Rose's Swan

Chapter 15

Bella knew.

Josie could tell based on the look on her twins' face.

Josie had woken up early this morning at the Cullen house where she'd spent the night with the coven.

They'd reached school a bit early at the insistence of Alice who was worriedly chewing on her nails.

When Bella pulled up in her orange rusted truck, Alice had gasped as she was pulled into a vision.

Josie stood up a bit straighter from where she was in Rosalie's arms, leaning against Emmett's jeep.

"She knows." Alice whispered. But it was loud enough for all the coven mates to hear.

Bella, instead of heading for the doors of the school, veered off to the left and headed to the forest.

Edward moved to follow her.

"Edward don't go." Rosalie hissed.

Edward seemed to hesitate, but only for a moment, as a determined flint crossed his eyes and he jerked his arm out of Rosalie's grasp and headed towards the forest.

"He's already there." Alice said. She could see the anger on the supposed triplets faces.

None of them liked this.

Bella didn't turn back to see if he was following her, she just knew he would.

Rosalie scoffed, annoyance clear on her face.

She clutched Josie towards her more fiercely.

The hybrid didn't seem to mind this action much.

"Why would she head to the forest of all places? If it were me, and I were a human... I wouldn't be stupid enough to be left alone with someone I suspect to be a mythological creature. I'd do it out in the open so they don't... I don't know... Murder me? Where the hell is her common sense? Did I steal it all in the womb?" Josie ranted to the Cullen's who were all watching the hybrid girl in amusement as she cuddled closer to her mate, a scowl decorating her beautiful face.

"I don't know, mon chéri, I can't place it either." Rosalie whispered towards her mate.

...

With Bella being a dumbass and leading what she suspected to be a vampire into the middle of the woods and away from anyone who could hear her screaming...

Because why not?

Bella stands amid the trees, waiting. Then the sounds of the forest abruptly drops out. A predator is near. Edward appears behind her. She doesn't turn around. A beat.

  
"You're impossibly fast. And strong. Your skin is pale-white, ice-cold.  Your eyes change color. And sometimes you speak like... you're from a different time." Bella said. She turns to face him now.
         
"You never eat food, or drink, or come out in the sunlight. And you said no to the beach trip only after you heard where it was. Because of the treaty." Bella kept going. She's on a roll now, no point in stopping her.
         
This last registers with him. She steps closer to him.
         
"How old are you?" Bella asked.

" Seventeen." Edward answered honestly. He was in fact frozen at 17, so it's not a lie.
    
"How long have you been seventeen?" Bella reiterated.
         
A long dramatic beat as we begin to circle them. He sees he can't hide anymore. Honesty is an enormous risk, but he has to take it.
  
"... A while." Edward said.
         
She inhales. She knew, but it's still shocking. We circle around them faster.