Forks, Book Two

by A. E. Davis

  There was a red cape, hanging on a rack that was made out of a nice heavy velvet material and wasn’t cheesy like the other bagged costumes. I glanced at the price tag and almost choked. It was a hundred dollars. As pretty as it was, it certainly was not in my price range.

  “You can rent that,” said a disembodied voice from behind me.

  Startled, I spun around. The girl that had been behind the counter was now leaning against one of the clothing racks.

  “Reeeally?” I flustered, trying to get my heart rate back to normal. How did she get over here without me seeing her?

  “Yeah.” She blew a big pink bubble and popped it while straightening some t-shirts on the rack. “You have to leave a credit card deposit but it’s only twenty-five to rent it for a night.”

  “Is there a dress to go with it?”

  “A dress?” She gave me a strange look.

  “Yeah, it’s for Little Red Riding Hood, right?”

  She laughed. “No. That’s our Volturi costume.”

  “What?”

  Her brows creased. “From the Twilight Books,” she elaborated.

  “Ah, yeah, right.” I vaguely remembered something about them.

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess it could work for Little Red, too. If that’s what you’re into.”

  I wasn’t exactly into Little Red, but I couldn’t think of anything else to be. And besides, I was hoping I could be inconspicuous by hiding under the hood, which is what I was shooting for.

  “There’s a red pirate costume over there,” she pointed over at the wall, “that might work for the dress.”

  I glanced back over at the wall of sexy everything and inwardly groaned. “Okay.”

  “Do you want to rent the cape?”

  “Sure.” I took it off the rack and handed to her.

  She glanced down at my book in my basket. “There’s a better deal on the set, if you want them all.”

  “Ah, I already have the first one.”

  “It’s still cheaper and you get a free bookmark.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “I’ll get them for you and put them at the register while you pick out your… dress.” She gave me another strange look and then trotted off, blowing another bubble.

  Walking back to the wall, I stared at the sexy pirate dress. At least it was red. Heaving a sigh, I pulled the packaged costume off the hook and went back to the register to check out.

  There were several little items in front of the register, like mood rings and boxes of Red Hots. On impulse I grabbed a box of Red Hots along with a Mood Ring and sat them on the counter.

  The girl gave them a perfunctory glance before she walked over and hung the cape on a metal hook. There were more books near the register. I looked at them while she bagged the cloak. All of them were written by Stephenie Meyers,’ along with another Twilight book with a Green Apple on the front. I lifted it up. “Life or Death?”

  “That’s her newest book,” the girl said, coming back to the counter.

  “What’s this one about?”

  “It’s technically the same book as Twilight but Bella is a boy in that one.”

  “A boy?”

  “Yeah, it’s her ten year anniversary book.” She flipped it over so I could see the Twilight side. “I was hoping it would be from Edward’s perspective but it’s not.”

  “Did you like it?”

  “It’s all right, I guess. But just between you and me,” she lowered her voice, “I like the original one better.”

  “Oh.” I had no idea why she was whispering.

  “Did you want that one too?”

  “No thanks. I think I’ll wait till I’m finished with the set.”

  “Suit yourself,” she said a little snottily, which surprised me since she had been so nice up until this point. Slapping two bookmarks on the counter, she glared at me. “Which one do you want?” One had Team Edward on the front and the other Team Jacob.

  “Um, I guess this one.” I chose Team Edward.

  “That one’s my favorite.” She gave me another one of her strange looks, which was really starting to get on my nerves.

  “That’ll be One hundred and fifty four dollars.”

  I did a double take. “How much?”

  “Oh, don’t worry, your card won’t be charged the deposit unless you don’t return the cloak.”

  “Oh. Okay.” I swiped my card in the reader.

  She pulled off the receipt and filed away my credit card information in a little box she pulled out from under the counter. “Here you go.” She handed me my purchases.

  “When do I have to have the cloak back?” I shifted the cloak in my arms, making sure it wasn’t dragging on the floor.

  “Anytime Sunday is fine,” she said.

  “Okay. Thanks.” I turned and walked back through the store.

  “Hey Red,” she called after me when I was almost to the door. “Have fun at your party.”

  “Oh thank…” I turned around and stopped talking because she had a really nasty look on her face. Instead of finishing, I turned back around and got out of the door as fast as I could.

  fifty one

  Since it was still early and I didn’t really have anything planned until the party tomorrow, I decided to run a few errands before I went home. I had some books that needed to be returned to the Library, but I also wanted to check the microfiche to read more about the bear attack I saw on the internet. I wasn’t sure why I was so curious, but I was.

  Pulling up out front, I put the car in park and killed the engine. After a few loud gurgles, the car finally puttered out. Taking the keys from the ignition, I tossed them in my bag and reached into the backseat for the books. Climbing out, I shut the door and locked it.

  There were only a few cars parked out front. Dark fat-bellied clouds hung low and it looked like it was about to rain. What else was new? On the door was a sign for the Free Library, which was down the path from the Visitor Center. There was a reward for the sign someone stole that was made by the little girl, who made it for the Free Library.

  “Seriously? How rude.” The books are free and yet someone steals the sign. I didn’t get it.

  Yanking open the door, I stepped inside the library. Once again, the familiar scent of books surrounded me.

  “Hello, dear,” an elderly woman called from behind the counter.

  “Hello.”

  “Are those returns?”

  “Um… yeah,” I said, walking towards her.

  “I can take them over there.” She pointed to the end of the counter.

  “Oh great, thanks.” I walked over and set the books down on top of the counter.

  The woman shuffled over to where I was standing. She had long black hair with streaks of silver glinting through the length and hawkish features. She wore a peasant blouse paired with a long gauzy print skirt. She looked like some of the people I used to see dressed up for the Ren fest (Renaissance Festival) back home. The stacks of bracelets on her arms made a jangling sound with each step she took. The name Beatrice was scribbled in black sharpie on the sticker-name-tag stuck to her blouse. “Did you want to recheck out any of these, dearie?”

  “Nah. I think I’m good.” I handed her my temporary library card.

  “Very well,” she sighed and took the card. Her bracelets clinked as she lifted up the book on Vampires.

  “School report,” I said repeating the earlier lie I told the girl when I checked the book out.

  “Did you find it informative?” She hitched up her black pencil drawn on eyebrow, giving me an odd look.

  “Yeah,” I croaked, feeling nervous suddenly and cleared my throat. “It was.”

  She scanned the barcode on the inside flap and then set the book on the tan metal cart behind her. Not only did she have stacks of bracelets on her arms but she also had rings on just about every finger. “What about this one?” She held up the book on Werewolves and the stones on her rings sparkled under the fluorescent lights. She e
ven had on a mood ring, like the one I bought—the stone was black.

  “Not really.” At least that was a truthful statement.

  “You know,” she said, pausing her scanning. “If you really want to know about Werewolves, then you should talk to one of the elders over at La Push or stop by the Quileute Library. I am sure they have better books on the subject than we do.”

  “Great. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Once she finished with the rest of the books, she handed me back my library card. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “Yes. Actually there is. Could you please tell me where the microfiche machine is?”

  “My goodness,” she exclaimed and let out a very witchy sounding cackle. “I haven’t had anyone ask about that thing for ages.”

  “It’s for school,” I lied smoothly.

  “More research?” Both her brows lifted this time.

  “Yeah,” I answered quickly.

  “Okay. I’ll show you where it is and get you started as soon as I check out this customer.”

  “Great. Thanks.” I turned back around and my breath caught. Evelyn was standing behind me with a stack of books in her hands.

  I gave her an awkward smile.

  She didn’t smile back.

  “Excuse me,” I said and stepped past her to go stand near the wall of magazines to wait for the Librarian to finish.

  Grabbing a magazine, I lifted it up and covered my face. I lowered it just a bit and peeked over the top.

  Evelyn was loading her books in a bag. When she turned, she gave me any icy glare.

  Quickly, I lifted the magazine back up. I waited for the door to open but I didn’t hear it. Lowering the magazine, I gasped. She was standing right in front of me.

  “You’re Amber, right?”

  “Um, yeah,” I croaked.

  “You know my brother?”

  “What?”

  “My brother,” she repeated. “Jason.”

  “Yeah. What about him?”

  “I’m sorry about what he did to you. He has some issues but he’s getting better.”

  “Oh—kay.” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.

  “He hasn’t called you has he?”

  “Ah…” I was going to say yes, but then I kind-of felt bad. If he was getting better, or if she thought he was getting better, did I really want to be the one to tell her differently? “Not that I recall.”

  Her shoulders slumped in what only could be described as profound relief. “Thanks.”

  “I’m glad he’s doing better.”

  She gave me a bemused look. “That’s nice of you.”

  “Not really.”

  Her pale brows pulled together and she nervously chewed on her bottom lip. “You’re friends with Vincent, right?”

  That threw me for a loop. “Ah…” I felt like I had a rock lodged in my throat. “Um, yeah,” I croaked.

  Her face flushed brightly. “I know I shouldn’t ask you this, but I haven’t heard from in a while, and I was wondering if he said anything about me to you…you know, since you’re friends.”

  “Ah…” What the …? How was I supposed to answer that? “No. Not recently.”

  “Oh.” Her pale blonde brows pulled together. “But he did say something about me?”

  “Ah, yeah. A while back.”

  “What did he say?” she asked expectantly. “Oh, gosh, never mind.” She shook her head and her blonde curls fluttered. “I shouldn’t ask you that.”

  “No. It’s okay,” I heard myself saying. “He didn’t say much, though. Just that he see’s you sometimes.” Fine. He didn’t really say that, but he didn’t deny it when I asked him either, so it was the same thing, sort of, wasn’t it?

  She smiled. Like a real big one that transformed her face, making me realize why Vincent hooked up with her in the first place. She was really pretty when she smiled. “Thanks for telling me.”

  “Yeah, err, no problem.”

  “Well, I guess I better go.” She turned to leave and hiked her #biteme bag more securely on her shoulder.

  I watched her walk away and then I did something I would never ever do and I wasn’t sure why I was even doing it. “Hey, wait, Evelyn!” I called after her.

  She turned back around and gave me a questioning look.

  “If he does, I mean…” I cleared my throat. “If Vincent does say something to me about you, I’ll let you know, okay.”

  “You will?” She looked as shocked as I felt saying it.

  “Sure.” What was I doing? I must be out of my mind.

  “Thanks, Amber.” She gave me another smile that transformed her face into something almost angelic. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Okay. See you,” I said.

  “Yeah, see you.” She turned and walked out of the library.

  Adjusting my position, I sat forward on the hard plastic chair with metal legs. I was still in the library, reading through another microfiche film. Using the machine wasn’t hard but it was certainly tedious. There were tons of articles to go through. And since I didn’t really have any date to go by or an exact event, like a war or something, it was even harder to find anything that I was looking for. I did find a few pictures of some early settlers. This one was of a family standing on and near, a giant cut down tree. The picture was really fuzzy so it was hard to see clearly. I sent it and the others I had found to print along with a few other articles that seemed interesting and or relevant.

  “Get the Funk Out” blasted from my bag. Freaking out from the noise, I dug my phone out from my bag and quickly hit answer.

  “Amber,” a deep voice spoke from the other end and my heart stopped. “It’s me, Lucky.”

  My heart started beating, again. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Not much.” I could hear passing cars in the background, like he was outside on a street somewhere.

  “Sorry I didn’t call you before.”

  “It’s okay.” Actually, with all the Viktor and Vincent stuff, I had forgotten he was going to call.

  “So…did you get your costume all picked out today.”

  “Ah…yeah.” My skin prickled. “How’d you know I got my costume today?”

  The phone crackled like he was covering it up. “Lucky?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.” He sounded breathy, like he had been running.

  “Well…”

  “Well, what?”

  “How’d you know I got my costume today?”

  “Oh, I didn’t,” he said. “I was just guessing that because, you know, most girls wait till the last minute.”

  “Oh.” His explanation should have made me feel better but it didn’t.

  “What did you end up getting?”

  I stole a line from Glinda. “It’s a surprise.”

  “Cool.”

  “So what are you going to be?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Yeah. Okay.”

  “Who are you going with?”

  “I’m riding with Glinda.”

  “Cool.” He went silent again and I could hear rustling in the background.

  “Did you guys get everything finished?”

  “What do you mean?” His voice sounded strange, almost apprehensive.

  “You know, setting up and everything.”

  He exhaled. “Yeah, we did. It took a while but I think everyone will be pretty pleased with the decorations.”

  “Great.” Distracted, I scanned another article. “I can’t wait to see… ”

  “I can’t wait to see you either.”

  “Ah…” My breath caught.

  “You can breathe. I know what you meant. I was just messing with you.”

  “You’re so not funny.”

  “Sure I am. You just don’t get half my jokes.”

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” I sent another article to print.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m getting ready to go home.”
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  “Where are you?” A car alarm sounded.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s….my…”

  My phone bleated. Another call was coming in. “Hold on a sec, I’ve got another call.” I pressed the button.

  “Hello.”

  “Where are you?” Mom screeched as soon as I put the phone back to my ear.

  “I’m at the library.”

  “Why didn’t you call?”

  “I texted you.” I scanned another article.

  “That’s not the same thing,” she huffed.

  “Fine. Okay. Sorry.” There was really no point in arguing with her when she was in a mood and apparently, it was a doozie. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’re waiting on you for dinner,” she snapped.

  “Why are we eating so early?”

  “Amber,” she sighed. “It’s almost eight o’clock.”

  “It is?” I had no idea it was that late. I thought the library closed at six.

  “Yes, it is. Now get your butt home. Ken’s waiting to serve dinner.”

  “You can eat without me…”

  “Amber…”

  “Fine. Okay. Tell Ken I’ll be there soon.”

  “Hurry up!” she screeched one last time before the line went dead.

  “Gesh.” I rubbed my neck and hit print on the article I was trying to read about a group of early settlers, then I remembered Lucky was still on the other line. I clicked over. “Lucky…Lucky…” But there was no one there.

  After I gathered my things, I grabbed the papers from the printer in the corner and shoved them in my bag.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” Beatrice asked as I passed the counter on the way out.

  “I hope so,” I said and patted my bag.

  “What were you looking for, exactly?” Her eyes glittered strangely.

  “Just the history on the town,” I said, telling her a partial truth.

  “There is a lot on that,” she said. “Was there anything else in particular you were looking for?” she asked nosily.

  “Um, I was trying to find something on a bear attack. Have you heard of anything like that?”