Chapter 21: The forbidden apple


The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become. - Mark Twain


I reached into my burgundy colored tote and took out my purple mittens. After I had stuffed my hands into them, I opened my room door and bounded down the stairs. One of the windows in the kitchen was open, letting the cold air inside the room.

"Mom, do you want to die from hypothermia?" I screeched as I ran to close the window.

There was a pause before I heard her boots click on the wooden floor and she bustled inside the kitchen, a sickly sweet perfume surrounding her.

"I did not leave the window open." She frowned and pointed at the window I had closed. "Did you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess…..faeries, brownies?"

"Bella," she sighed. "I swear. I did not open the window."

I glanced at the window again. It was large and low near the ground level, and a person can easily climb through it and enter the kitchen from the backyard. I did that all the time since I sneaked out to meet Heidi after curfew times.

"Do you think…." I gulped, "that maybe someone from the backyard opened it; you know…..to get inside the house?"

"That is not possible," mom shook her head.

"That window acts, like, it is hundred years old. I open the window from the outside all the time whenever the latch is not put on."

"You never told me that," she said sharply. "I should inform this to your dad."

She turned and hurried out of the kitchen. I, in turn, put on the latch of the window to the hook on the wall and stared at it for a moment. Uneasy feelings swirled inside my stomach.

I shook my head, hoping I could shake away the feelings too and closed the main door behind. Dad was hunched near the telephone post, shoving snow out of the way. Mom stood next to him, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

I turned the other side and passed Heidi's house but I did not see any figure pacing near the front window. She always did that when she was agitated. Moreover, I knew that she had every reason to be agitated now. She had just discovered that she was witch. Do I even need to continue?

So I assumed that she had already left for the Cullen's house. Yep, I was going there too. To say I was startled when I received a text from Alice this morning, asking me to come to the Cullen's house was an understatement.

I passed two more houses and stopped in front of the side fence of the Cullen's house. A small wooden gate was propped open in the middle of the fence. I slipped in quietly and kept my eyes fixed on the ground.

"Dangerous," I muttered under my breath.

Snow, snow, snow. That was all I could see. It covered the entire street in an overwhelming amount. The Volturi's house, which was just opposite to Edward's house, had snowflakes even on the front porch, and the fence was half buried in snow.

A tall figure suddenly emerged from their house and started the snowblower.

Alec.

In my hurry to get inside the Cullen's house and avoid Alec, I failed to notice the person walking toward me or the snow-free but thick patch of ice on the ground. Well, you could guess what happened next.

I slipped -gracefully- on the ice in my tall black boots, careening towards the unknown person. I took that person down with my fall. I pressed my eyes close and stayed still, breathing heavily.

Someone groaned softly under me. I shot up as if I was on fire and staggered a few steps back. A familiar strained chuckle met my ears and I felt my shoulders sag in relief.

"Are you okay?" I gave him my hand and helped him get up. "Edward?"

"Who gave you that last name, 'Swan'?" He moaned. "You are not a bit graceful."

"I was avoiding someone," I pouted. "I didn't see you."

"Who?" He asked, glancing around suspiciously. When he spotted Alec, he let out a flat, "Oh."

Alec gave me a tentative wave and smiled sheepishly. I finger-waved at him and turned back to Edward before Alec could say anything. He was standing a few yards across us but I knew he could shout to be heard.

"Alice is in there?" I jerked my head toward Edward's house.

"Yes. I must say that she is awfully quiet and is giving us quite a scare. Do you happen to know the reason behind it?" Edward was still frowning when he looked at me. I noticed that his eyes kept bouncing back to Alec.

"If I knew, I wouldn't have come." I shrugged and looked at him.

"Even if you knew that I was eagerly awaiting your arrival?" He grinned impishly, his tone light.

"Well, it would be even more better if we were alone in your house." I bit back a smile and gave him a serious stare.

"I can arrange that," he murmured softly. Almost moved by an uncontrollable force, he put his arm around me and crushed me to his soft body.

He bent his head down and began to nuzzle my cheek. His cool breath caressed my skin and I found myself leaning into him.

"Aren't your parent's home?" I giggled, butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

"Out of town, something about business issues. Does it matter?" Edward nudged my chin and pressed his lips affectionately on my cheek.

The soft kiss felt like million flower petals brushing against my skin. I wanted to kiss him so much on the mouth but I didn't know how Edward would react to that. He was from the 20th century, so he was more or less an old fashioned gentleman.

"It probably matters to them." I snorted. "So it should matter to you too."

"Business," he groaned as he reluctantly pulled away. "Esme won't stop talking about this, um, Federal reserves! It is apparently low at the moment and Esme was excited that she could decorate the living room - again."

I laughed loudly. "She sounds like a 'Beverly Hills' mom to me, you know, the type who jumps all the time and gushes about something."

"She is what you call an 'extrovert'." Edward added with a shy smile.

"Edward, Bella, come inside!" Rosalie poked her blonde head out through the front door and waved at us.

Rosalie ushered us in and locked the door behind me. Edward put his arm around me and nudged me with a mischievous smile.

"Stop cuddling, will you?" Rosalie snapped at him. "We're in crisis mode."

"There's always crisis mode here." Edward rolled his eyes and settled with holding my hand.

We followed her to the living room where Randall, Heidi, Emmett and Alice were scattered all over.

Alice faced away from everyone else, hunched over the windowsill. I raised my eyebrows but did not comment. Edward pulled me down with him on the black leather couch.

Once we were comfy, I turned to him. "How was your second official trip to Seattle?"

As soon as I had returned home from the Holy mass on Christmas, I had called him on his new cell phone and demanded why he did not attend. Edward had guiltily replied that his family had forced him to tag along with them on their trip to Seattle.

He returned only yesterday and tomorrow was New Year (already). I was surprised to learn that Esme was not throwing another bash for new year tonight. I assumed that the previous one on Christmas Eve had lessened their royal treasury a little.

"Fascinating and thoroughly astonishing. I was truly in awe...Carlisle had to constantly close my wide gaping mouth." Edward replied, scratching his neck adorably.

I snickered and Randall, Emmett and Heidi joined me.

"We were walking through a busy commercial street when suddenly Edward paused -more like froze- in front of a store which sold latest electronic devices. I think...he drooled a lot throughout the trip." Randall chortled.

"You both were much worse than me." Edward snapped at them. "Randall wouldn't stop looking at a girl whose dress neck line was too low for my liking."

Heidi froze, her dark green eyes huge as a tennis ball. Even my eyes widened at Edward's bold statement. Randall paled and attempted at a poor explanation.

"The ladies at that place were very much different than the ladies I had encountered during my time. Besides, darling, you know how exaggerating Eddie can be..." He prattled on.

"Save it." Heidi glared and marched to where I was sitting. With an irritated sigh, she flopped down next to me.

Sasha will be amused if she sees this, I thought. Unfortunately, she had gone with her family to Port Angeles to attend her cousin's wedding.

Alice cleared her throat, interrupting us. We looked up, waiting for her to begin. Her light blue eyes seemed sad and she rubbed her forehead wearily. She took the spell book out of her bag and placed it on the coffee table.

"So, I did some reading last night." Alice patted the book and looked at us. "And I found out that this isn't actually a spell book."

"What is it then?" Edward asked confused.

"It's a diary," she frowned a little, "but the person's name who did the entries is not mentioned here."

"The grave where I found it had a nameless headstone." I shivered. Edward went still beside me.

"So that person, precisely a witch, knew that someone would find her diary in the future and she clearly didn't want her name to be known." Alice tapped her nails thoughtfully on the window pane.

"How do you know it's a 'she'?" Heidi asked, twirling a curl of her red hair.

"The handwriting is feminine and I don't think men are generally used to the habit of writing a diary." She shot Heidi a duh look.

"So...what did you find? The suspense is killing us, Alice." Rosalie said, fidgeting nervously with her heart shaped red locket.

"It's...it's not good, guys." Alice closed her eyes and opened them again. "Not good at all. You won't like it a bit."

Edward found my hand and squeezed it, his worried gaze on Alice. I was nearly at the edge of the couch, hanging on to her every word. What was the bad news?

"The way you will...die, that is mentioned here." Alice's voice cracked.

"Die?" Edward echoed, his voice hollow.

"This spell, waking up the dead, it was forbidden back at that time. Whoever practiced it was...staked. The elder witches and wizards believed that this spell went against the law of nature, so they tried to...burn all the copies of it. Before anyone knew it, the copies and the...people who handed it down were burnt." Alice paused and I tried not to flinch.

"Still, few witches knew the spell which had started to be popularly called us 'the forbidden apple', and it was passed on from one generation to the other. The elder witches knew they couldn't do anything to stop it so they instead added a few things to the spell and they...well, complicated the whole process."

Silence.

"What exactly do you mean by 'complicated'?" Randall whispered impatiently.

"Umm," her voice wavered.

"Alice?" I encouraged her and leaned into Edward's frozen body.

Alice cleared her throat and swallowed audibly. Her voice broke twice before she spoke again.

"The dead people who have joined the living must have a reason to live again, like a strong powerful reason. They cannot live just because they want a second chance at life or because they want to be reunited with their loved ones again. It is also mentioned that the 'undead' forget their past memories with their loved ones."

I shared a knowing glance with Edward. I had once asked him if he missed his parents and he had told me that his memory of his parents were blurry and he felt as if he had lived them in a completely different life.

"And it is said that they have trouble in loving someone ever again; because they had died and come back to life again. They had touched the arms of death. They don't really understand what they feel, either. So, they must find out the real reason for their living. And if there is none powerful enough, then..." Alice blew her nose in the Kleenex tissue she found on the coffee table.

I put my hand possessively on Edward's chest. No way he was going back.

"Please, finish it." Rosalie closed her eyes, pain contorting her face.

"They die which means you die," Alice pointed her finger at her. "You guys have approximately two more months before you die again and this time, there is no rising back."


Hey guys,

This chapter has revealed more about Edward's and his family's true nature. I wonder what the strong reason will be, which will redeem Edward and his family. Will everyone be saved? Or will there be painful demises?

-BEJL