A/N – All Twilight characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.


Renesmee POV

It was all my fault.

I was bored, so I'd gone rummaging around in Grandpa Carlisle's library. When I found the locked chest – well, that was just like waving a red rag to a bull. Of course I picked the lock. And of course I read the ancient-looking manuscript hidden inside the chest – if it was locked away, it had to be juicy. When I saw the instructions on how to open a portal to another dimension… ding, ding, ding – Jackpot!

And so a couple of nights later, there were Jake and I, lining up the mirrors just like the book had said to do. When it actually worked, I couldn't believe it. I just had to touch the lights dancing between the mirrors, if only to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, or dreaming. I wish now that I'd just pinched myself like any normal person would have done. The enormity of what was happening dawned on me right before the mirrors wrapped around us. I think I was in shock – I had tried to utter the words to close the portal, but no sound came out. Icy fear shot through my veins. The last thing I remembered was feeling Jake holding me tightly, before the darkness closed in.

When I opened my eyes again, we were here.

I felt so bad for what I'd done. First, I'd pushed him into going along with this when I knew he didn't want to. Then I'd recklessly ignored everything he'd said. And then I had cried when I'd realised how much I'd messed up. I felt like such a stupid girl. I needed to be strong, but instead I had bawled like some snotty, spoilt child. Jake had comforted me. "It's okay, honey," he had murmured against my hair as he held me in his arms. "We'll get home. I'll get you home." But that just made me sob even harder. This was my fault, and he was comforting me. I should have been the one comforting him.

I had cried myself to sleep against Jake's chest. I'd woken up a while ago, but was still feeling ashamed. I knew he wouldn't blame me, but that just made it worse. So here I was, pretending to still be asleep. I felt him absentmindedly stroke my hair. His lips gently touched the top of my head, and his arms tightened around me. I snuggled in closer to him.

I had grown up enveloped in my Jake's warmth and sunshine. When I was young, he'd watched over me like a big brother, and as I got older he became my best friend. And then one day those feelings deepened. My goofy best friend grew into the man I loved with all my heart. I fell deeper in love with him every day, and I was convinced there was no way my feelings would be reciprocated. I tried so hard to hold them back, but they spilled over and soon it became impossible to deny. When he finally told me that he loved me too, I was so happy I thought my heart would burst.

And then he had told me about imprinting. It sounded so wonderful - the bonding together of a wolf and his soulmate. I had known the stories about him and Mom, but then he explained how imprinting on me had changed everything. He described how his world's centre of gravity had shifted to me, and I had become his reason for living. He would love and protect me always, and he would know instinctively what I needed. He would know, because I was his soulmate. He was bonded to me by something more powerful than words could ever describe. How could I not help but feel totally, utterly, completely loved?

But over the years I began to wonder if what he felt for me was real or just some "magical wolfy claim thing," as Aunt Rose had described it. I had no doubt he loved me, but the imprint had decided that for him. Would he still love me if he had a choice? Every time my thoughts began to stray that way, I'd shut them off. I didn't care what it was, or the reason for it. My Jacob loved me, and that was all that mattered. From the day I was born – that first time our eyes met - I felt like something was weaving our two souls together. I always felt there had to be more to it than just the imprint though - the connection between us was so strong, it couldn't have just been the result of some magical fluke. I loved this wonderful, gentle, brave, amazing giant of a man so much. He was, is, and always would be, my everything.

And now I had dragged him into this awful mess.

I decided it was time to stop being such a sook, so I sat up and looked at Jake. He looked terrible – he obviously hadn't slept a wink all night. I put my palm to his cheek. 'I'm sorry,' I projected to him. But he just smiled and looked at me questioningly.

"Your hands are so cold, honey" he murmured to me. He was right. He wasn't as warm as usual either. Maybe it was the cold night air. But that still didn't explain why he was behaving as if he hadn't 'heard' what I'd projected to him. I tried again. He put his large russet hand over my small pale one and rubbed it to warm it up. Okay, I thought - so maybe my gift was on the blink. I was probably tired and so that's why it wasn't working, I reasoned. I wondered if it had anything to do with how muted our surroundings seemed. This world didn't seem too different to our own, but looked more blurry somehow – like I was peering through a foggy window. I felt different too. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the sensation was strange – like my senses were somehow dulled.

I decided to give up on the telepathy for now. I had bigger fish to fry.

"I'm sorry," I said out aloud to him.

His eyes softened. "Ness, it's okay. We'll get out of this, I promise." He continued rubbing my hands between his. The warmth of the friction was nice. Why was I feeling the cold?

"That's not what I meant, Jake." I said sternly to him. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I should have listened to you. I won't be so reckless again." I looked at him apologetically. I hugged him close to me and hoped that he would understand how truly sorry I was.

I felt his touch on my face as he lifted my chin so I was looking at him. "And I said it's okay, honey. I'm not cross with you." And then he grinned at me, his dark eyes twinkling. "Fuh-ged-da-bout-it" he said in his best Mafioso voice. I giggled. Jake always knew how to make everything better. He beamed at me, and leaned in for a kiss. His lips touched mine, and the universe felt in balance again.

Truth be told, if he hadn't gone along with my little project, I probably would have tried to do it on my own. What an even bigger disaster that would have been. I was thankful that he was here. As long as we were together, I knew everything would be all right.

I decided it was time to size up our situation, so I started to get up. "I'm going to look around," I told him.

"Wait, honey," he stopped me. "It might be dangerous. I'll come with you."

I was about to get all indignant on his ass and tell him that I was perfectly capable of looking after myself, but then I remembered why we were here in the first place. So I smiled sheepishly and helped him up. He took my hand in his and we started to look around.

It was early morning, and the darkness around us was beginning to lift. As it became lighter, I could see that our surroundings looked a lot like the forests around Forks. We made our way through the trees, not really sure where we were going, but just needing to get a better idea of what we were up against. Jake unhelpfully muttered something about making sure we didn't miss the yellow brick road. We were coming to a clearing when I heard rustling in the bushes. I spun around to the direction of the sound, and my jaw dropped.

About twenty feet away stood an enormous wild boar. At least I thought it was a boar. It was about the size of cow, and had massive tusks curled around like a woolly mammoth's. It bared its teeth and got ready to charge us. I thought about pouncing on the beast - I hadn't hunted for nearly a week, so the thirst should have been starting to burn in the back of my throat by now - but my legs wouldn't move. The craving that would normally have spurned me into action was non-existent. I stood rooted to the spot, frozen with fear.

Quick as a flash Jake jumped in front of me. "Ness, get behind me." A low growl sounded in his chest as he stared down the giant boar-like creature. Jacob's muscles tightened as he got ready to phase. I knew what was coming next, so I backed away from him a bit to give him room. I saw the familiar tremors ripple through his body, and watched for the giant russet wolf to burst forward. Jake crouched down, ready to spring. And then -

Nothing.

He looked at me with panic in his eyes.

"Ness, RUN." He shouted. "I can't phase."