Chapter 55
I sit there looking at the notepad. I know where that tunnel is. There's a tunnel further up the road that was closed off sometime in the 1970's after it caved in. I think, I heard once that a school bus of kids were in there when it started caving in and that they escaped just in time. The bus is still there, apparently.
I have never been there myself but have seen it from the trails Josie and I have hiked. He always points to it and starts telling a scary story about what happened. I knew that I would never want to get close in case his stories were true. Now, I wonder if he was telling me these stories to give me a hint at what really is up there.
My heart rate starts pounding in my chest. Something about this is right. I can tell this is where she is. I can't tell if the roar in my ears is someone yelling at me or blood pounding. I start panting and try to calm down.
"Abigail. What's wrong?" Tanya asks.
She takes my head and turns me towards her.
"Please tell me what's wrong." She repeats herself.
"I think…" I try to say but can't finish.
"That's where Catherine is." Edward finishes.
No one moves or breaths as everyone comprehends what he said.
The back door opens and closes. Carlisle and Esme walk into the kitchen.
"We heard everything." Carlisle says as he walks up to me and checks me out.
"Are you okay, Abby?" He asks me.
I only nod.
"Great! Perfect timing." Alice states as she looks at everyone.
"What?" I asked.
"Your aunt is turning onto the driveway. And, she's not alone." Edward replied.
"What?" I asked. I'm still trying to get over the shock of finding where my mom is.
"Jeremiah and Elizabeth are with her." Alice said.
"Come on. Let's go to the living room and wait for them there." Carlisle said as he starts making his way there.
Esme walks up to me and hugs me tight.
"Sorry." I say into her shoulder.
"Don't be. No one could have seen this coming. Carlisle explained what happened that day. If he had been there for the birth, I don't think there would have been no mix up."
"Do you want to see your son?" I asked as we make our way to the living room.
"I'm not sure yet."
I nod. I'm not sure I would want to see my son either if I were in her position.
Jamie meets us in the hallway and, I must say, he looks a little worse for wear.
Esme pulls him into a hug and then walks with him down the stairs with her arm around his shoulders.
Tanya holds me back for a moment.
"Does Elizabeth and Jeremiah know what is going on with you?" She asks.
"I don't think so. They were so caught up in their own lives. I don't think they gave me one thought." I replied.
"I guess this will be a shock for them as well."
She pecks me on the lips, and we continue down the stairs. Will and Irina are on the couch and Will has his arm around her shoulders. He looks totally relaxed.
We hear three doors open and close and the wood creak as they ascend the stairs.
I start pulling on my fingers and rock from one foot to the other.
"Calm down, Love. It will be okay." Tanya says as she grabs a hand and uses her thumb to rub the back of my hand.
"Chill sis. Mom is only interested in what we're doing." Will said.
"Easy for you to say." I mutter.
Carlisle is at the door and opens it once my aunt reaches the top step. Jeremiah is there holding onto her. Her stumbling has gotten worse over the last year, yet she refuses to use a walker.
"Hello. My name is Carlisle. Welcome to my home." He states, welcoming the newcomers.
"Hi there Carlisle. I'm Eliza. I see you have been taking care of my niece." Aunt Eliza states walking into the house.
"Yes. I have." Carlisle replied.
"Thank you! She's an accident waiting to happen, to say the least."
"That she is." He agreed.
I press my lips together to keep from denying that statement. I hear a few vampires chuckle.
"This is a lovely home you have." Elizabeth says as she looks around. She spots me and walks over to give me a hug. That, and to look at my face. It's still swollen but has come down.
"Looks better." She said, feeling the cheek.
I hiss a little when she touches a soft spot. She sighs and kisses my forehead.
After Elizabeth lets me go, she turns to Tanya and assesses her. Tanya raises a brow waiting to hear what my cousin/sister has to say.
"Hello. I'm Tanya." She says.
"I see that you have been around my baby sister here. Let me tell you something." Elizabeth states. I can only stand there gaping at her tenacity.
"If you hurt her in any way. I have the means to make you wish you weren't born. Even if you are some kind of supernatural creature."
I stand there rooted to the spot. What did she just say? I blink and take a good look at her. She only turns and walks to the couch where Will is sitting and sits down. Tanya is even taken aback by Elizabeth's statement.
After coming to our senses, Tanya takes my hand and leads me to an ottoman and sits down. Once Carlisle introduces everyone my aunt looks at me expectantly.
"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked.
I sit there chewing the inside of my cheek. Should I tell her everything, including the vampires? I look around until I see Edward looking at me. He sighs and nods. Great!
"We're looking for Aunt Catherine." Will tells her.
Everyone looks at him to continue.
"She left Abby clues to find her and we, think, we found where she is."
Everyone is quiet as we absorb what he said.
"So, it's true. She really is trapped somewhere?" Elizabeth asked.
I'm stunned. How does she know this?
"How do you know this?" I asked, still stunned by her earlier statement.
She looks at me, chewing her bottom lip.
"You see Abby…" I stop her mid sentence and look at Jeremiah.
"Did my mother talk to you too?" I asked him, accusingly.
He slowly nods.
My head is spinning. Did everyone in my family know what I was capable of?
I stand up and walk upstairs. I ignore everyone yelling for me to stop. Once I'm at the top, I can hear someone following me. I know it's not Tanya, the person is stomping loudly after me.
I can't time jump. I tried and nothing happened.
"Damn you Alice." I muttered, knowing she would be able to hear me.
I walk through the kitchen and dining room to a small reading room, next to the dining room. It's a nice cozy little room, filled with more books and a dark brown chair, that I know I would sink into if I sat down. Next to it is a side table with a lamp. There are bay windows to my left and a set of French doors in front of me that lead to the deck.
I'm too upset to give anything else much notice. I'm pacing and clinching my fists, trying not to punch something. It takes only seven steps to reach the doors, and seven more to reach the opposite side. On my second time around, Elizabeth stops me and grabs my shoulders.
"Abigail Anne, you need to stop and listen to me." She ordered.
I look at her and see tears forming. I give a curt nod.
"I received a letter from mom my third year in college. I was debating on enlisting and having the military pay for medical school or just try on my own to get into medical school. The letter was from your mother. She wanted me to enlist so I can be closer to Josie and Will. She was hoping that if anything happened to them, I would be there to help out. She also said that, when the time was right, to retire and come home and be closer to you. She wanted me to practice either orthopedics or neurology. I picked orthopedics.
"After the two tours in the Middle East, I almost walked away and quite medicine all together. Seeing all those soldiers with missing limbs…" She stops and shakes her head as if to rid it of a horrible memory.
"When I came back, I decided to start my own practice and take it down a notch. Believe me, it's nice to see people coming in and complaining about a cold or rash, or some other non-life threatening condition."
"Then…" I said for her to continue.
"Your mom told me what would happen to Josie. At first, I refused to believe it. When mom told me, I broke down. Everything in her letter was true. She wants me to take over for Josie and look after you."
"You don't have to." I said.
"Yes. I do."
"Why?"
"Because. To make up for my lack of caring for you when we were younger. I knew what Tommy was doing and I never, not once, stepped in to protect you. And, for that, I am truly sorry. I hope you will forgive me someday." She apologized.
"Me too." Jeremiah walked in.
I look at him and see the sadness there.
"I knew about Thomas too. It was wrong of us to ignore what was going on. I should have stopped him."
"How could you?" I asked. "You're only two years older than me."
"I know how to keep him in line. I know things that no one else knows."
I raise a brow waiting for him to explain, but he looks out the door.
I turn my head to see what he's looking at. I barely get a glimpse of two people standing just inside the tree line. Next thing I know Alice is knocking me to the ground. Bullets are spraying the room and I get a glimpse at Jeremiah knocking Elizabeth to the ground. I cover my ears to keep the noise down. It doesn't work. I feel like I'm back in France and start shaking uncontrollably.
After the shooting stops. I hear another gunshot. Louder and closer to the house.
"WILL!" I hear a man yell and try to understand who it can be.
I hear someone yell in pain and hope it's no one I know.
"Will, damn it!"
There is chaos all around me. People shouting. Alice never lets me up.
"Abby, are you okay?" Elizabeth yells at me.
I nod. I think I'm okay.
Jeremiah leaps up and races out the French doors, or what's left of them.
"Jeremiah!" Elizabeth and I yell.
I look to see that he jumps over the railing and running to the trees.
"Damn that boy." I hear Alice mutter.
Alice lets me sit up. Elizabeth crawls to me and starts patting me, making sure that I wasn't hit. I don't think I was, but I'm in shock and probably wouldn't be able to tell if I was.
Tanya and Carlisle are here too to make sure I'm okay. I see Tanya looking at me. Her eyes are a solid black and I can see the fire behind them.
"Go." I hear Alice mutter.
Next thing I see is Tanya chasing after Jeremiah.
I stand up and Alice has to steady me. I'm still shaking.
"Are you okay? Are you okay?" Elizabeth keeps asking me.
I can only nod. Shaking herself, Elizabeth hugs me tight.
"It's okay." She repeats herself.
I wonder if she's saying that to me or herself.
Finally calming down, I want to see what's going on outside. I make my way to the door and step through it. The glass from the door is everywhere. Alice is right in front of me and Elizabeth behind me.
Outside, I see a set of stairs to my left and make my way there. Before I can descend them, I see Rosalie has Jamie in some kind of hold. He's fighting her tooth and nail. He might as well be fighting a brick wall.
"Damnit kid, stop!" She mutters.
"Let. Me. Go!" he struggles to free himself.
At the bottom of the stairs are Leah and Seth. Both look upset by what's happening. I look to the tree line and blink several times.
Why is Thomas here?
I look over at Alice. She nods. Shaking my head and hoping that this is a dream and that I will wake up soon, I walk over to Jamie and tell him to calm down. He takes a look at me and stops.
"Why are you bleeding?"
"What?"
"Your chin." He replied.
"I'm not…" I rub my chin and see blood on my fingers.
"It's not me, it's…"
I look over at Elizabeth and see her looking at the trees. I walk back to her.
"I'm fine Abby." She states.
I look her over and see a small hole in her jacket. I pull back and see a small stain on her shoulder. It's red. I look at Alice and Rosalie.
"Alice, Take him." Rosalie ordered.
Alice complies and takes Jamie by the arms. He starts fighting again.
Rosalie walks over to Elizabeth and tears her shirt open. The wound doesn't look too big. It looks like a bullet grazed her.
"Abby, I'm fine." Elizabeth states looking at me.
I ignore her and continue looking at her shoulder. My teeth are chattering, and my hands are fisted so tight, my nails are cutting into my palms. I turn and start down the stairs.
"Abby stop!" Alice ordered me.
I ignore her.
"It's them, isn't it?" I asked, anger taking over.
"Seth, stop her." Alice said.
He turns and meets me on the third step. He holds my shoulders and tries to tell me something, but I can't hear him. The anger is boiling and about to spill over. I try to go around him and knock his arms away. I make it down one more step and Leah comes up to help Seth.
"Let. Me. Go!" I order. My teeth are clenched and I wonder if anyone can hear me.
"Sorry, Abby, but no." Seth replied.
Off in the distance, I see Edward, Carlisle, Bella and Eleazer along with all three of my brothers. Edward has Will in a choke hold, trying to keep him from lunging at whoever is on the ground. Jeremiah and Eleazer has Thomas by the arms and trying to get him to back up. Bella is holding a rifle and keeping an eye out as Carlisle is kneeling over the person, assessing his injuries. The other vampires are probably off chasing the other wolves.
Still trying to get around Seth and Leah, I'm about to punch someone when my name is called out.
"Abigail Anne!"
I stop and look behind me.
Five feet away and standing under the deck, my aunt is there between Carmen and Esme. Behind Esme is Renesmee. Carmen is slightly in front of the other three, in a protective stance. Looking at Aunt Eliza, I can see the fire blazing in her eyes. She may look calm, but I knew better. She shakes her head. I turn back to the forest and stop fighting. Seth loosens his grip on me, but Leah hasn't.
Behind me, I hear Alice inhale. Before I can turn around to see what she sees, I'm lifted up in the air and land on my knees. I let out a pained grunt. My knees feel like they're on fire. Leah's hand is cutting into my shoulder and forcing me to stay still.
"Let him go!" she bites out.
I hear movement, but her hand cuts deeper.
"Don't, or I'll rip her arm off!" She threatens and to make her point, she digs deeper causing me to yelp in pain.
"Leah, what are you doing?" Seth asked.
"Trying to finish the job that those stupid idiots couldn't do." She replied.
I hear more movement and my shoulder feels like it's being detached from my body. I squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth to keep from yelling out.
"You won't make it far, dog!" Rosalie hissed.
"I know, but she won't be around either." Leah states, shaking me.
"Abby." Alice said.
I grunt acknowledging her.
"You have my permission." She states.
I open my eyes and see the group by the trees coming our way slowly, helping one of the boys walk. It's not Jacob. I'm not sure who it is, but, there's blood that's stained his right leg. He grimaces as he limps beside Carlisle.
"Leah. Please don't do this." Carlisle said, trying to calm the shifter behind me.
It's not working.
I close my eyes, trying to ignore the pain and think what I want to do. If I can slow time down, maybe I can release myself. If not, maybe I can have one of the vampires come help me. I open my eyes and look at Edward and see him nod. He whispers something to Bella. She nods.
I squeeze my eyes shut and whisper stop. Opening my eyes, I see that no one is moving. I try to pry the hand from my shoulder, but it's no use. It's like a vice. Thinking what to do, looking at Edward, I see him looking at Bella. I turn my gaze to her and see that she looks to be letting the gun go and going into a crouch.
Okay. I think I can do this.
"Bella, help." I whisper.
Before I finish my plea, I see Bella unfreeze charging towards me.
"Go!" I shout and the world wakes up.
Leah doesn't have time to react before Bella is on her and shoving me. I roll away and turn to see Alice and Bella tackle Leah. I try to say something but there's a loud crunch and something squishy pops. I close my eyes and cringe but it's no use. I open my eyes and see Alice throw Leah's severed head to the ground.
I look up at her and see a look I hope I never have to see again. This isn't the fun loving vampire I know. This is an avenging angel out for blood. And, I mean that in the literal sense. I hear her give a loud roar before charging at the boy besides Carlisle.
"Alice stop!" I shout.
She stops inches from Carlisle. Turning to me, I see that her eyes are pitch black and her teeth are showing, venom dripping.
"We need to know what they're doing." I whisper.
Instead of talking, she turns around at stares at Seth, who's looking down at his sister. He looks at Alice and holds his hands up.
"Please, Alice. I had no idea. I swear." He pleads.
She crouches and gets ready to leap when the boy besides Carlisle speaks up.
"Don't. He's not a part of this." The boy states.
Alice doesn't stop her crouching.
"Alice let me look and see if it's true." I beg for her to come to her senses.
"Fine!" She grits out. "But you have five minutes."
I go to stand up, but my knees give out. I try go hoist myself up using my hands on my thighs, but my right arm doesn't want to work. After a minute goes by, Jamie is there helping me stand. I have to lean on him to get my balance. He practically drags me to Seth. I see the fear in his eyes and he's trembling.
I stand in front of him. His eyes are looking down. I look him over and wonder what I should do. Should I touch him? Hold his hand?
"I think touching would be good, Abby." Edward said.
I look at him. He still has William in a choke hold, but Will has stopped fighting. Apparently, Edward isn't letting up, in case William gets loose and goes on a rampage. I don't think it would be a good idea with him and Alice loose at the same time. I cringe at the thought.
I reach my hand out and touch Seth's head. He is still looking down.
I see images flashing before my eyes as Seth's past is being replayed like a movie projector. The images are moving too fast for me to keep up. The images I do see is of him sitting around a campfire talking with the others about useless stuff. I go back to the night he came over to Jamie's house and asked to get into bed with me to warm me up.
I keep seeing images before that when Jamie takes my hand away. I sag under the weight. Jamie's grip gets tighter trying to hold me up.
"Edward." I whispered.
"He relayed what you saw." Jamie said, grunting.
"It's true." Edward stated. "He didn't have anything to do with this. I think they were planning this when Seth went to Jamie's house the night Abby went to Titanic."
"Fine!" Alice bit out. "But, what about him?" Turning back to Carlisle.
"Let me go Doc. I deserve this." The boy says.
Carlisle slowly releases the boy.
"Alice." He whispered.
I see the sadness in his eyes. He doesn't want anyone to die, even if they have betrayed him or his family.
"It's okay Doc." He turns to me and Jamie.
"He won't stop until your dead." He exclaimed.
"Why is he after Abby, Quill?" Carlisle asked.
"Because he thinks she's a witch." Quill replied.
"Is the Volturi behind this?" Edward asked.
"Who?"
"The group that we had a stand off in the field a few years ago." Edward replied.
"No. They had nothing to with this. Jacob heard a story once about a witch coming to destroy our people. He thinks she's the one who will come after us." Quill said nodding in my direction.
"Why would he think that?" Jeremiah asked, confused.
I'm confused too.
"Because her mother anointed your tribe as protectors against us. And, she made it possible for your tribe to turn into the wolf." Carlisle replied.
Wait. What?
Before I can ask any questions, Alice looks at Edward intently. He slowly looses his grip on William.
"William, it's your turn." Alice whispered.
He looks at her, than me. I see the resolve in his eyes. He pulls a large knife out from somewhere and, in one swipe, he slashes Quill's head clean off his body.
That was my queue to pass out.