Bella's POV

The next night came quickly which was both a good and a bad thing. I was ready to leave, but I was so nervous that I was going to get caught. Or even worse, end up lost, by myself, and having to live alone for the rest of my long life.

I packed very lightly a few hours beforehand. Jared, Malachi and Alden were watching TV and not really paying attention. Even though I only grabbed as much money as I had saved up and a cell phone, I still had to keep it secretive. I needed to have a fighting chance to get out of this alive. Who knew what they would do to me if they found me trying to escape?

After "packing", I sat down on the couch far away from the three men and watched TV. I couldn't concentrate for long and I soon began thinking of Edward. I would hopefully be seeing him soon and just that thought gave me enough energy to try and run away right this minute in front of all three of them. I knew better and kept my thoughts in my head. I could spend forever dreaming about my husband and I prayed that I would be able to find him easily. Holding him close and being able to smell him fully as a vampire made me anxious with excitement. I think Alden could tell that I was up to something but he didn't say anything. He just looked in my direction and then back at the screen.

We sat in front of the TV for hours as I waited for the men to leave to go hunting. At around seven, they silently decided that they would go and stood up all together. Just like every time they went, Jared invited me to go with them. Of course I declined.

"Are you sure sweetheart?" His breath was close in my ear. "I don't want you to starve." He brushed his fingers along the top of my cheek, right under my left eye. I shook my head without saying anything. Jared stood up and smiled.

"Okay. It's your choice. Just don't get into anything while we're gone." He said that every time. I knew he meant that he didn't want me to go hunting animals while they were gone. He didn't know that I was going to do something even worse.

The three of them left quickly and I knew that I had about two hours before they would notice I was gone. I had thought about the way that I would travel. Carefully I planned not to cross their path, or any human's so that I wouldn't be tempted to hunt. I was so weak and thirsty that I knew if I caught the scent of a human, I would be unfocused until that human was mine.

The time had come and I collected my thoughts, and hoping that I wasn't forgetting anything, I burst out of the door into the fresh air running at full speed into the woods.

Alice's POV

It was around dusk and Jasper and I were lounging on the couch. I was lying on top of him, taking deep breaths just breathing him in. It was the most calm I had felt in a long while. With everyone on edge for the past couple of years there was rarely a time when both I and Jasper were not utterly exhausted of our powers. Me being asked to look into the future to see Bella, and Jasper calming the emotions of everyone constantly. I closed my eyes briefly, wondering what it would be like to sleep, when a certain picture flashed in my head. I sat up quickly, startling Jasper who was looking at me in concern, wondering if I was alright.

The picture in my head was very blurry. I could barely see what was coming, let alone who it was. All I knew was that whatever it was definitely was coming towards us and wasn't going to stop until it did. Jasper brought me back to reality.

"Alice! What did you see?" He gently shook my shoulders trying to get me to concentrate. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and looked into his eyes.

"Jasper, something's coming. I don't what it is but they are arriving sometime between tonight and tomorrow morning. They were running, but that was all I saw. I don't know what it is!" I was getting upset and Jasper could see that.

"It's okay, it's okay," He was comforting me with waves of calm. I took a deep breath and thought the situation through.

"We have to call Carlisle. They have to come back!" Carlisle and the rest of the family had gone hunting earlier that evening. They were supposed to be gone for three days because they were going up North to Alaska to hunt. It would be difficult to get a hold of them, let alone getting them back before whatever this was came to us. Both Jasper and I realized this at the same time. He picked his phone up off of the coffee table in front of us and dialed in less than a second. Carlisle answered but it was hard to keep a connection with him because of the distance. Jasper did tell him what was happening and he didn't know what to tell us. He told Jasper that it was up to us whether or not we stayed put, or ran away to stay protected. The whole conversation lasted twenty seconds and right before Jasper hung up, I heard Carlisle say that they were coming, but they wouldn't make it in time, just like I had thought.

Jasper looked at me after he had put his phone down.

"Are you sure that there is only one?" I nodded. That was one thing that I was sure of.

"I don't think we should run." I told him. I knew he thought I was crazy by the way he was looking at me. The last thing he wanted was me face to face with something we didn't even know about. But I had a funny feeling that we should stay. I didn't know what was making me feel this way, but I had to convince him that it was the best idea.

"If there is only one, then we automatically outnumber it. It's not like I'm going to be by myself with it. You'll be with me the entire time." I could see him thinking about it. I decided to throw something else in.

"How do you think the family will feel when they find that we didn't protect our house?" I knew that was rude. Carlisle even told us to do what we thought was right. But looking past Carlisle was Emmett. When this was all said and done, I knew Jasper wouldn't want Emmett ragging on him for running instead of fighting. That pushed him over to my side and he nodded his head.

"We'll stay." He said.

"Together." I agreed.