I stood there in shock for a few moments letting the realization of my visitor sink in to my conscious brain.
Alice.
It was Alice who had arrived in Carlisle’s car. My brain kicked back into gear as I threw myself at her, forgetting for the moment how hard she was, as if she were a cement wall.
“Alice!” I exclaimed.
Her arrival was to be a brief intrusion into the transformation of the new me. For a little while with Alice, I was thrown back into the past that I was unconsciously trying to leave behind.
Even so, everything inside of me continued to silently grow and change, as if it wanted to remain a secret for a little longer from the pixie vampire that stood before me. The spark continued to unravel and shape itself, fitting itself to the contours of my insides and plugging up the holes that had been gaping before.
“Bella?” she asked, her voice sounding confused.
I hugged her as hard as I could, despite her stone body having no give to it. “Oh Alice! I’m so happy that you’re here! I’ve missed you so much!”
“Bella…” she repeated, the confusion and a hint of something else now laced in her voice.
It made me lean back to look at her. It was then that I noticed her eyes. They were pitch black.
“Oh!” I knew what that meant. Black eyes equaled thirst for a vampire.
She waved her hand in dismissal. “It’s my fault. I didn’t hunt like I was supposed to and then I was in a hurry all day today.”
Her smile turned into a glare. “So, would you mind telling me how it is that you’re alive?”
I stared at her in puzzlement. “What do you mean?”
Alice went on to tell me she had seen a vision of me jumping from the cliff, but nothing of Jacob saving me. She went on and on about how she had waited to see if I would come up again, but I hadn’t.
“When I couldn’t see you anymore, I panicked. I took the first flight I could back here to Forks to find out what had happened. And I thought maybe, I could help Charlie out if I needed to. I didn’t really think more than that, I just knew I had to get answers.”
She stopped to narrow her eyes at me. “But here you are, alive. Just what were you thinking? Did you even think of how it would have affected anyone? What about Charlie? What about your mom? What about…”
I had to cut off her rant before it went too far. “Alice, I wasn’t trying to die.”
She stared at me incredulously. “So you didn’t jump off a cliff at all?”
I gave her a sheepish look. “Um, well…it was for fun actually.”
She gave me a hard, disbelieving look.
“I’d seen some of Jacob’s friends cliff diving,” I insisted. “It looked like…fun, and I was bored…”
She waited.
“I didn’t think about how the storm would affect the currents. Actually, I didn’t think about the water much at all.”
Alice didn’t buy it. I could see that she still thought I had been trying to kill myself. I decided to redirect.
“So, if you saw me go in, why didn’t you see Jacob?”
She cocked her head to the side, distracted.
I continued. “It’s true that I probably would have drowned if Jacob hadn’t jumped in after me. Well, okay, there’s no doubt about it. But he did, and he pulled me out, and I guess he towed me back to shore, though I was kind of out for that part. It couldn’t have been more than a minute that I was under before he grabbed me. How come you didn’t see that?”
She frowned in perplexity. “Someone pulled you out?”
“Yes. Jacob saved me.” I repeated, a little miffed that she couldn’t seem to accept that part.
A strange mixture of emotions flashed over her face. I couldn’t tell what was bothering her, but something told me she was trying to figure out why she hadn’t seen me get pulled out of the water as much as I was wondering too.
Then, she did something that made me stiffen. She leaned in to me and sniffed me.
When she saw my expression, she rolled her eyes. “Oh please, it’s not what you think. Just hold still for a moment.” She sniffed at me again and I jumped.
“What are you doing!” I snapped, a little unnerved.
“Want to tell me who you were with just now? Outside. I thought I heard you arguing with someone.”
I sighed. “Jacob Black. He’s….he’s my best friend. I think…at least he was…”
The last image of his face, flashed before me. He’d looked angry and upset. I’d even seen a hint of betrayal in his eyes before he’d jumped out of the car and left me there. It made me worry if I’d driven him away for good.
Alice didn’t reply. She simply stood there looking distant.
“What is it?” I asked.
She flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. “I don’t know what any of it means actually.”
I sighed impatiently. “What difference does it make really? At least I’m here now! See? I’m not dead like you thought!”
She gave me an incredulous look before she put her hands on her hips and tsked. “What…Oh Bella! Edward was so wrong you know! He thought you would be fine alone, but here you are…still susceptible to life threatening idiocy!”
“But I survived,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
She ignored my irritation and moved on to another question. “Well if the currents were too strong, how did Jacob get you out?
Her question let the air out of my annoyance. I hesitated a moment before I mumbled. “Jacob…is stronger.”
Obviously that answer left a lot unsaid since Alice just folded her arms in front of her torso and stared at me, as if waiting for a more thorough explanation.
I thought about it for a few moments wondering if it was alright for me to tell Alice the truth about Jacob. Did I owe it to him and the wolves to keep it a secret or was it better just to tell her everything?
In the end, I knew it would eat me alive if I kept this a secret, especially since Jacob already knew what the Cullens were. Deciding that there wasn’t any harm in the telling, I began to explain.
“See, well, he’s…sort of a werewolf,” I admitted in a rush. “The Quileutes turn into wolves when there are vampires around. They know Carlisle from a long time ago. Were you with Carlisle back then?”
Alice gawked at me for a moment, and then recovered herself, blinking rapidly. “Well, I guess that explains the smell,” she muttered. “But does it explain what I didn’t see?” She frowned, her porcelain forehead creasing.
“The smell?” I repeated.
“You smell awful,” she said absently, still frowning. “A werewolf? Are you sure about that?”
“Very sure,” I promised, wincing as I remembered Paul and Jacob fighting. “I guess you weren’t with Carlisle the last time there were werewolves here in Forks?”
“No. I hadn’t found him yet.” Alice was still lost in thought. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she turned to stare at me with a shocked expression. “Your best friend is a werewolf?”
I nodded sheepishly.
“How long has this been going on?”
“Not long,” I said, my voice sounding defensive. “He’s only been a werewolf for just a few weeks.”
She glowered at me. “A young werewolf? Even worse! Edward was right…you’re a magnet for danger. Weren’t you supposed to be staying out of trouble?”
“There’s nothing wrong with werewolves,” I grumbled, stung by her critical tone.
“Until they lose their tempers.” She shook her head sharply from side to side. “Leave it to you Bella. Anyone else would be better off when the vampires left town. But you have to start hanging out with the first monsters you can find.”
I didn’t want to argue with Alice…but she had it wrong.
“No Alice, the vampires didn’t really leave…not all of them anyway. That’s the whole trouble. If it weren’t for the werewolves, Victoria would have gotten me by now. Well, if it weren’t for Jake and his friends, Laurent would have gotten me before she could, I guess, so…”
“Victoria?” she hissed. “Laurent?”
I nodded, a teensy bit alarmed by the expression in her black eyes. I pointed to my chest. “Danger magnet, remember?”
She shook her head again. “Tell me everything…start at the beginning.”
So I told her the whole story, omitting certain parts like motorcycles, hearing voices and what I still didn’t want to acknowledge as the beginning of my internal transformation. When I was done she realized that her impulsive return may not have been a good idea and started to apologize to me before trying to take her leave.
I however, insisted that she stay anyway. I begged and pleaded, telling her that I missed her and the rest of the Cullen family that I had once decided to become a part of. Eventually she relaxed back into the couch, I’m sure she’d noticed I became calmer when she sat back down again.
We sat and talked about nothing in particular for a while longer until Jacob called to find out if I was still alive. When the phone rang, I had grabbed Alice’s hand and dragged her into the kitchen with me. Upon hearing Jacob’s voice when I answered it, I exclaimed his name in relief.
“Jake!”
Alice looked at me funny, but said nothing.
“I was just calling to make sure you were still alive,” came his cold, sharp voice.
“I’m fine, Jake. I told you…”
“Yeah, fine. See ya.”
I frowned at the phone. Jacob had hung up on me. His voice had been short and cold, then he’d hung up…just like that. Like all he was doing was reporting for duty. Like I was nothing but a business client he didn’t really want to deal with.
I hung the phone up and closed my eyes, sighing in frustration.
I knew that the only way to talk to Jacob was after Alice left, but that wasn’t something I was looking forward to. For one thing, that meant I would have to say goodbye to Alice and I wasn’t ready to let her go again. The other thing was that I knew something was changing between Jacob and I, but I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for that.
Alice interrupted my musings. “You know Bella, maybe it’s better for me to leave. My being here is only going to cause problems. The werewolves are probably already getting agitated with my presence and I’m sure Charlie will be suspicious about my sudden appearance.”
I started to panic, torn between wanting to keep her here and wanting to find out if Jacob really was lost to me. I tried to just focus on the problem at hand.
“No, Alice! I know Charlie will be glad to see you just as much as I am. Please? Just stay for a little while. At least overnight. I know Charlie won’t mind at all!”
Alice seemed to be thinking it over as she stared unblinkingly at me for a few moments. I put on the best pouty face I could, hoping it would win her over.
“Alright,” she finally said. “I’ll stay over for tonight at least. I just have to go hunt and then pack a suitcase of clothes.”
I grinned. “Great! Thanks Alice!”
She nodded and then she was gone. Just like that.
While she was gone, I showered the scent of the ocean and hopefully whatever it was that Alice seemed to smell on me away before making dinner for myself and Charlie. All the while, I tried to ignore the worry that still floated at the back of my mind. I knew that I had to face the truth eventually, but right now I was trying to find a way to keep Alice in my life somehow.
I ate my dinner quickly and drank almost a gallon of water to replenish my dehydrated body. I hadn’t noticed just how dehydrated I was until I had sat down to dinner and took a sip from my glass.
Next thing I knew, I was refilling my glass over and over again until my thirst seemed sated and my throat didn’t feel so scratchy anymore.
By the time I went back to the living room with sheets and a pillow for Alice, she was already waiting for me there. I grinned at the way she simply sat like a porcelain doll in the middle of the couch, with hands folded in her lap and amber eyes wide with welcome.
I set the linens down on the coffee table before sitting next to Alice. As soon as we were comfortable, I asked how the others were doing.
She was quick with a response. “Everyone is in Denali right now. Well, all except one. We’re staying with Tanya and her family for a while.”
I knew who she was talking about, but left the subject alone.
Alice cocked her head to the side like she was listening to something. “Are you sure Charlie won’t mind if I stay over?”
I tsked. “Of course he won’t mind! You know he loves you!”
“Hm, well I guess we’ll find out as soon as he walks through that door.” She motioned to the front door just as I heard the sound of his cruiser pull up and the headlights flashed through the windows.
I chuckled at her announcement before jumping up to go meet Charlie at the door. Inwardly I hoped Charlie really wouldn’t mind Alice being here, but she had a point, her visit was unannounced and it was a last minute decision. I could only hope Charlie still felt the same way about Alice as he had before she had left.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped out to meet Charlie with a smile I hoped would win him over.
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