Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, I just like to hang out in her world.
As I made my way to the deserted business class lounge my phone buzzed. I took the opportunity to charge it as I answered.
"Move to the outlet across the room. The stewardess won't notice you're in the room if you stay quiet for the next 24 seconds." I rolled my eyes but followed her advice. As I was waiting for the stewardess to leave, Alice began to explain the dire circumstances we'd found ourselves in.
"She jumped off a cliff and before you freak out, she's fine physically. Her voice was hoarse because she swallowed some sea water. Her actions have started a chain reaction that will end in her death unless we intervene. Her life is tied to us all now. Tied to you."
As soon as I heard the stewardess leave and the door to the lounge click shut I spoke, "How did you not see her decide to jump? What the hell was she doing on a cliff, Alice?!"
"It was a snap decision, Edward. From what I could derive from the situation she was sitting on the cliff. Something must have startled her or caught her attention because I didn't see her until she stood up and peered over the edge. She closed her eyes for a moment and just stepped out. No one saw it happen, the sun was out but she was alone. A little while later she surfaced to breathe, she struggled to the shore and coughed up a fair amount of seawater. She laid there on the beach in recovery for an hour. Finally she picked herself up and walked back to her truck."
"Did she limp, was she injured?" I hoped she wouldn't develop a bacterial infection from the water in her lungs.
"Pay attention, I told you, she's fine physically, though she seemed quite... tired." I caught Alice's hesitation. "She coughed a few more times on her way to the truck. That's why her voice was hoarse when she answered the phone. The real issue is the aftermath of her decision. Lucky for her you trust me, and did as you were told when I asked you to call her house numerous times. Had you ignored my order, Victoria may have found her before we could get to either of them."
"Victoria will be in Forks?" I was livid. I was jealous. That wretch was closer to my Bella than I was. But these emotions were short-lived as Alice continued.
"Victoria has been in Forks, and will be again. Sit down Edward, you'll get there faster if you fly." I hadn't realized that I stood. "She found Bella's scent on the beach. She followed it to where her truck had been parked, and then backtracked to the cliff. She smelled the tree Bella sat against, placed herself in Bella's position. She looked out over the expanse of the sea and decided to run to Seattle, then come back for Bella. By the time she gets back the family will be in position, and Bella will be gone."
"What do you mean gone Alice!?"
"Oh, relax. Sheesh, time alone certainly hasn't calmed your nerves, has it?" She asked with a dramatic sigh, "Gone as in out of harm's way. She'll be on her way to you. She's quite clever for a human," she mused.
"But I'll be battling Victoria, how is that out of harm's way?"
"Correction, you'll be killing Victoria. And Bella will be in her truck, on her way to Connecticut. Safe from harm for a short while," Alice's tone became more serious, "then it gets tricky. There is a dangerous celestial event that few humans know of for the moment. They have a team of geologists and astronauts, who will be saving the planet from an asteroid, by drilling a hole in the center, and lowering an atomic warhead to the bottom in order to alter it's path." I felt myself turn to stone as the shock rendered me speechless. "The trajectory of debris preceding the asteroid is Southeast, starting from the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan. Stretching from Montana to the Carolinas and spanning from Detroit to Vegas. Based on the debris pattern, the asteroid's target would be East Southeast from Chile, in Antarctica. They have a less than an eight percent chance of failure. When the bomb is detonated, most of the debris will be obliterated, and the asteroid's trajectory will be successfully redirected. What manages to fall to the Earth will be mainly benign, falling in our oceans overall and up the western seaboard of southern Africa, through the Sahara, the Mediterranean, and Central Europe. Several cities will be hit in Europe with minor repairable damage. An elephant and a giraffe grazing in the same region of Africa will perish." This fact made her sound remorseful, but I had no time to suffer loss of great beasts.
"Enough. Where will Bella be located when the first of the debris begins to fall?"
"She'll be between Vermillion, South Dakota and Sioux City, Iowa when the debris begins to fall in the Northwest Territories. She'll be driving through Iowa when it reaches her. We'll be on a plane on our way to our connecting flight in Chicago when we'll make an emergency landing in Des Moines. It's the closest I could get us in the fastest amount of time. We still have to find her when we get there."
"Why is she traveling to Connecticut in the first place? Have you contacted her?"
"No, I didn't, but her destination is partly my doing. The area code on your phone is out of Cornwall. She's a very clever human, and Charlie was ticked off enough at your delinquency to use his resources to trace you. Charlie assumes it's some child in the northeast with too much time on his hands, or a butt-dial." she giggled at the term.
I was becoming impatient, "So she finds the trace information. How does she put two and two together?" I'm not at all surprised that she does, but her thought processes don't fail to fascinate me.
"You'll have to ask her yourself when you save her in Iowa. I think something was awoken within her on the beach as she recovered. Something that changes the way she looks at things.About 2 hours ago she woke up from a dream that seemed to have bothered her. She began to calm by mumbling to herself with her eyes closed. And clear as day, she said 'What rhymes with Connecticut,' but she doesn't see the trace info until the day after tomorrow. Tuesday morning her time. Monday night the news will break about the asteroid, and human life is put on hold. Charlie will be busy enforcing safety procedures in the town. Bella drops everything and gets in her truck after seeing the trace and putting it all together."
"Why doesn't she get on a plane instead?" At this point I'm frustrated if not amazed by her reasoning. Not that I want her wandering around Connecticut alone in a potentially lawless situation, but based on Alice's description of future events it seems safer than being in a moving target in that god-awful truck.
"I couldn't tell you, Edward. Perhaps as events unfold she'll give me more clues to her thought process. The details are quite fuzzy. The main events are set, but some details are close to disaster, while others are vague. You of all people know what my visions are like," my tiny sister sounded frustrated as well. I could only imagine how this was affecting her, affecting the family.
"How are you holding up Alice?"
"Distracted. There are so many details to this situation in such a short amount of time. Compounded my relocating the family and preparing for our fight with Victoria. She has several newborns who will accompany her. Emmet is excited."
"How is everyone?" I unexpectedly missed my family, the guilt of staying away for so long weighing heavy on my shoulders.
"Worried About Bella, excited to see you. They would have gone to her with or without you, you know." I knew.
"Is Rosalie giving you much difficulty?"
"Surprisingly, no. Actually, she's been quiet, albeit supportive since we'd begun planning. She hasn't spoken of the situation directly, but she's helping in the logistics without a fuss." She spoke almost triumphantly, I'm sure I was missing something. "We leave for Seattle in 8 hours which gives us time to pack a few things, have a few things shipped, and Jasper will show the rest how to dispatch a newborn quickly. He'll run through it with you briefly when you get here, though I see you chasing and laying waste to Victoria, mainly."
Alice knew my next question before I asked it, but still I had to know, "How is she? How does she seem to you?"
She hesitated before answering, which I understood was not because she was afraid to tell me, but she was concerned with how I would react. "You know I can't tell you what's in her mind, or how she's feeling. I can only tell you what I can see." She sighed, and then continued. "She's alive, but not living. She's alone most of the time that I've seen her so far. She seems to go off on her own quite a bit. I haven't seen her pick up a book unless Charlie is home, but she doesn't turn pages. She doesn't seem to eat very much either." Her tone changed then, "She's going to need a new wardrobe, and I'll be able to convince her to let me give her one! How lovely she'll look in a dark teal!" She clapped. I couldn't stop myself from smiling at my annoying sister. I was well aware that she was trying to distract me from the reality that my Bella seemed to be doing about as well as I. Staying apart was no longer an option.
"How arrogant I've been, thinking that I could change the stars. Had I never left we might have-"
"Hush, brother. I can't speak for the past, but presently we're a stronger family than we were before, and our future will include you and Bella, which creates contentment in everyone. Leave the past behind. Now get ready, they'll call to board your flight in fourteen minutes, and then I will see you in 26 hours."
Once seated on the plane I stowed my bag and closed the shade, I was alone with my thoughts. I couldn't help but recall the days before she'd allowed me to be close to her. Her quiet composure when she was forced to sit next to that antisocial dolt in biology. I surmised I could see her sitting on the cliff with the same composure in quiet contemplation. What would cause her to take the step into gravity? I wondered.
Edward is on his way back to Forks. He's so anxious! Jeezis, get a grip! Amirite? As you can see, these events overlap each other. They start to flatten out soon, I promise. As I mentioned, this story is almost completely written so I'll be cranking these chapters out at random times, as quickly as possible.
Music for this chapter is Rewrite the Stars, Zac Efron Zendaya
Edit: Teensy Armageddon reference. I don't own that either. lol