August 16, 1986
There were many moments he wished he could sleep. That he could close his eyes and mind and shut down as he used to and drift off into a restful state, where all problems and thoughts could vanish, if for just a moment. But then there were other times, such as this, that he could let himself feel… appreciative for the lack of sleep.
Edward was surrounded by white, somewhere on top of Mt. McKinley, gazing up at the celestial rivers of greens and violets. They danced above him in elegant dips and vibrant twirls, leaving him breathless in wonderment.
Or, it would, if he had need of breath.
No. Enjoy the moment.
He would not let his pessimism ruin such a glorious view. He needed to be… grateful.
Could he marvel at the sight of the northern lights here on top of the mountain if it weren't for his… more unique abilities?
He supposed it was a pro to this non-life… being able to see and do things that had he not been… condemned he wouldn't have-
Edward sighed.
His thoughts were becoming distracting. He had run off to the mountains to escape such pestered musings and here he was, tainting the heavenly image with his moping. He stopped his train of thought and forced himself still, watching.
The silence was comforting. Nothing but the billowing wind and the distant rustles of trees and for a moment he felt completely and utterly alone. He welcomed it for he was never alone. Not truly.
But here… out in the Alaskan wilderness… there were no thoughts but his…
Peace...
…
…
…
Crunch
Edward sighed again. Some part of him knew she was coming, but the other part hoped that she would, just this once, leave him be in his self imposed isolation. But of course when had Edward ever gotten what he wanted?
Crunch
She was trying to sneak up on him. He was slightly surprised she was actually doing a good job at concealing her thoughts. He heard her footsteps before he heard her mental voice. She was getting better.
And it unnerved him.
There… she thought.
Ah. Nevermind.
"Yes, Tanya?"
Her steps faltered before she huffed and sprang forward, all pretenses gone. Then she was in his field of vision, her long strawberry hair blowing from away from her exquisite face and her full lips in a slight frown.
"I was trying to surprise you."
Edward smiled. If he had been a different kind of man Tanya's slight Russian accent would've done him in. But he couldn't change who he was.
No matter how hard she tried to get him to.
Which was exactly her intention for running after him. "Tanya…"
Then she was on him, straddling his torso and gently holding his wrist. She looked down on him with sorrow filled eyes as she searched him.
"Your answer is still no."
"... Yes."
She sighed. "I was hoping for our families… activities this evening would entice you to consider otherwise."
That drew out a laugh from him and he shook his head. "Tanya… you don't need me to say it, but I will if it eases you; you are among the most beautiful women I have ever encountered, among the most beautiful ever. My rejection of your affections has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me."
"It's not you, it's me." Her voice was flat and she raised a perfectly arched brow. "Really, Edward?"
He laughed again. "I'm serious. I… I cannot give you what you want Tanya. Some part of me wishes that I could, just to be free of this… this…"
"Loneliness?" She whispered, setting her head down on his chest, right over his still heart.
"Yes. But I can't find it in myself to take that step. Not when I don't-"
"Please, don't say it."
His mouth immediately closed, granting her wish. He didn't need Jasper's gift to feel the pain coursing through her now. Tanya's feelings for Edward might have been born out of simple conquest and playful flirtation, but the more he denied her the more her feelings twisted into need and want and… and…
No. She did not want to hear that Edward didn't love her, not in the way she wanted him to. Spending a thousand years on this world without a love to spend it with was a loneliness he hoped to never live.
Nearly seventy years was quite long enough for him. Especially being among three perfectly matched pairs.
Edward brought his arms up around his friend.
"I'm sorry, Tanya."
She only shrugged, "Part of me is quite relieved honestly. What would've happened if you had given in to me, only for one of our mates to come along? That is a pain I do not wish for you to go through. I see it in Jasper's eyes everytime."
Yes. Edward had seen it in his thoughts as well, this heaviness when he sometimes looked at Alice, the love of his existence, and felt nothing but guilt for betraying her with Maria. Even if Jasper hadn't known Alice even existed.
Tanya's own thoughts suddenly took a slight turn and Edward found himself laughing for a third time in such a short time span. It must've been a record.
"I can see that that is a very small part of you though."
"You can't fault me for trying."
"No," he kissed the top of her head. "But I must say I feel thoroughly harassed now. Should we get going? The family is no doubt done with their… activities."
Say the word, Edward, Tanya thought. Perhaps if you weren't so prudish-
"Prudish!" He gasped, and she leaped from him with a grin and a giggle and he was on his feet in a second. "I'll show you my prudishness."
And then he was chasing her through the snow capped mountains, down to the Denali forest, her angelic laugh bouncing off the white bank. He was holding back, and she knew it too, but she still had to tease.
Getting slow there, young one.
"Please," he smirked.
And then he leapt, tackling Tanya down just as they broke through the trees by the river where the large house sat. They rolled and twisted, twigs and dirt tangling in their hair. His closeness made her bold and she turned her head swiftly, trying to catch his lips.
But Edward had seen it in her thoughts just before and bounded away, cocking his head to the side.
"Not quick enough, Tanya."
The strawberry blonde pouted.
They walked in the house together, the warmth of the large fire in the living room sending a chill down their spines in stark contrast to the frigid air outside. The fire wasn't needed, but they all liked the warmth.
Emmett looked up from where he sat on the couch and grinned, "Well, well look who got done and dirty."
"Not in the way that you mean," Edward pushed him aside and took his place.
"Aw, Tanya, not even the northern lights could put him in the mood?"
Tanya rolled her eyes at Rosalie who descended from the stairs in a lovely rust colored satin dress. "Not even your activities could put Edward in such a state for me to take advantage of."
Everyone got a good laugh at that except Carlisle and Esme who simply shot him apologetic glances which he ignored for the sake of his ego.
"Maybe he just needs the right motivation," Kate smirked and her thoughts became a myriad of images of all sorts of motivators.
Edward winced and clutched his head, regretting returning.
"Enough, all of you," Carmen snapped. She came to stand by her mate Eleazar, her golden glare resting on Tanya and her sisters. "You're being rude to our guests."
Emmett laughed again and Jasper slightly smiled as they continued their sixth chess game that night. Everyone started to do their own thing again. Carlisle and Eleazar were discussing the newest medical and technological advances in the world, Esme was showing Carmen her new blueprints of a vacation house she wanted to restore up in Connecticut. Tanya, Irina and Kate were discussing their latest conquests of human men to Rosalie and Alice and Edward did not want to listen to that. He tried to tune them out. God knows he tried. He tried engrossing himself in the repetitive game Jasper and Emmett never got bored of until his attention was wrenched away by Alice's vision.
Alice had just been listening to Kate's current fondness of a human man named Robert when her face went blank and her mind burst forth with the strangest image.
It was blurry.
Nothing Alice sees is blurry.
But this had a fuzziness to it that was uncomfortable and made both Alice and Edward want to squint to try to peer through. The look reminded Edward of how people with bad eyesight see.
There were figures, two, hunched over something, their features indecipherable, but it was clear they were a man and woman. They were reaching out, their hands touching a bundle of white and the faintest of coos reached through the hazy vision, like trying to hear through water.
And then the vision snapped back like a rubber band and Alice was left staring wide eyed at the eleven vampires in the room.
"What is it?" Rosalie asked sternly.
But Alice looked at Edward, confusion clear on her face.
What was that?
He could only look back at her for he had no answers.
"Alice."
She looked at Carlisle who only held worry in his eyes. "Is there something wrong?"
"No. No. I-" she frowned, her brows pinching low. "I just… I saw the strangest thing."
"What is it, darlin'." Jasper grabbed her hand.
"It was… blurry? So blurry. I couldn't see anything clearly but… I think I saw… a baby?"
The room was deadly silent.
Baby.
It had to be the only word that could render a vampire both speechless and immobile.
Rosalie was first to recover. "What do you mean? A baby? Where?"
"I don't know." She took her head, her short black hair wisping over her forehead. "Like I said, it was blurry. I don't know why I would see that. But I'm pretty sure it was… maybe parents? I don't understand. Edward?"
Alice looked to him for help as did everyone else. Why? He had no insight into this strange occurrence. He could only shrug as Emmett piped up.
"Maybe your vision is acting out."
"My vision doesn't act out."
"I said maybe."
She looked ready to argue when Carlisle held up an authoritative hand and silence fell over the room once more.
"You said it was blurry Alice?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe more needs to happen to see it clearly. More decisions. We obviously don't have enough information to make sense of what you saw so perhaps we wait to see if there are any changes?"
That seemed to satisfy everyone and they slowly returned to what they were doing before the disruption. But Edward could hear it, a silent echo in all their thoughts.
… Baby…
… Baby…
… Baby…
Except Alice. Alice was focused on other things.
I never see blurry. Never. I never see blurry…
•••
Alice had another vision.
It was December. 1990.
They were walking along Forest Lawn Cemetery- a morbid hobby of theirs, trying to find anyone with their names, or same date of birth- or death- when it hit.
Edward had been looking out over the pond water that glistened in the moonlight. The winter night was chilly and no one was out. Of course people wouldn't be out; it was three am. Emmett and Jasper had been laughing over some tombstone that had 'Why didn't you listen to me?' engraved on it and were trying to come up with the poor man's story to go along with such a line. Rosalie was visiting each child's grave she came across, sending a silent prayer and tidying up any that seemed uncared for. Though Rosalie hated it, Edward quite enjoyed being in her head when she did this- her thoughts were softer, hushed, infused in the sweet tones of a mother's heart. It was a side he admired most of his usually cold and reserved sister. It granted access to a depth of hers so rarely seen.
But Alice… Alice was stock still before a small statue of a woman, beckoning her hand up toward the sky as the vision took hold.
It was a blurry mess of red and green lights and a large tree.. a Christmas tree? A faint tune played in the background, one that Edward didn't recognize, and something more. A shuffle. No… a sniffle… crying?
And then the vision turned, as if Alice had peered over a corner and there were two blurry figures again. Except one of them was small, but not small like an infant. It was bigger. Childlike. It's face was unreadable but Edward could see the dark outline of hair and it was unmistakable now; the child was crying. The other figure, a man, was holding her, next to the joyful Christmas lights that seemed so out of place next to such sorrow emitting from the pair. The crackling of a fire mixed in with the soft tune and sniffle until, for the first time, the child spoke.
"I want my momma."
Though the voice had that same distant echo it was impossible not to hear the pain that dripped from each word. It shockingly sliced at Edward's chest and he was by Alice's side in an instant, both staring at each other with wide disturbed eyes.
Was that… was that the same child…? Alice thought.
Edward only stared.
It was… Alice blankly looked back down at the statue, her thoughts repeating the vision over and over yet at the same time seemed impossibly sluggish. Why am I seeing this child? Why is it so blurry? What does this mean?
"Alice?"
Jasper appeared before them, worry pulling down at his lips. "Alice, what's wrong?"
But Alice and Edward locked eyes again and for some strange reason they both suddenly felt protective over the crying child who's hurt echoed in their ears. And it was there that a silent pact was born. They would say nothing. Nothing until they had more information. They would make no hasty decisions.
"Nothing… C'mon. Carlise and Esme are finishing up soon at the banquet."
Edward could see from Jasper's thoughts that he didn't believe it was nothing, but if Alice didn't want to talk about something then he wouldn't force her. He glanced at Edward out of the corner of his eye.
You would say something if it was bad, right?
He nodded minutely.
They all began the walk back to Rosalie's red Audi, each of them taking in one last sight of the Buffalo skyline for probably the last time until they could possibly return decades from now.
But Edward glanced further behind, toward the statue that had triggered Alice's strange vision. Just a simple statue. It was engraved.
Devoted to God
•••
Edward wished he could sleep.
He shouldn't be complaining. Carlisle did give them a ten year break from the purgatory that was high school.
After all, Edward was the one who suggested they maybe start younger this time around so as to avoid moving for the third time in a decade.
Fuck me
As soon as he cursed himself a stray thought from Marissa Vicks across the cafeteria came tumbling through, taking his words literally and he fought the groan of disgust from escaping.
Jasper sent him an amused smile. Don't you go all 'woe is me', boy. This was your idea.
"I know," he gritted out.
Not soon enough was Edward sitting in the last period of the day, quietly musing over what he wanted to study next in college after this year. Perhaps medicine. It had been a while since he went to med school and surely there was much to learn about in the last twenty years.
At least there would be. If he hadn't learnt it all from Carlisle's thoughts already.
Woe is me…
He looked down at his notebook, marking the date at the top.
October 23, 1997
Wow. Already a decade since they had last seen their cousins up in Denali when they failed to appear normal, trying to pass as extended family at Anchorage high school. The attention had left such a bad taste in their mouth they put their foot down and demanded to go to college instead in Buffalo. But then Edward had to open his big mouth…
He sighed.
Edward decided to fight his boredom by checking up on what his siblings were doing. He fought a snicker when he dipped into Rosalie's mind, seeing her in a heated argument with her home-ec teacher about why it was suitable for boys to be expected not to learn the basics of cooking but women were expected to serve five course meals. The teacher was flustered and red and sputtering like an idiot as Rosalie tore into him, the students around her staring in shock and fear.
Jasper was amusing as well. He was in a heated debate in US History, his desk angled toward one lanky boy who insisted that harsher immigration laws were the key to a successful future for the United States. Jasper was laughing, his tone mocking, and the rest of the Cullens, his born accent slipped through the cracks in his unreserved state.
"Boy, I'm fixin' to beat your ass over racist shit like that." I was forced to put up with it as a human and I'll be damned if I put up with it now.
His Texan drawl made his threat more menacing somehow. The boy blanched and the teacher jumped up, waving detention slips.
Damn. Esme is gonna kill me…
Edward smirked. Then checked on Emmett.
He was… replaying the superbowl in his head. Green Bay Packers vs New England Patriots. Only he was imagining himself in Brett Favre's place.
Edward rubbed his hands over his face.
And Alice-
Alice!?
Alice was in art class, head clutched in her hands and trembling slightly. A shy girl with glasses next to her leaned over, emboldened by her worry to overlook the natural fear they caused in humans, and whispered, "Are you alright?"
Alice shook her head and with the help of the girl calling the teacher she slipped out of class, running straight toward a janitor's closet.
Edward. Please meet me.
He faked a headache and with a nurse's pass walked straight to where Alice was. When he entered the small room he was worried to find her trembling still, hugging herself.
"Alice? What's-"
And then she showed him.
Images burst forth like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. Vivid and bright but still so damn blurry. It was the girl again. She looked older now, taller, her face as unreadable as ever. But this vision- or visions- was different. There was a crispness to the background around her. Whereas before where the entire vision was foggy it was now just the girl.
And he saw what caused Alice's distress.
In one speck of the kaleidoscope the girl was climbing a thick, luscious tree. She was going and going until she was so high up it made Edward anxious- a fall from that height would do more than give a human a few broken bones- it would give them internal bleeding and blunt force trauma to the chest and broken ribs and punctured lungs and-
As if to mock his anxiety the girl fell. And hit the floor.
Edward gasped and it took all of him to not grip Alice's arms and demand to know where the girl was so as to stop her deadly climb.
But then a miracle happened. The girl stood up. And wiped the dirt off her jeans. As if she didn't just tumble 35 ft in the air.
The other images weren't as panic inducing, but didn't calm him either. The girl cried a lot in bed. She called out to her mother. She was screaming. She was left alone. She was being followed.
Edward felt all his muscles lock at that vision. She looked so young. Maybe eleven. Twelve? Being followed and catcalled by men twice or triple her age. She was always safe in the end but Edward hated that she still had to experience it. It was disgusting, deplorable, and made him white hot with fury.
"Who is this girl?"
Alice's whisper forced him out of his murderous thoughts. She was still trembling, clutching her chest as if trying to hold herself together, so scared and he wanted to ask why. Alice's vision flickered again, anticipating his question.
She sighed and hugged herself tighter. "Because… I already care about her. And I don't even know her. I can't help yet I see such terrible things…"
The images were still going. They were slightly different now, more mundane; the girl going for a walk, riding a bike, reading a book, in a car crash-
Alice and Edward gasped, then stilled in shock when, yet again, the girl walked away unscathed.
Then the visions disappeared.
A beat of silence.
Alice turned to leave the room, "We need to talk to Carlisle."
•••
Edward had not wanted to tell the whole family of the strange girl in Alice's visions, but that very thought had annoyed him so much he didn't put up a fight. Why would he care to keep her a secret? He didn't know this girl. She might not even exist for all he knew.
And that thought strangely upset him.
The family had listened intently as Alice shared her visions. At first, they were hesitant, all sharing the same unnerved caution.
Who was this girl?
What was this girl?
Where was this girl?
For the first questions, they obviously had no answers. She didn't fit the description of anyone they had met. Her voice didn't sound familiar. For the second question they all naturally looked toward Carlisle and Jasper; being the oldest vampires in their family, surely they had heard of a human who falls from great heights and gets hit by speeding cars and walks away virtually unharmed.
But they had not.
As the last… they didn't know. They don't recognize the area. Edward thought it vaguely looked familiar, but it was as if he was looking at it from the wrong angle. But, just like the rest of his family, he was at a loss.
"Maybe she is important. Whoever she is, we must cross paths with her if Alice is so attuned to her future."
Esme's interpretation was supposed to be comforting. She wanted to offer hope.
It had the opposite effect.
At once, Rosalie was on her feet, seething. "We have no business with a human girl! None! She's only a child! If Alice can see her, that only means one thing and we will not force this life on anyone else!"
Jasper was glaring at her. "Haven't you been listening? What child can survive being hit by a car at fifty miles per hour and falling from four stories high? She clearly isn't human! And that can only mean one thing. The Volturi will investigate. That's probably why Alice can't see her. Her life is hanging on a thread." She will die.
A low snarl escaped both Rosalie and Edward. "She's not an immortal child! Alice has seen-"
"Alice can't see-"
"Perhaps we can help her!" Esme rushed forward.
Emmett grabbed her hand. "We don't have enough information. We can't do anything."
"I say we avoid her at all costs. Emmett is right. We can't risk it."
"Jasper!"
"Esme, I'm sorry."
"She's just a child!"
"We don't know that!" Emmett's voice rose.
Their voices lifted, fighting, all the while Carlisle tried to get the situation under control and Edward could only watch Alice who was as blank as ever.
Her vision was black. Too much uncertainty. Too many decisions. She couldn't see. She couldn't see.
And then she saw too much.
All at once another kaleidoscope exploded in her head and Edward winced along with her at the stabbing pain that pierced through her temple.
It was a different girl. No… the same girl. But… she was older and still ever blurry. But… there was a glow to her frame unlike anything they had ever seen. She seemed… happy and… holding a hand. A large hand. There was laughter, but it was too low, too masculine to be her laugh. It was also familiar even in this distant, uncertain future.
Alice and Edward both gasped and another deafening silence fell upon the room. Every pair of golden eyes were on their ashen faces as both the mind reader and the future seer stared at each other in astonishment.
Alice could only manage a whisper, "Was… was that you?"
Edward couldn't answer. His body had locked down.
Everyone had looked back and forth between the two until they zoned in on the change in Alice's demeanor. Her lips twitched before slowly spreading into a wide, teeth flashing smile. Her eyes sparkled with tears that could never fall as she clasped her hands together, the wonderment in her gaze increasing ten fold. Jasper staggered under the intense emotion, his expression twisting. "Alice?"
"I know who she is."
Don't, Edward thought. Don't say it.
"Who is she, Alice?"
Don't…
"She's Edward's mate."
Esme gasped. "A mate!? Could it be?" Edward!
"I see it now. It all makes sense." Alice was in her own world now, shifting through the hazy thread with glazed, twinkling eyes. Her hand lifted and hovered in the air just inches from Edward's face as if seeing him for the first time. His laughter echoed in the glowing visions, and he could see now some details clearing; a shoulder, a flash of auburn hair, a pale hand. It was all him. She was ever the enigma she had been but it was clear who stood beside her.
The visions replayed over and over until they began to drift to a close, like leaving a tunnel as the light was sucked out of them.
You love her
He didn't contradict Alice's thoughts, but not because he agreed with her. He was just too shocked for words.
Rosalie wasn't. "A human!? Edward, you fall in love with a human!? How could you! You know what this means! The Volturi-"
"She isn't human!" Jasper snapped.
"She was born!"
"She's a danger!"
"No, she is in danger!" Esme now stood shoulder to shoulder with Rosalie. "This girl is obviously special, in more ways than one. We can't ignore her! The Volturi is a threat no matter what. And if not them than some rogue nomads could-"
"I will not put Alice in danger like this!"
"I already love her."
Jasper snapped around, eyes wide as Alice trembled again. "What?"
"I already love her," she whispered, looking off into the distance.
And she did. Edward already knew that. Even before Alice knew- no, thought- that this girl is his mate, she had loved her. Edward had seen over the last decade how the child would infiltrate her thoughts in moments of tenderness. When Alice brushed her hair she thought of braiding the girl's brown locks. When Alice shopped she wondered what the girl liked. When Alice felt friendless she wondered if the girl was kind.
Yes, Alice loved her.
Jasper looked resigned. "There's no stopping this, is there? All roads lead to her." He met Emmett's eyes who was frowning at Rosalie, feeling that his brother shared his same hesitance. "Alright… alright. But we proceed with caution."
Emmett shook his head. "It doesn't matter what we do. It matters what Edward decides. She's his mate."
God, they were all looking at him again. What he wouldn't give just to go upstairs and take a nap and forget all of this.
"Edward?" Carlisle stepped forward. "What do you say?"
How could he ask that? How could Edward know? So many decisions and thoughts suddenly weighed on his shoulders and he felt he might cripple under the intensity. Mate? Mate!? A human girl? No. No, she was more than human. She has to be. What does it mean? If she was human, could he change her? Did he want to? Could he even stand to be near her with her human blood a constant burn in his throat to remind him that he is other? What did he say? What did he want to do?
I don't know. I don't know.
The vision replayed in his head, as if to help him decide. Long brown hair, glowing skin, his hand in hers. Blurry. Distant. Peering through water at a face he couldn't distinguish and her laugh that he couldn't hear.
But he wanted to.
Good God, he wanted to.
And then a new vision came forth through Alice's eyes.
It was that same murky film, but one thing was absolutely clear; Edward. He sat in… a classroom, his arms resting on a black table and he was… smiling. Beside him was the girl, her form blotted out but there nonetheless. And then he heard it. As clear as day.
She laughed.
And Edward decided.
"There are western hemlocks in the background. That's the tree she climbed. It's native to the Pacific northwest."
Alice flashed upstairs to Carlisle's study and was back with a map. She unfolded it on the dining room table.
"Okay. So we can put the state of Washington and Oregon on the list of possible locations. Vancouver… Juneau, Alaska is also a maybe…"
•••
May 15, 2002
The news was disheartening.
They watched with keen interest as the news reporters battled back and forth the after effects of the September 11th terrorist attacks. They all sat stock still as the videos of that day replayed, their anger and sadness mixing together in a dark cloud that Jasper struggled to contain.
Alice jumped up off the couch, unable to watch anymore and went to stand in front of the map that had been hanging on in every house they had lived in the past five years. Thumbtacks littered the weathered paper. Her eyes flickered over the red tops, trying to force a vision, but none came. Edward didn't expect one. They had learned early on in their search that Alice couldn't actively look for the girl's vision. Any sight, if she got one at all, was rare and random, brief flashes of seemingly mundane things; the girl cleaning dishes, writing in a notebook, watching tv. That was it. Those were the only visions Alice had seen in the last five years.
It was frustrating.
Even more so when the towers were hit. The Cullens were already delayed in their quest to find the girl, having to finish out the last school year and transfer Carlisle out of the hospital and waiting for new identities. They had nothing to go on besides the location of the large trees, but scouring 2000 miles was even difficult for seven vampires without arousing suspicion or the attraction of other vampires. It was the last thing they needed- another coven to become interested in this not so human girl.
But when the attacks happened… The Cullens, like the rest of the world, stopped, rooted in place by confusion and fear. Were there to be more attacks? Would there be instant retaliation? What is happening? What do they do?
Even worse was the worry for the unknown girl. Was she safe? Was she anywhere near? No, she couldn't be… but what if she went on vacation? Travel? What are the odds? Why couldn't they find her?
It was in the midst of this worry that the first vision, the one of her cleaning came, as if the girl was saying "here I am! Doing perfectly normal things. No need to worry!"
But until they found her, they would all worry. This unknown girl had wormed her way into all their hearts in the last few years, and it was this love for the girl that prompted them to put their search for her on hold to help with the aftermath of the Twin Towers. Emmett, Jasper and Edward rushed over, only coming out in overcast days and nights, sticking to alleyways, trying to help look for survivors anyway they can. It was extremely hard- they couldn't draw too much attention and they couldn't be recognized; so many news cameras and the world's eye was fixated on the world trade center. But they had to feel like they tried.
Rosalie, Esme and Alice had an easier time. They were donating as much money as they could, while trying to remain inconspicuous, to the cleanup effort and to the affected families. They gave away clothes, food, water, and first aid. Anything. Absolutely anything while waiting for another vision to show that the girl was truly okay.
It had been three months since the last vision and they were getting restless. Edward continued to watch the news with unease. Many people would die in this war and he felt like a coward that he couldn't die in their place.
Edward…
He didn't outwardly respond to Jasper, but he blinked to show that he was listening.
It seems ridiculous to me now how you and I were so ready to jump in the war effort. To die for the pockets of politicians. Being manipulated into thinking it was for God and Country. Only for innocent people to be the victims of political games…
Yes. Edward blinked. He agreed.
Too many wars, brother… too many…
The news topic changed to something even more heartbreaking.
"In other news, the search is ongoing for missing twelve year old Ashley Pond who disappeared from an Oregon bus stop…"
Rosalie glared from where she sat by Emmett on the loveseat.
"Now another girl has disappeared. Miranda Gaddis, who was a classmate of Ashley Pond…"
Middle school girls. A bus stop. The girl that haunted Edward's thoughts could have known them. Been them. She could be at the same school. They were possibly the same age. It enraged Edward and his fists clenched. They had to find her. They had to.
Alice gasped.
Trees. So many trees. Cloudy skies, cold weather. A girl in a light sweater, leaning her head on the open window of a movie car. She seemed… sad. Resigned. She took a breath as they passed a sign.
"The City of Forks Welcomes You."
Edward was on his feet the next second, rushing up the stairs to his room on the fourth floor, reaching for the cardboard boxes that he still hadn't fully unpacked. The house was thrown into chaos as everyone understood what had happened and began their own packing. Emmett only asked two words when he had his truck filled up.
"Where to?"
Alice smiled. "Forks Washington."
Forks
Rosalie and Carlisle blinked. Memories rushed in.
Forks...
So they were going back. Strange nervousness settled in Edward at the thought.
This could be a good thing.
He hoped.