Who can say when the roads meet,

That love might be,

In your heart.

And who can say when the day sleeps,

If the night keeps all your heart?

Night keeps all your heart…

Only Time, by Enya

Chapter One

Edward's POV

The natives deny it, but I swear you can taste the smog the second you're over the bridge.

"Don't be stupid," Jasper started when I had voiced my thoughts. "It's just your imagination; it's always just your imagination."

He was right, of course. The air wouldn't change simply by going over a bridge, not even a bridge into Jersey. He was also right on the fact that my imagination was getting a bit too rampant.

Almost five months ago, Jasper, armed with Alice and Emmett, traveled nearly halfway around the world to northern China to politely, yet firmly, inform me that Esme would like her son home for Christmas. She called it a small request, seeing how I hadn't even called, let alone 'pop in' for a visit in over ten years.

I went back with them, and here I am now. Moving into yet another new house. They had been in the last one for over seven years, far too long. It was up in the Rockies', and that's the main reason they got away with it. When there aren't many people around, things tend to go unnoticed. In the end, some got suspicious, so we packed up and headed east.

While I had sat in the wilderness of Northern China, the rest of my family was busy seeing their fair share of Europe. First England, then Germany and Denmark which was closely followed by a tour of the rest of the Scandinavian countries. They finally settled in Norway, right along the coast, until Rosalie became sick with the Norse and demanded to return to America where they spoke good old English, the right way.

As Esme had put it, the east coast was the only place left to go. Florida was too sunny and Rosalie declared herself sick of snow so New England was out. Alice wanted to be close to New York City, so she could actually be near some good shopping for once. New Jersey was the only place we could all agree on.

"How much farther?" I asked Jasper as I looked at the endless farmland out the window. New Jersey would never cease to amaze me. You could go miles and all you would see was an endless forest. Then, you would take a bend and find acres upon acres of farmland only to go down another hill and be back in the forest.

"Fifteen miles, maybe," Jasper replied without removing his eyes from the road. "Look, that's the school," he pointed out his window, but still never moved his eyes.

Hunterdon Central Regional High School had a student body well over three thousand, quite a bit higher than Fork's three hundred. It was the size of a small college campus with four buildings.

When Esme had learned about the size of the school, she was worried that we would stick out like a sore thumb. Carlisle pointed out that it had to have its fair share of 'freaks'. Besides, it's not like anybody cared.

XXX

The house had the same design as all of our other houses. For some reason, Esme liked it this way. Moving in took no time at all and I soon found my self stretched out on my couch listening to music and reading.

"Edward," Carlisle said as he opened my door. "Ready for the rounds?"

'The rounds', as Carlisle called it, consisted of visiting all the vampires near by. Out West there were not many, but by the cities, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC, there were a lot more. Usually only a few of us went on the rounds, but sometimes we all did.

"When are we going?" I asked as I sat up and placed my book on the floor next to me.

"Now, that is, if we're all ready."

"We are," Alice said as she pulled open the door more so that we could see her and Jasper standing there. "Emmett called driving."

XXX

The car was crowded, to say the least. I had the joy of sitting behind Emmett and he had the habit of pushing his chair as far back as it could possibly go. Fun. Carlisle and Esme also sat in the front with Emmett. That left Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and me squeezed in the back. Why we could not take two, I would never fathom.

"How many covens are we visiting exactly? And how long is this going to take?" Rosalie asked huffily as she crossed her arms. She was currently stuck in the middle between Jasper and me and was not too pleased about it.

Carlisle turned and gave us an apologetic smile before answering. "Well I'm not really sure. Originally, we were just going to do a full hundred mile circle like usual, but once I learned the number of covens that were in that, I figured we could just do the state."

Rosalie frowned, "so how many are there precisely?"

"There are about three or four different covens. As for time, well that depends on two different things; one, how fast Emmett plans on driving," Carlisle grinned as Emmett sped up in response. "And two, how much they talk."

"Where exactly are they at?" Jasper questioned.

"One of them is in Camden, big surprise there, another is in Atlantic City," Emmett cut Carlisle off before he could continue.

"Atlantic City!" He exclaimed as a smile broke out across his face. "They have a boardwalk," his grin grew larger. "Plus rides."

"No," Rosalie stated tightly. Emmett's smile just got bigger, but she was clearly not amused.

"Aw, Rose," Emmett started but her glare soon shut him up. That did not mean that he ever stopped thinking of different plans to get her to agree to in his mind, though.

"And the other one? Or two, I guess," I inquired. "Are we not sure if one of them still exists?"

"Oh no," Carlisle said firmly. "The both exist."

A crease appeared above Japer's brow. "Then what's the problem?"

"It's not really a problem. It just seems that no one actually knows if they consider themselves one or two covens. We will just have to wait until we see them and can find out for ourselves."

"And where are they exactly?" Jasper asked.

Carlisle smiled. "Roughly fifteen miles from us; if I remember the 'ages' correctly, you will actually have the pleasure of going to school with some of them."

"You knew this when I was worried about the school!" Esme said accusingly, "that's how you knew that they would be fine!" Despite herself, Esme was not able to keep the smile off her face.

"I wasn't positive," Carlisle said, still smiling, "but I was pretty sure."

XXX

The first two covens we visited went without a problem. In Camden, they were just firm about us staying away for their area. In return, they would reframe from feeding anywhere near us.

In Atlantic City, they thought we were joking when we said they did not have to worry about us feeding in their area. We agreed to inform them before we came south again so they would know. Other than that, they did not really seem to mind. We did not stay there long, and soon we were heading back to Readington to meet the final coven, or covens, depending on who you asked.

It was not a very hard house to find, considering it was directly off the highway, and it was rather dingy looking. Quite unlike the first two; in Camden, they resided in a large Victorian-style mansion which went completely against the surrounding houses which were falling apart and in Atlantic City they stayed above one of the major casinos, and it just so happened it was theirs. The house was small; two stories though, with siding that had once been blue but had long since turned grey in most areas. The shutters were stripped from wear, and only a little of their white paint remained.

Throughout the yard, if you could call it that, there were various pieces of wood and rusty metal thrown throughout the overgrown grass. Some were large, like the piece of old wood propped against the side of the house that was larger than the size of an average door; others were small, like the old, rusty rake, which was left carelessly laying, half-hidden, in the tall grass.

Despite the rubbish all over the place, there was a cleared area to the left of the house which not even a single blade of grass grew in. Instead, it was covered in pebbles, like a makeshift parking lot. In any case, it was big enough to fit at least twenty cars. Sitting there were two; a Jaguar and a Porsche. They were an extreme contrast to the state of their surroundings, but no one seemed to care.

We pulled up beside the two cars and made our way towards the front door. I turned when I heard Rose cursing while she held her shoe in her hand.

"Fricking idiots," she mumbled and added a few choice words. "These things cost me five hundred, and this was the first chance I got to wear them!"

At the sound of her distress, Emmett moved closer and took the shoe from here. She had managed to step on a rusty nail on the step, and it had gone through the sole of her shoe.

This was bound to be interesting.