When I woke up, I was in Andy's bed. I was still wearing the clothes I'd worn the day before. I only noticed now how dirty they were, stained with grass and mud.
I lay there, listening to Andy's breathing beside me and letting the memories of the day before wash over me slowly, each piece falling into place in my mind.
Andy had driven us back here. His mum was home, and he had quickly made an excuse for her to stay there, saying he was going to cook dinner for us. He had done so. I was sure that in other circumstances I would have loved Andy's cooking, but I hardly tasted it, thinking only of the Cullens.
Andy's mum noticed how quiet and distant I was. She thought I looked sick. Andy quickly agreed, and told me to go and lie down. I had done so without argument. Lying on Andy's bed, sleep had not come. My mind filled with worry; the more I thought about it, the closer I got to hysteria, imagining all the things that could go wrong. Then I forced myself to calm down, reassuring myself. But then the worry would return, and it would start all over again. It had been a long time before I fell asleep. I heard Kathy cleaning up the dinner plates, heard the TV being turned on. I heard quiet murmurs of conversation. I heard soft footsteps coming down the hallway and going into another room- Kathy, going to bed. Not long after I heard the TV being turned off and the slightly louder footsteps of Andy coming down the corridor. I closed my eyes as he came in, pretending to be asleep. I opened one eye to look at him. He took of his shoes, then his shirt and his jeans. He laid down next to me, wearing only his boxers. I listened to his breathing, hearing it become deep and even as he fell asleep. And then I did, too.
I sat up slowly and got out of the bed. My clothes felt stiff on me. I busied myself finding something else to wear in Andy's room. I found a light blue t-shirt. I took of my crumbled jeans and t-shirt and slipped the cool cotton of Andy's shirt over my head.
Now I was in clean clothes, I sat on the bed and watched Andy sleep. But that couldn't distract me from the fresh torrent of worries pervading my head. Alice and Jasper would be in Phoenix by now; they wouldn't take long to get there. I wondered what they were doing. I wondered what the rest of the Cullens were doing. I desperately wanted to call one of them, but knew that I shouldn't. They were all stressed out enough without me adding to it.
Even though I could do nothing to help them, I couldn't help thinking about it, wondering what their plan was, if it would work. I knew that Bella would be okay. She had to be. In truth, I was more worried about Edward. If Bella was the vampire's target, than what he really wanted was Edward. Because Bella was nothing really- a human, weaker than most, not exactly a challenge. But a revenge-crazed Edward... that would be fun. If you were an obsessive vampire stalker, that was.
I felt so useless, so frustratingly useless. I wanted to help. There must be something I could do.
I could go to Phoenix. I could help Alice and Jasper protect Bella. I knew they could do it, but I wanted to be there. And if James came... I was confident I could look after myself. I was a sprite- James would want a humans blood more than mine. He wouldn't try to kill me, unless he considered me a threat. Which he wouldn't of course.
It would be easier to defend myself in Forks. There weren't as many trees in Phoenix. No way was I getting carried around by a cactus. But I could help. I knew I could help. Alice and Jasper couldn't even go outside during the day in Phoenix.
I went to wake Andy, to tell him that In was going to go to the airport. I could call them and get some last minute tickets. Andy might drive me there.
Then I stopped. Andy wouldn't drive me to the airport and leave me. He'd try to stop me, or insist on coming, either one. Nothing I could say would stop him.
I leant down over his sleeping figure and softly kissed his cheek.
"Goodbye Andy," I whispered, "I'll be back soon."
My scooter was at the shop. I needed it to get to the airport. Kathy had already left for work when I left Andy's house, and so I ran home, carrying my dirty t-shirt and shoes, wearing my jeans and Andy's t-shirt, my bare feet slapping on the wet pavement.
When I got there, I flew around the shop, throwing things into a bag. I wouldn't need much, just some clothes, my toothbrush, my phone, some money.
Once I had everything I called the airport. There was a flight to Phoenix leaving in an hour. Check in was in forty minutes. I hesitated, then took the tickets. Then I sprinted outside, got on my scooter, and left.
I sped all the way there. There wasn't much traffic, and what there was I dodged. A lot of people tooted me as I cut them off and swerved around them, but I ignored them.
I left my scooter on the sidewalk in front of the terminal. I saw a traffic director approaching me, to tell me I couldn't park there. I grabbed my bag and ran into the terminal, quickly getting lost amoung the throngs of people.
I didn't have any language that I needed to check in. I went and picked up my ticket and waited in the terminal waiting room, anxiously tapping my feet on the ugly carpet, my hands gripping the edge of the plastic seat. Andy would be awake my now. He probably hadn't worked out where I was- he would think I'd gone home. I checked my phone, but he hadn't called. He wasn't worried yet, then.
It seemed to take forever for the flight to board. Once we were on board we had to wait for ages for the plane to take off. I watched the air hostess demonstrate putting on the lifejacket impatiently. My feet resumed their tapping as the plane slowly inched down the runway. The man next to me glanced at me over his newspaper, forehead crinkled in annoyance. I ignored him and kept on tapping.
The flight wasn't long. We touched down in Phoenix and I sprinted through the airport. I went to the taxi terminal, and while I waited for a taxi to arrive, I called Alice. She answered quickly.
"Hello?"
"Alice. Where are you?"
"Juniper? We're in Phoenix, I told you, what are you-"
"No, where in Phoenix? A hotel?"
"Yes. But why-"
"Which one?"
There was silence.
"You're not..." Alice trailed off. "Juniper, I told you not to come."
"I know." I said, "But I felt so useless, I had to come and help you... what hotel are you staying in?"
I heard her sigh.
"Stay at the airport. I'll get Jasper to come and get you,"
I bit my lip. Had I made Alice angry. Would Jasper be annoyed. Had I done nothing but inconvenience them?"
"Okay," I said, "See you soon. And Alice-"
I started to ask her if she was angry, but the line was already dead. I stood outside the terminal, my bag clutched in one hand, and sighed. I had wanted so much to help, but now I thought I'd just made everything worse.
Jasper came and picked me up in a car with windows to blacked out, I didn't know it was him until he wound down the window and called out to me. I was sitting on the pavement, the sun beating down on my back. I was glad to get into the air conditioned car.
"So," Jasper said as we pulled out of the airport. "You decided to come?"
I nodded, avoiding his gaze.
"I'm sorry. I just felt so useless..."
He didn't look at me. I sighed and looked out the window.
The hotel wasn't far from the airport. I wondered if they'd done that on purpose, in case they had to leave quickly. Jasper had to drive into the underground car park and take the elevator up from there, to avoid the sunlight. We went up to fourth floor and along a corridor that smelt like air freshener over cigarette smoke. Jasper knocked on the door to one of the rooms. It was opened by Alice. She seemed relieved to see Jasper. He walked in ahead of me. I came in slowly, trying to read Alice's expression. Was she still angry at me?
She stepped back to let me in, her face expressionless. I walked in and followed her into the room. The TV was on, Jasper had sat down on the couch and was looking at it, but his eyes weren't focussing and when it went to commercials his face didn't change.
"Where's Bella?" I asked.
"Asleep," Alice replied. She pointed to a closed door.
"Oh," was all I said. I looked at the TV, pretending to watch the daytime TV chat show. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Alice. She looked at the TV as well, eyes glazed. We stood in silence for a moment, and then I couldn't stand it any longer.
"Alice, I'm sorry!" I said, "I know you told me not to come, and I know I shouldn't have, but I felt so useless in Forks, and I just wanted to help, and I thought maybe I could, and-" I broke off.
Alice was looking at me, but her expression hadn't changed.
"Are you angry?" I asked her, bracing myself for the answer. "Do you wish I didn't come?"
Alice sighed, and I thought for a minute she was going to say yes. Then she smiled, weakly.
"Actually," she said, "I'm kind of glad you're here. I need someone to cheer me up,"
She smiled at Jasper.
"You're not exactly a bundle of laughs, are you?"
He turned around, mouth open in mock offense.
"I'm great fun," he said.
Alice laughed and then her body tensed and her eyes clouded. Jasper was up in an instant, placing a pencil in her hands and paper on the coffee table in front of her. Eyes looking at something neither Jasper or I could see, she sketched what looked like a room. Jasper and I watched over her shoulder.
I tried to work out what the room was, but at that moment Bella's door had opened, and she came out. She looked tired, even though she'd been sleeping. She didn't seem surprised that I was there; she just looked at me. She stood next to Jasper, looking over Alice's shoulder.
"Did she see something more?" she asked him quietly.
"Yes. Something's brought him back to the room with the VCR." Jasper replied.
"She'd seen this room before?" I asked.
Jasper nodded.
I continued to watch Alice as she sketched in the details of the room.
"The phone goes there,"
My head spun around to look at Bella, her hand quivering slightly as she pointed at the picture.
"That's my mother's house." Bella said, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
Alice leapt up and went to the her phone, her fingers a blur as she dialed. Bella sunk onto the couch. Jasper sat next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. I was surprised at the contact- Jasper was normally so careful around humans. Bella's eyes were almost unfocused- she stared off into the distance, not even seeming to notice Jasper's hand on her shoulder.
I could hear Alice talking to Edward. She was talking to fast for me to understand the whole conversation, but I could pick up the key words- 'Bella', 'safe', 'tracker', 'Seattle'.
She hung up and looked at Bella, still motionless on the couch.
"Bella," she said, "Bella, Edward is coming to get you. He and Emmett and Carlisle are going to take you somewhere, to hide you for a while."
"Edward is coming?" The sudden desperation in Bella's eyes hurt to look at.
"Yes, he's catching the first flight out of Seattle. We'll meet him at the airport, and you'll leave with him."
"But, my mother... he came here for my mother, Alice!" There was hysteria in her voice now, bubbling to the surface.
"Jasper and I will stay till she's safe." Alice assured her.
"I can't win, Alice. You can't guard everyone I know forever. Don't you see what he's doing? He's not tracking me at all. He'll find someone, he'll hurt someone I love... Alice, I can't-" she broke off, but her voice was defeated.
"We'll catch him Bella." Alice said.
"And what if you get hurt, Alice? Do you think that's okay with me? Do you think it's only my human family he can hurt me with?"
I looked at Alice. Alice looked at Jasper. Jasper nodded, and the waves of calmness that I always felt when I was near Jasper suddenly doubled and I felt a lazy smile spreading over my face. bella's eyes closed, then snapped open and she stood up abruptly.
"I don't want to go back to sleep!" she snapped, and stormed out of the room.
The calmness disappeared as quickly as it had come and I was myself again.
"Should we follow her?' I asked tentatively.
Alice shook her head.
"She needs to be alone for a while," she said.
A while turned out to be about four hours. I watched the television with Alice and Jasper, none of us knowing what was happening. After a while Jasper left to check out of the hotel. The phone rang soon after and I almost jumped at the sound in the silence of the room. It was Edward again. This time I caught more of the words- they were boarding their plane. bella emerged again, probably to know what Edward was calling to say. Alice told her they'd land at nine forty five. That was only a few hours away.
"We're relocating closer to your mothers house," Alice's words caught my attention.
"Where am I going?" I asked.
Alice hesitated.
"It's not that we don't appreciate you coming Juniper. But I think it's best you go back to Forks. You should be at school, and with Andy..." She saw my expression. "Juniper, it's for the best."
"I'm staying with you Alice." I said. "Don't try to argue."
She sighed, and I knew I hadn't heard the end of it, but she left it.
The phone rang again. I looked at it in surprise. Alice answered it immediately.
"Hello? No, she's right here."
Your mother, she mouthed, and handed the phone to Bella.
"Hello?" Bella said. Then she sighed. "Calm down mum," she said, starting to walk away from Alice and me.
Alice went back to the couch to wait for Jasper. I heard Bella's reassuring voice continue in the next room. Curious, I went to the door, listening.
"Mum?" she asked, like she'd lost connection.
Then her whole body tensed. She was silent for a moment, then she said, her voice strained.
"No, Mum, please stay where you are."
Why did she sound so scared, her voice a whisper?
"Mum, please listen to me." she said after another long pause.
Her voice was still strained and terrified.
Alice looked towards me, her face worried. I frowned at her.
"Yes." Bella said. Then, "Yes," again.
"Mum, trust me." she said. Her voice was just as scared as before.
A "No," and then a few more "Yes"s, followed by a "Thank you mum. I love you mum." And then she hung up.
I watched as she stood, frozen, for over a minute. My mind was processing what I'd heard, the information falling into place in my mind.
It hadn't been her mother. That much was clear. Which meant it must be the tracker. Which meant Bella was doing what the tracker told her to.
Which meant she was going to die.
When Bella finally moved, I quickly went to sit next to Alice on the couch.
"Is she okay?" Alice asked me.
"Yeah," I said, "She's fine. A bit stressed, but fine."
I didn't know why I was lying to Alice. I just felt it wasn't right to tell Alice the truth. That was something Bella had to do.
She emerged a few minutes later, her face lifeless. She told Alice that her mum was worried. Well, that might be true. Then she asked Alice to give her mother a letter that she was going to write. Alice agreed of course, and Bella sat down at the hotel room desk and wrote a short letter, her hand shaking and her writing hardly legible. I couldn't see any of the words from my place next to the couch. But I knew the letter wasn't for her mother. It was for Edward. It was saying goodbye.