1,27736: Part Three, Chapter Eight: New Possibilities
Word Count: 5463, First Published Wednesday, 2 August 2023, Australian time
As always, thanks to Ms Meyer for permission to play with her characters and mess up her sand pit.
Many, many thanks to my pre-reader and cheerleader triinityz. Without her, you probably would never get the last few chapters of this story!
This is a long chapter, which I would probably split into two if I were publishing a novel, but I figure having waited this long for another chapter you will probably be happy to have 5000+ words!
Chapter 8 – New Possibilities
"I believe you are almost ready to travel, kórā mou, but you still have to convince Aro."
"How do I do that?" Bella's agitation was obvious in her fidgeting hands. "You said you're happy with my control with feeding now, but I'm not making any progress at all on my shield!"
"You undersell yourself, Bella," he replied. "You haven't succeeded in letting anyone else into it, but your ability to control its expansion and contraction is impressive for one so young. In truth, you've made faster progress than I expected."
"Then what more can I do?"
In truth, Marcus knew that Aro would be loath to let her go at all before he had found a way to bind her to them more closely. But that's just not going to happen, he thought for the sake of Aro's future mind reading.
Aloud, he said, "Working on stilling yourself, to not outwardly show your agitation, would be a good next step."
He watched as she clenched her hands into fists, and then consciously relaxed them. She froze then, as though the only way to stop fidgeting was to stop moving entirely.
"I didn't mean to freeze completely paidi mou," he said. "Simply not to behave as though you are about to break into a run at any second. Aro wishes to observe you feeding tomorrow, and also to attend your shield training session."
"Ok-ay…"
"So for now, let us simply practise standing, breathing, talking and appearing calm. Do you think you can do that?"
"Okay," she said again, more confidently this time. "It's just, I feel so desperate to get out of here. Like, if I don't get there soon—something, I don't know. I just know I need to go soon. Staying here is making me feel agitated."
"I understand. You will simply have to convince Aro—Caius will not be happy but will accept my decision if Aro does. We will leave as soon as we consider you have sufficient control to get through the airport, kórā mou. Perhaps as soon as next week."
"You—you're coming with me?" Bella asked, clearly shocked.
"Of course," he replied. "I cannot simply let you go without supervision. Not so soon. And I can see that it needs to be soon, for your peace of mind."
"But…" she trailed off, but her frown told him she had more to say. He watched her for a moment, before it occurred to him where her thoughts may be heading.
"You do not have to worry about the Cullens or the wolves—I am there to keep you safe, kórā mou, not for anything else." Nothing except his own desire to get out into the world, that was. But that was not something he would talk about, not to anyone. Though he would like to discuss the idea of reincarnation with Carlisle. It would be interesting to hear his old friend's thoughts. And of course, he could not keep his hopes from Aro, however much he may prefer to. "And I never leave Volterra without a contingent of the guard, of course."
"Okay," she said slowly, something else clearly on her mind. "But Marcus—I may not want to come back."
"Oh, Belloula , I know that," he told her sadly. "And while I would like nothing more than to have you return here with me, if you choose to stay with the Cullens, I know they can take care of you. Carlisle has taken care of several newborns before, I am sure he can cope with one as unnaturally calm as you, very easily."
"And… That's okay?" she asked, hesitantly. "I had formed the impression… That is, something Jane said … She seemed to think Caius and Aro were anxious for me to join the Guard."
"Oh they are, certainly. Your talent could be very useful to us, once you have developed it. But you are not obligated to do so, paidi mou. It is generally considered an honour to be invited to join the Guard."
"I see," she said. He watched her as she processed her thoughts. The small wrinkle between her brows told him she was still considering something.
"I do not think you fully understand your position here, kórā mou."
"What do you mean?" she frowned.
"I know you consider yourself to have been changed by Jasper," he began, watching her carefully. The last time he had brought this up, she had reacted furiously. The frown remained on her face, but she otherwise kept herself impassive. "But by Volturi custom, because I also gave you my venom, you are considered as my…daughter, effectively."
"Oh," she said, tilting her head to the side and gazing at him. She frowned slightly. "What does that mean, actually? Have many members of the guard been changed by you, or the other leaders?"
"Not by me, no," he told her simply. "Jane and Alec were changed by Aro, Demetri by Caius. That gives them a special status within the guard."
"Okay," she said. "I'm still not sure I understand what you're telling me."
"Well…You know that when a vampire changes someone, they have a degree of responsibility for the newborn, not just by convention, but by law. That's why I couldn't let you leave here, at this point, without some of the guard, even if I wanted to."
"Yes," she agreed. "I do understand that. That's why Victoria was punished for leaving her newborn army unsupervised. And why you said I need to work on not showing my agitation.""
"Precisely. And in fact, even had she not left them at that point, she had controlled them poorly prior to that. We had already been considering sending some of the guard to Seattle to investigate, based on news reports from the area."
"Okay," she said again, "So…"
"So, I have a responsibility to and for you, until you are more in control of yourself as a vampire—roughly a year, is the expectation," he explained. "And beyond that, as Aro told you, by convention any vampire whose change is performed or requested by one of us—Aro, Caius or myself—has a default place within the guard, even if it is only at the lowest level. There is no obligation placed on the new vampire to stay, but most do, at least for a few decades. Not that any of us have changed anyone in several centuries."
He paused, looking away from her and wondering why he was beating around the bush. He realised the bond he felt with her had only grown over time, but he didn't know if she felt it. It was such a strange experience, not being able to see someone's emotional bonds. What was even stranger was the sense of…uncertainty he felt. Almost apprehension. When was the last time he had cared what someone thought or felt? It was over three millennia, of course. Not since Didyme…But he shut that thought down to avoid the pain of it shutting him down. Bella had woken him up from an emotional slumber he'd been in for over three thousand years, and in truth, he wasn't sure whether to be grateful or resentful.
"Marcus," Bella called softly, and he realised he had been silent for longer than he'd registered. He glanced back at her to see her forehead creased with concern. He wondered what she'd seen in his expression.
He took an unnecessary deep breath and began again. "Beyond all that, being changed by one of us gives you a certain status with the guard. It's a convention, not a law, and I suppose it's determined as much by our individual attitudes as anything. Jane and Alec have a higher perceived status than Demetri, not only because they are more powerful—though that also has some bearing of course—but because Aro and Sulpicia see them as their children, though in truth the bond is stronger on the twin's side than Aro's, whereas Caius sees Demetri more as a tool. Nonetheless, Demetri's status is higher than his talent would otherwise dictate. It can be very useful on occasion, certainly, but it has no immediate offensive or defensive effect, so he would generally rank lower than some others."
"Marcus," Bella said finally, "That's all very well, but surely it's beside the point if I do end up staying in Forks." She paused, biting her lip. "The truth is, aside from anything else… I really can't see myself as part of the guard. It's just not—I'm not—I'm more of a pacifist, you know?"
He laughed. "Yes," he said. "After all the stories you've told me, of both your lives, I had begun to realise the guard was unlikely to be your future. I hope you realise though, that whether or not you join the guard, you will always have a place here, if you want it."
"Thank you," she said, smiling shyly. "I—thank you."
He smiled, wryly. "Thanks but no thanks, is that what you mean?"
"It's not that I don't appreciate it, Marcus, I do. And, I didn't realise that was an option for me. But…I just don't think my place is here. The Cullens are my family…"
He took a sharp, unnecessary breath in. Of course they were, he thought. The bond she had with them was real, and formed while she was still human.
Something of what he was feeling must have shown on his face, because she reached out to him, placing her hand on his arm. Such a human gesture of compassion. Not something he thought any other living vampire would dare to offer him, or want to. Well, maybe Carlisle would have, if he hadn't been so closed off when the vegetarian vampire had been staying with them.
"It's not that I don't care for you, Marcus," she said sincerely, squeezing his arm before pulling her hand away. "I do. And—I'm glad you'll be coming with me, truly, I just—"
"They're your family, I understand," he said.
"No, Marcus, I didn't mean—" She broke off, clearly not sure what to say. He marvelled at her compassion. It was an unusual enough quality in vampires in general, let alone in a newborn. No wonder she felt so at home in Carlisle's coven. She started again. "I've come to think of you as a friend and mentor, while I've been here," she said, "and more than that," she looked down, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "Sort of as a father figure, too." She looked back up at him. "Is that what you meant? I think the younger Cullens, the ones Carlisle changed, all sort of look up to him like a father, though maybe that's partly just their human charade. But I think I do remember Jasper saying something about that once. Is that an inevitable part of the change?"
"Not inevitable, no. Not at all. Actually, Belloula, I've only ever changed two other vampires, and they were both killed in the same battle as—as Didyme." He paused, breathing in and out, allowing the pain to flow through him.
"Oh, Marcus," she reached out to him again. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I promise I'll come back. Once I have Jasper back, we'll come back, maybe only to visit but—"
"No, paidi mou, that's not what I meant," he told her. "Of course, I would love for you to visit, but I did not mean to make you feel guilty. Those two vampires I changed previously, what I wanted to explain—I did not really see them as my children. One I changed at the request of Aro, who wanted him for our guard. We were not the rulers then, but Aro had ambitions, and he was already occupied training his own newborn. The other I changed later, for Didyme. He was a human she'd become attached to, but she wasn't sure enough of her own control to change him. She trained him, though, and he was like a son to her."
He paused again. "My original point though, kórā mou, was that your status will follow you, wherever you go in the world. We vampires are naturally both territorial and combative, but we are also very aware of the importance of alliances. The fact that I changed you will already have begun to spread through the vampire world. It will spread slowly, true, as vampires are not the most social of creatures. But it will spread. And anyone who makes that connection will not want to get on your bad side."
"Oh," she said. "Well, that's good, I guess."
"And as I said, you will always have a place here if you want it. But you may also always call on me for help, at any time. And, there may be a time when we call on you for assistance."
"Of course, " she said. "I'm not sure what I could do, but of course, I would always be willing to help you in any way that I can."
Her sincerity was clear, and he laughed again. "You should perhaps not make such open promises, kórā mou, when you do not know what you may be called on to help with." Aro would like that though, he thought. He was not going to be happy that Marcus was so blithely giving her permission to leave Italy indefinitely. But in fact, her sincere loyalty to him may just work in their favour if she did indeed stay with the Cullen coven. He knew Aro had some discomfort with the size of that coven, especially with the combined talents of Edward and Jasper Whitlock. They could be a powerful coven in their own right, if Carlisle desired it.
Though without Jasper, they were not only one vampire down, they had lost their most formidable member. Marcus would never tell Bella, but Aro had not been at all displeased to discover the so-called God of War had been killed. Still, having someone live with the Cullens who was also loyal to the Volturi would definitely please Aro, even if it displeased him that she wouldn't be part of the guard.
Aro would also not be particularly happy that Marcus intended to travel with Bella and possibly not return immediately.
In the back of his mind, Marcus was aware that if he were to search for Didyme he may have to spend more time away from Volterra than not, but he refused to allow himself to articulate the thought. He had established long ago that an idea that remained unvoiced, in his mind, could escape Aro's notice. He may see flashes, as it wasn't only verbalised thoughts, but images also, that Aro could read. But he wouldn't necessarily be able to interpret them, without articulated thoughts accompanying them.
Consciously, Marcus supposed that if Didyme had ever been reincarnated, it likely would have been somewhere near Volterra, based on Bella's experience. It was something to consider.
.
"Bella, Aro would like to watch your shield training session today, but we've decided to do things a little differently," Marcus said, as he ushered Aro, Jane and Alec into her room.
Bella stood up from where she'd been lounging in one of her arm chairs. Aro had only visited her a few times in the three and a half weeks since Marcus had started bringing her animals to feed on, and hadn't been in for a while. She wasn't quite sure how to behave with him, but she was conscious that he would influence when she could leave, so she held her hands behind her back and attempted to still any nervous fidgeting. It was the end of March already—seven weeks today since Victoria had attacked. Not that the timing meant anything specifically, but the feeling of urgency was getting stronger all the time. She had to convince Aro to let her go.
"I know you have met Alec before kórā mou, but allow him to demonstrate. Alec?" Marcus turned to watch him, and in what was clearly a previously planned demonstration, Alec turned his gift on his sister.
She watched as the strange clear haze oozed towards Jane, who looked as relaxed as ever—or perhaps stoic was a better description, her expressionless face merely watching the lightly shimmering mist as it approached. Bella had seen it before of course, when Aro had brought the twins to test their powers on her, and had felt, almost tasted the cloying flavour of it when it hit her shield. But as it had only been turned on her, she hadn't seen it actually work.
Now she watched as the haze reached Jane. It spread out from Alec quite slowly at first, but gained speed as it moved. It reached Jane's hand first, which she reached out as though welcoming it. She flapped her hand as though to shoo the mist away, but it didn't waver even slightly.
"It's so annoying that it doesn—" When Jane's voice cut out, mid word, Bella's eyes flicked from her now still fingers to her face. It had frozen, along with the rest of her body, and Bella could see her lips formed around the word she hadn't finished speaking. It was eerily similar to when Marcus occasionally froze in the middle of their conversations, but also different. The glazed eyes, not to mention the still reaching hand, looked all wrong.
"I assumed she would collapse, not freeze," Bella said. She looked enquiringly at Marcus, but it was Aro who answered.
"Yes, that would be a logical expectation, but as you can see, not what happens. The best we can understand is that Alec's gift cuts off the mind's ability to access the body, but doesn't turn off the existing instructions, I suppose. And in humans, it doesn't stop autonomic nervous system actions, like breathing or heartbeat."
"You can stop now, Alec," Marcus said,
"You can also see that Jane couldn't disrupt Alec's mist physically. We see it as a physical presence, but it can't be blown or pushed away, and in fact it can go right through walls, though it's rather harder for Alec to control if he can't see where it's going," Aro said. "Now, let's experiment!"
The next several hours were spent challenging Bella's shield in various ways. First Aro wanted to test her without her expanding her shield at all.
"We already know none of our gifts work on you, even when you haven't expanded your shield. And you can't feel it when it's not expanded, correct?" Aro asked. She nodded, and Aro continued, "But what if multiple gifts are used against you at one time? Both Marcus's gift and mine are relatively passive, but Jane and Alec's gifts are clearly offensive. So, let's see what happens if we layer attacks, and sustain them for an extended period."
He had Jane and Alec try their gifts on her separately and together, as well as bringing in Heidi, Corin and Chelsea for a time to add their gifts. Jane and Alec also tag teamed for several hours. Since neither of them could keep their gifts going for hours at a time without feeding, he had them take turns, swapping out every hour and leaving to feed in between turns, but with an overlap, so at least one gift was in use against Bella constantly.
All the while, Marcus was watching with his gift activated to see if he could see her bonds flicker into life. The only thing Bella felt the entire time was the sort of sickly sweet taste—she couldn't find another way to describe it— of Alec's mist, which remained constant whenever his mist was touching her. Marcus didn't see anything at all.
Eventually Marcus called a halt to procedures, citing Bella's need to feed.
"Hmm, perhaps we should have started this process when the girl was already hungry, and therefore weaker," Aro said. "Well, before we stop for the day, I do want to test her expanded shield a little." He turned back to Bella. "You have not yet been able to take anyone else under your shield, correct?"
"That's right," Bella said. Her throat was starting to burn more intensely, and she could feel herself becoming more agitated, though she hoped her unease didn't show. The time she would usually have fed had come and gone three hours past, but she wanted to demonstrate her control to Aro, so she focussed on keeping her hands and jaw relaxed, and simply existing.
"Now," Aro was saying, "I want you to expand your shield so that it pushes up against Marcus." Marcus moved towards her as Aro finished speaking, so that he stood half way between her and Alec, about a metre away from each of them. She did as Aro asked, expanding her shield until she could feel it press against Marcus.
"Now, Alec, as we discussed earlier, please."
Alec's mist started oozing towards Marcus, and Bella wondered what Aro's plan was. Marcus had had her try all kinds of visualisations to work with her shield, either to allow someone else under it, or to block sound or smell coming through. She had yet to make any progress in either area, even when Marcus had Gianna cut her finger right in front of her (with several older vampires in the room to stop her if she charged the human, not that she had). She couldn't see how using Alec's gift would help any, but she supposed perhaps Aro simply wanted something he could see.
Alec's mist soon surrounded Marcus, and then started to move over the dome that was her shield, illustrating its extent.
"Now," Aro said, "very slowly, I want you to see if you can push your shield past Marcus. If you see it moving him, pull back and start again."
Bella tried. She tried again, and again and again, while Aro's patience never seemed to waver. She felt bad for Marcus—it surely must be extremely unpleasant being suspended in sensory deprivation. After half an hour, she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Please, Aro, couldn't we take a break, or try it with someone different for a while?"
"Oh, do you think if Jane took over from Alec it would work better?"
"No!" she exclaimed. "That's not what I meant! I just meant Marcus deserves a break!" Bella realised her fists were clenched and tried to release them. She needed to feed, and she needed Alec to stop tormenting Marcus, but she had to show Aro how controlled she was.
But Aro kept speaking, ignoring her outburst entirely. "Their gifts work together, you know. Jane's gift is entirely mental, so even though Alec's victims can't feel anything real from their body, they can still feel the agony of Jane's gift, only it's even worse, with no other senses offsetting it." And then he did something so shocking, Bella lost all control. "Jane?" he said, and waved his arm in Marcus's direction. "Maximum intensity please."
Jane turned her gaze towards Marcus, and Bella screamed.
"No, no, no!" she cried. The sudden fury that engulfed her was far stronger than the sweet taste on her tongue; a red haze descended over her mind and coloured everything in the room. Without thought, she felt her shield expand, almost like an arrow, to knock Jane back into the wall, breaking her concentration, and knocking her into Alec, whose gift also cut off.
She unclenched her fists and took a deep breath, only turning to look at Aro when she was sure she was under control. Aro was grinning with glee, and only then did she realise that Marcus was still standing in the same spot, but was now fully aware. He was looking at her with a delighted smile, completely free of Alec's mist—which was gradually dissipating around the outside of Bella's shield. But Marcus—Marcus was inside it.
.
Marcus watched Aro and considered what his best arguments would be.
The three brothers were waiting in the large meeting room most of the guard referred to as the throne room. Marcus thought of it more as the dining room, and indeed their meal should be arriving in the next few hours. Presently however, they were alone, and wouldn't open the doors to others until Renata got back from visiting her uncle.
Marcus was of the opinion that Aro was unnecessarily paranoid—Jane and Alec were loyal to Aro above all others, and more than enough defence for all three of them. Not to mention the fact that Aro read each member of the guard on a regular basis. He would be well aware if any were less than loyal. More likely, Renata's role was mostly about image, which Aro certainly took seriously.
"You can't truly plan to let her leave that quickly," Caius said. Marcus had suggested that he would leave the following week to take her back to Washington, but Aro had demanded at least one week more, if not two. "She'll be less than ten weeks old! Eight weeks if you have your way," he added, turning to Marcus. "She's unlikely to make it to the airport without snapping, much less all the way to America!"
Marcus started to speak, but Aro was quicker, as usual.
"As to that, her control is quite incredible," he said. "I kept her going hours past her usual feeding time, and she barely blinked until we shocked her with Jane."
"Which worked exactly the way we planned," Marcus interjected, "proving that her loyalty to me is as real as I said, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes, yes." Aro flicked his fingers dismissively.
"So control, loyalty… there's no reason not to leave next week."
"Though she wasn't very impressed when she realised you'd planned it all, nor could she repeat her success!"
"Give her time."
"But that's exactly what you're taking away from us!" Aro complained. "We should have months yet to work with her, not to mention develop her loyalty to Volterra. You're the one who commented on the strength of her bonds before she was changed, and I know you think they are still strong, despite her change, even though you still couldn't see them when you were under her outer shield."
"Yes, that was disappointing," Marcus said, "but so interesting that I could still see yours."
"So she has two shields then, and her outer one is one-way," Caius said. "You didn't mention that before."
"You declared yourself uninterested in our experiments," Aro said.
"In attending them," Caius replied, "or in being one of your guinea pigs!"
"Well," Aro added, "it seems as though you won't have many more chances to do either."
Marcus looked at his brothers. They were both frowning, but it was in disappointment, not determination.
"I will take Jane and Alec with me," he said finally. "Jane and Bella have been forming a friendship. If we keep her here, we won't earn greater loyalty, only resentment. After she sees the Cullens without her mate among them, she may yet decide to return with us. But if not, we will have added a vampire loyal to us to their coven. I know that pleases you Aro."
"Yes, well… Maybe you can convince Carlisle to come back for a visit. That would please me more."
"Maybe," was all Marcus said.
.
"We're bringing Jane and Alec as well?" Bella asked, frowning in concern. She'd enjoyed spending time with Jane, but it was clear she was a feared member of the guard for good reason. "Is that really necessary?"
"But of course, paidi mou. I thought you would be pleased to have Jane attend us. You seem to get along well."
"Well, yes," she said, "but..."
"But?" He prompted.
"You're not going to... to hurt anyone, right?"
He looked down at her with what might have been amusement creasing the corners of his eyes. "No, kórā mou, not unless they attempt to hurt me—or you—first."
"Oh, well the Cullens would never do that, and the pack..." She paused, realising suddenly that visiting the Cullens meant entering the wolves territory with red eyes. Was she being selfish? Should she phone instead? But the thought filled her with disquiet. She needed to be there; she felt it, deep inside her. And if they didn't immediately accept her, she would just have to convince them that her place was there, that Jasper would come back. And she could do that much more easily in person than over the phone.
She looked back up at Marcus, realising he was waiting patiently for her to finish her thought. She felt a sudden welling of affection for him. He had been so patient with her over the past weeks. Everything would work out okay, she was sure of it.
"I don't think the wolves would attack such a large group," she said finally, "and if they did it would be a misunderstanding. Surely Alec could—" she waved her hand, vaguely, "—you know. Work his mojo on them without hurting them?"
"Precisely why it is so useful to have Alec along, kórā mou," he replied, still smiling slightly. "Aside from which, neither my brothers nor I ever leave Volterra without adequate protection, regardless of how straight forward we expect a trip to be. There are too many vampires who may wish to take advantage of such vulnerability." He paused, and then took her hand to squeeze it reassuringly. "Never fear, little one, my sole purpose on this trip is to ensure you remain safe—and that everyone else remains safe from you. Taking Jane and Alec means we need not bring a full contingent of the guard, though we will also bring Felix and perhaps Ariana."
.
Jasper was spending his days trawling through birth announcements looking for anything that could indicate Bella had been reborn. Aside from his own scepticism—he still didn't feel a draw towards anywhere but Italy—the difficulty was the sheer number of Isabellas to have been born in the past few weeks. It must be one of the most popular names of the year, and its variations all appeared from time to time too. Not to mention the Ellas and Ellies and their variations, which they'd decided to note down as well.
They'd started hacking into baby photographers' online accounts as well. Alice had rescued various treasures from Bella's room before they'd burned the house down, including a photo album with a few baby photos. Emmett had created a program that used face recognition to search the internet for similar faces, along with any closed sites it could hack into.
It had come up with numerous matches, but when they looked at them none of them matched sufficiently closely, beyond all being white, dark haired babies of a month or two old, and none so far had any variation of Bella's name.
They kept searching though. Peter had announced that he and Charlotte would be there within the week, probably just before the battle, but that finding Bella was as important at this point as training, though he didn't know why. He was clearly worried.
"Something's missing," Jasper had listened as Alice explained to the family. "Peter doesn't know what it is, and it's clearly eating away at him. He's always trusted his 'feelings' to give him the information he needs, but all he can tell me now is that there's a missing element, and without it..."
"What?" Emmett had asked impatiently.
Jasper could feel Alice's disquiet, and could see her in his mind's eye, imagining her looking towards the stairs and his room. She lowered her voice as though she didn't want to be overheard, though she must have known he would hear anyway.
"He thinks everything will turn out okay, but his feelings tell him there's something missing and... he's worried about Jasper. But he doesn't know what it is. He says it's almost as though something's blocking him. There's knowledge there, but it's not coming to him."
Emmett gasped with dawning understanding. "It's Bella! It has to be."
For a moment, for a ridiculous, blissful moment, Jasper imagined she was still alive. But Emmett had gone on to expound on a different theory.
"She must have been reborn then. And we need to find her. She's blocking Peter just like she's always blocked you," he finished.
"But she didn't block him before," Alice replied, and he could feel her wariness for the explanation combined with hope that it might be true.
"Maybe," Emmett said thoughtfully. "But then, he didn't get everything right before either, did he? Maybe she doesn't block him completely, which is why he knows there's something he doesn't know."
.
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Author note:
Firstly thank you to everyone who has reviewed since the last time I published, new readers and old readers a like. Your kind words mean so much to me.
There are two chapters to go (of similar length to this one) and an epilogue. I haven't written the epilogue and I have some cleaning up/tightening to do of those two chapters, and I still have long covid, three kids, elderly parents, and an almost full time job, so no promises that I will get them published soon. The last two chapters need to be read close together – so I will polish them both before I publish either one.
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Secondly let me spruik a brand new Jasper-Bella story called New Girl that triinityz is writing. It's at ff dot net /s/14248086/1/New-Girl
Bella is the new girl at Forks High and isn't afraid to speak her mind. When she sees the strange family on her first day, she knows something isn't quite right. When Jasper stops Edward in biology, Jasper realizes this new girl is his fate. What happens when Bella isn't quiet and clumsy, and goes after what she wants in life? J/B, Lang/future lemon potential