THIRD PERSON POV:
Bella's absence had the triplets in a chokehold, but they tried to convince themselves she needed space. Hazel, on the other hand, tried to conceal the fact that Bella had been in the vampires' den for about three days.
"Is it just me, or has something weird been going on with the girls?" Kai asked as the trio made their way to school. "Yeah, I noticed it too, but I'm going to assume it's just Bella being Bella. I mean, Hazel is more of her friend than ours, so if she doesn't want to show up to the cafe to eat with us in the morning, Hazel won't eat with us either," Ryder said flatly, but something about it didn't sit right with the twins.
"I think something other than her reacting to her mother's death is going on," Finn said, and Kai nodded.
"I think so too," he added as they walked into the school building.
Hazel, who had been trying to avoid them, was unlucky as they spotted her alone by her locker without Bella.
"There's Hazel, and she's alone," Ryder said, and they made their way toward her.
Hazel tried to make a run for it, but she knew that would only confirm their suspicions, so she stood still, waiting until they got to her.
"Hey, guys!" She gave a stifled laugh, trying to act jolly, as though Bella hadn't ignored her calls for an entire day.
She was worried about Bella, but she had no clue how she could reach her. She was no fool to plunge into a den of vampires to rescue her friend because she knew they would both serve as vampire meat. All she had done the entire time to keep the triplets away was create a spell mimicking Bella's scent, so as long as they could smell her, they wouldn't panic so much-or so she thought.
"Hey Hazel," Finn replied flatly. Then Kai popped the question. "Where is Bella?"
Hazel swallowed hard.
"Uhm, she had to go back to get something in the hostel, but she'll be back soon," she said, and they glanced at each other.
"Do you have a clue why she's been avoiding us? It's been what-four days since we saw her." Hazel shook her head as Ryder questioned her.
"I really wish I had an answer, but she's shut me off too," she lied. "But don't worry, I'll see if she'll open up to me today," she said, and they all thanked her. Then she turned around, walking away with a sigh escaping her lips.
As soon as Hazel was out of sight, Finn broke the silence.
"We don't believe her, do we?" he asked, and the others echoed a no.
"I don't know what's going on, but we have to get to the bottom as soon as possible," Kai said, and they nodded at his words before leaving for class.
The entire day, Hazel tried to reach Bella, but her line would go through, and she wouldn't pick up. The triplets, on the other hand, went behind her back to meet Bella's classmates, who all confirmed that Bella hadn't been in school for about three days.
After school, Hazel rushed back to her dorm room, hoping to do a location spell to find Bella, but she was greeted by three angry faces of Bella's desperate mates.
"Start talking!" Ryder said, and Finn shut the door behind her.
Hazel, realizing there was no need to lie, sighed deeply, then sat on her bed, letting out a huge sigh. She explained everything-from how Bella made her find Sue to how Bella was probably stuck in a vampire den.
"What?" the three of them echoed at once.
They glared at Hazel in anger. They were angry with her for enabling Bella, but they were more angry at Bella's stupidity. The way she acted on impulse got under their skin.
"We are three, but she deems us useless because she never says anything to us. This is ridiculous!" Ryder's voice shot through the roof.
The twins were angry too, but they knew they had no choice but to rescue her.
"Everyone knows the war is coming, and we're trying our best. What makes her think she can take down an entire army? We lost our mom too, but we've never been this..." The word hung in Finn's throat.
"Dumb," Kai finished for him.
Hearing them call her dumb made Hazel realize they were in for serious business, so she quickly grabbed Bella's shirt, which was on her bed. Then she held onto it, chanting a locator spell. There, she saw Bella among the vampires, relating with them like one of their own.
"What did you see?" Ryder asked at once as soon as Hazel came back to them.
"She's with them, but she's happy," Hazel said to them, and Finn scoffed.
"That's ridiculous. We're trusting vampires now?" he asked, and Hazel let out a sigh.
"No one says we're trusting them, but remember that Bella is partly one of them."
"Yeah, because they forced her into becoming one to kill her, but they only fulfilled part of the prophecy," Kai tried to argue, but Hazel wasn't having it.
"What do you all want from me, exactly? I gave Bella what she wanted, and now somehow I'm facing the heat!" They all kept mute as she yelled at them.
When she finished, she sat there, rubbing her temples. Then she took a huge breath.
"I'm sorry," she choked out, and they all sighed.
"It's fine. We're sorry too," Ryder apologized.
"Yeah, we're all worried about Bella. If Sue tried to kill her, then I don't think she can ever be happy with them because, no matter how much she serves them, they'll look out for the slightest slip-up to kill her. She's in trouble, and she needs our help." Finn said, and Hazel diverted her gaze to him.
"As much as we might get hurt or in trouble too, we really want you to take us to that den," Kai requested, and Hazel nodded at his words.
She got to her feet at once, getting ready to open a portal to the Thorne pack, which was obviously faster than driving or booking a flight.
Bella, on the other hand, was getting acquainted with the vampires. After she turned off her phone when she spoke with Hazel two days earlier, she hadn't thought of it because they had a lot of activities in the den that kept her busy. But as she took a bath that evening, it suddenly struck her memory that she hadn't called Hazel.
She hurried up in the bathroom, then rushed out, getting to her knees and peeking under the bed until she saw her phone. Sliding it out from underneath the bed, she turned it on and placed a call to Hazel at once.
The moment Hazel and the triplets made it to the heart of the mountain, Bella's call came in.
"She's calling," Hazel said, and Ryder grabbed the phone from her, picking up the call.
"What the fuck, Bella?" His voice shot through the phone at once, causing Bella's heart to flinch.
"I couldn't keep up for long, Bella, and they noticed," Hazel said in a bid to apologize.
She didn't blame Hazel one bit because she knew it was bound to happen.
"Look, I know you guys are angry, but my plan is working perfectly."
"We don't care about any goddamn plan, Bella. We're at the heart of the mountain where the house is supposed to
be located, but there's nothing here but a vast area of land that's empty with no trees."
"You're in front of the house?" Bella asked, and Ryder's face contorted.
She ended the call, throwing on her clothes quickly. She made her way out of the house easily because it was afternoon, and the vampires usually took a nap-except they were out on a mission. But today, everyone was around, sleeping in their beds, while the main vampires slept in coffins located in their chambers.
Hazel walked closer to the empty plot of land, reaching for it, and felt a shield that made her body tingle.
"There's something here."
"No kidding," Bella said, walking out of nowhere.
The triplets stared in confusion, and Hazel began to explain.
"The house is protected with magic-dark magic. We can't see it, but the occupants can see us. Except they step out of the area, they'll remain invisible."
After explaining, she noticed the triplets had their gaze on Bella.
"I hope you have nothing in there because we're leaving," Finn said, grabbing her hand, but she yanked it away.
"I can't, because I made a pact with them." Their blood ran cold as she said this.