-1 A/N Thanks to all my reviewers and to Fiabe who kindly offered to beta read this for me. I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter Four Evasion
We all made our way up the drive, being careful not to be visible from the house. All the windows were dark and empty save one on the far side of the house. A ray of light shone brightly from this window.
"Hey Emmett" Said Alice pointing up at the window "Do you think we should check that out?" Alice sounded genuinely sincere but there was an edge to her voice that I couldn't quite define.
"Sure, why not!" I exclaimed, already planning how I would climb up to the window. I could take a giant leap. I could shimmy up the drainpipe. Or I could even climb the ivy like Tarzan. What a choice!
"Come on, Jasper." I said beckoning to my brother. "Rose, coming?"
"No thanks" Rose almost sneered "I'll think I'll give it a miss."
I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to Jasper, my favourite partner in crime.
Together we strolled up to the house. I reached out for the drainpipe, shimmying up it like a spider monkey. I hadn't reckoned on how difficult it would be, the drainpipe was slowly bending under my weight, creaking as it went.
"Emmett, be careful!" hissed Rosalie from the ground. I swivelled my head round to see Jasper sitting neatly on the windowsill, grinning at me. He was leaning over so he wasn't visible from inside.
Well, Jasper may have been quicker but I was certainly more stylish.
I finally reached the window, luckily the drainpipe was still intact, a little battered but in essence perfectly fine. Leaning over Jasper, I peered into the window, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
I was totally unprepared for what I saw. Both Jasper and I flinched back in disgust, almost toppling off the narrow ledge. We could hardly believe what we saw. I looked again just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Yep I'd been right first time; Mike Newton was in the room, lying naked on his bed, reading a magazine. I gagged in horror That was a sight I never would have wanted to see; the sight of Mike Newton's naked ass. I stole a look at Jasper; his face mirrored mine, utterly disgusted. Sometimes I wish we didn't we didn't have photographic memories. I would be scarred for life. The picture of Mike's naked body would be burned into my mind for the rest of eternity. I would never be able to look at the boy in the same way.
Without another glance I dropped stealthily to the ground, Jasper landing silently beside me. I scanned the darkness for the girls and spotted them rolling with laughter on the ground. It all clicked into place, Alice and her edgy voice and Rose's refusal. They'd known all along.
"Think that's funny, don't you?" I snapped, mainly at Alice, who probably saw the whole thing minutes before it happened. And besides who had it in their heart to shout at something as beautiful as my Rose.
Alice just laughed harder. I ignored her, and returned to finding a way into the garage. There was a small, slightly open, window on one of the walls that we could probably force Alice through. I don't know how happy Jazz would be about that though. He was always rather protective of his little freak.
"Hey Jazz, Alice could clamber through that right?" I whispered, pointing at the miniscule weakness in the brick wall of the garage.
"Hmm probably, but I'm not having you force her through it if she doesn't fit."
"Awww come on Jazz, what other use can five foot high midgets be?"
He growled at this, but turned to Alice none the same.
She nodded and came over. Jasper scooped her up and handed her to me. I grasped her round her shoulders and proceeded to shove her feet through the small gap. It looked like it would be a tight squeeze, but she'd probably fit through.
It was going well until we came to her shoulders. She seemed to be wedged in the gap. Jasper didn't look too happy about this, but allowed me to continue shoving. Eventually after a good push, she shot through the gap like a cork from a champagne bottle.
"Now see if you can find us a key?" I whispered through the gap.
It didn't take her long, like an expert criminal she unlocked the garage door within minutes. And ushered us all inside.
It was dark and gloomy in Mike's garage, and I could see Rose eyeing the spider webs uneasily. She was wearing a fairly new set of garage clothes that she didn't want to ruin on a mission to save Edward's embarrassed butt.
Quickly we located the car that was in need of repair, and got to work. Jasper and Alice were in charge of keeping a look out while I held the car up to that Rose could investigate the damage. Without hesitation she slid underneath it, and began taking apart the pieces of the car. While she was underneath it, I took advantage of the fact she couldn't see me and admired her shapely legs, still gorgeous sheathed in jeans.
After a few minutes, Rose surfaced.
"It's the wires" She stated "It's short-circuited itself. I'll write a list when we get back of what Edward needs to do to put it right, if the nudist upstairs accepts his offer of help."
After that it seemed the excitement was over for the night, we got out of the garage and home without further interruption.
When we got home, Edward was still at Bella's presumably. She must really love him. Cuddling up to a stone pillar at night did not sound very welcoming.
Me and Jasper amused ourselves for the rest of the night by playing on my new Wii. The only reason it was new was because we had broken the last five, we found it very hard to control our strength.
Finally at around six Edward came through the door. I bounced off the bed and sprinted down to meet him, eager to have a new opponent at Super Mario. That was my favourite game ever, in fact Rose once told me I looked like him. I was never quite sure whether she was joking or not.
"How was Bella?" I asked as Edward came up the stairs.
"She was great, thanks" he replied, not fully concentrating.
"So you're taking her to Florida on the weekend?"
"Yes" Edward said, a worried frown appearing on his face "It's all organised, her dad took a bit of persuading though."
"Why?" I said, even though I knew I was being annoying.
"Charlie has never liked me since we went away." He said shortly, not looking at me. Edward still regretted that. He always would.
The days before the weekend seemed to fly by, before I knew it, it was already Friday night and Bella and Edward had boarded their flight and were on their way to Florida. Wow Edward was being overprotective, flying Bella to the other side of the America when there was but a hint of danger. I wouldn't miss out on the fight for anything. I wondered if Bella knew the truth was being hidden from her. Apparently she'd swallowed some crap about Alice's vision at lunch being about Jasper and some Southern friends of his. I suppose it was in her nature to believe him seeing as he was her true
love, soul mate, partner for eternity etc. All this true love stuff bored me. Nothing could ever compare to the type of bond Rose and I had.
On Saturday morning, we left the house good and early to pick up Victoria's trail. It would be easy enough, we knew where to look for it, Alice's vision had pinpointed exactly where we would pick it up. It was Carlisle who did so, a little way off the track that wound its way through the ferns. As soon as we'd located that we set off at full speed, following her scent through the dense undergrowth. Me and Jasper led the way, charging through the thicket like racehorses, only much faster and way more powerful. Carlisle and Rose followed close behind, with Alice and Esme bringing up the rear.
As the scent became stronger, I could see Jasper glance behind him every now and again, just to check Alice was still behind him. He hadn't wanted her to come but there was no way she was allowing herself to be left behind. Eventually he'd given in. I understood his worry, Alice was so small and dainty, but I didn't agree with it. No-one was in danger while I was there, I was the ultimate protector. No vicious redhead was getting past me.
Swerving round a bend, we caught the first sight of her, a red flame flashing through the ferns in front. She'd obviously just noticed we were in pursuit of her, judging on her rapidly increasing speed. She was weaving through those trees like a lightning bolt, and we were slowly falling behind. God she was fast.
Just when I thought we were going to lose her, Alice grabbed my arm and pulled me and Jasper in a different direction.
"I've seen a way to cut her off, keep going until you reach the Treaty Line" She panted "But Hurry or you'll miss her, she's covering ground fast"
And with that she fell behind again, not having the power to keep up with me and Jasper.
Sure enough we hit the trail that run parallel to the Line within minutes. And there she was. Hurtling through the trees towards us. Picking up our pace again we threw ourselves after her. Seeing us, she swerved and headed back the way she'd came. Beyond her I suddenly caught a glimpse of Rose's blonde hair, flying behind her as she ran.
We'd got her. She was trapped; we were coming at her from both sides.
Then as if she knew it was there, she swerved, flying straight over the Line into the trees beyond it. I cursed under my breath and slowed down to a halt. We'd lost her. She'd gone where we couldn't follow.
Jasper slowed up beside me, also cursing. We would have had her if it wasn't for that damned line. Then an idea struck me.
"Hey Jasper, you don't suppose we could, you know, go over It?"
Jasper looked thoughtful as he pondered what I had just said.
"Well" He said speaking slowly and carefully "We could go over it, but you know what Carlisle would say. And what the wolves would do if they found out"
"Yeah I know but-" Jasper cut me off rudely.
"Look Emmett, even if we did follow her there's no chance in hell we would catch her now, and is it really worth it? The wolves are probably longing for a war with us, giving them an excuse to do so would not be a good idea."
"We'd whip them" I said, stating the obvious.
"I don't know about that Emmett. They could put up a fair fight I think"
We stopped our conversation as Carlisle and the rest drew up, knowing what Carlisle would think on the subject.
Alice was the first to speak up: "Her future vanished when she was about a mile over the line."
"What does that mean?" asked Esme, looking confused.
Alice looked up at us grimly and said "Well, it could mean only mean one thing really, unless she just spontaneously combusted."
"Continue" Carlisle prompted.
"Well, it means the wolves are involved"
This hit me hard, even though we had all seen it coming. I couldn't stand the idea of them killing Victoria and not us. That would be shameful, and all because we couldn't cross a bloody line…
My thoughts were brought to a close when I noticed Jasper stiffen beside me, tensing.
"What?" I said, following Jasper's gaze into the trees. As I stared through the gloomy forest I could make out dark silhouettes through the trees. A wolf howled in the distance.
As I stared a flash of red caught my attention. I whipped around as I saw Victoria dart back across the line, back onto our side.
The chase started up again. All of us, including the wolves dashed after her, on our respective sides of the Line. But it was almost as if she was reading the Line from a map, every time we got too close she would zip over onto the other side, evading us each time. And Alice's loss of sight wasn't helping either. If she kept dancing across the line like this, neither side would get her.
A/N please leave a review! And if your going to alert it, I appreciate it, but I would appreciate it even more if you leave a review, even if it's a mere two words long. The more reviews I get, the faster I update!