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16. ROSALINE
(PARIS)

I clawed my way out of the angry surf and up onto the narrow strip of sand at the water's edge. My eyes were clenched shut, my body racked with horrible, gut wrenching coughs as my lungs fought to suck in oxygen and expel unwanted carbon dioxide at the same time. There must have been some water, too. It burned my nose and throat as I dug my fingers into the sand, struggling to crawl away from the water toward the line of driftwood that lay just beyond the reach of the tide. At least, that's what I wanted to do. I couldn't really tell which way I was headed, other than away, and I was coughing so hard that I could barely move. My head was spinning. Dark spots blocked my vision whenever I tried to open my eyes. I couldn't remember ever being this cold before.

"Are you okay, Edward?" Josie asked from somewhere to my left. Her voice sounded close. I nodded quickly, finally managing to breathe normally for a few seconds before the coughing started up again.

"Not good enough. You're going to have to say the words."

I felt her hand on my back, warm and reassuring.

"Yeah, just . . . give me a minute," I managed. There was more oxygen getting into my lungs now, but my throat felt raw. The dark spots in my vision were beginning to fade. Glancing up, I set my sights on an old driftwood log several yards away and continued my slow crawl toward it. Beside me, Josie was crawling, too, but she didn't seem like she needed to be. She was probably only crawling because she wanted to stay as close to me as possible until she knew I would be okay. It felt like an eternity had passed when I finally reached my destination. Exhausted, I turned and leaned back against the log.

"You got me out?" I asked. My eyes were closed against the icy rain that poured down from above, but I could feel Josie settling in just a few inches to my left.

"I did," she answered.

"How?"

"Swimming instructor, remember? Certified lifeguard, too."

"She swims like a fish," another voice added, this one from above and to the right. Jacob. I hadn't realized he was here, but somehow . . . somehow it hadn't felt like we were alone since we'd come out of the water. I opened my eyes to see three figures—Jacob, Sam, and Jared—leaning over us, their bodies blocking some of the rain that pelted down from the dark sky overhead. They were shirtless, but the cold didn't seem to bother them in the least.

I didn't really want to try to explain why I'd just jumped off a cliff in the middle of a storm.

"Victoria got away again, didn't she?" I asked instead.

Sam frowned. "She took off into the water. They have the advantage there. Jacob said the two of you would be hiking along the cliffs. We were afraid she was going to double back swimming, so we thought we'd better check on you."

"It's a good thing Josie got you out when you fell," Jacob added. "We don't know where she is now."

Lifting one hand to shield my face against the falling rain, I glanced up at Jacob. Fell, he'd said, but before I could give much thought to why I probably shouldn't correct him, something Sam had said caught my attention.

She took off into the water . . . We were afraid she was going to double back swimming. . .

A new kind of chill ran down my spine. A vague image drifted through my hazy memories. Fire in the water . . . something bright floating toward me as I'd struggled to find the surface. I'd thought it was nothing more than a hallucination, but now . . .

I froze. I felt like I couldn't breathe all over again, but this time, almost drowning had nothing to do with it.

"What is it, Edward?" Josie asked.

"She was in the water?" I heard my own voice, but it sounded like it was coming from somewhere far, far away.

Beside me, Josie grew still. I pulled my attention away from the three figures towering above us to find her staring at me with wide eyes.

"You saw it, too?" I asked, but I didn't need to. I already knew the answer. She nodded.

"I did." She should have been terrified, but her eyes were bright with something other than fear. Excitement, perhaps? "It was just a flash of red in the water, like hair, but then it vanished. I thought I was just seeing things, but if you saw it, too . . ."

We looked up at Sam.

"I think she was here." I'd only really seen Victoria that one time, but I remembered the color of her hair, and what I'd seen in the water, what Josie had seen in the water . . . I shivered again, but it wasn't just from the cold. "It definitely could have been her."

Jared swore softly, but Sam was already issuing orders.

"Head north along the shoreline," he told Jared. "I'll head south. Jake, you stay here with them, just in case she comes back. Something scared her off, but she got close—too close. She may not have given up so easily this time."

And without so much as a parting nod, Sam and Jared disappeared in opposite directions. They would have to find somewhere to phase, I knew. At least the pounding storm meant no one would be out and about to see two huge wolves patrolling the coastline.

I shivered against the cold. Jacob was already jogging off toward the cover of some nearby trees. Beside me, Josie rubbed her hands together, trying to warm them. She reached out to grab my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on. The trees might give us some shelter from this storm."

I followed her through the pouring rain on legs that felt more than a little unsteady. Jacob, already in wolf form, was waiting just inside the treeline as we stepped into the forest. His eyes met Josie's for just a moment, and then he darted back out onto the beach.

"Jake will be back in a minute. He just wants to make sure she hasn't tried to come ashore anywhere nearby."

Water poured down through the treetops all around us, but Josie managed to find a spot on an old log where the canopy overhead sheltered us from the falling rain. I sat down beside her to wait for Jacob's return, but I couldn't feel safe. What if Victoria was already here? Could she be hiding in the branches just over our heads? I knew what would happen to me if she found us, but what would she do to Josie?

"How does he know she didn't already come ashore here?" I asked. I turned to stare into the shadows behind the log. Josie smiled faintly.

"He can smell her."

"Oh." I hadn't thought of that. I took a deep breath, trying to convince myself that we really were safe. Jacob wouldn't have left us here if there had been any danger, and Josie had said he would be back soon. I turned away from the shadows beneath the trees and focused on the place where Jacob had disappeared. Still shivering, I dug my hands into my pockets, but wet pockets do little to warm cold hands. I pulled them back out again and rubbed them together.

"Thank you," I said, "for pulling me out of the water." Josie didn't say anything. She just shrugged and leaned against me, apparently seeking my warmth. I wrapped one arm around her, but I couldn't imagine it helped very much. She felt a bit warmer than I did, anyway.

"Where are Paul and Embry?" I asked after a moment. "Weren't they hunting Victoria, too?"

She frowned. "They're at the hospital."

"Hospital?" I asked. I remembered again the expression on Josie's face just before I'd turned to jump. I'd assumed Victoria hadn't hurt anyone, but someone must have been hurt. I swallowed nervously, barely registering the scratchiness of my throat.

"Was it Embry?" I asked. "Paul?"

I felt Josie shake her head.

"No. After Victoria escaped, they stopped by Emily's before heading here. She'd just gotten the call. Harry Clearwater had a heart attack this morning."

"Harry?" I pulled back just far enough to look into Josie's face. How was that possible? He'd been fine the day before, watching from his place in the kitchen while we'd rearranged the furniture in his freshly painted living room. He'd been annoyed because Sue and my mother had ordered him not to help. The last time I'd seen him, he'd been headed out the door to visit Old Quil. He'd seemed fine . . .

"Oh, no! Sue! Does Mom . . ."

But of course she knew. She was working at the hospital today. She'd have been one of the first people to see him when they'd brought him through the door.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked. Josie just frowned.

"It doesn't look so great right now," she said, leaning against me again.

I'd picked a horrible time to jump off a cliff. Victoria, this storm, and now Harry. For all the time I'd spent trying to perfect my plan, it certainly hadn't turned out very well.

I glanced out toward the beach just in time to see Jacob's return. He shook himself as he stepped beneath the trees, flinging huge drops of water out in all directions, then made his way toward us. His huge paws were eerily silent on the forest floor. He stopped just behind the log, and even though he wasn't completely dry, I could feel the heat rising from his fur. Josie leaned back against his warmth, pulling me with her.

"There's no sign of her coming ashore near here," Josie told me. "Sam and Jared are going to keep going for a couple more minutes, then double back just to be sure, but it looks like she's gone for now."

I nodded, grateful for the heat Jacob provided. At some other time, I might have felt weird about leaning against him for warmth, but I was too cold to care. I was just starting to feel warm again when Jacob shifted away.

"She's gone," Josie announced. "Sam and Jared are heading back to the hospital."

"Should we . . ." I started to ask, but Josie shook her head.

"You've just fallen off a cliff. You're wet, and you're cold. We all are. Lizzie doesn't need us showing up at the hospital with you like that."

I nodded. She was right.

The rain was still pouring down as we stepped out from under the shelter of the trees. Thankfully, we weren't far from where I'd parked the Volvo, so we ran through the rain, getting soaked all over again. I didn't even care about my seats getting wet as Josie and I climbed inside. I started the engine and turned the heat up as far as it would go. Jacob and his fur coat had disappeared.

I waited until the air coming out of the vents was warm before I pulled out onto the road, but the trip back to Josie and Jacob's house was far too short to dry our clothes. Only a minute later I was parked in their driveway, gazing out at the pouring rain once more, but this time, Jacob was holding the front door open for us.

"You need some dry clothes," Josie announced as soon as we were safe inside. "We can hang yours by the radiator to dry."

I watched as Jacob disappeared down the little hallway that led to his bedroom. Dry clothes. The idea struck me harder than it should have. Maybe my plans hadn't been as firm as I'd thought they were. If they had been, why hadn't I thought to pack dry clothes? The realization left me a bit queasy. If my plans hadn't been as settled as I thought they'd been, would Alice even see that I'd jumped?

Jacob returned a moment later, a bundle of something gray in his hands.

"They'll probably be a little big on you, but it's the best I've got." He angled his head toward the little hallway. "You can change in my room if you want."

I thanked him, but my mind was elsewhere, wondering if all my plans had been a waste of time, if I'd jumped off a cliff for nothing. Too late now, I told myself as I stepped into his cramped bedroom. When I emerged moments later, I was carrying my wet clothes in one hand and holding up the waistband of my borrowed sweatpants with the other. At least the t-shirt—an old one that obviously didn't fit him anymore—was the right size.

Jacob glanced up from his place on the floor beside the little couch. I saw his eyes take in the way I was holding up the sweatpants, but he said nothing. We were all worried about Harry. Now wasn't the time for teasing.

I stepped across the living room to hang my wet clothes beside the radiator, placing my shoes on the floor beside it. The clothes, I knew, would dry soon, but my shoes . . . . well, wet shoes were a way of life in Forks.

Behind me, Josie stepped out of her bedroom in a dry t-shirt and jeans. As she draped her wet clothes beside mine, I cinched the waistband of my too-long sweatpants tighter and sat down on the couch. Jacob was already snoring by the time Josie sat down beside me.

I tried not to follow Jacob's lead, but it had been an eventful day, and the radiator was warm after I'd been cold for so long. Beside me, Josie was already nodding off. It was inevitable that I would do the same.

When I awoke some time later, Josie and Jacob were still asleep. Josie's head had rolled to the side so that it rested against my shoulder. For a moment, I considered waking her, but it seemed an ungrateful thing to do. She had probably just saved my life, after all.

What time was it? I didn't know, but the world was dark outside the narrow windows. The only light in the room came through Josie's open bedroom door. She had left a lamp on.

My eyes scanned the room, trying to find some indication of the time. Could I see an alarm clock through Josie's open bedroom door? No, but I could see the same set of twin beds that had always been there—one hastily made that morning with wrinkles all over the bedspread, the other neatly made and waiting for the next time Rachel returned home from college, whenever that may be. The same tiny chest of drawers was crammed between the two beds, the lamp placed on top, but beside the lamp sat something I'd never really paid much attention to—a glass bowl filled with pebbles and seashells. It wasn't anything unusual in this part of the world—we were within walking distance of the beach, after all—but something about the bowl tugged at me. I studied it for a moment, wondering what it was until a suspicion began to take root in my mind. Was this more than just a bowl of random shells and pebbles? Was this Josie's treasure trove, her collection of all the souvenirs I'd given her at First Beach over the years? Had she kept them all this time?

You were always so close when you were kids, my mother's words came back to me. She'd just follow you everywhere. I glanced back toward the glass bowl, remembering again all the time we'd spent together as children, all of the adventures in the forest and the days on the beach. How had our little custom started? I couldn't remember, but I could remember other things. Smiling up at Josie as she dangled from the branches of a tree above my head. Picking wildflowers for her. Letting her have the last chocolate chip cookie.

I'd thought my mother had been mistaken that day in the kitchen, but maybe, just maybe, I was the one who wasn't remembering everything quite the way it had actually been. Another memory came then, rising to the surface from some long-forgotten place . . .

I had been eleven years old. Josie had just turned nine. We'd been playing catch in Billy and Sarah's backyard. Jacob hadn't been with us—he'd gone somewhere with Billy—and I'd been waiting for my mother to pick me up when she got off work. Sarah had just called us in, and Josie had run toward me with a strange look in her eyes. She hadn't said a word as she'd come to a stop in front of me, and without any warning, she'd risen up on her toes to press her lips awkwardly against mine. A few confusing seconds had passed, and then Josie had turned and run into the little red house. I hadn't known how to react at the time, and I'd stood there for a moment before following her inside, but I remembered being confused, not quite sure what to think. We'd never spoken of it—there hadn't been time. Sarah had died in a car accident barely a week later.

That kiss and so many other things had been left behind as Billy and the children grieved, as they'd tried to learn how to go on. My mother had helped as best she could, but after about a year, our families had drifted apart. I'd never really understood why, but we'd spoken only sporadically after that, at least until that day last spring at First Beach, when I'd tricked Josie and her brother into telling me another girl's secret.

But what if, a strange voice whispered, what if there had been no other girl?

Something cold reached up, wrapping icy talons around my heart and squeezing, but the question remained. If there had been no other girl, what would have happened that day at First Beach . . . and all the days after?

I'd have spoken to them, of course. We would have reminisced about old times instead of telling old legends, but the friendship would have been rekindled. My mother and Billy would have started talking again, and Josie and I . . . maybe, just maybe we would have picked up where we'd left off.

But that wasn't what had happened because there was another girl. Like Romeo's crush on Rosaline, whatever feelings I might have had for Josie . . . and whatever feelings she might have had for me . . . had been overshadowed by something bigger, by something more powerful than what could ever have existed otherwise.

I remembered those words, or something very like them, spoken by an angel as we'd made our way up my front walk one evening. The memory was clear and bittersweet. Had it been hours ago or several lifetimes? I didn't know anymore.

But what if, came that little voice again, what if Romeo hadn't been banished? What if it had been Juliet who had left? What if her loyalty to her family had won out in the end, and she'd been unable to marry a Montague? What if she'd married Paris instead and moved somewhere far, far away? What would Romeo have done then? He would have pined for her, certainly. He would have searched for her in every face that he passed on the street, but eventually he would have had to have moved on, no matter how hard it was, no matter how much it hurt.

I was being ridiculous. This was real life, not a play. Romeo and Juliet had never existed, and they didn't exist now.

But what if they had, and what if Rosaline had been more than just a plot device, I wondered? What if she'd been a character in her own right? What if she had loved Romeo, too, had waited just offstage for him to move past his feelings for a girl he could never have? What if she'd been willing to deny her own family the way her cousin, Juliet, had not? Would Romeo have turned his eyes back to her? Would he have learned to love her again, maybe not the way he had loved Juliet, but enough that they could both find some happiness?

I shook my head . . . carefully, of course, so as not to wake Josie, still asleep on my shoulder. There went my imagination again. This was real life, not a play, and even if it had been, Juliet would never have left Romeo—she'd faked her own death for the chance to be with him. And Romeo would never have moved on from Juliet. He'd committed suicide rather than live without her. And then she had done the same. Besides, if I was going to draw parallels to my own life, maybe I was doing it backward. Wasn't I more like Juliet, instead of Romeo? I was the one who'd been left behind, and maybe I hadn't faked my own death, but I had just jumped off a cliff—a ridiculous plan if ever there was one.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car splashing through mud puddles outside. Car doors opened and closed. I glanced down at the top of Josie's head, suddenly uncomfortable with the idea of her knowing I'd let her sleep on my shoulder. In the end, I took the coward's way out, closing my eyes and rolling my head to the side. I waited until she'd pulled away, then lifted my head to blink at her drowsily.

The front door opened, and Josie and I turned toward it. Jacob jumped to his feet, finally startled awake as the lights flicked on. We blinked against the sudden brightness.

"Sorry," Billy grunted as Sam pushed his wheelchair through the door. "Did we wake you?"

We didn't answer. We were too busy studying their faces, searching for the answer to a question we didn't dare ask. But the answer was clear in their expressions, and it was one we hadn't wanted to see.

"Oh, no," Josie whispered beside me. Her hand flew up to her mouth as Billy nodded sadly. Jacob hurried around the sofa to take one of his father's hands. Blinking away tears, Josie reached out for the other.

"I'm sorry, Billy," I said softly.

He nodded. "It's gonna be hard all around."

"Is Mom . . ."

"She's still at the hospital. They let her off her shift early, but she's with Sue. There are a lot of . . . arrangements to be made."

I nodded.

"I'd better get back there," Sam mumbled. His face was agonized as he ducked back out the door.

Billy pulled his hands away, then rolled himself toward the kitchen.

We stared after him a moment, wondering if there was something we could do or say, but there was nothing. As he vanished into his bedroom, Josie turned to face me. Jacob slid back down to the floor.

"Are you feeling okay?" Josie asked after a moment.

I nodded slowly. None of us were feeling okay right now, but I knew what she meant.

"I'll be alright." My voice sounded a bit scratchy to my ears, and my throat was sore from all of the coughing, but I'd lived through worse. I leaned over to check my clothes. The radiator had done its job. Even my shoes were almost dry.

"I should probably change and head home. Mom will be looking for me." I draped my clothes over one arm, grabbing the waistband of my borrowed sweatpants with the other as I hobbled back toward Jacob's bedroom. When I emerged a few minutes later, Jacob and Josie were standing by the sofa, waiting for me.

"Jake's going to ride home with you," Josie explained. "I'll stay here with Dad."

"You don't have to—"

"Actually, I do," Jacob interrupted. "We still haven't caught the bloodsucker, remember? Lizzie's been safe at the hospital, and you've been here, but we're behind on our patrols."

I nodded quietly. At least he wouldn't need to worry about getting a ride back home. He'd have four feet.

I hugged Josie as we headed toward the door, and after one last glance toward the little bedroom just off the kitchen, Jacob and I ventured out into the cold.

The silence in the car was heavy as I drove back to Forks. The little red house was miles behind us before Jacob finally spoke.

"Josie said you fell. You didn't really fall, did you?"

I stared out at the dark pavement in front of my car. I wondered if this was his suspicion or one the twins had silently shared.

"No," I admitted. "I didn't fall."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him turn toward me.

"So why did you jump?" he asked. "It was dangerous. The storm was coming in. If you wanted to jump from the top, another day would have been better. Most days would have been better."

I stared off into the darkness, not sure whether or not to tell him the truth.

"I had a plan," I finally admitted, but I knew now it was a lie. A plan would have been better organized, with every step plotted, every repercussion considered. What I'd had was a fantasy, an impossible fantasy that I hadn't thought through at all.

"A plan?"

"Remember what I told you about Alice?" I asked as I made a right turn at the end of La Push Road and headed south toward Forks. "How she can see the future?"

He nodded.

"When they left, Bella told me she would have Alice check in on me from time to time, just a little glimpse into my future every now and then to make sure everything was okay."

Jacob let out a short, snorting laugh.

"Yeah, she's missing some pretty big stuff," I admitted. "I couldn't figure out why for the longest time, but then I realized she isn't looking at Victoria's future. She's looking at mine, and as long as Victoria's path doesn't cross mine, Alice will never know she's here."

He seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded again.

"So if I wanted to get her attention," I continued, "I'd have to do something big, something crazy. Something she couldn't miss."

"Can I ask why you wanted to get her attention?"

"Because you need help."

Jacob snarled. Maybe I should have chosen my words more carefully.

"Why would we need their help?"

"Because you're not in a position to be picky," I shot back. "You just spent several hours sleeping on the floor this afternoon. You didn't hear Billy outside. You didn't hear him open the door. If he hadn't turned on the lights, you'd probably still be asleep."

Jacob released a discontented huff and turned to look out the window once more.

"Edward, this is—"

"What you do," I interrupted. "I know. But you're also running yourselves into the ground. This isn't just some transient vampire passing through. She's determined. She has a goal, a target, and she isn't going to give up." I sighed. "It's my fault that she's here in the first place. I need to do something to help."

Jacob was silent for a moment, but I could practically hear him grumbling under his breath.

"So, do you think it worked?" he finally asked.

I shook my head. I needed to be honest with both of us. "I doubt it. Too many holes in the plan. Plus, I don't think cliff diving is dangerous enough."

"From what Josie said, you nearly drowned."

I frowned. He wasn't wrong. "Maybe, but you don't see anyone here to check on me, do you?" I glanced across the seat as I made the last turn toward my house. "The fact that no one came implies that if Alice saw anything, she also knows that I'm okay, and no one is worried about my well-being."

I parked the Volvo in front of my house. The windows were dark, and the brick driveway was empty. My mother wasn't home yet.

"Are you going to try anything else stupid?" Jacob asked as I unhooked my seat belt. I wanted to tell him no, that my stupid plans were over, but I didn't know if that was a lie. Maybe I just hadn't come up with the right stupid plan yet.

"I don't know," I answered as Jacob opened the passenger side door. "I—"

The air rushed out of Jacob's lungs like he'd just taken a punch to the gut.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed as he slammed the door shut again.

"What is it?" I asked. His hands were shaking. I'd only ever seen someone shake like this once before . . . and I really didn't want Jacob phasing inside my car.

"Vampire!" he bit out. "Get us out of here, now!"

I reached down to restart the engine, my hands suddenly just as shaky as Jacob's.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes, I can smell it. Get out of here. Now!"

The street was dark. There was no other traffic moving in either direction, but it wasn't just other cars that I needed to look out for. Reversing out of the driveway, I ignored the rearview mirror, turning around to look out the back window instead. I expected to find red hair and bright eyes waiting for me on the other side of the glass, but what I saw behind me wasn't a nightmare. It was something out of a dream.

A black Mercedes was parked across the street, directly across from my house.

I pulled my foot off the accelerator, shoving the brake pedal down as far as it would go.

"Wait!" I knew that car. I'd seen it a hundred times. I'd ridden south in its back seat in a mad dash from Forks to Phoenix. I knew the dark leather seats and the tint on the windows. It was Carlisle's car.

"It's not Victoria. It's them. It worked!"

Beside me, Jacob was still shaking. His eyes were closed, and his head was bent forward. The instinct to phase must have been strong. He was fighting it with everything he had.

"How do you know?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Because I know that car. It's Carlisle's car."

He sucked in another breath.

"How do you know it's not a trick?" he asked.

"How many Mercedes S55 AMGs are there with exactly that trim package and exactly that tint?"

"You want a number?" he ground out.

"No, but no one here is going to hurt me."

Jacob shook his head. "Treaty or no treaty, that's my enemy in there. I have to tell Sam right away. This changes things. We can't be caught in their territory."

Opening the passenger side door again, Jacob jumped out. He didn't even bother to close it behind him as he sprinted off into the night. I could still see him shaking as he disappeared into the darkness.

"Bye, Edward," he called back over his shoulder. "I really hope you don't die."

"Me, too." I muttered. Shifting the car into park, I reached across the seat to pull the passenger side door closed, then pulled the car back into the driveway. Cutting the engine, I stared in at the dark windows of my house.

What if Jacob was right? What if it was a trick?

No, I reminded myself, James had been the one to orchestrate traps and try to fool his prey. Victoria seemed more of the sneak and hide type.

Climbing out of my car, I walked slowly toward the front door. There was no sign of movement inside, no twitching of the front curtain. The mat in front of the door was perfectly positioned, flecks of dried mud still lying at the edges. No one had checked under it for a spare key that wasn't there. Reaching up cautiously, I twisted the doorknob. It turned easily in my hand, even though I knew I had locked it before I'd left for La Push.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open to reveal the dark hallway within. I waited, watching for a shadow to shift, listening for the shuffle of a footstep against the floor, but there was nothing. Slowly, carefully, I stepped inside, my hand reaching out toward the light switch on the wall as I tried not to make a sound.

And suddenly, without warning, the light came on, even though my seeking fingers had yet to reach the switch. Someone stood just ahead of me in the hallway, only inches from where my fingertips had stopped.

Someone who was as still as death.