Chapter 9.

They took me to some sort of child safe-house in a private car, Harvey was taking me; they said it was on the east of the city. It looked like a ghetto daycare center. But as long as Nessie was there, I was happy. I practically ran from the car when we parked outside, heading straight for the doors without waiting for Harvey. My heart skipped a beat or two when I saw Nessie sitting in one of the waiting room's chairs.

"Jacob!" she exclaimed when she saw me.

"Nessie," I sighed, as I walked over to where she sat and pulled her into my arms.

I kissed both her cheeks and her forehead and she smiled. She held her hand to my face.

I missed you.

"Me too, baby," I told her.

We embraced for a while, even when we both heard Harvey enter behind me at last. But I didn't want to let her go. Having her back with me, it was the happiest I'd felt in a long time now. Finally, Harvey came and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Jacob?" he nudged.

I didn't let go of Nessie. I pulled her up into my arms, and held her there as I rose back up to Harvey's level.

"You've got a few papers to sign, and then you two can be off," he said.

When he said that, something occurred.

"Hey, how are we supposed to get Rio, though?" I asked. "We missed our flight…"

He looked unsettled. "Well, is there no where else you could-,"

I shook my head. "No. No, it has to be Rio. It's really important that we get there."

He sighed and nodded. "Alright. For you, Jacob. I'll do what I can do get you some tickets there, but that's the last favor I'm doing for you," he promised.

"Thanks, man. A lot."

"Sure thing, kid."

We signed a few papers at the center, to get Nessie out, and then Harvey drove us back to the airport. He bought us new tickets for a non-stop trip to Rio, again only for steerage. Out of thanks, I gave him a fair amount of money before we parted. He told me it wasn't necessary in any way, but I'd insisted; he'd done a lot for me. I thanked him once more before we boarded and he stared off after with a strange look in his eyes, and then we were off.

We took our seats in steerage- Nessie took the window seat-and settled down for the ride. The two seats that we'd had assigned were made almost useless though, because about thirty minutes into the flight, Nessie sighed and climbed out of her seat and into my lap. I hugged her tightly. It was still around midday, but I saw her eyes drooping a bit; she must not have gotten much sleep last night. I couldn't blame her.

She seemed troubled, though. Every time she looked on the brink of sleep, she would force her eyes open again, and frown.

"What's up, Nessie?" I asked after a while.

She shrugged and spoke surprisingly. "I just don't know what's going to happen now. Why are we going to where we're going?" she asked, looking confused.

"Well," I began. She wanted to know, and if she wanted the truth, I would give it to her. Always. "We don't know where your Momma and Daddy are right now. But, your mom thought that Auntie Alice and Uncle Jazz might be waiting for us in Rio." I explained.

"Oh…" she still looked bothered. "Why Rio, though? Why are Auntie Alice and Uncle Jazz there?"

"Well, they were looking for help. And also, when we get there, we're going to work with them, to learn more about you." I touched my finger to her nose.

Her lips twitched a little, and she sighed. Lost in thought, I guessed, she didn't speak for the remainder of our flight.

We got off in Rio late that night. Nessie was awake by now, though, having slept through the day. She walked beside me with her hand in mine, looking around the little airport in wonder. I found our suitcase, which Harvey had retrieved for us back in Toronto. I took Nessie to a family bathroom, and we changed into some clothes more appropriate for the weather. I didn't know where to go from there, so I looked around for an information booth or something; some one had to know where a Cullen was around here.

Finally I found a customer service counter with one dark skinned man behind it. He had a name tag on, introducing him as Jesus. I hoped he spoke English.

"Hello," I said guardedly as I walked up to him.

He nodded and smiled.

"Er, I'm looking for Cullen," I told him, speaking slowly, enunciating each word carefully. He smiled and nodded again, but did nothing to help me. I huffed a sigh in exasperation.

"Cullen? Do you know where Cullen is?" I asked again.

He frowned now. "Cull…en?" he said with a heavy accent.

I nodded. "Yes, I need to find Cullen."

He looked confused. What kind of person worked at an airport who didn't speak any more than one language?

"Do you know where I can find Cullen?" I asked again.

He shook his head in miscomprehension. Ugh, I really wished they'd offered Spanish instead of Quileute at my school as a second language.

I heard a man come up behind me and ask a question in Spanish to Jesus. I didn't catch most of it except the word Cullen; he was helping me.

He turned to me and smiled as Jesus nodded at the man and started skimming through a computer.

"Thanks," I said appreciatively.

He nodded understandingly. "Spanish doesn't only help me sometimes," he laughed. "You're gonna wanna learn it if you're planning on staying here for any time."

I grinned. "Yeah, well, I guess I am due for a lesson."

He smiled back at me and then looked at Jesus. His brow was furrowed as he scanned the screen. He sighed and turned back to my savior and shook his and said something in Spanish.

"Gracias," said the man who'd helped us to Jesus. Then he turned back to us. "He says there's no record of any sort of Cullen," he told me solemnly.

"Nothing?" I demanded. Not even a second home or something? It seemed like something they might do. The man looked at Jesus and repeated my words in Spanish.

Jesus shrugged and looked again. After a minute, he looked up to the man and said something else.

The man looked at me. "He says there's an island owned by a Mr. Cullen, just off the coast. Is that what you were looking for?"

I grinned. Of course. Only the Cullens would own an island.

"Yeah, that's it. Have you got directions there or something?" I asked Jesus.

The man told Jesus what I'd said and Jesus nodded helpfully. We waited patiently for him print the information we needed and then he handed us the paper with the directions on it. They were in Spanish.

"Er, sir?" I said to the man. "These are written in Spanish."

"Oh," he smiled kindly. He pulled a pen form his pocket. "This means 'right'," he said as he circled a word and wrote the translation above it. "And this one means 'left'," he muttered doing the same to another word. "And the rest is just street names. Oh, wait, here," he added circling another word. "That's 'turn'."

I smiled once more at him. "Thanks a lot, man."

"Sure thing," he said as he walked away.

"Alright, Ness, let's go," I said with a sigh.

We rented a car and I followed the translated instructions to the coast line of Rio. Nessie sat in the front seat behind me, on what we were calling 'scent-patrol'. Her job was to keep aware of any scent of Alice or Jasper. She'd taken the job willingly, and now sat at the very edge of her seat, staring back and forth out of the windows.

"Smell anything, Nessie?" I asked about halfway there.

She shook her head. "Not really…" she muttered. "I can smell…something…but it's from a long time ago, I think."

"Huh. That's weird. Can you tell who it was?"

She frowned. "I can smell Daddy," she admitted.

I stared at incredulously. "How much?" I asked.

She shook her head again. "Not much. It's old, very old. I only smell it a little. Just a tiny bit."

"Hmmm," was all I could say.

I sat in thought for while. So Edward had been here as much as Nessie could tell. I smelled around as well, and realized she was right. It was very faint, so old that it was practically not there. There were too many other scents to tell if he had been alone. I knew it would be almost impossible to know if he'd been with Bella while she was human, because there were too many humans around to confuse her with. She had a unique scent, that was for sure, but it was still human, and therefore was lost with time.

Finally we reached the coast and we parked the car at the docks there. It was still dark, and I guessed at about two or three in the morning. We got out of the car, and walked up and down the line of docks, looking for a boat that belonged to Cullen. There were names next to each of the docks with the boats on them, all of them fancy and big yachts. At the very end we found a boat, with the name 'Cullen' written on a sign in front of the dock. The boat there was still as fancy as the others, only it looked a little more built for speed as opposed to luxury. Of course.

I hopped onto the dock and into the boat, looking for a key or something. There wasn't much in there as far as I could tell, but I knew how to hot wire a vehicle. I played around with the ignition until I found the sweet spot, and I felt the boat purr to life beneath me.

"Come on, Nessie," I whispered to her. She jumped from the dock to the boat and sat down beside me.

We drove out into the ocean then, keeping an eye-and a nose-out for any sign of Alice and Jasper. Again, we didn't find much. But after a while, the vampire smell became strong. Stronger, stronger and stronger. The source became clear as a small but decently sized island came into view. We sped along now, directly to the island. We parked the boat along the beach, sliding up onto the sand, and out of the water. I helped Nessie out so she wouldn't get wet, and then we looked around in curiosity.

There were forestry and tropical trees everywhere, all seeming to circle around this one big white house. Even though it was dark, the house seemed to glow in the moonlight. We walked up the white sand, towards the house. It looked similar to the Cullen's house back in Forks, only this one was smaller and more quant.

I slung the back pack over my shoulders, and Nessie grabbed the suitcase. I told her I could take it, but she insisted. I snickered and let it be. She dragged it along behind us and we reached the front door.

I reached out cautiously, taking the handle and turning it with care. We peaked around the corner of the door and stepped into a large living room kind of area. I flicked on a light and stared around me. The back wall was a large window, just like the other house. Everything looked all brand new, the TV, the chairs and couches, all the appliances in the kitchen. There were doors down a wooden hallway leading to bedrooms, I guess.

It was pretty beautiful.

Wow, but it smelt like them. All around me was the familiar scent of the Cullens. It was not new, but it was much more noticeable in this concealed area. And…Bella. But it was human Bella, the Bella I knew. It was everywhere. Clearly, no had cleaned the house since whoever had been here last had been here. I thought they'd have a cleaning crew or something. I guess they didn't come up here often. Nessie walked off, looking like she was absorbed in the house, in the direction of the bedrooms. I stared off after her in wonder.

But I turned the other direction and went to the kitchen. In the fridge there wasn't much, just a platter of food, and some old eggs. The cupboards were empty but for some snacking food and a few cooking supplies. Plates and utensils were all there, too.

I sat on the counter with a stale bag of chips and thought things over. What had Bella been doing here? Her scent was here, there was no doubt about that. I smelled Edward, too. So they had probably been here together.

Oh.

I realized then as something Bella had said a very long time ago came back to me.

"...Isle Esme and…feathers."

Ew. The chips seemed to get more disgusting in my hands and I tossed them into the sink. They'd been here for their honeymoon. This was where it had all started. This had been where my life had started. Well… Nessie's life anyway. It amounted to the same thing.

Nessie!

I jumped from the counter and went in the direction I'd seen her go. A door to a big white bedroom with a big white bed was slightly ajar and poked my head in to see Nessie lying on the bed. She didn't look asleep, she looked dazed.

"Nessie?" I asked.

She turned her head towards me, and sat up. She sighed.

"What's up?" I went over and sat beside her on the bed.

She put her hand in mine and she played back memories of the smell, of the feeling of being here.

"You've been here before?" I asked incredulously.

She shrugged and spoke at last. "I can't remember," she admitted.

I frowned and picked her up off the bed. She rested her head on my shoulder.
"Tired yet, Ness?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Thirsty," she muttered.

I grinned. "Well, let's see if we can find any game on this island." I doubted it, but there had to be something.

I hadn't phased in so long, but I felt like I should hunt with Nessie, so she wouldn't feel like the only one. I didn't have to get worked up or anything, I just phased right into wolf form and chased after Nessie through the small forest.

We didn't find much around, so we went back to the ocean to find something there. I didn't know how Nessie would benefit from anything there, but I caught a few fish, and ate them raw, wolf-like.

Nessie sat dejectedly on the beach, and looked around in the water waiting for something, anything good enough for her.

I was so distracted that I was shocked out of my mind when I heard the tiny voice. It was familiar, friendly, young, and boyish. It was also in my head.

Jacob? Is that you?