Once again, we were in holding pattern. I was told we were waiting for Alice to determine the best day for the Cullens to travel to Seattle. I tried to remain as calm and confident as the rest of them seemed to be, but I was panic stricken at the thought of them - especially Edward - facing an army of unknown size and strength. It was a relief that the werewolves would be joining them. I barely noticed the school year winding to a conclusion.

A few days before graduation, Edward drove me home from school as usual. At the front door, he suddenly froze, his eyes wide. "What's wrong?" I asked.

He stood in silence for a few more seconds, then whispered, "Go inside with me. Act like everything's normal."

"I've been doing that since I met you," I muttered, but did as he asked.

"Hi, Bells, Edward," Charlie called from the living room.

"HI, Dad." I dumped my books on the kitchen table and prepared to study. Edward helped me, outwardly calm but with a tenseness I could almost feel. After a few minutes, he excused himself and went upstairs. He didn't usually pretend to make bathroom trips on his short afternoon visits, and I watched him in surprise as he walked up the steps, his face intent.

He returned shortly, looking even more distracted. "What is it?" I whispered.

"Someone's been in your room."

"How do you know?"

"The scent is all over the house, but strongest in your bedroom."

I was puzzled by his level of worry, until I realized. "You don't mean a human was here."

"No. It's one of us."

"Victoria?"

"No, I'd recognize her scent. It's nobody I know." He thought a moment. "I have to talk to the others."

"Okay." I stood, expecting him to leave.

"No, by phone. I'm not leaving you alone, not until this is resolved. We'll arrange to take turns watching the house." He took out his cell and made a call from the far corner of the kitchen. I wasn't able to understand what he was saying, but the call lasted only a few seconds. He sat down at the table again. "They'll be here shortly. After that, I'll move my car so it seems as if I'm leaving, but either I'll be nearby, or someone else from the family will be, at all times."

I nodded. "Edward, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Not really. Don't worry, love. We'll figure it out eventually, and until then, you'll always be protected."

We pretended to study, and a few minutes later Edward raised his head. "They're here." He stood, said goodbye to Charlie, kissed me at the front door, and went out to his car. I saw him drive off, but there seemed to be no sign of the others. Assuming they could see me from wherever they were, I gave a wave from the front porch, and went back inside.

Wanting to stay busy, I made dinner early, ate with Charlie, washed the dishes, and did some actual studying for my one remaining exam. Tired of sitting still, I decided to follow through on my weeks-old promise to give my room a good cleaning. I gathered up cleaning supplies and headed upstairs. It was satisfying to do something straightforward and physical, and I enthusiastically swept, mopped, dusted and polished. I washed the windows and wiped finger marks off the light switch. I looked around, pleased with the results, and went to gather dirty clothes to throw into the laundry. It was only then I realized that my used laundry pile had virtually disappeared from the corner of my room, where I often threw clothes after taking them off. I checked the floor of my closet, then looked through the laundry hamper. Nothing. I even checked my closet and dresser drawers, thinking I might have washed the items and put them away already, and forgotten I'd done it.

It seemed unlikely that Edward would have moved my pile of laundry somewhere, and even less likely that Charlie had done it. And if either of them had moved it, wouldn't it be in the laundry hamper? Where else? I went to the basement to make sure there was nothing in the washer or dryer, but both were empty. "Dad? You didn't move a pile of my clothes for some reason, did you?"

He looked away from the television. "Your clothes? No. Why?"

"Just some of my laundry got misplaced. It'll turn up." I sat back down at the kitchen table.

Charlie looked in on me. "Still studying? I thought your teachers'd be gearing down by now."

"They're dragging it out to the bitter end."

"Not much longer."

"Nope."

"When will you be moving out to New Hampshire? Any idea?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it depends on where I'll be living, how much time it'll take to get set up before classes start. I'll have to work that out."

"It'll be strange, not having you around."

"I know, I know. You'll miss my cooking."

"Not just that."

I grinned at him. That was as close as Charlie came to expressing affection. He smiled back and returned to his sports updates.

I jumped nervously when the front doorbell rang. Charlie was there before me, and I groaned inwardly when I heard him let Billy and Jacob in. Having a newly discovered immortal stalker put me out of the mood for company. I got up reluctantly and went to the living room. "Hi, Billy."

"Hey, Bella! How's everything?"

"Pretty good."

I nodded to Jacob, and he jerked his head at me in a more or less civil manner, but he looked angry and accusing. I had no idea why, and wasn't all that interested at the moment. "Popcorn?" I asked Charlie.

"Yeah, thanks, Bells." Charlie took two cans of beer out of the fridge and brought them back to the living room, where a baseball game was apparently getting underway. I made the popcorn, put it in a bowl and brought it out to the two sports fans, then returned to the kitchen table with a book. Jacob followed me, and sat down opposite me.

"You want something to drink?" I asked him, trying to be polite.

"Sure, thanks." He joined me at the refrigerator, made his selection, and accepted my offer of chips with salsa. We ate and drank in silence for a few minutes, until he finally asked, "Why is everybody here?"

"Who's everybody?"

He looked at the ceiling. "You know who. Two of them skulking around outside - your guy and the big one. And another one was here earlier. I don't recognize him."

"You can tell that by smell?" I was impressed. "Even when you're only the mild-mannered alter ego?"

He snorted. "Yeah, we hang on to some of the stuff full time. Including sense of smell. So who's the new one?"

"I don't know. Someone was here, mostly in my room. Edward could tell. He didn't recognize the, er, scent either. That's why he and Emmett are watching the house."

"If it's not the redhead, then who? One of these new bloodsuckers they were talking about? Why is it coming here?"

"We don't know yet. We don't know anything, really."

He stared at the kitchen wall. "This is nuts."

"No kidding."

He moodily ate chips for a while, then said, "Can we go outside? Maybe take a walk? It's kind of close in here."

"I don't think I should leave the house right now, but maybe we could go out front."

He agreed, and we took our drinks and sat on the front steps. "So what do you know?" he asked. I hesitated, and he said, "Hey, we're supposed to be allies now, right? How can we help guard you if we don't know what's going on?"

"But there's nothing else to tell."

"The bloodsucker who…"

"Would you please stop calling them that?" I asked, annoyed.

"Oh, excuse me. Mustn't be impolite to the blood-drinking undead. The vampire who was in your house - he didn't bother Charlie, obviously? Did he do any damage?"

"Not that I can tell, no."

"Didn't steal anything? No, why would he?" I made a small, squeaky noise, and he looked at me in surprise. "What? He did steal something?"

I tried to answer, but my brain was suddenly processing data at several times its normal speed, moving the pieces of this mystery around until they all suddenly clicked into place, revealing the entire picture. "Oh! Oh my gosh!"

"Bella?"

"He took my clothes!"

"Who did? The bl…the intruder?"

"Yes! I had a pile of laundry in the corner of my room. When I went upstairs a while ago, it was missing. I couldn't find it anywhere. I couldn't figure out why."

"I still can't. Why would he take your clothes?"

"Because I wore them already! It's all the same, Jacob!" I laughed with relief at finally figuring it all out.

"You're not making any sense."

"Look. All this crazy stuff was happening at once." I ticked the events off on my fingers, talking rapidly and excitedly. "Victoria coming after the Cullens - maybe after me, specifically; she tried to come here, to the house, at least once. Then this pack of newborns causing havoc in Seattle, something that had only happened in one region of the south. And now, a strange vampire sneaks into my house and steals my used clothing."

"I know. That's what's so crazy. Why all these things at once?"

"Because they're all the same thing! Jacob, look: when Edward was away, he tracked Victoria down south, where the newborn armies are still sometimes used. Victoria comes back up here, and a newborn army begins to appear a few miles away."

Jacob sat up alertly. I could see he got the idea. "Okay, makes sense. But what about stealing your clothes? Who's doing that?"

"One of her newborns, maybe. Or else she's working together with another vampire, one we don't know. Either way, the point is that they took clothes that I'd worn, that had my scent."

He blinked. "And brought them back with him. To lead the others to you?"

"I assume."

"No, that doesn't make any sense. He was already here. Why didn't he just kill you on the spot? What's the point of bringing your scent with him?"

"That's the other part. Victoria knows about Alice, remember? She's found ways to get around Alice's vision. If Victoria comes after me herself, Alice sees it ahead of time, and they're ready for her. She tried it at least once.

"Victoria sends another person to get me, same thing. Alice would see it. Victoria's been trying to avoid making decisions ahead of time, or changing her mind constantly, to throw Alice off. She must have let somebody else work independently, somebody Alice wouldn't be aware of. And it worked," I added. "Alice didn't see anyone planning to sneak into my house. Oh!" I exclaimed as another thought came to me.

"What?"

"That must be why she keeps heading for LaPush."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because Alice can't see your future. She can't see the werewolves at all, and anybody who's with them or who's planning things in partnership with them, Alice can't see their future, either. Going on the reserve is like putting on camouflage."

His face lit up. "The fortune-telling one can't see us? Excellent!"

I stared at him indignantly. "Jacob!"

"What?"

"I thought we were having a discussion, as friends and allies. You're using me to spy on the Cullens for you!"

"No! Well, that wasn't the intention. If I get useful intelligence out of it by accident, good."

"You never stop," I muttered. "It's always plotting and scheming, looking at ways around the treaty, looking for ways to get the Cullens killed. Can't you just be aboveboard for once? This isn't a game. They're trying to save my life!"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! It's hard to get used to working with them, you know?" I sat in silence. "So the redhead found out how to keep her plans a secret. Then what?"

I relented. "Maybe she only needs to keep it a secret until she has her army ready. If she doesn't tell the newborns her plans, that's one less source of information for Alice. Then, she figures, it wouldn't matter any more what Alice could see. It would be too big to stop. The Cullens would go to Seattle to intervene, and be killed fighting the newborns. Or she'd find another way to get them there. She'd get her revenge one way or another."

"That makes sense." He looked out into the nearby stand of trees. "They're coming back."

"What? Who?" I said, startled.

"Your vamps." He nodded to the right, and I could see Edward and Emmett standing nearby. Emmett gestured to me to join them.

I went back inside the house and told Charlie I was going for a walk with Jacob. "Okay, Bells," he agreed absently. "Don't be too late." I walked back outside and down the road, Jacob directly behind me. I saw that Emmett was talking into a cell phone. When I reached Edward, he pulled me into his arms.

"She won't get anywhere near you," he said fervently. "None of them will."

"You heard?"

"Everything. Emmett is telling the others." He held me gently. "That was very insightful. I don't know why none of us saw it."

"But does it help?"

"More information is always a good thing. And at least we know it's only one threat, not a series of unrelated ones."

Emmett snapped the phone shut. "Nice work, little sister. Alice is focusing on Victoria, since she seems to be at the heart of it all. The plans to go to Seattle are still in place." He looked over at Jacob, who was keeping his distance. "You still with us?"

"Are you kidding?" Jacob said. "Hunting vampires is what we live for."

"Well, we may be a step ahead of Victoria after all," Edward said. "She probably didn't expect us to figure out her plan. And we have a couple of advantages she wouldn't be aware of."

"I assume an alliance with the wolf pack is one of those advantages," Jacob said.

"It is. Victoria would never expect to find us working together."

"What's the other advantage?"

Edward smiled. "We have Jasper. Victoria obviously didn't realize that our family contains one of the leading experts on defending oneself against newborns."

Jacob looked skeptical. "He's done this before?"

"Many times, when he lived in the south. He's never lost a fight."

"Maybe," Jacob said slowly, "we should have a word with this Jasper."

Edward and Emmett looked at each other. "I'll see what I can do," Edward said. "Bella, can you stay in the house tonight? We'll be nearby."

"Sure. Will you…?"

"Yes, I'll see you later." He kissed my forehead, and I walked back to the house with Jacob.

"This is still nuts," he said, "even after you figured it out."

"Yeah, it is. It's the waiting that really gets me, though."

"I know what you mean." We walked past my truck, parked near the house, and he kicked at a tire. "I can't believe it's still running," he said.

"Better than ever," I said smugly. "It's had a little bit of an overhaul." Rosalie had kept her word, and returned the truck to me running smoothly and more quietly than I would have thought possible. She'd flatly refused to accept any payment for the repairs, and told me not to be an idiot when I tried to insist.

Edward came to my room later than usual; I had already fallen asleep, but woke up again when he came in. "Everything okay?" I asked groggily.

"Fine, love. Go back to sleep."

"What time is it?"

"About four."

"Four o'clock?" I sat up. He was never this late. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. I was just with the family." I looked at him, waiting. "We arranged for Jasper to speak with the werewolves."

"You did?"

"We met briefly, Jasper described the newborns and their strengths and weaknesses in battle. We did a little demonstration of the best ways to attack a newborn."

My eyes popped open in alarm. "On the werewolves?"

"No, on each other."

"I can't believe I missed this!"

"You didn't miss very much. Besides, it happened during the night."

"So?"

"I didn't want to disturb your sleep."

I sulked briefly. I was feeling excluded.

"Sweetheart, it was no great loss for you. You don't enjoy battle scenes."

"In the movies! This is real, and involves my family." I crossed my arms. "You shouldn't have left me out of it. You didn't even tell me."

"I'm sorry. I had no idea you'd feel this way. I thought you would hate the idea of watching us fight." He sighed. "We're supposed to meet with them again, for more practice. I'll bring you then, if that's what you want."

"Thank you," I said briskly. I lay back down and turned my back on him.

"It could be to our advantage to have you there. You seem to have a calming effect on the werewolves." He lay behind me, lightly embracing me. "Like lovely Diana among the wild beasts." He kissed the back of my neck.

I rolled over to face him, moving into his arms. It was no use trying to hold a grudge against Edward.