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CHAPTER FOUR ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇs
The air smelled as if it was burning. It was the kind of burning that clung to your nose, slipping down and clogging the back of your throat until you were reduced to hot tears. If I looked hard enough, in the distance above the cluttered trees, the smoke disappeared into the darkening sky. I'd been sensitive to the smell of smoke ever since the night James had been ripped apart. The smell of his charring body carved through my memory at each sense of anything fiery.
The fires seemed to be miles away but I knew they were large and wild. I wondered if they had something to do with the wolves. Wolves. Even thinking about it made me uneasy. The fact didn't sit right.
Despite only taking minutes, the walk back through the woods toward the bed and breakfast felt like hours. The whole time, I thought of everything: of the Cullens' deserted house, of Bella laying passed out in the middle of the forest, and of Sam Uley, the wolf, picking her up and delivering her safely home. With the Cullens, my gift of hiding, as I called it, had helped me stay hidden and human for as long as id managed. But wolves were different. They were built to hunt and kill vampires, and I couldn't know whether they'd see through my facade or not until they were pouncing at my throat.
Alice had spent hours describing the Volturi and her own gifts and how she and Jasper had found Carlise's family. But the topic of wolves had come up only once, for the matter of a few lines.
"Ah, Miss Masters! Just the guest I was hoping to see."
When I finally slumped back into the B&B, Mrs Rochester hung around the doorway again, her greying hair pinned up in night curlers again. There was a grin on her face- the slippery kind that made me want to roll my eyes after the length of the day I'd had. Mrs Rochester didn't seem to care though, as she came forward, gripping my arm in between her wrinkled hands, walking me through the reception toward the stairs.
"I paid for my instalment last week," I said, confused by her sudden attention.
"Yes, I know that dearie," she said, impatiently tapping my hand. "The chief of police, charlie swan."
"Yes?"
"What's happening with his daughter? I assume you know something?" she said. This time, I didn't refrain from rolling my eyes. Pulling my arm from her grip, I slid away. Mrs Rochester was the type of woman who would snoop in your room if you left the door open, I certainly wouldn't tell her anything.
"You know about that?"
"Yes, gossip around here spreads like wildfire!" she said dismissively, waving it away with a motion of her hand. "Speaking of fire, those boys up at the reservation have been setting them all night!"
"That's where they are?"
I wondered if the wolf pack had set them.
"Uh-huh. Anyway, the chief's daughter," Mrs Rochester pressed, tapping my arm until I pulled away.
I shook my head, backing away toward the door again. "She's fine."
Her eyebrows raised, judging me again. "You're going out again, hon?"
"I need fresh air," I shouted, letting the door swing shut behind me.
"Send my good wishes!"
The tree in the woods reminded me of Alice. It was the backdrop of my imagination when she was there. It was the place she'd told me all of those stories, lying still against the trunk so the sun could cast her skin in the light of diamonds. Most of the time, it was where she would first look when she wanted to find me. Alice. Alice. Alice. She'd left. Yet she was all that I could think of.
Everything felt quiet without the large presence of the Cullens. A silence swept over the forest floor- a silence that I did not like, and by the time I'd ran back toward my room, avoiding the stairs and instead using the window, the lack of noise was all that I could notice. The long hours of the night were almost unbearable. Almost.
When I arrived at Bella's, Charlie opened the door. He blinked for a moment, eyes drooping and lips pulled into a permanent frown. Muttering a good morning, he showed me through to Bella, who was laying on the settee in the sitting room, buried beneath a pile of blankets. With a look at her- brow streaked with sweat and eyes rimmed red- I wasn't surprised that Charlie looked as if he hadn't caught a minute of sleep.
"I'm fine," Bella said after I asked. "Really." She pushed away my hands that reached to touch her forehead. I could already hear how quickly her heart was still beating. "Sam Uley found me and carried me home."
Bella must have seen the look on my face and thought it was confusion, as she added, "Sam. From the reservation."
"I know, but what happened?" I asked, instantly regretting it as I saw her face drop. "They're gone. Disappeared. Where are they?"
"They didn't tell you either?" Bella said, pushing out a bitter laugh that put a flush on her cheeks. "LA. Carlise got a job offer he couldn't refuse. He wanted it to be kept quiet."
The sunny LA. I clenched my jaw, stopping myself from saying anything. The fact that the Cullens hadn't even come up with a decent lie as to why they were leaving made me angry beyond words. But even if I didn't say anything, Bella knew how I felt. She felt it too.
"Of course, we both know why that's funny," she said.
"I don't understand. Why didn't they say anything?"
"After my birthday? They don't want to be near me. Alice and Jasper disappeared the day after. This has nothing to do with a job," Bella said, lowering her voice as it suddenly peaked, wary of Charlie who sat in the kitchen.
"But Edward, did he say anything before he left-" I began.
But Bella cut me off, closing her eyes and pushing her head into the pillow. "Elide. Please. I just... I don't want to talk right now," she said quickly. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired."
I've lost them too, I thought.
"Yes, I apologise. You'd be exhausted after that," I said, shaking my head.
Before I could leave, she reached over, gripping my wrist in her clammy hands, forcing me to look at her face. Fatigue pulled everything down: her eyebrows, her eyes and her lips. She was paler too. Pale enough to almost rival even me. Being unconscious in the cold woods for hours would drain anyone, but I knew it was Edward's leaving that left her housebound and ill. Her fingers wrapped around my hand, holding it tightly.
"Elide. Don't you leave too, okay?" she said.
I nodded. Though she'd just said she couldn't talk, I also knew she wasn't talking about now. My lips spread into a thin line as I let my hand drift forward, stroking her head and pushing her damp hair from her head. She couldn't cope with losing me as she had the Cullens.
"I won't, don't worry," I whispered.
Her hands didn't move from my wrist. "Promise?"
Could I truly promise? It had almost been a year since coming to Forks and I'd made a promise to myself to not stay too long. But Bella looked as if she was on the verge of tears, and that feeling wouldn't be leaving for a while. I couldn't leave her.
"Yeah," I said. "I promise."
☾
Shameless self-plug, but I have a Peter Parker/ Spider-Man book out if you'd like to read it. Its called 'complicated'. xoxo
