Chapter One

Bella

I put the phone down my mind racing, how was I going to get away from Alice and Jasper, if I couldn't then Renee was dead. Sneaking out of the hotel room was going to be almost impossible so when Alice suggested we leave for the airport early I saw a possible way of getting clear of the others but if I decided to skip out Alice would see and stop me. As we drove to the airport I saw Alice watching me in the mirror, she was suspicious about something, perhaps I wasn't acting how I should. I just wished I'd never gone to the baseball game or at least that Edward were here already but then if he were I would have no chance of getting away to meet James and Renee would be dead. Everything was going round and round in my head. Jasper turned,

"Don't worry so much Bella, Edward will be here soon."

When we got there I sat waiting with the two of them trying to gauge just the right time to act knowing that the minutes were ticking away to the dead line James had set me. Alice kept suggesting I eat but I put her off until I had no choice but to act,

"I think I will get something Alice but would you mind if Jasper came with me? Only I'm feeling very nervous and I was hoping Jasper might help me keep calm."

"Of course Bella. Just don't take too long."

She smiled brightly as he got up with a smile of encouragement.

I remembered that one of the rest rooms at the airport had two exits and if I was lucky I could escape Jasper by taking the second. Would Alice see this? Or would she be blind to my actions until I actually decided to act? I hated deceiving Jasper and Alice but I knew James would carry out his threat to kill my mother if I didn't go alone to the studio. It had been a source of torment when I was a little girl, Renee thought ballet would make me less clumsy and more confident, and was continuing to be as an adult. Jasper walked beside me wary, he felt my own nerves and was on high alert for James, after all he must be in Phoenix or Alice wouldn't have seen me at the Ballet Studio. I waited until we were close to the rest rooms I wanted then stopped,

"Jasper I need a few minutes."

He looked at the door and nodded with a ghost of a smile on his face,

"No problem Bella. I'll be right outside waiting."

I nodded,

"Thank you and Jasper..."

"Yes Bella?"

"Thanks for everything. It can't have been easy travelling all this way in a car with me."

"Actually Bella I find your company quite relaxing."

He looked at his watch,

"You'd better hurry. Edwards plane will be landing soon and you haven't eaten yet. You may have to decide what you want quickly."

I wasn't sure I understood him but I smiled and went into the rest rooms glancing round to make sure Alice hadn't followed us, getting some inkling of what I was about to do, but seeing nothing to worry me I ran to the other exit.

I didn't have time to vacillate, Jasper might come looking for me at any moment or Alice seeing what I planned, so I pushed the door open and ran out into the concourse at the other side of the airport terminal. I knew there was a cab rank outside so I pulled the money out of my pocket and slid into the front cab, calling out my destination to the driver who took off as if realizing how urgent my journey was. I sat back whispering a goodbye to Edward and apology to Alice and Jasper. I had no idea what I was going to do when I got to the ballet studio, how did I know that James would keep his word and let Renee go? I could get there to find her already dead and me about to follow her. I just hoped Victoria hadn't joined him, she frightened me more than James did, I could see avarice and cruelty in her eyes while his just held a need to have me, or at least my blood. As Edward had said, it was the thrill of the chase that gave him his kicks. Well he was going to be satisfied soon, he would have me and then with luck Charlie would be safe too. I hoped James wouldn't go back to Forks to finish my family off but how would the Cullens explain my disappearance, and Renee's if James had killed her, to Charlie. Would we become just two more women who walked out of the door, never to be seen again?

Jasper

I waited, becoming more uneasy the longer Bella was out of sight, I didn't for one moment think she was in danger here with us but we were responsible for her. After five minutes I asked a woman going in to the rest room if she could check on my sister who was feeling a little unwell.

"Her name's Bella, Bella Swan"

The woman smiled and promised to be back in a few seconds and she was, but only to tell me that there was no one of that name or looking like my sister in the rest room.

"Maybe she got confused and went out the other door. It happens sometimes."

I cursed silently knowing Bella had given me the slip, she had asked me to go with her not to keep her calm but to give her the opportunity to slip away knowing I couldn't accompany her into the rest room. It was far too late to try and track her, besides I thought I knew where she was going, to the Ballet Studio where she took lessons when she was a little girl. Somehow James had lured her there alone but how? Then I remembered the phone call from her mother, had it really been her mother? Or had it been James? Had he used her mothers safety to lure her away from us?

I ran back to join Alice whose face fell when she saw I was alone,

"Where's Bella?"

I explained and as I finished we saw Edwards flight status change to landed.

"Do we have any idea where this ballet studio is?"

Alice shook her head then closed her eyes, trying to see what was going on.

"I can't see her Jazz, she's disappeared from sight. Some thing's happened to her and we have to explain it to Edward. We were supposed to be keeping her safe, he's going to hit the roof if we can't find her."

"You stay here, fill Edward in, I'll try to track her down, we have her mothers address and maybe I'll be lucky."

I left before she had time to argue, I lost Bella and it was my responsibility to find her again. Once outside the terminal and out of sight of human eyes I started to run keeping in the shelter of the darkness in the trees until I got into Phoenix itself when I had to be more careful. Finding Renee's neighbourhood wasn't difficult but finding the road was and when I eventually found Renee's house I could see it was in darkness, no one was home. Going round the back I forced my way in through a kitchen window and as soon as I got inside I could smell James. So he had come looking for Bella's mother, presumably to use as a lure for Bella. Chances were it was he who had rung Bella not her mother at all. I checked the house, he'd been through all the rooms but I couldn't see anything out of place then I heard a car door and the sound of footsteps approaching the front of the house. Cursing I slipped out and stood in the shadows waiting to see who it was. The sound of a key in the door told me it was someone with every right to be there and as the lights were turned on I recognised Renee from a picture Bella had. So James didn't have Bella's mother! But perhaps Bella thought he had. She was alone and completely unaware anyone had been in the place until she saw the window I had forced, then she stopped dead and took out her cell phone dialling 911 as she went back outside as fast as she could into the safety of the street. I couldn't afford to stay any longer, not with the police on their way.