"We have to go."

"Jasper, they don't have any idea how right they are. They were just joking around."

"Joking or not, they're too close. We need to move."

"Jasper," Carlisle said reasonably, backing Alice, "you know we can't just leave that quickly once rumors have started. We have to wait for at least a while before we can go anywhere. Alice, do you see anyone having actual suspicions about us?"

"I don't know. Half of you still want to leave, so until you all come to an actual decision, I don't know what's going to happen."

"Moving will just delay the inevitable," Lily spoke up. Her tone went from one of resignation to one of contemplation, "On the other hand, moving will delay the inevitable."

"And what is the inevitable?" I asked.

But it was too late, Lily was already lost in visions of the future. We all stared at her, impatiently waiting for her to come back to the present.

"We should stay."

"What about that house with the ivy?" Emmett asked. What house with the ivy? I thought, giving Emmett a confused look; I saw Rosalie covertly smack him on the arm.

"Long gone, Emmett, long gone."

Alice changed the subject before I could ask what they were talking about. "So nothing bad will happen if we stay?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, exactly. But if we move, Esme will die."

For a moment there was nothing but a horrified silence. Seemingly oblivious, Lily matter-of-factly continued, "Now, I'm not saying that will not happen if we stay, but it is distinctly less likely."

Interestingly, Esme was the first to recover the ability to speak. "How would I die?"

Lily returned her level gaze. "In few cases, it would be an accidental run-in with some nomads."

"And in the other cases?"

Lily was silent for a moment, continuing to look into Esme's eyes. When Lily did not want to share a vision, we knew better than to push her. However, Esme seemed to have decided that this was one topic where she was going to push. Apparently, Lily either decided that she deserved to know or that Esme was not going to give up, because she continued.

"Most likely, Edward will kill you." Edward's eyes widened and he began to protest, but Lily cut him off. "There are also several scenarios where it would be Alice instead. And in one case it would be Jasper." Her eyes narrowed and she stared off into the distance for a fraction of a second before turning to Jasper. "No, actually, Jasper wouldn't. Fascinating."

"Why's that fascinating?" Jasper asked, tersely.

Lily paused for a moment, as if deciding whether to continue to share the future with us. "If Alice tried to kill Esme, you wouldn't stop her. But if it was your job, you wouldn't do it. However, that means that Alice would, which consequently opens up the distinct possibility of you killing Carlisle."

"What?" he responded with alarm.

"Well, if he kills Alice, do you really think you would let him live? Any way the fight goes, it ends with you winning and Carlisle dying. But, Carlisle," Lily said, turning now to Carlisle, "I must say I did not know you had it in you. For such a compassionate man, you are ruthless when it comes to revenge. It's impressive, actually.

"Long story short, we should stay here. It makes a mess of other things, but it is less likely to end in you killing each other."

We all stood in silence, no one knowing what to say.

The sound of the doorbell shattered the silence. Rosalie, who was closest to the door, moved to open it. She immediately wrinkled her nose. I saw one of the men from the reservation standing in the doorway; I smelled him a second later. Definitely one of the new wolves.

He looked a little unsure of himself, standing in the doorway of the home of his sworn enemies, but he spoke with confidence, "Hi, I'm Doug Atreyis. I was wondering if Jacob was here."

"Like you're really looking for Jacob," Lily scoffed.

It was obvious that no one else understood what she was talking about any more than I did, but the young man tensed and his breath caught in his throat.

Suddenly, Edward barked out a short laugh. "Out back. Good luck with that," he called out after the boy as he headed around the house, no longer trying to hold back his laughter.

"What is so funny?" Emmett asked him, irritated.

"You'll all see soon enough," Edward replied, composing himself with some difficulty.

"Sometimes I hate you guys and your damn talents. It's bloody annoying," Emmett muttered with a scowl.

It was a relatively quiet evening – no one really knew what to say after the events of the afternoon. However, despite the silence, no one really felt comfortable leaving either, so we all just sat around the living room, not talking, not doing anything – just sitting.

Lily was standing still as a statue next to the sofa I was sitting on, with the glassy look in her eye that was indicative of her returning to watching the future. Alice was also lost in the future, sitting on the couch with me. Carlisle and Esme sat on the loveseat, Carlisle looking troubled, Esme looking serene with her hand reassuringly resting on his. I was impressed how calmly she took the news of her possible death at the hands of her own children. Edward did not take it quite so well and was pacing back and forth; Jasper was leaning against the wall in the back of the room following Edward's path with his eyes. Bella, Rensemee, Emmett and Rosalie were seated around the room, staring gravely at nothing at all. Only Rensemee and Edward moved. The stillness was almost deafening, despite how naturally it came to us all.

Lily dropped down onto the sofa next to me. Even after the events of the afternoon, I could not help but feel a thrill as she sat down next to me. I could feel her shoulders lightly resting against my arm, where I had it slung across the back of the sofa. It made it difficult to even remember what had happened that afternoon.

I saw Jasper get a wicked glint in his eye and walk across the room towards us. Although there were other open chairs in the room, he squeezed himself in on the end of the sofa, forcing Alice and Lily to scoot over. Lily and I were now sitting so close that we were practically touching. I mentally thanked him, knowing that as thoughtless as it had looked, the action had been entirely purposeful – the humans at school may not have caught on yet, but there was no way that Jasper did not know how wretchedly in love I was with Lily.

I desperately looked around the room, trying to find something to distract me from how close she was to me. Finding nothing else, I started counting the leaves on one of the trees in the yard. I lost count and had to start over from the beginning several times. I had just made it to six hundred and three when Lily's hand dropped from where it had been resting on her leg to the sofa. Although it was a slight movement, I was instantly aware of it because it meant that the back of her hand was now resting against my leg. I quickly stole a glance at her: she was still lost in her visions. I suddenly had to focus all of my concentration on keeping my breathing even. Without even realizing what I was doing, I adjusted my hand on the back of the couch so just my fingertips were resting on her shoulder.

At some point, the dogs came back inside, but even Seth seemed to sense from the atmosphere in the room that he should not ask what had happened. I saw Renesmee and Jacob exchange a significant glance, her hand on his arm; the look on Jacob's face afterward told me that she had filled him in on the afternoon. He would tell Seth and Leah what was going on later. He introduced Doug to us – apparently, he was the Alpha of the local pack. Only Carlisle and Esme had gone to make the treaty with the wolves, so most of us had not met him yet. He was polite, if not exactly nice, knowing that he was in our territory and seriously outnumbered.

He was talking to Jacob about something – no, he was talking to all of us about something. I laboriously pulled my attention away from Lily and tried to focus on what he was saying. It was something about the werewolf rumors going around town.

"Some of my dad's friends from town started asking about them – they wanted to know if he'd seen anything out of the ordinary. He did his best to chalk it up to it people just having overactive imaginations due to it being around Halloween. But apparently some people in town are actually believing the rumors this time since it was the police chief who saw Jacob."

"It isn't the people in town believing them that's going to cause the problems." I was surprised to hear Lily talk – I had not realized she had come out of her trance-like state. Her hand had not moved.

"What do you mean?" he asked, suspiciously.

"The internet can be a terrible thing when you have a secret to keep." She leaned back on the sofa, causing my fingertips resting on her shoulder to shift and now my entire hand was resting on her shoulder. She did not seem to notice the change, but it captured all of my attention. I knew that I should have been paying attention to the exchange happening about the rumors in town, but I could not focus on anything but the feel of her soft skin against my hand.

When I finally managed to turn my attention back to the conversation at hand, I had missed the majority of it. Doug was going to take Jacob to go talk to his dad, but at Renesmee's slightly annoyed look, Jacob changed the plans.

"Is it okay if I send Leah with you instead? I think the woman wants me home tonight," he added in a stage whisper.

"No, no, that's totally fine if Leah comes with. Totally fine," Doug assured quickly. Too quickly, I noticed. And too happily. No wanting to waste any time, Doug and Leah headed to the door; Doug held it open for her with a chivalrous, "Ladies first."

"He certainly seemed happy to take Leah. What the hell was that about?" You could always count on Seth to put the topic out in the open.

"Really, Seth, are you that daft?" Edward asked. "Think about it for a minute."

It was Bella who got it first though. "Oh my god, he imprinted on her?"

"He wouldn't have been here for the last five hours if he really just came to talk to Jacob. That conversation could have happened in a half hour or less."

"Whoa. Good luck to him." Seth's comment pretty much summed it up for all of us.