Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.

Chapter Three
Alice

"Well," Bella started, breaking the three-minute-long silence that had befallen us since leaving the mall, "we can never shop there again."

I nodded, staring out the window, hardly paying attention to the road, which would have been bad if I wasn't a vampire. "It's too bad some employees were watching us," I said, thinking of the bystanders who had been giving us suspicious looks. "I liked that place."

Bella sniffed but didn't respond. I noticed her biting her lip and twirling her hair – a new habit she'd developed after becoming immortal – and sighed, making my way into a nearly-deserted parking lot. I killed the engine as soon as I'd pulled into a random space. Bella turned around and frowned at me.

"This doesn't look like home," she said.

"I wanted to talk to you about what you'd seen, and I don't really… feel like driving while I do," I told her.

Bella lifted one eyebrow at me. "You don't feel like driving and talking at the same time? Since when can vampires not multi-task?"

I smiled absently and looked back out the window and towards an empty shop, fixing my eyes on a sign that read "out to lunch – be back soon!"

"It's not so much that," I said. "I'm just a little… shaken up over the vision." I frowned and stared at my hands. "It's odd; I've never felt this way after a vision before."

Bella paused for a moment, and then turned around towards the back seats. "Nessie?" she said softly. "You haven't said a thing since the mall. Are you okay?"

"Yes," Nessie answered curtly, not sounding very okay. "Is Aunt Alice okay, Momma?"

"She'll be fine," Bella responded immediately, but I wasn't so sure if what she was saying was true. She turned back to me expectantly. "Right, Alice?"

"Right," I lied smoothly, knowing Nessie would believe me. "I'm fine. I mean, I will be fine. It's just…" I trailed off and sunk back into my seat.

Bella took a deep breath and crossed her legs, making herself comfortable. "What did you see?" she prompted.

"I saw…" I frowned deeper, staring off into space. "This girl, with dark hair and blue eyes and… she was killed by a vampire. Correction, she will be killed by a vampire."

Bella shot me a look as if to say do not put images into my innocent daughter's head.

"Have you ever seen the girl before?" she asked.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Never. I didn't recognize her at all. But something about her was so familiar… like I knew her or something. And I don't understand it."

Now Bella was frowning too. "This is unusual, isn't it? For you to see a stranger and feel like you know them?"

"I think it's pretty unusual to feel like you know someone you've never seen before, Bella," I huffed.

My visions had never been like this before. If I'd seen someone I didn't know I wouldn't usually feel anything for them at all. Unless they were proposing a threat or something, like the nomads had back when Bella was still human. Because it mattered that I would see them and know what they were up to. Did it matter that I felt something about this girl, too?

Bella stopped twirling her hair and started brushing her fingers against the windowpane. "Alice, I don't really know what to tell you… but maybe… this girl is important?" she offered. "Maybe she's significant to your life or something? I don't know."

I leaned my head against the back of the seat, spotting various shadow-patterns on the ceiling but not giving them much thought. "This is odd. And I don't know what to do about it, but I have to do something."

"You said she met a vampire, right?" Bella asked, clearly not wanting to say "killed" for fear of upsetting Nessie. I nodded once in response. "What did the vampire look like? Was it someone we know? One of the Volturi?" she guessed, eyes wide. "Did the girl know the vampire secret or something?"

I threw my hands up in the air. "Bella, I do not know if the girl knows the vampire secret or something! Have you been following?" I sighed when she looked down at her hands apologetically and started over, speaking in a calmer and softer tone. "No, I've never seen the vampire before. But for all I know, he could've been some wild newborn. Actually, that sounds like a good conclusion to come to: he was a wild newborn killing a random."

Bella glared at me again for saying "kill". I rolled my eyes and started the car.

"Let's just go home, and I'll tell everyone else about my vision, and they'll say it's nothing to be worried about and that we should just get on with our lives, and then we'll be a big happy family again and find a new mall where we can shop."

I pulled out of the parking space and made my way out of the parking lot. Bella didn't respond, but she didn't need to. I knew she thought I was wrong.

~*~

"We're home," Bella called when we entered the house. I sighed. She already knew that everyone would know we were home as soon as we pulled into the driveway, but her human habits still hadn't broken yet.

"Hey," Rosalie said, appearing at the base of the stairs. "I don't see shopping bags. Don't tell me Alice failed you, Nessie."

Nessie shrugged and hung up her jacket. "We didn't really get to shop," she told Rosalie. "I'm hungry," she added, this time to Bella.

"I'll take you hunting if you want." Bella hung up her own jacket, which was mainly a prop she used when it was cold enough for humans to need them. "You want me to call Jacob? Maybe he can come with us."

Nessie's face brightened at this. "Okay. But I'm not letting him win this time."

Bella laughed and went to get the phone, shooting me a tell them look as she did so. Nessie tagged along with her, leaving me alone with Rosalie.

"Alice?" Rosalie frowned. "You look a little… well, not happy and perky and, you know… annoying."

I sniffed, dropping my purse by the doorway. "I'm just feeling a little… off, I guess. Where's Jasper?" I added, in hopes that he would make me feel better.

"He went out with Edward. Hunting, I presume."

Great. The only two vampires who would know how I was feeling weren't even here to help me explain it. "Hunting again?" I said absently, fiddling with one of my belt loops.

Rosalie hesitated for a moment. "Yes," she said slowly. "They haven't been hunting for a few weeks."

"Oh," I said. "Right. I guess I forgot."

"Forgot?" Rosalie stared at me. "You don't just forget things. What's going on, Alice?"

"Nothing," I said finally, looking her square in the eye. "I'm just a little irritated at not shopping, that's all."

"Oh, really?" Rosalie said, crossing her arms, her lips forming into a tight line. "And why didn't you shop?"

"Because Nessie was getting hungry. For blood, not food," I added when Rosalie opened her mouth to say something else. "We didn't take her to a restaurant because she wanted blood. But don't worry, we're going shopping again tomorrow," I lied smoothly. Anyone else, vampire or otherwise, would have believed this lie, but I'd had a feeling from the start that Rosalie wouldn't. But I had to try.

"Alice, I've known you long enough to tell when you're lying." She stepped off the bottom of the stairs and crossed over to me gracefully. "Let's try the truth now. Why are you so unusually distracted and why weren't you able to shop?"

"Fine," I mumbled, rolling my eyes. "I didn't really want to tell you this because I didn't want you to worry. I had a vision while I was out." I watched as she raised her eyebrow. "Yeah, a vision. That's all, really," I insisted. "There were employees watching as I spaced out and Bella thought it would be best if we left." Rosalie was just about to respond when Bella and Nessie came back into the hall.

"Hey, Nessie and I are going to go hunting in a couple minutes. Jacob's coming too, so I doubt Rosalie would want to come. But, Alice, are you thirsty?" She helped Nessie with her jacket and turned to me.

I hesitated. Rosalie looked a little annoyed that I wasn't offering her all of the details of my vision, but I really, really didn't want her to worry. Maybe when Jasper and Edward came home they could help me explain things.

"Sure, I'll go," I said to Bella. I shot a glance at Rosalie. She hadn't moved an inch. "I'll talk to you later, Rose. Promise." I then opened the door and swept out of the house, happy to be away from Rosalie's perturbed gaze and out in the cool, crisp air.

A/N: Sorry about how short that chapter was. I didn't really know how to make it longer, and I wanted to end it in the place that I did. I don't think this is one of my best chapters, but I've been trying to update quicker (my beta reader has been prompting me to do so…) so I hope this chapter was good enough!

Once again, please review. :)

--Becky