The time passed quickly after that. And before she realized it, Alice had been in Winnipeg's center for six straight days.
The next day Alice stayed entirely away from the newborn center, instead choosing to spend a full day doing as much research as she reasonably could without drawing too much suspicion. The revelation of Skye's mental hospital stay, mentioned so casually, set alarms blaring in Alice's head.
Thankfully, there was a lot of documents for Alice to pour over during her day locked in a spare office. Because of the location of Maria's downfall, Winnipeg had been a central point in the post-war proceedings. Alice read up on every file they had still available, spanning from back in October to as recent as the day before Alice had arrived. There was a lot she didn't have access to here. Many files had already been transferred to the Libraries in Denali. But it was enough to give her something to do.
At first she wasn't sure what she was looking for. More mistakes, maybe. Or some repetitive oversight consistent between files. After several hours Alice realized that these people were doing their jobs correctly; at least, on paper they were. There wasn't an 'i' that wasn't dotted or a 't' that wasn't crossed. If she was going to learn anything, it wasn't going to be done while pouring over documents and forms.
The day after that, she visited Skye again.
The girl had looked surprised at Alice's reappearance, even remarking "I thought you'd left." Alice had smiled, a bit ashamed at her abrupt absence the day prior, and instead sat herself across from her, asking if she was willing to teach her how 'Go Fish' worked.
Alice was elated when the girl quietly started dealing cards out, explaining the game under her breath as she avoided meeting her gaze.
They spent a couple hours playing games that day, Alice happily learning anything that Skye was willing to teach, and eagerly playing along once she understood the rules.
In truth, Alice was glad they'd only mindlessly passed the time that day. She could tell Skye wasn't eager to open up any further, and Alice was afraid she would say something to make matters worse if the topic strayed toward Skye's origins again.
It was on Alice's sixth day in Winnipeg when Skye greeted her with a smile for the first time.
That gesture alone was enough to make Alice's mind up for her…
"Tico taught me this," Skye commented, flipping a playing card in between her fingers, letting it land on top of the pile with a flourish. "He gets it in the deck though. Not sure how yet. It's also a time-consuming way to shuffle cards but," she picked up another one and flipped it over her knuckles again, "it does look cool."
Alice watched her flip the cards across her fingers, amused. "You have a full wing, right?"
Skye nodded as she flipped and twirled the cards around, showing off more than paying attention. "All twelve rooms have been full since they moved me in last November. It's been the same group of us since then."
"So, you see Victoria often?"
She dropped the card she had been fidgeting with, frowning as it flipped its way over the edge of the table and to the floor beneath them. "Unfortunately," she grumbled, pushing away from the table to reach down and retrieve it.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression you two were friendly."
Skye laughed then. An abrupt, mocking sound that caught Alice off guard. "Friendly." She snorted. "Oh man, that's golden. That bitch doesn't do friendly."
"You don't like her then?"
"That is putting it so, so mildly."
"Do you mind if I ask why?"
Skye was quiet then, and Alice could tell that her odds of getting a straight answer were pretty low. Silence reigned for a solid minute before Alice spoke up again.
"Actually. Do you mind if I confess something to you?"
The girl looked up at her, curiosity and suspicion evident. "Confess?"
Alice ran her tongue across her teeth, inhaling deeply as she studied the girl across from her. Sure, she was a tough person to talk to half of the time, but ever since Alice had learned more about her past, she felt so much closer to the girl.
"You said Maria's people found you when you were a patient in Hillside?"
Skye didn't nod. "It's in my file isn't it?"
Alice nodded. "Yes, I'm just trying to get confirmation. Do you remember how it happened?"
"Yes, but I don't feel like rehashing my fucking trauma today, thank you very much." And there was the snark, back to help keep Alice at a distance as Skye slowly began to close off from her.
"Of course not," Alice shook her head, her words soft, almost as if she were speaking to herself. She paused for a moment, breathing slowly. "What I'm trying to say is that we have more in common than you think." Reaching forward, Alice picked up a portion of the card deck and began to shuffle it. "No one knows this outside of the Protectors, and outside of my own family." She lifted her eyes for a moment, meeting Skye's blank stare, before averting her attention back to the cards in her hand. "But I was in a mental hospital just before I was turned, too."
There was a moment of silence where the words hung in the air, and Alice simply sat back and waited, knowing that Skye was processing her words slowly.
"If you're lying about that to…" and Alice could see that Skye was suppressing anger just beneath the surface of her cold, calm expression, "to try and relate to me, or something. Then that's… that's so fucked up. Even for you guys."
Alice pulled her phone out of her pocket then, and in seconds she had the scans of her admissions paperwork pulled up. Handing the girl her phone, Skye accepted it hesitantly. In the back of her mind Alice realized she wasn't technically allowed to do this; to give the girl a phone. But Alice didn't care. And truthfully, she didn't think anyone was going to step into the room and stop her.
She'd be surprised if the cadets assigned to watch over their little meetings on camera were even paying attention to them any more. It had been six days of monotonous encounters.
"How… what happened?" Skye's voice asked in a tone that was so quiet, so timid that for a moment she didn't even sound like herself. Slowly, she reached her arm back out toward Alice, returning the cell phone to her before letting her hands fall on the table between them.
Alice pocketed the device, frowning. "I don't know," she confessed. "The reports of my post-change memory loss haven't been exaggerated. In fact, as far as I'm aware, they've been understated. It's true that I don't remember my change, but I also don't remember my human life. I didn't even know my full name until Jasper dug my birthday and commitment date from the asylum archives."
"Asylum," Skye whispered the word. "You don't remember any of it?"
Alice shook her head, placing the cards down in a neat pile between them. She nearly startled when Skye reached out, grabbing her hands with her own, clinging to them tightly. Alice lifted her gaze, meeting Skye's golden eyes, unnerved at the emotion displayed on the usually-angry girl's soft features.
"Be glad," she whispered, her voice unsteady for the first time that Alice had ever heard it. "Be thankful you don't remember."
Alice adjusted her grip and held Skye's hands tightly in her own, a frown easing it's way onto her face. With the reputation that her ability and demeanor gave her, it was easy to forget that the girl sitting across from Alice was just another fifteen year old kid.
A fifteen year old kid who had been through things that Alice couldn't even imagine.
They parted ways not long after that. Skye declared that she wasn't in the mood to play games anymore and Alice had to agree. It felt a little silly to expect their meeting to resume in any normal capacity, so Alice allowed the girl to be escorted back to her residential wing, and made a beeline for her temporary office.
She was halfway to the elevator when she froze, a vision falling over her. And suddenly, she knew there was very real danger afoot.
The man was a stranger to her, speaking quietly as he leaned forward, his hand casually resting against the counter before him. The receptionist at the front appeared confused as she attempted to look something up on her computer. The man waited for her attention to be focused solely on the information she was searching for before he struck.
There was no noise beside the clicking of a keyboard and then the abrupt grinding noise of metal, and when the girl's head was rolling away, toward the front doors, the man was off into the building and the sound of running could be heard as containers raced toward the unmistakable sound of an assault.
The instant her sight returned to her she was staring headlong down the hallway. Alice had to force herself to remain calm, and to not act too suddenly. Careful, Jasper's words rang through her head as she willed herself to calm down.
But Caylin, the sweet part-time receptionist that was currently half-way through her shift, was not about to be violently murdered on Alice's watch.
Turning on her heel she moved toward the stairwell. She didn't have time to wait for the elevator. She barely had time at all.
In her vision, the clock on the wall behind Caylin had read 5:52. It was 5:49 currently.
She raced through the stairwell quickly and apologized to the two men she nearly barreled over as she exited, heading directly for the tunnel that connected the building to the main offices. She knew she was going to make it in time, but she hardly knew what she was going to do once she got there. Only one thing was clear: stop this man by any means necessary.
In the back of her mind she knew that she needed a more concrete plan. If there was someone there who was willing to attempt a murder to gain access to their building, that was more than grounds to lock down the campus. But what would she say in defense of that entirely unprompted command? She couldn't simply say "because I said so" due to the shaky trust people already had in her, and she knew that while their drills were comprehensive they were something that couldn't exactly be called for at the drop of a hat.
Waiting for him to attack first was unthinkable. But without any action on his part it would just look like an overreaction on her end.
She didn't have time to do things properly right now. Entering the main offices through the back she slowed down her pace to a brisk walk, attempting to pull a look of indifference onto her face. She thought of Roger Harrison's face then, and felt anxiety begin to take root.
She couldn't exactly do what she'd done back in Toronto, attacking first and explaining herself later.
No. Alice had a delicate game to play.
And while the war had been declared over last fall, Alice knew she wasn't going to be done fighting any time soon.
Walking down the hallway that lead into the lobby, Alice slowed her pace and listened carefully. A man's voice reached her ears first.
"Surely, there must be something listed." A voice purred. Alice could hear the smile in his tone. "I know she's expecting me."
"Hold on just a moment," the sound of fast typing reached Alice's ears, and she could visualize the girl's fingers flying across her keyboard. "What did you say your last name was again?"
Showtime.
As she rounded the corner Alice's eyes fell on the man a millisecond before his attention was pulled toward her.
Shock, recognition, curiosity. Within the span of a second Alice watched as he straightened back up, no longer leaning forward over the poor receptionist's desk. His decision changed and Alice was gifted with a vision of Caylin driving away from the campus later that night.
For an instant she waited for a vision of his violence turning on her, and was relieved when she received none. Either Alice's presence had dissolved the danger she was currently marching toward, or he was stifling his violent urges only for the time being.
Either way, Alice could not let her guard down for a second.
He was an average-looking man. Not short but not very tall. His hair was long. A light blonde color that was unkempt and messy tied at the nape of his neck. It was his appearance that made him stand out even more than his unremarkable features. His jacket looked old and worn; the tears and rips in the fabric definitely not a fashion choice, with a fine coating of dirt and earth stretching over his body from head to toe.
Alice pretended not to notice how he wore no shoes as she approached the pair.
Then, she smiled, lifting an arm outward as she approached him, beckoning him to accept a handshake before her words even left her mouth.
"Hi! Sorry about any confusion." He lifted a hand, accepting her handshake with an unreadable look as she stumbled upon the scene. Alice turned toward Caylin and smiled. "My mistake."
Caylin was visibly relieved. Letting out a quick laugh she sighed. "I was hoping Trent hadn't forgotten to document anything. I'll have a chat with him when he comes in for his shift later."
Alice smiled back at the girl, winking. "I'll leave it to you." Then, she locked her gaze with the man and smiled up at him. "If you'll follow me." She turned to the side slightly, still keeping her eyes on him, and watched as he nodded silently a couple of times, his lips pressed tightly together as he stared back at her with narrowed eyes.
"Of course."
Alice barely had an inkling what she was doing. All she knew was that if any of her fellow Protectors could see her now, and knew what she was doing—guiding a potentially dangerous man into a containment center and allowing him access to her unguarded back as they moved further and further into the building and toward an unoccupied meeting room—they would remove her from active duty for as long as they were legally allowed to.
(She tried not to think about what Jasper would do if he saw this.)
But Alice had her visions to help her. And Alice knew that if the man even so much as daydreamed about lunging for her, she would see it.
He followed her up one flight of stairs and down a separate hallway. By the time Alice opened the door to the empty soundproof room, he had quickened his pace, nearly closing the gap between them.
"I didn't think I'd get a personal greeting by the war hero herself," he mused as she closed the door behind them, gesturing toward the board room table and the many chairs surrounding it. "I prefer to stand, thank you."
Alice stared at him as he wandered into the room, looking amused at the sight of all the chairs arranged before them.
"We usually have a 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' policy in our centers, you know." He smirked at the jab, his amusement all over his face as he continued to let his eyes survey the room. Alice wondered if he was looking for an escape route, but her visions didn't provide her with any validation to that possibility.
But if he wasn't about to sit, neither was she.
"How can I help you?" She asked carefully. She didn't need to let him know that she was well aware of the fact that she'd just thwarted a murder attempt. The longer she could hide behind her appearance being 'good timing' the better. "I heard you saying you needed to see someone?"
"And so you simply let me in your building?" He was fully grinning now. "I was under the impression they'd tightened security, not loosened it."
"Security stops people from approaching the building. You and I both know you already got past them if you got this far."
"Or they let me through." But even as he spoke the words through grinning lips, Alice knew that they were both aware of the fact it was a lie. Still, she hoped the containers in charge of perimeter patrol were alright. She hadn't seen any visions of their deaths, so she only hoped this man had simply snuck by.
Alice's vision of him removing Caylin's head from her shoulders to get past her was suddenly vivid in the forefront of her mind.
She would have to keep him in this room for as long as she could, in that case. Long enough to give her people enough time to collect and brace themselves if there had been an attack that had slipped by her precognition.
If not, the only person who knew she was alone with a strange man was Caylin. And Alice could see the girl wasn't about to go around gossiping about the newest Protector's strange visitor.
Whether that was a stroke of bad luck, Alice couldn't tell yet.
"If that's the case, then welcome. My name's Alice."
He eyed her strangely then, as it surprised at the fact she was introducing herself. He recovered quickly though. "I think everyone knows who you are at this point."
"I never assume that."
"No ego? Even after saving the world?" His tone held a teasing quality to it that Alice found herself acutely despising. "How humble."
"I try my best to stay grounded."
"Hm, it shows I suppose." His eyes raked over her body then, and Alice had to repress the overwhelming urge to shield herself from his gaze. "Can you help me…" his voice trailed off, as if entertained by her offer, "I suppose you might be able to."
"How so, then?"
He sighed over dramatically, "Well. I see you got my girl off the hook, how about helping me out, too?"
Alice stared back, waiting for further elaboration. But she could quickly see that he wasn't going to simply tell her what he needed. "Help you, how?"
"Victoria isn't the only one Maria forced into working for her." He shrugged, and suddenly Alice felt herself freeze. "And I need to get back in good standing on the registry. I was told that would get her out of here faster."
The realization struck her hard. "You're Victoria's husband."
He snorted, his voice mockingly repeating the word 'husband' as he shook his head. Then, he held out his hand, as if wanting to shake her hand again. "The name's James."
Alice didn't lift her arm this time, instead opting to stare back at him, bewildered. "She never mentioned you until a few days ago."
"Protecting me, probably," he rolled his eyes then, dropping his arm. If he was bothered by her refusal to take his hand again, he didn't show it. "Maria was after me first. Victoria was the afterthought." He inhaled deeply, his expression darkening. "And then when Maria was through with me, Victoria became the bargaining chip."
For a solid few seconds, Alice's mind raced, and with that, her visions flowed rapidly.
She had options right now. Many of them. But none of which would end well for anyone.
If she attempted to take James into custody, it would erupt in a fight where more than a few containers would be left dead and James would be gone.
If she tried to get him to open up in a more official setting, with paperwork and protocol involved, he would once more flee, fighting his way out if needed.
The only thing Alice could see that would keep people safe—the only option she had now that she'd invited this dangerous man into Winnipeg's center and into her company—was to hear him out, and try to help him.
And as she shuffled through vision after vision, witnessing ripped limb after burning body after searing bite mark, she found herself afraid for the first time in many, many months.
This was bad.
She did the only thing she could do.
"I'm listening."
The way the smile slowly crept its way back onto James' face told Alice all she needed to know: he was shocked at her willingness to hear him out, and he was also delighted by it.
"First, I need a guarantee that you can get me what I need." He let his eyes wander around the room again, letting his feet carry him toward a fake plant in the corner of the windowless room.
"What is it that you need?" She had to tread carefully now. Alice knew that whatever happened from here on out had the potential to not just get her in trouble, but cause a catastrophe. She needed to maneuver her way through this situation as delicately as possible.
"Papers," he shrugged. "I'm not unregistered, but I've been absent from census counts, house calls, you name it. I was grandfathered in during integration, so I don't need control training certificates or anything like that." He reached out and pinched a fake green leaf between his fingers. "Just an ID."
"If you're registered you should be able to get a new one in any center, regardless of your status in the system." There was more to what he was letting on here.
He plucked the leaf from the tree, letting the woven plastic fall to the ground. "I don't want an ID reissued. I need a new one. A new ID number; one that doesn't trace me back over a hundred years."
Alice tried not to react. "You're asking for a new identity."
"Not exactly. I don't want to change my name. But a fresh number will give me, and Victoria—who I hear you're trying to help so kindly—a fresh start."
"I was under the impression you two weren't in touch."
"Not physically," he grinned at his own joke, his humor increasing at Alice's own unamused responding look.
"Let me get this straight. You want me to forge fake documents for you—"
"And for Victoria."
"—and in return you give me information on Maria?" It still hurt to say Maria's name, even after all this time, but Alice brushed her discomfort aside. Then, she started laughing. "Maria. Who is dead and gone. And how am I supposed to know you're serious? Do you know how many people have come forward with 'information' on Maria?" She used air quotes as she lied smoothly. Truthfully, there had only been a small handful of delusional people who had claimed to have intel on the radical efforts, but Alice was banking on James not knowing that. "You want me to commit forgery and fraud in exchange for fake information?" She laughed again, both because she found the idea genuinely entertaining, and also because she knew, thanks to her visions, that her dismissal of his very real claims would force him to prove himself.
"The girl wasn't the only one Maria's people got from that hospital."
Alice stared back at him then, trying hard to keep her expression steady. But quickly, she felt her stomach turn to stone as it dropped. "What do you mean?"
"There was another patient. A kid a little younger than her that they snagged first. A few months before. He didn't survive the change process though. One of her partners couldn't quite," he inhaled deeply through his nose, and his words were spoken on the exhale, "control himself."
"How am I supposed to believe you?" She spoke, her voice suddenly a whisper.
He shrugged. "Look it up. I'll wait here while you fact-check me."
Alice wasn't about to actually leave him alone in this room in order to make a quick google search, but with a few quick decisions she could see in a few visions that he was being honest. There had been a boy that had gone missing from their hospital a few months prior to Skye's disappearance.
"How do you know this?"
"Because I was there. Maria went after me first, and ended up with Victoria and me."
Alice stared at him blankly, her mind trying to force the image of this unassuming man into Maria's more devious schemes. "Why would she go after you?"
"What do you know?" He asked conversationally in reply, perhaps an attempt at casually getting her to reveal her hand. "That way I don't have to repeat anything Victoria has already said."
Alice frowned but spoke anyways. "Her gift was useful to Maria. Being able to avoid detection served them well as they moved around the south, recruiting newborns and creating diversions."
"Victoria did prove very useful to her," he nodded in agreement, reaching out and pinching another leaf of the fake plant in between his fingers. "Very useful indeed."
"And you were useful too, then." Alice surmised, studying him as he continued plucking leaves off the plant, letting them fall to the ground. She was baffled by his desire to mutilate the cheap, decorative piece, but she wasn't about to stop him. After all, Alice would much rather him rip up leaves than rip off heads. "If not, she wouldn't have needed you."
"Maria covets those with gifts. It made sense for her to, of course. I'm sure you'd believe that."
"Anything to help her further her goal, I suppose."
"Precisely." He smiled again, pleased that she was at least on the same page as he was. But Alice had a feeling he knew far more than she could even pretend to guess about. "I'm a bit 'gifted' in a way, as well. Of course, I'm not the first or even the best tracker out there, but I'm competent enough."
"How did she know you were gifted?"
"I think you forget that Maria used to be amongst your people," he spoke, reminding her of Maria's old Protector status. "And you may or may not know this, but it was common knowledge amongst Maria's old connections that a good number of your fellow Protectors were—well, I suppose, are—gifted." Alice froze at this revelation. Did that mean they knew about Edward? "I suppose one of them possessed a gift that senses gifts." He shrugged, as if that said everything. "She was crafty. She had many resources, both amongst your number and with her black market connections." He eyed her. "The Underground's a dark place to do business."
Alice recognized that James was describing Eleazar's gift, and frowned. "And the information made it's way to Monterrey."
He smiled over at her, perhaps surprised she followed his train of thought so successfully. "Very good," he praised, his tone patronizing. "Maria sought us out but of course we refused. We like to live our lives unbothered, in case you were unaware."
With the way Victoria spoke out against government involvement in their lives, and with the disdain both she and James' appeared to share against the rest of the population, it made sense. There had been a time when Alice, too, had enjoyed living her life humbly and away from any degree of interference.
"But Maria had other plans," Alice deduced, her frown deepening.
"Maria also already had a steady following. Our choice was simple: either help her travel efficiently and undetected, or she'd kill us. And I don't know about you," he eyed her warily, "but I enjoy staying out of situations where there's the risk of death."
It was very obviously a dig at Alice's foolish allowance of him inside of their walls, but Alice brushed the comment aside easily. As long as he remained unaware of her gift, she would retain the upper hand in this conversation no matter what he told her.
"This is very much the same thing Victoria told us," Alice spoke evenly, her gaze never wandering too far from his form. "I understand that she likely kept your name out of things to protect you, but you could have come forward much earlier with this information if you wanted to get her out of here any sooner."
"Are you saying you won't be able to release her before the fall?" Alice watched as James' expression harden behind his eyes, and she knew she had to tread even more carefully now.
"Not immediately." She confessed. Since he'd been honest with her so far, Alice figured she might as well be honest right back. Or, at least she had to give the impression of honesty. "If you allow me to make this part of public record it would expedite the process for sure and—"
"If you put this on public record then I'll be trapped in a place just like this. That's not why I'm here." His words had taken a dangerous edge, and Alice felt uneasiness spread over her swiftly. She couldn't even pretend to be honest with him, it seemed. In the back of her mind she heard Rosalie screaming at her, imploring her to play the political angle.
You need to lead with your head, Rosalie had demanded of her on more than one occasion.
"If you can get me more information that I don't already have," she spoke slowly, carefully, "perhaps names, places, details that aren't public knowledge. I can perhaps see what I can do."
But she could tell James wasn't buying it.
"Maria forced me to keep my distance with the threat of Victoria's head in a pyre. I worked under the threat of death for almost eight years at the hands of her and her goons." As he spoke he slowly moved closer to her, step by step. "You're telling me that not only can you not help us, but you want to actively harm us by forcing my business out there, too? At least with me in the dark she'll be able to come home to someone untouched by all this political bullshit. Then we'll be able to move on and live our lives and fucking attempt to enjoy a normal existence after this. If you put my name on anything, or my ID or—shit, if you involve me at all, it's game over for the both of us."
"Why now though?" Alice struggled to understand one little detail. "You've waited this long, supposedly alright with her confinement, why are you angry about it now of all times?"
James was silent for a long few seconds as he halted his movements only a few feet away from her. It wasn't hard for people to tower over her; being under five feet tall made it so that most people (who weren't children) towered over her. For some reason his body language made her feel especially small. Alice had to force herself not to take a responding step back when he moved even closer.
"I'm sure you see the way the media enjoys crucifying you and your mate," he spoke quietly, his words merely a whisper. "I'm sure you hate it, to some extent. After all, no one in their right mind could even pretend to not care about what they're saying about you. About him. And I'm sure it's not something you'd wish on your enemy."
"That doesn't matter," she replied without thinking; another lie.
He made an amused noise, grimacing. "Maybe not to you. But I don't want that fate for Victoria or myself. And if any of this becomes a matter of public record, then we'll be vilified, too. It's easy to pardon a handful of teenage girls forced to act in horrific ways against their will," he turned his head to the side, his eyes lingering again, "but if you add my presence to the mix, things get," he sighed, "complicated."
He was right, of course. And Alice hated that this stranger—James—made good points. No matter what she thought of Victoria, she had been a victim and absolutely didn't deserve any of the treatment that Alice was finding herself experiencing day in and day out from people who knew nothing and could only let their imaginations run rampant.
But Alice also knew that there was absolutely nothing she could do to get Victoria out of the newborn center and into the free world without there being major outrage.
James was right about one thing though.
Because if word got out that Victoria had a mate she'd never mentioned in any of the court proceedings, and if it became public knowledge that the two of them had worked together under Maria's control for their own sake, it would absolutely shift the media's attention from Alice and Jasper and directly onto Victoria and James.
The scandal that would create would absolutely cause an uproar so loud it would force everyone's attention toward it.
Of course, Alice scolded herself as her mind raced, they were victims. Maria had threatened them into compliance, and in the same way Victoria was found innocent, Alice was certain that James would be found innocent as well.
But whether they were innocent or not mattered very little to Alice in that moment as she selfishly realized one thing.
They were her ticket out of the spotlight.
As the Protectors faced a potential uprising, in conjunction with a lack of total support from many sides, Alice knew that it was up to her to figure out a way for them to escape the mess they all found themselves in. Even if it meant tossing a pair of perfectly innocent, albeit strange and unpleasant, vampires into the pit she'd just dug her loved ones out of…
(But the vision of James attacking Caylin—not entirely innocent, she reminded herself—was still in the forefront of her mind, making her decision very, very easy.)
Alice never claimed to be a good person, no matter what Jasper said.
She forced herself to look sad as she stood there in their painful silence. As long as he was under the impression that she was conflicted and empathetic to his cause, she had the upper hand.
"I can't promise you anything right now," she whispered quietly, pretending to check over her shoulder towards the door to ensure that no one would discover them in the office (of course they wouldn't, but James didn't know that). "But if you give me a day, I can see what I can come up with."
To his credit, James was immediately suspicious. "And you expect me to what? Wait?"
Alice shook her head rapidly. "No, of course not. I can't even offer you anything other than my word," she muttered the words sadly, forcing herself to look more conflicted.
(And truthfully, she was barely conflicted at all about the decision she'd made to toss their futures into the dirt to salvage her own.)
"Then I can't offer you any more information."
"Tomorrow," Alice insisted quickly, trying to look more desperate than she felt. "I mean it. Give me the next," she thought quickly, "eighteen-to-twenty hours or so. I… I'm not sure how the process of ID issuance works." It wasn't entirely true, but Alice knew she still had a 'rookie reputation' in the general public. "But I can find out. Trust me."
"Trust you," he sounded amused again, "and why would I do that?"
"Because," she scowled, fists clenching at her sides in an attempt at making her look more emotional about their entire exchange (you have to sell this, she demanded of herself, you have to sell it) "I believe you."
And she did. Of course, it wouldn't matter in the end.
"Schedule me a proper appointment for tomorrow then," James advised, no longer smiling as he stared down at her. "I don't want to have to trick your guards again. I wouldn't want to embarrass you all twice."
"Wear shoes then."
"Deal."
A minute later she was leading him back down the hallway. She'd forced him to wait a few long, painfully and agonizingly awkward seconds before she left the room. She didn't want them to be discovered by anyone she knew. Then she would have to explain who the barefoot dirty man was and what she was doing with him.
People would still smell the unfamiliar scent on her person, but there were loads of people that came in and out of their center on any given day. Alice knew it wouldn't cause too much suspicion.
Alice escorted him to the parking lot where she eventually watched as he stood, waited nearly a full minute (waiting for their patrol to pass by), and then darted off into the woods.
Several more minutes passed before Alice felt herself begin to return to her own self. Then, she turned and began the slow walk back to her office. Of course, she stopped by Caylin's desk on the way in and set up a quick noon-time 'appointment' for the man, James, who had just departed.
She was sure to sound disinterested about the entire thing, so that Caylin wouldn't think anything of it other than just another boring meeting with another forgettable person.
But as Alice walked back to her office she could feel herself begin to shake.
No sooner had the door shut behind her that Alice was sliding against it to the floor, her head in her hands as she worked to keep her breathing under control.
Was she really doing this? Was she truly going to sell this man out in order to give Jasper a fighting chance when he returned back to work in a couple of days?
It wasn't even a hard question for her to answer for herself, she realized in horror. Because that was what the plan that she was already setting into motion had called for.
But something in the marrow of her bones made her feel so set and so ready to do this. She would never be able to prove it, but Alice knew that James was dangerous. She'd seen it in her mind, watching as he hurt and killed center workers in order to storm the building.
It wasn't just her premonitions at work here, but basic intuition, too.
Trying to be nonchalant, Alice called one of the on-duty Lieutenants, asking them to do a quick perimeter sweep. Alice hadn't seen James resorting to violence now that she had him playing this delicate game with her, but she knew that they had to be even more careful now.
Jasper wouldn't understand, but Jasper would never have to know.
There was one person who Alice knew she couldn't keep this from, no matter how hard she tried. And even if she did try, she knew that there was a high probability that he'd find out sooner rather than later.
Pulling her phone from her pocket, Alice send a quick text message.
Something isn't right here. She typed and sent. Then, she composed another. Don't tell Jasper, please. But I'm afraid. And I need your help. This has to stay between us.
But Alice already knew that she had Edward on her side for this. He wouldn't revel in the idea of pointing the media's magnifying lens toward an 'innocent' man, but he would do whatever it took for the pressure to be taken off of them and directed elsewhere.
This awful plan of hers would be her and Edward's little secret.
It was something she would take to the grave.
A/N: I know I said I wouldn't post two chapters a month until I finished the story, but last night I finished the climax of the story, and I'm pretty damn happy about that. Hopefully I'll have the full story written by the end of the month and then next month I'll have a bi-weekly posting schedule for you all!