Chapter 14: An eye for an eye


~"If you don't get caught, you deserve everything you steal."

Daniel Nayeri, Another Faust~


"Bellaaaaa,"

I stepped back from the floor-length mirror and scowled at the doorway, where mom suddenly appeared.

"Yeah?" I turned back to the mirror, adjusting my elegant side pony.

"Your date's here." She smirked.

"Edward's not my date. We both are going as friends." I insisted and shot her another scowl.

"Whatever you say," she even had the nerve to laugh before she went down to torture Edward instead.

I winced slightly and took my evening satin clutch from the study table. I stood on the first step and took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing." I murmured to myself.

I descended the stairs and nearly bumped into Edward, who was standing near the end of the banister. He had his hands tucked in the front pocket of his white trousers and was chatting with my dad.

He looked impossibly handsome in his white tuxedo.

Since it was winter formal, the theme Tanya had designed consisted of white and blue. I was not sure if Edward would be happy to wear blue tuxedo - if there was even one- so I suggested him to ask Carlisle to take him for white tuxedo shopping.

I knew Carlisle was very happy to help. I was quite baffled by the connection between Edward, his siblings and the Cullens. Why were the Cullens willing to give them shelter so heartily? Do they know about Edward and his siblings?

"I was just telling Edward that he should bring you back before midnight." Dad said, with a I'm-not-strict-but-I'm-not-kidding-either smile that only I understood.

Edward chuckled and extended his pale elegant hand out to me. I took it graciously.

"Aaaand who's driving?" Mom leaned against the couch, with a camera.

"Me," I pointed to myself. "Obviously."

"Why isn't Edward driving?" She snapped a picture of an embarrassed Edward. I considered flipping her the bird for the next click.

"I thought I told you the reason." I raised an eyebrow, silently begging her to shut up.

"Yes, of course. I was just playing with Edward." She winked at him.

When we were finally able to get out of the house, I thanked God and the angels in Heaven.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper-apologized to him as we made our way to my mom's car.

"It's okay," Edward waved his hand. "They were right, though. We are doing it the opposite way. I am the one who's supposed to drive you."

"It's only till you learn to drive a car." I soothed him.

We got inside the car and I started the engine.

"When do I get to see you in the dress anyway?" He asked, buckling his seat belt.

"Not now," I shifted in my seat. "Only after we had finished our dirty work."

I wore a long purple trench coat buttoned over the strapless dress I was wearing inside.

"Right," he sighed. "I'm not sure whether the idea is going to work."

"Edward," I kept my eyes on the road but I turned towards him. "Do you want the spell book or not?"

"Yes," he sighed again.

"Can you go straight to Alice and ask her for the book?" I continued, keeping my voice steady.

"No, thank you." I could see him pouting from the corner of my eye.

I let out a little laugh. "Alice must have hidden it somewhere safe. That probably means her house. This is the only time we could get back the book without getting caught."

"You mean, steal the book." Edward corrected me.

"She stole it from my tote, I am going to steal it back from her house," I scoffed. "What difference does it make?"

He fiddled with his ah-dorable red tie and grinned at me.

"Did I tell you how dapper you look?" I blurted.

"You didn't," he laughed. "But thank you, Miss."

"Anyway," I cleared my throat. "The plan is to wait outside Alice's house. After she leaves with her date, we break in. Fortunate for you, I know the house well. I practically spent my entire sixth and seventh grade in her house."

"And what about her parents?"

"What about them?" I squinted my eyes at a group of girls who were playing on the ice. "Her parents are divorced. Her father moved out and her mother hardly stays at home. She leaves home every time Alice goes out for something."

"And how are we going to get in?" Edward grinned widely. He seemed happy about getting on my nerves.

I sighed. "I have a key. I recollect telling you that."

"Why did Alice never came back to get the key?"

I paused, thinking it through before I answered. "Alice gave her extra house key to me when we became close friends. After we split, she never asked for it. We never talked, so...it would have been very awkward -"

"I think the real reason is that she must have still believed that the friendship would work." Edward interrupted.

I shrugged and we spent the rest of the ride to Alice's house in silence. I parked the car in the end of her street and Edward casually walked out to see if she was still in her house or was gone. Right at that time, Alice came out of her house and got inside her date's car.

I got out of my car and caught up with Edward.

"Isn't that Mr Hale's car?" Edward asked dubiously as the car sped out of the street.

"It is. Why is he picking her up?" I looked around but no one was in sight. The street was eerily quiet and still.

We both shared an uncomfortable glance and proceeded to her house.

"Back door," I mouthed to him. I knew Alice was long gone and her house was at least a mile away from neighbors, but I was still scared. Technically, we were committing a felony.

He nodded and we ran to the backside of her house, which had no fence. Dark green grass grew around the back door. My mind immediately shifted to the Eternal cemetery where I had found this exact type of grass growing on top of a nameless grave that supposedly belonged to a witch.

I had a hard time in placing the key into the lock and so Edward took it from me. I watched as the key finally went the right way into the dead bolt lock and he turned the doorknob.

"We're in." Edward informed me.

We slipped inside the house and paused for a minute. The house was dark with a single red light glowing in the hall kitchen. I felt uneasiness crawl inside me and tried to breathe normally.

I was inside someone else's house without their knowledge and permission. If Alice knew...

"Her room's that way." I whispered as I led the way up the stairs.

Her room door still had the pink paper stuck on it that spelled Alice in colorful bubbly letters. Edward opened the door cautiously and I entered her room after three long years.

Almost everything was the same. There was the queen sized bed in the middle of the room with the purple duvets I had helped her pick at the mall, her Mac computer facing the window and her large familiar closet wide open, with numerous clothes hanging out of it.

"Shopaholic." Edward muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey!" I hit him in the elbow. I knew he was also talking about me.

He simply smiled at me then proceeded further into the dark room. I groped around and switched on the night lamp.

"Where should I start?" Edward asked in a low voice.

"Try under her mattress. I'll check her closet."

We both went to work immediately. But after ten minutes, I found nothing but clothes, clothes, clothes, heels, heels, heels and pom poms. Edward shook his head at me. He did not find anything under the mattress so he had started looking in her drawers. But still nothing.

I was frightened very much, that if I left anything out of place, Alice would find out that somebody had been in her room.

"Would you look at this?" Edward's voice sounded surprised.

I got up and walked over to where he was standing. We hadn't noticed it before when we had entered the room but now a large notice board was visible on the wall near her attached bathroom.

It had photos of the cheerleaders, who were her friends now, and herself. However the most shocking thing was, there were pictures of Edward and me, his siblings and my friends all over the right side of the board.

"Where did she get these?" I cried in shock.

There was a picture of Edward holding his umbrella over me as we walked to the school. I remembered that day very clearly, as I had embarrassed myself in front of Edward.

"Wow, I am most certainly taking this picture with me." Edward said as he extended his hand to pluck a picture from the notice board.

I slapped his hand. "Alice will notice."

I stared at the picture he wanted to take and I gasped. It was nighttime and a tall handsome boy in a formal attire stood next to a short dark-haired beauty in a blood red gown.

"That was the first time we met," I recalled in astonishment. "How did Alice take a photo of that?"

"I have no idea." Edward blinked his face pale.

I traced my hand over the photo and suddenly, the board creaked. I shared a startled look with Edward then tried to lift the board. Edward shoved me gently and lifted the heavy board easily.

To our shock, there was a small door, almost the height of a golden retriever. I pulled the glossy latch and opened the door, revealing a dark room.

"Holy mother of God!" He whispered at the same time I said, "Holy shit!"

Every inch of the wall was covered with symbols and drawings, the same I had seen in the spell book. Large, old and tattered books were arranged neatly in one corner while herbs and other things like chalice, tiny bottles with colorful powders occupied the other side.

"Alice is pure insane." I said, my mouth barely moving.

"No Bella," Edward shook his head in awe. "Alice is pure witch."

"What?" I looked at him as if he was the insane one.

"I'll explain as soon as we get out of this powerful witch's house with the spell book." He argued.

We leaned forward, examined the ancient books, and trying to find the spell book. We had almost lost hope when I spotted it near the end.

"There!"

I took the book and almost kissed it before I corrected it myself. I had first found it in a cemetery, after all.

"Good." Edward sighed in relief and stepped forward to take it from me.

Blinded by relief and shock, I failed to notice the rope lying near my feet as I moved towards him. I tripped over it and I went toppling forward into Edward, taking us both to the tile-covered floor.

We both remained absolutely still while we recovered from the shock, straining our ears to hear any noise from downstairs.

"We should, um...get up." I stuttered. Edward's masculine body on mine felt amazing.

"Yeah, we should..."

However, Edward made no move to get up and I remained on top of him, my body tingling with dizziness.

"Bella?" He murmured, cupping my cheek in his hand.

"Yeah?"

But the sound of a car rolling into the muddy driveway interrupted us and made us freeze.

I pushed myself off Edward and ran to the window. Edward shot me a panicked look and crouched behind me. It was Mr Hale's car. He hopped out of the car and opened the passenger seat.

Alice was back.


Oooh, wonder if they're going to be busted? Wait for the next chapter to find out :D

-BEJL