A/N: Well, it's been a while. There's only like ten chapters left. Enjoy!

POVs: Bella

Disclaimer: All works go to SM and RR.

Chapter 24: No New News

It had been a couple of weeks now, edging closer to a month, since beautiful, precious Renesmee had left on the quest with two demigods we barely even knew.

I followed Alice around constantly, trying to squeeze some information about her visions out of her head. It was the first time I'd seen Alice truly irritated; she sent me off to go lurk in some corner, telling me she'd obviously warn us if she saw something of value.

Instead of going to "lurk in my own silent corner", though, I decided to go hunting. Our new house was hard to get accustomed to, what with having lived in Forks for two decades, but I promised myself I would manage.

The houses themselves were about three miles away from the magical border surrounding Camp Half-Blood. I hadn't seen the demigods since Renesmee left; the only news to be heard was from Carlisle and Edward, who had journeyed up to meet with Chiron again. Apparently, Annabeth had been IMed — Iris Messaged — twice by Percy already, but Nessie hadn't contacted us with any news so far.

Making sure to not stray in the direction of the Camp, where I would surely go after some of the sweet-scented demigods, I turned west and ran on for a couple of miles before catching a horrible and yet soothingly familiar scent. Not soon after, a flash of bronze fur was colliding with me. The werewolf was about to snap my neck off with its enormous teeth when he recognized me.

"Hey, Jacob. Glad you decided not to tear me in half."

The huge wolf toppled off of me and ran back into the forest before emerging once more as Jacob, wearing only a pair of khaki shorts. "What're you doing so far east? Come to visit already?"

He huffed and snorted before pulling me in for a hug. "You know how it is. I couldn't stay away from Ness this long." I gulped loudly at this, instantly aware of how violent his reaction would be once he figured out Renesmee wasn't with us.

"You smell funny, Bells. Kind of like — like, I don't know, it's just strange. Not vampiric. What's the matter?"

After deliberating the matter for a couple of seconds, I decided it was best if I told Jake the whole scenario where he wouldn't be within range of any delicate houses ready to be torn apart.

"We ran into some really good-smelling humans. But they weren't humans."

We turned back eastward, and walked through the sunlight aspen trees, as I explained.

He let out a low whistle. "Demigods, huh? I suppose I really shouldn't be that surprised by this, should I?"

"No," I stated simply. I bit my lip before continuing. "Well, they were explaining their story to us when something weird happened. This girl named Rachel — apparently she was imbued with the spirit of Delphi, Apollo's sacred Oracle — anyway, she gave a prophecy. It mentioned Nessie."

Jacob's eyes narrowed. "Well, it called for a quest. We don't know where to, just somewhere east. So she departed with a couple of well-trained, very kind and protective demigods." I knew I was overplaying it, but Jacob's reaction would be bad enough as it was.

"So you mean to tell me that Nessie isn't with you? When did she leave?"

"Three weeks ago," I squeaked, slightly mortified.

Jacob, instead of exploding into wolf form the way I expected him to, simply put his hands over his face and sat down with a thump.

"And…?"

"No new news."

He started breathing harder, something I instantly recognized as an attempt to calm himself down. "Jake, c'mon, let's go, you can stay with us for a while."

He didn't even wait before getting up and running off to the east, and I heard the rip that meant he'd torn right through his shorts. Sighing, I took off after him.

It was maybe fifteen or twenty minutes before we reached the white Cullen house. I was confused when I realized that Esme was not in the garden, working with her flowers, Emmett was not wrestling outside with Rosalie or Jasper, and the only light on in the house was coming from Carlisle's office.

I ran up there without even bothering to let Jake in or give him some clothes. Everyone was in Carlisle's office, crowding around a small figure I first thought was Renesmee but then realized had hair too short to be my daughter's.

Alice was staring at the ceiling, her eyes transfixed on something that wasn't there and glassed over. After only seconds, she had snapped out of it. "What is it, Alice?" Edward asked.

"Well, the two demigods and another boy — maybe fourteen — were in a forest. But Renesmee — she's not with them."

"Well, where is she then?" I asked, making my and Jacob's presence known. I already knew the answer; it had been written so clearly in the prophecy. There was nothing east of the east coast until you reached Europe or Africa.

Alice gulped, the first time I'd seen her actually terrified. "She's been captured, Bella. Nessie's in Volterra."

A/N: I thought I'd put in some Cullen family/Jacob in there for you. They haven't been seen since the beginning anyway. Review with love or constructive criticism or ideas!

By the way, I'm accepting one-shot requests... ;)