CHAPTER 10 - PREPARATIONS EPOV

"Edward, where are you going?"

"I have to go to the store to pick something up for Nessie."

Looks like I just made a plan to go to the store. That wayAlicewouldn't be able to tell what it was that I was actually doing. I started making a list of all the things that I would need to pick up. Sure hope Nessie likes eating food. Either she or Jake was going to have a fun day eating what I had just decided to pick up.

Edward, why do I only see you buying a whole bunch of food that you know we don't need?

"Nessie asked me to pick some things up for her today. I thought that maybe she and Rachael would like to come over to our house for a bit. Bella is going to be out, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Now it seems like Nessie and her friend are coming over to our house.

Edward, if you don't stop suddenly creating plans, I am going to hit you. I have to keep track of both Rachael and Bella to make sure that nothing happens. Now would you please stop that?

I suddenly decided that I would take Nessie and Rachael to an amusement park the next time it was cloudy out.

"Edward! Stop that! I need to see what is going to happen. Do you want Bella to hurt Rachael without me doing anything about it? If you don't stop this, that could very well happen!"Alice was now yelling things at me in her head and out loud.

"Can I go now? I would like to get back home before Bella and Rachael end up together."

"Well, you don't seem to want to explain what it is you are doing anyways, so I guess you might as well."

About twenty minutes later, my phone went off. Alice.

"What?"

"Edward, Bella's given us the slip. None of us can get to her in time. Maybe you will. Otherwise Nessie will face her mother on her own. And I am not sure that she will succeed."

"Fine. I'm headed towards them right now."

I then hung up without waiting forAlice's response.

I hope Nessie will let Bella protect Rachael. Nessie won't be able to do it on her own.

About a mile from where Bella, the wolves, and I had agreed to meet up, I got another phone call. This time it was Bella calling me.

"Hello."

"Edward, change of plans. The wolves and I decided that I have to get to Rachael to protect her as soon as I can. You're to still meet up with them in our chosen spot. They will explain what our new plan is."

"Does Alice know yet?"

"I don't think so. By her last phone call to me, it seemed as if she didn't. When she called me, she started yelling at me to get my ass home."

"I wonder why she can't see what we are planning to do."

"I have an idea, but I will wait until later to explain what I think is causing that. Love you."

She hung up without waiting for a reply.

I burst into the prearranged clearing within a minute after Bella's phone call.

"What's going on?"

Jake explained within his mind what was going on, seeing as all of the wolves were in their wolf form.

We decided that the best plan was to let Bella go and explain everything to Nessie. We would have let you do it, seeing as Nessie trusts you more with Rachael's safety, but you weren't here, and we were afraid that you wouldn't get here in time. Bella told us to tell you to go after her as soon as we had filled you in on what was going on. So go! Go help our family!

"Thanks."

I got to the place where Bella and Nessie were to hear the end of Bella's explanation of what was going on.

"The wolves decided that it wasn't safe to leave your friend alone with her smelling like she does, so they have had guards posted around her all week. They alerted Jake to this fact early this morning, and Jake let me 't have seen that due to the simple fact Jake is a wolf. Somehow, Edward found out without Alice realizing what was going on.

"All of this wouldn't be a problem, except the more the nomad thought about her, the more he decided that he wanted to have her. So the nomad is coming here to kill her.

"No one except the wolves and Edward are going to be here on time, since from what you told me, no one else knows the see you and Edward stopping me, but that is going to be all she sees.

"So you have to let me in there to protect your friend. Please, for both of you. You'll just have to trust that your father and I know what we are doing. Please."

Please believe her. Please believe her. We could all regret it if you don't. Please believe your mother.

"Fine. I believe you. You just better hope your right."

Good. I guess I better meet up with my family, and fast.

"I am, Nessie. I would never put you at risk. Never."

"Is everything explained now?" I asked as I entered into the scene where all of this was taking place.

"Yeah. Are you here to help protect Rachael?" Nessie asked me.

"Of course. Why else would I be here?"

"Do you know everything that is going on?"

"Yes, Nessie. I was the one who came up with this plan. I know what is going on. Now, I need you to go back in with Rachael. Do your best to keep her safe. Your momma and I are going to try and keep the nomads from coming in to hurt you two. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I understand."

"Good, now go and prepare to do your part in all of this. Yours could very well be the most important part of this entire thing. Whatever you do, don't let Rachael come out. No matter what either of you see, you can't let her come out of that shop for anything."

"Okay, daddy. I understand."

"Do you know how far away the rest of the family is?" Bella asked as soon as Nessie was safely inside the café.

"No, but if the wolves do their part properly, they should stop everyone from trying to come and help us. They should most likely follow your scent, which will lead them straight to the wolves. That should take care of everything."

"Okay. I'm just a little worried about what is going on. I really hope that all of this ends okay."
"It will. And would you please explain why you thinkAlice can't see any of this?" This was one thing that I really needed to know. More like really wanted to know, but either way, I was going to get Bella to explain herself to me.

"Part of it is because the wolves are continually making plans to come and help us," Bella started her explanation hesitantly. "Another part is the gift of one of the nomads. The one nomad can make himself invisible to others' talents. So he is hiding himself fromAlice's vision using that. There is also a chance that you won't be able to hear his thoughts, but if I understand my shield correctly, it will still work against him. I am hoping that I will be able to make it so that if I cover you, you will hear his thoughts. It's a long shot, but I am hoping it will work."

I still had a question for her, though.

"Why didn't you tell me this as soon as you found out?"

"BecauseAlicewould have seen me explaining this to you, and I didn't want her to come help us. Only people that have a strong connection to the girl are going to make it out okay. It will be like trying to fight for someone's mate. It just won't work."

"I don't like the sound of this. Because if that is the case, then why am I able to be here?"

"You may not have a strong connection to Rachael herself, but you are very protective over the people that do. Nessie's strong connection is because they are friends; mine because she smells so good to me. Nessie and I are the two people in the world you would do anything to protect. So you should be fine also.

"Jake would have been fine also, but I needed to have someone stay and explain what was going on. The wolves would have followed him and they would have gotten hurt. So I had to force Jake to stay back. It was all I could do. I couldn't lose any of my family, including the wolves." Bella was as close to tears as she would ever be by the end of her explanation.

"Bella, Love, it's okay." I had to calm her down before she got completely worked up about all of this. "Do you know how long it will be until the nomads get here?"

"They should be here in about a minute. Tell me when you can hear them."

"If I can hear them."

"You'll be fine. The wolves have dealt with this before. Well, maybe not the wolves themselves, but their ancestors. They know what they are dealing with." She seemed as if she were trying to calm herself down more than me. "I hope," she muttered.

"Bella, I can hear something. It's not like someone's mind, more like the feeling. I can't read the person's thoughts, but I can sense that they are there. The only person to come close to this was your father, and it was just a less potent version of your talent. This seems weird. There must be something wrong." I would have kept going, but Bella suddenly shushed me.

"No. It's the nomads. They aren't protecting themselves from you, so their power is only working part of the way. As soon as they know what you can do, they will turn their power up all the way."

"Can you put your shield around me now? Or will that not work?"

"The only way that my power will work properly is if they don't know what they are dealing with. I have to let them see what you can do before I cover you up. It's mostly just a scare tactic."

"Are you sure it will work?" I didn't like the sound of this at all. She was putting too much at risk with her plan.

"Not at all. I'm just going with what seems right." This scared me even more, but I wasn't about to let Bella know that.

"Always trust your instincts, love. They can be right even when you don't think that they could be." Just then I thought of another thing. "How can they blockAlice's power so well? They haven't actually met her."

"I managed to block all of you when I saw them, but somehow I missedAlice. So they know what she can do, and how to go against it properly." She was silent for a couple of seconds. "Look here they come now. Get ready."

I looked and saw three people coming towards us rather quickly.

CHAPTER END

A/N: This was supposed to be two chapters, but it ended up working better as one.
Can't guarantee that I will update soon, 'cause my foot is messed up and hurts no matter what I do. I don't really like writing when I don't feel good 'cause I tend to kill everyone in a story. Or they are overly depressed. So yeah, can't tell when I will update next.
Hopefully all of you wonderful readers out there can help me with an odd situation that I got myself into. I have one week to figure out if every person in the world has a guardian angel. So it would be highly appreciated if you all would give me your opinion on the matter. Mostly 'cause I got myself into an odd situation. If you do this, let me know if you want something from me, and I'll do my best to give you that!
Thanks, and review!