Chapter 13
"Alyssa," Shayne muttered again and again under his breath, desperate to get closer. But her new family was surrounding her.
"Edward? What's in her head?" Bella demanded shrilly.
"Kendra was attacked. She's feeling the same pain. We need to get her back here or wait for it to end," Edward said. He could almost feel the pain the newborn did. He looked sharply at Shayne. "Keep your thoughts down if you want me to figure out how to get her back here."
Shayne tried desperately to wipe his mind clean but that wasn't something he was good at.
"Oh for the love of all that's holy," Edward muttered. He moved aside. "Come on, then. But I'm warning you—"
"I know, I know," Shayne raced over to Alyssa through the Cullens. She had collapsed on the floor, still staring and whimpering unintelligible words. He knelt down and moved her, holding her like she was an infant and moved her dark hair from her pale face.
"It isn't you, it isn't you," Shayne whispered. "Come back to yourself. It isn't you…"
Suddenly Alyssa went limp, like she had fainted. But vampires don't faint.
"What happened?" Shayne said frantically.
"Something with Kendra," Edward said. "Alyssa can still hear. She's trying to get back to her own mind."
For the next hour Shayne just stayed there, holding the stubborn girl and talking to her. The Cullens eventually backed off and just stayed in close rooms. They also took turns going upstairs and trying to get Andrew to come down.
Alyssa finally moved. Shayne breathed a great sigh of relief.
Alyssa stiffened. She had realized who was there though her eyes were still seeing Kendra's blackness. Whose chest her head was resting on. Whose arms were holding her like she was helpless.
"Shayne?" Alyssa said hesitantly.
Shayne didn't bother denying it. "Yes." Here came the ice…
"What's that screaming?"
The question caught him off guard. "That's Clara. It's not as loud as you think. Can you see?"
"No." Alyssa frowned. "I guess I get my answer about what it'd be like to be blind."
"What happened?"
"I don't know," Alyssa suddenly sounded scared, like a small girl afraid to go into a dark room in case of a witch under the bed.
"It's okay," Shayne said hurriedly, "It wasn't you."
"But it was," Alyssa said as though it made all the sense in the world.
"It wasn't," Shayne said firmly. "It's going to be all right. She's safe." You're safe.
All the Cullens but the hybrid and his human were back in the room. Shayne didn't even glance at them until Carlisle came over.
"Alyssa?"
"Carlisle," Alyssa breathed, relieved. "Who else is here?" She sniffed, trying to figure it out.
"Can you differentiate the scents?" Carlisle asked. "How far can you hear and what is the back of your right hand touching?"
"Don't overwhelm—" Shayne began.
"It's okay," Alyssa interrupted. "There's obviously you and Shayne. Um… Edward and Bella. Mr. and Mrs. Black. And Jasper?" Alyssa asked a little uncertainly. "You're all here?"
"We are," Carlisle confirmed. "Except for Clara and Andrew."
"They're up and right," Alyssa said. "I can hear… wind outside. Not a lot. And… I think that's silk? Oh!" Her eyes slid back into focus and she blinked.
Kendra? Alyssa thought, trying to establish contact as she took in where she was.
Whoa… What happened?
Kendra! Alyssa exclaimed, extraordinarily relieved. Are you all right?
I think so… let me get back to you on that when I figured out what happened…
"Um," Alyssa said… "Hi, everyone…"
"'Hi everyone'? That's the best we get?" Jacob asked jokingly.
"You could get a punch in the kidney, too," Alyssa said, recovering some sarcasm. "But I didn't think you'd consider that very thoughtful."
"Touché."
"She's all right," Carlisle chuckled. "I'm going to go check on Andrew." With that he was gone.
Alyssa suddenly realized she hadn't protested at her position yet. Part of her didn't want to, but she leapt up anyway, startling Shayne. "How long has it been?" She looked for a clock, forgetting the only one was on the microwave in this room until the miniscule movement of the numbers changing caught her attention. "An hour?"
"Just about," Bella said. "It's almost morning."
"What happened?" Renesmee asked anxiously.
"I'm waiting for Kendra to get back to me," Alyssa said, biting her lip. "She's… talking to Maksim, I think."
It was silent for a while.
"Your eyes are too dark," Jasper suddenly said. "You need to hunt."
At the word hunt Alyssa's throat burned. "Please," she said.
Somehow she ended up going with Jasper, Edward and Shayne. How did that happen?
When she got back there were a bunch of new scents to deal with.
The Denali's were here.
And so were the Amazons, which meant that Esme and Paul were back. After a lot of introductions and explanations Alyssa was suddenly swept up into preparations for guests that had somehow been ignored until just now. Good thing no one needed to hunt just yet…
