Chapter 01
“Senior year tomorrow, are you excited?”
Bella looked over to her best friend and sighed. “No,” she replied before looking back at the sky. The clouds were beautiful today. Big, puffy clouds and she and Jake were trying to find shapes in them. “I mean… I guess? One more year here in Forks.”
“And then you can escape,” Jake laughed. “Leave me.”
“But I don’t want to! If only Forks had a college, that would have been amazing! Instead, I need to look for somewhere else!”
Jake huffed. “Who needs college anyway?”
Bella looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. “So you want to be a dumb mechanic?”
“Well, no, but I can do an apprenticeship for a few years to get additional certifications,” he replied. “No college involved,” Jake added proudly. “Do you even want to know what you want to do?”
Bella shrugged. “We’ll see. Maybe travel the world a bit, take a gap year or something. See history up close, and maybe I’ll go and study history after. You want to come with?”
He let out a snort and shook his head. “Nah, Loca, I’m fine where I am. And I thought you had donated all the money they paid you off with to charity?”
“I did,” Bella nodded as she sucked in a breath. “I kept a small portion of it for myself, though. To pay for college so Charlie doesn’t have to. Figured I earned it after what that asshole did. It’s been gathering interest in my savings account, so…” she shrugged. “But I’d really like you to join me.”
“Again, I’m staying here,” Jake laughed. “There is no way I’m going to fly.”
“Well, we could road trip through America instead?”
“Nope.”
“Jake!” Bella let out a whine. “We do everything together! Why not this?”
He sighed then as he sat up to look at her. “I’ve helped you to get over that asshole as the good friend that I am, but I’m starting to think that you’re clinging onto me now.”
“You’re a jerk.”
“I’ll always be here, Bells, but it’s time for you to do things on your own. You’re a strong and beautiful woman, and I’ll only be holding you back. So, this year, I’m going to focus on weaning you off of me.”
“Jake!”
“What?” he laughed. “You’ll be fine, and we’re still friends.”
Bella pouted as she punched him in the arm. “You’re not being fair, we’re always together.”
“And that’s why that needs to change.”
“Why?”
Jake started to blush then. “I may have my eye on a girl… and I doubt she’ll like it that my best friend acts like we’re Siamese twins.”
Bella sat up and pushed her hair out of her face before punching him again. “You could have lead with that titbit, Jake. You want space? Of course, I’ll give you your space so you can do whatever you want,” she smiled at him before hugging him and getting to her feet. “I’d better get home. Charlie wants to do his annual back to school dinner, which means I have to cook it,” she said before running off to her truck and drove straight home, barely keeping it together.
Why was this hurting so much? She saw Jake almost every day, and during breaks she saw him all the time, they always had fun and there hadn’t been anything wrong until she’d mentioned she wanted to travel the world. With him. And then he rejected her. Wanting to stay at the Rez, wanting her to be on her own. Fuck him. Seriously.
If he wanted to be left alone, she was going to leave him alone. Fuck him.
She parked her truck in front of the house and walked inside, slamming the door shut before running upstairs to her room.
Tomorrow, everything was going to change.
~o.O.o~
Bella sat down at their usual table for lunch the next day after a dreadful start of the day. They had a substitute Spanish teacher and she was more… advanced than they were. The teacher didn’t like to stick to the curriculum either, and it was hard to keep up. And just because the day couldn’t get any worse, the woman was also their history teacher, but that was a permanent role for her.
Bella was impressed by the lesson though, the woman managed to teach them in a way that it sounded as if she’d been present in the particular event that they were learning about and were supposed to write an essay about.
“Hi Bella!” Jessica greeted her as she sat down next to her and Mike sat down next to Jessica. “We missed you over the summer.”
“Uh, yeah, I spent some time with Jake on the rez,” Bella smiled as she looked at her two friends and didn’t miss the look between them. “When did you two happen?”
“Over the summer,” Jessica blushed. “Mike found me on the side of the road when my tire blew and it was raining and… well, things happened.”
Bella smiled as she took a sip of her drink. “I’m happy for you guys.”
“Really?” Mike blinked at her. “I thought we had something special Bella!”
She barked out a laugh and shook her head. “You wish!”
“Sooo,” Jessica lowered her voice as she scooted closer to Bella. “Did you have the new student in your class yet?”
“What new student?”
“He and his younger sister have started school today. He’s a senior and he’s super hot. And, God, Bella, an accent to die for!” Jessica then looked at Mike. “For her, not for me, you’re mine.” She then looked back at Bella. “I think he’s in chemistry and physics with you.”
“And how would you know?”
“I asked,” Jessica grinned as she nodded at the boy just entering the cafeteria. “There he is.”
Bella took a bite of her apple and tried counting to ten before answering. “Jessica, I appreciate the thought but I’m done with guys.”
Mike’s eyes widened in shock as he nearly choked on his sandwich. “You’re a lesbian?!” He could already see the possibilities with that. Oh man.
“Down boy,” Bella replied as she stared him down. “No, I’m done. Men are assholes. They’re lousy boyfriends and lousy friends.”
“Oh, someone sounds bitter,” Angela’s voice sounded as she sat down opposite of Bella and was followed suit by Ben. “Who’s hurt you this time?”
“Nobody,” Bella replied as she finished eating her apple. “I’m just better off without them.”
“Okay, so, any plans for this weekend? Shall we go to Port Angeles with the five of us?” Mike asked, desperately wanting to change the conversation before Bella would pull them back into the vortex of depression she’d been experiencing ever since Edward Cullen and his family had messed with her. It was a good thing they left, but she’d never been the same after. Not even with help from her friend Jake. “You can’t say ‘no’, Bella. The others can, but you can’t.”
Bella let out a snort. “Mike, I’m fine.”
“I said you can’t say ‘no’.”
“Well, I have to,” Bella replied. “Charlie has a thing over at the station and I promised I’d help out with serving coffee and snacks. Do you want me to cancel on Charlie?”
Mike swallowed and shook his head. “No, the last time I told you to cancel on him he tried to arrest me. I still don’t like it that you’re the chief’s daughter.”
She barked out a laugh and shook her head. “I love my dad.”
“Daddy’s little girl.”
“Damn straight,” Bella replied. “Maybe next week. Let’s get through the first week first, shall we?”
She wasn’t entirely sure why she had kept physics as a subject for her senior year. Chemistry was a lot of fun, sure, and quite easy because she loved to cook, but physics? What was she going to do with physics when she wanted to do something with history? Well, likely. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do after high school and the gap year had been an excuse, was still an excuse, but she had absolutely no clue.
She settled in the back of the class and decided that it was going to be her spot for the rest of the year. Sure, Bella was going to pay attention, but at least nobody would see how hard she had to work for a grade for this. She had just put her book down when someone bumped against her table to get to the empty table next to her.
“Sorry,” the boy replied. English accent. New kid.
Bella looked at him as she shrugged. “I’m fine, did you hurt yourself?”
“Nah,” he smiled at her as he sat down and looked to the front of the classroom where the teacher was still absent before extending his hand to her. “Kol.”
“Welcome to Forks, Kol,” she said as she kept her hands to herself.
He tilted his head as he looked at her. “Normally one would take the hand offered, shake it and introduce themselves in return. You’re being rude, miss.”
“No, I’m not interested in chit-chat,” she replied. Why did this guy remind her of Edward? “Leave me alone.”
Kol sat down next to her in chemistry too, and tried to talk to her but Bella ignored him and once school was done, she hopped in her truck and after buying some groceries headed back home to do her homework.
~o.O.o~
It was almost as if the new guy was in all of her classes now. As if he had switched some out, and it was annoying. Edward had swapped out classes at first because of her before later swapping back.. Everyone was annoying and she hated to admit it, but even Jessica and Angela were getting on her nerves. She wasn’t closing herself off, she just didn’t want anything to do with guys anymore.
On Wednesday she found herself alone at the lunch table and Kol joined her. Without asking. “What do you want?”
Kol sighed as he took a sip from his drink. “My siblings want me to make friends, interact with people and you seem to be a nice person. I thought that perhaps you and I could become friends but all you’ve been doing is shutting me down.”
“I’m not interested,” she replied as she looked at him. “There are plenty of other people in school.”
He smiled then. “Perhaps, but you’re the one who’s actively avoiding me. I cannot help but be slightly intrigued,” he replied. “What’s your damage?”
“Excuse me?”
Kol shrugged. “Are you merely anti-social or have you been hurt by a boy in the past? A boyfriend maybe? A friend? Both?”
Bella narrowed her eyes on him. “Seems like you’ve been asking around about me. Is that why my friends aren’t here right now?”
“Maybe,” Kol smiled. “But that’s alright, darling, I’m damaged goods myself. Perhaps we could aid each other?”
“I’m fine,” she said evenly as she took a bite out of her sandwich.
“But perhaps I’m not.”
“We’ve got a school counselor.”
“Adults suck.”
“Try the new teacher. She’s pretty. You can flirt with her.”
Kol’s face scrunched up as if he had eaten a lemon. “No, thanks. That’s my brother’s wife.”
Bella let out a snort. “A family member that’s a teacher. You’re screwed.”
“Could be worse.”
Bella let out a breath and nodded. “Yep, like your dad being the police chief.”
Kol blinked. “You’re the chief’s daughter?!”
“Yep. Regret wanting me to be your friend now?”
“Nope. Definitely need to make you my bestie now. Especially if you can get him to cancel out that ticket he gave me last week,” he admitted with a little smile.
She cocked her head with a slight smile as she took out her phone. “Why were you speeding?”
“Who said I was speeding, and not double parked?”
She shrugged. “I figured that guys like you like their fast cars. The more expensive the better. What kind of car do you have? That Porsche in the lot outside? Would be a shame to double park that, seeing as it could get scratches, so I think he caught you speeding.”
He slightly paled then. “Yes, it’s mine and yes, I was speeding… a little…”
Bella hummed. “Not sure if he’ll cancel it, but sure, let’s try,” she said as she started to type. “Hi Dad, this new student at school is curious if you could forget that you gave him a speeding ticket. He was driving a Porsche.”
Hell no.
“Yeah… sorry,” Bella said as she looked at Kol. “Not gonna happen.”
“It was worth a shot, thank you. I guess I’ll have to go over to pay after school then.”
“That would be wise, yes,” she said as she took another bite off her sandwich. “And it would be wise if you stayed away from me, too.”
“Why?”
“Because, to me, you appear to be an entitled brat and I’ve had enough of those,” she said before getting up, throwing her sandwich on her tray and headed to throw it all away. She had lost her appetite.
Bella headed to her next class already, passing the new teacher who was snickering as the teacher was texting on her phone. But Bella knew better, the teacher was likely snickering because of what had just happened. Turning around, Bella walked to the teacher and sighed. “Excuse me, miss?”
“Yes, Bella?”
“I’m not feeling too well, is it alright if I go home?”
She raised an eyebrow. “It’s the first week of school. Certainly, Kol isn’t that annoying? I mean, I know he is, I live with him, but I think he could be tolerable. Even if he could use a good dose of humility. Thanks for that by the way.”
“He needs to stay away from me.”
Myriam sighed as she put an arm around the girl and lead her away from the students and pulled her into a classroom. Sitting her down, she sat down herself. “What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing, I just need him to stay away from me.”
“Bella, please. I hear the other teachers talk about you. Your friends. They say you’re not doing well. You can tell me,” Myriam said as she compelled the girl.
“Yeah, not going to happen,” Bella said as she got to her feet. “If you won’t excuse me for the rest of the day, I’ll find someone who will.”
The teacher sat back, blinking in confusion as she stared at the girl. “Um, yeah, sure…”
“Thank you,” Bella let out a breath and walked out of the classroom, pushed through the students returning to their classes and headed outside to take a few breaths as she walked to her truck. Fucking Jake. This was all Jake’s fault. She kicked against the tire of her truck and she could feel something break in her foot and she hit her cab out of frustration.
She wanted to call Jake, yell at him, but no, she wasn’t going to do that. She would not give him the satisfaction. And perhaps he’d been right, she’d grown too attached to him, but once again, a great guy had turned into a giant fucking asshole.
“Excuse me,” a girl asked as she walked towards Bella. “Is this your truck?”
“Yeah, I’m going home.”
“So do I, but my brother and I usually travel together and I’m not feeling so well today… could I get a lift?”
“You’re Kol’s sister?”
“Rebekah.”
“Your brother is a jerk.”
“He can be,” Rebekah smiled at her. “So is that a yes? Otherwise I’d have to call my other brother and he can be a beast. Literally. I suppose it’s better than the other one, who can be a monster, but yeah.”
Bella sighed. “Yeah, fine, get in, I’ll drive you home.”
“Great, thank you!” Rebekah said as she got into the truck. “He’s currently in a council meeting today with all the town officials. He would not like it if I’d call him for something as trivial as feeling sick.”
“I understand, don’t worry,” Bella said as she closed her door and winced as she tried to start her truck. She was going to have to go to the doctor to see if it was broken or something after dropping off Rebekah. “So, where to?” Bella asked as she turned out of the parking lot.
“Ah, we bought a house just outside of town, in the woods.”
Bella stepped on her brake and looked at her. “There’s only one house in the woods that I know of.”
“My brothers like some space, this was the biggest one in town that was for sale and available on short notice. Do you know where it is?”
“Unfortunately I do,” Bella sighed. “That place has some bad energy.”
“Oh yeah, Myriam got rid of it,” Rebekah smiled at her. “Apart from a teacher, she’s great with cleansing areas. She’s all floaty and stuff.”
“So she’s a witch?”
“Say what now?” Rebekah laughed. “A witch? From those stories? Don’t be daft!”
Bella shrugged as she started to drive again. “Forks is a strange place, Rebekah. Perhaps witches aren’t real, but I’ve seen some weird things.”
“Well, I can promise you that Myriam is not a witch. But a bundle of dried sage and some words of intent can do a lot for a house. Are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Magical?”
“No. Like I said, I’ve seen some weird shit since I moved to Forks. If I were you I’d be careful. Those woods around that house you’re living in have seen a lot of shit.”
“Oh don’t worry, my older brothers won’t allow me to go into the woods at night by myself.”
“Where are your parents?”
“Dead.”
Bella frowned, feeling slightly remorseful over how she treated Kol now. “Oh. Sorry,” she mumbled, glancing at the girl. “I didn’t know.”
“That’s alright,” Rebekah smiled at her. “They died a long time ago. Only the teachers know, too. We don’t want any special treatment.”
“Still, I was a jerk to Kol.”
“It’s fine, he can deal with a few dents in his ego, don’t you fret,” Rebekah replied kindly. “If anything, your behavior towards him is refreshing.”
“My behavior towards him isn’t right. I know that. And I thought I could deal with this,” Bella said a bit remorseful. “But he reminds me of my ex-boyfriend. And boys are just terrible.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Kol is the least of your worries. If you’d have done that to my older brother, he might be offended and could retaliate. Then Myriam had to step in to defend his honor and things could get messy,” Rebekah smiled at her. “Kol’s a sweetheart. Just… unrefined. My brothers like to bully him.”
“Oh great, now I feel even worse!”
“Don’t worry. He’ll eventually do something to piss you off again.”
Bella scowled as she turned into the familiar road towards the house that she knew so well. She tightly gripped the wheel of her truck as she drove and tried not to think about him. Arriving at the house, she turned the car around and barely moved. “Get well soon, Rebekah.” From what Bella could see from staring out in front of her, they had remodeled the house somewhat. Gone were the big glass windows, and it looked a lot cosier than it had been. Less sterile. Which was good. But merely sitting in the driveway made her feel nauseous.
“Do you want to come in?”
“No, I think I need to go to the doctor… I might have broken something while I kicked against my truck.”
“Is it this house? Do you have some bad memories attached to it?”
“Rebekah, please.”
Rebekah sighed and nodded. “Thank you for this enlightening drive home, Bella. I’ll see you tomorrow in school.”
Bella hadn’t broken anything major, so all the doctor did was to put a bandage on her foot to stabilize it and everything had to heal on its own. Until it healed, walking and driving was going to be a bitch, but she was going to have to endure it. It was punishment for being a jerk to Kol and for being so uneasy at the former house of her ex-boyfriend.
It was just a house.
Rebekah wasn’t in school the next day, which was a pity because Bella wanted to apologize to her, but Bella knew that Kol was at school as she nearly drove into his Porsche while trying to park. That would have been a nightmare for the insurance!
Bella found him in English class, sitting next to the only empty table in the classroom, so she sat down next to him. “I’m sorry for my behavior towards you.”
“I don’t want your pity, Bella,” Kol spat. “That’s exactly why only teachers know about our parents being dead. I can’t believe my sister told you.”
“It’s not because of that,” Bella replied. “Never mind, it’s complicated. I just wanted to apologize,” she added as she pulled her book out of her bag. “If you don’t want it, it’s fine with me,” she added before opening her book and started to focus on the teacher.
Halfway during class, Kol threw a note on her desk. Shall we get out of here?
She looked at him and frowned. “It’s the first week of school!” she hissed.
“I don’t care!” he hissed back, a cheeky smile on his face.
“No, what if my dad catches us?”
“We’ll go to Port Angeles. Or Seattle. Somewhere. Come on, you know this area better than I do.”
Bella sighed and nodded. “After this class, so it doesn’t look too suspicious.” Her dad was going to kill her. She should have said no. Kol was going to get her into trouble and she was going to get hurt. He was just like him. A family with money. Privileged. Even lived in the same fucking house. And she only said yes because she felt sorry for him. This was a very very bad idea.
~o.O.o~
They had taken her car and she set off on the 101 to head to Port Angeles. An hour of driving with Kol in the passenger seat. “There’s a box there with cassette tapes if you’d like to listen to songs, the antenna on my truck got snapped and I couldn’t be bothered to get it fixed,” she said as she pointed at the glovebox.
“Tapes?”
She pointed at her radio. “Ancient radio. No CDs in this one.”
Kol grabbed the box and saw everything labeled neatly. “I love music,” he said nodding before putting the box back down. “Myriam gave me an ipod and loaded it up with all sorts of music from the last century, it’s quite a treat,” he said as he motioned to the cable that was hanging out from the radio. “Mind if I hook it up?”
“Go right ahead,” she said with a shrug.
“So, where are you taking me?”
“Port Angeles. Seattle is a big drive and my foot still hurts so…”
“Your foot?”
“Yeah, I kicked my truck yesterday, broke a tiny bone,” she lifted her pants leg. “No cast, because it’s such a tiny bone but it hurts.”
“Then let me drive!” Kol said shocked. “Darling, you should have said something, I’d have picked you up from home!”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not, no, pull over. I’m going to drive,” he said as he unfastened his seatbelt. “Come on.”
“The truck is temperamental.”
“I’ll manage. Pull over.”
“Kol, it’s my truck.”
“And? You’d have done the same if it were me with a hurt foot and driving you. For safety sake, let’s swap places,” he pleaded with her.
She pulled onto the hard shoulder and hit the brakes hard. “You think my truck isn’t safe?!” Yep, just like Edward. “This thing may be old but it’s safe. It’s being checked regularly by a mechanic and he and I work on the truck ourselves. This is a safe truck!”
Kol blinked at her and held up his hands in defense. “Bella, I think your pretty red truck is perfectly safe, but you driving with a hurt foot is not. In fact, if you and I were to have an accident with our cars, you’d win with barely a scratch and the flashy Porsche my brother bought would be mangled. Allowing me to drive means we’ll have a bigger chance of making it back in one piece.”
“Fine,” she shrugged as she unfastened her seatbelt and hopped out of the truck. “All yours.”
“I’m not going to steal it or anything.”
“No, more worried you want to replace it with something newer,” she muttered under her breath as she climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. “Just follow this road, we’ll be in Port Angeles in like 45 minutes.”
Kol didn’t miss what she had muttered under her breath. That, and Rebekah’s tale about how she was at the house had him worried. They were all aware of the house having been the former residence of a Cold One coven. Had Bella encountered them and survived them? What was she?
He watched her as she turned on his ipod and she looked out the window as she listened to the music. After a while, he spoke up. “I live with my brothers Elijah and Klaus, with Klaus’ wife Myriam and my sister Rebekah. We lived a very sheltered life, especially my sister and I, and for me this is actually the first time I have some sort of a high school experience.”
“You sound like you were or are in a cult.”
Kol let out a snort. “It sometimes feels that way, but no. I’m at Elijah and Klaus’ mercy and Myriam is the one who makes sure things don’t get out of hand much. I– I have issues with controlling my emotions. Mainly my anger. Or anxiety. It’s always a party when both come out to play.”
“Rebekah said that one of them is a beast and the other is a monster.”
“Pretty accurate. Although the beast is married to Myriam and not that bad in comparison to the monster.”
“Are you in trouble?”
He smiled at her then. “Darling, I’m always in trouble, just the way I want it to be.”
“But with your brothers, I mean, my dad—”
“Don’t worry about me, it’s not as bad as it sounds. In fact, I think I’m worse than them in more ways than one. Which might be their fault, but I’ve never been one for restraint,” he grinned as he looked back on the road. “And it’s not all that bad, we’ve traveled a lot, the lot of us. Seen a lot of the world. Trying to escape our tyrants of parents. So it’s a good thing they’re dead. We can finally settle. I’m just having some… adjustment issues, that’s all.”
Why did that story sound like the biggest bullcrap there was? He sounded like he was choosing his words far too careful to have the story sound authentic. It sounded calculated. Maybe there was some sort of truth in there, but it didn’t sit well with her. “Congrats, you’re broken, much like every other teen out there.”
“Really?”
Bella nodded. “It’s all the rage these days. Bad family life? You’re broken. Failing school? Not your fault, you’re broken and the system is failing you.”
“Are you broken?”
“No. I’m angry.”
Ah, they were making progress! Seeing as she was talkative, Kol decided to keep asking. “About what?”
“That’s none of your business,” she smiled sweetly at him. “It doesn’t matter. Once I graduate I’m getting out of here and see the world for a while and then it won’t matter at all why I’m angry.”
“Darling, from what I know and have experienced over the years, you can run as far as you want to, but your problems would still be there. Perhaps even follow you. And out there, in the world, you could run into more bigger and scarier problems.”
“I doubt that,” Bella let out a snort. “As long as I avoid Alaska, I’ll be fine.”
Alaska. Hadn’t the Cullens gone there? Elijah had done some research when buying the house a couple of months ago and discovering some relics left behind. Elijah was apprehensive at first of settling for a while in Forks because of the former presence of the Cold Ones and of course, the shifter wolves.
And in all honesty, Kol didn’t like this place either. He preferred the sun. Couldn’t they have relocated to San Francisco? Yes, they had agreed to leave New Orleans to Marcel Gerard but Forks? Perhaps the small community would be less tempting for Kol to start a mass murder, but still.
But apparently, it’s what his family has been doing for years. Move to the least likely places where nobody else would think of trying to find you. Forks was one of those places. “Alaska?”
“Ex-boyfriend,” she said as she looked out of the window. “Not worth spilling words over.”
“I do love a good gossip.”
“No. We can talk about anything else but not that.”
Kol smirked. “Did he have a small wiener? He probably had an itsy bitsy dick. Good thing he’s an ex. You won’t miss much.”
She smiled a little at that. “I wouldn’t know, he was a prude.”
“Or perhaps secretly gay. Just having you as his beard. All into sparkles and feather boas,” Kol mused. “Maybe a big, secret disco built into his room so when you’d leave he’d have kinky gay parties. With a giant disco ball.”
“That’s not nice.”
“Well, the guy obviously hurt you otherwise you wouldn’t be so tight-lipped about him. I’d love to beat him up for you.”
“You can’t,” she let out a snort and shook her head.
“Because he’s in Alaska.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll go there in the next school break.”
“No! He’ll kill you! And if not him, maybe his siblings will!”
He briefly looked at her with worry. “Did he hit you?”
“No!”
“Did you ever report him?”
“No, and drop it,” she said as she nodded to the traffic sign. “The next one left.”
“Bella.”
“I’m fine, honestly,” she replied as she pointed at the turn. “Well, I’m likely not fine seeing as for the last year or so, and especially during the summer, I managed not to think about him and latched onto my best friend to have fun together. And we did. And then the day before school started he told me he needed space and that I had to stay away and live my own life. So…”
“What?”
“I’ve looked it up, it’s called codependency. Apparently, it’s a bitch.”
Kol started to laugh. “That sounds so much like my brother back in the day until Myriam kicked him in the ass. Literally. Told him to get rid of my older brother. They were like Siamese twins. Elijah didn’t think that Klaus could be fine without him.”
She bit her lip as Kol parked the truck. “I’m not sure if I’ll be fine without my best friend, though. He and his tribe makes me feel safe, and he took that away from me.”
“He’s on the reservation?” Kol blinked as he turned off the car. This girl was neck deep into the supernatural and she was still standing. How was that even possible? “Want me to kick his ass? I could use a good fight!”
“He doesn’t deserve that. I probably deserved this, he was likely annoyed by my presence… And it’s fine. I’m fine.”
“I think you’re not. Which is alright, because neither am I and I think we’ll get along swimmingly,” he smiled at her as he handed her the keys of the truck before getting out and helping her out the truck as well. “So, where do we go first?”
Bella shrugged. “I don’t know, you wanted a change of scenery.”
“Lunch?”
“Sure, but let’s go to the sandwich place, the Italian isn’t that great,” she said as she locked her truck and directed Kol to the sandwich place. “Port Angeles has a great bookstore, though. It’s owned by a tribal woman and she has all the books. She’s helped me a great deal with some uh… research… I did.”
He likely had to come up with a plan not to go to that bookstore. It was highly likely that he wouldn’t be able to get in. Not only was it privately owned, but Tribal women were also crafty. Not necessarily witches, but tribal magic was just as powerful. “For school?”
“Not really. All the information we need for our essays can be found at school or the internet. This needed some bookish knowledge.”
“What was it about?”
“Fairy tales,” she smiled at him. “Myths and legends. It was quite an interesting read and it pushed me in the right direction to do more research online.”
“I thought you loved history?”
“I do, and sometimes that involves myths and legends. You can’t really understand the history of something without learning what’s around it or that’s what I believe anyway,” she lead him down the road past the bookstore they’d likely visit later and Kol felt as if he was being pushed away from it. Yep, the bookstore was going to be a problem. “I heard a lot of tribal myths and legends during campfire, but to find actual ties to the history of the region, that’s just awesome.”
“Nerd.”
“Proud of it,” she grinned. “I just like to be thorough and this was a side project of mine. And that’s why I want to travel. Visit historic sites myself. Like Pompeii!” she said enthusiastically. “Although… on second thought… that might not be wise…”
“Italy is beautiful.”
“Remember what I said about avoiding Alaska earlier? Let’s add Italy to that list. I’ll be fine as long as I avoid those. And… likely Egypt. I’ll probably be fine everywhere else, but maybe I should check that, just in case. I might be stuck forever in Forks,” she said sadly before muttering to herself to double check the fine print.
Kol decided to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. He had an idea, but he was certain that Elijah or Klaus would know more. “Don’t be daft. The world is a great place, but like I said, running from your problems only makes them worse or you’ll encounter bigger problems because of your problems.”
“Look at you, sounding all grown up,” she let out a chuckle and pointed at the sandwich store. “Lunch!”
Bella was back home by the end of the school day and Kol decided to walk back to school to pick up his car. For some reason, Bella’s foot felt fine, and she decided to take a walk in the woods. To clear her mind. She had taken some things with her to go over, and she wanted to do that away from prying eyes, like her father.
Her talk with Kol, she had kept it as vague as possible, made her realize that she wasn’t that free at all. She could travel the world, but she’d likely be hunted, and she needed to be sure. It was her anxiety that was talking to her, and that was fine. She needed to be reassured that she was fine. That she didn’t have to stay in Forks for the rest of her life.
That pit in her stomach that had slightly gone, had come back. And that was bad news. She didn’t have Jake to fall back on this time. Without Jake, she couldn’t stand it and he had made it clear he didn’t want her to call him or to stop by. She couldn’t bother Jessica or Angie with this, because what was she going to say? Even Jake didn’t know the full story but at least he was in the know.
No, she was alone.
And she needed reassurance that her deal had been safe. That she was free to go wherever. If not, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. College wouldn’t be an option as that would take her to Seattle or further away.
Without Jake, the world was a lot darker. More serious. Cold. And it had only been a couple of days. Less than a week. Bella was stupid and having withdrawal symptoms. Jake? Or… perhaps without Jake, the Edward fall out could now be properly felt? No.
She threw up near the river before rinsing her mouth out with the water and continued to walk. Once she was sure she was all alone, she sat down in a clearing and grabbed the document out of her bag and started to read. Reread. She’d read it a million times, but she could have missed something.
Magic.
Bella didn’t underestimate the Cold Ones and their possible knowledge of magic. Because they were magical, why else would they have special gifts?
As she paged through the pages, everything appeared the same. It wasn’t until she spilled a bit of water from her bottle on the last page that everything changed. There was an additional paragraph, right above where she signed the agreement. Where Edward and Carlisle signed. And the Volturi Kings.
She felt her heart drop as she gently spread out the water. This agreement is null and void should Ms. Swan travel more than two hours away from Forks, Washington, United States.
Bella could feel a stabbing pain in her body and hugged her knees to her chest. She was a prisoner. In Forks. She’d be safe from the Cullens, but not if she’d travel far away. She’d been screwed over.
Her freedom had come with the price of not having any.
“Bella.”
Bella’s head snapped up to the voice she’d just heard. The familiar voice and quickly rushed to her feet as she stuffed the agreement in her bag. “What are you doing here?”
