Chapter 14:

Carlisle POV-

"Esme, what do you mean he was there but he wasn't 'there'?" I asked Esme over the phone. Today had been one of those rarely sunny days in Forks, and, of course, I had pulled everyone out of school for some well-deserved hunting, I did not, however, guess that Maddie would have wanted to tag along too. So now, we were all seated in the living room, trying to figure out a way to go out without exposing our secret, when Esme called and I was forced into another room where Maddie would not hear me discussing her son.

"Well, judging by his breathing and heart rate, he was there, but judging by logic and eyesight, he wasn't," she told me.

"So, you're saying that Maddie's son was invisible?" I couldn't help but smile at this, it almost seemed too far-fetched, even for us.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"Well, as far as I know, the only thing that can actually become invisible is a ghost, and the existence of ghosts hasn't even been fully proven in most studies," I told her.

"Oh no, Carlisle, they exist," she insisted.

"Okay, even still, what would you be insinuating? That their son is a ghost? That he's dead?" I asked.

"Um…Carlisle, we're dead," she reminded me.

"I know that, but both of his parents are alive and you said it yourself that he's alive too, and if that's the case how could he be a ghost?" I asked.

"I never said he was a ghost!" she exclaimed, "All I'm saying is that he was definitely invisible, and then he just wasn't in the room anymore!"

Suddenly, from the living room, Alice shouted "Carlisle!"

I sighed, "Listen Esme, I really have to go. Just keep investigating and I'll look into it too. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"But—" she tried to protest, but I cut her off.

"Got to go, I love you," I told her before ending the conversation. I could understand her concern, we might have been hitting on something that nobody knew of, which would mean that nobody would know what he was capable of, but right now, we had bigger problems right here. Our family 'hunting' trip, had suddenly become a group activity, involving Maddie and most of America, considering, the camera crew had decided to come along as well.

I went back out into the living room, managing to shoot a very, quick, pointed, glare at Emmett for getting us into this mess in the first place, before sitting on the couch with the rest of my family, as we tried to figure a way around this mess.

"Carlisle," Edward spoke, "We were just telling Maddie, how these trips have always just been a family affair.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Maddie cut me off.

"But isn't the whole point of Wife Swap to include someone else into your family and change a few things in each other's lives," she argued.

"Yes, but—" I tried to answer, but again, she cut me off.

"And, if in fact you now do not want to leave on this trip, the kids should return to school, after all there is no legitimate reason, for them to be truant today, am I correct?" she argued again.

" Um…" I started again, but this time, when a momentary blank look crossed over Alice's face, she interrupted me.

"You know what, Maddie, you are completely right, why don't you got gather up anything you will need for a day in the woods, and we will meet you down here, ready to go, in thirty minutes," she told her. Maddie's face brightened, and she smiled at the rest of us as she went upstairs to pack.

I glanced at Alice, who subtly motioned the rest of us to the kitchen area, while the cameramen took a break.

"So what's the plan?" Emmett asked so quietly that only we could hear.

"Okay, Somehow, we will manage to loose Maddie and the cameramen in the forest. Jake, you and Nessie will stay with them, while the rest of us hunt. Then, when they have finally given up on finding us, lead them back to the house where we will be waiting for them," Alice told us.

"Okay, but how are we going to keep from sparkling in the sunlight," Rosalie asked. A devious smile crossed over Alice's face.

"Leave that to me," she grinned.

…

Thirty minutes later, we were all coated in various foundations, and lotions and powers to cover up that natural sparkle of our skin. We were also loaded down with long sleeves, hats, pants, gloves, and closed toed shoes, just in case. In addition, we each grabbed a backpack so that we wouldn't look suspicious on this trip.

Maddie came down the stairs, dressed for a hike, with a backpack slung over her shoulder as well.

"Are we ready to go?" she asked cheerfully.

We all replied with various forms of 'yes' and headed out the back door into the woods behind our home. Jacob led the way, and Maddie and Nessie followed, Maddie, immediately striking up a one-sided conversation about how to identify specific kinds of moss in the forest. The rest of us allowed the cameraman to pass in front of us, and we slowly continued behind. Every second we would each be a foot farther from the group until we were able to easily sprint off into the surrounding forest at full speed without being detected by Maddie.

Maddie POV-

About ten minutes into the hike, I looked behind us to find that Edward, Bella, Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice were not behind us anymore. I stopped in my tracks, nearly causing the cameraman to run into me.

"Where did they go?" I asked to no one in particular. I looked between the cameraman, Jacob and Renesme, who all shrugged, although the cameraman seemed lightly more confused and concerned than the other two.

"Let's just keep going, I'm sure they'll catch up with us," Jacob suggested.

"No, I think we should turn around and look for them," I told him, taking a few steps in the opposite direction.

"Mrs. Fenton, really, they know these woods really well, and I'm sure we'll be able to find them," he insisted. I didn't like that idea, but, after a few seconds, I sighed and we continued on in the direction we had been going.

A few hours later, we were still, walking, we hadn't found them yet, and now, it was starting to get darker. After my subtle hinting that we should go back, became more forceful hinting, Jacob finally sighed.

"I bet they already went back to the house, let's head back and see if we can find them there," he announced. I agreed, and we turned around. It seemed odd that, what had taken us several hours to get to the point where we were in the forest, had only taken us about fifteen minutes to get back. Had we been walking in circles the whole time and I hadn't even noticed?

Sure enough when we arrived back at the house, there they were, all seven of them, seated comfortably around the back patio table, like they had been waiting for us.

"What took you guys so long?" Alice asked.

"I hope you're hungry, we ordered some pizza and they should be here soon," Jasper added.

"Great, I'm starved," Jacob exclaimed, running into the house. I laughed, my worry fading. Maybe I had just been over reacting.

But suddenly, the entire atmosphere changed when the cameraman tripped, breaking the camera, and slicing open the skin on his arm.