Chapter 49 - Unhinged
Bella scowled in irritation at the man before her. The tapping of her own fingers on the counter along with the mixture of Mike Newton's droning voice and elevator music coming from the store speakers was worse than nails scraping across a chalkboard. With much trepidation and a healthy dose of guilt from Jacob, she'd been coerced into exchanging instead of returning the rubber fishing waders her father had given her for Christmas.
It seemed that Mike decided this was a great time to catch up on their lives. To Bella it was a damn nightmare. She needed to run a few more errands and then chase up to the gallery this afternoon and cover Leah's shift. Now that Leah was the new shaman, there were things Old Quil and Máire wanted to teach her, things that would prepare her for whatever was coming their way.
Jacob was busy in his workshop, starting a new project from another wealthy buyer who had seen a spread in a home interiors magazine featuring the work he'd done for the client out East. The last paycheck, combined with the success of the art gallery in Port Angeles, had allowed him to hire half the pack on a full time basis. Orders were coming in faster than he could fill them. Sooner or later, something would have to give. There were too many nights when Bella saw him bent over the long table in his workshop, tooling leather or shaving wood.
Today she'd told him to stay home, planning on making a detour at the small bridal shop in downtown Forks to poke her nose around. So many things about Bella had changed over the years, including her aversion to wearing a beautiful gown on her wedding day. She found herself incredibly excited over the prospect of it now that Jacob's ring rested on her finger. Their coffee table was littered with bridal magazines along with a calendar that had potential dates circled in red ink.
Bella was doing her best to nod her head and tune out everything that came out of Mike's mouth when suddenly he startled her into reality with a single sentence. "I have to admit, I was a little surprised to see Edward Cullen at Lauren's funeral." Wait, what? Bella's brow creased in horror.
"What do you mean you saw Edward?" she demanded, not bothering to hide the fearful urgency in her voice. Mike didn't seem to notice beyond her actually responding to him.
"Yeah, who would have thought, but apparently he'd taken her out on a few dates recently. Ran into her up in Seattle and..."
Bile rose up in Bella's throat. Edward had been at the funeral. It had to have been him that murdered Lauren. The walls of the store closed in around her. Bella felt herself swaying on her feet. "I have to go." But once again, it was as if Mike didn't hear her.
"So anyway, I was thinking, maybe you and I could catch a movie tomorrow night, have some dinner. There's a great little fifties themed diner on Atlantic and Third." Mike held out her receipt in his sweaty hand, as if proffering some mighty gift.
Bella wasn't listening. Edward. He was near. Panic gripped her tightly. The pups were outside, but deep down she knew they were no match for Edward. They were too young, too inexperienced. She cursed herself for convincing Jake that he didn't need to come with her today.
Shoving the receipt in the bag, then quickly sliding the bag off the counter, she was off like a shot to the door. Mike was faster, blocking her way and grabbing her wrist. The feel of his clammy palm on her bare skin was enough to make her vomit, making her twist her arm away in irritation. "Look, Mike, I don't know how many times I need to say it or how I can say it differently so that you'll understand." Then she flashed the ring that sat on her left hand in front of his face. "I am with Jacob Black. I'm his girl. We're getting married. You need to stop."
The idiot only shrugged, offering up a crooked smile in return for the slap in the face she'd just given him. "Doesn't look like an engagement ring if you ask me. Hell, is that even a diamond?" Ignoring his stupidity about colored stones, she squared her shoulders then balled her fist. "Oh it's real alright and if you don't get the hell out of my way, you're going to find out how bad a pink diamond feels when it cuts the hell out of your nose. I'm not interested. Not in high school, not now, not ever."
Rushing out into the parking lot she saw the sky had darkened. What had begun as a sunny day had turned dark. Thick, heavy clouds black with thunder, threatened a mid-winter rainstorm. She could already feel the electricity in the air, hear the crack of a bat and feel the ground shake under collision. Attractive, dangerous, deadly. This weather called to them.
Turning the ignition of the jeep, she peeled out of the parking lot, kicking up a gravel and a cloud of dust behind her. Fifteen minutes. That's all it took to cross the treaty line, she reminded herself, cursing the snaking blacktop beneath her tires. The road was a nature imposed speed limit when everything inside her said to punch it, but going ninety wasn't a choice.
Each second crept by slower than the last, five minutes down, ten to go. Then six, seven, eight... suddenly the passenger door ripped open, a head of messy hair sliding across her vision just as quickly as the hand which darted out, knocking her to the side. A bright pain of explosion ripped through her body and stars exploded behind her eyelids. The back of her skull cracking against the passenger window.
The sound of wolves howling along the side of the road echoed beneath the thunder, a sheet of rain poured over the windshield when the sky suddenly broke wide open. Rubber tires gripped the road precariously, the steering wheel bobbing back and forth like an out of control ship's wheel in a storm. Warm and sticky, the blood flowed over the back of her head, coating her strands of hair. Eyes, dark with hunger, stared blankly, accompanied by a brilliant smile of straight sharp teeth. "Hello Bella."
That was the second the world went black.
ooo000ooo
The wolves were in a violent rage. One of their own had been stolen right out from under their noses. The Alpha's imprint was missing. One golden string of thread twisted thin, torn cruelly from their minds.
The two youngest pups hung their heads in defeat while their Alpha cursed the ancestors for not giving them the strength to fight off their enemies. Sam, Jared and Paul hovered in a corner talking strategy, while Seth and Leah stood defeated. Just the night before their mother had joyfully announced Bella would soon be their sister. Charlie had proposed, blending the fabric of their families together for all eternity.
The imprints bustled around the room, ransacking the cabinets for anything they could find, determined to keep their hands busy by making enough food to fill the bellies of the wolves for a month. Collin and Brady kept jumping up and interrupting everything to demand they leave now and start the search, but the heavy storm had obliterated any scent that might have given them direction.
In the farthest corner of the room, Máire and Mathúin sat conferring with Old Quil and Billy, while Charlie listened helpless to things he could not possibly understand. This was far worse than those dark days when his daughter had been lost to him. Back then, it was only a broken spirit. Now... there was nothing he wouldn't give, nothing he would not trade to have his daughter back in his arms.
Embry and Quil's absence were noticeably missing from the room, having been sent on a mysterious errand by Old Quil and Máire.
The wolf inside of Jacob was going berserk, ready to viciously tear the head off of anyone who crossed his path. The imprint was so new, all-consuming and powerful that he was in danger of losing himself to madness. Already his eyes were tinged with gold, his fingernails grown into the sharp points of claws. The cacophony of voices swimming around him sent him teetering dangerously close to the edge.
The sound of plates crashing to the floor nearly made him snap. Kim stood red-faced and angry at Collin and Brady, who had once more jumped across her path in their over-anxiousness to do something.
"Enough!" Mathúin shouted, startling everyone into silence with the otherworldly cadence of his voice. "Nothing any of you do right now is going to make a difference. There is only one solution and if you'd all wait for five minutes you'll have an answer."
Fire burned deep in Jacob's eyes. He wanted to tear Matt apart for even suggesting he do nothing. "Who are you to interfere?" he questioned. "Get the hell out of my house! All of you! Get out!" he raged.
Sensing the brevity of the situation, Máire stood, shaking her raven tresses over her shoulders. "Jacob Black, heed my voice. No harm shall befall Bella. I have seen!"
"Then show me," he pleaded, falling to his knees in despair. All the rage exited his body, leaving a broken man barely able to speak. "I can't survive without her."
ooo000ooo
Bella awoke to the sound of pouring water and the smell of bacon sizzling in the pan. For a second, she thought she was back home, safe in her bed with Jacob in the kitchen frying up breakfast. The spring poking her in the back and the throbbing sensation on the back of her head said otherwise. Looking around the room, she had no clue where she was or what time it was. Then a voice, both familiar and bone chilling, sent shivers racing up her spine.
"It's about time you woke up, sleepy! We have so much to do today!"
"Alice?" It all came rushing back, Mike Newton, the storm, Alice coming out of nowhere and Bella cracking her head hard against the window. She reached upward, feeling the flakes of dried blood crumble beneath her fingertips.
"I checked that over for you... and might have had a little taste," she admitted, dipping her head as petulantly as a child getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I couldn't help myself, you smelled so good!"
"Anyway, it wasn't too deep, just a scratch really. It bled a lot, but nothing to worry about."
"Where am I?" How long have I been out? she wondered, knowing Jacob would be worried sick when she didn't return home. The pack would be in a rage.
Alice ignored the question as though it weren't there. She had her own agenda. "We should sneak into town today and do some shopping if you're up for it. I have plenty of groceries and a change of clothes for you. I wanted to go on a spree, but I held myself back. I couldn't wait to do it with you! It'll be just like old times!" she exclaimed, bouncing on the bed and throwing her cold arms around Bella's neck like this was some sort of teen slumber party. Any second Bella expected to hear N'Sync blasting from a radio.
Bella tried another question. "Alice, where's Edward?"
She stilled for a moment, seriousness replacing the buoyancy she'd had only moments ago. "He's still far enough away. I'll head him off at the pass, don't you worry about a thing. I'm sure he'll be angry at first, but he knows he can't change you. It won't end well if he tries."
"Edward wants to change me?" Her eyes widened with horror. Everything about the life she'd created for herself crumbled into dust. Jacob, Charlie, the pack, her friends... all of it gone before she'd barely begun to live, all because Edward Cullen wouldn't let her go.
"Of course he does silly! That's the whole point. It always has been. Of course, he thought you needed time to see the world and be human first. Maybe he was right. You look absolutely beautiful, Bella!"
A false sense of comfort started to wash over her when Alice leaned too close, the sweet scent of her breath and soft look in her eyes reaching forward to wrap Bella in her thrall.
"I can't wait to see what you'll look like as an immortal. I have to say, I was terrified something happened to you last month when I suddenly couldn't see you anymore. It wasn't hard to track you down though." The pixie like vampire smiled as though it was nothing to find a needle in a haystack. "That's beside the point. We've got lots to do first before you're ready."
"What are you talking about, Alice?" Bella asked, suddenly very afraid of what Alice Cullen was planning.
"Well, shopping for starters. You need a whole new wardrobe, not to mention matching shoes. We don't have an appointment, but I'm sure I can convince the little salon in town to sneak you in. You can't go into this without being waxed and polished. Don't want to wake up an immortal with hairy legs. You'd be shaving them for the rest of eternity. Trust me, I know."
Bella's mind worked swiftly. Alice wasn't here to help her. She wasn't here to save her. Alice was going to change her. If she went along with this charade, she could figure out where they were. After that, all she needed was thirty seconds. Just long enough to send Jacob a text. The wolves would come. He would come. She'd be safe.
"That's thoughtful." Toast and egg congealed in her throat like a lump of school glue. "I hope you grabbed my purse. I don't have any cash on me, but my card is in my wallet."
"Of course I did! But this trip is on me, Beth. It's the least I can do after all the times you lent me your pretty things."
Bella looked at her in confusion. Beth. Why had Alice called her Beth? Rosalie's voice floated through the back of her mind. 'She thinks you're her sister...' Oh god, Alice Cullen had come unhinged.
"Well, anyway, hurry and get changed. I'd forgotten how long it takes you humans to eat. I'll get these dishes washed up." She wrinkled her upturned nose in disgust. "The smell is overpowering."
ooo000ooo
In under thirty minutes Alice had them cruising into a small town. A weathered board along the side of the road read, Welcome To Hope. Bella hoped it was more than just a road sign.
On and off throughout the day, Alice called her Beth. Sometimes she'd seem to catch the slip-up, quickly changing routine while Bella pretended not to notice. It was hard not to let Alice see her hands shake and Bella thanked her lucky stars that Jasper wasn't there to feel the absolute fear running through her body. When they were in the salon, she was actually grateful for the pain of wax ripping the hair off her body. It gave her something else to concentrate on for half an hour.
Exhaustion was setting in by the time Alice decided they should head back. "I suppose you should take a nap. That's what humans do," she stated, leaving Bella unsure if the comments were directed toward her or if Alice was just talking to herself. The more the day progressed, the stranger her actions seemed. It was as if they were two actors in a play, the audience didn't matter and everything around them was was just a prop. Disposable. Unnecessary.
Back at the cabin, Alice seemed to snap to a little bit, her mind shaking loose of the fog it had been in. Sleep was the last thing Bella thought she could do right now. In fact, she feared it. God knew what could happen to her if she were asleep and Alice was left to her own devices.
The red and white quilt that Alice was busy tucking around her felt more like cold prison bars instead of a warm cocoon. "I know you're worried." The concern radiating from the warden seemed genuine, but Bella knew better. "You shouldn't be, you know. The pain is over before you know it and then, nothing else will touch you again."
Bella fished around in her mind for something to say, anything that might make Alice change her mind. "I'm not sure I'm ready," she stated. "It's a bit overwhelming. Maybe another day or two..."
"You'll feel better after you get some sleep, I promise."
The next thing Bella felt was the pinch of a needle. Her eyes closed and mind shut down, falling into that place where dreams waited.
ooo000ooo
Jacob was flying, crossing over mountains and trees. The landscape below dotted with lakes and streams. To the west he could hear the laughing waves of the Pacific. To the East, the silence of snow. Between the two lay North and Bella, guiding him forward across blue sky.
His body began to fall, the ground rushing up to meet him with a carpet of dried leaves and pine needles. The trees were so thick here, even the snow could not penetrate them. His feet touched down silently, acutely aware that anything might hear his movements. Ahead, a small isolated cabin called, it's curtain-covered windows softly glowing with light. Something told him to be still, not to rush forward to search the inside. He had come to rest here for the sole purpose of waiting.
Jacob closed his eyes, allowing the keen senses of the wolf to take over. Sniffing the air, he noted it was different, thinner, slightly colder, but not freezing. The smell of pines were different, more aspen and birch. His ears could hear the sap running through big leafed maples from a recent thaw. Not far off, the sound of wheels running over a less travelled highway reverberated off the pavement. Canada for sure, but where?
The familiar scent of honeyed strawberries caused him to open his eyes. Bella was rushing towards him. Jacob opened his arms, burying his nose deep in her hair. The wolf in him calmed.
"Bells, honey, are you alright? Did she hurt you?"
"No. I don't know what happened Jake. One second I was driving home, freaking out because Mike Newton told me he'd seen Edward at Lauren's funeral. The next thing I know, Alice pushes me out of the driver's seat and I hit my head."
The idea of any harm coming to his imprint set the wolf on edge again. Jacob shoved it back, then cradled her face between his hands. "Bells, we might not have much time. Tell me everything you can. I will find you," he swore.
"She took me out today. There's a small town just south of here called Hope. We aren't far from a road. It's a newly paved highway, but I only saw a few cars. I saw some other cabins when we came in here. I think this is a campground. She drove us over a dirt road, like the kind the forest service uses. All the other cabins looked empty. There wasn't any smoke coming out of the chimneys and no cars." Bella hesitated, not quite knowing how to explain the rest. "Jacob, Rosalie was right. She keeps calling me Beth. I don't know when, but she plans on turning me. She drugged me with something in a needle. I have no idea how long I'll be asleep, but I think she plans on doing it after I wake up."
"I'll find you by then, Bella. The pack, all of us. We'll find you. She won't get to touch you."
"Go. You have to wake up now. Hurry..." she urged, her voice fading away. "Hurry..."
Jacob woke with a start, eyes flying open to see Old Quil smoking his pipe and Máire sitting by his side. "I know where she is."
ooo000ooo
Again, Bella woke to the smell of frying bacon and warm eggs. The air in the room was cold. She could see her breath freezing white each time she exhaled. "Alice?" she called. Bella's head was pounding, and her mouth felt like dry cotton; an after effect from whatever drug Alice had given her. A glass of water and two aspirin sat on the bedside table. Bella swallowed them greedily, quickly followed by the water.
Alice floated into the room on a breeze, carrying a tray in her hands. "Morning Sunshine! Breakfast in bed!"
Bella wanted to throw up at the sight of the runny eggs. The very idea of eating was nauseating. Instead, she wrapped her hands around the steaming mug of coffee, the heated ceramic providing some much needed warmth. "Alice," she croaked. "I'm so cold. Are there any more blankets?"
Her golden eyes widened in horror. "Oh! Oh! I'm so sorry! I don't feel it and I didn't think about the fire! You must be frozen."
"It's fine, I just need another blanket. I can stay here until it's warmer."
"Of course. I'll have to chop some wood," she explained. "It'll be fun. You just stay here and I'll be back as soon as I can."
After she left, Bella threw off the covers, shivering when the icy cold fingers of air reached out and clawed her bones. Drawing apart the curtains, she saw the sun high in the sky, just past the midway point. Surely Jacob was on his way by now. Bella just hoped he'd be in time to stop whatever the hell it was Alice had planned.