Alice waited until close to 9 o'clock in the morning before calling the number on the letter.
A woman answered on the second ring and what followed next was the most nerve-wracking two minutes of her life.
They didn't speak much. Just long enough for Alice to introduce herself, for Cynthia to reply with her enthusiastic (and stunned) excitement, and for the two women to set a date for Alice to come and visit. She would visit for a few days, Alice promised, and the vision of her flight leaving on Tuesday afternoon solidified in her mind before the conversation was over and the date was set.
She played the conversation carefully, not wanting Cynthia to know she didn't remember her, but also not wanting to seem skeptical of the woman. She was relieved enough that Cynthia called her Alice and not Mary-Alice, but it did make her wonder if she was just being polite. Alice had corrected many interviewers over the last year that it was "Alice, just Alice."
Either this woman had known her as 'just Alice' when they were younger, or she was smart enough to pay attention to the media well enough that she could get away with lying through the phone.
But those photos…
Even Jasper acknowledged that the photographs looked authentic. While it was easier to replicate older photos than it was newer, higher-quality ones, he had to agree with what Josie had said the other day. "It does look like the same frown you have."
She'd been off the phone for barely two minutes with Cynthia before she was calling Bella.
When the girl didn't pick up, Alice frowned and checked her future. And when her future didn't come to her Alice had to remind herself that things were okay. She was just in Washington state with Edward, and they were probably with Jacob or some other wolf.
Instead, she called Edward. And when Bella picked up almost immediately, Alice laughed in lieu of a greeting.
"Hello?"
"Where is your phone?" Alice grinned. "I just tried calling you."
"It's dead," she sounded put-out by that. "Someone only packed one charger," her words were pointed to what Alice could only imagine was Edward.
"You could just buy another."
"I don't need to accumulate more wires. I swear we have a dozen at home."
"More than that, probably," Alice agreed, leaning back in her seat. She was currently in the den, her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. Esme would probably scold her for that, but as long as it was her and Jasper at home alone, she was going to enjoy the opportunity to stretch out in the silence. "Hows your trip?"
"It's going really well actually," and Bella sounded happy to report that. Alice smiled at the sound, wishing she could at least see in her mind where Bella was currently lounging. "We'll be in Vancouver for most of next week, but right now we're back in my old hometown. I'm actually in my old living room right now."
"Ooo," that absolutely intrigued Alice. "How's it look?"
"Like it needs some real love," Bella sighed. "The wallpaper's starting to separate from the wall. It's kind of sad, actually."
"Are you going to be there long enough to do any remodeling?" Alice recalled how Bella wanted to renovate her father's old house after the war. They might still be a bit busy for a full remodel though.
"Nah. Just going through some old things. There's a lot of stuff we need to clear out. I'm just doing a deep clean and then we're donating a bunch of furniture and things. I guess they're antiques at this point," she mused. "Hey—no," Alice could hear her move the phone from her head and call across the room. "We are keeping that! Sorry," and she was speaking to Alice again. "I'm having help from some friends and they are being, well. Not exactly helpful."
Alice smiled widely at that. "Hopefully it gets the job done."
Bella scoffed. "Yeah, I hope. What's up on your end?"
Alice chewed her lip for a few seconds before saying the only thing she could verbalize. "I learned that I have a sister."
"What?! What do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Her name is Cynthia. She sent me a letter with some pictures of me when I was younger. Human."
"Oh, my god, Alice. This is incredible! Wow!"
Alice laughed nervously, leaning back into the couch and pulling her feet up. It felt strange to say it out loud. "Wow is right."
"How are you feeling? I'm sure that's a shock."
"I'm," she paused, "I'm not sure how I'm feeling yet. I'm nervous, I think. But I am happy. It just feels… strange."
"I'm sure, especially with you not remembering your old life. Are you going to write back?"
"She left a phone number. I actually got off the phone with her a few minutes ago."
"Alice! This is amazing! I'm so happy for you!"
She smiled at that, trying to siphon some of Bella's excitement to use for herself. She was excited, but she was still in too much shock to feel much of anything currently. "Thanks, it's really something."
Bella paused. "Okay, what's up? You don't sound happy at all."
"I am! Jazz thinks she might be phony."
"And what do you think?"
"I think she's real!" She insisted quickly. "I'll be visiting her this week and everything."
"Oh," Bella blurted out. "That's pretty sudden."
"I don't want to wait any longer than I have to," Alice insisted, feeling put out at the abrupt change in Bella's tone. "I want to meet her as soon as I can. I'm just sad—well, I'm disappointed because," she sighed, "I wanted Jasper to come with me."
Bella sighed, "I wish I could come, but I have my entire week booked up. But Alice, what will you do if she is a fraud?"
"She's not—"
"Alice, be realistic for a second. Have you seen this woman outside the old pictures she sent?" Alice didn't reply, instead letting her mood sour as her friend spoke. She especially wasn't about to say that she actually had no clue what the woman looked like. "I'm not trying to kill your excitement, but there's always a chance she's some random person who spent time looking up old photos for something resembling you. Most of us have been through it before."
"Bella," Alice felt like crying. "I know there's the chance that this could all be some sick joke or a ruse or—or something!" The idea had haunted her all night. "But this could also be real! My real family!" Leaning her head forward on her knees she closed her eyes tight. "My real flesh and blood—well, so to speak. Even if there's consequences—or if I'm made a fool of—I need to do this. If there's a chance I can have someone living, breathing, and from my human life, in my own immortal life, I have to jump on this now." She paused for a few seconds, and when Bella remained silent, she clenched her teeth together. "Tell me you wouldn't do the same." She demanded.
There was an odd moment of silence, then. The quiet only made Alice more upset.
After several long seconds, Alice heard Bella's long sigh carry over the phone. Just barely, she could hear the sound of footsteps across the receiver. Then, Edward's voice chimed in.
"Let me come."
Alice rolled her eyes then. Bella hadn't said anything out loud; she must have moved her shield in order to fill Edward in on their conversation quicker, and quieter.
"I mean it. If she's lying I'll know."
"Some moral support would be nice," Alice supplied meekly, relief slowly falling over her. "Okay, yeah," relenting, her vision from Tuesday suddenly changed, folding Edward's presence into her plans. She'd have to call Cynthia back up and tell her that she'd have a guest upon their first meeting.
She hoped the woman wouldn't mind.
"Thank you," she sighed, tucking the vision into the back of her mind to discuss with Jasper later that morning. "I mean it."
"Don't mention it," Edward spoke, sounding much closer to the phone, and to Bella, this time. "I'm not letting someone mess with you if they aren't the real thing."
Alice nodded, knowing he couldn't see her. It was true. Edward's presence there would be the only confirmation she would really need. "So, how did Bella get stuck with all of the meetings next week and you happen to have the ability to come on a little trip with moi?"
Bella snorted. "Oh, he's been kept plenty busy around here. He's dying to get a break, too."
"I was going to be home next week anyways," Edward spoke. "Now I can finish up my business here and expedite the process of getting the hell out of this state."
There was laughter that rang out in the background, and Alice had to smile at the sound. Whatever 'friends' were helping Bella with her father's house seemed to be getting on Edward's last nerve.
And anyone who could adequately do that was alright in her book.
Flickering through her visions, Alice watched Jasper's future for a few seconds. He was out filling the tank of her rental. He'd be returning it for her and then would take a walk to the edge of town and go for a quick run, and then a quicker hunt.
With him gone for the time-being, it was as good of a time as any to fill them in on her findings in Ithaca.
"Alice," Edward already sounded annoyed at her, "you can't be telling Jasper everything."
"And give me a damn good reason why not?" If it had to do with him directly there was no way she was going to keep things from him.
"Because he's still on probation and he's not supposed to know anything about any of these cases. You don't tell Josie this stuff, do you?"
"Josie is an eighty-three-year-old human who spends her time watching Judge Judy and collecting pashminas." She deadpanned. "Jasper is one of us."
"What Edward is trying to say," Bella cut him off before he could continue to bicker with her, "is that we know you want to keep him updated, but you have to at least try to play by the rules here."
"That's some bullshit," she spoke bluntly. "For months now I feel like all anyone does is pick and choose what rules to follow and what laws to obey and then suddenly I want to tell Jasper about something that directly involves him and I'm the bad guy?" She knew her frustration was getting the best of her, but she couldn't contain it. It was infuriating. "We can lie to the public about what happened, but it has to be a specific lie. And oh, no. I can't give any input because what information do I have? I mean, I'm the newbie. I'm in training. What could I possibly know? Oh, wait. That's right! The future."
"I'm not arguing with you—"
"Because you know I'm right?"
"Because I know you'll win," Bella relented, sounding tired.
"Alice," Edward called her attention back toward him, "just last week I sat in a meeting with thirty-two various human politicians and leaders. Almost every single one of them wants change processes halted indefinitely. I had to stare down dozens of people while they all-but-said 'we don't want anymore vampires'." There was a beat of silence. "Not temporarily. Not until people rebuild and recover. They mean entirely. No more changing."
Alice was shocked. "Can they do that?"
"Yes. And they will if we don't do a good enough job with damage control. That's why you can't pull stunts like the one you did in Boston. They need to see us showing up, and listening, and caring about their losses, too."
Oh.
"But, we… there aren't even many of us left… how are we supposed to… to do anything?" She couldn't wrap her head around the idea of cities and states halting change processes.
The numbers were still fluctuating as they collected final body counts, but somewhere between sixty-four and seventy-five percent of their vampire population was dead and gone.
It didn't sound real, when she thought about it. But it was. Scarily so.
With the sudden population decrease, vital vampire-owned businesses had closed, hundreds of centers had ceased proper functioning, and those that had survived or avoided the carnage were left struggling. There was still a blood shortage in nineteen cities that Alice knew of off the top of her head. Not including small towns where there weren't centers.
Displacement had become another huge issue. By law, vampires needed to reside within a certain perimeter of their assigned center. As centers shut down, it caused vampires to suddenly be living out of legal range. Now, people were struggling to uproot their lives in an attempt at flocking to the next-closest center. And some were refusing. Which meant that there was a historic number of vampires suddenly residing in places against their most basic regulations.
It was a huge nightmare, in every way.
Alice finally found her words. "If we aren't continuing to change people—I mean, if we don't eventually resume Change then how is any of this sustainable?" How could any of their lives ever return to anything comfortable to any extent? It didn't seem possible.
"It's not sustainable," Edward's voice was grim. "There are ideas—stray thoughts persistent in many of these people's minds—and none of them are kind. The humans know they have the upper hand. They can easily make it so that suddenly everything about our laws and regulations are fully in their control."
"Can't we do anything about it—can't Carlisle or Esme do anything?"
"We need to stand with their leaders. For any of us to stand against the government would be seen as treasonous."
Just another reminder of how little power they really had as Protectors.
"How are we supposed to mediate between humans and vampires if humans don't want us around anymore? How are we supposed to Protect everyone?"
"How indeed…" Edward mused. Alice decided then that she hated how defeated he sounded. "That's why we need to keep things under wraps. Meetings and interviews and examinations don't get discussed unless necessary. We need to be responsive to criticism but not to the extent where all we're doing is people-pleasing."
"We have to tread carefully," Bella agreed. "We can't tell humans their fear of us is misplaced, but we need to try and control where their fear is directed."
And Alice knew that now, most of their fear was still directed toward Jasper. Which was why her overall image was starting to shift slightly in the media. Whereas before, her positive influence had begun to affect the way their society viewed Jasper, now, in this scary post-war world, it was the opposite.
"They can speculate all they want about me," Alice spoke quietly, feeling distraught with her train of thought, "but I can't have them choosing Jasper to unite against." Not again. She knew that he couldn't go through that again, no matter what he said or how apathetic he tried to come off as. Alice knew that if they succeeded in vilifying Jasper again, it would end horrifically.
"It's only the beginning," Edward remarked, as if sensing where her thoughts were jumping to despite being thousands of miles away, "but the work we put in now is vital. The measures these humans are daydreaming about taking are only that right now—ideas quietly shared amongst a few—but they have to be stopped." He paused. "No matter how much of a point they make."
Alice nodded. He was right, and that's what she hated.
She ended the call shortly after. She told him she'd call him with more specifics about their trip later, and after she hung up she spent a few minutes sifting through visions. She'd fly into Birmingham, meet Edward in Tuscaloosa's Center—which was thankfully still standing and functioning—and they'd drive to Northport from there to meet Cynthia.
And from there…
Well, Alice could only hope for the best.
A/N: Happy Capricorn season! It's time to relax, enjoy, and explore your surroundings. Don't push yourself into creative productivity if the well is empty! Rest your brain and let yourself play. When it's time to 'act' or 'produce' again, you'll know it.
Anyways, I don't quite remember this chapter ending on such a sad note. But that's the catch with a lot of these chapters apparently. Can't let y'all forget for too long that I'm an angst writer. Hope you're all having a great holiday season, and if not, I hope you remind yourself to give yourself the rest that your brain and body deserves! Thanks for all the love on this fic. In the next chapter, things start picking up...
REVIEW REPLIES:
Guest: Thanks for catching that typo! I always appreciate when people catch things like that. (I rarely ever fix them, but it's good to know in case I decide to actually go back and do more editing lmao) Anyways, I hope you enjoy my take on her past. It's definitely not a unique one, but I think what I end up doing with it brings some layers to the story...
deltagirl74: Oh, I agree that Josie is great for Jasper. Their scenes together are my favorites and I really think it's fun to see the difference in his relationship with Josie than his one with Esme. The contrast is really fun to analyze, and even MORE fun to explore within the story.
Trust me, Jasper is prone to his dramatics here and there, but for him, these are all things he expected. And to be fair, he probably feels better about hearing of his 'change' count; because in reality that only lessens his 'kill' count, really. He doesn't recall a lot of his time with Maria. The longer he was under Skye's influence and the longer she used her ability, the more tenuous his grip on reality became, until soon he couldn't differentiate between real and not real, with his reality warped around him and his mind fully wrapped up in his hallucinations. I'll hopefully be posting the 'guide' sometime soon to help people refresh their memories without having to re-read all 249k+ words of CotN. So look forward to that in the new year!
ohsugarhoney: LMAO it's a huge relief but still so unbelievable that we had that clown in office for FOUR entire years. It feels like a horrible fever dream to look back... anyways LMAO thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.
ZileRacer: Three cheers for both Josie and for some more of Alice's past! Woo! Celebrity vampires are absolutely a thing in this universe. Rosalie is actually the closest thing we get to one in the story; she's perhaps the most famous out of all of them, but I get more into that in the story, so you'll see what I mean. They're all (the Protectors, I mean) public figures, so they're all pseudo-celebrities, in a way. But yes, there are actors and musicians and models and all sorts of notable vampire celebrities in this universe, too. Not many, really, but they do exist.