-GUNNER-
I would never tell Maisie, but she looked like shit. She was nearly as pale as Jasper when she fell asleep. Bruises were starting to darken under her eyes, a side effect of her broken nose. But there was another staining her forehead, and still more dotted across her arms and legs.
"…and then Sam and Jake came, and it was so cool, that vampire chick was like a ragdoll when they got a hold of her!"
Seth, of course, did not know that Irina was basically a family member of the Cullens'. I was sure that they were sad, despite it all. While everyone else had the good grace to forgive his ignorance, Rosalie's head snapped up from where she was dabbing astringent on Maisie's arm.
"Why are the dogs here?"
Esme sucked a breath before admonishing Rosalie in a near-whisper. She wasn't deterred, though, defiantly looking between Lea and Seth.
"To make sure Maisie got here safe," Leah snapped back. "You're welcome."
Rosalie's eyes burned like golden flames, but her mouth stayed shut. Jasper had reached for her with his free hand, the one not cradling Maisie. He took hold of Rosalie's arm, giving it a light squeeze. A warning. I was pretty sure she was grinding her teeth together as she finished cleaning and bandaging Maisie's arm. "I'm going to see what's keeping Edward and Jasmine."
On her way out the door, Emmett caught her about the waist and waggled his eyebrows. He was teasing her. Emmett really did let everything roll off him. "You don't have to see to know what they're up to, babe."
Even with his teasing, Rosalie pushed passed him after he kissed her cheek and streaked out the door. Seth and Leah stayed behind, keeping their backs to the wall. I thought that Leah had been to the Cullen house and around them enough times to have lost her bristling distrust, but Seth was here now. She knew the Cullens would never hurt me; they hadn't yet proved themselves to her where her brother was concerned.
I stepped away from them, and closer to Jasper and my sister.
"Will she be okay? I made her throw it up," I told him, even though he already knew. I couldn't read the look on his face, but I had seen it before. Maisie called it his 'strategizing' face—when he drew into himself and his eyes looked a million miles away.
"She's not getting hotter," he offered, after a lengthy pause that made my heart race. Dipping his head low, he seemed to take a sniff of Maisie's hair. I realized, at that small gesture, that this was the closest I had probably ever stood next to him. I always forgot that Jasper was the Cullen who most often 'slipped up'. "And her heart isn't racing. I highly doubt, tough little thing that she is, that Maisie would sleep so soundly through a true turning. The pain is unimaginable. I…I admit, I don't know what's going on."
"Can't one of you see?" Seth's voice cut in. "That's a thing, right? Leah said one of your guys can see into the future."
"Not with you around," came Alice's reply. I didn't look up, but her frustration was obvious. "Werewolves leave me blinded."
"That's so cool! I mean, not that you're blind because we're here, but the whole seeing into the future thing."
I rolled my eyes, not that Seth could see. "When will Carlisle be back?"
"He's working through the night," Jasper sighed, the motion disturbing Maisie. She grumbled incoherently before pulling herself closer to him. "I don't mean to be rude, but Alice truly won't be able to use her sight so long as the two of you are in such close proximity. I know you care for Maisie, too, and answers would ease everyone's minds, but we can't get immediate insight with Alice waylaid."
It was probably the politest eviction I have ever heard. I pushed away from the couch, digging my keys from my pocket.
"Here," I told Leah. "Take my car back to La Push. I'll have Dad take me to get it tomorrow."
"We can run back," Leah tried to argue, but I took her hand and pressed my keys into her palm.
"Y'all have already ruined one set of clothes today," I reminded her. "Do you really feel like searching through the woods again to find a stash?"
That's what the wolves had done after the fight. I had gone to Sam's house to find him and gotten Jacob as bonus reinforcements. They shifted almost before they were off the porch, loping in the direction I had pointed. Emily—Sam's imprint, Leah's cousin—had grabbed for my hand and told me to wait it out at the house, but I shook her off. I was so slow that I got back after the fighting was over, the wolves retreating into the forest and coming back with new clothes in their human form.
Leah sighed her defeat before bouncing forward to kiss me. "Call me, okay?"
"Duh," I told her, trying to get her to smile and break up the harsh lines of her anxious face. But Leah only smirked and flicked me on the nose the way she always did when she thought I was being a brat.
Only once they were gone did I take stock of the Cullens currently at the house. Emmett had sprawled himself into an armchair, flicking through a book someone had left on the coffee table. He didn't seem much interested in it. Esme was pacing by the back wall, watching for Rosalie, Edward, and Jasmine to return, but she kept throwing looks over her shoulder at Maisie.
"You'll work yourself into a headache, Ali," Jasper warned behind me. When I turned, I saw the freaky, blank stare look Alice took on when she was trying to see into the future. Her face was screwed up in concentration this time, though, and she shushed Jasper.
"It's getting clearer."
Even with her sight in the future, Alice easily found the couch and sat beside Maisie and Jasper. She perched on the edge. I was too wired to sit, but somehow, I kept myself from pacing like Esme. There was a clock somewhere. I could hear it ticking softly. I started counting the ticks in an effort to keep myself sane.
At thirteen, Emmett tossed the book onto the coffee table and stretched his huge body out to grab the remote instead.
"It's too quiet," he grumbled.
At twenty-nine, Esme abandoned her lookout spot. She came behind the couch to stand behind me, running her hands over both Jasper and Maisie's heads.
Thirty-three. Alice sucked her breath in.
"Huh." She breathed back out.
Thirty-five. "Care to elaborate?" Emmett asked, giving voice to our thoughts.
Thirty-six. Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight. Alice's eyes were still far away. Jasper was drumming his fingers against the arm rest. Thirty-nine. Forty.
"I… don't understand." Forty-one.
"Where the hell is Eddy when we need him?" Forty-two.
"You don't understand what, precisely, Ali?" Forty-three.
"We need more than that, honey." Forty-four.
Forty-five. Forty-six. Forty-seven. Forty-eight.
"Alice". The whole time, I'd been too scared to speak, but not Jasper. He all but hissed his sister's name.
Forty-nine. Fifty.
"I had to make sure, okay?" Alice's lips set in a pout. "It doesn't make sense."
Fifty-one. Fifty-two. Fifty-three.
We were all waiting. Alice had the privilege of knowing, and she was being stingy with her knowledge. I thought Jasper might snap at her again, but she held her hand up and shook her head.
At fifty-eight, I would have fallen if Esme's cool, gentle hand hadn't caught my elbow.
At fifty-eight, Alice turned to use with a bright smile on her face. She nearly lit up the night.
"Well," she told us, absolutely giddy, "she won't be a vampire."
The relief that flooded through me made my knees watery. I didn't even care about the emphasis that Alice put on that word.
My sister won't be a vampire.
"I need to call Leah," I said, not caring how thick my voice sounded. Jasper had dipped his head over Maisie's again. Esme pointed upstairs for me.
"Third door around the corner," she whispered to me.
For the first time, I found myself in Jasper's room. It was mostly empty, since he and Maisie mostly lived in Alaska now. His closet door stood open, showing what little clothing hung inside. A stack of ancient books was leaning, unstable, in the middle of the floor. An image flashed through my mind, Jasper laying on his stomach on Maisie's bedroom floor while he read.
A futon sat pressed to one wall. I fell heavily onto it, my hands shaking as I pulled my phone from my pocket. I was barely able to find Leah's name and dial before the tears were running down my face.
"Leah." My voice broke in the most hideous way over her name. "She's gonna be okay."
