm not Marie!"

Edward pulled at the Camilla blooms that held her hair in a loose knot and let her curls fall. Bella gasped as she saw the blonde locks cascade over her shoulders.

"Not as obvious as you'd think," he murmured with a sad smile.

"What's happening?" she demanded, staring at the new color, so far from her natural dark brown.

"If I had to guess, I would say you were becoming Marie the longer we are here."

"Oh, God," Bella groaned, her knees buckling. She poked at her face, attempting to ascertain if her features had changed any. "Am I looking like her, too?"

Edward caught her and pulled her body to lean against his. He paused for a few minutes, gazing at her face as he lightly ran one hand up and down her back in an effort to soothe her.

"No. Your face looks nothing like the reports. You're not her. You're my Bella. He might think you're Marie, but I know whose bed you were in this morning," he whispered close to her ear, causing a shiver to jolt down her spine. "I know whose bed you woke up in naked yesterday."

A blast of frigid air blew between Bella and Edward as if trying to push them apart but he held her tightly against himself.

"Interesting," Edward murmured, half under his breath before nuzzling her throat, earning a soft sigh.

Another, stronger gust of cold air whipped around the couple.

"What are you doing?" Bella demanded in a hushed voice once she regained the ability to speak.

"Getting Anthony's attention."

He quickly glanced around in the dim light of the tiny, dusty room.

"Are you crazy?" She tried to extricate herself from his arms but to no avail.

"That is still out for debate, but at the moment, no. Come on. Let's go outside. Looks like there's nothing here for us here if Anthony's not going to talk."

Edward shuffle walked over toward the door, keeping his arms locked around Bella's waist.

Stay.

Both stopped cold in their tracks and stared at each other in shocked silence.

Please. Stay.

"Anthony?" Bella called quietly. "I'm not Marie. I swear to you. I'm not her. She's trapped in the house."

Is she safe?

"As far as we know," Edward said confidently. "Something happened to both of you. We're from the year 2012 and your sister, Maggie, brought us here to help."

How did she do that?

"We're not entirely sure," Bella said.

My Marie?

"Somehow, she's trapped in the house and can't leave. And you're trapped here. Can you leave the spring house?"

No.

"Do you know why?" Edward asked.

No.

"Have you tried?" Bella inquired.

Another blast of frigid air blew through the small room, chilling them to the bone as a dull, angry roar echoed around them. Bella clung tighter to Edward in an effort to ward off the chill.

"I had to ask!" she insisted, trying her best to ignore the glare Edward threw her. "Sorry, Anthony."

Angry silence engulfed the room but the wind died down.

"Ok," Edward said, taking Bella's hand and pulling her toward the door. "I'm going to get the lantern I dropped outside when I saw Anthony groping you and we'll take a closer look around and see what we can find. But until we know what is going…"

Edward stopped dead in his tracks, staring out into the woods surrounding the spring house.

"What's wrong?" Bella scanned the tree line, unable to discern what had captured Edward's attention. She did notice dark, ominous clouds rolling across the heavens and the wind had picked up, flipping the leaves over as it blew through the trees.

"I thought I saw something."

"Where?"

"Over at the tree line." Edward knelt and picked up the lantern, his eyes never leaving the mysterious shadow. "Just for a moment there was a flash and …"

Bella and Edward found themselves shoved back into the spring house by unseen hands as the pieces of door reformed into a solid slab and slammed shut. Edward shoved against the door several times but to no avail.

"Didn't the door shatter fairly easily just a moment ago?" Bella asked, straightening her clothes.

"Yes, but the door's much more than solid now," Edward replied, rubbing his sore shoulder.

"Are you ok?" She tenderly reached up and caressed his arm and shoulder, trying to soothe the sting.

"I'll be fine. But thank you." Edward caught her hand and lightly brushed a kiss over her fingertips, earning a wan smile.

Edward carefully adjusted the lantern's wick and soon the tiny room was filled with a faint light. Raising it above his head, he turned and scanned the crammed, dusty shelves. Both he and Bella studied their surroundings as he turned 360 degrees.

"Wait!" Bella exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "Go back just a bit!"

Edward did as she requested and watched her carefully pick her way through a pile of seed potatoes and approach a wooden box.

"Vodka, anyone?" she quipped, kicking a particularly ripe one out of her way. "Ah, here we go."

Bella tugged on a loose board and grinned back at Edward when she felt the nails creak.

"Shine that light over here a little more!"

Edward carefully moved closer, holding the light where she directed. Both were astonished to see a flash of light reflected back at them.

"It's a mirror!" she gasped before tugging again at the board until it came off in her hands. "Hey, hey! No splinters!"

"Is this usually a problem?"

"If there's a piece of wood in three counties, I usually get splinters from it. If there's a piece of paper in the entire state, I'll get a paper cut." Bella tossed the piece of wood to the side and knelt down to peer through the slats at the glass. "I'll be damned. I think that mirror matches the one in our bedroom. Hard to tell in this light, though."

A blast of cold air rifled through the room again.

"Anthony, I'm sorry, but you have got to stop with the jealousy!" Bella announced, straightening up and glaring around the room with her hands on her hips. "My name is Bella Swan, and I am with Edward Cullen in all but the most literal, biblical sense and you are just going to have to get over it because I really, really would like to progress in our relationship to that point. It's not like I asked to look like Marie. Edward and I are doing our damnedest to get the two of you back together so a little help would be mucho appreciated!"

The lantern suddenly blazed brighter, making it much easier for Bella and Edward to see.

"Thank you," Bella muttered, dropping into a shallow curtsey before turning back to the wooden crate.

Edward moved next to her to assist in pulling the box out from behind the pile of potatoes after he set the now brightly burning lantern on the floor.

"That was damned hot, Miss Bella," he whispered, taking the mirror from her and leaning it against a shelf of crockery.

"Let's just say that I'm frustrated in more than one way, Mr. Edward," Bella huffed before brushing a lock of blonde hair out of her face and squatting before the box. She gazed at the curl and sighed at the color. Even in her wildest imagination, she had never imagined herself as a blonde. She may not have always loved her plain brown hair and plain brown eyes but they were hers and having that taken away from her angered her.

"That makes two of us," Edward muttered, looking at the pieces of wood carefully nailed around a mirror that upon further examination, did appear to match the one hanging in their bedroom in the house.

Edward peered through the slat created by the missing board and saw his own reflection gazing back at him but instead of his own riotous bronze locks he spied dark black hair cropped just below the ears. He tugged at a curl over his forehead in an effort to see if his own hair was changing color as Bella's had or if it was as it had been when they first awoke and spied their reflections.

A giggle caught his attention and wrestled it away from his curiosity.

"What?" he demanded, looking over at Bella who was trying to stifle her laughter.

"You're going cross-eyed trying to look at your hair. It's funny." Precariously perched on her heels, Bella lost her balance and fell flat on her rump as she covered her mouth to squelch the laughter from further escaping.

"Careful, now." Edward reached to catch her and ended up losing his own balance and landed on his hip at her side.

"Falling for me now, Mr. Cullen?" Bella grinned, unable to hold back her giggles. "I have no idea whether I'm hysterical and laughing or I really find this funny or if I don't laugh, I might cry."

"Well, this whole thing is quite unsettling."

"Absolutely."

"So?" Edward cocked his head toward her.

"So, what?"

"My hair."

"Seriously?" Bella smirked at Edward, finding it boyishly endearing that he was so curious. Nothing of his question or demeanor hinted at vanity, just curiosity.

"Yes."

"Same old coppery, tuggable locks as before, Mr. Cullen," she smiled before standing.

A strong wind whistled outside and the rain could be heard beating down upon the roof of the spring house, causing the shingles to creak and groan.

Bella shivered at the sounds and pulled her shawl closer around her. Edward stood and wrapped his arms around her, causing Bella to whip her head around and make sure it was him and not Anthony. She relaxed immediately upon seeing his smile and laid her head back against his shoulder, sighing ever so slightly.

"Tuggable, huh?"

"Shut up. You know you're good looking."

"You just don't strike me as the tugging type."

Bella hummed in reply as Edward bent down and brushed a light kiss across her collar.

"Oh, I don't know about that," she smiled, spinning around and wrapping her arms around his neck. With a twinkle in her eye, Bella turned her face away and spoke to the rest of the room. "Anthony? I'm going to kiss Edward right now and I'd appreciate no interference."

Bella paused for a moment to see if there would be a response. Upon receiving none, she smiled sweetly up at Edward.

"Too forward?" she whispered.

"I like a woman that knows what she wants." Edward smiled down at her, tightening his arms around her waist.

"Good. Because I want to do this."

Bella laced her fingers through Edward's hair and gently tugged him down to her level.

"Tuggable," she whispered, closing her eyes and sighing as their lips met.

Edward's hands instinctively pulled Bella even closer until he stood between her legs, one hand slipping down to grasp her bottom and lift her hips ever so slightly, earning an appreciative groan that did nothing but encourage his explorations. Bella quickly realized that it just might be true what they said about the quiet, geeky types and she was certainly willing to strip Edward Cullen down to find out. A quick thrust of her body against his rewarded her with a groan that sent shivers down her spine.

As the kiss grew in intensity, they stumbled slightly before Bella found herself pressed against the crossbeam of one of the shelves lining the walls of the spring house. Lost in the moment, she grasped at the shelf in an effort to steady herself, knocking crockery to the floor in her efforts.

"Oops," she giggled before returning her attention to Edward, nipping lightly on his lower lip as his arms gripped the shelving around her, creating a prison she had no desire to escape.

Bella gasped as Edward placed nibbling kisses down her jaw before lightly biting her throat. She grabbed at his jacket to pull him closer just as a loud crack, much like a board being broken, resounded in the small room.

Edward stopped immediately and pulled slightly away, a guilty look on his face.

"I…" he stuttered, holding up a chunk of wood.

But before he could finish his thought, their attention was called across the small room where a section of shelving slowly swung open, revealing a dark passageway.

Edward and Bella silently stared at the door and then back at each other.

"Any idea where this goes?" Bella asked, lightly touching her kiss bruised lips.

"No, but I suppose anywhere is better than being trapped in here."

"I think we should bring the mirror with us. Someone knows we are looking for answers and I would hate for anything to happen to it now that we've found it."

Edward nodded his agreement, straightening his clothing.

"You get the lantern; I'll get the mirror," he agreed.

"And hopefully this won't be a wild goose chase."

HOH

Thank you, again for your patience—this turned out to be 3 weeks instead of my promised 2 weeks. DD1 had her 12th birthday and we had to travel to be with the family for that and then I got hit by a nasty, nasty stomach bug. But I'm feeling bettah!

As always, I love knowing what you think!

~DeJean