Author's Notes: None of this belongs to me. All credit goes to Stephanie Meyer. Most of the story comes from Twilight and Midnight Sun.

Chapter 1

It was lunchtime. Again. Just another day of playing pretend for the children attending Forks High. I felt the desire to sigh in exasperation. Who knew how many times the five of us had sat through a lunch period just like this one, staring at the inedible slop the humans called food, just counting the minutes until the bell released us? Emmett and I had once tried to actually calculate the number of minutes we had all spent in purgatory- I mean, High School- and only stopped when it became too depressing.

I looked across the cafeteria and stared at the miniscule dust motes dancing in the very slight breeze made by Lisa Marcus fanning her face three tables over. Normally I was the most good-natured of my siblings about going to school. Today I was just in a bad mood. I was too worried about Jasper.

The voices of the students jumbled together and mixed into one cacophony that bounced off of the cafeteria walls. Had I any desire I could have picked each voice apart, dissecting their inane conversations, but I had heard it all before. I tried to distract myself by letting the lull of the children's voices wash over me, hearing "new girl" and "hot" and "ask her" and "math" all at once.

As much as I tried, I couldn't keep my mind away from Jasper for too long. I knew he was suffering. It had been a little over two weeks since we had hunted. While this resulted in a little bit of discomfort for me (after all, I prefer not holding my breath), I knew Jasper must be in a tremendous amount of pain.

Edward, I thought out to my favorite brother. Even though I knew he must have been hearing my previous thoughts, I wanted to make sure he was paying attention. How is he holding up? I thought at him. I kept my gaze firmly fixed away from Edward, as if I was simply staring into space. The charade was for my other siblings, as well as for the children surrounding us.

From where I was sitting I could see all of my family in front of the cafeteria full of students, so I saw Edward's very slight frown. I felt myself start to panic, and couldn't bring myself to relax. All of my usual tricks, such as taking deep breaths or humming Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky, would give me away to Jazz.

I tried to watch Jasper as subtly as possible. Is there any danger? I asked Edward. He could judge Jasper's mental stability and will power better than I could. By the time I had a vision, it could already be too late. I looked through the future as best as I could, sifting through visions quickly: I made a note to tell Carlisle to sell a stock by Thursday; Mike Newton was going to drudge up the courage to go talk to the pretty new girl with brown hair; snow would fall next weekend; we would have a pop quiz in French. That was all I could see.

Edward gave a minute shake of his head, answering my question. I let my shoulders relax a little. I felt bad for doubting Jasper, but I knew the constant surveillance was necessary. He was still the newest to our way of life, and he had the hardest time abstaining.

Let me know if it gets too bad. I knew Edward would hear my thought. Right away he gave the smallest of barely perceptible nods.

Thank you for doing this, I thought to him. I knew he would rather not add Jasper's thirst to his own denial, but again, it was truly necessary.

Just then I felt the slight jerk in the pit of my stomach that always accompanied the oncoming of a fresh vision. I felt the edges of my vision go black as I saw Jasper walk up to Whitney Torie, lean down behind her to smell her short, sandy hair. Next he would lean his lips in to touch the arch of her throat, savoring the burn of desire before his fangs ripped into her neck. Before a single child in the cafeteria could utter a scream, Jasper would begin to suck her dry, while my siblings and I stood stunned, not knowing what to do-

I was yanked out of my vision by the sound of a foot splintering a piece of chair wood. I came to and saw Whitney walk out of the cafeteria unscathed, her sandy hair bouncing as she moved her hips.

"Sorry," Jazz muttered, and I could hear genuine regret and stubborn rebellion in his voice.

"You weren't going to do anything," I lied. I had to. I couldn't bear to see Jasper looking so sad. "I could see that." When Jazz continued to look down in shame I said, "It helps a little if you think of them as people." I talked too quickly for humans to understand, just in case anyone overheard us. "Her name is Whitney. She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esme to that garden party, do you remember?"

"I know who she is," Jasper said, his Southern accent coming out even stronger than usual in his irritation. He turned away from me to stare out the windows, and I knew that he had just ended the conversation.

I sat in extreme stillness until I could be sure that I would not cry in frustration. Jasper was hurting, and I couldn't take it personally. Still, it ached to see him turn away from me when I was just trying to help him. I sighed and got up, taking my tray with me. I dumped my tray and left the cafeteria out the backdoor, then headed to the art room. Sometimes Mrs. Writkoff let me start class early, and I felt like painting to ease my mind.

I was no da Vinci, but I thought I captured the essence of the bovine skull and cactus still life that we were supposed to paint pretty efficiently. The assignment wasn't challenging enough, but it was better than nothing. The bell rang and other students filed in, taking their places behind their easels. The class hour passed quickly. I painted half-heartedly, truly focusing my mind on Jasper. I wanted to be prepared in case there were any other close calls such as in the cafeteria earlier. That had been much too close for anyone's comfort. But I received no visions regarding Jasper and violence. At one point I felt that familiar yank in my stomach and my vision going black, but when I saw it had to do with Edward I forced the vision away. My favorite brother would have to wait for today. I needed to focus on Jazz.

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, I sighed in relief. Only one more hour to go. I could make it through. We could make it through. I made my way to English, bothered by the feeling that I was missing something. However, I was focusing extremely hard on Jazz, and I knew that I had missed nothing with him. He was perfectly fine, holding his breath in Biology. The feeling that I was forgetting something, or that I was wrong about something, grew throughout class. I could barely pay attention to the lecture. Not that it mattered. I had Wuthering Heights memorized. So I focused even harder on Jasper, hell-bent on missing nothing. If he crossed his legs, I wanted to have a premonition alerting me of it.

Class seemed to pass this way incredibly slowly, but finally school ended. I moved as quickly as I dared, anxious to meet up with Jazz. I was the first to arrive at Edward's silver Volvo, and I stood outside the front passenger seat.

A voice came from behind me. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I'd be obliged if you'd allow me to help you into your seat."

A smile lit across my face, but I forced it back and turned around slowly. "That would be kind of you, good sir," I said formally. When I saw the twinkle in Jasper's eyes, I couldn't hold my smile back anymore. I jumped up into his arms and kissed him deeply, threading my fingers through his silky hair.

Someone loudly cleared their throat from the other side of the Volvo. Jasper let go of me immediately and set me down lightly, and I turned around to see Rosalie giving us a bored frown and Emmett giving us a huge smirk.

"I didn't know how to tell you, Jasper, but you had a tiny vampire all over your face. It's gone now," Emmett laughed.

I knew if Jasper could blush he would right then, but I just daintily gave Jasper a peck on the cheek and said, "You're just jealous, Emmett."

Once Jasper opened the door for me I took shotgun and the other three filed in to the backseat.

"Where is Edward?" Rosalie asked. The parking lot had already mostly emptied.

"I don't know," Emmett said. "But I wonder if I can get him to be on my team for a rematch tonight. What do you say, Jazz?" The boys began to bicker good-naturedly for a few minutes.

Just then Edward opened the driver's door and slid in. He was gasping desperately for air and his eyes were round as saucers. I had never seen him like that.

"Edward?" I asked. I couldn't keep the fear out of my voice.

Edward just shook his head at me.

"What the hell happened to you?" Emmett asked with anger and anxiety.

We all slammed into our seats as the car jerked into reverse. Edward turned a sharp right and sharply accelerated. My internal senses told me we were soon going at least sixty-five miles per hour, and I looked into the future to make sure we would not get a speeding ticket. That was the last thing we needed to deal with right now. Luckily I saw nothing, so I was free to focus on Edward.

I felt Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper staring at me for answers, but I shrugged. I was desperately searching the future for clues. I was also seriously regretting not paying attention to my earlier vision that had to do with Edward. I skimmed ahead in the future, looking for Edward. I saw him driving long into the night, passing signs that said Anchorage…. 52 miles.

"You're leaving?" I whispered. Any air I had in my chest suddenly disappeared. I felt the others staring at me. I could feel Jasper's gaze as if a heating lamp was on the back of my neck.

"Am I?" Edward hissed, the noise coming out through his clenched teeth.

I continued to look into the future and saw Edward's decisions change. "Oh," I moaned. I saw the new Swan girl, dead. Her blood drained out of her. I saw Edward's eyes alight with her crimson blood, his mouth tightened in a grimace of shame and self-loathing. I saw Charlie Swan sobbing as he identified his broken, bloodless daughter's corpse. I saw the witch hunt that would ensue as the town attempted to try and find the killer. And then we would wait, and then leave; for we could not stay past the time it would take to distill suspicion.

Edward's mind became more focused and certain. "Oh," I said again. I saw him at the Swan girl's house. Isabella was in a small kitchen decorated in yellow. Edward crept up on her from behind, following the pull of her blood…

"Stop!" Edward groaned. He sounded tortured.

"Sorry," I whispered. My eyes were wide with shock and horror. Maybe that was what made Edward's mind shift again. I felt the tug of a change in the future and saw snow-covered pine trees flashing by, a highway bereft of cars except one going incredibly fast, heading nowhere… "I'll miss you," I said. "No matter how short a time you're gone." And even though I didn't see it, I had to believe that sometime soon Edward would come back to us.

Emmett and Rose exchanged a nervous glance that they thought no one else could see. I noticed that we were close to the turn-off to the drive that led to the house.

"Drop us here," I said in an authoritative tone. "You should tell Carlisle yourself." I could see it now. Edward entering the hospital, attempting to walk in the shadows so as not to gain any attention of the adoring nurses. He would enter Carlisle's office, who would mercifully be free, and say "I have to go, Carlisle. I have to go now."

The car jerked to a stop with a squeal. The other three got out in silence, and I knew I had a lot of explaining to do.

I touched Edward's shoulder. "You will do the right thing," I ordered. "She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him, too."

"Yes," he said.

Please, Edward I thought as I got out of the car, but I didn't know if his thoughts were too distracted for him to hear me.

We ran towards home, and when I turned around the car was gone.

The four of us whipped past trees as we ran down the gravel path that led towards the path.

"Start talking, Half-Pint," Emmett ordered as we all flew down the driveway.

"I will," I trilled, "but wait until we're with Esme."

Emmett groaned and used his frustration to run even faster. It was no surprise that he was the first one to arrive at the house. Esme was standing outside the front door with a smile on her beautiful heart-shaped face, ready to greet us. Her smile fell when she saw that one of us was missing.

All four of us came to a stop in front of her. Emmett threw an arm over Rosalie's shoulder.

"Jasper? Alice? Where's your brother?" Esme turned to us. Jasper grabbed my hand.

"Yeah, Alice," Emmett said. "I'd like to know that myself."

Esme frowned in worry and turned to me again. "What does he mean? Has something happened?"

"Mom, I'm sorry to tell you this, but Edward has left us for a while. I think… I think something happened today in class with that new girl, Isabella Swan. He almost killed her. I'm so sorry. I was so focused on Jasper that I didn't see it." I turned to Jasper with an apologetic look on my face, and was alarmed to see him frowning. I forgot that he didn't know that I was watching him so closely. We would definitely have a discussion about that later.

Esme gasped. "He almost did what?"

"There's a lot that I actually don't know. I'm running on very little information here. But yeah, that's what it seems like. So he's gone away for awhile, until he can control himself better."

Emmett looked incredibly shocked. Rosalie looked disdainful. Esme looked as if she was fighting back tears. I couldn't bear to see my adoptive mother looking so upset, so I ran to her and folded her into an embrace. "It will be alright," I murmured. "He will come back to us. I know it."

Esme wiped nonexistent tears out of her eyes and muttered, "Yes, you're right."

All five of us went inside and stood in the dining room that only seemed to see use in serious and formal situations. We talked about the day, trying to piece together what happened. Esme kept on repeating that she just couldn't believe it, and Emmett kept saying that he was going to kill Edward. Then we all heard the purr of Edward's Volvo.

"He came back!" Esme cried and ran out the front door. However when we all followed her we saw that it was not Edward but Carlisle who stepped out of the front seat. "What has happened?" Esme asked. "Is Edward-"

"Edward is alright. He has gone to visit Tanya, Kate, and Irina in Denali."

Rosalie and Emmett exchanged shocked glances. "But what about the girl?" Emmett said. "What is he going to do about her?"

Carlisle sighed. "We had a quick talk, and I reminded Edward that he is not driven by his baser instincts. By now he is probably close to the state border. The girl will be fine. Now I know you all will miss him while he's gone-" (Rosalie gave a scornful sniff) "but we must act as if nothing is different. Alright? He will come home when he is ready."

We all nodded our agreement and went inside, to begin the long wait for Edward's return.