Chapter Thirty Five

Emmett

We got on to the bank and wrung our clothes out as best we could, Rose scowling at me as if she wanted to resume the fight but I put a hand up,

"Listen, if the Volturi are after us then we need to work together and find out what the hell is going on."

Edward grabbed my arm,

"You saw Bella? Where is she? Is she with Jasper?"

"No, she was on her own at college and I'm telling you I think there's something really strange going on. Lets find somewhere to dry off and talk about this."

"You mean find somewhere so you can come up with a good excuse for sniffing round Bella Swan. I know Emmett. Alice told me about you and Bella"

"Alice? Its funny how her name always comes up whenever there's trouble isn't it? Have you noticed that Rose?"

"No, I can't say that I have Emmett. It seems to me she's the only one seeing things clearly."

"Yes and that's just the trouble, its only Alice seeing these things. Come on"

I found a dry spot under some trees with a fallen trunk to sit on and waited for the others to join me.

"You coming or are you going to blindly believe everything you're told? Of course we could discuss the situation"

Rose

Emmett was so earnest with his words that I felt myself sitting with him on the tree.

"OK I'm listening but this better not be a load of flannel Emmett."

Edward stood leaning against a tree, arms folded,

"Go on then Emmett give us your theory."

His words were heavy with sarcasm and I felt my temper rising.

"Edward shut up and listen or go away."

"Right, I'll start then. When Alice organised Bella's party she invited Jasper back."

"No he gate crashed".

Edward was quick to amend my words.

"Well lets agree to disagree for a minute. I knew she was up to something, I even told Rose that didn't I?"

I had to admit he had,

"I checked up on her computer although she tried to hide her tracks and I found out she'd bought a ranch in Texas."

"A ranch? Alice bought a ranch?"

"Yes Edward a small ranch, and like you I wondered why. Things weren't adding up. She kept dropping hints about how close Bella and Jazz were getting but she never tried to keep them apart not at first. Did you ever see them together? Rose? Edward?"

I shook my head and after thinking about it Edward was forced to shake his head too.

"See, the only person who ever saw them together was Alice. I asked Esme a while back and she never saw or suspected anything either until Alice started dripping her poison. Jazz gave me a gift to hand to Bella, a birthday present because he didn't want to upset you. It was a carved wooden swan, nothing expensive or flash, a simple home-made gift."

"The gift Carlisle found in her truck? The one he put there for her?"

"Yeah, except she didn't know about it and he didn't put it there, I did."

"You did? Why?"

"I was going to tell her before you took her home Edward but then she had her accident and I forgot. When Alice told us all what she'd seen in the garden not one of us questioned how she'd slipped past us all out into the garden we just accepted her word."

"Yes but Edward you must have read her thoughts."

"Alice's thoughts have been a jumble for years now, its chaotic, like a fractured kaleidoscope. I saw fragments of Bella and Jazz. Why would she lie though?"

"I can't answer that, not properly, but I did confront her which is why she told Rose about Bella. She threatened to if I didn't keep quiet about what I suspected. She's played us all, and Bella most of all. She suggested the lies to Carlisle, she gave us all the ammunition, wound us up and we toddled off in the direction she pointed us without one question being asked or one argument being raised. I had an idea something was wrong so I gave Bella a puzzle to solve in her birthday present hoping she would open it and be curious enough to solve it."

"What puzzle?"

"How to find Jazz."

"Why? You just said there was nothing going on between them. Make your mind up Emmett"

Edward

At first I had thought Emmett was making his story up to cover his own ass but slowly things began to click into place. Why had none of us seen that Alice was the only one who ever "saw" anything?

"Alice knew Bella and Jasper would find each other eventually but she did all she could to prevent it. She told him to hide at the ranch and not speak to anyone, just wait for Bella to discover him. I suspected something so I led her to the ranch. I even asked Alice why she was doing it all when she rang to threaten me."

"What did she say?"

"For the fun and excitement. I think all this, from tearing Edward away from Bella to trying to split us up had all been a big game to her. Bella left Forks after we went because Carlisle's accusations ruined her reputation. No one believed her any longer and her friends thought she was an easy lay. She went to her mums then to college but she's not the same girl. She's sick too."

"Sick?"

"Yeah and I have a theory for that too. I think when Jazz saved her life in Phoenix he injected enough venom to start a slow change."

"You think Bella's becoming one of us? If she is then she needs help Emmett, where is she?"

"I don't know. I sent her to the ranch so I'm hoping she found him there."

I pushed myself off the trunk,

"Come on, we need to get moving before the Volturi find us."

"Where are we going?"

"The ranch Rose, where else?"

Emmett

At least Edward was willing to listen and find the truth but I waited for Rose to decide what she was going to do. I turned to her,

"Rosie have I ever lied to you?"

"Yes about seeing Bella."

"I didn't meet her, she didn't even know I was there. I just wanted to see she was OK and I had to do it without you knowing, you wouldn't have let me go and I couldn't explain then. Its been hard enough now. I never looked at another woman, I love you with every fibre of my being, I belong to you Rosie, please believe me."

She looked away with a deep sigh then looked back and smiled just a little,

"The stupid thing is I do believe you Emmett but I don't understand why Alice has done all this, if she is responsible for it all. Hey..."

She looked shocked,

"You don't think she's responsible for the Volturi at the house do you?"

"I'll bet she's behind it if not actually responsible. She's moving us all around like puppets and its time we put a stop to it."

Rose got up and stretched her hand out for me to take.

"Come on then James Bond super spy. Lead us to the ranch and hope we can get some answers there."