Grace had no idea how or when she made it home. The rest of the day was a blur or spent unconscious or spent recasting to the stupid, same old place in the middle of the forest.
The next conscious moment she recalled with clarity was waking up in her bed to muffled voices: Edward and Bella. The last thing she clearly heard was Bella saying "—tried everything! He's not answering." before Edward gently hushed her indicating that Grace was awake.
She knew they were talking about her but didn't care and as she drifted off back to sleep, she heard Edward mutter, "We'll find him."
Grace woke the next morning, the day before the fight was expected to happen, and felt oddly lighter. She didn't feel better, but a weight had lifted off of her. Maybe seeing Paul had been a good thing and she could work on letting him go too. At this thought though, Grace sucked in a painful breath and took her time getting up and out of bed. Too soon.
Once out of bed, she pulled her long hair out of her face into a presentable ponytail, some jean shorts and a white baggy t-shirt. She headed down the steps to the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. As she rounded the corner, Charlie sat at the little dining table finishing his breakfast, decked out in his fishing gear. Sue Clearwater was packing their provisions into a small cooler to take with them on their 2-day trip to Fraser River to get them out of the area for the fight. Bella was taking no chances.
Grace leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms watching Bella push a massive amount of scrambled eggs around in the pan. Bacon was cooking on the back stove, she must have cooked an entire slab, the pan was overflowing.
"Hey," Grace said in a small voice.
"Hey! You're up! Hungry?" Bella gestured to the food. Grace nodded lightly and eyed the pan.
"That's a lot of food," Grace raised an eyebrow.
"Good, cos I'm starving," a warm, comforting voice carrying a hint of a smile came from the other side of the kitchen that connected into the living room.
"Jacob." Grace whispered, her eyes connecting with his before bounding over to him and crashing her body into his. She wrapped her arms around his upper chest and under his arms like a child hugs an adult, but she didn't care. Everything had felt so cold since she and Paul had separated and now, warmth rushed through her body causing her to shiver with relief.
Jacob eagerly wrapped his arms over her shoulders and down around her back, leaning forward to whisper softly in her ear, "You okay?"
Grace tried so hard to hold it together in that moment but she couldn't help a sob from escaping her throat. She clasped her hand around her right wrist behind his back and pulled tightly into him, trying to squelch any sounds from escaping her lips with his body. Her tears wetted his dark blue shirt and he just held her there gently swaying her back and forth.
"You got this?" Charlie put a hand on Jake's shoulder as he held his tackle box in his other hand.
"I got this," Jake said confidently.
Charlie smoothed Grace's hair down absently for a moment and then headed toward the door.
"Have fun!" Bella called behind them.
"We will!" Sue said to the sound of the screen door clapping shut behind them. Grace took deep steady breaths as she continued to hold onto Jake, loosening her grip ever so slightly and laying her left cheek to his clothed chest. Her body had ached so long for that warmth and she felt something in her mending ever so slightly. She didn't feel whole just yet, but Jake being there took some of the pain off of her that she had tried so hard to release when she saw Paul yesterday.
"Let's eat, yeah?" he said and dipped his head to look at her face. She nodded, still breathing heavily, tears having stained her cheeks despite her best efforts. Jacob cupped her right cheek in his hand and wiped the tears with his calloused thumb before giving her a reassuring smile. He walked her over to the kitchen table and she slumped into the chair across from him. Bella set some plates down in front of each of them and spread jam across her toast, taking a seat facing the small window. Grace looked at her food for a second still trying to come back down for her emotional high. Things swam in front of her, her head foggy.
"Grace, eat." Jake said before digging in, giving her a worried look. She straightened up a little and moved over her plate, slowly taking bites and sitting back in her chair to chew. When she looked to her right over Bella's shoulder, Edward was sauntering in.
"That's new," he said, gesturing to Grace eating. "Took you long enough." He jabbed at Jake.
Jacob returned the comment with a scathing look. "You know you didn't have to tackle me. If I'd known I was being summoned, I would have come."
"Keep your phone on then and I won't have to come looking for you next time." Edward said jovially.
"Anyways, the plan is to get you two into the mountains. Seth will be there as a guard, but with Bella's scent placed everywhere in the clearing, it shouldn't be difficult to keep the vampires there."
"Wait what?" Grace said, trying to clear the fog in her brain.
"We need Bella away from the area, but not so far enough away that I can't get to her if I need to," Edward replied smoothly. Bella watched Grace's face carefully.
"You'll need to recast you and Bella to the location," Jake said, staring at her seriously. Grace looked from Edward to Jake.
"So you're going to leave her there with Seth?" Grace felt dumb. "No offense but if something were to get to Bella, Seth isn't the best defense just yet."
"You'll be there to protect her. If danger pops up, you can easily recast her away to another location." Edward said simply.
"That doesn't make any sense. I'll be in the clearing with everyone else," the fog persisted but she was slowly coming to a realization.
"No." Jake said firmly, "You won't. We're not risking you to an army of newborn vampires. You'll be away, safe in an isolated location with Bella."
"The fuck I am," Grace said dropping her fork with a clatter on her plate.
"Grace," Bella pleaded.
"No. I'm not letting you guys do this without me. Edward can stay with Bella," Grace pointed at Edward, like a child accusing a sibling. He let out a scoff. Jake glared at Grace. "What?!" she said, voice raised. Okay, she was a little emotionally uneven right now, she'd admit, but that wasn't an excuse to box her out of the fight.
"Forgot how stubborn you were," Jake said casually, returning to shovelling eggs and bacon into his mouth. Grace rolled her eyes and looked back to Edward.
"I'll get her there but I'm not staying, so figure something else out." Grace said definitively, crossing her arms.
"You'll have to talk to Sam then," Edward replied, digging in his heels and keeping his voice curt.
"Oooh, I'm so scared." Grace taunted. Bella had her head in her hands now. "I can do more than just recast you know." Jake looked at her suddenly giving her a warning look. Edward waited to hear more but Grace decided not to offer additional information, squirming a little under Jake's look.
"Grace, I'd feel better if you were with me. I don't want you in the fight as much as Edward, but at least if you're there I'll know we're safe together." Bella said softly. Grace rested her eyes on her uncrossing her arms and leaning forward to Bella.
"I understand, but I can't leave them out there," she motioned to Jake.
"You can and you will," Jake said between mouthfuls. Grace glared at him. Now she was careening toward annoyance at his presence even though when he left she knew the cold would return. "Because Sam's gonna make you." Jake gave her a knowing, harsh look.
Grace tightened at this, her whole body starting to shake and shimmer. Her emotions were on a hairpin trigger as it were. She heard an echo of her name as someone, maybe Jake, maybe Bella, called out to her before she recast. Then, she was in the same thicket of wood she'd ended up in the past few days.
Again.
She was standing in the fern covered ground, as if she had just been dropped there. She threw her head back and let out a low groan:
"Uuuuugh, why?! Why am I here?" she asked no one.
Fine. If something was bringing her here, she needed to figure out what it was. She surveyed the densely vegetated area and picked a direction, taking large steps over the choke of ferns, vines, and brush. Grace could hear the ocean nearby and the birds trilled and dove above her high in the trees. After a few minutes walking through the trees, she came to a clearing.
Grace audibly gasped. The clearing she had come into was actually a cove. She faced the side of an old dilapidated house that faced out toward the lapping waves in the large oval shaped cove. She stepped out of the brush toward the moss covered home. The roof was sagging on one side and it definitely had weathered more than one storm.
Grace came around to the front of the home and tentatively tested the porch steps. It led up to a wide and deep covered porch. It seemed okay but she tread lightly anyway. The house was on the small side but breathtaking with wide old windows laid into the front that reflected the ocean at her. She tried the door and it swung open easily.
Abandoned. Empty.
When she crossed the threshold, she felt that familiar rush move through her that she now recognized as a signal of change, a shift in her destiny, the page turning. She took a deep breath and stood in the doorway all at once feeling alone, but home.
Grace zipped close the duffel bag she was meant to bring with her to the campsite.
"You know where you're going?" Sam said standing next to her in the clearing. Bella was finishing up rubbing her blood on everything and Grace grimaced at the coppery smell that lingered around.
"Yes." she said with a huff, shouldering the bag and looking up at him. She zipped up her coat. Even in the warm May weather, it would be quite a bit cooler up the mountain.
"Just listen for Jake's voice and you'll be able to see if a threat is coming, okay?" Sam said, fully acknowledging that she was more directly linked with Jacob from afar than him.
"Okay. Anything else?" Grace said. He'd already given her the Alpha order that she wasn't allowed to join the fight under any circumstances. To which she had almost lunged at him for before Jacob put a hand defensively around her. He waited for her to look at him in the eyes before he said.
"Nope, just stay put with Bella until we give the all clear. Understood?" He thought he'd just toss on an extra dose of the alpha just in case the first one hadn't sunk in. Grace bit the inside of her cheek, irritated and gave a curt.
"Mmmhmm," before turning to see Jake and Bella approaching. Edward left his family's group to come and say goodbye to Bella.
"Ready?" Jake said. Grace, hands on her hips nodded again and Jake ran a hand down her arm before nodding at her, "Everything's going to be okay." He hesitated before jogging off with Sam to look at her just a little bit longer. Grace held back the emotion threatening to spill out and bounced her leg nervously.
"I know. Be careful," she edged out. Jacob nodded and looked over her shoulder at Edward, signaling his was off and then he turned to leave. The pull in her stomach jerked toward him as he ran and Grace winced.
Grace turned to Bella who held out her hand after giving Edward one last long kiss.
"Stay together," he said strongly before Grace had heard enough and recast them easily to their targeted destination. Edward had gone ahead and set up their campsite earlier the night before. Grace dropped the duffel bag near the tent and turned to look at Bella.
"Well. This will be fun." Grace said sarcastically.
"Thank you for staying with me," Bella said softly. Grace immediately melted some.
"I know. Of course. I'm sorry I'm just…" Grace faltered.
"It's okay. I know the feeling." Bella could see that Grace was trying to keep it together despite everything that had just happened over the last week. "It'll take time to feel okay again. At least I think it will? Jacob was the only thing that could make me feel slightly better afterward." She said shoving her hands in her pockets.
"Same," Grace breathed.
"Two peas in a pod." Bella joked.
As the night drew on, Grace and Bella settled into their sleeping bags around the campfire where they had roasted some peppers and warmed up some of Emily's homemade vegetarian soup made special for Bella. They had zipped their sleeping bags together and were huddled under it spooning soup into their mouth when Seth bounded up the hill.
Grace could feel him coming early on as she listened for Jake, but she still acted surprised when he appeared.
"Seth-a-rino!" She said happily clanking her bowl of soup with Bella's. "The party starts!"
Are you drunk? She could hear Seth ask jokingly.
"What? Of course not." Grace said, confused. Bella looked at Grace curiously since she hadn't heard what Seth had said, but she waved her off. Seth acknowledged her weird mood swing and came to sit beside them in his wolf form. He radiated hotter than the bonfire ahead of them.
"What do you think it's gonna be like tomorrow?" Grace asked Bella. "You've had way more encounters with vicious vampires than I have to be fair." Bella nodded at this.
"I'm not sure. A few vampires is one thing, but an entire army of newborns? I was in an entire ancient den of probably the most dangerous vampires in the world and I still couldn't tell you. But I know it will probably be terrifying."
Grace breathed out, listening for echoes in the distance. Voices calling out to her in rounds, but no one did. Seth's even wolf puffs of breath indicated he had fallen asleep. Grace watched the flames of the fire until they died down to an ashen burn before nudging a sleeping Bella awake to go sleep in the tent.
The morning of the fight dawned on Grace excruciatingly slowly. She paced up and down the side hill training her ear for Jacob. She heard echoing voices that didn't say much, just communicated how excited, how pumped, how scared or nervous they were for the fight to start. They were meant to stay on the eastern part of the forest and slowly surround once the vampires had been drawn into Bella's blood-soaked clearing.
Alice confirmed with Edward who relayed to Sam that the newborns were on their way and would be there soon. The message echoed down the line. Grace felt a lump form in her throat as she repeated over and over again so Jacob would hear her.
Be careful. Be careful. Please be careful.
She was surprised by the volley of answers calling out to her.
We will.
We've got this.
Stay put.
They won't know what hits them.
Can't wait to take them down.
They're the ones that should be careful.
Let's rock this shit.
Grace laughed a little, reassured by the confident voices and closed her eyes to try and see through Jacob's eyes what was happening. The image flickered off and on for her—she hadn't practiced this form of communication as much with him. But she was able to see that they were falling into formation and the sickening smell of the vampires was growing as they descended on the clearing.
The Cullen's stood ready. Grace felt a warm hand in hers and felt Bella beside her, leaning in like she could hear what was happening too, but watching Grace's face for cues.
"They're here." Grace echoed and she saw, horrifyingly, as the newborns stomped into the clearing. The Cullens didn't hesitate intercepting them as the huge throng of 23 strong newborns launched at them. They volleyed for two minutes, mostly ducking and moving out of the newborns way to get them deeper into the clearing and buy the wolves time to surround the clearing and then-
Grace heard the command from Sam to charge in and she tightened her hold on Bella's hand.
"What? What?!" Bella asked frantic clutching Grace's hand back. Grace focused and shook her head. She followed Jacob's sight through the throng. He lunged and ripped and tore at each newborn that came into close contact.
Then he careened back, changing course and lunging across the field over bodies and bodies fighting to intercept and pull a newborn that had clung to Embry's back. He and Sam ran rings around the group, trying to keep up but—
"They're outnumbered." Grace breathed. And then, she saw the red head, Victoria, move into the field, frantically searching and locking eyes with Edward across the field. Edward was on her in a second and they were locked in an exchange of blows. Edward tossed her across the field and Quil went to intercept but got flung back by a large newborn that crunched him into a tree.
Grace sucked in a deep breath and tensed. Jake was there in a second to pull the newborn down and Quil quickly rejoined the fight, shaken but undeterred. The newborns were fast, just as Jasper had described, and they were outpacing the wolves and the Cullens were having trouble keeping up. Each time one of the wolves pulled a newborn to the ground, a Cullen would come to try and pull the newborn apart, but frustratingly, the newborns would wiggle free and dart away more often than not and continue the tireless fight. After ten minutes of this, Their numbers had barely diminished.
Grace was growing worried as the wolves continued, their senses dialed to ten. But she knew it wouldn't last forever. They'd get tired and then they'd be in trouble. Jacob was having more success taking some newborns down but when Paul was suddenly knocked from his feet, Grace couldn't help but yell out in pain as the newborn came down on top of him, snapping his collarbone. Paul yelped and Grace snapped her eyes open. The alpha order melted away and she felt it's release.
"Grace wait!" Bella said seeing a dangerous look in her eye. Seth whimpered and tried pleading too.
You're supposed to stay with me and Bella, Grace. Sam said, remember?
"Stay here, Seth." Grace was calm, she felt the air move easily around her as she recast and heard a rushing sound, a change as she reappeared directly in the middle of the clearing, the fight raging around her. She knew she had to do something, but no sooner had she got there than suddenly, the newborns froze and their gaze snapped to her. The Cullens and wolves instantly moved to try and tackle the temporarily distracted newborns but it caused them to move faster, surrounding Grace in their fury.
She smelled very very good to them, temporarily overpowering Bella's scent in the clearing. Her heartbeat echoed in their newly defined ears. They were drawn to her like moths to a particularly lit flame.
Bait. She was bait. Fuck.
Grace hadn't anticipated this reaction and braced herself for the onslaught not sure what to do next. The wolves dashed toward her, somehow in this moment outpacing the vampires as adrenaline shot through them at seeing Grace there. They made a crushing circle around Grace facing the newborns. Furious voices filled her head as the wolves cursed at her for being there.
Jesus, Grace.
You couldn't just stay put.
I swear to fucking god if we die, I'm gonna be so pissed.
As the newborns crushed in on top of the wolves and the Cullens tried to pull them off from the outside, Grace saw an opening. She had to act fast.
She recast outside of the tight circle of snapping, growling, shattering, and bludgeoning and moved quickly around the edge of the circle.
She reached through one of the Cullen's arms, Emmett by the size of it, and onto a newborn they had. She yelled "Let go!" and they did. Grace recast carrying the newborn out of the crush just a few feet from the circle. Then in one swift motion she pulled her energy up, hardened it, and smashed it down toward the ground as hard as she could onto the unsuspecting newborn that had been sprawled out on the grass, cleanly severing it's head and smashing it's arms in the process.
Satisfied with this result, she repeated it more times than she could keep up with, constantly recasting in and around the circle, pulling newborn after newborn free and smashing them to bits on the ground. The Cullens, catching on, broke from the circle and picked up the mess of limbs and threw it on a waiting fire. The wolves were able to push the diminished crowd of newborns back as Grace moved quickly. The rest seemed easy.
Grace saw Edward out of the corner of her eye give her a menacing look and take off through the trees. She had left Bella alone and unprotected. She tried to shout after him but the momentary distraction had given a newborn the opening they needed to crash into Grace, tackling her from around the waist and smashing her against a tree.
Blood poured from her mouth at the force of the impact and she temporarily slumped to the ground after the newborn had pulled back, hand raised to bash in her skull no doubt. But that blow never came—Jacob and Paul crashed through the clearing, one going for the head, the other going for the body and ripped the newborn to literal shreds, not stopping until he was practically dust.
Grace picked herself up and leaned back against the tree taking deep gulping breaths, the blood soaking the front of her shirt. She tried to assess her internal injuries but in her heightened state was unable to focus on one point of pain long enough before it subsided. Jake and Paul stood guard in front of her scanning the field as the others took down newborn after newborn. The wolves were taking the rest down 2-1.
Her eyes widened as she heard a distance, echoing voice rise up through the back of her head.
Grace! Grace help!
"Seth!" Grace recast, envisioning the campsite and holding onto Seth's form in her mind.
Jacob and Paul swung around to where she had stood, eyes wide, before jumping back in to take care of the rest of them at Sam's command. When Grace recast at the campsite, her eyes widened as she took in the scene.
Edward was on his knees, held by Victoria at the throat as another blonde newborn held him down. Bella was screaming and about to launch toward them but Grace was faster. Seth was mid-air when she recast and slid into the blonde's legs like she was sliding into homebase, knocking him unexpectedly off his feet. Seth grabbed his head in his mouth and tore it cleanly from his shoulders.
Grace tossed the beheaded body aside and Seth had at it. Edward was able to get on his feet, and take Victoria down to the ground. Grace strode over, lifted her leg as high as she could and brought it down with a satisfying crunch into Victoria's face. She ground her heel into her neck, severing it from her body. Edward flicked open a lighter and threw it on the bonfire, stacking Victoria's body on the blaze and immediately crossed to Bella. Grace tossed the severed head and limbs of the blonde vampire on as well, her breathing raspy and uneven.
"Grace?" Bella said, concerned as Edward wrapped his arms around her pulling her into him.
Blood covered Grace's shirt but she didn't feel injured. She must be in shock. Then a scene flickered in front of her eyes. Leah spotted a newborn hiding in the trees and went after it. Her takedown was messy and the newborn quickly got his arms around her. Whimpering and calling out for help, the pack snapped into action. Sam cried out "Leah!" desperately trying to reach her.
But Jacob got there first, pulling the vampire off. He stumbled in his haste to free Leah and the newborn got the upper hand again, quickly wrapping his arms around Jacob. Grace heard a sickening crunch and screamed, recasting into the clearing as she saw Jake's body fall to the ground.
Every piece of energy she felt around her roiled and built up in the ground beneath her like an unconscious call. She realized her scream was echoing and pushing out around her and in the next moment, the energy like a hot, crashing wave moved out from around her and pushed everything in the clearing away, including the wolves and the Cullen's who were thrown into the forest. The newborn who had been poised above Jacob felt the full force of it and slammed back into a tree, cracking his head at the neck so it was almost severed but not quite. Jacob's body was untouched.
Trees fell from the impact of the energy and crashed into the ground like giant booming dominoes. Grace quickly ran to Jacob who had unphased in his agony before passing out.
"Jake?!" she yelled in a broken sob.
The others were on her in a second crowding around Jacob. Paul put his arms under Grace's shoulders and hoisted her back away from Jacob despite her screams and clawing forward to get to him. The pack quickly and carefully picked him up walking out of the clearing. She heard a muffled sound and saw Carlisle shout something at them. But she was losing consciousness.
The massive amount of energy she had expelled to clear their battleground had drained everything from her. Paul caught her under the knees as she buckled and let herself get swallowed up in the darkness, the noise and rush still crashing around in her head.