Chapter 30: Escape

Nessie's POV

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. My feet practically flew over the flora and fauna that covered the forest floor. Jacob Jr. secured tightly in my arms. I looked back when I thought that I'd heard a noise. My foot got caught on a tree branch and I tripped. Jr. slipped out of my hands and sailed through the air.

Something leaped from behind a bush and caught the wolf pup before he could hit the floor. I breathed a sigh if relief when I realized that it was Jacob. Then I saw my mother and father appear.

"Dad! Mom!" I yelled

"Oh Ness thank God you're alright," dad nearly crushed me. "When I couldn't hear your thoughts I feared the worst,"

"We feared the worst," mom crorrected. "As soon as your father and I realized that our gifts had been taken from us we knew that we were under attack,"

"They took all of your gifts," I cried. "They told me that they'd taken all of your gifts,"

"We know sweetie," mom spoke with wariness in her voice. "Let's get home and discuss what's going to happen next,"

"What's going to happen next?" I asked nervously.

"It's not safe for us to continue to stay here," dad said. "There are too many threats. Now that we have been stripped of all of our gifts It's even less safe then before. We were already discussing the idea of leaving when we realized that you two were missing. It's just not safe and we need to get away from here as soon as possible,"

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's not safe to discuss this out in the open. It's not even safe to think about it right now. Not with all of our gifts being taken from us," mom answered.

"We can't just run though," I said. "It will make us look like cowards. We have to stay and fight it all,"

"Ness we are not running from anything," dad said. "We will come back once we have a plan in place. But for now we need to do what we have to do to keep us all safe. We need to be able to think and plan without fear of being overheard. It's the only way we might actually have a chance of winning this fight,"

I hated to admit it but what he said made sense. Even if I didn't necessarily like it. Alaska was the only home that I'd ever known and loved. I was reluctant to leave it. But if it meant my safety, and even more importantly, the safety of my son and my family then I'd do it in a heartbeat. Less then a heartbeat if that was possible.

We got home a few minutes before the rest of the family did. Everybody had gone looking for us the moment that we both disappeared. I had never seen my family look more stressed than they did in that moment. They only looked slightly relieved to see us back home. I knew that it was because no matter what we were all still in danger here. We needed to leave.

I recounted my story of how we escaped. When I explained what Jacob Jr. had done they were in complete disbelief. My son decided to demonstrate his gift but instead of making eleven copies of himself he only made two. It was a huge relief to me to see that Leila hadn't stolen his gift from me.

"It's a wonder why Leila didn't steal his gift also," dad said as if he could still read my mind.

"I think she was just so shocked that she didn't even think about it. It all happened so fast,"

"Now we definitely have to leave," Esme said. "The last thing we need is Leila stealing a gift like that,"

I shuddered at the very image of a dozen or more copies of any of those girls. My dad rubbed my back as if he could sense my distress. "Are you sure you loss your mind reading gift dad? Because it seems like you still know what I'm thinking,"

"I am completely sure Ness. You're just very easy to read,"

"I guess I'm just an open book. They always told me I was very easy to read. Even Lily was pretty good at guessing what I was thinking. Speaking of my sister how is she? Does she know what happened?"

"No. She was asleep and we preferred not to worry her. Unless of course we didn't find you. Then we wouldn't have had a choice,"

My stomach twisted at my father's words. Didn't find you. The thought was so scary. "Ness why don't you try to get some sleep," dad suggested.

I shook my head. "I can't rest easily after what happened,"

"That's why we need to get out of here as soon as possible,"

I tried to rest but I just couldn't. I wanted to sleep but I was terrified to. I was terrified to even be alone. My family was terrified to leave me alone. It was Jacob who kept me comforted while my family made travel arrangements. To where? I still didn't know. They didn't want to say anything out loud just in case we were being spied on.

So when arrived at the airport only a few hours later I still had no idea where we were going. I was shocked when I found out that my family had their own private airplane. Lily was excited at the idea of a private airplane. I had to admit that my sister was doing an amazing job adapting to all of these sudden life changes.

"Where's the rest of the pack?" I asked Jacob when I noticed they weren't around.

"They didn't think they'd all fit on this airplane. So they're taking later flights out of here,"

I was about to ask where we were headed my eyelids started feeling very heavy. I'd had a very long night and not a single chance to rest. Now that I knew I was safe. At least for now. My brain gave my body the signal that it was okay to rest. I closed my eyes.

Warm hands shook me awake. "Ness wake up," Jacob said.

"Don't wanna," I mumbled.

"You have to. We're here,"

"Huh?"

"We're here,"

"Where is here?" I yawned.

"Port Angeles, Washington. You slept the whole flight,"

"Wait are we going to Forks?"

"Yes,"

My mother's happy smile as she walked toward me and hugged me was infectious. "You're going to see where you were born. Where you came from. You're coming home," I was sure that if vampires could cry she'd be a fountain of tears by now.

I'd seemingly had lost the ability to speak. I was finally going to see where I was born. Where I spent the first several months of my life,"

"Does this mean that I'm going to meet grandpa Charlie?" I asked excitedly. Mom had told me lots of stories about Charlie and I really wanted to meet him.

"Of course you will. But later. And remember he doesn't know what we are. Just that we're different,"

"Oh right the whole need to know only thing,"

For the first time in a long time I felt happy and relaxed. For now we were safe. I glanced at my son who was still sleeping in Jacob's arms. He was safe. We all were. At least for now. Everyone looked relaxed as we made the one hour drive from Port Angeles to Forks. Before I knew it we were passing the Welcome to Forks sign. Then we came to a house in the woods. It was a huge house similar to the one in Alaska.

"Welcome home Ness," dad said.

"Does someone else live here now?" There were other cars in the driveway.

"Yes we have extended family here that we've loaned the house to. You'll love them. They're very nice,"

"Do they know we are here?" Jacob asked before I could.

"No. But they won't mind,"

Grandpa Carlisle knocked on the door. I heard people walking around. When that person opened I went into absolute shock at who I saw. For I'd seen them before. I knew exactly who they were.

Grandpa started to introduce us. "Nessie this is-"

"Tanya? Kate? Is it really you? Is this where you've been since you left Alaska six years ago?"

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