Surprise! Okay, so that was a lot of cliff-hangers. I knew they were there which is why I've tried to update that section quickly. I got this update to you early because I didn't want to leave you for a week.

Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, but the mermaids and other original points are mine. Please don't take them. Additional disclaimer for some of the points of the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides plot that I am… err… borrowing, in upcoming chapters.

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Chapter 26: Glass Coffins – BPOV

One idle thought calmly wormed its way to the forefront of my consciousness: I'd never have thought that my death would come at Paul's hand.

The knife descended.

"Wait!" called a voice, thick with command and authority.

If any interference of my imminent execution was to come at all I'd have expected it to come from Sam or Jake, but the voice was neither of theirs. The voice was one I had known since childhood and was as familiar to me as the sun and the moon.

Twisting, I saw him atop the juncture of rock I was backed up against, not six feet away – almost regal with the firelight at his back as he sat, straight-backed, in his wheelchair. Billy!

I'd never been happier to see him in my whole life. He frowned down at me.

"Bella…?" Billy's voice was laced with uncertainty. Did I look so different?

"Shit," Embry exclaimed, stumbling back.

Paul dropped the knife and it clattered to the ground. Jake visibly tensed.

Time seemed to hang suspended by a thread, the moment still like ice, as Jake slowly turned. Back rigid, muscles tensed, face growing slack with disbelief. My sun, my brilliant burning sun… stared as if he had never seen me before, as if what he beheld was monstrous.

The air crackled with tension. Seconds became minutes… no one spoke.

"Jake," I tried, staring imploringly, but my words were masked by my natural hiss.

"She doesn't even sound human anymore," Embry said slowly, swallowing hard.

Paul was the first to break, backing away hastily as others arrived. Sam was in the lead, closely trailed by Leah, Quil, and others I couldn't name. No pale faces among them I noted, no Cullens, and I wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Sam was the first to slow, staring at me with dawning awareness. "…Billy?"

"Yes."

"You realise who this is, don't you?"

The others seemed to clock-on at that, glancing between each other for confirmation.

Jake still hadn't said a word.

Becoming increasingly nervous with the new numbers, my eyes darted from face to face. I was the centre of attention, a place I despised even as a mermaid; the supernatural transformation hadn't altered that aspect of my personality.

"Look at her eyes," Quil said with a strange mix of awe and disgust, "that's freaky."

The iridescent sheen would be more prominent in the dark; I could only imagine what the green glow would look like to them. It would confirm what they already believed me to be – demonic. They all quivered, their changes hanging on a knife's edge. Perhaps I should just stay very, very still – Best not to provoke them. A wolf's claws were sharp.

Sam seemed to gather himself. Closing his mouth, he gestured for a few of the boys to come forward. Embry and two others complied.

"Alright, let's get moving. Put her in the tank," he ordered, "Quickly now."

Tank? Before I could blink the boys were hauling a water-filled container down to my little pool. It was the size and shape of a coffin. A glass coffin, like Snow White's, I thought distantly. Was the lack of water around me making me delusional? The casket clunked down, and saltwater sloshed over its sides. No, it was very real.

"Why spare her?" Balthazar suddenly barked. For a while I'd forgotten he was still here. "So you know the girl, so what? She's a sea-demon now, a monster. Put her down."

"That's not why we captured one," Sam barked.

"You mean that's not why the Cullens wanted one captured," Balthazar remarked, "their reason seems a little redundant now though, don't you think? Considering the catch…"

"He'll want her back," Embry added, frowning down at me.

"Are you so sure?" Paul asked, somewhat quietly. "Look at her!"

He gestured toward me with the knife and I flinched, even in the dark it gleamed. When had he picked it up again?

"Put down the knife, Paul," Embry said quietly. But Paul didn't seem to hear him. "Paul," he tried again, more forcefully, "put down the knife."

Balthazar opened his mouth, as if to object, just as Sam overrode him, saying, "I'll have to agree with that. Paul?"

Metal clanked to the rocks.

"Whatever," he muttered sourly, "do what you want with that Medusa," and turning he walked away, hopping across rocks until the darkness consumed him.

I was so engrossed in watching him leave, so frightened to let him out of my sight in case he returned with another sharp blade, that I didn't even notice when Embry, Leah and the two younger boys gathered around me. I did notice when they started to lift.

My skin was slick with saltwater, and blood coated my front, but before I could amp up to a real fight they swiftly deposited me in that tank of water with a splash.

The liquid soothed and cooled and for a second it felt almost good, before the panic began to set in. Where were they planning to take me? Could I survive away from the sea?!

"Where are the Cullens, anyway?" Embry asked, wiping his damp hands on his shorts.

Leah answered. "A few of them had to leave because of the blood, but the Doc and his wife took off with Seth when he got out of the water. I saw them running to the South. Edward and the big one followed them soon after. I don't know how far they've gone."

"They should know about this," Embry muttered.

Jake still said nothing, only glared at his feet. Why wasn't he looking at me?

Sam nodded, looking grim, "go."

As Embry took off I thought I saw a flash of white in the trees… I did. By a pine, down the bay, a beautiful blonde figure stood staring our way: Rosalie. I almost called out, and I would have, hadn't it been for Sam and Leah. Between them they lifted my glass tank using two wooden polls that were attached along the lengths of either side.

I reacted, fear overwhelming. Beyond thought and reason I threw my body around like a battering ram, screeching and screaming. By all rights my shrieks should have shattered the glass. Reinforced, the word floated up. There would no escape, only bruises.

None of them talked now. No insults, no threats, the tribe were stonily silent as they walked. They took me further and further from the sea that had become my home, scaling the rocks and shore towards the hills, and the further I was taken the more I panicked.

"Calm down," someone hissed, it may have been Jake but I was too far gone to be sure.

In between my own feral shrieks I could hear more, a chorus of mournful and angry cries. I paused long enough in my frantic tirade to look out to the sea we were fast leaving behind. An array of multi-hued heads bobbed far out on its surface – my sisters. They called to me, not with words, but with a meaning that was nonetheless unmistakable. They grieved their loss; furious, demanding retribution. And they promised revenge against the Land-walkers. The sea would be a very dangerous place for any who strayed along its coast now.

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Elsewhere on the Coast – Seth-POV

"Where is she?!" Edward asked desperately, "Seth, you said that she was right here!"

Waters black as coal sloshed and receded at his feet as he scanned the horizon. Nothing breached the interminable darkness, nothing with a living beating heart that was – all was death and destruction, flesh and wreckage. The receding tide stained the shore pink.

"Yeah," Seth said, "was. I also said that when I asked her to stay she didn't seem too keen on hanging around. What with what was going on I can't say that I disagree."

Edward cursed. "Where did you see her again?"

"Right there," he pointed, "she pulled me out and swam-"

Edward was gone, back into the sea.

He had searched the waters many times in the past minutes while Esme worried on the sands and Carlisle silently comforted her; both vigilantly scanned the horizon as he searched.

There was nothing. All of the sea-creatures were gone.

"Is he going to be alright?" Esme fretted. "What if any of them are still around? What if…" she trailed away as Emmett followed his brother into the waves.

It wasn't the first time. They had already searched the area many times. Seth could see him now, surfacing intermittently to look around and glance back at the shore, before diving once more. Emmett's distinctive dark head bobbed up too nearby.

Seth waited on the crunchy pebbles, watching, wanting to join their efforts but knowing in the same moment that he would be more of a hindrance than a help.

"God Almighty!"

Edward's curse coloured the air at the same second Seth saw him punch the water. Scarping back the sodden hair from his face he began a slow but determined breast-stroke back to shore with Emmett close behind him. He could have used vampire speed, Seth knew, but he seemed to hate the idea of leaving the water.

I wonder if I'd be this bad, Seth mused, if it were a girl I had imprinted on that had been taken by these sea-creatures… that had been turned by them… Would an imprint hold for that matter, if the recipient was no longer human?

Edward ignored his musings as he and Emmett trudged up onto the shale, clothes drenched and dripping.

"Nothing," he almost growled. "Why would she run? Why?"

"Technically she swam," Emmett muttered, though the comment was bleak. "So, what do we do now, bro? You want to haul out the Edgewater and head further out? With the boat we may have enough to track 'um further. How far do you want to do this?"

Beside Edward, his brother's eyes glittered darkly. They looked almost black, and his face was devoid of the humour it usually sported. In fact, he looked pained.

The blood, Seth released as he watched the big ones lips tighten. The water is filled with it. And he just swam through it. It must really be getting to him.

"Perhaps she is frightened?" Esme suggested quietly.

"Of me…?" Edward asked, his brow dented as if in confusion.

"No," she said, "Well, yes. Perhaps she is scared of how you will perceive her now. You know how sensitive Bella is. She knew you didn't want her to become a vampire, that you valued her humanity. Perhaps fear of your reaction is what keeps her away."

"It has to be more than that," Edward shook his head as Carlisle's phone rang.

"Jasper," he answered, "Are you… yes… oh, I see, of course. Thank you." He pocketed the phone. "Jasper says that while his efforts to cover up the carnage thus far have been successful, he… isn't optimistic about being able to hush up tonight's events."

Seth frowned. "Err, I don't understand."

"Jasper has been working to keep the growing disappearances along the west-coast quiet," he explained, "to prevent Volturi investigation. So far it has worked. But now…"

"To hell with the Volturi!" Edward growled, throwing up his hands.

"Edward…" Carlisle warned.

He huffed, angrily. "They are not our most immediate problem."

"We may have to deal with them though," Carlisle said warily, "and soon."

Opening his mouth, Edward began to speak but almost instantly stopped, his eyes growing impossibly blacker as they whipped to somewhere over Seth's head.

Branches and leaves crunched. Seth turned to see Embry hopping over a log and jogging towards them. As he approached his steps slowed and he looked almost wary.

"Is everything alright?" Carlisle asked.

"Err, yeah," he hesitated, glancing significantly at Seth. "As alright as it can be I guess, considering the carnage." A hand found the back of his neck and rubbed. He couldn't seem to make eye contact with any of the Cullens. Uh oh, Seth thought.

"What is it?" Edward said, his voice edging into a snap. "What's happened?"

Embry frowned. "I'm not sure how to say this but…" he paused, looking to Edward, "err… haven't you already heard it in my head? You're the telepath."

"I'm too–ARGH! I can't focus!" he fisted his hair, face crumpling. "Go on, spit it out."

"Well we… err…"

Before he could speak, Rosalie flashed from the trees, hair in wind-swept disarray.

"They caught her," she gasped. "The wolves caught Bella!"

Edward looked like he could barely believe his ears. On little more than a breath, he whispered, "We got her back."

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