Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

18 - ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ

THE TWO Vampires and Bella arrived in Phoenix after listening to many cycles of the same songs on the radio for far too long. Alice booked a room and they all headed up to it, making sure that no scent of vampire lingered in any parts of the room that they had walked into. Bella headed into the bathroom, wanting to freshen up after the car journey and probably try to call Edward - which she had been advised against multiple times. Athena didn't blame her for being anxious though, she felt the same about Jasper as he hadn't texted once since the initial conversation. Worry was always at the back of her mind during the journey but now, with nothing else to do but be on edge at every moment, she couldn't help but feel so anxious that even music would not help anymore.

After two days of complete boredom and worry from all three parties, Alice's phone began to ring from the other room to where Bella and Athena were sitting at the time. She picked up the phone and talked for a few minutes, getting information so fast that even Athena struggled to make sense of some of it. Eventually, Alice walked into the room and handed the phone to Athena without saying a word or giving a hint to who it could be. The caller ID did not help in any way shape or form, given that it was probably an inside joke. She pressed the phone to her ear. "I take it, you didn't have the time to open my messages."

She sighed in relief as she stood, vampire walking into the bathroom so she could be alone. Then, once the anxiousness had fully left her body, she returned to the accusation that he had put upon her. She frowned, opening the window as a fly wanted to get out, "You didn't text me."

"I did, I called you before Alice. You didn't pick up." She could sense his amusement down the phone as she reached into her pocket, pulling out the phone that had been resting on her knee previously. Just as she thought, the phone was so broken that no messages or phones had come through - that would explain the lack of calls from Billy.

"Stupid phone, it's broken," she sighed angrily, wondering how she could have been so stupid to not notice the time had stopped changing completely.

He chuckled, "We'll get you a new one when this is all over."

"How's the hunt going?" Athena asked, choosing to ignore the guilt that bubbled in her mind at what he had said. For her, right now, there wasn't likely to be an after.

Jasper sighed out of annoyance, "We lost the scent in the sea, we're heading to where you are to regroup."

She raised a brow, "You have no idea where he went? Or Victoria?"

"Not in the slightest," he paused, the sound from the phone muffling for a few moments. She wondered what had happened but chose not to speak, just in case something was happening. "Keep an eye out just in case."

"I will," she smiled as his voice reached her ear again, a sign that once again nothing had happened. The smile dropped when Bella called her name and she propped the door open, finding Alice scrawling on a piece of paper as she delved in the deep depths of a vision. "Alice is getting a vision I have to go."

"Text me what it is?"

"Will do," she responded then closed the phone, speeding over to sit next to Alice.

"Edward says that her visions change," Bella spoke as a picture began to form on the paper in front of her, the dark charcoal, sporadic lines started to resemble shapes as Athena looked at Bella.

She nodded, "Due to decision making, so currently he's heading to-"

"A ballet studio?" she interrupted just as Alice came out of her vision, looking at the paper with a furrowed brow.

"You've been here?" Alice asked, watching as Bella nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah, I took lessons as a kid. It's a couple of miles from here, if I remember correctly," she explained, watching in confusion as Alice and Athena had a conversation with their eyes and partly minds. Alice hadn't just seen the room of mirrors. She had seen something that ran Athena's non-existent blood cold as she watched the vision pan out in her head. She gulped, looking down at the phone in her hand. Should she tell Jasper? To say goodbye? No, avoiding it at all costs was probably smarter. They would be here soon anyway, extra protection for the human and the vampire with death marked on her forehead.