Chapter 19: Secrets don't stay buried


~There is no such thing as a good girl. A good girl is just a bad girl who hasn't been caught yet. - Lolsotrue: #104~


Alice snapped her manicured fingers and the lights went off followed by the rest of the stuff that usually happens on a movie. You know, the casual way the windows and the door fasten close without making a sound.

Like I said, just the usual stuff.

Edward stayed still behind me, his narrowed green eyes fixed on the door as if he was expecting someone to barge in and save us.

Without realizing it, Edward had pulled himself to his full height. He towered over me now in what was clearly a possessive and protective stance - and it was not lost on Alice.

As for me, I contemplated my premature death at seventeen by counting the numerous unchecked boxes on my life-to-do list. It felt a tad bit pathetic.

"The door is just closed," Alice said, following Edward's gaze. "I didn't lock it or anything. I want to let you both know that I am harmless."

A snort escaped me before I could stop it. Edward's eyes slid to me before they went back to stubbornly staring at the door.

"Bella," she sighed. "You were once my best friend, remember? I will not harm you. I will let you go as soon you return the book to me."

"It was never yours to return," I snapped. "I found it, not you."

Anger flashed in her icy blue eyes and she didn't look at me when she spoke again.

"You must be aware by now that I'm a witch. You broke into my house, after all, and took the book from my secret room," she paused considering. "How did you manage to find the room anyway? Even my friends or my mom weren't able to."

"I am not stupid." I smiled, hoping she would get what I was implying. Edward nudged me with a shake of his head.

If she did, she didn't comment.

"Do you know why I never got my house key from you even when we broke up?" Alice continued. "Because I had trust in you, but you clearly betrayed me."

"I never betrayed you," I corrected her. "Do you know how much Edward needs the book? If you knew, you wouldn't be selfish, Alice."

"I'm not selfish," she let out an exasperated sigh, her gaze fixed on Edward. "Rosalie told me all about your problems. I need the book because I know to read Latin and I can at least attempt to read the book and find if there's anything mentioned about you and your family in the spell book."

"You know Latin?" I asked, beyond shocked. "And you know about Edward and his family's problem?"

"It comes as an advantage of being a witch," Alice ignored my latter question and picked absently at an invisible piece of lint in her purple halter dress.

"And you know our problems? Did Rosalie seriously tell you everything?" Edward groaned, running a hand through his messy hair.

"She did," Alice frowned a little. "But trust me; your secret is safe with me. Mmmm, what an unusual thing boring Forks had ever witnessed! I will definitely try my best to help your guys with your...situation."

"So...you aren't the villain here?" I looked at her tentatively, my tone conjuring up a strong Irish accent. I did not wish to jump into conclusions. It was still hard to take in the fact that Alice was really, really a witch.

She let out a surprised snort and Edward changed his snicker into a cough.

"I'm not," she assured me. "You have Rosalie as a proof here. So...the book?"

Edward reluctantly tore away from me and went to his night table. After rummaging through it, he brought the battered old book and pressed it in Alice's small delicate hands.

There was a solid click-click-click of a stiletto stepping on a wooden floor and the doorknob twisted slowly. Then the door opened and a gorgeous girl with straight red hair in a white jumpsuit, covered with glittery beads all over it, entered the room.

"Bella? I was searching for you all over the house. Oh, Edward's with you!" Heidi cocked her head and frowned prettily. "What is Alice doing here?"

Another girl entered the room in a rush. Her golden hair was crimped and her knee-length full-sleeved red dress highlighted her perfect skin tone.

"Bellaaaa! Edward!" Sasha cried in glee and she smiled politely at Alice. "Hello, Alice."

"Hey, Sasha. Hey, Heidi." Alice winked at Heidi who was pointedly ignoring her. Alice quickly dropped the spell book in her shiny handbag.

I felt relief flood all over my body when Randall also came inside, looking handsome in his leather jacket and dark washed out jeans. He kissed Heidi's cheek and greeted me coolly, his gaze appraising.

Alice cleared her throat. She probably felt uncomfortable, having all of my friends surround her in a room.

"Rosalie and Emmett are on their way." Randall informed us.

"Is there a conference meeting going to take place in Edward's room that I am not aware about?" Sasha asked, genuinely confused.

"I'm not sure either." Edward frowned, worry lines creasing his forehead.

Seconds later, Rosalie and Emmett emerged into the room. I couldn't help but stare at Rosalie. Normally, I only noted what my friends were wearing. However, I couldn't help but stare at the alluring shimmery silver gown that adorned her curvy body.

"Everyone's here," Rosalie allowed herself a satisfied smile. "Now is the good time. Bella, why don't you tell your friends about...you know."

"What?" I squealed in shock.

"I thought they might also want to know," she said staring at me, "we are all okay with it."

"Wait just a second. Rosalie, can you come outside?" Edward snapped with furious eyes.

"Edward, I want acceptance. We all want acceptance. Bella already did, did she not? Her friends will also understand." Rosalie said, shifting her huge blue eyes to Sasha and Heidi.

"What are you talking about?" Sasha pushed her hair back and frowned.

"Are you sure about this?" Randall glanced warily at Heidi. I knew what he was thinking, 'What if she doesn't accept me?'

"We want you guys to know who we really are." Rosalie said and wrinkled her nose at Randall, as if she had caught a foul stench coming off him.

It was true that while Rosalie had started talking to me in school, she had also made friendly conversations with Sasha and Heidi.

"This is going to be interesting," Alice smirked, rubbing her palms together.

"Now is not the good time," I ignored Alice's enthusiasm and tried to convince Rosalie. "They will have trouble sleeping. It's Christmas tonight."

"Uh...will someone please tell us that something which will make us lose our precious sleep?" Heidi asked sarcastically. "We'll have trouble sleeping even if you don't tell us. It's going to happen either way."

"What I am about to say may disturb you, you may not even believe me," Rosalie began, her voice nervous.

Then she proceeded to tell Sasha and Heidi everything, starting from the Eternal cemetery, the spell book, me finding out what they were and what had happened till now. Edward had his mouth hanging open, as if he couldn't believe that Rosalie was doing this.

Randall looked anywhere but at Heidi. Emmett stood next to Rosalie, his brown eyes staring vacantly at her. Alice was fanning herself, staring at Edward's room's impressive fireplace with the burnt wooden logs.

I preferred to stare at my feet than at my best friends who had not made a single sound or made a move since Rosalie began her insane story.

When she finally finished with a loud sigh, I glanced at them. Sasha and Heidi looked at Rosalie like they wanted to call the men in the white lab coats to take her away.

"Um...is this the part where we are supposed to laugh?" Sasha asked, breaking the anticipated silence.

"No," I shook my head. "This is the part where you are supposed to scream and run, or call a local asylum."

Heidi stared at all of us, calculating the looks on our face before she shrugged and sighed.

"I believe you," she said, her gaze fixed on Randall. Edward's eyebrows went up in disbelief and I squeezed his elbow.

"What?" Sasha almost laughed but sobered when she saw the serious look on Heidi's face. "You have to be kidding me! For crying out loud, there are no such things as zombies!"

"I hate to interrupt but we're not zombies." Edward cut in, his tone hurt somehow. I threw him a sarcastic look, which he returned with one of his own.

"Bella, you said that you had a theory that Edward was actually a last century soldier...almost a month ago," Sasha swallowed. "Were you not joking?"

I remembered the conversation we'd had while we were walking to the History class on the corridor. That was the first day the Cullens had joined the school. We had also discovered that we shared that class with them.

"I wasn't sure at that time, but I am now." I bit my lip and pleaded with her silently. "But the term 'zombie' is not the appropriate one."

"The hell with appropriate!" Sasha was staring at the closed door now. "I'm going to tell myself that this was just a stupid prank you guys played on us to which Heidi fell victim."

"I'm not a victim," Heidi said quietly into her chest.

"Yep," Alice nodded enthusiastically. "You are not a victim, you are a witch."

There were several 'what' and 'no way' that rang through the room. Heidi openly cackled.

"Puh-lease! Don't tell me you didn't know!" Alice said indignantly.

"Didn't know what, that I am a witch?" Heidi huffed and folded her arms. "You are the supposed witch here, remember? There wasn't one day in seventh grade that passed without you bragging about witchcraft!"

"Everything I said back then was true." Alice narrowed her eyes and hurt flashed across her delicate features.

"Heidi, Sasha," I rubbed my forehead. "Maybe we should talk about this later. It's going to be Christmas in less than a minute and I don't want everyone to fight because of some supernatural stuff."

"One second," Alice held up her index finger. "Sasha, if I do magic, will you believe everything Rosalie said? Like, really, really believe everything she said."

"Magic?" Sasha and Heidi sputtered in shock.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Black or white?" Heidi pressed her ultra pink lips tightly. As her closest friend, I knew she was hiding a smirk.

"You decide," Alice shot and folded her arms stubbornly.

"Let's see." Sasha's lips curled into an amused smile. "We'll decide later."

Alice stared at them, her forehead creasing with lines. Then her face broke into a smile when she spotted the vanilla scented candles burning in Edward's night table. She stared at the candles, her eyes going glazed.

I blinked, trying to focus and clearly saw that the flames of the little scented candles had started shooting in a crackling whoosh all the way to the ceiling. I wondered if I should run and get a fire extinguisher.

Then I realized that though the candle's flames were high and unnaturally bright, they did not burn the room.

"Omigawd!" Sasha and Heidi gasped, and grabbed my elbow.

"Wow," Randall commented, staring at the flames that reached the ceiling.

"Impressive." Rosalie smirked at Alice. Edward shook his head and rolled his eyes at me.

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Sasha pressed her palm to her chest. "Please stop it before your luck runs out and burns the room."

"Good." Alice snickered and the flames faded out.

"God, is this really happening?" Sasha whispered to herself. "Bella, why didn't you tell us?"

I chose my words carefully. "It wasn't my secret to tell."

"Thank you," Edward whispered to me while he intertwined our fingers and kissed my forehead.

We were interrupted by a knock at the door. Emmett opened it, since he was standing near it and Esme poked her head in.

"What are you kids doing here? Come join us! The countdown for Christmas is going to start!" She informed us with an excited smile on her face.

Sasha took a deep breath. "Bella trusts you, guys. So I trust you all too."

Sasha and Heidi grabbed my hands and just for a second we forgot everything, and bounded down the stairs with the others.


Hey guys,

I had actually intended to post this chap this Sunday but since you guys were asking for 'update' again and again, I posted it early.

I'm glad that Alice's real attitude is revealed. What do you guys think? Is she really the good one or the bad one?

-BEJL