Suspicions

Alice

"Jasper! Jasper! Jasper!!"

I couldn't help saying his name as I saw his shaking body in my lap. Edward was speeding down the open road to the main house, almost breaking the 250 mark on the speed-o meter. I saw that we would be there in about two minutes. I wanted to yell and ask him why we hadn't made it home yet, but I became too distressed to get the words out. All I could do was gaze down at Jasper as I felt my eyes sting with the worried tears they couldn't produce.

Jasper seemed to be able to see us. He was looking in my eyes as I looked in his, but they seemed to go in and out of focus.

What was happening???

I wondered briefly if this was how Edward felt every time he'd seen Bella in her near death experiences. From the corner of my eye I saw him give one stiff nod, knowing it was for my unspoken question.

We finally pulled up to the house and saw Esme standing beside the open door, her face screaming worry for her son, but I knew it was nothing compared to mine.

I scooped Jasper in my arms, just as Edward came to an abrupt stop in front of the house, and rushed the shaking man inside.

I laid him gently on the couch, not wanting to cause any additional problems. All of us were crowded around him. No one said anything, and Jasper keeping his eyes locked on me.

I looked ahead, irritated and impatient, for Carlisle's return. Ten seconds. I barely heard Edward repeat the information to everyone else. The short amount of time upset me more. Why couldn't he be here now???

Nine impossibly long seconds later, Carlisle burst through the door.

"What's happened?" He demanded while going over to Jasper's side.

"We don't know!" I cried before anyone could get anything out. "One minute we were just sitting at lunch, then the next he started shaking and going limp in his seat!"

"Edward, can you hear him?" Carlisle inquired.

"Yes I can. But I can't get much out of him, he seems to be stunned."

"What is he saying? What is he saying now?!" I yelled

Edward didn't speak right away, so I looked into the future to see if he would. When I saw his answer I almost screamed.

"He's saying… 'it hurts'."

Every stopped their breathing as Carlisle began to inspect any changes in Jasper's normal vampire functions.

I tried to think about something else; something other than the love of my existence shaking in pain. So I closed my eyes and listened; extending my super hearing outside of the house and the worried murmurs which only upset me more. Outside, I heard the nearby woods with all of its inhabitants casually going about their lives. It angered me that they didn't share my worry.

Somewhere near the house I could hear a set of small paw prints walking around to the window that showed through to where we were now all joined, and heard it leap and perch itself onto the windowsill. I turned my head an opened my eyes to find a black cat with gold eyes and two fanged teeth hanging on either side of its mouth, staring at us. Its gaze turned to Jasper whom I could still feel quivering and shaking on the couch.

Upon the thought of his name I could ignore him no longer. I turned to him, finding his eyes still locked on my face as Carlisle and Edward fussed over what they should do next. I hardly heard the fierce lion- like roar that came from the cat outside, my entire attention was focused on Jasper. But exactly after that, I felt Jasper's shaking slow then come to a complete stop as his eyes widen with astonishment, but my eyes were probably open wider.

It was suddenly very crowded as everyone moved in closer to see if he was ok.

"Jasper! Are you alright? Does it hurt anymore?? Do you need anything? Do you need some bloo…?" the words came out in a rush until Jasper interrupted me.

"Alice, Alice," he said as he stiffly began to sit up and cup my face in his hands, "I'm… I'm fine. You don't need to worry. It doesn't hurt anymore. I'm fine."

Relief washed through me as I jumped onto his lap and hugged him close, but I could still hear the speculation in his voice as if wondering if it was really over.

I was too.

Jasper

"Why did you do that to me?! Jasper, you should know that I couldn't take it if something ever happened to you. You should know that…" Alice couldn't continue after that. She was to overcome. Her relief, as well as everyone else's, emanated on me like heat from a giant sun, making me feel even more relief for myself.

"I know, I know," I chanted as I hugged her tighter, "It won't happen again. I'm sorry."

"Geez man," Emmett mumbled, "you shouldn't scare us like that."

"Oh! Jasper! Don't you dare do that to us again!" Esme cried at me.

I loved how they were all acting as though this was my fault.

"Which makes me wonder who's fault it is." Edward pondered aloud to my mental comment. We all looked at him, waiting for him to expound on his words.

"Something had to have caused this. Jasper couldn't have just gone into such a fit at random unless something or someone caused it. And why did it only happen to him? We were all at the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing, but the rest of us are fine."

"Jasper, what were you doing before you started feeling… ill?" I could feel a worried edge in Carlisle's voice. I was sure this was the first time he had to associate the word 'ill' with a vampire.

"Nothing really." I began, remembering the last few moments before the pain started, "We were all sitting around the lunch table, inspecting the new girl that came to school. I felt Edward giving off a weird vibe as he watched her, as if there was something wrong. So I tried to channel my power towards her to get more insight, and that's when the pain started." Upon my last words, I felt a hint of suspicion from Edward.

"The pain," Carlisle asked, "what was it like?"

"I felt sharp stabs throughout my body. They were all erratic and untimed; but it seemed to… feel worse with you all around me." I watched seven pairs of eyes widen with the surprise of my words.

"What I mean is the strong emotions that you were giving off seemed to make the pain worse." I explained, trying to amend my last statement.

Epic fail. The guilt started to build in the room as everyone let my latest explanation sink in. The most guilt was coming off of the little vampire sitting on my lap. I couldn't seem to catch a break today.

"I made it worse?" Alice's pixie- like face seemed to radiate the shame and remorse she felt for the pain she didn't intend to cause. This in turn made me feel worse. Great.

"Alice, please, don't be upset. You had no idea as to what was happening. No one did." I added while using my power to lighten everyone's mood.

"Does this mean that there's only something wrong with Jasper?" Bella inquired with obvious worry for Edward's safety mingled in with worry for me. I earnestly hoped that wasn't the case. It was bad enough a few years back when everyone was concerned about my control around humans, I didn't need or want them to get fussy over something that probably couldn't be solved over time.

"Actually," Edward started, to answer Bella's question, "I have a theory about that, but it might sound a little crazy." We all listened intently, Alice especially. "Somehow, I believe that this new girl, Lauren, might be causing all this."

I was sure Edward could hear, the same way I could feel, the confusion from his deduction.

"You mean that little insignificant human?" Rosalie asked then snorted, "How could she have possibly caused any of this?"

"I know it sounds strange, but listen; when I was monitoring Lauren's mind, there were some irregularities with her thoughts. Every time she had a strong opinion, it seemed to diminish on the spot a moment later."

"So?" Rosalie was obviously not impressed, but I was beginning to see his point.

"I think Edward's on to something." I put in, "We were one of the first people in the cafeteria. When the girl came in, her emotions were a little up and down. They seemed to go from extremely excited, to intense boredom or indifference. I'm not sure how but I think that when I tried to look closer into her feelings, that might have been the trigger that got me shaking."

"Wow," Emmett finally spoke. "This girl is more of a freak than Bella was!"

Edward shot him a glare.

"Let's not make assumptions too quickly." Carlisle said hastily, "For now, let's do a quick investigation. Edward and Emmett," he said looking at them both, "tonight go into the school and see what you can find out about this girl. Get her address and her parents names. Once you've done that, tomorrow I'll go and greet them, just to be sure they're all… normal."

Everyone was feeling weird at this point. We never had to do an investigation. Especially not for a human. This new girl coming here has caused more trouble than Bella in her human years so far. And that was saying something. Even though it had only happened once before, this was getting a little old.

I felt a strong tremor of excitement from behind me; I didn't even have to look to know that Emmett was already thrilled for the night ahead.