Bella kept the pepper spray within reach.
The small can rested beside her hand as she sat cross-legged on her bed, the book from Port Angeles spread open across her lap. The curtains had been pulled shut, though they still moved faintly whenever the wind pressed against the window.
She told herself the sound outside had only been a branch.
It had probably been a branch.
Still, she glanced toward the curtains once more before lowering her eyes to the pages.
The photographs were old and unsettling. Carved wooden faces stared back at her with hollow eyes, their expressions shifting from almost humorous to grotesque as she turned each page. She slowed when she reached a pale mask with blackened eyes and a row of narrow, sharp teeth.
The Cold One.
Her fingers hovered over the inscription.
Jacob's voice returned to her in fragments. The stories he had laughed off. The treaty. The Cullens never stepping onto Quileute land.
Bella moved quickly to her computer. Her first search brought up beer advertisements, which she closed with growing irritation. The second gave her something else.
Images began loading across the screen. Beautiful faces with cold skin. Creatures hiding behind human appearances. Stories of impossible speed, unnatural strength and bodies that did not age.
Words seemed to stand out more clearly than the rest.
Cold-skinned.
Immortal.
Blood drinker.
Bella leaned back slowly, the glow from the screen washed over her face, pale and blue in the dark room.
"No," she whispered.
But even as she said it, the pieces had already begun settling into place.
Edward's skin beneath her hand.
The dent in the van.
The way he had crossed the parking lot in less than a second.
The way he never ate.
It was impossible.
And yet, somehow, it explained everything.
The sunlight arrived the following morning without warning.
It broke through the clouds in thin, bright streaks, catching on wet branches and turning the water trapped between the leaves into tiny sparks. By midday, the Cullens had left the roads and houses behind, moving deeper into the forest where no hikers were likely to wander.
They had chosen a narrow stretch between the trees rather than an open clearing. The canopy was thick enough to break the sunlight into scattered patches, leaving most of the ground cool and shadowed. Moss coated the rocks, and a shallow stream ran nearby, slipping over dark stones with a steady, quiet sound.
Emmett stood on one side of the stream with a fallen branch balanced over his shoulder.
"This is unfair," Alice complained from the low branch of a cedar tree. "You chose the largest one."
"That's usually how winning works."
"You haven't won anything yet."
"I'm holding the bigger weapon."
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Eclipsed Secrets // Jasper Hale
FanfictionAlthea Ross, a gorgeous woman who has lived long enough to know the world, but still she doesn't know who SHE truly is. What happened to her? Will she be able to hold her secret? While living on she encounters a family that will change everything...
