I vaguely heard the click on the line as Alice hung up. I was starting to panic a little. This was the only way I could prevent Edward's eventual suicide and if he'd been in the same room right before I'd called…Calm down. What's the worst that could've happened?

How did Alice's visions work, anyway? Supposedly they were based on decisions…and I'd made mine almost as soon as the idea came into my mind. So, alright, she's probably seen what I was thinking about. The main question was whether Edward had any idea.

You know what? So what if he saw everything? I haven't planned out the concrete details; maybe he'll think it was just an idea, that I've already rejected it as ridiculous or impossible. Sorry, inner monologue, but it's just not like him to ignore a risk out of hand…for crying out loud, look what a freaking paper cut made him do! If he had any idea, he would take every measure possible to stop me.

Which would be rather annoying.

The little voice in my head was right about one thing, though. It probably wasn't the end of the world, or even of my plan if he'd seen Alice's vision. I would just have to take more drastic measures if that was the case. Besides, he wouldn't be able to tell exactly what I'd been thinking. I smirked to myself. I was one of two people he'd ever met whose mind he couldn't read. I suppose I should thank mom when this all blows over.

Correction, if this all blows over.

Shut up monologue.

My phone rang shrilly, breaking my concentration. Alice! I uncharacteristically fumbled for the phone, finally managing to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Allison, what was that?"

"Um…you're away from the house now, right?"

"Yes…"

"Could you come over here? I don't really want to talk about this over the phone." Wow, now I'm in a James Bond movie. Okay, Austin Powers is probably a little more my speed.

"Hello? Earth to Allison?"

"Sorry." I could almost see her rolling her eyes.

"Alright, I'm coming up." I heard the subtle purr of her car as it came to a stop down the street from Charlie's house. She was suddenly standing in the yard, gesturing at something impatiently…the window? I opened it and jumped about half a mile when I saw she was suddenly standing in the middle of the room. Vampire, remember? I swear, these people were going to give me a heart attack.

I recovered as quickly as I could. "What did he see?" I asked urgently.

"As far as I know, nothing," she said. I breathed a sigh of relief. "He was out hunting…what's going on? I haven't seen anything like that for years. The last time I saw it was…" she trailed off, her eyes glazing over. This wasn't the look I'd come to expect as accompaniment to her visions, though. She was reminiscing. "I thought it was the same vision at first, the one I used to have of Bella that would drive Edward nuts."

"So you saw it?" I asked stupidly. Alice sighed in exasperation. Okay, it was definitely time for me to shut up now.

"Of course I saw it! How am I supposed to ignore something like this? You're trying to become a vampire!" Oddly enough, as she was beginning to lose her composure, I was regaining mine. I felt calmer and more focused than I had since I'd called her. She continued her mini-rant, "And the part I don't understand is why! I mean, you've known what we were for weeks now, and this hasn't crossed your mind until this point?"

"Oh, and I suppose you've never seen his plans, then?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't know?"

"Spit it out already."

"Edward's planning on killing himself as soon as my mom dies." Evidently, she'd known. I got the impression she wasn't surprised by his plans, but by my knowledge of them.

"He told you?" she asked in a slightly more subdued tone. I raised an eyebrow incredulously. It seemed the roles had been reversed.

"He told me earlier. Apparently he'll go to the funeral then go off himself as soon as everything's over. Now, I'm not about to let that happen, but there's not exactly much I can do about it as is. All he'd have to do is shoot off into the woods and I'd never see him again. Now, obviously it'll be a little easier to stop him if I can keep up with him." Alice was silent for a moment after that.

"You can't do it," she said flatly.

"Why not, mom?" I asked sarcastically. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm just trying to look out for you, Allison. Have you even stopped to consider the consequences of what you're planning? Have you given any thought to the risk you're taking?"

"Well I'm sure I won't be able to eat as much pizza…"

"Come on, be serious," she held up a finger, "most importantly, have you considered that you're technically half-werewolf?"

"I haven't phased…"

"We don't know if that really matters or not. Vampire venom is lethal for werewolves. You might not even be physically capable of transforming, Allison. Beyond that, we have a treaty with the werewolves; if we bite a human, not kill, only bite, the treaty is broken and outright war would break out between my family and yours. Not to mention you need a willing vampire to bite you before you can be transformed."

I sulked at her words. Of course I hadn't thought about this actually killing me…although I thought my family line didn't have anything to do with the reaction of venom in my blood. And I didn't necessarily need anyone to be convinced to transform me. The rest of the Cullens had been on the brink of death when they were transformed, right? Alice groaned.

"Don't even think about it," she hissed, her eyes going pitch black.

"It's just a little motorcycle crash…or maybe I could jump off the cliffs…"

"Oh, so killing yourself is the solution now, is it? I swear, you are the dumbest smart person I know sometimes!" It was actually somewhat entertaining as well as scary to see Alice angry. She had the most innocent face in the world, but she looked like she might kill you with a look. The contrast made me smile. "Beyond that, do you really think we've been ignoring this problem all these years? We'd hoped it would help to give him some time, let him recover from Bella, even if it would take a while."

"A while? As far as I can tell he was out of commission most of the past twenty some odd years! The only time I saw any improvement was when I was trying to distract him!"

"Oh, I'm sure parading everything he never could have had with your mother is really helping!"

"So letting him stay a zombie for decades is your idea of a solution?"

"There was at least the remote possibility of him recovering after a while!" I realized our voices had been rising since Alice had arrived; now we were practically shouting at each other. So it came as no surprise when I heard the squeaky floorboard in the hallway creak. Alice and I froze for a beat, then Alice flashed into the closet. Doing some quick thinking, I picked up my phone and held it to my ear, keeping my face carefully frozen in a look that could kill. That part, incidentally, wasn't all that difficult. As Charlie opened the door, I quickly made a motion to hang up the phone. He blinked blearily in the light of the bedroom.

"What's going on? I thought I heard yelling," he said.

I made a probably over dramatized effort to compose myself. "I was talking to…Mason," I started, pulling a random friend's name out of the air, "we got into a bit of a fight," I tried my best to look chagrined, "sorry to wake you up, Grandpa. I'll probably just go to bed now." I was amazed how easily that lie slid off my tongue. It wasn't exactly easy to lie to Charlie. It was like he had a sixth sense. He could usually sniff out a lie within half a second. It was one of the setbacks of having an ex-cop for a grandpa.

But, believe it or not, he actually bought it. "Alright then, good night, Allison," he said, flicking the lights off as he left. I waited a few minutes before daring to continue again. I figured it was safe when I heard snoring.

"Define 'a while', Alice!" I hissed, "He's been like this with absolutely no sign of a change for decades!"

She sighed in annoyance from her place in the closet. Alice was back on the bed in a flash. "We have a different concept of time than humans. Everyday is at once longer and shorter than you could ever comprehend. To us, it feels as if only a week has gone by in all these years."

"So when are you going to give it up for a lost cause? Time is running out, Alice. I hate to be blunt, but mom isn't exactly getting any younger. That's not even considering that she could, I don't know, trip on the front stoop and give herself an aneurism or something, which you know is a distinct possibility! You just asked me a minute ago whether I'd thought about the consequences of becoming one of you, but think of the consequences of leaving him to his own devices! Have you considered that it may take more than a mortal lifetime for him to recover? What was it you said I was doing? I seem to remember something about me 'parading what he couldn't have in front of him'. But it's not like that, not remotely! He needs a distraction…at least I'm doing something to actively help him, not just letting him sit in shark-infested waters and waiting to see if he'll sink or swim!"

There was a long silence. I could tell Alice was trying to find a way to counter what I was saying. But it was impossible. It was ludicrous to believe that one day Edward would magically heal himself. I thought I could sort of understand the method to his madness. He'd been alone for almost a century before he'd found my mom. Then, when he met her, he thought he'd found his soul mate. He thought they'd spend at least the rest of her lifetime together, if not eternity. And then one little slip completely ruined the chances of this ever happening, a mistake that had been entirely preventable, an overreaction. He was beating himself up over what could have been. I still thought it ridiculous that he could still be so affected by events that happened almost thirty years ago, but at least I felt I had a rough grasp of the problem…although it seemed it was much more complicated than I could imagine. I waited a few more minutes for Alice to respond. When there was no answer, I continued.

"Look, the only way I can have any hope of stopping him is to somehow become a vampire."

She snorted a little. "Seriously? Have you listened to a word I've said tonight? Even if you were to succeed, which, I hate to tell you, is pretty much impossible, you would only start an all-out war between my family and the wolves. You would force us to leave, and you would be forcing yourself to abandon your family and friends. For all you know, you might grow to resent us for that very reason. You don't need to play the martyr here, Allison…"

"I'm not playing the martyr," I said flatly. Alice merely paused for a half a second and raised an eyebrow before continuing.

"Of course you're playing the martyr; it's in your blood. The problem is there's absolutely no reason for you to do this. Do you really think we would allow him to destroy himself?" And here I thought they had decided to leave him to his own devices. It's so reassuring to see they won't intervene until he comes to his breaking point.

"The way I see it, he's been destroying himself for years and you haven't been doing a single thing to prevent it," I retorted.

"See what I mean? Whenever you decide to stop playing the martyr, you're his psychiatrist! I'm sure an eighteen-year-old such as yourself has a lot of training on how to deal with grief, depression, and suicidal impulses!" she hissed at me. We had an unofficial staring contest for a few seconds after that. I was actually surprised when she blinked first. Did she even need to blink? Her expression changed in a nanosecond. One moment she was furious and frustrated, staring me down and willing me to bend toward her opinion. The next, she seemed calm and composed. She even smiled at me genuinely.

"No offense, but your opinion or plans don't really matter in the long run. If you make any move to hurt yourself to force our hands, I'll see it. So, really, plan what you want, but I'll be here to stop you before you can do anything."

"We'll see about that," I challenged. She laughed, muffling the sound in her palm.

"I'm sure I will," she said, still laughing a little. I swear, Alice was the most annoying person, mortal or otherwise, I'd ever met. She seemed to be enjoying my annoyance. I was instantly reminded of my brother and felt a little pang. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed him. I wonder how he's doing…

Alice broke my concentration yet again.

"I'm not going to tell Edward," she said as she got up and walked toward the window. I stared at her suspiciously. What?

"And why wouldn't you do that?" I asked. She shrugged cryptically as she started to open the window.

"Simple. It's not going to happen. He doesn't need to know. No reason to make him worry about your soul on top of everything else." With that, she gracefully dropped out of the window and disappeared into the night, leaving me more confused than I'd started out.

Not two seconds later, my phone started vibrating. I looked at the name. Mom.