A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing =) I really appreciate it.
I sat down in class and waited, running my fingers through my hair, nervous. I had nothing to be nervous about—except that today was the first day back from school since... well, since what happened with the Brazilian vampires and Chris and all of that.
One Week Earlier
"What happened?" Carlisle rushed in the room, looking ready for action. His eyes scanned the room until they rest on Edward's unconscious body, lying on the ground.
"I don't know. We came home—and he was here—and—Carlisle, just please, please do something..."
He didn't say much else, but set to work on taking Edward's temperature, stitching up something on his arm, and telling me to keep my hand on his forehead to bring down his fever.
"You don't know how he got here?" Carlisle asked.
I shook my head. "Alice and I were walking, and suddenly I could smell him, so I traced it and... and for some reason, he was here."
Carlisle continued to work on Edward, bandaging up smaller cuts and stitching the bigger ones. I winced every time Edward flinched a little. What would happen when—if—he woke up? What would I say to him?
Now
I clicked my pen furiously until the blonde kid, Mike, first asked me how I was clicking my pen so quickly and then when I didn't reply, he just told me to stop because I was irritating him.
Placing my pen perfectly horizontally in front of me, I began to tap my feet. I needed something to keep myself busy, my mind off of everything. Because when Edward walked in—it was done. He wouldn't remember anything. He wouldn't remember anything.
---
Alice sat beside me on the couch and, like I was, stared at Edward. His chest was rising and falling evenly.
"He'll wake up in a minute," Alice told me. "I saw it. Don't worry. You say the right thing."
"How can I say the right thing?" I questioned.
"You will. Just—" Her eyes clouded over, her face fell, and just as she snapped out of it the doorbell rang. She swore harshly under her breath before telling me to go upstairs and stay with Edward.
I did as she said, because I wasn't in the mood for arguing. It was probably no big deal anyways, like Rose, coming home from wherever she was, angry because she hadn't gotten to the sales at the mall on time or whatever.
So I sat upstairs with Edward and ignored Carlisle's frantic mood, as he whipped past me on my way up the stairs. I tuned everything out until the door opened and I heard Alice say, "Hello, Jane."
---
I tapped my feet to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, simply because I had nothing else to do besides sit there and wait for Edward to come in, wait for him to stare at me with a blank expression, because he wouldn't know who I was.
It would hurt. Of course it would hurt. But it was for the best. Of course it was for the best. Without doing what they had done, who knows what kind of horrible memory would be placed in his brain for ever, just hanging there, inextricable.
---
I spun around on the platform, automatically sending out a shield around everyone. Around Alice and Carlisle, around Esme who was now coming into the entranceway from the kitchen, around myself, and around Edward, mainly Edward, because whatever happened now, he wouldn't have strength to fight back.
"Alice." Jane nodded curtly, her black cape billowed behind her, made waves in tune with the wind. "Carlisle. Esme. Isabella."
"Jane," I replied, bracing myself. Were the others here? What did they want, anyways?
She licked her lips. Her pale brown hair moved like her cape around her shoulders. "I am here because Felix and Demetri would not be useful in a situation such as this. They are too..." She licked her lips again. "Unuseful."
"And what," Carlisle said, "is this situation?"
Jane's head snapped towards him. "Please, Carlisle, do not play clueless. I know about the boy. Where is he?"
"Then I suppose you were informed of the newborn attack?" Carlisle avoided her question. "Why, exactly, did you do absolutely nothing about it? You didn't care to help us?"
Jane smirked. "There was no need."
"No need?" I demanded, and Alice gave me a warning look. "There was no need!? Of course there was a need, Jane, we almost all died because of that. Including Ed—" I stopped myself, took a deep breath, calmed down, continued. "Including the other clans."
That damn smirk didn't wipe off her face, which gave me the temptation to punch her right in the face. "Including—the other clans? And, naturally, the boy. Am I correct?"
"What would you like with the boy?" said Carlisle.
"What would I like with the boy?" Jane echoed, and took a step inside of the house. "I understand he was held hostage by the newborns? Yes? Therefore, he knows our secret, and furthermore, you know what the consequence for that is."
"Nothing," I replied. "Nothing is the consequence, because he would never—"
"Humans will surprise you."
"Not this one."
We stared at each other for a few seconds, her pupils widened, but nothing happened. She sighed. "I see you're hard at work, Bella."
"You expected any less?"
"Good point. Now. Please. Everyone get out of my way. I have no choice."
I shook my head. No. No. This wasn't happening. None of this happened. All of this was a horrible nightmare, and any moment I would wake up in my bed back home, with Renee in the room down the hall. "Of course you have another choice."
All heads turned to me, and there was silence for a moment until Jane said, "I suppose we have another choice. To be honest, we have two. And neither is painless."
Carlisle blinked. "Two?"
"One." Jane ticked off her fingers. "The boy becomes one of us."
That wasn't what I meant. And there was no way in hell Edward would be turning into a vampire any time soon. In fact, there was no way in hell Edward would be turning into a vampire at all. Period.
"Two. We have... a different method now. We gathered a new member, named Charlize..." Her smirk widened and her eyes crinkled up a little. "She has the ability to erase one's memory."