As I was just turning the page, I heard the doorbell ring. "Coming!" I screamed and threw the diary on the bed before walking over.
When I opened the door, I was greeted by none other than a drenched, shirtless Embry. "Alice," he said.
I stared at him in surprise.
"Can I...come in?" he asked, blinking against the raindrops.
"Uh, yeah, sure," I said. He stepped inside.
"Look, Alice. I need to know why you wanted to see Jake," he said.
I tilted my chin up. "That's none of your business."
He huffed. "Listen. I really, really need to know."
"Why?"
"Because…" he paused. "I feel like this has something to do with Bella's...death." I noticed he had hesitated before saying 'death'.
"Maybe it does," I said to him. "So?"
He bit his lip and avoided my gaze.
"You know something," I accused. "You know and you're not telling me."
"I can't," he said. "Listen, I have no idea how well you knew Bella, but-"
"She was my best friend!" I cut him off. "I knew her better than you do, that's for sure."
He backtracked. "No, that's not what I meant."
I threw my hands up in frustration. "Then, please, tell me what you do mean, because I have no idea!"
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Just, please, tell me why you want to see Jake. I know you don't know him."
I was going to tell him to go away, when I stopped. Maybe, if I told him a bit, Embry could help me. "Because...I think Bella was hiding something from everyone else." Even if Edward wasn't really a vampire, why would she feel the need to write about him being one? Something was definitely up.
He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. She wrote about Edward being…" I stopped myself. Luckily, I hadn't completed my sentence. Still, I knew I had let too much slip.
He seemed to choke. "Wait...so she...you…"
"You know what she said, don't you?" I said angrily.
He composed himself. "No, I don't," he calmly said.
"You're a horrible liar, Embry Call," I said.
"Maybe I do, then," he shrugged. "Regardless, I can't help you. I wish I could. Sorry."
I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes. I heard him leave and close the door behind him.
I didn't find it scary that Embry had known. He was, after all, a part of the tribe. He was probably one of the bigger believers of the legends about the Cullens being vampires. But that would mean that Jacob did mention the Cullens when telling Bella about vampires.
I stalked back upstairs, opened the diary, and started reading.
Jessica and Angela were just leaving when we arrived. Edward told them that he would buy me dinner then drive me home. And so they left, and we were alone.
We went inside, and the waitress tried to flirt with him. Badly.
Edward asked if I was okay. I assured him I was- after all, I felt safe with him.
I told him I had noticed something else about him- when his eyes were gold, he was a much better mood than when they were black. He was interested in my theory about that. I told him I would tell him later.
I asked, indirectly, if he could read minds. He confirmed that, but told me that he couldn't read my mind. I found that interesting. Why me?
He finally explained why he was in Port Angeles. He was protecting me, he said, but also reminded me that he was dangerous, too.
I believed that Edward was dangerous, not bad. He hadn't hurt me or anyone else as far as I knew.
On the way back, he explained more about the mind reading, how he could tell one mental voice from the thousands of others.
Finally, I told him my theory- the on about him being a vampire. He took it surprisingly well, except for when I told him it didn't matter to me.
He seemed angry and yelled about how it should matter, about how he could kill me.
He finally cooled down. He confirmed that he did hunt animals instead of humans. I asked why. He explained that he didn't want to be a monster.
He dropped me home and left.
The entry ended there. I thought about one thing that had stood out to me in Bella's words- her claim about Edward being a mind reader. It had always seemed like he knew what everyone was thinking in an eerie way. He himself had once said that he was exceptionally good at reading people. Could it really have been something more?