Fourteen

I woke up later, feeling confused on where I was. The room was nice, which was expected, the Cullen family didn't scrimp – even if it was a hotel room we'd only be staying in for the undetermined amount of time. The bed was comfortable beneath me, the lamps were nice on the bedside tables. Everything was made and decorated just so. Uniform and clean, a bit like the Cullen family if I was honest. The trip to the hotel room was hazy. I remember riding in the Mercedes with Jasper, Alice and Bella. I rode in the front seat, curled up as Jasper's finger ran absently through me hair. Bella sat in the back with Alice.

I remember entering Phoenix and seeing the flat expanse as we saw the golf courses and brightly colored buildings. And all though we were in the sun, I didn't feel safe, I was still on age.

"Which way to the airport, Isabella?" Jasper asked.

"Stay on the I-ten, we'll pass right by it." She called from the back.

I looked up at Jasper.

"Are we flying somewhere?" I asked.

"No, but it's better to be close by in case we do."

I frowned at the thought of entering a plane.

"Not a fan of flying?" Jasper asked curious.

I shook my head.

"I'm not a fan,"

He resumed his quiet brushing of my hair. I really didn't remember checking in or coming into the hotel room. I stretched out and cuddled next to the body beside me. A low chuckle shook me slightly as I buried my head. I peeked open an eye and saw Jasper lying beside me on the bed. He had his arm me, drawing designs absently on my shoulder. The room was dark, glancing at the bedside table it screamed three, judging from the lack of light, it was three in the morning.

"Morning." He said softly.

I grumbled burying my face in his side. He chuckled, and plucked me out of my spot and draped me more or less on top of him, his hands fluttering along my spine. Neither of us said a word, just relaxing taking in each other's company. I faintly felt my stomach rumble.

"You need to eat," he murmured.

"Don't want to move," I mumbled back..

He chuckled, and sat me up. Tiredly I rubbed my eyes.

"You can sleep after you eat something."

Jasper pulled a tray over to the bedside, it had a covered tray of food. Kissing my forehead he left me to eat and joined Alice looking at the TV displaying the news. A door opened and Bella came out of the adjoining room, she looked terrible. She could probably use more sleep, and food too. She went over to the other tray of food and began eating absently.

"Bella, you are completely safe here," Jasper called from the front room.

"I know that," she murmured.

"Then why are you frightened?"

"You heard what Laurent said." Her voice was a whisper, and I strained to hear it. "He said James was lethal. What if something goes wrong, and they go separated. If something happens to any of them. How could I live with myself when it's my fault? None of you should be risking yourselves for me…"

I wanted to roll her eyes at her hysterics. Jasper and Alice tried to calm her down.

"It's been almost a century that Edward's been alone. Now he's found you. You can't see the changes that we see, we who have been with him for so long. Do you think any of us want to look into his eyes for the next hundred years if he loses you?"

Do you want to look into the eyes of his family if anyone loses their mate…?

I kept my snark to myself but then I remembered I had something I had to do. I walked over to Bella and she looked up at me.

SMACK!

She cradled her cheek looking at me as though I had lost my mind.

"What the – "

"How could you say those things to dad?!" I asked harshly.

She looked over at Jasper and Alice, both of whom wisely returned their gaze to the TV, pretending to be interested.

"I had to say something!" She hissed back.

"Seriously, there could have been a dozen of other things you could have said," I bit at her.

"It was the only way I could get him to let me go."

"You made him cry!" I cried outraged.

Bella opened her mouth but then closed it, turning away from me and eating absently. Her way of dismissing me. I took a breath to calm myself, although my palm stung slightly from smacking her, I really wanted to do it again.

It was a long day…

However I noticed a familiar looking bag in the duffel bag. I hugged Alice tightly at the sight of it. Jasper looked at me amused and Bella, although she wasn't talking to me - looked curious. She quickly lost interest when I brought out yarn and a crochet hook. It was something I had picked up when I was younger and frequented when I was bored. There were several spools of yarn, but no patterns sadly. I set to work on a scarf I had memorized. Bella began pacing and memorizing the room. Eventually she went into the back room. Jasper came and sat beside me.

"Esme always wanted to learn," He said feeling the yarn between his fingers.

"Maybe when this is all over with, I'll teach her. It's easy and I'm sure she would enjoy it."

Jasper smiled lightly. Suddenly he looked up and Alice had come from the rear room, her eyes were blank, unfocused – or rather very focused on something far away.

"What do you see?"

"A room, it's long, and there are mirrors everywhere. The floor is wooden. He's in the room, and he's waiting. There's a gold…a gold stripe across the mirrors." She said lowly.

"Where is it?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know. Something is missing - another decision hasn't been made yet."

I frowned. Familiarity tickled at the back of my mind on her description.

"How much time?"

"It's soon. He'll be in the mirror room today, or maybe tomorrow. It depends. He's waiting for something. He's in the dark now."

Jasper seemed to know the right questions to ask. Part of me was slightly jealous at the time they had spent together, the centuries. I shoved that feeling away.

"He's watching TV…a VCR in the dark, a different place."

"Can you see where it is?" I asked quietly.

"No, it's too dark." She responded.

"And the mirror room, what else is there?" Jasper asked.

"Just the mirrors, the gold. It's a band around the room. And there's a black table with a big stereo, and a TV. He touched the VCR there, but he doesn't use it the way he does in the other room. This is the room where he waits."

I sat down on the edge of the bed. Chills flooding me. It was the beginning to a slasher film.

"Should we call?" Bella asked.

Alice and Jasper traded a look, undecided. Suddenly the phone rang. Alice had already answered it before Bella reacted.

"Carlisle,"

She glanced at Bella. And then relayed the vision she had just seen.

"Whatever made him get on that plan…it was leading him to those rooms."

She paused a moment before calling Bella over. She handed the phone to Bella. She was speaking with Edward. I rolled my eyes and then noticed Alice looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"Some paper, I need to get this image out of my head and in front of me, maybe it'll make better sense."

I reached over into my bag and rummaged around. Smiling I held out my sketch pad and ripped off a page and handed it to her. She had a pencil already in hand. She sat at the table, Jasper in the chair beside her. He pulled me over until I sat on his lap, his arm around my wait and his chin on my shoulder as we watched Alice sketch.

She drew a room: long, rectangular, with a thinner square section on the back. The wooden planks made up the floor lengthwise across the room. Down the walls were lines denoting the breaks in the mirrors. Wrapping around the walls, waist high was a long band. I swallowed the dread that settled in my stomach as I recognized the room.

"It's a ballet studio," I whispered.

They looked up at me surprised.

"Do you know this room?"

Alice's hand began flying across the page now. An emergency exit was on the back wall, the stereo and tv on a low table by the front right corner.

"It looks like a place mom used to take Scarlett and I for dance lessons when we were eight or nine." Bella responded.

Alice and Jasper were staring at us.

"Are you sure it's the same room?"

Bella shook her head.

"Not at all – I suppose most dance studios would look the same – the mirrors, the bar."

"Would there be any reason for the two of you to go there now?" Alice asked.

"We haven't been there in almost ten years. Bella didn't enjoy it." I retorted

I felt Bella's glare, but I didn't look at her.

"So there's no way it could be connected to either of you?" Alice asked.

"I don't even think the same people own it." Bella responded.

"Where was the studio you went to?" Jasper asked casually.

"It was around the street from mom's house. We used to walk there after school…" Bella responded.

"Here in Phoenix?"

"Yes," I whispered. "Fifty-eight street and Cactus."

Silence greeted us as we stared at the drawing.

"Is that phone safe?" Bella asked.

"Of course, it'll trace back to Washington."

"Can I use it to call my mom?" Bella asked.

"She's in Florida Bella." I reminded.

"She'll be getting home soon, I don't want her to come back home in case…"

Alice glanced over at Jasper.

"I don't see the harm, so long as you don't give any clues as to where we are of course."

Bella nodded, she left a message for mom, and the rest of the day dreaded by slowly. Jasper kept us calm but I know the suspense, the waiting was dragging us all down.