I realized that for my past few updates I have no disclaimer. Disclaimer: Zach: Guess what?! Liz: I don't care! Zach: Well, you better, because if our author gets sued and thrown off fanfiction we'll never find Ashley! Liz: ............. Zach: ANMLLVR DOESN'T OWN TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!! Though she does own me Liz: and apparently me, according to the script Zach just handed me a bit late Zach: And Ash, assuming she's still alive... Liz: Let's keep going so we can find out and save her! Zach: Okay! Before anything else I just have to say two things. These peeps deserve credit. 1) My friend Midna3452 (is that it? you know who you are) gave me the idea for this type of disclaimer. She uses them all the time in her stories. Plus, she knows how to flatter me to get me to update faster. Luv ya! 2) My friend McKenna for never shuting up about updating even when I told her to. Without her, these last 3 or 4 chapter still wouldn't exist. (McKenna, you realize you can sumbmit annonymous reveiws so I don't have to pester you to tell me what you think, right?) Okay, I'm done. You can all read the story now.
Elizabeth POV:
RING! RING! RING! Grrrr… Darn phone. I put the pillow next to me over my face and held it there with my arm, blocking the noise just a little; I was hoping Zach would answer it so I could go back to sleep. The phone just kept ringing, though, so perplexed I looked out from under the pillow. Of course, Zach was still asleep; he could sleep through anything he wanted to. Last year he fell asleep in his Algebra class, and didn't even wake up when the fire drill bells started blaring! He got in trouble, duh. Mrs. Fitz wasn't one to take that kind of stuff and just ignore it. I sighed and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I answered groggily.
"Liz?" the voice on the other end whispered. Auntie Alice! I love that woman.
"Auntie Alice! How did you… never mind. Stupid question; I'm just a little tired." Obviously she saw me and Zach here. Wow, no points for mind power there. She just laughed quietly.
"Yeah, but your father doesn't know I'm calling you; trust me, you don't want him on the phone. Especially after that little rehearsal yesterday. He's talking about forcing you to take singing lessons so you never do that again." It was my turn to laugh.
"Yeah, like that would change my voice." I replied.
"Your mom's here. One sec." I heard the phone getting passed off.
"Hey, Liz?" Mom checked to make sure I was there. Yeah, cause I had somewhere to be.
"Yeah, mom. How's it going?" I heard her exhale in relief, as if she expected someone else to respond.
"Everything's okay here; we all miss you, though. Your dad's going nuts; Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rosalie were passing through and stopped in. Everyone except Granddad and Grandma are staying with us; it's like back before you guys were born!"
"You never told me about that. What was it like then?"
"Hmmm? Oh, not much different, actually. We all lived with Granddad and Grandma and pretended they adopted the rest of us. Except me; for the short time I lived with them I'd just been kicked out of my house so it didn't need to seem like they adopted me." She said everything in a matter-of-fact tone, somehow being kicked out didn't hurt her, at least, not any more.
"huh." Was all I said.
"So, what about you guys? How's it going? Is everything alright? Where's Zach?" Her questions poured out in a torrent, she must have wanted to ask them for a while.
"We're doing well. We've been following clues Ashley carves into trees," I edited out the blood part. Come to think of it, I edited out the vampire part and the mortal danger part as well.
"Everything's great. Apparently I can talk to animals through their minds, just they can't respond. In words, anyways. But I met this really wonderful bear, her name's Nita, and she thinks of me as a cub or something. And I love her so much; don't worry, you don't have any competition or anything like that. But so she's carrying Zach and me around. Zach seems to think he has competition, though. He really didn't react well when he heard Nita would be traveling with us. He's sleeping right now, you know how he is. I wish I could dump water on his face to wake him up, but he would probably drown before he woke up." Mom laughed, and suddenly everything seemed like normal. I still knew what was going on and how bad things were, but I felt back in my comfort zone.
"Hmmm? What?" Zach began to stir. I gasped theatrically into the phone and stage-whispered,
"It's alive!" Mom and Aunt Alice both laughed this time; of course with vampire hearing they both could hear me.
"Who's on the phone?" Zach woke up fast, once he woke up.
"Mom and Auntie Alice."
"Can I talk?" he held his hand out.
"No!" I joked, hugging the phone. He just gave me an exasperated look.
"Now Liz, share nicely with your brother," Mom laughed from the other end of the phone.
"Fine." I gave the phone to Zach.
"Hey, Mom? Before anything else, there's this drugstore, and-" but before he could finish I saw him grin. "Of course, I should have known. Thanks, Aunt Alice." Then he got a confused look, "Who-" but he stopped talking and his face lost color. "Oh, hi dad." When the yelling didn't start, he looked surprised, "Okay, yeah, I'll stay safe." Pause "Okay, here she is." He handed the phone to me.
"Liz?" Dad's voice spoke to me. I knew Zach and I had completely lost his trust. I felt ashamed, even though I knew I did the right thing it was hard losing the trust I had built up over all the years.
"Yeah, dad?" I replied, and I heard the shame in my voice. Weak! I didn't want that to show.
"Liz, if you ever sing 'Happy Birthday to Me' again, I will track you down and drag you to lessons." He said it as a threat. I was surprised he didn't mention how I had run away.
"I'll keep that in mind. I was just letting you guys know, in a very annoying repetitious way, that I had reached another birthday without dying. Though, with Zach being the only person to hang out with most of the time, I have been close to death."
"Hey!" Zach sounded mock-offended. I just ignored him.
"Liz? I know this is a lot to ask and I know you and I have a lot of tension between us right now, but I need you to do something for me. Please watch Zach; if he thought it was the only way to save Ashley he'd go to an old abandoned shack alone with no protection. You need to be on your guard, he won't tell you and I want you with him. Together you two are safer than alone. Please?" He spoke softer so Zach would be less likely to hear.
"Yeah, of course, dad." I was surprised and pleased by his request. I wondered if he thought more of me now because I had a power, like mom had suggested so long ago, or if it was being without adults and still doing well.
We have to get going Zach mouthed to me. I nodded.
"Dad? Hey, we have to get going. Say bye to everyone for me, OK?"
"Sure. Come home soon! Love you!" He hung up; I was unwilling to turn off the phone first. Zach and I began to get ready to go.
---Time Skip: 1 hour---
Nita was waiting for us outside the city limits, like we had planned. She was well rested and well fed, so we were ready to leave immediately after we saw her. But just because we were ready doesn't mean we left right away. I refused Zach's help; I wanted to get on myself, I wasn't helpless. So I jumped, with the goal of landing on Nita's back. Instead, I landed in the top branches of a maple tree. Unfortunately, the top branches of trees aren't very strong. Nor am I a fan of plummeting toward the Earth from high up. I believe I screamed all the way down. Luckily, Zach, with Nita's help to support his arms, caught me before I hit the ground. I just stayed where I was shaking, I couldn't even bring myself to try and stand. Zach took a deep breath; I wasn't surprised he was terrified too, he almost lost his sister. I mean, everyone loves me, so duh he was upset!
"How did you do that?" He eventually asked.
"I…I don't know," I answered. More vampire powers? This was getting odd. Zach just looked at me with a forced smile.
"Now will you let me help you up?" I gave him a still-shaky nod. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears; I could taste the adrenaline on the back of my tongue. Zach helped me back up, and we took off the way we had been going before we stopped.
Eventually, we made it to the next city, but we found nothing there. Nor did we find anything at the city after that or the one after that. At the fourth, however, we found the next clue, or smelt it, however the proper terminology goes.
"Zach?" I asked after I had copied it down into my book. Four arrows; up, down, left, and right; all pointed out from the center. It did not favor one or another, so there was no telling where she meant for us to go.
"What, Liz?" Zach sounded strained. I felt bad for him; he must not know what to do.
Maybe she meant this as a reminder to you. Think back through you memories of her. Was there a time you two laughed about something like this? I mind-spoke more now, it just seemed better that way. It was just as natural as talking out loud, and this way there was no risk of someone hearing and teasing me about what I said. It just made more sense to me.
"I don't know, I can't think." He sounded frantic.
Calm down! You panicking isn't going to help! Think, Zach. Relax. Deep breath in…
"Stop it," he sighed, closing his eyes. I was quiet so he could think.
Zach POV (A/N just real quick, I just have to do this flashback from his POV)
Ash and I were walking around. Just walking and talking, sometimes laughing. We came upon a group of signs with four arrows, one pointing along each street, naming them. Ash scowled up at it, and then laughed at my curious expression.
"Whenever I see four arrows like that sign, at first glance they seem like one sign with arrows pointing all directions. And then I get all cross in my head and think 'If I go each direction it shows me, I'll either get pulled into pieces or go absolutely nowhere!'" I kissed her on the cheek.
"As if I'd let you get pulled in a bunch of pieces." She laughed again.
"I know. Guess that means I'm going nowhere!"
Going nowhere. That was it! I have to go absolutely nowhere!
"I've got it!"
Elizabeth POV
"I've got it!" Zach opened his eyes and grinned.
"You've got what? The black plague?" I teased him, though I was genuinely curious.
"Yeah, right. Nowhere!"
"I know you don't have the plague. Where do we go?"
"That's my point," he explained, "nowhere. We don't have to go anywhere, we're already there. This city. Either somewhere in it or around it is Ash, and I'm going to go find her." Something struck a chord.
"You? Us. We're going to go find her." Zach looked down at me.
"No, you're going to stay here with Nita. Who knows what's going on?"
"No."
"Liz, I'm not budging on this one."
And I am?! I furiously asked him.
"Yes, Liz, you must. Promise me you'll stay here."
No. just no. you can't make me. I'll either sneak along or you take me. Stop wasting time and decide now.
"Liz…" he begged me one last time.
I've given you my answer. You just don't like it. Zach took a deep breath.
"Fine. But you must bring Nita, and you must run if I say so."
I will run if you and Ash come too. I responded, unwilling to leave either of them behind. He looked me straight in the eye as if to see if he could change this statement. I focused on putting as much determination and steel into my gaze as I could. He finally sighed, resigned to the fact that I was steadfast and not about to change. Together with Nita we scouted around the city, not sure entering it with a bear unless necessary were a good idea or not. As it turned out, we didn't need to go much further. A huge, abandoned, seemingly political building in decent condition stood in front of us all too soon for my terrified mind. But the thing that drew us to it was drop of blood on the marble railing. Ash had given us one last clue.
Don't worry, the next chapter, nor the next chapter, will end the story. There's still a ton to come even after they... well, I won't spoil it.