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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Bella

"Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!"

―Fyodor Dostoevsky

Three days after the ill-fated heist wherein Alice was gunned down, she disappeared from the school. I'd been going to visit her every day in the infirmary, trying to assuage my guilt while also praying to any and all higher powers that my only ally, my only friend, would pull through.

On the third day, Nurse Pratt told me that Alice had been transferred to a larger hospital and would not be coming back.

I tried to get any information, something to contact her and make sure she was okay, but I was completely shut out.

Alice was gone, and I had no one left at the school.

I'd gone back after leaving Edward on the terrace, looking for the manuscript. It had been safe where I'd wedged it, and I hauled it back to my room while I waited for Alice to show up.

When she never did, I tucked the manuscript under my mattress and that was where it had stayed since. Losing Alice had been painful, and suddenly, no great conspiracy seemed worth it.

Despite what Edward thought, no secret was worth the life of a human being.

He didn't try to talk to me anymore, for which I was relieved. I had nothing kind to say to him anyway.

Whenever our paths crossed, I saw a vacant look in his eyes, like our unmitigated disaster had led him to give up on life completely. It wasn't any of my business, but seeing the surrender in his eyes made me hate him even more.

If Edward was too weak to keep fighting for himself, then he deserved whatever was coming for him.

…

The first few days after Alice got shot were the worst. Everyone in the school was talking about it, and while no one mentioned my involvement, hearing the vicious rumors they were spreading was bad enough.

But soon, Alice faded from interest and the student body moved on to new drama. No one paid me much mind anymore; it was as if I'd become a ghost in the halls. I went to class, did my assignments, and kept my head down.

I only had a few more months before graduation, and then I'd be able to leave this place forever.

…

On Christmas Eve, my phone rang. The only people who had the number were Edward and my mom, and I didn't recognize their numbers on the caller ID. Hesitantly, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

There was a beat of silence before I could hear a soft exhalation of breath. I knew even before he spoke who it was. "Hey, Bells."

My spine stiffened, my fingers curling around the phone so hard they hurt. "Jake."

I hadn't thought about him in months. He'd been so far from the issues I was having currently that he hadn't been on my mind once since I left Arizona.

"Bells, I know you're mad at me, and you have every right to be," Jake said, his voice coming out in a rush, like he was afraid I was going to hang up on him. "But, I just need you to know I'm so sorry. I was drunk too, and I know that's no excuse for what I did, but I'm sorry. I've hated myself every day for what I did to you."

Maybe it was the trauma I'd endured since this summer, or maybe I was just getting older, but I found when Jake rushed to explain himself, I felt indifferent. What he did had happened to another girl, not me. He was seeking atonement for a past life.

"Jake," I said, cutting him off. "Thank you for the apology."

He was quiet, hesitating. "You forgive me?"

I let out a breath. "No, Jake. I don't."

I could just picture his face, his dark eyes uncertain, probably flickering around the room because he was still too immature to hold eye contact.

"How have you been?" I asked, needing this form of human contact, even if it was with him.

"Fine," he said, and I could hear the surprise in his voice. "Fine," he said again, clearing his throat. "Got a different job. You remember that garage down on 4th?" I hummed to let him know I remembered and he continued. "The pay is crap, even though the hours are good. Still, I'm getting trained under one of the head mechanics, which is worth the pay cut I took to accept the job."

I closed my eyes, and for a very small moment, none of the bad things had ever happened. Jake was still my friend, and we were hanging out on my bed, eating popcorn and venting about our weeks.

"It sounds like a good opportunity," I said finally.

"It is. I'm really excited about it." He paused, hesitation clear in his silence. "I thought you'd be home for Christmas."

My eyes snapped open. "I'm here full time," I said, my voice turning a little flat. Other kids had left, going away for a long weekend to ski in Switzerland or go lounge on a beach in the Mediterranean, but I couldn't afford to go home. I was stuck here until graduation.

"Right," Jake said, clearing his throat. "I mean, I knew that. I just thought…"

There was a stack of cash hidden in my wardrobe that Edward had left me the morning after Alice went into a coma. It was way more money than he promised to pay me, but I didn't go back and correct him. I stashed it all away, intent on using it to get the hell out of here and start a brand new life somewhere else.

"How is that new school anyway?"

I focused back on the phone. "Hard," I admitted. "There is a lot going on, and these kids are some of the smartest in the world."

Jake laughed lightly. "You should be right at home then."

I rolled my eyes. It wasn't that I was smart; I just worked harder than anyone else I knew. "I'm not—"

Jake cut me off. "You've always needed more of a challenge, Bells. Always. You know I could never keep up with you. Hell, no one in this state could. You're too intense, and you needed someone to match that intensity."

I frowned, surprised by his assessment. It was true. I just hadn't realized Jake knew that about me.

We were quiet for a few moments before Jake spoke again. "How did you spend your eighteenth birthday?"

Buried alive.

"I didn't really notice it to be honest," I said, taking a breath when I realized my voice was shaking slightly. "Things like that don't matter here."

"That's sad," Jake said, and I swallowed hard. "Are you at least making the connections you wanted?"

I thought about Edward and the other Sixteen kids who had been the worst people I'd ever encountered. If nothing else, I'd learned that these were the kind of people I needed to avoid in life.

"Sort of," I said slowly. "I've met a lot of people."

"Yeah? Anyone famous?"

I almost smiled at the light teasing tone of his voice. "No one you'd know," I said, almost laughing.

"Right, you're probably surrounded by geniuses dummies like me have never even heard of." Jake's voice was light, laughing at himself, and I smiled, my eyes squeezing shut.

The truth was, despite what had happened between us, I'd missed Jake's friendship. He'd been my best friend most of my life.

And that was what I really needed right now: a friend.

"So," I said, clearing my throat and opening my eyes. "Tell me about what's going on with you? Emma has been trying to ask you out for months. Did you finally let her?"

Jake let out a light laugh. "Yeah, actually. We went to winter formal together."

My heart squeezed, but this time it was in happiness. "Jacob Black dressed up for winter formal?"

Jake laughed again. "Shut up," he said as I snickered. "It was actually pretty cool. Em got a picture of all of us. I'll send it to you."

"I'd like that," I told him honestly.

Three months ago, I couldn't have fathomed having this talk with Jake. I was so angry at him, so hurt by everything that had happened, I thought I'd never be able to talk to him civilly again.

But time had changed me, and though the trauma of what happened between us wouldn't just go away, it had sunk lower into me, to depths that no longer bobbed along the surface. What had happened was strengthening me as a person, making me harder. I'd take that over being soft and vulnerable any day.

…

My life fell into a predictable and safe rhythm. Class, homework, sleep, repeat. The manuscript by Cordova was still under my mattress, but I hadn't been able to touch it since Alice left the school. I didn't have any friends, but the death threats against me stopped as well. I operated completely in neutral, trying to keep my head down enough to just make it out of this place.

By the time graduation came around, I was a master of blending into the background.

Despite Headmaster Valencia's concerns, I'd been able to catch up and keep up, graduating with excellent final marks. They weren't perfect, much to my chagrin, but they were higher than anyone expected me to get.

I'd tried to see a guidance counselor about applying to universities, but I had been put off until the morning of graduation, when I got a summons.

When I made my way to her office for our appointment, the counselor looked at me and offered me a friendly smile. "Congratulations," she said. "Not many people graduate from this institute."

I wondered what that said about them as a school.

"Have you given any thought to university?" she asked when I didn't respond.

"Uh, yeah," I said slowly.

The counselor turned to her computer. "Where do you want to go?"

The question struck me as odd. Not where do you want to apply, but where do you want to go?

"I don't know. What are my options?" I asked.

The counselor looked surprised before giving me a patient smile. "I see no one has explained this to you." She sounded annoyed as she leaned back in her chair, her eyes roaming over my face. "Miss Swan, successful graduation from this academy means automatic admission to any college or university, anywhere in the world."

My heartbeat tripled. "What?" I said, shaking my head. "You just press a magic button and I am accepted?"

The counselor smiled. "In a nutshell."

This was too much. I knew this school had clout, but this? No one should have that kind of power.

"Anywhere?" I asked, trying to push past the fear that was welling in me at the thought of what this school couldn't do.

"Anywhere," she agreed. "We've placed students at the finest universities around the world. It's your choice."

As a child, I'd dreamed about getting out of Arizona, going anywhere that would take me. Even then, the best I could have hoped for was two years at a community college while I worked on saving up enough to transfer.

I'd never been given permission to dream this big before, and for a moment, I was paralyzed with indecision.

"I don't know," I said slowly, shaking my head.

She nodded. "Do you wish to stay in the country?"

My head was spinning, but I shook my head. "No. I want to leave."

"That's a good place to start," she said, leaning toward her computer. "My notes say that you speak Spanish, though your French could do with a bit of work," she said, lifting one eyebrow at me. "You've gotten high marks in the humanities. Is that something you are leaning toward studying?"

I swallowed. "Yeah," I croaked.

She nodded and turned back to her computer. "Well, Oxford has the best humanities department in the world at the moment. There are spots there I can place you in."

My mouth went dry. "Oxford?"

She glanced at me. "Yes, does that suit you?"

I'd never once, not even in my wildest fantasies, considered Oxford to be a choice for me. It was so outlandish, so impossible, I hadn't dared to dream it.

But here it was, being offered to me on a silver platter.

"I can't afford Oxford," I said, shaking my head.

"Nonsense," the counselor said, reaching for a slim folder on her desk. "As a student without means, you've qualified for a full scholarship plus stipend. Your entire university career will be covered," she explained, handing me the folder.

My head was spinning.

"Everything?" I asked, opening the portfolio. I looked over the paperwork, my mind reeling.

"Everything," she confirmed. "Shall I enroll you now?"

I looked up at her. This was it, the world on a platter; all I had to do was reach out and take it.

"Yes," I said, snapping the folder shut. "Thank you."

The counselor smiled and typed at her keyboard before the printer started humming. It spat out a single sheet that she slid to me. "There you are, Miss Swan. Congratulations."

…

I was still in a daze as I left her office, my eyes scanning over my acceptance letter. It couldn't be real, could it? I slipped the paper into the folder, shaking my head. I couldn't believe it, not just yet. Not after so much in my life had gone the exact opposite way.

I was too focused on my future to notice when a body stepped in front of me. I halted, just in time, to stop myself running into a boy I recognized but had never talked to.

"You're Bella, right?"

I blinked at him. "Yeah," I said slowly.

He offered me a smile that was somehow both boyish and sleazy. "Michael Newton." He said his name as if it was supposed to mean something to me.

He was probably one of the Sixteen.

When I didn't show any sign of recognition, he shook his head. "I wondered if anyone has approached you yet about your future?"

I frowned. "I just saw the guidance counselor about college," I said, not sure what he meant.

He let out an annoying stiff laugh. "No, no." He chuckled. "Beyond college."

I stared at him, trying to figure out what this was about.

Michael shifted. "My family is powerful," he said. "We're the best because we seek the best. I believe that a person of your intelligence and beauty has a real future with the right support."

What? What the hell was he trying to ask me? "Are you offering me a job?"

"I suppose you could see it that way," he agreed. "There will be some contractual expectations, a certain division of assets, an expectation to produce progeny on a timeline of—"

I cut him off. "Are you fucking asking me to have your child?"

Micahel looked offended. "Normally, with a commoner such as yourself, that is the only option, yes. But you've proven to be worthy of more and I would like to extend an offer to you of marriage."

What the fuck was going on? "I don't fucking know you." I growled, flabbergasted and angry all at once.

"No, but that's hardly the point, is it?" he asked. "This is a mutually beneficial agreement. You'd be taken care of for the rest of your life, and you would be a part of the most powerful family in the world."

I was getting a headache. Before I could open my mouth to call this kid an absolute fucking moron, a voice interupted us.

"You're not even close to the most powerful," Edward said, making both Michael and me turn quickly. "In fact, I'd wager that she'd be able to find more power on her own than your entire family has."

I couldn't tell if he genuinely believed that of me, or if he was using me to bait Michael.

Michael looked scared and angry at the sight of Edward. "Excuse me," he said, shaking his head. "But I believe I'm waiting to hear back on my offer."

I realized when he looked at me again that he thought I was genuinely considering it. "Fuck off," I told him. He looked surprised before anger settled completely over his face.

"You have no idea what you've just turned down," he hissed before storming off down the corridor.

"Fucker," Edward muttered, watching him go. I looked at him in time to see him glance at me. "Newton's family is almost useless," he said. "You would really be better off with someone else."

My eyes narrowed. "What, like you?" I demanded. This was the first time we'd spoken since that horrible incident all those months ago. The first time we'd even acknowledged the other was alive.

Edward let out a ghostly laugh. "No, not like me," he said, shaking his head. "I'm nothing more than a dead man walking. That's not life."

I stared at him, not sure what to make of this new attitude. I almost preferred it when he was being insufferable.

Edward looked at me, his eyes falling to the portfolio in my arms. "Are you getting out of here?" he asked.

I swallowed, squeezing the folder tighter. "Yes."

He nodded. "Good. Run as far away as you can."

I wasn't sure what to make of that. Something had happened to Edward, something dark and terrifying. It was like the very soul had been sucked out of him.

Despite everything, I felt the last cursed spark of compassion rise up in me. "Are you going to be okay?"

I hated myself the moment the question slipped past my lips, and Edward looked at me, his eyes blinking as he focused on my face. He looked genuinely surprised by my question.

"No," he said after a moment. "I'm never going to be okay again."

My throat felt tight. I didn't owe him anything. He'd used me, gotten my friend shot and possibly killed, and had been absolutely unapologetic about any of it.

Despite everything, I stepped toward him. "Yeah you will," I said softly. "One day, you're going to wake up and realize that whatever is holding you back, whatever is making you this zombie, it's not too big to stave off. One day, you're going to want to fight again. For your own sake." I reached out, my hand gently landing on his forearm. "Nothing in this world cannot be overcome if the soul facing it is determined to do so."

Edward looked surprised, vulnerable even, as he stared at me. It made me nauseous to see that look on his face, so I let him go, clearing my throat. "Good luck, Edward."

I turned on my heel and left him standing there in the middle of the corridor. Now was not the time to pity monsters. I'd clawed my way through this hellhole, and now, I had a brighter future waiting for me to reach out and take it.

And take it, I would.

Act I Fin

Okay, so like you see above, this concludes Act One. Act Two, Legacy, will begin posting soon! I'm working overtime to try to write the whole thing ahead of posting so that there aren't any delays in rolling it out. It is my intention that all three Acts are rolled out this year, and if I manage to write them quickly, I'll speed up the posting schedule to deliver them as promptly as possible. All three Acts will continue to post in this story.

Thank you all so much for being apart of this long journey. I hope it's been worth the wait. I truly am so excited to launch into Act Two with you all shortly! In the mean time, if you are on Facebook, check out my group Fanfics For Nerds, to get exclusive teasers and fun promos I post.