Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Bella closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms, ignoring the droning of the teacher in front of her. She was far enough back that she believed she wouldn’t get caught. Even if she was, she quite frankly just didn’t care. Her head was pounding as if someone was taking a hammer to it and her skin felt too tight. While she was used to her body aching from her constant klutzy incidents over the years, it never ached so badly before and that ache certainly never covered her whole body.
It had been stupid for her to decide to go to school today. She should have stayed home even if it worried–or stressed–Charlie. Bella shouldn’t have ever left her bed that morning.
“Psst. Bella, wake up. Mr. Banner is heading this way,” Jessica whispered as quietly as she could. She reached out to touch Bella’s arm, only to recoil as if she had been burned. Which she certainly felt like she had; Bella’s skin was much too hot for any person. It was bad enough that Jessica realized it wasn’t Mr. Banner catching Bella slacking that she should be worried about. “Mr. Banner, Bella is really sick. I think she needs to go to the nurse.”
The first thing Mr. Banner did was roll his eyes. “Nice try, Miss Stanly, but I’m not going to let you or your friend skip class again. ” It was a common tactic of the two troublemakers over their years at Forks High along with their other friends. Surely they didn’t think he’d continue to fall for it year after year, did they?
“Mr. Banner, I’m serious this time! Bella is really burning up.” Class had officially paused thanks to the commotion Jessica had caused, and Bella wasn’t sure if she should be thankful to her friend or not. It meant most of the noise around her had silenced, but Jessica herself was extremely loud in her panic.
“For the last time, I won’t fall for it.” Mr. Banner all but stormed over to a barely conscious Bella and reached out to grab her arm so he could give her a good shake. “Swan, you need to–” The second he touched the girl’s shoulder Mr. Banner’s eyes widened and he quickly pulled his hand away. Even over the material of Bella’s shirt he could feel how hot her skin was. If this truly was one of the kids’ attempts to skip his class he would much rather be fooled than force such a potentially sick student through the rest of the day. “Stanley, help Swan to the nurse. I’ll let the nurse know you’re coming and to call Swan’s father.”
Jessica let out a breath of relief and tried to force Bella to her feet, completely forgetting about packing her things. While Jessica had to carry Bella’s deadweight often when they had too much fun partying in the past, she never had to deal with Bella feeling quite so heavy before. She was really struggling to get Bella to her feet, and as Bella seemed almost delirious from her fever, her friend clearly wasn’t going to be able to help her.
To Jessica’s surprise, Bella suddenly became much lighter, and Jessica glanced over to see Alice Cullen with an arm around Bella, helping lift the taller girl to her feet. “You’re helping her?” Jessica asked in disbelief.
“I’m stronger than I look,” Alice explained with a smile that didn’t do anything to hide her worry.
That wasn’t what Jessica had meant when she had spoken. In Alice and Edward’s four years at Forks High–and their siblings’ three before they had graduated–they had never deigned to interact with their schoolmates. Jessica had crushed hard on Edward at first only to quickly get over it when she realized that the entire family seemed to think that they were better than everyone else. While Alice was the sweetest, and admittedly weirdest, of the Cullens, even she had a clear line drawn between her and the rest of the student body. She certainly never went out of her way to talk to those seen as the schools’ problem kids.
So why was she helping her and Bella when she had never said more than two words to them before?
Now wasn’t the time for Jessica to think too much about it. Bella needed help, and even though Alice was the last place she expected that help to come from, she was willing to take it so long as Bella got to the nurse’s office. So together, the two started to lug Bella out of the classroom and down the hall.
“She’s really sick,” Alice murmured as they continued their journey. “Forget the nurse's office, she might need to go to the hospital.” The tiny girl didn’t want to voice any of her own concerns but she couldn’t help it. Bella had gone from a normal student at the school to a girl with a blank future. She didn’t know what caused Bella to get sick, but whatever it was seemed to end up with her dead no matter what path Alice tried to look down for her.
Just because she had no connections to the human didn’t mean that Alice wanted to let that girl die.
“Yeah,” Jessica admitted softly. Bella had never been one to get sick, so the fact that she had gotten that sick that quickly had raised all kinds of alarm bells. “Let’s just see what the nurse has to say first. Just in case.”
We might already be too late if we do that, Alice wanted to say. Yet all she could do was nod as they finally made it to the nurse’s office and managed to lay the feverish girl down on a bed.
The first thing the nurse did when she saw Jessica and Bella was sigh. “Skipping class again? What new trick did you use to fool Mr. Banner this time?” Her eyes wandered to Bella as she asked, and when she saw the girl no longer conscious with pale skin a bright red, she realized this might not be a trick after all. “I need to call 911,” she said and quickly rushed to her phone to do just that.
“Well that isn’t reassuring,” Jessica mumbled nervously. She reached for her own phone to text the rest of their friends what was going on only to realize she had left it in class. Now that she couldn’t tell the people who really cared about Bella or even do something that would keep her hands busy, she found herself staring at Bella feeling absolutely useless.
“She’ll be alright. It probably isn’t that serious,” Alice tried to reassure the human as well as herself. Not that the latter really worked; she could smell the sweat and sickness coming off of the now unconscious human.
Apparently she didn’t do a good job at reassuring Jessica either, as the girl simply let out a weak snort. “I never thought a Cullen would care enough about anything to go so far as to lie about it,” she muttered. Her heart clenched with anxiety as some paramedics entered the room and got about situating Bella on a stretcher. She had never seen her friend look so weak and lifeless. “God. She’s not going to die, is she?”
Alice knew better than to answer.
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The beat of drums was strong, making Bella’s very being vibrate and the clearing shake. No, it wasn’t drums; it was the beating of Bella’s own heart. It was faster than normal, but strong and steady. It filled Bella with a strength she didn’t realize she possessed.
Bella looked around to try and get her bearings, but none of it looked familiar. All she could tell was that she was in a dense and dark forest, and that there were three paths ahead of her. Something in her was urging her to take one, any of them. That Bella needed to. The others wouldn’t disappear regardless of what path she took, Bella somehow knew this, but that didn’t leave Bella any less hesitant about which to choose.
Bella took a moment to study the first path. It was a bath of ice and snow and a barren landscape. Despite how tough the terrain looked and how cold it must be, there was a warmth at the end, just out of Bella’s sight. A warmth that spoke of home and safety and protection.
The next path was more forest, yet it was also filled with fire. Heat emitted from every angle and the trees glowed red and crackled. It spoke of unpredictableness, of danger and excitement, but that danger wasn’t for Bella–it was only for everything else around her.
Finally, there was the last path. It showed a castle nestled in a city. There were tall, strong walls and a bright sun and even bustling people. Yet while it should have felt the most welcoming, it was by far the opposite. Bella somehow knew that if she were to take that path she would have to tread lightly and carefully. That one wrong move could mean the end for her before she got to her destination.
What was her destination anyway? Bella couldn’t be sure. She only knew that it was something she needed to accomplish.
So which path should Bella choose? She didn’t know. Hell, she didn’t feel ready to take any of them.
Bella glanced behind her, hoping that another path would appear. Instead of a path, she saw Forks. She saw her awkward father and her friends around a bonfire and even her high school. There was familiarity there that put Bella at ease, a security in the same boring life and same boring routine.
She didn’t want to take a path, Bella realized. Not yet. She wanted everything to stay the same.
Making her decision, Bella turned around to go back.
Something in the trees above her let out a yowl, and that was all the warning Bella got before something heavy landed on top of her. The creature took her to the ground and bit deep into Bella’s shoulder. Bella opened her mouth to scream, but no scream came out. Instead it was a pained roar, one that didn’t sound human, yet it still came from Bella as the pain became all consuming and white hot, like a brand–
Bella’s eyes snapped open with a gasp, her hand trying to grab her injured shoulder only to be stopped by restraints. No, those weren’t restraints. An IV?
It took Bella realizing that she had a needle inside of her arm to glance around the room. This wasn’t her bedroom, and certainly not the nurse’s office. The bleak white walls, the green curtain, the beeps of machinery, all pointed to one very obvious conclusion.
A hospital? Why was Bella here?
The last thing she remembered was falling asleep as Mr. Banner tried to argue with Jessica about something. While Bella had felt like utter shit before she had passed out, it surely wasn’t enough to end with her in the hospital. Right?
Bella tried to sit up, only to wince in pain. She had felt fine for the most part, but her shoulder felt like it had been mauled just like it had in her dream.
Being more careful of her IV, Bella maneuvered herself so she could get a good look at her shoulder without jostling any equipment. She moved the hospital gown aside only for her eyes to widen at what she saw.
There, in black lines surrounded by reddened, angry skin, was a tattoo. It started almost at her collarbone and made its way over the top of her shoulder and out of Bella’s sight. The design looked tribal almost, but Bella could make out what looked like fangs and even claw marks in the swirls of ink.
How the hell did she get this? While Bella had always wanted to get a cool tattoo she had never been able to afford one, let alone one this big. In her dream she had been mauled by some kind of animal, but could she have been mauled by a crazed tattoo artist in real life?
Yeah, right; like that made any sense. Not that a tattoo suddenly appearing on someone’s body was any better…
The sound of footsteps drew Bella from her thoughts. She covered the tattoo with her hospital gown once more as her gaze was drawn toward the break in the curtains, the only part of her room that someone would be able to come through.
Charlie Swan came through a second later with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, looking more exhausted than Bella had ever seen him. There were dark circles under his eyes, his face looked gaunt, and he looked almost sickly pale. He was the one who looked like he should be in a hospital bed, not Bella, and she was about to say just that when dull brown eyes lifted off of the floor and landed on Bella.
“Bella!” Charlie exclaimed with so much relief that the single word seemed to breathe life back into the man. He rushed forward and swept Bella into the biggest hug he could muster while still being careful of Bella’s IV and comfort.
“Damn, Dad. You act like you haven’t seen me for a week,” Bella tried to joke, but that joke clearly fell flat when Charlie stiffened.
“I haven’t,” he admitted, taking Bella by complete surprise. “It’s been eight days since you were last conscious, Bella. I thought…I thought I was going to lose you.” Bella had never heard Charlie so choked up. Maybe it was the man’s own reaction that made Bella so calm about hearing of her own situation, or maybe it just refused to sink in. Regardless, Bella was able to handle the news of her stint in unconsciousness way better than she should have. Instead of worrying for herself, she was much more worried for her dad.
“But I’m awake now. I’m fine,” Bella tried to reassure him as well as herself.
Charlie’s gaze searched Bella’s, clearly not able to believe her. Yet there was something else that was in his eyes, something that Bella couldn’t quite decipher as he said, “Are you, Bella? Really?”
Choked up, Bella thought back to her dream, to the tattoo, to the fact she had been out cold for eight fucking days.
“I don’t know.”