Chapter Twenty Seven
The Interference
“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
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My heart sunk as I beat the earth with my fists, and I could almost hear the last remnants of my soul shatter inside of me. I gripped my stomach and sobbed into the earth, wanting nothing more than to see Edward, Eric, and all the others, one last time. A familiar tearing sensation struck me in my chest, and I gasped for breath. When I had no more tears to cry, I leaned back and found that Ary was right where I left her.
“I can’t believe this,” I sobbed, rising from my knees and pacing through the area. My hands were fisted in my hair, and I was on the verge of another crying fit. “Edward and Eric will be… oh my god, Charlie! Charlie’s going to… oh god, why did this have to happen!? Why?!”
“Bella?” Ary’s confident, yet soft voice called to me, and I stopped my tirade. She had the most curious expression on her face.
“Oh, Ary,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m so happy to see you again, I really am, but I just can’t leave Edward and Eric like this! I can’t abandon them! Isn’t there some way I can go back and have a second chance? I’ll never ask the powers that be for anything ever again, but please, I just want a—“
“Bella, would you mind ceasing your sorrowful monologue and satisfying my unending curiosity?” She was giving me a very poignant stare. I stopped and nodded. “Why on earth do you think you’re dead?”
Her question caught me off guard, and I babbled a few incoherent thoughts before settling on a reasonable explanation. “Victoria attacked me while I was trying to get away, and then everything went black. I woke up, and I felt no pain or aching, like everything was perfect. Not to mention you’re here, and you’ve been dead for a couple months.”
Ary leaned away from me and arched her eyebrows. “And, I supposed the concept of me being alive is too foreign to consider.”
I froze, and a slow, dull ache spread through the back of my skull. In fact, my head was starting to throb mercilessly. If I’m dead… why am I feeling pain? If I’m dead… why am I feeling so terrible? I thought death is supposed to be peaceful. Why am I still in the same place I was when Victoria attacked me? I looked down at my hand, and I saw a couple spots of blood on my fingers. If I was dead… I wouldn’t be bleeding.
“I’m… not… dead,” I stated absentmindedly, and my eyes found Ary. “If I’m not dead… then that means… that you…”
I didn’t finish my sentence. Instead, I crashed into my friend with the force of a million tidal waves, simultaneously laughing and crying hysterically. She’s alive! She’s alive! I wanted to shout from the rooftops that my best friend had risen from the grave! However, as she separated us gently, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks, and I frowned.
“What happened to you, Ary?” I asked, and she frowned deeply. “Why do the others think you’re dead?”
“Because that’s what I wanted them to believe.” She lowered her gaze and gestured in the direction of the fray. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to disperse and live happily. They weren’t supposed to continue this godforsaken battle with the Pure Ones!”
According to Ary, she and Argos had faked their deaths to give their loved ones a chance to live. It was the hardest choice they had ever made. They had even ensured that the Zion Guard had proof of their destruction. However, instead of disappearing, the McRaes had attacked the Pure Ones’ home. They had killed a great many of them, and in doing so, they had angered the Ancient vampires to the point of no return.
