Chapter 24 ~ Unveil

* Amelia's POV *

We trudged through the abyss of trees, I called it an abyss because I couldn't see where I was going exactly and neither did I know if there was an end. The scent of Ash wafted over everything, it included Narissa's, Nolan's, Aro's, another person's but not the twins. Of course not.

We didn't look for a scent for them, we looked for a clue. Anything that resembled a trail of where they were going or just something to prove they were here at some recent point.

We hopped over a pile of rocks, I realised that they were ubiquitous and had I had a snapshot of the twins minds' on a hike it probably wouldn't lead me anywhere to them. I quickly scanned the trees and the ground for anything unordinary but everything I saw was a part of nature. I wondered how everything lead to this and why. Well I knew why, but why?

Max soon halted to a stop sooner than I did, so my face hit his back before I registered it. I could almost feel him roll his eyes. As I opened my mouth to shoot something at him, his hand shot up and silenced me. He moved forward and bent down. It was a little car but it wasn't any kind of little car, it was an Audi and it had blood on it.

I crouched beside Max. I had seen the car by my grave and it wasn't until now I realised that it belonged to Elijah. I thought for a moment and decided that this was no coincidence. I looked around to see if there was anything else, my beady eyes followed little ants as they hiked over the dishevelled ground and into little holes or the trees. Next to some large grass and broken, greyish rock at least a metre left of the wandering ants I saw strands - maybe it was some string or hair. I crept forward now feeling conscious of the ants and attempted to pick it up. I failed the first two times, luckily the sweat on my hand caused it to stick. I lifted it up and examined it.

I was no scientist and maybe I did need a microscope to help me out a little bit but the hair did look remarkably like mine. I didn't even have to think about humans, the strength of Macy's hair differentiated itself. I looked for more strands and I found two more. I stood back up, I saw Max doing the same and looking at the car that was in his hand.

I couldn't even guess what he was thinking. Maybe it was a memory or just a general dark thought, you'd just know it's unpleasant by watching those unsteady eyes of his. Broken but cloudy. "It's almost like we're being helped."

"It's either a clue or a trick," he responded. He eyed the pieces of hair twined in my fingers.

"It's hair, meaning this is pretty recent." I took out tissue from one of my inside pockets and placed the hair inside. "We better get going it might be close." He nodded and placed the car into his pocket. I lead the way before I stopped and realised that the unknown person's and Ash's paths split. Which one do we follow? I assumed that Ash was the person that stayed with Macy mostly, Nolan would stay with Elijah unless he was posing an ambush.

Instinctively, I followed Ash's. "What's the significance of an Audi?" I asked randomly. I was about to push a tree branch out of my way but he slid past me and beat me to it. I nodded appreciatively, he kept on his usual stoic expression.

"It was your favourite kind of car."

"Oh... did I have one?"

"You did and you loved it. You wouldn't let me drive you anywhere or even use my car."

I chuckled, it sounded like me. I wanted to remember it. "And did you let me?"

"Every single time." I looked at his face, there was a lopsided grin and it only made me smile wider, a swift feeling of elation coursed through my body.

"I wonder if I could still drive. They say with memory loss you remember the procedural stuff, maybe I still can."

"Yeah you'll remember it the same way you remembered how to hunt and that you have vampire genetics." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and scowled. It's surely unfair to bring that up.

"Now you're just being mean. What happened then was a shock, but if I were to sit in a driver's seat I'll know what's going on surely." He threw me a look, he didn't believe me at all. Childishly, I stuck out my tongue. "Your faith me in me is inspiring."

The ground became steeper. I felt my heart start to race but not for the purpose of exercise. I stared at Max from the corner of my eye, he had a bit of dirt smeared attractively on his face and some sweat on his forehead. The sight was almost familiar, I looked away and tried to remember another point where he looked like that but not in the past week.

I let Max take the lead. He didn't think too much of it. There was a box of memories in my mind and it only opened for a second for me to grab one memory. I concentrated on it. I then heard the sound of bikes, I looked around but there was no resemblance of such a thing. We reached the peak and it was ramp like, any minute now a biker could come and show off his tricks. I looked towards back towards the towering trees and saw something emerge from them. The memory box had opened.

The suited person raced forward and did what I had anticipated. They did a 360 in the air before they disappeared but then they came back and they were walking towards me. They took off their helmet. I saw Max, he ran his hand through his hair. I saw that he was smiling, and oh, what a smile it was! It reached his eyes and it was glowing. "So what did you think?" That's when he vanished for good.

I was a bit bewildered. I continued to gawk at the vacant air wondering if he'll come back and then realising that, that Max has been gone for a while now. "Are you okay?" The voice was far away, I blinked a few times and looked towards Max. His features were etched with concern and he was half reaching out to me.

"You can drive a motorbike."

His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows knit together. I didn't know what he thought of me anymore, if there was still hate because I had forgotten everything. How would he feel once I recovered? "I remember and you showed me." I thought for a moment. How can he just show me when I had no recollection of it then? Had I not known at all before that point? "Did I know before that?"

He shook his head, his eyes sunk in sadness and there was a gleam of darkness right by the iris. "I showed you after you came back." My eyes widened, had this happened again? "You didn't die again if that's what you're thinking, you left to stay with your Dad and we never communicated." I wondered how he could continue to love a girl that left him. Maybe it was selfish of her.

But I still want him to love me.

"I'm sorry about that." I pressed my lips together and wanted nothing more than to cry, I had a lot to apologise for. "I'm sorry for doing all of this, I wish I hadn't. Maybe it would've been better had I never shown up in the first place that way things -"

"Don't." He was shaking his head. "Macy and Elijah wouldn't have been alive without you, we wouldn't have met your friends and family without you either. You gave me the experience of love, I don't think I couldn't had that with anyone else, despite all the pain. I might not love again but that doesn't mean you have to apologise." I nodded and blinked back the tears. He grabbed my arm and started tugging me in his direction. "Come on, we need to get going."

***

We heard a sudden rustle in the leaves. Max lurched into action, he stood in front of me and crouched, I could almost feel the snarl on his face. I peered through the leaves, not feeling the threat. Surely, we would have gotten a phone call if someone wanted to kill us. A silence stretched onwards. I could hear Max’s tense breathing as he refused to relax, I could hear it a lot more over my own. “Max… maybe it’s just an animal…” I whispered. We were on a jagged stump of rocks, nothing too odd. We were about to search further before we heard the noise.

He didn’t reply. I heard the clogs moving around in his head, he was weighing the chances of a surprise attack. Soon he became at ease, but because he was in front of me – and what a large physique he had – I couldn’t see a thing. I stepped around him and saw a nimble figure emerge from the trees. Max’s arm shot out, barricading me before I could get any closer.

It was a human. Max sighed and the relief flooded his body, I was actually scared he would melt to the ground. It was a young lad, looking no older than Max and I but honestly we looked a lot younger than we actually were. His hair was a blonde mess, and his rugged face had patches of dirt. As he looked at us the red in his eyes almost vanished. He was fatigued but seemed so happy to see us.

“Are you Max and Amelia?” His voice was croaking, like he hadn’t spoken in a millennium but he sounded healthy. I noticed he had an irrational sense of vitality.

I was about to answer him but Max beat me to it. “What does it concern?” I rolled my eyes at his aggression. I pushed Max's hand out of the way. I hopped off the rock I was on so I could be at their level. I didn't want to scare them away.

"We're who you're looking for," I told him. "What is it?"

"I was told to tell you something. I didn't know who it was and it was dark so I couldn't see either." I gave them a curious look, wondering how they'd ended up in this situation. I nodded, waiting for them to continue. "It’s a 355km trail, named after the road it’s by. In your path you’ll come across bears, rivers and mosquitoes. It’s far away from everywhere but you’ll find what you want in the wooden house."

"It's a riddle..." I murmured. I turned to Max. "This can help us out." Of course he wasn't impressed. I faced the guy. "Thank you, is there anything else?"

"Erm... oh and watch for other hikers." I nodded and gave an appreciative smile. Before staring for what was longer than comfort, he looked towards Max and then the trees. "I'll go now."

"Do you want anything in return? I don't know what kind of trouble you're gone through to convey the message."

"If you could help me get out of here? I need to go home." My smile widened, there was certainly no place like home. I knew it wouldn't be hard to find a way out of here.

"You coming Max?"

"You're wasting time," was his simple response. He was so grim, I wondered how I ended up marrying him.

"Hush, we're not doing anything important right now." I lead the guy through the forest and tried not to show any beyond human capabilities. Max came along and took over the lead, he must really want the guy to leave. It turned out we were a lot closer to the edge than we thought. I gave the guy cab fare before we parted ways. We entered back into the forest and I could feel the tension from Max getting thicker and thicker. When we were far enough in I stopped walking. "Why are you mad now?"

He looked over to me darkly, I shuddered."Amelia you can't just tell people who we are!"

"He wanted to help us," I reasoned.

"He could have wanted to trick us!" He argued and shot a menacing look. I rolled my eyes, he's such a child.

"The Volturi don't need to trick us, they already have the upper hand."

"Then how the hell can you explain how he knew about us?"

"Maybe there's a traitor? I don't know! I don't know what's happening today with all of these random clues but it means something and we better start thinking because we don't know what kind of state they are in. Maybe this can help us."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then we've found another way that doesn't work. We need to try all ways Max." A staring competition commenced and despite everything, we could have just stared until the end of time. None of us were going to give up so quickly. I could've sworn I heard an owl or two as I stared into his hazel orb like eyes. I liked to remember them as warm and inviting instead of cold and hostile. He was wavering fast, I knew he was. He couldn't deny that I was right.

"Fine," he said finally before looking away. With relief, I wiped my eyes.

"I think we should tell the family first. I think they're more geographically knowledgeable." I thought of the riddle again. It’s a 355km trail, named after the road it’s by. In your path you’ll come across bears, rivers and mosquitoes. It’s far away from everywhere but you’ll find what you want in the wooden house. It wasn't anything fancy - no rhymes - but it would do.

Max took out his phone and dialled in a number, he gave the phone to me. I took it with hesitance and pathetically I realised that I had come a long way from not being allowed to talk on his phone at all to him giving it to me freely. I pressed it towards my ear and waited for someone to pick up. Rosalie did and I fully unloaded her the details. She was a bit sceptical at first but I told her it was something as opposed to us all running around like headless chickens.

When I switched off the phone I gave it to Max. Rosalie had assured me that she would inform the rest of the family. I also realised that Max and I didn't have a map, all we used was the GPS on his phone and that was only for hotels. "Come on let's go find a map," Max said and tilted his head in the direction of the way out, sharing my thoughts exactly. Stupidly, it made my heart flutter and glow. I don't think he's the only one with mood swings.

As we walked side by side, an overwhelming feeling took over me. I didn't understand it, I couldn't stop smiling. I stole glances from Max's handsome face after every 30 seconds hoping he doesn't realise. I could almost feel the spring in my step as I followed on behind him.

"Okay, why do you keep on looking at my face?" Max said suddenly. I almost jumped at his abruptness, he had noticed me after all. I tried to think of an appropriate reason but I just ended up blurting something out.

"I love you."

Max stopped and turned around at lightning speed. I quivered in shock at what I had so randomly admitted. "What." He said with hostile blankness. His eyes were a fire but they were calm, he saw everything in that moment that he didn't want to. He loved me and I had loved him, but that's me talking about the past. Right now that was different on his part.

He might have been a complete and utter jackass ever since he knew of my awakening but I loved him now and I couldn't do anything about that. I couldn't even doubt it because if I had managed to fall in love with his ever present worst side surely I would be smitten with this other sides too.

Max shook his head in distraught. His eyes were wide and he rubbed the stubble on his chin. "I just, no - no, not again."

I took a deep breath. "Oh but Max I do. l love you."

"Old love, it's like reading the same book all over again, I'll know exactly how it would end."

"But our story isn't finished yet." My voice was quiet as a whisper, vulnerable. I wanted to know that what I was saying was true. He shook his head once more. I took a step back.

"I wish... " I silently prompted him on. I wanted to know what he was going to stay despite his growing anger. "I wish I never met you. I wish it was you instead of them. I would have left you to suffer." He stepped away from me now, and deeper in the trees. Words died on my tongue, his words very much paralysed me.  He gave me no hope for our mission. I wiped the water away from my eyes, I got what I deserved. "Why can't you still be dead?" His form had disappeared by time he had finished the sentence.

I squeezed my eyes shut, ignoring the tears that wanted to fall down. I tried to concentrate on something that wasn't my heart, but how could I? To say it simply, it shattered into pieces. They were glass pieces that wanted to pierce my bones and stop me from breathing. Adamantly, I took a step, I couldn't stop. Not now.

I took a moment to cease control of my heart, it didn't need any power. I gave it all to my brain, it would know what to do. I wiped all the tears away, remembering how emotionless I was before all of this. I ignored the overbearing feeling of being watched, it was probably just Max waiting for me.

I sighed. I trudged another step forward but a pressure hit my skull. I grabbed my head and was about to collapse. I got hit again and blacked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Merry (possibly late) Christmas! I hope you had a wonderful day! And yay I updated after so very long. I confess I would have updated earlier this week had I not been ill or had family over. But asides that I updated and what, what do you think? Let me know your thoughts!

NEXT UPLOAD: I plan to update again before the end of the year! So fingers crossed... oh and I make no promises...

I love you guys. Thank you so much for bearing with me. I know some of you have been wanting an update for an awful long time, I'm really sorry. School demotivates me for life.

Until we meet again!

Ciao ~ Ami xD