Music Note: Game Changer, by Imelda May

21. PHONE CALL

Once again, I woke disoriented and groggy. There was a fresh cup of coffee on the bedside table. Alice must have seen me waking up. I sipped it slowly, letting the bitter liquid pull me from my dream's embrace. Alice and Jasper were speaking quietly in the next room, but I didn't move to join them, choosing instead to stay curled in bed under the warm protection of the comforter.

It finally occurred to me as I finished my coffee that it was very strange the two in the living room were speaking loudly enough for me to hear them. I poked my head through the door to see what the hubbub was about and found them bent back over the coffee table staring at something intently. Faintly I heard the soft scratching of a pencil on paper and realized Alice must have had another vision.

"Did she see something else?" I padded over to them and knelt down on the opposite side of the table so I could watch what she drew.

"Yes," Jasper glanced up at me briefly. "Something brought him to the dark room where he was pacing before, but it's daylight now."

As I watched, Alice drew an oddly shaped oblong room, with a wall of windows flooding the room with natural light, a huge flat screen TV on another wall, and a small desk with a Mac computer opposite the television. In the center of the room was a round rug covered in paisley with a big chaise style lounging couch on top of it. I had a very clear memory of how heavenly that couch was after spending a week sleeping soundly on it. It was more comfortable than some of the beds I'd owned in my life.

"The front door is over there," I said, pointing to a corner of the drawing she hadn't finished, yet.

For the second time in as many days, the pencil dropped from Alice's fingers as two sets of black eyes turned slowly towards me.

"It's my mom's house," I confirmed.

Alice flew off the couch and was dialing a number into the little burner phone in an instant. I slowly sank into the space she'd vacated, wondering why my mom had never bothered to call me back. It was very unlike her. My brain started spinning quicker than I could follow. Would he really do that? Attack my mother to get to me? It didn't feel right, but why wouldn't she have called? A hand slid over my shoulders, and I felt the panic dull into a small sense of alarm. Jasper didn't say anything, but he maintained the contact to keep me from slipping away, and I was very thankful for his presence.

"Delilah?" Alice asked carefully. I looked up at her numbly. "Emmett is coming to get you."

"Okay," I mumbled, fighting the urge to snatch the phone away from her to call my mom repetitively until someone answered. Why didn't I memorize her work cell number? Why didn't I know my sister's number by heart?

"He, Carlisle, and Edward are catching the first flight out of Seattle and taking you somewhere to hide for a while."

"How is that going to help my mom?" I asked her. "He… he has my mom." Even with Jasper's talent dampening my emotions I could feel the panic bubbling away inside me.

"We don't know that. Jasper and I will find her and make sure she's safe."

"No, this is insane. No."

"No, what, La?"

"He's not tracking me. He's trying to draw me out. If this doesn't work, he'll go after my uncle or my sister, or- Jesus fucking christ- my niece or nephew."

"We won't let that happen…"

"You won't? Okay, then he'll come after you, or Jasper, or Esme. He's going to get to me some way, or sometime, no matter how far I run."

Alice looked meaningfully at Jasper and I felt my body become heavy as lead. My eyelids started to slide shut, bliss would be right around the corner.

I snapped up and took several angry steps away from both of them.

"I don't want to fucking sleep, Jasper!" I shouted and stormed out of the room where I could cry unabashedly without prying eyes. When I shut the door behind me, though, I didn't fall apart. Instead, I felt an ironclad determination. One way or another I would keep my family safe. No matter what I had to do. A plan started to form in my mind, loose pieces slowly fitting together. I tried not to concentrate on it too hard, thinking Alice wouldn't approve, but it had to be soon- before Emmett arrived, otherwise I would never get away.

My biggest roadblock would be meeting my tormentor on my own terms. Finding a way to draw him out away from the rest of the family, and away from my mother. If she was safe, I knew I could find the strength to handle the rest.

After a couple of hours of watching my thoughts circle around in my brain, I realized I definitely needed to apologize to my friends for speaking to them so badly. I roused and re-entered the living room where I found Alice tapping rapidly into the flip phone.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said. "They just texted to let me know they were boarding. They'll be here in three hours." She set the phone down to approach me, giving me a tight hug.

Just three hours? I could handle that. "Where's Jasper?"

"Checking out."

"You're not staying here?"

"No," she answered distractedly as she started gathering our things to pack away. "We're relocating closer to your mom's place. If we're not already too late we can catch him out before he gets there."

The phone rang shrilly behind us. We both turned to stare at it as if it had turned into a snake.

"Who-" before I could finish the question Alice was flipping the phone open and pressing it to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, full of apprehension. "No, she's right here. Your mom," she told me as she handed me the phone and continued packing. I shuffled backward a few paces, feeling several pounds of weight lift from my chest. With a brief thank you to the universe I lifted the phone to my ear.

"Hey," I began, but my mother cut me off almost immediately.

"Kala?! Kala!" She sounded heartbreakingly worried as she called my given name. The only time I'd heard her sound like that was right after the hearing I had to withstand in a courtroom with James. It had been a horrible day in court where we'd gotten terrible news; James had been let out on bail. We knew now it was the day he'd disappeared.

"Mom, where are you?" I tried to make my voice sound firm and reassuring, but felt it quake anyway. I walked slowly away from Alice to face a wall so she wouldn't see how hard this conversation would be. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sure she'll be just fine," a slick voice spoke ever so quietly through the speaker. The phone almost dropped from my hand. "Good morning, Kala."

I nearly shrieked and threw the phone across the room to get as far away from that voice as possible. Instead, I found myself standing very still, heart beating madly in anger. Every curse word in the book came to mind, but I knew what was coming next, so I didn't spit out any of the obscenities that were pooling in my mouth. The room began to spin around me madly as bile crawled up my throat. I pressed a palm to the wall to hold myself up.

"Be very careful not to say anything I don't tell you to, or your mother will die." He spoke so quietly I knew Alice wouldn't be able to hear it where she was packing our things up in the other room.

"Repeat after me," he continued. "No, mom, stay where you are."

"No, mom, stay where you are," I repeated through a clenched jaw.

"Please don't be difficult, La." He tutted at me. "I always liked your mom, I would hate to have to hurt her. Why don't you walk into another room so your face doesn't give you away? I know how hard it is for you to disguise what you're thinking, and there's no reason for your mother to suffer. As you're walking, please say, 'Mom please listen to me.' Say it now."

"Mom, please listen to me," I pleaded, unconvincingly. I stayed standing right where I was, propped against the wall.

"There now, are you alone? Just answer yes or no."

"Yes."

"But they can still hear you, I'm sure."

"Yes."

"All right, then," he continued. Speaking as though we were old estranged friends. "Say, 'Mom, trust me.'"

"Mom, trust me," I coughed out, not bothering to hide the fact that I was crying, tears streaming from my eyes in a torrent.

"This worked out rather better than I expected. I was prepared to wait, but your mother arrived ahead of schedule. It's easier this way, isn't it? Less suspense, less anxiety for you. I know how you tend to feel anxious when you don't know what's going to happen."

Another volley of curses came very close to spilling out of my mouth but I swallowed them and waited.

"Now I want you to listen very carefully. I'm going to need you to get away from your friends; do you think you can do that? Answer yes or no."

"Yes," no matter what I had to do, I would find a way.

"That's better. I'm sure it won't be easy, but if I get the slightest hint that you have any company, well, that would be very bad for your mother," he promised as though he were offering a guarantee on very good weather for a picnic. "You must know enough about us by now to realize how quickly I would know if you tried to bring anyone along with you. And how little time I would need to deal with your mother if that was the case. Do you understand? Answer yes or no."

"Yes," you motherfucking piece of shit.

"Very good, La! I knew I could count on you. You've always been so clever. Now, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go to your mother's house. There will be a number on the fridge. Call it, and I'll tell you where to go." Of course, I already knew where he would tell me to go; already knew where this would end, but I would follow his instructions exactly, for the sake of my mother's life. "Can you do that? Answer yes or no."

"Yes."

"Before noon, please, La. I haven't got all day," he said snidely. "It's important, now, that you don't make your new friends suspicious when you go back to them. Tell them that your mother called and that you talked her out of coming home for the time being. Now repeat after me, 'Thank you, Mom.' Say it now."

"Thank you, Mom." I sniffed loudly, as my tears had caused a massively runny nose.

"Say, 'I love you, Mom, I'll see you soon.' Say it now."

"I love you, Mom." My voice was like cracked earth. "I'll see you soon," I promised.

"Goodbye, Kala. I look forward to seeing you again." He hung up.

I stood silently in my corner for a while, staring at the wall, wondering what on earth I could possibly tell Alice.

"La?" I heard her call from the bedroom. "Is everything okay?"

I turned to her, still feeling at a loss, when the little phone vibrated in my hand, the ring coming a fraction of a second later. I stared down at the tiny thing in complete bemusement, then turned my gaze on Alice. Her brow was puckered tightly in confusion- she hadn't been expecting this call either. Slowly I lifted the phone back to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked hesitantly.

"La? Is that you?" My mother's voice cracked like a whip in a combination of fear, and frustration. "What's going on, are you okay?"

I slumped to the floor, gripping the phone to my face with both hands in complete disbelief.

"Mom?" I sobbed.

"Yes, of course! What's going on? Where are you?"

"Why didn't you call me back?" I asked her, knowing it was the wrong question but not knowing where to start.

"Oh baby," her voice turned quiet and sounded broken. "I'm at a work retreat in Milwaukee, no phone allowed, of course. When I got back to the hotel it was dead so I left it to charge overnight, didn't get your messages until about an hour ago."

"Oh…"

"I talked to Kevin," she offered. "Tell me where you are."

"I'm safe," I said. "That's all I can say right now."

"You're running?"

"Yeah," I said, still stunned she was safe in Milwaukee. I'd nearly walked into a trap.

"You can't run forever, baby."

"I know, Momma," I told her. "Hey, listen, it's not safe for you in S.F. right now. Can you stay in Milwaukee until I tell you it's safe to go back?"

"What do you mean it's not safe? I have to go back to work, I can't stay out here."

"You have P.T.O. saved up, right? Why don't you go see Eleanor and the kids?"

"For how long?"

"Not long," I told her, as a plan started to percolate. I looked up at Alice as I thought, knowing she would be reading my every move. She shook her head at me firmly. No fucking way, she mouthed. "Is Roger still in Japan?" I asked, speaking of my stepdad.

"Yeah, he's there another two weeks," she said.

"Good. Go see Nora," I repeated. "Please, I just need to know you're safe."

"Okay," she agreed, reluctantly. "I will. Will you come to meet us?"

"Thank you," I said, ignoring her question. "Mom, I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Kala."

"I'll call you when I can." I hung up before she could answer me, knowing my willpower was about to break. Alice was watching me intently, probably wondering how I would make my escape. The only thing was, I didn't need to escape, anymore. We had an advantage and we needed to make use of it. I tossed the phone to Alice and climbed to my feet.

"Where are you going?" she asked, popping up to follow me.

"I just need a human moment," I answered her and shut the door to the bedroom between us. Once inside I headed straight for the table by the windows. There was another hotel stationary set there, with a convenient, branded pen. I sat down and started writing. If all my plans failed, I needed Emmett to know how I felt. I poured all of my heart onto that tiny scrap of paper, thinking there could never be enough paper, enough time, or even enough words to communicate to Emmett how I felt. I asked him to forgive Alice and Jasper, I asked him to forgive me, but mostly I asked him to forgive himself for not stopping me.

I folded the paper into a heart shape and wrote his name on the outside, just like I used to do for my friends in high school. Alice would give it to him, I knew she would. The next most important thing would be to convince her to go along with this harebrained idea of mine. Jasper would see it my way, I just needed to sell it.

Jasper had returned when I re-entered the living room. He was watching Alice watch the future, and I realized she must be seeing my plan. I wondered how it all turned out.

"How does that work?" I asked her. "The things you see? Emmett said it wasn't definite… that things could change?"

"Yes, things change," she murmured. I could tell she was still confused about whatever she'd been seeing when I walked into the room. "Some things are more certain than others… like the weather. People are harder. I only see the course they're on while they're on it. Once they change their minds—make a new decision, no matter how small—the whole future shifts."

That sounded frustrating, but it explained why she saw vampires so much clearer, as she described them as almost immutable.

"So you couldn't see-" my voice caught on the name. "Any of us in San Francisco until he decided to come here."

"Yes," she agreed, wary again.

"I see," I nodded, then decided to go for it. "I have an idea."

"No," Alice said immediately.

"Hear me out," I protested.

"No, absolutely not."

"What is it?" Jasper asked, looking back and forth between us.

"Delilah wants to offer herself up as bait."

"Ohh," Jasper breathed, and just as I expected, he didn't look opposed to the idea. His lack of reticence gave me a small boost of confidence.

"I don't know what you're seeing, but it could work! Let's talk about this, at least! One of you may have a great idea that will push the outcome in our favor."

"No," she said again, then, "Jasper stop. No matter what we decide, Emmett will not agree to it."

"Emmett isn't here," I pointed out.

"We can't risk it, regardless of any probable outcome."

"You heard my mom!" I yelled. "I can't run forever. He'll get to someone, whether it's my sister or one of you! We have to do something!"

"We won't let him get near anyone," she shook her head.

"What," I said scathingly. "You're going to spend the next sixty years protecting a group of scattered humans? Doesn't that seem silly?"

"Jasper," she moaned.

"If we time it right she won't be in any danger," he argued. "I can't help think about it."

"You're not just thinking about it if I'm seeing it."

"It's a good idea," he said, defending himself.

"Fine," Alice rolled her eyes. "Tell me."