-MAISIE-


A dramatic (but not dramatized) summary of picking up Gunner and Leah from the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport:

Me, letting go of Jasper's hand as soon as I caught sight of my brother's red hair. Running, really running, across the airport, only to have to stop short, of course, because I couldn't go past the check-in area. Jasper's low chuckle when he caught up to me, his hand on the small of my back as I bounced on my toes to see Gunner better.

"Hey, Gunner!" His head swiveling. He didn't see me at first. Leah waving, catching his elbow, pointing me out. They rushed through the rest of the bag checking process and as soon as they were on our side, I caught Gunner up in a hug.

Never mind that we had seen each other at Christmas. That was months ago; a lifetime, really. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face into his shoulder. Something I had learned after moving was that life was harder without my brother than I had ever anticipated.


We ended up at a restaurant called Orso after picking Gunner and Leah up from the airport. Both of them wanted seafood, which I hated, but I relented for them.

"Y'all are disgusting," I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose as Gunner and Leah tucked into their salmon and cod. I had ordered under the guise that Jasper and I would be sharing my chicken fettucine, but of course, everyone at our table knew my bluff.

I was a little surprised Jasper had been so willing to come to the restaurant with us. It was warm and people-filled on that Friday night, and that combination was uncomfortable for him, I knew. The consistency with which he had rubbed his nose every few minutes, to cover the human scent with his own, was evidence enough of that.

He was probably trying to prove to Leah that vampires could be civil, reiterating through his actions that his family was good.

"You don't know what's good in life," Leah countered. Her voice drew my attention away from watching Jasper out of the corner of my eye. She pointed at me with her fork, which had a hunk of fish on the end of it. "Nice haircut, by the way."

Self-consciously, I raised a hand to my hair, smoothing it over the newly cut bangs.

"Yeah, what's with that?" Gunner asked, mouth full of disgusting fish. "Makes you look like Ava."

Jasper laughed beside me, and I elbowed him under the table. "It does, just a bit."

"Listen," I defended myself, "sometimes you're feeling extra existential crisis-y and you decide giving yourself wispy bangs is a great idea."

"You forgot the part where you mess them up and your boyfriend has to help you fix them." I had been betrayed. I glared at Jasper, but he only grinned sweetly back at me.

"Watch it, Whitlock," I grumbled at him. If either Gunner or Leah heard, they gave no indication. Their attention was back on their fish. I touched my bangs again. I didn't think the wispy bangs looked bad…especially now that they had grown out a little. When I first cut them, they were crooked, and Jasper had to help me even them out.

When we got back home, I quickly dispelled Mom's separate bedroom rule that she had tried to lay down for Gunner and Leah before they left Forks.

"I really don't care where you sleep, just don't get me in trouble," I told Gunner, waving him away when he started to repeat Mom's rule. Gunner had kept it a secret for me all those nights Jasper stayed the night with me after he found out. I figured I owed him one.

"And, uh, Jasper doesn't sleep," I reminded him in a whisper. "So don't be surprised if you come downstairs for water and he's just hanging out in the living room."

"I did forget about that, actually." I watched Gunner slide his backpack off carefully before resting it on the couch.

"Got something breakable in there, Gun?"

"Uh, kinda." He stuck his arm inside, rifling around until he pulled his hand out, holding a little book. "From Carlisle. It's in Latin, but he said Jasper knows Latin? It's, um, for…"

Gunner's sentence fell off entirely. I could see in his face that he didn't know how to phrase what he was trying to say. That was obvious in the scrunch of his eyebrows and the downturned corners of his mouth. "I'm gonna go help Jasper with the bags."

Suddenly, I found myself alone in the house. Jasper and Gunner were unloading the car; Leah said she was feeling restless from the long flight and had gone on a run. I wasn't sure why Gunner had given me the book rather than Jasper. I didn't know Latin. But I flipped through the thin, yellow pages anyway.

I wondered how old the book was. It was obviously handwritten, bound in leather. There was no title embossed on either cover, so I doubted it was a novel. The only decoration on the cover was a starburst pattern someone had carved into the letter. I didn't spend much time on the book, though. I added it to Jasper's stack of books and his laptop on the coffee table.

With the little book discarded, I went to the door to hold it open while Jasper and Gunner marched the luggage inside. Leah trailed after them, back from her run. Her cheeks were flushed with pink and she smiled brightly at Gunner before kissing his cheek.

"I didn't realize sitting on a plane sucked so much," Leah said. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired."

A big yawn punctuated her sentiment, making Gunner smile softly. He took her hand in his so gently. Not for the first time, I was thankful for whatever old magic or what have you existed in the Quileute tribe and brought Leah and Gunner together.

"Go to bed," I told them. "I still have class in the morning, so I'll be turning in soon, too."

"Must suck not to be on spring break," Gunner threw over his shoulder, leading Leah up the stairs. "Sorry I can't relate."

"I didn't fly you to Alaska to kick your ass, but I will if you don't watch it," I called after Gunner, making both him and Leah laugh. Jasper, lounging on the couch behind me, laughed, too. When Gunner and Leah had disappeared into the guest bedroom, Jasper caught my arm, tugging me gently down to the couch with him.

"I like your bangs, by the way." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Yeah, now you take up for me." Even with Gunner and Jasper's teasing at my expense, I was too happy over having my brother and one of my best friends there to be mad. I rolled away from Jasper, reaching behind me to pluck that old book off the coffee table. "Carlisle sent a gift."

The book caught Jasper's eye. He took it from my hand, sitting up to look at it. When he sat up, Jasper wrapped his arm around me, taking me with him and settling me into his lap.

"Huh," he muttered, flipping through the book's pages just like I had. Something caught his eye and he stopped, holding the book open flat against my legs. He underscored a date with his finger. November 21st, 1630.

"Whoever penned this book is roughly from Carlisle's time," he murmured to me. I read the date again. 1630…that would make Carlisle around three hundred-eighty years old. "Or, shortly after, I suppose. Carlisle estimates himself to have spent around four hundred years on this earth."

"I…never knew that." Jasper's laugh rumbled against my back.

"He's not much one to brag. I'll show some of his portraits in his office next time we're in Forks." He flipped lazily through the pages for a few more moments. I watched the pages flutter back and forth between his fingers. If anything else was of interest to him, he didn't comment.

"You're tired," he said instead. Not a question, but a statement of fact. He was surely feeling the waves of sleepiness that were starting to overtake me. We had gone on a hike during my science class, collecting spring flora for microscope slides and identification during lab tomorrow. It had only been a handful of miles, but that accompanied by my excitement over Gunner and Leah had apparently worn me out.

"Yeah, I am." I didn't disagree. Jasper set the book aside, shifting my weight in his arms so he could lift me. "You know, you're making me incredibly spoiled."

"You deserve to be." Jasper carried me up the stairs and to our bedroom. Over his shoulder, I peeked at his map again. France was stained red just like the Southern United States now. I vaguely remembered from past history lessons that Latin was a common language to use for writing in the past. That meant this book really could have come from anywhere. I wondered lazily which country would be marked next.

I changed into my pajamas and kissed Jasper goodnight before crawling into bed. "Lemme know what you learn about over breakfast."

"I will," he promised me, turning out the light on his way out.


What I did not expect, in the morning, was for Jasper to have printouts and a rough timeline to present to us in the morning. I guess this was mostly for Leah's benefit, so she could share the information with Sam when she and Gunner returned to Forks. While three of us ate the breakfast burritos I made, Jasper gave us an early morning lecture.

"Excuse the timeline. I only have three data points, and one of them isn't very accurate. Gunner, thank you for bringing the book from Carlisle for me. I haven't read it yet, because I've been following a lead from South America, also from Carlisle."

Gunner gave Jasper a thumbs up, his mouth full of food. "The hard facts we know are that 'marking' began as a fashion statement in France for God knows what reason. We know Maria, and other newborn army leaders, have used the practice in the United States. Soft facts: we know there are vampire legends in South America, referred to as libishomen, but Internet searches haven't yielded anything other than the same legend of male vampires 'seeking out beautiful women'."

Leah flipped through her stapled print-out. "If that's all there supposedly is in South America, then why go?"

"Well," I threw in. "Surprise to everyone, and by everyone, I mean me, but Esme owns an island off the coast of South America that is cared for by locals who have better legends involving humans with vampire-esque abilities."

"'Better legends'." Leah laughed after she swallowed a bite of her burrito. "I love you Maisie."

"I know, I'm hilarious. But that's the rundown of why we're going to South America!"

"How are you going to explain that to Mom and Dad?" Gunner asked. Before I could answer, my phone started to buzz, an alarm telling me to go to class flashing across the screen. I ate the last bite of my burrito and started to shrug into my jacket.

"Well," I said, "if Carlisle and Esme just so happen to be taking the whole family on a summer vacation, and if I were invited on this family vacation, and if Edward's girlfriend is also going, can Mom and Dad really be too mad at me for accepting the extended invitation via Jasper?"

"Wait, Edward has a girlfriend?!" Out of all the things I said, that was all that Gunner honed-in on.

"Sure? Maybe?" I paused to grab my backpack off the floor, bouncing onto my tiptoes to kiss Jasper before heading toward the door. "We don't really know, but we like to refer to Jasmine as Edward's girlfriend. He's surprisingly secretive for someone who can read everyone else's minds."


A/N: Hello, friends! I hope you are continuing to enjoy the story. I am trying to keep each chapter at least over 2,000 words so chapters aren't short. But I'm also a brat and like the way certain scenes play out from certain perspectives, so I've been sequestering those scenes to those certain characters.

ANYWAY. I just want to thank y'all again for showing this story so much love right off the bat! I am so exciting to get into this story with y'all and explore more of Maisie, Gunner, and Jasmine's lives. I love you all!