“Bell, have you forged the passports?” Alice asked.

“Yes.” Bella stopped pacing.

“Hand them over, Bells.”

Bella froze.

“Now, Bella.”

Bella handed Alice the eight fake passports.

“Alice…” Bella murmured. “Can we do this?”

“Yes, Bella! Yes!” Alice very nearly shouted. “WE CAN!”

Calm, quiet Lily spoke up. “Alice, we’re eight vampires against a whole clan of vampires. Are you SURE we can do this?”

“Of course we can!” Rose spoke next.

“Yeah why not?” Carli grinned.

Nobody else said anything. Nobody else dared argue with Lily.

“Let them come to us.” Lily said coldly.

“No!” Bubbly Alice was definite.

Lily glared at Alice. Alice didn’t flinch.

“Don’t look her in the eyes. Don’t look her in the eyes.” Rosalie murmured.

Alice nodded faintly.

Lily kept staring, her amber eyes searching Alice’s face, trying to catch her eyes.

“This doesn’t have to be a staring contest.” Kat mused. “We can discuss it.”

“Ok Kat.” Lily looked away from Alice’s face.

“Ha!” Alice gloated. “I, Alice Jefferson, just beat Lily in a staring contest! BEAT THAT!

“Alice, our flight is leaving in an hour. We’d better go.” Rose smiled.

“Yeah.” Carli agreed. “Let’s get going.”

“Has everyone packed anything they’ll need?” I asked.

“Yes” My friends and sister chorused.

“Good.”

Meanwhile, Kat was on the phone with Matt.

“Yeah… Matt, we’re gonna be gone for awhile… no, don’t follow us, we’ll be fine, I’m with Em and her friends… ok I will. I love you too. Bye Matt.”

Kat hung up the phone and sighed.

“I sure as hell hope I’m ready for this.” She murmured.

“Oh you are, Kat. Don’t worry.” Lily soothed.

Suddenly Alice became very still and tense. When she finally relaxed, she told us what she had seen.

“Neveira Reza Ankhenaten is being crowned leader of the Ankhenaten. Ankhele Alexandria Ankhenaten has been imprisoned. Neva will be crowned leader in two weeks.”

“Two weeks? Only TWO?” I gasped.

“Alice, we can’t even make it to Cairo in two weeks.” Bella’s eyes were wide.

“We can.” Alice confirmed. Then her voice grew very low. “We have to.”

Whoever’s been telling Fort I’m copying Aber, you better knock it off. I’m NOT copying Aber, there are just certain parts that are like her because both books are vaguely based on Twilight.

Second, I’d like to dedicate this book to Aber, because Fort DID manage to point out a few areas where the books were the same.

THIRD, I’d like you guys to comment! 61 people have visited this site, and only Aber managed to leave a comment!

Finally, I wouldnt mind if some people besides me would advertise. If you like the book, people, tell your friends! I want hits!

Thank you for reading.

~~~Fox~~~

Kat raised her eyebrows.

“All eight of us?” she asked.

“Yes. All eight, Kat.” I gulped. For once, I was nervous.

“Alice, call Rosalie.” I ordered. Alice was dialing the number in seconds.

“Kat, I saw Alexander in the cafeteria today.” I said quietly, my voice barely audible.

Kat gasped.

“Wha-What does tha-that prove?” She stuttered.

Alexander was Neva’s twin brother.

“He’s spying on me.” My voice was still low.

“Ems, be careful.” Kat warned.

“I know.” I muttered.

“Emma, Rose is here.” Alice murmured.

“Hi Rosie!” I smiled. I hadn’t called her Rosie in years.

Behind Rosalie were Bella and Carli.

“Hi Bells! Hi Carli!” They probably thought I was a lobotomy patient.

“Hi… Emma.” Rosalie looked confused.

“Um… Hi Em.” Carli looked really freaked out.

“Hello, Emma.” Bella said calmly. Bella was always calm.

Kat had silently slipped out of the house to go get Paige.

“Rose, call Lily.” Alice ordered seriously.

“O-ok Alice.” Rosalie stuttered.

None of us had ever seen Alice so serious. Bubbly, flaky Alice was taking this more seriously than any of us were.

“Carli, a note to get us excused from class for the next week.”

“Ok Alice!” Carli wrote a note in her funky handwriting:

∂єαя нσмєяσσм тєα¢нєя,

¢αяℓι, яσѕαℓιє, вєℓℓα, єммα, αℓι¢є, ℓιℓу, αη∂ ραιgє ωιℓℓ ησт вє ιη ѕ¢нσσℓ ƒσя α ωєєк. ωє αяє тяυℓу ѕσяяу, вυт αη ємєяgєη¢у нαѕ ¢σмє υρ αвяσα∂. ωє’ℓℓ вє вα¢к ηєχт мση∂αу. ωє нσρє.

ѕιη¢єяℓу,

¢αяℓι вяιєηѕ

“You spelled “sincerely” wrong, Carls.” Rose pointed out.

“Do I look like I care?” Carli’s look was venomous. That happens when Carli gets worried.

“Stop fighting. Emma and Rose, go pack provisions. Carli, send the note to the school. Bells, forge a few passports please.” Alice was still in her take-charge mood. This was gonna be one hell of a ride.

“I’m gonna invite Alice over.”

Kat grinned. “Fabulous! I love Alice, she’s so great.”

I dialed Alice’s number.

“Alice, I need YOU and your magic visions here NOW.” Alice had visions, she could see what was going on at the current moment in a different place.

“Be right there, Ems.” Alice must’ve known it was urgent.

In five minutes, she was sitting on the big blue beanbag chair in my room. The chair absolutely inhaled her, she was so small.

“What’s wrong?” Alice looked anxious.

“Alice… how are the Ankhenaten doing lately?” My eyes were wide.

Kat quietly came in, and we both watched as Alice, her eyes closed, became incredibly still and rigid, almost lifeless.

Finally Alice opened her sparkling black eyes.

“Ankhele Alexandria Ankhenaten is ruling. Her heir is Neveira Reza Ankhenaten.”

“Neva.” Kat breathed.

“I’m sorry, that’s all I can see.” Alice confessed.

Kat pouted.

“That’s OK, Alice. It’s not your fault.” I comforted.

“One more thing, Emma, Neveira Reza seemed to have a desire for the throne.”

Kat gasped.

I tried to remain calm. This was bad, very bad. If Neva became the leader of the Ankhenatens, she would order to have me killed! Even if I teamed up with every vamp I knew, we wouldn’t be able to fight the entire clan.

“We must save Ankhele.” I said calmly.

“Em!” She hugged me back.

Kat had dark brown hair, with lighter brown highlights and tiny hints of red. Nearly as tiny as Alice, Kat was a star soccer player and my favorite sister.

A look of worry crossed my face. “Kat, why are you here?”

“Just visiting my favorite little sister!”

I sensed there was something more.

“Kat, I’m your only little sister.”

“That’s why you’re my favorite! How’s that girl you found, oh what was her name again?”

“Paige?”

“Yeah, Paige. How’s she doing?”

“She’s fine. She lives next door.”

“Fabulous!”

“Come on in, Kat.”

“Ok, Ems.”

Kat bounced in and sat on my light tan couch.

“What’s new?” I asked.

“The usual.” She made a face. “Very dull.”

“How’s Matt?” Matt was Kat’s boyfriend.

“Fine.”

“Are you still living in Boston?”

“No, we moved to Phoenix.”

“Mmmm, some sun.”

“Yeah, I was tired of rain.”

“Yeah.”

“How’s Seattle?”

“Rainy.”

Conversation went by like this for awhile.

Eventually, Kat said “Have you seen Neva lately?”

I blushed. “I left them years ago, Kat.”

Neva? How did she remember Neva? Why did she ask about Neva?

“So, that’s a no?” She laughed.

I didn’t answer.

“Em?”

I still wasn’t paying attention.

“EMMA?”

I had been launched into one of my too-frequent flashbacks.

I had been staying in Egypt, with the Ankhenaten clan of vampires.

“Emma, come here.” A cold voice commanded. Ankhele’s cold voice.

“Emma, you’ve been such a good little girl. Such a good little child.”

“Yes, Miss Ankhele.” I spoke.

“Yes, dearest.”

“The best, Miss?”

“The best, darling.”

“THE BEST? MOTHER, WHY IS SHE THE BEST? I’VE ALWAYS BEEN THE BEST!” Neva’s tan face was streaked with angry tears.

“No, Neva. Now Emma is the best.” Ankhele spoke again.

 No words could describe the absolutely poisonous look Neva shot me next.

“Miss Ankhele, has Egypt fallen to the Ankhenaten yet?” I asked, ignoring Neva.

“Almost, dear.”

“HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME!” Neva again.

“Neva, be silent!” Ankhele ordered.

“Yes, Mother.”

Lily was used to my complaining. “What’s wrong, Ems?”

“I’m tired of being Miss America!”

“So am I.”

“I’ve been Miss America for over a century!”

“Em, calm down. You’re not in this alone, remember.”

“Yeah but Lil…”

“Emma, go to school.” Her persuasive ability was encouraging me.

“Lily…”

“Emma, go to school.”

“O-ok” I stuttered. Darn her persuasive power!

I threw on a Hollister shirt, a green one with a pink seagull. It was my favorite shirt, and Carli always encouraged me to wear my favorite shirt when I was depressed.

Stupid Lily, I thought as I opened my car door and got in behind the wheel. I glanced at Paige’s house as I passed it. Her big red truck was still in her driveway, cold and alone, waiting for her to drive to school.

My shiny cobalt cell phone rang incessantly. Ugh, I thought.

“Emma?” Alice.

“Alice?”

“Emma, I’m bailing school today. You wanna go hunting?”

“I would, Alice, but Lily persuaded me to go to school.”

“Ok. I’ll call Paige. Has she left yet?”

“No, her truck’s still in her driveway.”

“Great! Bye Ems!”

“Bye, Alice.”

I shut my phone and continued driving. Lucky Alice. I made a mental note: Don’t call Lily before school to complain!

When I arrived at school, Lily dragged me to my locker.

“Em, you came!” She hugged me, even though she knew full well I would come.

I opened my locker and got my books. With supernatural strength, I carried them to my homeroom with ease. The first three periods were a blur. When I got to lunch, I nearly fell out of my seat.

Walking through the cafeteria, I spotted a new guy. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I recognized him. From over a century ago.

“Why is he here?” I whispered to myself.

“Hmm?” Rosalie had heard me.

I didn’t hear her. “Why?” I whispered again.

“I gotta… um… I gotta go.” I made my escape to the girl’s bathroom.

“Why? WHY?” I screamed, safely alone.

“Emma? Aren’t you Emma?” A blonde girl with brown eyes came from a stall.

It was Candace, one of Carli’s human friends.

“Hello.” I said, coldly. I didn’t hide the venom in my voice.

Candace stared at me oddly, and then left quickly.

“Why? Why? Why now? Why here? Why today? Why?” I repeated over and over again.

“Em? Emma, are you in here?” Carli’s voice called softly.

“How?” I asked simply.

“Candace said she saw you in here.” Of course.

“What’s your deal, Ems?” Carli sounded concerned.

“Nothing.” I uttered. “I’m fine, Carls.”

Carli looked unsure, but left me alone in the bathroom.

As soon as she was gone, I crept out and ran, hopefully not looking abnormal, and took off in my car to my own home.

“Why?” I asked myself the whole way.

I had just made it to my bedroom when there was a knock at the door.

I hesitated. Finally I opened it.

“What do you want?” I hissed.

Paige and I had been friends ever since she became a vampire. I found her lying in a clearing, and I was lonely, so I brought her home. She didn’t remember anything about her human past. She had always wondered who she was, where she came from.

Earlier, I said that my friends and I only shared our good looks and our secret. That’s not quite true. We also shared our aching mysteries and desires. Paige is just dying to learn of her past, of her human life. Before her rebirth. Carli wants to find her two sisters, who ran away when she was 16. Lily suspects they’re vamps, but Rose always told us, when Carli is out of the room, that her sisters probably died long ago. Rosalie always searched for her ability, and she wants to shut down the schoolyard rumor that a dead girl, Rosalie, haunts the old, haunted mansion in her old town. Bella always wished to console her burning past. Her past was a hard one. She also desired to know who created her. Lily had no mysteries to herself. But to us, she had many mysteries. She refuses to tell us a thing about her past. Alice was always wary about her desires. She told us, one night, that she wanted to find her little sister, Margaret, who disappeared when Alice was 16, and Margaret was 14.

I thought and I thought about what my mystery was, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I thought and thought all night long, and by the time I gave up it was near 6:00 AM. As I got up and slipped into a pair of clean jeans, I sighed. Another day of school approached. Another day of boys staring at me like I was Miss America or whatever. I was so done with highschool! The boys were absolute toads, and the girls were absolute snakes! Every day I walked out of the house, not knowing whether to wear an exterminator’s suit or an Abercrombie shirt! In my distress, I called Lily.

          Carli had come onto our private chatroom.

          TwilightQueen: Nm, u?

          CarliCarli123: Ugh same

          DarkLilies: Sup gals?

          Lily had arrived.

          TwilightQueen: I’ve been thinking.

          CarliCarli123: Ugh, not the “My Life Sux” issue again

          TwilightQueen: How’d you guess?

          DarkLilies: I’ll b at ur house in FIVE seconds

          CarliCarli123: Ya get Paige 2, I’ll find Bella and Rose

          DarkLilies: I’ll get Alice

          TwilightQueen: kk

          CarliCarli123: b rite there, ems

          DarkLilies: Same

          TwilightQueen: k cya then

          In ten minutes we were all sitting in my room. Alice and Lily had run here.

          “Lily, Alice, you really shouldn’t run. Those idiot humans might see you.” Rosalie scolded lightly.

          “Sorry Rose!” Alice chirped.

          “Sorry, Rosalie.” Lily said, pouting.

          “So Ems, any update on the trip to Juneau?” Carli piped up.

          For years, we’d been planning a trip to Juneau for hunting.

          “I’m tired of squirrel blood.” Bella sighed.

          The rest of the group nodded.

          “I heard there are BEARS in Alaska!” Carli licked her lips. Carli always knew the newest vamp gossip, because she got VampTalk, a teen magazine exclusively for vampires.

          “Bears?” Alice gasped.

          “Bears.” Carli confirmed.

          “Hey, didn’t we come here to talk about Em’s recent “problem”?” Lily asked, half sarcastic. I groaned.

          “Fine, we will.” Bella said seriously. “Who knows, this could be a huge problem.”

          “My curfew’s in ten minutes.” Paige said suddenly.

          “OMG!” Carli gasped. Mine’s in two!

          “Urgh, mine was five minutes ago.” Lily sighed.

          “I’m starving, I HAVE to go hunting.” Rosalie groaned.

          “Oh no!” Alice shrieked. “I have to go NOW!”

          “I’m so sorry, Emma, but I gotta go too.” Bella said quietly.

          “That’s fine, Bella.” I said, probably a little colder than I meant.

          After all my friends had left, I flopped down on my bed and thought. I’m always thinking. I turned my iPod on as loud as possible. “Circus” by Britney Spears blasted into my room. If my friends were still there, I would’ve gotten up and danced with Carli. I sighed. But when I was alone, I was silent and thoughtful. I thought about my life. I had given up on love three years ago. I didn’t miss it. I was fine without love. I decided to change the subject in my mind. I thought about my past.